Chapter 766: This Is a Major Affair

That night, the Great King eagerly opened the newly acquired topographic map, observing the two new prefectures from a god's-eye view.

Unfortunately, there wasn't much to see.

Those nomadic tribes were even worse off at night than the Northern Border; they couldn't even light oil lamps, and the brand‑new territory lay pitch black.

The next day, after the morning audience, the Great King took Dragon Sparrow to the training ground, having swallowed the attached poison, and brought only the blade.

Upon seeing Wei Shen, he immediately showed it off, and the two of them took turns chopping the training ground's wooden posts to splinters. The blade produced in Kunlun Realm, when used to chop a piece of wood, needed no force—it snapped as soon as it was set down, and Wei Shen's eyes grew hot with excitement. In feel, weight, sharpness, or appearance, this sword had no flaws!

Under heaven, there is no warrior who dislikes a good blade.

The Great King carefully explained Dragon Sparrow's buff, then pointed to the groove—normally unused, but useful against strong foes, and it can also add poison.

Wei Shen's envy was palpable. "…Where does the Grand Steward get these treasures? If I go curry favor with her now, is it still in time?"

With that, the Great King began his performance.

The Great King brandished it a few times, saying, "I'm used to swords and wolf‑tooth spears, never a blade… Hmm, such a precious sword—I wonder if I could sell it for a hundred or two hundred thousand taels?"

Upon hearing that the Great King didn't intend to keep it for himself, Wei Shen's eyes flashed and lit up.

He stepped right into the trap, raised both hands, and shouted, "I'll buy it!"

The Great King doubted: "…Do you even have that much money?"

Wei Shen shook his head. "I don't, but my father does! Changzhou has been producing sugar and reclaiming land these past two years, far more prosperous than before. Such a treasure on the battlefield could save one's life when facing a strong foe—my family would even pawn pots and sell iron to buy it for me~"

The Great King solemnly said: "I see. I was originally going to reward you, but now let's call it eighty thousand taels."

Wei Shen was stunned.

He really was an idiot.

He wished he could go back a minute and strangle himself. Thinking it over, Wei Taiping had clearly come to lure him.

"What's that, Your Majesty? Times are rough, but my father's generous enough to buy me this—look, 'wealth doesn't flow to outsiders,' right?" He frantically hinted to the Great King.

The Great King was quite receptive to advice.

"That makes sense. This blade is already a treasure, so it can't fall into outsiders' hands. Then I'll write to my elder cousin—he's certainly more respectable and wealthy than you, so he might be able to buy it…"

"I'll buy it! I'll buy it!" Wei Shen blurted out, cutting him off.

"In that case, next time I find one I'll sell it to my elder cousin~"

Jiucai Erbiaoxiong painfully signed an eighty‑thousand‑tael IOU, and the Great King rummaged in his bosom, then spread out a stack: Wei Shen's IOUs.

"This one for fifteen hundred taels covers my share of the Heaven‑Covering Lord's postage. This one for three thousand taels is for the credit feed beast pills to feed your horse. And this one is also fifteen hundred…"

Wei Shen's face turned ashen as he listened.

"How did it get this much?!" He instinctively rubbed his leg—he'd never seen so much money in his life. How could anyone owe this much?! He rushed over to plead, "Older brother, can I do something to offset some of this? This huge bill… I'm afraid my father will see it and won't listen to my explanations!" He went so far as to offer to break his own leg!

The Great King extended a finger. "There's an opportunity right now to offset eight hundred taels of your debt, and I'm being very generous!

Tomorrow, Elder Cousin Yang sets out to inspect the autumn harvest, and we two want to tag along as junior clerks. You make the arrangements—I'll personally go, since it's quite a big deal.

The Great King wanted to run, but this is a major affair.

Wei Shen instinctively objected, then thinking of Yang Fang he finally recalled something important. "It's autumn—aren't the imperial exams coming up? Shouldn't you stay behind to oversee the situation?!"

"I won't go far; the students haven't even reached Secluded Prefecture yet, so what's there to rush about? We'll return before the palace exam."

