His Majesty is plotting a rebellion? Quickly, summon the Imperial Advisor!

After leaving the Star Gazing Tower, Xu Bing began his business for the day.

He inspected Futian and Tancun yesterday and has already secured a considerable amount of supplies.

Jiu Mi three hundred and fifty stones.

210,000 catties of pig iron, or about 105 tons.

Xu Bing possesses iron smelting technology, and pig iron can be further refined into "refined iron" and used to forge "first-class armor." Therefore, this portion of resources will not be traded for the time being.

Xu Bing now has about two hundred cooks under his command, as well as two hundred and forty-five people from Tan Village.

These people need to eat. Yesterday, although Xu Bing repeatedly emphasized that the Huochui Army should eat "Jiu Mi" directly, they were terrified and made all sorts of excuses.

As he was leaving, Gongzhonghou chased after him and made him retract his order.

Xu Bing was never stingy with his subordinates, but after a night, he slowly reflected on yesterday's strategy and admitted that he had indeed lost his composure.

As the saying goes, rewards and punishments are clearly defined.

No reward for no merit.

Even if Xu Bing wanted to reward these soldiers, he needed to have a legitimate reason for doing so, and he needed to exercise restraint appropriately.

Such a generous reward for no reason would probably only make them feel uneasy.

He came up with a compromise: to mix "nine-grain rice" with ordinary rice and use it as the soldiers' daily food.

Even so, the soldiers were filled with both joy and trepidation.

It's important to understand that, given the current strength of the Great Hexi Empire, even "rice" is a luxury. Ordinary people might not be able to afford it even once a year. They usually rely on coarse grains to stave off hunger.

For most ordinary people, all they ask for in life is to be "full".

The soldiers of the Fire-Cooking Army need to train, smelt iron, and forge their own armor on a daily basis, which consumes a great deal of physical strength. Each person can eat about two kilograms of rice a day, not counting some meat.

In this way, the daily consumption of the cooking army is about 360 catties of rice, plus 30 catties of rice.

The 245 villagers of Tan Village also do heavy work and eat a lot, consuming a total of 500 jin of rice a day.

"He can eat 860 catties of rice a day, including 30 catties of rice."

"Tsk tsk tsk, this army is really hard to support. One shi is equal to 120 jin. In a month, that's a full 215 shi of rice, plus 7.59 shi of rice."

“In Daxi today, one tael of silver can buy two shi of rice. Just for food each month, I spend more than a hundred taels of silver.”

Xu Bing did a calculation and felt a chill run down his spine. He had spent over a hundred taels of silver a month on food, and this was only for a small group of a few hundred people.

As it expands in the future, the consumption will become increasingly terrifying.

Fortunately, Xu Bing's farmland was more than enough to feed them, and it could even store most of the grain.

After all, in Futian, some 10 mu of land can be harvested every few days, and some 30 mu of land can be harvested every seven days.

Meanwhile, the two thousand acres of farmland in Tan Village mature a little slower. With a planting plan of four harvests a year and a growth rate of twice as fast, coupled with the support of the system within the region, the farmland can produce ten harvests a year, averaging about one harvest per month.

Since rice is his staple food, Xu Bing has no intention of eating it.

He wanted to set up granaries to store up this rice.

But "Nine Meters" is different. As a precious item, Nine Meters is meant to be exchanged for real gold and silver, which is the proper thing to do.

Xu Bing currently possesses 350 shi of "Jiu Mi". He takes 50 shi and stores them in the warehouse, rarely trading them. He can then use the remaining 300 shi with great confidence.

He not only needs to have enough power in the imperial court, but also enough money in the marketplace!

Warfare is all about financial resources; only abundant financial resources can support a powerful army.

【Ding! 】

【Trigger mission! 】

[Earn 100 taels of gold!]

[Task Description: In Da Xi City, earn 100 taels of gold through legitimate means.]

