Marrying Wife and Concubine Together: After Rebirth, I Remarried the Scumbag's Father on the Sp

Li Rulin frowned in embarrassment. How could he find the source of the money?

He is not the God of Wealth who can turn money into money!

Suddenly, an idea flashed through his mind.

He can ask someone for donations. There are so many powerful and wealthy families in the capital, and any money they can give can fill the gap.

However, he has no final say in this matter; the emperor has to make the final decision.

He spoke quickly, "Under the guidance of the Emperor, I have come up with an idea. How about asking the powerful families in various prefectures to raise funds? As long as the Emperor gives the order, they won't dare not contribute!"

Emperor Sheng An lowered his eyes and pondered, "Those old foxes will pay, but how much they pay depends entirely on their conscience. Therefore, the initiative in this matter must not be left in their hands!"

Li Rulin asked carefully, "Your Majesty, do you have a good way to make them willingly spend huge sums of money?"

Emperor Sheng An was about to speak, but suddenly came to his senses.

He scolded in a low voice: "I am the emperor, I do everything myself, so shouldn't you retire and return home?"

Li Rulin said embarrassedly, "How can that be? I'm still young, and I can still share your worries for decades. I've come up with a way to get those powerful people to pay me back for my labor!"

Not only was Emperor Sheng'an extremely curious, but even the previously silent Prince Li asked in confusion, "Minister Li, could you please explain what it means to use funds to offset labor?"

Li Rulin cleared his throat and said, "The so-called use of money to offset labor means that those powerful families are willing to pay money in exchange for not allowing the heirs of each mansion to train on the border battlefield."

He paused and continued, "Let's first issue a decree. Due to the unfavorable relations with the barbarians, we need to increase the number of troops stationed on the border. To be fair, we will conscript heirs from powerful and aristocratic families to train on the border for a period of one year!"

Emperor Sheng'an and Prince Li both had complicated expressions. As the people in power at the time, they certainly understood very well that it wouldn't hurt unless the knife hit themselves.

They could all imagine that once this decree was issued, those powerful and wealthy families would be in an uproar.

Sending the carefully trained heir to the border battlefield for training, if any accident occurs during the journey, it will be a disaster!

How could they agree?

Even if there are truly righteous people, they cannot withstand the schemes of the heir's relatives.

They will try their best to keep the heirs and not expose them to danger.

I have to say, this idea is really brilliant.

At this time, the emperor spoke up, "Since we're using this method, we can't ask for less silver. We still need to make the lightning balls, so we should spread the cost on them. Ten thousand taels of silver per heir. Any less and they will be taken to the border!"

"Yes!" Li Rulin responded quickly.

Emperor Sheng An immediately issued an edict, which soon caused a huge uproar in the capital.

He didn't know at the moment that he was saying with a worried look on his face, "Uncle, I have a very difficult matter. We don't have enough saltpeter powder, the main raw material for the lightning ball!"

Prince Li frowned and stared at him: "If you don't have enough saltpeter powder, then find a way to get it. I can't make it for you, and it's useless even if you beg me!"

Emperor Sheng An sighed helplessly, "Of course I sent people to look for it, but a large amount of saltpeter powder comes from the Yin family in Shicheng. You should be well aware of the feud between the royal family and the Yin family. They will never provide additional saltpeter powder!"

Prince Li remembered that when the late emperor was alive, he had arranged a marriage for Emperor Sheng'an. The daughter of the Yin family was named Yin Yue. However, when the Yin family came to the capital to visit relatives, an accident happened on the way, and Mrs. Yin and the newborn girl disappeared. This made the Yin family very angry, and they felt that the late emperor had not fulfilled his responsibility to protect her.

Although the two families had a grudge against each other, they could only keep to themselves because the ancestor of the Yin family had saved the late emperor's life.

Later, the Yin family moved to Shicheng and had no contact with them since then.

Now that it was brought up out of the blue, he was a little surprised.

If the Yin family knew that saltpeter powder was the main raw material for making lightning balls, it would be very difficult.

He pondered for a moment before frowning and asking, "Who is the current leader of the Yin family?"

Emperor Sheng An replied, "It's Yin Nianyue, the cousin of the missing girl!"

Prince Li's expression grew more serious. Judging from the name, the missing little girl from the Yin family was a pain to their entire clan.

Emperor Sheng An spoke in a gloomy voice, "It's not impossible for me to send people to force their way into Stone City, but they will eventually be criticized. After all, my father promised them that as long as they don't commit a heinous crime, I won't send troops to attack them!"

Prince Li waved his hand and said, "We can't send troops to attack. We were the ones who made the mistake. If we had protected Yin Yue, our two families wouldn't have ended up in a state of estrangement!"

Emperor Sheng An didn't say anything, but reached out and poured another bowl of strong liquor and drank it all.

He raised his hand to wipe the wine stain from his lips and said, "It's been almost twenty years now. Who knows whether that little girl is dead or alive? I heard that the Yin family has never stopped searching for her whereabouts, but there is still no news. I'm afraid she has already returned to dust!"

Prince Li warned: "Don't say such things. Leave some hope for the Yin family. They still have the least fear of the royal family. But if the news of that girl's death spreads, they will have no scruples at all!"

Emperor Sheng An understood this truth very well, which was why he was so worried that he had a lot of white hair.

Prince Li couldn't bear to see him like this, so he said, "I'll go find out about Yin Nianyue. Wait for my news!"

After saying that, he stood up and left quickly.

Looking at his back, Emperor Sheng An couldn't help but murmur, "Yin Yue, where are you? Twenty years have passed. Are you dead or alive?"

When Prince Li returned to his mansion, he asked his staff to investigate Yin Nianyue, the head of the Yin family.

He soon returned with news: "Reporting to Prince Li, the head of the Yin family is currently seeking medical treatment in the capital. He spent a large sum of money to purchase a purebred wild horse in Mongolia, intending to breed it, but it accidentally fell into an icy pond and froze its heart and lungs. Now it has a high fever. He is extremely anxious and has offered a reward of 100,000 taels of silver to anyone who can cure the horse!"

Prince Li's eyes lit up, and he asked anxiously, "Have you asked our horse doctor? Can he cure it?"

The staff shook his head. "It can't be cured. The veterinarian said that a horse with frozen heart and lungs has no chance of survival. It can only wait for death!"

Prince Li immediately paced back and forth anxiously. Even when Lin Yiwan came into his room, she didn't hear any movement.

She couldn't help but ask, "Father, what's going on that's got you so worried that your feet are almost worn out? I just heard the Emperor issued an imperial decree ordering the heirs of powerful families to go to the border for a year of training. What's going on?"