Chapter 62: Victory or Defeat

Search for the latest chapters of "Starting as a Feudal Lord Today"!

"Is the Armor made by the Weaponry Bureau really that impressive?"

In the small courtyard where Chang Wei was recuperating, he stared straight at the new Armor Xu Lie was wearing, the longing in his eyes almost overflowing.

"Could this be fake? The guards and I have all tested it." Xu Lie deliberately turned around to show off to Chang Wei.

After returning from the Weaponry Bureau, he and the guards had come to visit Chang Wei.

More so, they had come to deliberately make Chang Wei envious.

"I don't believe it." Chang Wei shook his head.

Guards like Xu Lie were close to him and had always liked to mess around.

He felt that Xu Lie was just teasing him.

Xu Lie didn't say a word, suddenly drawing his Curved Bow and nocking an Arrow, shooting it at a guard standing at the doorway.

Seeing this, Chang Wei was startled and hurriedly tried to stop him, but it was already too late.

Anger rose in his heart, and he secretly thought, how could Xu Lie be so reckless with human life?

But then he heard a "Clang..." sound, and he saw the Arrow hit the guard's Armor and fall to the ground.

"Commander, how could you do this? This is brand new Armor, and now this plate is dented and no longer perfect." The guard had been caught off guard, and upon realizing what happened, his expression was aggrieved.

Xu Lie scratched his head, "My apologies, my apologies, haha, I'll treat you to Wine tonight."

Chang Wei stood there stunned, and it was only after a while that he came to his senses, his expression gradually becoming excited.

Regardless of the others present, he took off to find Yan Wang.

After a while, he returned, satisfied, and packed his things to prepare to go to the North Camp.

"General, where are you going? Your wounds haven't fully healed yet." Xu Lie asked in surprise upon seeing this.

"My wounds are already seventy percent healed, as long as I don't overexert myself, it's fine. His Highness has allowed me to return to the camp. Hehe, I want to see the soldiers of the Personal Army put on the Armor from the Weaponry Bureau with my own eyes." Chang Wei said with an excited face.

When he went to bring this up, Yan Wang naturally disagreed, but he couldn't help but pester him.

He promised to only supervise the equipping of the soldiers with Armor,

and would not concern himself with other heavy labor.

Only then did Yan Wang reluctantly agree.

With his things packed, Chang Wei left the Prince's mansion without looking back, his spirits ten times higher than usual.

Xu Lie and the others looked at Chang Wei's departing back and all shook their heads helplessly.

Bedchamber.

Zhao Xu went to the study after finishing his evening meal.

The production of Scale Armor was on the right track, but he did not slack off because of it.

The last time Chang Wei returned injured made him realize that the Northern Di were not so easy to fight.

Especially since the current Prince's Personal Army had almost no Cavalry.

And the strongest force of the Northern Di was their Cavalry.

Infantry against Cavalry—this disadvantage in war was enormous.

Because it meant that even if one won a battle, the enemy's Cavalry could easily retreat.

At the same time, if his supply lines were stretched, the enemy could easily use their Cavalry to cut off his supplies.

In this way, he could basically only fight defensive battles.

Therefore, building a Cavalry unit was very important and needed to be put on the agenda.

And Cavalry required horses; a Warhorse in the Great Song generally cost thirty taels of Silver.

A single Cavalryman needed at least two horses.

If he were to form a Cavalry unit of five thousand men, it would cost three hundred thousand taels of Silver.

This did not even include the usual costs of raising horses.

"Raising an army is truly a daunting task." Thinking of this, Zhao Xu couldn't help but sigh.

Calculating it this way, the Armor, provisions, horses, and soldiers' pay for the twenty thousand men of the Prince's Personal Army added up to a huge expense.

And the administrative system of Yan Commandery also required the support of the Prince's mansion.

After all, he had refused to impose heavy taxes on the common people.

However, he did not regret it.

Because if he had collected heavy taxes, he would have died long ago; now, at least he still had time to plan.

Thinking of this, he called Qin Zhangfang over.

