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

Before Nie Bing could finish speaking!

Xiao Ce said, "Who said I was going to eliminate you! I selected you to reward you! These scars on your bodies were left on the battlefield, weren't they!"

Everyone nodded, then lowered their heads and said, "It's our fault for being useless..."

Seeing this, Xiao Ce said, "No! You should not be ashamed of it, but proud of it! This is your achievement!"

"The general is undefeated in a hundred battles; he can be called a god of war!"

"Soldiers who survive a hundred battles are truly gods of war!"

"You will be incorporated into the veterans' camp that I am about to establish, and your monthly military pay will be based on the number of scars on your bodies! Five taels of silver for each scar!"

The audience was astonished!

The selected veterans kowtowed a hundred times!

"Of course you weren't chosen. I have a way to promote you and make you rich later."

"I am a mortal! Merit must be rewarded, and transgression must be punished!"

"What rewards? Anything I have, I can give you! Of course, I can't give you my women!"

Xiao Ce's words immediately caused the entire room to burst into laughter, and then the crowd became excited.

Xiao Ce raised his arm: "Follow me, shall we?"

"Good! Good! Good!"

...

"Han Da, Yan Jia!"

Two men stepped forward, cupped their hands, and said, "Your humble servants are here!"

"I was planning to depart today, but my father has bestowed such a large amount of money and provisions. I need to find five thousand laborers to escort these goods! Therefore, you will take three thousand Northern Desert soldiers and garrison outside the city! We will depart early tomorrow morning," Xiao Ce said.

Han Da stepped forward: "Your Highness, we can proceed with the transport of these provisions!"

Yan Jia said, "That's right, Your Highness, you don't need to waste that money! We can do it ourselves!"

Xiao Ce said, "I have other uses for you!"

When Xiao Ce asked the emperor for those grains, he really hadn't expected it.

When Nan Changfeng arrived with the provisions, he knew that the dog emperor had set a trap for him again.

However, Xiao Ce immediately came up with a solution: to recruit some young and strong laborers.

Of course, he wouldn't do a deal that loses money!

Along the way, we'll brainwash them.

After arriving in the northern desert, five thousand young and strong laborers were trained and became five thousand northern desert soldiers.

Since Xiao Ce had already put it this way, Han Da and Yan Jia both bowed and agreed.

"Remember, do not disturb the people!" Xiao Ce said.

The two men bowed in agreement, and Xiao Ce took out another five hundred taels of silver, saying, "Go buy some chicken, duck, fish, and meat so the soldiers can eat better! Look how thin they are!"

Han Da took the silver and asked incredulously, "Five hundred taels of silver to buy meat?"

Xiao Ce said, "There are three thousand of you in total. If each person gets a pound of meat, that'll require ten pigs! You're risking your lives for me, so don't worry about saving money! Taking care of your health is the most important thing!"

These people couldn't help but swallow hard as they listened to Xiao Ce's words.

They hadn't eaten meat in so long, and Xiao Ce was saying that each of them could eat a pound of meat—something they wouldn't even dare to dream of.

The crowd cheered again, "Your Highness is wise!"

Xiao Ce waved his hand, telling them to go first.

Turning his head, Xiao Ce then turned to go back to his residence.

They discovered that Yin Pan'er and Nie Bing were standing at the door.

Xiao Ce said with a smile, "Gentlemen, why don't you go inside and rest?"

“Didn’t you sell this mansion? Since it has changed hands, we won’t go in. However, aren’t you afraid of the emperor’s wrath for openly selling royal property?” Yin Pan’er said.

Xiao Ce said with a smile, "I have already deducted the proceeds from the sale of this Crown Prince's residence from the money my father owes me! I did this to support the Northern Desert. Even if my father finds out, he can't say anything."

Yin Pan'er looked at Nie Bing to the side, and Nie Bing took out a small box.

"This is a small token of our appreciation from the Prime Minister's office... You're recruiting strongmen, and you still have three thousand men to support along the way, which will consume a lot of money and provisions. We hope this can be of some help to you."

Xiao Ce glanced at it; it contained a box of silver notes.

Without being polite, I accepted it.

Nie Bing glared at Xiao Ce and said, "You actually want it? Didn't you just tell those soldiers that you had plenty of money?"

Xiao Ce snatched the money and said, "This is money my wife gave me, why wouldn't I take it! I told the soldiers I'm not short of money. That's to reassure them. Otherwise, who would have any spirit if they followed a penniless prince?"

"As you know, the environment in the northern desert is harsh, and there is also the danger of a large-scale invasion by the Turks! How can we keep them hopeful and courageous in such a desperate situation? We must make them feel that their prince can give them the life they want and that their lives have a future! Doing all this is not easy."

Nie Bing said, "So you're just going to put on a brave face? With this promise, even if Nie Bing gives you the money, what will you do after you get to the Northern Desert? Once you run out of money, things will still get chaotic!"

Nie Bing was as cold as ice, and she spoke very bluntly. Fortunately, Xiao Ce could tell that she was worried about him.

Xiao Ce said with a smile, "I've said it before, I'm not short of money! Problems that can be solved with money aren't problems."

