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

It seems that Shen Lu is the only daughter in the Shen family, so she needs to familiarize herself with the ways of the business before Shen San can work anymore.

To be honest, no job is easy.

Others may think that businessmen are greedy and greedy, buying low and selling high, but they don't know that they also have to take risks to figure out the ways of business.

Chen Futu admired Shen Lu somewhat. She was so well covered up, she was obviously beautiful. If she were to reveal her true appearance in the Black Sand Sea, her fate would be predictable.

"Young hero, where in the Central Plains are you from?" Shen Lu asked, her voice quite pleasant.

"A person from the capital."

"The capital? His Majesty the Emperor swept through the Central Plains from the north and occupied the capital region. I wonder how his rule is?"

"Just so-so."

puff.

Chen Futu's answer made Shen Lu laugh. "Young hero, everyone praises His Majesty the Holy Emperor for spreading benevolence, so why do you say it's just so-so?"

"Otherwise, do you want me to praise him?"

Chen Futu didn't think he was particularly outstanding as emperor. Most of the time, Lao Zhu and Lao Yu handled the political affairs, while the strategist Zhang Liang controlled the military affairs. In any case, his ministers were infinitely loyal and he didn't have to worry about betrayal, so he, as emperor, didn't need to interfere at all.

Shen Lu blinked her big, watery eyes and continued, "I really like His Majesty the Holy Emperor's theory on the fate of the nation. He has a clear understanding of the rise and fall of dynasties. Does this mean that the Great Xia will no longer experience land annexation and that the dynasty will continue indefinitely?"

"Are you dreaming? You think he can do a good job just because he can spout theories about the fate of the nation?"

"Why not?"

"The emperor is the biggest annexation leader in the world. Unless there is no emperor in this world, land annexation cannot be stopped."

Chen Futu criticized the theory of national destiny as utterly worthless.

The theory of national destiny was meant for intellectuals, merely to motivate them. Even the policies implemented were only aimed at slowing down the pace of land annexation and could not address the root cause of the problem.

With the development of commerce, people have more and more ways to make a living. Under the premise of ensuring land security, it is barely possible to prolong the country's fortunes.

"I do not agree with what you say, young hero. I believe that His Majesty the Holy Emperor is a monarch with great ideals, and he will surely be able to do a good job."

Chen Futu never expected that Shen Lu was actually a little fan of the Holy Emperor. Look at her angry eyes, she's no different from a girl chasing stars in later eras.

For the next while, Shen Lu talked on and on about the information she had collected about the Holy Emperor, from the theory of national destiny to the story of the dynasty's reign, and from "I would rather betray the world than let the world betray me" to his coronation as king.

Chen Futu felt a sense of disgust, as if she were being spied on. Was she being too fanatical?

"If it weren't for the Northern Wu Empress suddenly taking control of Jiangnan, our whole family would have moved to the capital long ago."

Shen Lu muttered to herself.

Chen Futu's eyes darted around, and he egged on, "I've heard that the Holy Emperor and the Northern Martial Empress are having an affair."

"Pah! Why do you speak so rudely!"

Shen Lu was extremely displeased, her delicate hands clenched tightly, and her voice unconsciously rose a few decibels.

Chen Futu coughed. "What I mean is, they have a very close personal relationship..."

"It's normal for emperors to have three wives and four concubines. Even the Northern Wu Empress was subdued by the Holy Emperor; otherwise, why wouldn't she have dared to fight the battle in the capital?"

"What you say makes so much sense, I'm speechless. By the way, does the Holy Emperor know about your deep faith in him?"

"I will go to the capital sooner or later. The Holy Emperor has a longer-term vision than any emperor in history. He knows the significance of merchants and not only does not suppress them, but also praises them. This alone is enough to make him worthy of the name Holy Emperor."

Shen Lu's admiration for the Holy Emperor reached a fanatical level. According to her, the Holy Emperor was not only a young hero but also a rare and wise ruler. In contrast, she looked down on the Qian Emperor and her words were full of disdain.

Along the way, Chen Futu found her conversation quite interesting, and didn't find it so boring anymore.

Three days later, the caravan officially entered the Black Sand Sea.

The so-called Black Sand Sea is a black desert. It is unknown what kind of material the sand is, but it absorbs sunlight and becomes even hotter than ordinary sand, like iron sand.

The caravan traveled on the only road, where the heat was intense and stifling.

It is extremely difficult for ordinary people to cross the Black Sand Sea. Most of those who dare to come have martial arts skills. Even Shen Lu, who looks weak and frail, has one or two levels of martial arts skills.

Chen Futu knew about the desert before he set off, so he stored a lot of ice in his system space in advance.

Just as Shen Lu was feeling unbearably hot, Chen Futu tossed a bundle of ice into the carriage with a thud.

Her eyes widened immediately. "Where did you get the ice?"

Chen Futu smiled mysteriously, "I cultivate the Xuanming Divine Palm, which can turn water into ice. That is a profound martial art."

"Really? In that case, there will be ice available along the way."

Shen Lu was overjoyed. She knew that there were many powerful martial arts in the world. For example, Her Majesty the Holy Emperor, whom she often talked about, could use the Heaven-Slaying Sword Technique and even kill a saint. The existence of the Xuanming Divine Palm was not so hard to accept.

Chen Futu shared some ice with Ge Fei. As for Zhang Sanfeng and Xiaobai, their cultivation was so high that they were completely unaffected by the environment. One of them sat on the camel with his eyes closed, resting, as detached from worldly affairs as Lao Tzu riding his green ox out of Hangu Pass, unlike ordinary people. The other one lay on the camel's hump and slept soundly, drooling all the way.

Upon hearing that Chen Futu's Xuanming Divine Palm could create ice, Shen San spent a hundred gold coins to purchase supplies for the journey.

"A fool wouldn't take the money," Chen Futu said generously. During his break, he pretended to "create" some ice, which earned him a thumbs-up from the guards, who called him "Brother Chen" one after another.

"It's estimated that we'll reach Dantu in a few more days."

Shen Lu looked westward, her eyes becoming serious.

Chen Futu asked, "You should have prepared gifts for the bandits of Dantu, right?"

"That's true, but those people don't follow the rules. They kill people if they don't get what they want. My father even argued with me about this and didn't want me to come, fearing something might happen to me."

“Your father cares about you, but dancing with wild beasts comes at a price.”

Chen Futu took out some fruit from his spatial storage and gave it to Consort Ge and the other two. Consort Ge had been traveling through the Black Sand Sea for a long time and looked sickly. She refused to get into the carriage, seemingly afraid of overstepping her bounds and that His Majesty would not help her take revenge.

Chen Futu gave her another Creation Pill, and her spirits improved. Her eyes were filled with tenderness and love as she whispered, "Young Master, I will serve you well after this trip."

“You have always been mine, so why do you speak like that?”

Chen Futu squeezed Ge Fei's small hand, making her blush slightly.

"Black, a black sandstorm is coming!"

Suddenly someone shouted, and looking in the direction of the sound, rolling dust tornadoes, obscuring the sky, swept towards this direction from the southeast of the camp.

Shen San yelled "Damn it!" and hurriedly told everyone to pack their things and find a place to shelter from the sandstorm.