"Qin Zhangfang, how have the revenues and expenditures of the Prince's mansion been during this period?" Zhao Xu asked.

Qin Zhangfang flipped through the Account Book and replied, "This time, the Prince's mansion received thirty thousand taels of Silver from the profits of ice production in Jinling. The main income still comes from brewing Wine, totaling nine hundred and eighty thousand taels. Last time, we also confiscated two hundred thousand taels of Silver from the Huang and Du families."

He paused and said, "The main expenditures are the uniforms and food for the Prince's Personal Army, and now the raw materials for the Weaponry Bureau, as well as the cost of Wine Jars and the expenses for purchasing Green Ant Wine. Currently, there are three hundred and sixty thousand taels of Silver on the books."

Zhao Xu nodded.

Although his Wine sold for fifteen taels per Wine Jar, the costs of the Wine Jars and the Green Ant Wine had to be deducted from that.

Therefore, overall, the profit was only about ten taels.

The key was to exchange it for the land of the Rich Clan in Yan Commandery.

A large portion of the profits from the Wine sold during this period had been used to pay off debts.

Otherwise, there wouldn't be so little Silver on the books.

"Cannot be satisfied with the present," Zhao Xu thought to himself.

Ordering Qin Zhangfang to return, Zhao Xu leaned back in his chair and pondered for a while, feeling that the plan to make money could not stop.

The next day.

Zhao Xu's deep sleep ended amidst a commotion.

Waking up from bed, Zhao Xu looked outside with a puzzled expression.

Feng'er walked in at this moment, pouting as she said, "Your Highness, it is Dong An and Yang He; the two of them wish to see Your Highness."

Zhao Xu then remembered that today was the day to finalize the personnel for the trading firm.

After washing up, he ate breakfast and met with Dong An and Yang He.

"Oh? Someone who didn't know better might think you two were becoming grooms today," Zhao Xu teased the two of them.

It seemed they were certain they would become officials of the Prince's Mansion.

Dong An and Yang He were each more high-spirited than the other.

Moreover, as if they had agreed upon it, both were wearing bright red robes.

Although they were not the kind worn by grooms, they were still very festive.

Dong An and Yang He exchanged a glance and each let out a huff.

Dong An said, "Your Highness, he is just a tag-along; whatever I do, he copies."

Yang He put on a retching expression, "How can you say such shameless words? Aren't you afraid you won't be able to sleep tonight?"

Seeing the two starting to bicker again, Zhao Xu said, "That's enough. You can argue after we finalize the trading firm officials later."

Hearing this, the two stopped talking.

Before long, the other Rich Clan descendants arrived one after another.

Because he wanted to ask Xu Ke and the others about everyone's actions over these past days, he set the location at the Prince's Mansion.

Once everyone had arrived, Zhao Xu had them all write the quantity of raw materials they had purchased during this period on paper.

After they were submitted, Dong An and Yang He were indeed at the top of the list.

However, just as Dong An had been confident, Yang He had lost to Dong An by a small margin.

Having made his calculations, he asked everyone to wait.

He went to a courtyard himself and sent someone to summon Xu Ke and the others.

"How have your investigations gone during this period?" Zhao Xu asked.

Xu Ke said, "Your Highness, I have been tracking Dong An. He did not cheat, but his father secretly supported him with a batch of materials. However, Dong An was unaware of this, so in reality, Yang He won."

Chai Wu nodded, "Indeed, Your Highness. I was the one monitoring Yang He, and he relied entirely on his own silver tongue throughout the process."

Zhao Xu was greatly surprised upon hearing this.

He had not expected the matter to take such a turn.

If Dong An were to find out about this, he wondered what his expression would be.

To facilitate reading next time, you can click "Bookmark" below to record this reading session (Chapter 62: Victory or Defeat); you can see it next time you open your bookshelf!

If you like "Starting Today, I Will Be a Feudal Prince," please recommend this book to your friends (via QQ, blogs, WeChat, etc.). Thank you for your support!! ()