Wei Shen was unwilling.

He lately didn't want to stir up trouble with the Great King, and still had to coax his father and grandfather into footing the bill for Dragon Sparrow~

His elder cousin struggled to say, "…Do the court officials know? Has Chancellor Xie agreed? You've got nothing else important in Secluded Prefecture, right?" The Great King thought, what could outweigh the autumn harvest, or the southern campaign to unify the Great Jin?

He thrust Dragon Sparrow across his chest, shouting, "Are they the emperor or am I the emperor?! Dragon Sparrow, do you still want it or not?!"

KO.

"Your servant will see to it right away!"

That afternoon, the Great King issued the 3‑kilometer fire‑prevention greening task and the river‑dredging task together.

The Great King chose the start of this green belt at the outer plaza of the Purple Wei Palace, bypassing the fully built Vermilion Bird Avenue, and instead followed the service road behind Vermilion Bird Avenue straight to the old city gate.

When the Great King laid down that green projection, he saw the whole route had been widened on the map—eight carriages could now travel abreast.

This modest tree‑planting assignment involved five hundred people for a month; even the Great King's minor trifles didn't rouse him, so he simply released both tasks without delay.

The conscription notice plainly stated that, due to instability on the southern border and the court's tense war preparations, the funding standards for this project were modeled after those of Chang'an, Luoyang, and similar places. Consequently, with less money and grain, the entry requirements were relaxed somewhat.

Every household holding a Northern Border household register could nominate one person.

"A 220‑day project?"

"Even fifty cash a day isn't too little, huh…"

"I heard the projects outside Secluded Prefecture pay that much…"

"Hahaha, my family's got many mouths but little land—we can spare a strong laborer to sign up!"

"Who couldn't!"

Back when grain and money were plentiful and sign‑ups were hard, in this part of Secluded Prefecture only wealthy merchants and master craftsmen could get in, while peasants hardly ever got a turn. Now, with lower pay and looser conditions, the competition is still fierce.

But this time it's a two‑hundred‑day project, half a year of steady work—given the Great Jin's economic situation, where could you find such labor?

Moreover, the long duration meant they could receive two sets of ultra‑durable uniforms, and the registration site was immediately thronged shoulder‑to‑shoulder.

Old Man Zhang jumped straight into the recruitment line, pulling little Grandson aside to urge: "Grandfather, wait here—run home and get our household register so Father can sign up! Remember, Grandfather's spot is at the Western Region Hu Bing stall!"

Many just as sharp as him weren't few; the queue shot forward toward the street's end. The man behind him felt his brown work clothes and thought, "At this time, hiring eight out of ten comes with winter gear—that's a steal! This outfit is the toughest I've ever seen; even unloading fish at the dock hasn't worn it out."

"Fifty cash a day may not match the old days, but a half‑year of steady work…"

"Who says no! One scented measure of white rice can be traded at a big household for five measures of millet…"

"Only five measures of millet? That rice smells wonderful straight from the field—the White family's reclamation rate last year was two hundred cash per measure, and supposedly hauling it to South of the River could double that!"

"That isn't… equivalent to two hundred fifty cash a day?"

…

The inside of the city had already become lively, but in the court he was the last to know. No need to mention what the several big shots were thinking; Zhang Si Nong scratched his head for a while.

Dig a water system that runs through Youzhou City from north to south?

He recognizes all the characters, but he just can't understand them!

There's no big river or lake inside the city—how deep would we have to dig?! And now Youzhou City has expanded several times over; to still run north‑south, is this something that could be dug out with either a hundred thousand or eighty thousand taels?!

It's true that he was just fined eight hundred thousand taels, hasn't received a single copper, and yet the king is already getting full of himself!

Old Man Zhang feared that this expense would fall on the Minister of Agriculture's office, so he desperately sought an audience with the king. The king had already planned to pack up and leave, so where would he find the time to see him?

"Not seeing him, say I'm in closed-door cultivation studying."

Zhao Bao: ……

That's too perfunctory! Can you say something people can actually believe?