Fearing being killed for his overwhelming merits, the empress decided to marry him.

"Drink~"

"Ha~"

On the military training ground of the Shu region, tens of thousands of soldiers clad in iron armor were practicing military formations under the command of their instructors.

"Lift your head up! Stand tall!"

"Listen up, all of you! The Prince is watching from the reviewing stand. Be alert and don't embarrass yourselves!"

"Keep practicing!"

Amidst the head instructor's shouts, these Sichuan officers trained even harder.

On the reviewing stand, Jiang Chong watched the soldiers training hard, sweating profusely, and felt very satisfied.

He has a full 700,000 troops like the one in front of him!

Once this army of 700,000 is fully mobilized, who in the world can rival us?

Thinking of this, Jiang Chong's eyes were filled with a burning flame.

"Your Highness, this is the military register of Shu County. Please take a look."

"Ah."

He took the register from a military clerk and casually flipped through a few pages.

"Why is it still so far short?"

Looking at the number of soldiers and armor recorded in black and white, which was far from what he had expected, Jiang Chong was stunned.

The military records seem to differ greatly from what I imagined.

"Your Highness, the journey back to Shu from the iron ore purchased elsewhere is difficult. Just transporting 200,000 catties of iron at a time is a challenge."

It takes two months to enter the weapons workshop, so the efficiency is naturally not very high.

Jiang Chong closed his eyes and pondered for a long time: "Then wouldn't mining within Shu territory improve efficiency? Actually, on my first day in Shu..."

I was pondering this question: since the roads to Shu are so difficult to traverse, why can't we solve this problem ourselves? Shu is a land of abundance!

"Your Highness, it's not that people in Sichuan are unwilling to mine, but rather that the shallow open-pit mines were basically exhausted by the third year of the lunar calendar."

Although the remaining iron ore reserves are abundant, they all require industrial mining. Opening a new mine is too costly, time-consuming, and labor-intensive.

After careful calculation, it's still more cost-effective to purchase from external sources, but the transportation costs are simply too high.

After hearing the clerk's report, Jiang Chong could only sigh helplessly.

That's just how things are; no matter how dissatisfied you are, you have to learn to accept it.

Unless the Shu Road is repaired, new mountain roads are built, and the official road is expanded...

However, while this solved the transportation problem,

The clerk then reported, "Your Highness, there is one more thing. The army's provisions are almost exhausted. Please issue more supplies as soon as possible."

"Okay, I understand." Jiang Chong didn't care at all. "In two months, once the new grain has been harvested and stored, we'll distribute it to you."

"Yes, Your Highness."

After the clerk respectfully withdrew, Jiang Chong frowned as he looked at the military register in his hand.

The military equipment is far inferior. At this rate, when will we be able to leave this Shu region and launch a contest for the throne against the Empress?

"Your Highness, Yang Song is requesting an audience outside the barracks."

Just then, someone else came to report.

"Yang Song? What's he doing here? Let him in."

Before long, Yang Song hurriedly arrived at the reviewing stand.

"This humble servant, Yang Song, greets Your Highness."

"Get up. What brings you here to see me, Your Majesty?"

Yang Song looked around and saw a group of staff members standing there like statues behind Jiang Chong, and then he looked at the generals accompanying him in the army.

Only then did he realize that he shouldn't have chosen this time to run to the military camp to report on the weaving workshop.

But now that we're here, we have no choice but to bite the bullet and report it.

He took out the money note that Shen Lang had given him, along with the ledger that Ye Fan had fabricated, and handed it to Jiang Chong with trembling hands.

"what is this?"

"The Duke of Zhenguo said that after I personally hand this account book to Your Highness, Your Highness will understand what it means."

"Ok?"

Jiang Chong took the ledger with a puzzled look and casually flipped through it.

Immediately, the marked banknote, tucked between the pages of the book, came into his view.

He looked through it for a while, and suddenly seemed to understand something.

"Go home!"

Jiang Chong put away the account book, forcing himself not to lose his temper, and with a deep shout, he turned and went back home.

"You will come with me."

"Yes, Your Majesty."

Yang Song immediately followed behind Jiang Chong.

For a staff member to be allowed to serve by the prince's side was an immense honor.

But for Yang Song right now, he doesn't care who wants to stay; he just wants to find a crack in the ground to crawl into and stop worrying about this.

The group remained silent the entire way, with only the sound of the carriage axles turning echoing in their ears...

Two hours passed, and it was already dark enough that they needed to light lamps before Jiang Chong and his group returned to the palace.

After dismissing everyone else, he left only Yang Song to accompany him to the study.

As they passed through a long corridor, Jiang Chong finally broke the oppressive atmosphere and asked first, "What did he say to you?"

The "he" in this context naturally refers to Shen Lang.

In Jiang Chong's mind, he would never admit that Shen Lang was his brother-in-law. He thought Shen Lang was just a cunning commoner who had climbed up to the powerful.

Duke of Zhenguo?

Impossible, absolutely impossible!

After he ascends the throne, the first thing he will do is to execute Shen Lang, as a warning to the world: do not have unrealistic fantasies, and be honest and upright people.

When Jiang Chong asked, Yang Song naturally dared not hide anything and told Jiang Chong everything about Shen Lang's surprise inspection of the weaving workshop that day and the clues he had discovered.

"Then how did you do it?"

After listening to Yang Song's description, Jiang Chong asked a question in a calm tone.

At this point, we were still halfway to the end of the corridor.

Yang Song replied, "Your Highness, the Duke of Zhenguo is adamant. He has made it clear that if Shu tries to fool us with this kind of Shu brocade, he will not only refuse to pay a single penny, but he will also... he will also..."

"What else do you want? Tell me, I'm listening."

Seeing that Jiang Chong was in a stable mood, Yang Song finally breathed a sigh of relief.

"In accordance with the original agreement, the corresponding losses must be compensated five times, totaling 450 million taels of gold."

Jiang Chong, who was walking and wiping the jade thumb ring on his thumb, stopped abruptly upon hearing this and turned around to look at Yang Song.

Meeting those sharp, cold eyes, Yang Song instantly broke out in a cold sweat.

"Heh, heh heh... heh heh heh..."

Suddenly, Jiang Chong laughed maniacally, but his laughter was full of murderous intent.

"A commoner dares to threaten me, the king? Heh heh heh, tell me, where does he get such audacity?"

"Do you think I would believe this if no one had instructed me to do it?"

"Impressive, truly impressive. To dare to be so arrogant and domineering on my territory is truly remarkable."

Yang Song lowered his head, listening to the devilish whispers of the man in front of him, his heart nearly stopping in fright.

"So you're just going to let him inspect the warehouse?"

Suddenly, Jiang Chong changed the subject and stared intently at Yang Song.

“Your Highness, I am but a lowly official, but he is the Duke of Zhenguo. He wants to inspect the goods; how could I dare to stop him…”

"He wants to see the goods, so you show them to him? If he wants to kill my whole family, are you going to lead the way for him? You idiot!"

"Your Majesty, I..."

"Do you know you've ruined everything! I knew you couldn't be trusted. How dare you ask to enter my residence on business? Do you think you're worthy?"

After venting his anger, Jiang Chong walked straight out of the corridor.

Upon hearing his words, Yang Song's initial shock and fear gradually turned into dissatisfaction.

I've worked so hard for your family's business all these years, but I haven't gained any benefits and have only gotten myself into trouble.

And what happened? In the end, I was the one who got scolded like this?

He clenched his fist, but still silently followed.