Deposed Crown Prince: After three years of service on the frontier, the entire court knelt and begge

Xiao Ce spoke very simply: to have a place to live, clothes to cover one's body, and food to fill one's stomach.

Yin Pan'er knew very well that these were very simple things for them.

However, for the people of the desolate northern desert, it was simply a pipe dream.

"All of this is easier said than done!"

Xiao Ce looked at Yin Pan'er: "Miss Yin, do you dare to gamble with me?"

Yin Pan'er's beautiful eyes lit up: "What are we betting on?"

Xiao Ce said, "Within six months, I will make sure the Turks dare not invade again!"

"Within a year, I will be able to ensure that the people have a place to live, clothes to cover their bodies, and food to fill their stomachs!"

"Within three years, I can make the northern desert the most prosperous land in the Great Xiao Kingdom, and make the Turks bow down to me!"

Yin Pan'er hadn't spoken yet.

A cold glint and disdain flashed in Nie Bing's cold eyes.

"Hmph, what a fool's dream! Do you know how brave and brutal the Turkic cavalry are!"

"How do the people of the northern desert survive? If it were that simple, how could the northern desert have fallen to such a state!"

"Your Highness, you've never left the capital city since you were a child, have you? Have you ever been to the four prefectures of the northern desert? Have you ever met a single Turk?"

"Do you know how the people in the northern desert live? Not to mention the Turks, you can't deal with the local clans and powerful families who leech off the people!"

"Looking at the sky from the bottom of a well! Talking about war on paper! It's laughable! Pan'er, tell me what you think of this prince... in my opinion, he's nothing special!"

Xiao Ce observed that Nie Bing spoke logically and humbly, unlike an ordinary bodyguard.

"Who is this girl?"

Yin Pan'er said, "Your Highness, please don't take offense. Let me introduce you. Sister Nie Bing is the daughter of Nie Yao, the former governor of the Northern Desert. She grew up in the Northern Desert! She has witnessed the brutality of the Turks, the complex clan power dynamics in the Northern Desert, and the suffering of the people. Therefore, your three-year vision is absolutely impossible!"

Xiao Ce didn't take it seriously; it was something others couldn't do.

He was certain he could do it, and said with a smile, "So, do you dare to bet with me?"

Nie Bing coldly asked, "What are we betting on?"

Xiao Ce said, "The three-year agreement I mentioned!"

Nie Bing said, "Unless you are a god descended from heaven, what you are saying is absolutely impossible!"

Yin Pan'er said, "Your Highness, I believe you have great enthusiasm. However, as Sister Nie Bing said, it is absolutely impossible that you know nothing about that side!"

Xiao Ce said, "Alright, then I'll make a bet with you! If I succeed, each of you will grant me one request! Similarly, if I fail, I'll grant each of you one request, how about it?"

Nie Bing asked, "Whatever the conditions?"

Xiao Ce nodded: "Of course!"

Nie Bing agreed without even thinking.

Yin Pan'er nodded and said, "I promise you too!"

Seeing this, Xiao Ce said to the two men, "Aren't you going to ask me what my conditions are?"

Nie Bing said with great confidence, "Because what you said is absolutely impossible! My father ran a business in the northern desert for more than ten years, and in the end, he ended up with his family destroyed and his people dead! You have no chance of winning."

Yin Pan'er nodded, indicating her agreement with Nie Bing's opinion.

Xiao Ce smiled and said, "So it seems you're willing to come with me to the Northern Desert?"

Yin Pan'er nodded: "That's right! If you give birth, I'll go with you."

“However, if you die, I will return to the capital! I will not acknowledge you as my wife! I will ask my father to rescind his decree to His Majesty! And I will not remain a widow for you!”

Xiao Ce laughed and said, "Haha, okay! It's a deal."

Yin Pan'er thought Xiao Ce would be angry, but to her surprise, he agreed so readily.

"Aren't you angry?"

Xiao Ce said with a smile, "Because I am more determined than you! You are destined to lose."

Xiao Ce then said, "Miss Yin, Miss Nie, please go inside and rest for a while. We'll set off together when we're ready."

As he spoke, Xiao Ce beckoned to a servant that Lin Zhong had brought from the Zheng King's mansion.

"Hey you, come over and greet Miss Yin!"

The servant quickly stepped forward to greet him.

Xiao Ce was not idle either; he summoned Lin Zhong.

Lin Zhong looked at the supplies outside the house in surprise: "Your Highness, you really did manage to get some money and provisions!"

He then frowned and said, "However, with so much money and grain, are we supposed to transport it ourselves?"

Xiao Ce gave a wry smile and said, "It's obvious that all the people transporting the grain have left."

Lin Zhong frowned slightly: "Wouldn't that be a burden? If we carry all this money and provisions, it will take forever to reach the northern desert, and there's also the risk of being robbed along the way."

Xiao Ce looked at the long line of grain that stretched as far as the eye could see.

You should know that in the Great Xiao Kingdom, one shi equals 100 jin, so 10,000 shi of grain is equivalent to one million jin!

