Chapter 806: Earned Too Much

The court was suddenly silent. A moment later, the Crown Prince stepped out and said: "It is eight thousand miles from Bishui to the border. Even a highway of the lowest grade would cost a huge amount and take over ten years to build. Your son believes that this matter concerns the foundation of the country and must be handled with caution. At this time, we are still clashing with the State of Ji, so it is not appropriate to engage in large-scale construction."

The King of Zhao said: "This is the prudent talk of a statesman; let this matter be shelved for now."

Li Chengfeng lowered his head and said: "Obey."

The Crown Prince, however, covered up the trace of triumph in his eyes very well. This fourth younger brother had been strong in troops and horses in recent years, and his power had expanded extremely fast, already threatening his own status. Therefore, the Crown Prince was extremely vigilant against him.

He didn't know what was wrong today; his usually shrewd fourth younger brother had suddenly acted stupidly, unexpectedly proposing to build a highway. Was this something a prince should suggest?

After the court was dismissed, the King of Zhao summoned Li Chengfeng into the study, his face turning cold, and said: "A ten-thousand-mile highway, you cannot possibly not know how much it costs. Just for your small Bishui? Speak, what do you want to do by suddenly making such a suggestion in court?"

Li Chengfeng had long been prepared and said: "Father, although this road costs a huge amount to build, it is absolutely worth the price. Your son has prepared a memorial, which is the tax silver contributed by Bishui to Great Zhao over the past year. Please take a look, Father."

The King of Zhao took it and was immediately moved, saying: "Forty million taels, so much?"

"Although the population of Bishui is less than a million, the tax silver contributed has already exceeded one-tenth of Great Zhao's annual revenue, and this is just the beginning," Li Chengfeng said.

The King of Zhao read the memorial carefully and pointed to a line of numbers, asking: "What does this share mean? How come this item alone is over twenty million?"

Li Chengfeng said: "Your son has frequent trade exchanges with Azure Void, and the profits are quite abundant. Therefore, your son took the liberty to include seventy percent of all profits from the goods coming and going into your private treasury, Father; that is this share item. For the remaining thirty percent, your son used it to recruit troops and craftsmen, and to settle the people to open up fields."

The King of Zhao's face softened a lot and asked: "There is such a thing? Why don't I know about it?"

"The number of trade exchanges has only started to increase significantly in the past year. After your son counted it clearly, I just sent all the shares into the treasury last month. At this time, it is not yet the mid-year inventory, and the report has not been presented, so Father didn't know."

The King of Zhao nodded, read the memorial carefully again, pondered for a moment, and then said: "It is truly rare that you have this filial piety. However, is trade with Azure Void so profitable?"

"Azure Void's products have good quality and low prices. Selling them into the country, whether it is armor, swords, machine brocade, or even firearms and ammunition, all have doubled profits. Currently, Great Zhao only has Bishui trading with Azure Void, and all goods pass through your son's jurisdiction, making it easy for your son to control, so the profits won't flow into the pockets of outsiders."

The King of Zhao naturally understood Li Chengfeng's subtext. Now Li Chengfeng monopolized the trade between Zhao and Azure Void, which was why there were extremely rich profits. Li Chengfeng handed the bulk of these profits to the King of Zhao's private pocket. If trade were opened up across the whole country, tax revenue would be a bit more, but this share item would be gone.

The King of Zhao said: "What does this matter have to do with you wanting to build a highway?"

Li Chengfeng said: "Currently, Bishui relies on flying boats to transport goods. The existing land roads are intermittent and take a big detour, adding six thousand miles for no reason. But as long as we open the mountain in the middle section of the Yicang Mountains and chisel out a road, the land mileage can be shortened by a full eight thousand miles, almost a straight line, and it can accommodate heavy-duty cargo trucks."

"What kind of goods are flying boats not enough for, that need heavy-duty cargo trucks?"

Li Chengfeng said: "What your son wants to transport is spiritual wood, coal, and ore."

A flash of light shone in the King of Zhao's eyes, and he said slowly: "I sent you to the Western Regions to contain Little Wei Yuan, and by the way, to see if you could take Azure Void back. You, on the other hand, have done business bigger and bigger."

Li Chengfeng was silent for a moment, and then said: "... Your son has no choice; it is really because I earned too much."

