The Demonic Crown Prince

At this moment, the Ministry of War.

Qi Guo Xu Rui and Minister of War Liu Yuwen were preparing to visit the Second Prince when, unexpectedly, the physician on duty outside rushed in.

"My lord, my minister, something terrible has happened! A lot of wounded soldiers have come to complain, saying they want to accuse the Prince of Qin of murdering officials and robbing..."

The doctor called out urgently.

"What?" The two people stood up in disbelief.

Murder an official and rob him? Even if Li Yuan were the most daring, he wouldn't dare to do that.

After hearing the whole story, the two were not angry but rather pleased.

"In a fit of rage, Li Yuan killed Wang Zhe and a total of thirteen people, including the garrison commander and deputy garrison commander."

This is a heinous crime, haha, he's really facing death this time.

"Let's go! We'll go to the palace now and give the Emperor a thorough dressing down. That would be a way to avenge the Second Prince and this Duke!"

Xu Rui laughed wildly.

"The King of Qin is still too young; he jumps right into the pit he's been set for. What a pity for Minister Wang; he's such a good man!"

Liu Yuwen said hypocritically, and even rolled up his sleeves to wipe away his tears a few times with a smile.

The two walked out together.

However, after taking only a few steps, Xu Rui narrowed his eyes, "Wait, we'd better take advantage of this situation to dig another pit for him."

"What pit?" Liu Yuwen asked.

"I remember that the army that the King of Qin was going to take over was once part of the Jiang family army, right?"

The Jiang family is known for being extremely protective of their own, and the girl leading the Jiang family's army is said to have a very fiery temper.

"If we let these people go to the Jiang family to complain again, what do you think will happen?"

Xu Rui gave a sinister smile.

"Your Excellency, brilliant, truly brilliant."

Liu Yuwen gave a thumbs up and immediately ordered someone to do it.

Later, guided by someone with good intentions, the more than two hundred men who had been driven away and had their hands broken all ran towards the General's Mansion in the capital region.

A fierce storm is quietly brewing, about to unleash a massive upheaval.

……

At this moment, in the camp on the outskirts of the city, the soldiers who had finally received their full pay were all smiles, and shouts of "Long live the King of Qin!" echoed throughout the entire camp.

At that moment, the drums sounded again, and everyone quickly put away their silver and lined up.

Li Yuan reappeared on stage, but his first words left them completely bewildered.

"I know very well that you all feel like you're going to your deaths with me. Even if you're grateful for the back pay, you may not be completely devoted to following me."

Now, I'm giving you a chance. Whoever can carry that wooden beam from the east side of the drill ground to the west side will be rewarded with ten taels of silver. Furthermore, they will be allowed to leave the military camp without having to go through this so-called suicide mission, and I will not pursue the matter further!

Li Yuan pointed to a large wooden beam next to him and said.

All the soldiers looked at each other in bewilderment, and even Wang Wanquan and his men were taken aback.

I thought the King of Qin was going to say something exciting, but after all that, he just pulled off this completely unrelated stunt.

What is this for?

The soldiers below looked at each other in surprise and disbelief, and for a moment no one dared to step forward.

"Nobody dares? Then all other conditions remain the same, and the reward is twenty taels of silver."

Li Yuan shouted again.

Twenty taels of silver—that's almost a year's worth of military pay.

As the saying goes, a generous reward always brings forth brave men. From the crowd in the distance, someone called out, "Your Highness, are you telling the truth or not? What if we end up not getting the flowers at all?"

"Twenty taels, right here on the table. Whoever has the ability can take it!"

Li Yuan waved his hand, and Xiao Guizi quickly took out piles of silver and placed them on the ground, each pile containing twenty taels.

"I'll do it!" At this moment, a giant who was nearly two ren tall (one ren in Daye was equivalent to one meter in later times, and the lower units were fen, li, hao, si) stepped forward and said in a deep voice.

"Your Highness, I've done my job. Shouldn't you keep your word, give me the money, and let me leave?"

The giant looked up at Li Yuan on the platform and asked.

"Absolutely!" Li Yuan waved his hand.

"Alright!" The giant spat twice into his palm, then hoisted the heavy wooden beam, weighing 150 or 160 pounds, and carried it from the east side to the west side.

The giant threw the wooden beam to the ground and shouted, "Your Highness, I did it!"

"Give me the money, cancel my registration, and I'm done!" Li Yuan said to Wang Wanquan.