A cart carrying 1,000 jin of grain would require 1,000 liang of cart weight.

Each vehicle needs at least five people, which means a total of five thousand people are required.

He only has three thousand people at most right now.

Moreover, he had other uses for these three thousand men.

Xiao Ce pondered for a moment, then leaned close to Lin Zhong's ear and spoke.

Lin Zhong looked troubled: "Your Highness, are you sure? This is practically a losing proposition!"

Xiao Ce said confidently, "Just do as I say! We're not going to let ourselves be held back by our own bladders! Let me tell you, any problem that can be solved with money isn't a problem!"

...

Yin Pan'er and Nie Bing did not go in at this time.

Yin Pan'er asked, "Sister Nie Bing, what do you think he can do to move all this money and grain away?"

Nie Bing shook his head and said, "He won't admit that he's all talk and no action. He did manage to get the money and supplies. But he didn't have a transport team. He only had three thousand death row inmates, and even if he used them all, it wouldn't be enough to transport them."

"His Majesty said this is money and provisions for the army. If the Prince were to embezzle or misappropriate it, it would be a capital offense! Therefore, he has only one solution: to find a security escort agency. And the cost of this will have to be paid out of the Prince's own pocket! You must know that according to the rules of security escort agencies, they take a 20% cut from the journey from the capital to the northern desert. That is, for every 10,000 shi of grain, they will take 2,000 shi."

"Moreover, we need to hire laborers to transport the grain ourselves. Each laborer costs one string of cash a month. This amount of grain will require at least five thousand strong laborers! That's five thousand taels of silver. Including the escort agency's commission, transporting this grain will cost seven thousand taels of silver. It's better to just buy it directly from the northern desert!"

"Since ancient times, the provisions for rewarding the army have always been allocated from nearby areas. How could provisions be transported thousands of miles away? Isn't this blatantly making things difficult for him?"

Yin Pan'er nodded and said, "Then why not sell here and buy back in Mobei? That way we can save some money."

Nie Bing said, "However, selling military rations is a capital offense! Buying them is equally punishable! Who would dare to buy them! This is clearly a trap set by the Emperor for the Crown Prince! These ten thousand shi of grain are enough to give him a headache."

Yin Pan'er looked at Xiao Ce, who was grinning from ear to ear as he opened and examined boxes of silver, and said with great delight, "Sister Nie Bing, look, does he look worried?"

Nie Bing was speechless for a moment upon seeing this.

...

As they were talking, the three thousand death row inmates returned.

Xiao Ce addressed the three thousand death row inmates: "Fellow warriors, you are the first generation of soldiers in my Northern Desert Army, and also its veterans. As long as you follow me diligently, I will surely grant you endless riches and honors!"

"Let's change all these uniforms and weapons first! Han Da, Yan Jia! Let's get things arranged."

The two of them quickly finished distributing the items.

Xiao Ce had them change it on the spot.

This startled Yin Pan'er and Nie Bing, who were watching from the doorway, and they quickly ran into the Crown Prince's residence.

The death row inmates took off their prison clothes.

They were all very thin due to malnutrition, but they all had wounds, large or small, on their bodies.

Xiao Ce selected death row inmates with more than five wounds on their bodies; these knife and sword wounds were enough to show that they were veterans who had been through many battles.

There are more than one hundred people in total.

Xiao Ce said to them, "Do you know why I summoned you here?"

More than a hundred death row inmates looked at each other in surprise.

Finally, they landed on each other's emaciated, scarred bodies.

A hint of disappointment and panic appeared in his eyes.

Because they felt that Xiao Ce was giving so much military pay, some of it would definitely have to be cut now.

Some of the veterans immediately knelt down: "Your Highness, although we have suffered many injuries, our bodies are absolutely fine!"

"Yes, Your Highness! Our injuries are healed, we promise! We will never be afraid to fight on the battlefield!"

"Your Highness, please don't abandon me! I will fight to the death for you. We promise these injuries won't affect us, but if you find any of us holding us back, then eliminate us!"

As they spoke, these people knelt down and begged for mercy... After all, five taels of silver a month meant sixty taels a year. If they worked for a few years, they could build a house, buy some land, and live a good life.

...

At this moment, Nie Bing frowned slightly and said, "Hmph... As expected, he's just a theorist. These are all incredibly brave veterans! He actually wants to abandon them! On the battlefield, an experienced veteran is worth more than a thousand pieces of gold!? Yet he wants to throw them away! He's truly blind."

Hearing this, Yin Pan'er looked over and asked, "Sister Nie Bing, don't rush to speak! Does the Prince necessarily have to eliminate them?"

"If we don't eliminate them, how can this narrow-minded prince possibly see the value in these death row inmates through their wounds?"

Yin Pan'er asked, increasingly puzzled, "Are there any differences between these wounds?"

Nie Bing nodded and said, "Look at their wounds, they're all frontal wounds, which means they were sustained in direct combat! Moreover, there's a saying in the army: 'He who survives a hundred battles is a god of war...'"