After being demoted, my 300,000-strong army trampled the imperial city!

The messenger from the ancient temple was extremely arrogant. Even though he knew that Chen Futu had a Confucian sage and a sword sage behind him, he still dared to say that he had the power of life and death. This shows how arrogant the ancient temple was.

Chen Futu laughed heartily, so much so that tears streamed down his face.

The grandmaster said unhappily, "What are you laughing at!"

Chen Futu ignored him, while Diao Chan, who was on the other side, exaggeratedly said, "Chan'er, did you hear that? He wants to kill me."

Diao Chan lifted her water sleeves, slowly put down her wine cup, and smiled, "Your Majesty, I heard you."

Without saying that, she suddenly struck with her palm. Before the grandmaster could react, his head exploded on the spot, like a rotten watermelon, with disgusting stuff splattering everywhere.

The remaining female grandmasters and the leading man's expressions changed drastically. Just as they were about to speak, Diao Chan coldly snorted, "Kneel down."

hum-

The inner energy, like ripples on water, suppressed them, and the two immediately knelt on the ground, their eyes filled with fear. "Another, another saint! How is this possible!"

Chen Futu asked with a smile, "How about now? Do you still dare to threaten me?"

"Your Majesty, we have only come here to discuss a business deal with you. That fellow offended your dignity and deserved to die."

The men were scared. The Northern Frontier's resources were too exaggerated. Even a random maidservant by the Northern Frontier King's side was a saint. How could they possibly compete with this?

"Speak, what kind of business?"

"The Heavenly Ruler and the Heavenly Secret Token should be in your possession, right?"

"Indeed, it's in my hands. What can you offer in exchange?"

"As long as Your Majesty gives the word, we will gladly hand over the throne of the Great Qian Dynasty."

The man spoke with conviction.

Chen Futu remained outwardly calm, but inwardly he was experiencing a storm of emotions.

How could someone casually bestow the territory of a nation? What is the origin of this ancient temple?

The man continued, “Your Majesty may not know, but we are but a small corner of the world. The world is vast, and what harm is there in giving away the mere Great Qian to Your Majesty?”

Looking at the man's expression, Chen Futu could no longer remain calm.

Therefore, the parallel world we are in is very different from Earth.

"System, is this world really that big?"

The Great Qian Dynasty is but a small corner of the world. This world is a martial arts plane, with a territory far exceeding that of the host's original world.

After receiving a positive reply, Chen Futu took a long time to process this explosive news.

But none of that matters now. We need to defeat the Great Qian first. As for the Heavenly Ruler and the Heavenly Secret Token, there's absolutely no way we can hand them over.

"I will manage to govern the Great Qian Dynasty myself; I do not need your help."

"Your Majesty, the Palace Master has given an order that you must obtain two supreme treasures. If you do not agree, the Ancient Palace will send people to the Great Qian, and you will face great resistance then."

The man made his point clear: if the treasure wasn't handed over, the Ancient Palace would cooperate with the Great Qian Dynasty to protect it or support a force against the Northern Frontier. But would the Northern Frontier really be able to easily conquer the Great Qian Dynasty in that case?

"What do you want this treasure for?"

"It has nothing to do with Your Majesty; the only question is whether Your Majesty will make this deal."

“I won’t do it. Go back and tell your palace master that the Northern Frontier never looks to others’ faces. If it’s time to fight, I’ll fight to the bitter end.”

Chen Futu waved his hand, telling the two to get lost.

"I will convey Your Majesty's words later, and I hope you will not regret it."

Fearing Diao Chan's strength, the man decided to leave with the female master without further delay.

"You left, so what? And you dare to make such threats?"

Chen Futu was displeased. The next second, a crescent blade was suddenly placed against the man's neck. It was Ake who made the move. The man didn't even have time to react before his throat was slit.

At this point, of the three powerful figures from the ancient palace, only the female grandmaster remained.

Chen Futu looked at her pale face and said mockingly, "Go back and tell your temple master to wash his neck clean and wait. I will kill him sooner or later. Also, take the corpse away and clean up the filth on the ground."

The female master nodded vigorously, quickly cleaned the room, and then took the corpse away.

Diao Chan asked, puzzled, "Why leave them alive?"

"Someone has to deliver the message eventually. Things have come to this point, and the relationship between the two sides is irreconcilable. The Ancient Palace will probably send someone into the Great Qian Dynasty next."

"Should I go out for a stroll?" Diao Chan seemed eager to ask.

"You don't need to go, Ake can go."

Chen Futu gave Ake an order to personally go to Daqian, first to cooperate with the intelligence gathered by Xiao Qi to wipe out the high-ranking members of Hongyuelou, and then to completely dismantle Hongyuelou.

After Ake left, the Embroidered Uniform Guard secretly reported other news: recently, grain merchants in the northern border region have been making frequent private moves. Instead of profiting from the national crisis caused by the resurgence of the country, they have been secretly buying grain from small and medium-sized grain merchants and have already stockpiled a considerable amount.

Chen Futu frowned. "Have you found the location of the Taiping Granary?"

"It hasn't been found yet, but judging from the actions of the three major grain merchants, they plan to transport the grain collected in Longcheng to Daqian and resell it at a high price to those rebel kings."

The situation reported by the Embroidered Uniform Guard was not too different from Chen Futu's expectations.

The Great Qian Dynasty is in turmoil, and grain prices have soared. The three major grain merchants originally planned to sell their grain to the royal court at high prices to make a fortune from the national crisis. However, Chen Futu has the grain as a safety net, which is a reward from the system. In addition, the grain given by Yan Qing and the royal court's reserves are enough to support the people until this year's harvest.

The three major grain merchants couldn't rip off the royal court, so they turned around and tried to resell the grain from Longcheng to the rebel king in Daqian. How could Chen Futu let them have their way?

The royal court convened a meeting.

Yu Qian said, "Your Majesty should not be too aggressive in dealing with the grain merchants' methods. If you forcibly keep the grain, I'm afraid no one will dare to do grain business in Longcheng in the future."

“Old Yu, you’re wrong. The grain from small and medium-sized grain merchants is the reserve grain of the Northern Frontier. How can it be sent to other places? It would be better to issue an edict with strict laws to prohibit the grain from leaving the Northern Frontier. If anyone violates this, it will be perfectly reasonable for the King to take action.”

Liu Bowen said this.

Chen Futu looked at Di Renjie and Zhuge Liang. Di Renjie said, "I agree with Mr. Qingtian's opinion. Although it is not wartime now, food reserves are especially important. It would be bad if another natural disaster were to occur."

"Liang believes that even if the lord issues an edict forbidding the export of grain from the northern frontier, the three major grain merchants will not obey the lord's orders. Now we must establish the royal court's own grain storage as soon as possible, so that we can buy more grain from the market and store it in the warehouse."

Zhuge Liang's idea coincided with Chen Futu's: the royal court had not yet made systematic arrangements for food security, and now was the time.

Chen Futu issued several orders.

First, he established a Ministry of Agriculture to oversee storage and the grain market. Second, he issued an imperial edict to prevent grain from leaving the northern border during wartime. Third, Yu Qian personally visited the three major grain merchants to give them a heads-up, showing them courtesy before resorting to force. If they didn't appreciate his kindness, they shouldn't blame him, the King of the Northern Border, for being ruthless.

After everyone dispersed, Chen Futu summoned Cui Zhengyu and gave him an order: "Go to the Northern Mountains and meet up with Chu Jiang. Take over the Northern Mountains as soon as possible in the name of the rebel king."