Making you a son-in-law is not about making you conquer the world.

"Ping'er, return the money to your father." The city lord said with a grin in Lin Ping's bedroom.

At this moment, Lin Ping lay face down on the bed, a thick stack of silver notes pressed under his body, and turned his head to say, "No!"

As the saying goes, why should you pay back money you earned through your own trickery?

Furthermore, I, Lin Ping, have done many favors for the City Lord's Mansion, and these are all considered as payment.

“Good boy, listen to me. This money is military pay. If you embezzle it, it could very well incur the wrath of your private army,” the city lord said earnestly, even resorting to threats.

"I don't believe it!" Lin Ping still turned his head, roughly guessing that this was some money that the city lord had hoarded, and had nothing to do with military pay.

The city lord was so angry that he gritted his teeth and, disregarding his image as an elder, directly tried to snatch it.

"Don't come any closer! If you take another step, I'll tear all these banknotes up!" Lin Ping took out a banknote from his pocket and tore it in half without hesitation.

"You!" The city lord stomped his feet in anger, but fearing that Lin Pingzhen would tear up all the silver notes, he could only plead and beg, even offering generous terms for him to consummate his marriage with Jiang Yunying ahead of schedule.

"I don't believe you unless you agree in person, my wife!" Lin Ping was completely unyielding, determined to protect this hard-won achievement.

Left with no other choice, the city lord turned and walked away, but instead hid behind the door frame and waited patiently for half an hour. He would rush in without hesitation as long as Lin Ping dared to put down the silver notes.

Unfortunately, Lin Ping had X-ray vision, so how could he not know that the city lord was hiding behind the door frame?

In fact, whenever the other party was about to leave, he would deliberately make a gesture of taking out silver notes, causing the city lord to wait twice as long.

"Father, have you not heard of throwing meat buns at a dog?" Jiang Yunying suddenly appeared behind the city lord and said in a serious tone.

Although these words successfully dissuaded the city lord from asking for money, Lin Ping still felt a strange feeling.

For the next three days, Lin Ping did not go out to cause trouble, and even refused to leave his bedroom, for fear of unexpectedly running into the city lord. Protecting the 20,000 taels of silver was the most urgent task.

Jiang Yunying was always out early and back late, spending most of her time in the military camp.

As Lin Ping's two demonstrations were promoted, the private army showed encouraging changes. They all felt their waists and abdomens were full of power, and their horseback riding posture became much more stylish.

Pang Xingji couldn't stop smiling, praising Lin Ping at every turn.

Lin Ping's reputation spread like wildfire, especially among the two thousand private soldiers who had witnessed his ruthless methods that night, all hoping that he would come to the training ground to provide guidance again.

Besides, the city lord has been busy these past few days, working tirelessly on the salt issue, but still without any substantial progress.

As more and more people fell in the streets, the city lord was extremely anxious. If this situation continued, the entire Jiangcheng Prefecture would be paralyzed within ten days.

Furthermore, the fact that many restaurants had to close down due to a lack of salt made Mingyuelou even more popular.

Thousands of people spared no expense, spending half a month's living expenses to feast at Qingfeng Tower, purely to replenish their salt intake.

In order to improve the health of the people, Lin Ping deliberately added a lot more salt to the stir-fries.

The four major salt merchants had clearly cut off Mingyue Tower's salt supply, and no one, including Jiang Yunying, knew where Lin Ping had gotten the salt from.

Another night passed, and the entire city lord's mansion was filled with a tense atmosphere, except for Lin Ping, who slept soundly without a care in the world.

"My husband, tomorrow is the deadline we agreed on. How will you untie this knot?" Jiang Yunying stood by Lin Ping's bedside, sighing, feeling that she could no longer understand her husband.

"Wife, don't go!" Lin Ping suddenly turned over in his sleep, just in time to grab Jiang Yunying's hand, and kept muttering to himself.

Jiang Yunying didn't want to wake him, so she just kept staring at Lin Ping until he let go on his own.

"My lovely wife, why don't you lie down here?" Watching Jiang Yunying's departing figure, Lin Ping couldn't help but do something... indescribable.

Jiang Yunying knew that Lin Ping was a man of his word and would always deliver on his promises. She also guessed that something important would happen tomorrow, but she couldn't figure out what method Lin Ping would use to break this deadlock.

In other words, if he really had a way, he shouldn't have waited until now, as if he were deliberately letting the enemy get carried away.

"Something's wrong!" Jiang Yunying and Lin Ping's voices, which they had expected, woke up the doorman.

The man who arrived was Master Yan from the salt refinery in the city lord's city. He had rushed over in a hurry and was panting heavily.

The gatekeeper had most likely met Master Yan before, and quickly went into the mansion to announce his arrival.

"What? Master Yan is here?" The city lord's heart skipped a beat, and he hurriedly said, "Quickly let him in. But never mind, I'll go greet him myself!"

Eager to get an answer as soon as possible, the city lord strode to the main gate and asked anxiously, "What is it?"

Master Yan knelt on the ground and cried, "Reporting to the city lord, the soapberry in the salt refinery has run out, and the seawater is also inexhaustible. It is no longer possible to sustain the private army's consumption."

"What?" The city lord stumbled and almost fell to the ground, but fortunately, the two gatekeepers next to him caught him quickly.

Several years ago, the main task of the salt refinery was to collect salt from the salt fields in the east, which could not only supply the private army with salt, but also sell it to the common people.

Later, the weather became unpredictable, large areas of salt fields were abandoned, and the salt refineries had to boil seawater to barely sustain the private army's expenses.

Now, the situation is even worse; even the supplies for private armies cannot be guaranteed.

The private army is the lifeblood of the city lord's mansion. If they have no salt to eat, they will definitely become weak and powerless, and their fighting ability will be greatly reduced.

This blow was fatal to the city lord. He regretted not giving Lin Ping some money earlier to buy several cartloads of salt in case of emergency.

"Help me up! Go to the inner city and buy salt immediately!" The city lord panicked and had no choice but to take out all his savings, even considering buying salt from Fang Hongxin.

"Father, think it over!" Jiang Yunying suddenly appeared and hurriedly stopped him.

"The situation is so urgent, how can I possibly think twice?" The city lord, in a moment of impulsiveness, didn't want to hear any explanations and was single-mindedly focused on buying salt.

“My wife is right. If Father goes to Su Hongxin to buy salt, it will inevitably arouse his suspicion. The news that the private army has no salt to eat is likely to leak out, and some unscrupulous people will inevitably take advantage of the situation,” Lin Ping explained to the city lord in detail.

Nowadays, the four major salt merchants are no longer just merchants; they have secretly colluded with the prefect. If the city lord's mansion spares no effort in buying salt, the prefect will guess the current situation of the private army and may join forces with external forces to suppress the city lord's mansion.

The city lord sighed. How could he not understand Lin Ping's meaning? He just couldn't think of a good solution.

"Report..." At that moment, another person rushed over in a panic, also kneeling on the ground and crying.

This person is the city lord's spy planted in the inner city, so something big must have happened in the inner city.

"Reporting to the city lord, the weaving workshop, papermaking workshop, and ceramics workshop have all ceased operations because the workers are weak and powerless," the man said weakly, his hands resting on the ground.