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

"What does opening up a market have to do with the eastern coastline?" the city lord asked, puzzled. In his view, the eastern sea area was indeed of great importance, but it was mainly for fishing and salt production.

Now that there are underground rock salt mines, the role of that sea area has become negligible.

"Among the current modes of transportation, air freight is the most expensive, followed by road freight, then rail freight, and the cheapest is still water freight. Salt, as a major consumer product, should have its transportation costs minimized as much as possible, so that sea area plays a very important role," Lin Ping patiently explained to everyone.

"Air freight? Land freight? Sea freight?"

The city lord was completely bewildered, certain he had never heard of air transport before.

Lin Ping realized he had gotten a little excited and had forgotten that there were no airplanes in this era, so he quickly gave a detailed explanation of maritime transport.

The city lord at least had some business acumen and knew that water transport was the cheapest option, but sending small boats out to sea to brave the waves seemed a bit reckless.

After all, the Wu Kingdom has not yet produced super-large ships.

In fact, even if Lin Ping hadn't said anything, the city lord would have done everything in his power to take over that sea area, since it was related to the struggle with the city lord of the mountain city and also involved the selection of the commander.

If the city lord is defeated again this time, he will be completely trampled underfoot by the mountain city lord, and there is even a possibility that he will be annexed.

Before long, Lin Ping and the others left, leaving only the city lord and Jiang Xiuwen in the hall.

"Xiuwu, there's only a month left until the competition with Shancheng. How confident are you?" Jiang Xiuwen asked with a worried expression.

In fact, even without Lin Ping's suggestion to seize that coastline, the showdown between Jiangcheng and Shancheng was imminent.

However, over the years, the strength of the mountain city has surpassed theirs.

The city lord shook his head listlessly, saying, "I only hope that the stirrups Ping'er made will work, and that will allow us to turn the tide. As for the other competitions..."

Ugh……

The city lord sighed again, clearly showing his lack of confidence.

He clearly remembered the scene of the last competition, where his side was almost completely defeated and had no ability to put up any resistance.

Although Jiang Yunying had not yet returned at that time, it would have been difficult for her to turn the tide on her own. Therefore, the city lord was always worried.

He had considered promotion, but the private army's strength was limited, and he couldn't force growth.

Jiang Xiuwen could only sigh, unable to come up with any practical solutions.

"Husband..." After leaving the hall, Luo Shaolan was preoccupied and stammered.

"My lady, I suddenly feel like taking a stroll around the training ground!" Lin Ping laughed heartily, clearly understanding Jiang Yunying's thoughts. When he emphasized the necessity of capturing the eastern sea area, the city lord's worried expression indicated the situation was far from optimistic.

This proves that the training of the private army needs to be strengthened. Jiang Yunying could not find a better way and could only plead with Lin Ping.

As a proper husband, Lin Ping would not allow Jiang Yunying to make requests of him, so he took the initiative to suggest going for a walk in the training ground.

In addition, Lin Ping also wanted to see how effective push-ups and sit-ups were, since the private army was the foundation of the city lord's mansion and also Lin Ping's protective umbrella. He had an obligation to solidify this foundation.

Jiang Yunying looked at Lin Ping with gratitude, her eyes suddenly becoming somewhat complicated.

After their marriage, Jiang Yunying treated him as someone she could do without, and even thought he was a complete spendthrift. However, Lin Ping, despite his seemingly dissolute lifestyle, repeatedly helped the city lord's mansion solve major problems, and Jiang Yunying's opinion of him gradually changed.

To be honest, in Jiang Yunying's heart, the City Lord's Mansion would always be number one, and her own happiness was unimportant. She was perfectly capable of consummating her marriage with Lin Ping in order to keep him.

Now that Lin Ping has made another remarkable move, the deadline for the two to consummate their marriage is getting closer, so Jiang Yunying is a little nervous.

Not only that, once she decides to completely give herself to Lin Ping, she will have to remove the iron mask from her face and interact with Lin Ping with her original appearance.

Although Lin Ping often boasted about her looks, she knew that Lin Ping was referring to her temperament and figure.

She didn't know if Lin Ping could accept her appearance.

Over the years, Jiang Yunying had never cared about her appearance, but this was the first time she hoped to satisfy Lin Ping in terms of looks.

When they arrived at the training ground, it was just past noon, and the private army, having rested for lunch, was training in an orderly manner.

The sight of tens of thousands of people doing sit-ups in unison is also a beautiful sight.

At the same time, discordant voices reached Lin Ping's ears from not far away.

“This belongs to our Ryubei.”

A captain, with barbells folded around his arms, spoke arrogantly.

“Your Dragon Guards have been occupying it for three days now, it’s Tiger Guards’ turn to use it.” Another captain insisted on taking it, and it looked like the two were about to fight.

Pang Xingji, standing to the side, also expressed his helplessness. He originally belonged to the Longbingwei and wanted to speak up for them, but Lin Ping had specifically instructed him that both garrisons were the foundation of the city lord's mansion and could not be favored.

"What is it?" Lin Ping walked over with a half-smile.

The two captains were so frightened when they saw Lin Ping that their legs went weak and they immediately knelt down and kowtowed.

They had naturally witnessed Lin Ping's abilities; he could easily defeat even Pang Xingji, let alone an ordinary captain.

Aside from fear, there was even more admiration; the two didn't want to leave a bad impression on Lin Ping.

"Reporting to Your Excellency, ever since you sent this barbell, it has been monopolized by the Dragon Guard. My brothers from the Tiger Guard have been eyeing it and came to ask for it, but the Dragon Guard refused." The captain from the Tiger Guard replied with his head down, not daring to speak out even though he knew he was in the right.

After all, his argument with the other party could have a negative impact on the private army.

"Alright, stop arguing. This barbell is only a semi-finished product. Since you all want it, I'll make a larger batch so you can test its effectiveness." Lin Ping's expression was calm, showing no favoritism.

To be honest, Lin Ping wasn't exactly a fitness enthusiast back then, and he didn't know how effective barbells were. So he simply made a half-finished product using two round stones, which unexpectedly became a hot item among his private team. This shows that barbells must be quite effective.

"How many do you wish to make, my lord? I, Yunying, will immediately send people to the mountain to carve stones," Jiang Yunying said excitedly.

She had heard about the effects of barbells and had long wanted to mass-produce some, but she was afraid of wasting manpower and resources without Lin Ping's technical guidance.

"Go up the mountain to quarry stones?" Lin Ping couldn't help but stick out his tongue, knowing full well that this was a massive undertaking.

There are quite a few large stones on the nearby mountains, but it takes a considerable amount of time to grind them into the shape of a millstone; otherwise, Lin Ping wouldn't have only brought one sample.

If ten thousand barbells were made of stone, who knows when the competition between the two city lords would have ended.

"My lady, where is the kiln for firing porcelain in the city lord's city?" Lin Ping asked hurriedly.

Lin Ping, who had transmigrated from another world, had countless ideas in his mind, but he simply didn't have the time to put them into practice.

Now that the prefect has settled down for the time being, Lin Ping needs to calm down and do some inventions and creations, and the kiln used to fire porcelain will be a great help.

“It’s right next to the armory,” Jiang Yunying replied suspiciously. Naturally, she didn’t know what Lin Ping was up to. Surely he wasn’t planning to make a batch of porcelain? But what did that have to do with barbells?