Yin Pan'er asked, "Do you want the laborers you need to be incorporated into your Northern Desert Army in the future?"

Xiao Ce said to Yin Pan'er, "Wife, you're so smart!"

Yin Pan'er blushed and said to Xiao Ce, "Your Highness, please be careful with your words! I've already said that I'm not your wife yet."

"The idea is good, but do you have the money? As you promised, each person will receive five taels of silver per month! Five thousand people would be fifteen million taels. Including your three thousand people, that's about forty thousand taels of silver a month. And that doesn't even include provisions. How will you use that to recruit them?"

Hearing Nie Bing's belated but timely words of discouragement, Xiao Ce counted the silver notes given by Yin Pan'er and said, "Miss Nie, you don't need to trouble yourself with this."

“Wife, you’ve really gone all out. A full two hundred thousand taels of silver! In the future, I will definitely repay you tenfold, a hundredfold.”

As he spoke, Xiao Ce carefully put the wooden box away.

Yin Pan'er blushed slightly and said, "Your Highness, I've told you! You can't call me wife yet."

Xiao Ce smiled and said, "Alright, Miss Yin. We're setting off tomorrow. Will you stay here for the night, or come over early tomorrow morning?"

Yin Pan'er said, "Aren't you going to vacate this room today?"

Xiao Ce shook his head and said, "Staying one more night won't hurt!"

Yin Pan'er said, "Since we've left home, we won't go back. Let's stay here for the time being."

Seeing Xiao Ce's malicious smile, Yin Pan'er added, "However, I won't be sharing a room with you."

Xiao Ce smiled but kept a straight face: "Miss Yin, what are you thinking! I'm a gentleman, even if you agree, I can't agree..."

Looking at Xiao Ce's expression, Yin Pan'er almost believed it if she hadn't experienced it herself.

...

In the palace.

Upon learning that Xiao Ce had sold the Crown Prince's residence, Xiao Yang immediately went to file a complaint.

Xiao Dingbang said to Xiao Yang, "Yang'er, I've heard about it. However, this kid must have been taught by the Prince of Zhen. After selling the Crown Prince's residence, he even gave me a receipt for 200,000 taels of silver. They're still very meticulous."

Xiao Yang said, "Father, should we go...?"

Xiao Dingbang waved his hand: "Even if he has 240,000 taels of silver, what can he do? Yang'er, that good-for-nothing doesn't need our concern! You should think of a way to resolve the White Lotus Sect issue for me."

Xiao Yang asked nervously, "Are those rioters causing trouble again?"

Xiao Dingbang nodded and said, "And he's inciting disaster victims to riot in various places! You need to quickly come up with a way to suppress him. As for Xiao Ce, we don't even need to deal with him; some people are probably already impatient."

Xiao Yang asked in confusion, "Father, could it be that someone wants to kill him?"

Xiao Dingbang sneered, "You don't need to worry about that good-for-nothing! I won't let a bastard get over there unscathed!"

Xiao Yang looked at Xiao Dingbang, wanting to speak.

Xiao Dingbang said sternly, "I've already said, you don't need to worry about this matter!"

Xiao Yang then shrank back and bowed in agreement.

...

After Yin Pan'er moved into the Crown Prince's residence, she initially had some concerns.

They were afraid that Xiao Ce would do something reckless.

However, after Xiao Ce returned, he locked himself in his study and never came out.

Only Lin Zhong went in a few times during that period.

The next morning, Xiao Ce had dark circles under his eyes.

Continue to have Da Lei keep his entire business plan safe.

Immediately afterwards, he went out to practice the Eightfold Diamond Sutra to strengthen his body.

Lin Zhong walked over and said, "Your Highness, we have recruited more than 6,000 strongmen, all selected according to your requirements. Each of them needs two taels of silver per month! They have all been prepared."

Xiao Ce waved his hand and said, "Money is not a problem!"

Indeed, Lin Zhong had been hypnotizing himself to believe in Xiao Ce.

However, Xiao Ce was simply too extravagant, and this was the first time he had ever heard of a salary system based on scars.

"Your Highness, is money really not an issue?"

Xiao Ce handed the wooden box containing the 200,000 silver notes given to him by Yin Pan'er to Lin Zhong.

Lin Zhong asked in confusion, "What is this?"

Xiao Ce opened the wooden box and said, "Two hundred thousand taels of silver!"

Lin Zhong knew very well that Xiao Ce's money was all under his control.

"Your Highness, do you perhaps possess magic skills? Where did you come from?"

Xiao Ce didn't hide anything and said, "My wife gave it to me!"

Lin Zhong was taken aback: "This... was it given by Miss Yin? Your Highness, you accepted it? This is inappropriate!"

Xiao Ce shoved the wooden box into Lin Zhong's arms and said, "There's no such thing as 'proper' or 'unproper'! What we need to do now is develop our own power, that's the only important thing! Alright, enough nonsense. We've already wasted a whole day!"

Seeing this, Lin Zhong nodded and said, "The strongmen outside are all ready."

Xiao Ce continued, "Alright! Then let's prepare to depart."