[Task Rewards: 10,000 Yuan Stones, Charm +3, one National Fortune Lottery Draw, and one random spell book]

Xu Bing opened the system panel, checked each item one by one, then closed it and continued with his work.

After spending the entire morning inspecting the shops in Da Xi City, Xu Bing selected two locations.

A restaurant on Baihu Street.

And a rice shop on Xuanwu Street.

Da Xi City has four straight streets, each corresponding to one of the four directions: Azure Dragon, White Tiger, Vermilion Bird, and Black Tortoise.

These four streets are extremely wide and are also the busiest and most prosperous streets.

The restaurant that Xu Bing chose had a large flow of people and was doing very well.

As for the rice shop, it was rather secluded.

Xu Bing returned to his residence, his eyes flashing slightly. He took out a map of Da Xi City and studied it for several hours.

He nodded repeatedly.

Having made up his mind, he bought both the restaurant and the rice shop at the same time.

"Old Tang, tomorrow you need to invite the owners of Qingmeng Restaurant and Longqu Rice Shop to my residence. I have important matters to discuss with them," Xu Bing instructed his steward, Tang Dayu.

Tang Dayu nodded repeatedly and wrote the matter down in his notebook.

……

In the afternoon, Xu Bing took care of some miscellaneous tasks and finally found time to practice his spiritual cultivation.

As usual, he practiced his marksmanship and martial arts.

The way they wielded the spear and manipulated shadows had its own unique charm.

An hour later.

After washing up, Xu Bing glanced at Ji Yuan's room and a slight smile appeared on his lips.

He didn't say much, returned to his room, and began his nighttime practice.

In a few days, the halo surrounding Baolian will be completely broken by him.

……

"See the Imperial Preceptor."

The next day.

early morning.

Xu Bing quickly tidied himself up and headed towards the main hall, where two people were already waiting.

One male and one female.

The man appeared to be middle-aged, somewhat overweight, but his attire was lavish and eye-catching. He was the owner of the Longqu Rice Shop.

The woman had a gentle smile on her face, a graceful figure, and a beautiful face, with a shrewd glint in her eyes. She was the owner of the Love Dream Restaurant.

The appearance of Xu Bing, however, gave the two of them quite a shock, and they felt a sense of mental and physical disorientation.

They never imagined that the Grand Preceptor of Da Xi would look like this.

His sharply defined face and perfect features possess an aggressive kind of handsomeness that goes straight to the heart, leaving one utterly amazed at first glance.

Those narrow eyes also carried a hint of alluring charm.

Once you see it, you can't look away.

The woman's face flushed slightly, and she suddenly seemed a little flustered.

Xu Bing slowly sat down, tapping his fingers on the table, and got straight to the point, "I want to buy your two shops. Name your price."

"what?"

The two were stunned.

The man's expression turned somewhat grim. He said, "Your Excellency, Grand Preceptor, this..."

"Is there something you're having trouble saying?" Xu Bing asked the man.

It was just a normal inquiry, but the other party was so frightened that they started trembling, thinking that Xu Bing was trying to seize it by force.

Upon seeing this, Xu Bing chuckled and said, "Don't be nervous. I'm discussing this with you, not trying to take over your shop. If you don't want to, that's fine too."

"No, no, I wouldn't dare," the man said, wiping away cold sweat.

Xu Bing was puzzled. His face didn't look fierce at all, so why was it so scary?

He immediately looked at the woman.

"And you? Would you be willing to sell that restaurant to me?" Xu Bing asked.

The woman regained her composure and met Xu Bing's gaze, causing her heart to flutter slightly.

The woman said, "I am willing. The Grand Preceptor can give me whatever he thinks is appropriate."

After some negotiation...

Restaurants and rice shops became his businesses at the same time.

However, it also wiped out all the money that his predecessor had embezzled.

【Ding! 】

[Congratulations, host, you have acquired your own industry.]

[A talent recruitment voucher will be awarded as a reward!]

[You can view the industry panel!]

[Triple Reward Draw!]