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

"Shh... let him get cocky." Lin Ping whispered in response.

Putting aside his relationship with the city lord, Ruan Dan would definitely suffer a setback just from the salt mine alone.

The City Lord's Mansion owns shares, and its share is even larger than Lin Ping's, making it the largest shareholder hidden in the shadows.

To be honest, Lin Ping didn't want to bother the city lord with this matter, but Ruan Dan just didn't know what was going on. Wasn't he just asking for trouble?

The waiting process was long, and Ruan Dan remained arrogant throughout, even shaking his leg and whistling.

Lin Ping was indeed somewhat flustered. He didn't know what ruthless measures the city lord would take. Would he kill Ruan Dan directly? Or would he wipe out all one hundred soldiers?

He didn't want to make things too tense. Although the city lord's mansion was not afraid of the imperial court for the time being, it still had to rely on the salt transport commissioner's office to sell salt. Jiangcheng Prefecture alone could not earn much profit.

If all one hundred people were killed, it would create a grudge, and even if the imperial court did not send troops to punish them, they would never come here to buy salt again.

This is a free transportation team, and Lin Ping doesn't want to lose it. Otherwise, he would have to go through the trouble of setting up a logistics company, which would be really difficult for him.

Why is it difficult? Because the money earned is so much that it's impossible to count it all.

According to Zhu Xiaoji, crude oil has already been extracted from the oil field on the east side. With a little refining, a large amount of asphalt can be produced. At that time, paving a few asphalt roads will greatly reduce transportation costs.

It is bound to become a profitable industry.

Is this the kind of ordinary logistics company that Lin Ping really wants?

The answer is no. He wanted to use the cheapest sea transport to pave the asphalt road directly to the coastal area of ​​Yancheng, and then sell the salt to the entire Daye region, and even to some overseas countries.

He seemed to see a huge maritime transport fleet beckoning to him, each time it carried away salt, it would bring gold and silver treasures in return.

Historical records show that silver did not circulate much before the Ming Dynasty because the quantity was limited.

The reason why a large amount of silver emerged during the Ming Dynasty was because it was imported. Lin Ping wanted to open up a maritime trade route and earn wealth that would rival that of a country.

At that point, would we still need to ask the King of Wu for help?

With money in hand, he could stand tall and easily recruit scattered bandits and mountain thieves to build up his own power.

Of course, this was not for the purpose of rebellion, but purely to help those who had become outlaws solve their food and clothing problems, to stop them from doing evil, and incidentally to attack the Lotus Palace.

As he was thinking, the clatter of hooves came from the spot, the speed of the warhorses running was just like a charge.

"Haha, the city lord has brought his troops. Let's see where you unruly commoners can run now!" Ruan Dan laughed triumphantly.

The common people were indeed terrified. These were cavalrymen, and even if they risked their lives, they were powerless to resist. But they did not retreat an inch.

Lin Ping glanced into the distance, then turned to Ruan Dan and said, "Leave your last words."

He knew the leader of the group all too well; it was none other than the volatile and violent Hu Bugui. His appearance was a sure sign of bloodshed.

How could the city lord not know how much benefit the salt mine could bring? He's not blind; tens of thousands of taels of silver are flowing into his account every month.

He originally only wanted to be a major shareholder in secret and didn't want to make a fuss about it. Who would have thought that someone so reckless would come and try to rob the salt mine in the main city? Isn't that just courting death?

If this had happened three months ago, the city lord would have really had to think twice. After all, he was being ostracized by the prefect from within and opposed by the mountain city lord from without. One wrong step could have led to utter ruin.

But things are different now. The city lord of the mountain city was killed, and the prefect fled with him. The strength of his 10,000 private troops has increased several times over.

His ambitions had begun to burn, and even if the court didn't cause trouble, he wanted to take the initiative to provoke it.

After all, the position of the monarch is very tempting.

Therefore, he didn't even consider the mere Salt Transport Commissioner's Office worthy of his attention.

The envoy sent by Ruan Dan was beheaded shortly after he finished reporting the situation; the city lord himself beheaded him.

"Lin Wuqing, are you scared out of your wits? You're the one who's going to die!" Ruan Dan said coldly, truly unable to understand what Lin Ping was thinking.

"Since you have no last words, you can only die a wronged death." Lin Ping shook his head helplessly. He clearly saw Hu Bugui throw out a human head.

The bloody head hit Ruan Dan's shoulder and rolled to the ground. It was the envoy he had sent. His eyes were open until he died, and his appearance was extremely tragic.

"What's going on?" Ruan Dan's heart skipped a beat, and he broke out in a cold sweat. Looking at Lin Ping's sinister smile, he seemed to have already found the answer.

"Kill them all, leave no one alive!" Pang Xingji raised his spear above his head, his loud voice echoing through the sky. He pierced a man's forehead, and blood and brains splattered out at the same time.

This was a full thousand iron cavalry; their mere presence was enough to terrify the enemy, and their strength was abnormally powerful.

Upon seeing blood, the entire army erupted in cheers, vying to pierce the enemy's chest, some even thrusting the enemy over their heads and then slamming them heavily to the ground.

The steel-like cavalry almost crushed everything in their path, leaving no survivors.

More than half of the officers and soldiers were instantly swallowed up, without even uttering a scream.

Ruan Dan was completely stunned, his crotch tightened, and a strong stench filled the air.

As the enemy's spear drew near, he felt compelled to struggle. "I am the son of the Salt Transport Magistrate, ordered to seize the salt mines. Could you... spare my life?"

After speaking, Ruan Dan immediately knelt on the ground and kowtowed.

When a scholar encounters a soldier, reason is useless; what's more, Ruan Dan wasn't even a scholar.

Hu Bugui was a rough man, so he wouldn't listen to Hu Bugui's rambling. His sharp spear went straight into Hu Bugui's back, pulling out his internal organs as well.

"Sigh... If only I had known this would happen, I wouldn't have done it in the first place." Lin Ping shook his head helplessly, feeling deeply sorry for Ruan Dan.

However, it doesn't matter whether he dies sooner or later; since Ruan Dan is on his blacklist, he won't live much longer anyway.

Hundreds of soldiers were wiped out almost instantly; they never expected the Jiangcheng Prefecture's private army to be so ruthless and decisive.

"Your Highness? Is it really you?" Pang Xingji's eyes widened, and before the warhorse had even come to a complete stop, he jumped off.

Lin Pingke was his savior and the person he admired most.

He wanted to follow Lin Ping when Lin Ping left, but Lin Ping refused. Several months have passed in the blink of an eye, and he never expected to have the chance to see him again.

“Brother Pang has become even more valiant,” Lin Ping said with a smile.

"Hmph, what's the use of being even more valiant? We'll still be stuck in the city, won't we? If the princess and the prince consort don't leave, the whole world will probably belong to the city lord," Pang Xingji said with a hint of dissatisfaction.

He's a rough, uncultured man who loves fighting. He clearly has the ability to conquer battlefields, so why is he holding back here?

"I just don't understand why the city lord didn't keep the princess. It's also my fault for being unable to defeat that witch." Pang Xingji patted his chest and blamed himself, actually using the witch to describe Jiang Lanfeng.

"What's the use of talking about the past?" Lin Ping smiled bitterly. How could he not want to keep Jiang Yunying with him?