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

The city lord summoned Lin Ping late at night mainly to discuss profit sharing, since the rock salt mine was a very lucrative business.

Besides Lin Ping, Jiang Yunyu also stood respectfully to the side, wondering how much profit he had generated for the City Lord's Mansion, but Jiang Yunying was nowhere to be seen.

Lin Ping clasped his hands together and bowed, saying, "Reporting to Father, due to the shortage of salt in Jiangcheng Prefecture, sales are excellent. In the past half month, we have made a net profit of 50,000 taels of silver. Since you have a 40% share, you should receive 20,000 taels of silver."

"Twenty thousand taels?" The city lord nodded in satisfaction, his protruding right hand clearly indicating that he wanted the money.

Earning 20,000 taels of silver in half a month, that's 40,000 taels a month, and nearly 500,000 taels a year. Adding Lin Ping's share, it's probably as much as 800,000 taels, which actually exceeds the expenses of the private army.

In other words, as long as this rock salt mine exists, the city lord's mansion will never have to worry about money again.

"However..." Lin Ping drawled, showing no sign of taking out money.

The city lord's heart tightened. He knew that Lin Ping was a ruthless man who would snatch money from a tiger's mouth. Not only was he greedy, but he was also fearless. It was very difficult to get any money out of him once it passed through his hands.

"But what?" the city lord asked with a long face, knowing that nothing good was coming.

When the other party asked that question, Lin Ping chuckled, thinking to himself: Do you believe I can find a hundred reasons not to pay?

Whether the city lord believes it or not, the author certainly does...

"However, part of this silver will be used to manufacture military equipment, and the rest will be used to repair the city walls," Lin Ping replied seriously.

The city lord nodded somewhat kindly; he had also heard about the barbell and the city wall repair. Because he trusted Jiang Yunying and Lin Ping completely, he didn't ask further, but Lin Ping unexpectedly brought it up himself.

"What about the rest?" The city lord's heart pounded as he calculated how much silver he could hold. Judging from Lin Ping's personality, there shouldn't be any extra... ten taels of silver.

At this moment, Lin Ping straightened up, raised his head, and said arrogantly, "The remaining part needs to be repaid slowly by Father..."

"Pay it back slowly?" The city lord staggered, almost spitting out blood. This meant that 20,000 taels of silver was simply not enough!

Jiang Yunyu was startled by his excellent brother-in-law's answer and trembled all over. He was glad that he had given the city lord the 20% share, otherwise he would not have been able to repay it.

Before the city lord could refute, Lin Ping continued, "May I ask, Father, how much silver does a millstone cost?"

"At least two taels of silver..." the city lord replied weakly.

Millstones are indispensable to ordinary people. In addition to grinding flour, they are also used to grind soybeans, press oil, and so on. In short, every household has one. Since grinding huge stones is time-consuming and laborious, the price of two taels of silver is reasonable.

Lin Ping nodded in satisfaction and continued, "One barbell requires two millstones and a piece of high-quality wood, which would cost at least five taels of silver. I, your humble son-in-law, managed to make four thousand, which cost a total of twenty thousand taels of silver."

Lin Ping's confident and eloquent manner makes him look exactly like... a fraudster!

Lin Ping's barbell wasn't made from a giant stone. Cheap concrete and simple techniques can't handle many of them. Besides, how come the total number of two thousand has doubled now?

However, the city lord was unaware of this, and Jiang Yunying happened to be away. Even if Lin Ping said he had made ten thousand, the other party would have no choice but to believe him.

By this calculation, the barbell alone has already exhausted the profits that the city lord's mansion should have received.

The city lord regretted summoning Lin Ping. According to his calculations, who knows what earth-shattering things he might say next? The city lord's mansion might not have enough resources to cover it up.

"Next is to repair the city walls..." Lin Ping paused here, even he himself felt a little shameless.

"Repair...repaired several tens of meters?" the city lord stammered, his heart filled with panic. He could handle simple repairs, but large-scale repairs would be too much for him.

Lin Ping didn't answer immediately. Instead, he looked anxiously outside the door and, sure enough, heard a loud voice.

"Report..." The scout outside the door drew out his words as he strode into the hall, his knees sliding several meters to his knees.

"What is it?" The city lord asked eagerly, noticing the joy on the scout's face.

"Congratulations, Lord City Lord! The twenty-mile city wall has been fully repaired!" The scout clasped his hands together, a smile on his face, even revealing two bright white front teeth.

The city lord knew that Lin Ping was repairing the city wall, so he sent people to keep a close eye on it. He thought that there would be no results in ten days or half a month, but unexpectedly, news came five days later.

The entire main city wall is only twenty li long, meaning the entire wall has been repaired. This should have been a great thing, but he couldn't smile at all. He even stammered, "How is the repair?"

This time, the scout was even more spirited, and said arrogantly, "It's ten feet taller overall, and several times stronger than before. Even a thousand troops wouldn't be able to break through it!"

"Great!" the city lord replied, slapping his thigh, his joy written all over his face.

The city walls of the main city were originally three zhang high, and now they have been increased by another zhang. At this height, even the enemy's siege ladders would have difficulty reaching them. Moreover, they are several times stronger than before, and the siege engines are probably rendered useless.

Just as the scouts said, even a thousand troops wouldn't be able to set foot inside. This was a huge boon for the city lord, directly resolving many of his anxieties. He wasn't even afraid of a coalition with other city lords; at most, he would just retreat into his city, where food was plentiful, ensuring he could rest easy for a year.

However, the city lord's bright smile gradually froze. He secretly glanced at Lin Ping, whose eerie smile was truly chilling.

According to the scouts' report, the city wall was not only raised by one zhang (approximately 3.3 meters) but also thickened, at an astronomical cost.

"This is nothing, I dare not claim any credit." Lin Ping's humble attitude was outrageous, and he even added, "How much silver do you think this will cost?"

The city lord frantically counted on his fingers, his mind blank and buzzing. He asked in bewilderment, "Two hundred thousand taels? No, no… at least five hundred thousand taels… it should be one million taels…"

At this point, the city lord slumped into his chair, almost bursting into tears: "You can't treat people like this..."

Hearing the city lord's mutterings, Lin Ping felt relieved. Although he spent less than 10,000 taels in total, the results he achieved were worth a million taels.

Knowing that the city lord's mansion didn't have that much money and didn't want to push his father-in-law to the brink, he took the initiative to say, "Most of this money comes from labor. Because of the people's love and respect for you, they didn't take a penny. The remaining 300,000 taels for bricks and stones is my own money, which I will use as a betrothal gift to marry Yunying."

Since the city lord had brought up the figure of one million taels, Lin Ping naturally wouldn't refute it. He could also directly repay the five hundred thousand taels of silver he owed the city lord's mansion. However, he was afraid that the time was not right. Even though Jiang Yunying slept in the same bed with him, he wouldn't dare to make a move. In the end, he would be the one who suffered.

Therefore, Lin Ping deliberately left a shortfall of 200,000 taels, which was just the right time to continue to deepen his relationship with Jiang Yunying.