"Yes, Your Highness." Although Wang Wanquan didn't know what he meant, he still did as he was told.

Seeing the giant man actually walk out of the camp with the money, the soldiers' eyes lit up with fervor.

Damn, this prince really keeps his word.

"Your Highness is truly a man of integrity!"

"You truly keep your word!"

"Me too, me too, I'll do it too..."

Immediately, a group of soldiers below shouted. To be honest, this wooden beam wasn't too heavy; unless one was extremely weak, most ordinary soldiers could manage it.

There was real money to be made, no trouble to be dealt with, and no need to go to one's death, so everyone rushed to join.

"Don't rush, let's take it one at a time. But before that, I'd like to ask you all a question."

"Do you really think that following me to quell the rebellion in Yanbei is just suicide?"

Li Yuan looked at the soldiers and asked with a smile.

"Your Highness, we only have so many people, while there are hundreds of thousands of rebels in Yanbei Province. It's said that even 50,000 border troops couldn't defeat them. Aren't we just sending ourselves to our deaths?"

Some soldiers below mustered their courage and shouted.

"People will come! Money will come! And food will come!"

I know that confidence is not something that can be built up in a day, so I don't expect to convince you under the current circumstances.

But I want you to remember that my trip to Yanguan was not only to quell the rebellion, but also to assume my fiefdom.

If we fail, so be it. If we succeed, all of us brothers and comrades here today will surely rise to great heights.

I, Li Yuan, hereby swear that if I ever fail my brothers after achieving success, I will surely be punished like this flag!

As Li Yuan finished speaking, he turned around and chopped the flagpole beside him in half with a single stroke!

The great banner fell fiercely, as if stunned that the past had passed and the present had arrived!

Then, he pointed to the money on the ground and said, "Those who are willing to come with me will each receive ten taels of silver as a reward. In the future, as long as there are military merits, they will be rewarded according to their merits, without missing a penny! If someone unfortunately dies, there will be generous compensation sent to their family."

Those who don't want to come with me won't be forced. Just carry that wooden beam, and I'll give you twenty taels of silver, then you can leave!

Now, make your choice!

"Whoosh..." All the soldiers below erupted in cheers, like boiling water.

A dozen or so people came out one after another. Some successfully carried the wooden beam, while others failed.

Regardless of success or failure, Li Yuan gave them twenty taels of silver and let them leave, embodying the meaning of trust and righteousness to the fullest extent!

Several hundred taels of silver were simply thrown away without batting an eye.

All the soldiers saw it all.

Suddenly, someone shouted, "Since the King of Qin is so trustworthy, if we are lucky enough to survive, we can also rise to prominence. I'll go with the King of Qin."

"A soldier's life is worthless; he could die fighting with anyone. Since the King of Qin is so trustworthy, we might as well go with him."

"Yes, if we die, we'll get a generous compensation. If we don't die, we'll have made a profit. Isn't that more than what we'd make carrying timber now?"

Haha, I'll go with the King of Qin too!

In an instant, a shout rang out, and all the soldiers waved their fists and shouted.

Even the giant man and a dozen soldiers who were about to leave ran back down from the stage, put the twenty taels of silver on the stage, and actually refused to leave.

"Why did you return?" Li Yuan asked with a smile.

"The King of Qin is so benevolent and trustworthy, if we really leave, we will have no face to show our faces in the future."

Your Highness, we are not people who are afraid of death, we are just afraid of dying in a meaningless way.

We made a mistake just now, please accept us back, okay?

The dozen or so people crowded below the stage, their faces flushed.

"Granted. Return to your ranks!"

Li Yuan smiled and waved, but inwardly he sighed. The simplicity of people in ancient times was evident, but from another perspective, they were indeed easy to fool.

If he did that in modern times, he'd be guaranteed to have his underwear pulled off and disappear without a trace.

"Yes, Your Highness."

The group of people breathed a sigh of relief and rejoined the queue.

"Oh..." The passing soldiers shouted in a noisy manner, but this was a unique celebration belonging to the military camp!

Wang Wanquan and the others stared at Li Yuan in shock; he truly had a knack for winning people over.

Is this really the legendary incompetent crown prince?

However, just as the troops were celebrating their rebirth in the military camp, a sentry stumbled over, "Your Highness, Jiang Zhanyue, the deputy commander of the capital's military headquarters, has led a group of men here and specifically requests that Your Highness come out to see her..."