The King of Zhao was also silent, saying: "I was wondering why the national treasury has been quite abundant recently, and the internal affairs manager hasn't been crying about poverty. Originally, I was thinking of taking out one-tenth of the annual revenue to nail a nail in the Western Regions. I didn't expect that not only was that one-tenth of the annual revenue not spent, you even earned back another one-tenth. If it weren't for these two-tenths of annual revenue in and out, if I wanted to use troops against the State of Ji, I would have to ponder carefully."

After saying that, the King of Zhao took the sand table, input magic power to activate it, looked at the terrain carefully for a while, and said: "The mountain here in the Yicang Mountains is relatively not high, just about a hundred zhang. *Hmm*, if two or three Master Yu Jing take action, it can be chiseled open in a few months."

Li Chengfeng was overjoyed, knelt on the ground, and said repeatedly: "Thank you, Father!"

The King of Zhao ordered him to get up and sighed: "I have always valued the military leadership ability of you few, but you are now good at making money. Is this because you don't want the throne?"

Li Chengfeng said: "Father is in the prime of life, and the throne is still quite far away. Why think about that now? To enrich the country and strengthen the army, the country must be rich first, and then the army can be strong. Father still has plenty of time to establish an immortal great cause, and your son is only thinking of sharing Father's worries now." The King of Zhao nodded slightly and said: "Advancing by retreating, you are very good."

For some reason, hearing this, Li Chengfeng suddenly broke into a cold sweat.

After Little Wei Yuan sent the letter to Li Chengfeng, he received a reply in less than half a month. Seeing what was said in the letter, the King of Zhao decided to open the Yicang Mountains to build a road. Little Wei Yuan also sighed; in this way, it was not easy to use troops against the State of Zhao.

At this moment, the State of Zhao was using troops against Western Jin and the State of Ji respectively, and sending hundreds of thousands of laborers to build a highway, and with Master Yu Jing taking action to open the mountain, the national strength had been stretched to the limit.

The King of Zhao's move was equivalent to telling Little Wei Yuan: I have no spare energy to come and hit you again; you should go do whatever you want to do.

Little Wei Yuan naturally understood this kind of calculation. Now the King of Zhao couldn't spare his hand, which didn't mean he wouldn't be able to spare his hand in the future. Once the war with the State of Jin or the State of Ji stopped, the Zhao army could cross the border and attack again at any time.

Whether the King of Zhao was truly showing goodwill or using a delaying tactic, Little Wei Yuan didn't care. Now Azure Void's volume was expanding too fast, and Little Wei Yuan was just about to digest it well, sort out the interior, improve people's livelihood, and then use troops to the west. A few years later, when the King of Zhao could spare his hand, he would find that Azure Void would only become harder to chew.

Little Wei Yuan then spread out the map and began to study the western terrain. At this moment, a thought flashed through his heart: is this guy Hongye dead or not?

Those wives and children of his, whether true or false, were all under Little Wei Yuan's strict surveillance. But after monitoring for several years, Little Wei Yuan hadn't found anyone who looked like Hongye's biological son.

As for the talent of these children, there was only one word for all of them: mediocre.

Ancestral land of the Xiao family.

This day was exceptionally hot. The sun hung in the sky as if it couldn't hang on, looking much larger and much lower than usual. The sunlight spilled onto the earth like flowing fire, baking people so they didn't dare to go out.

Many elders and high-level cultivators in the clan suddenly felt something and looked at the great sun in the sky at the same time.

They saw the great sun in the sky suddenly distort, and unexpectedly a drop of fire dripped down, falling toward the ancestral land's mystical realm!

This drop of fire was just a small drop when it left the great sun, but it became larger and larger, larger and larger, until later it became a basin of overturned fire lake!

The Master Yu Jing elder on duty in the ancestral land suddenly opened his eyes and said in a lost voice: "This is the Sun's True Fire! Who in the clan is crossing the tribulation?!"

Before the servants could answer, they saw another red sun rise in the mystical realm, meeting the fire falling from heaven. The two suns collided, and in an instant, hot wind swept a hundred miles, and heaven and earth were pure white!

For a time, Dharma Form cultivators were blind when they opened their eyes. Only a few Master Yu Jing elders who rushed over saw that in the center of the pure white fire stood an immortal with ancient clothing, beautiful features, and a vast and distant momentum, holding a burning immortal sword in his arms, no less intense than the great sun in the sky.

This immortal's demeanor was outstanding. All the Master Yu Jing elders recognized his origin; it was unexpectedly the Shaoyang Star Lord!

The immortal sword was the Great Sun Immortal Sword; that was fine, the Xiao family had produced more than one. But the one holding the sword was not an ordinary immortal, but the Shaoyang Star Lord, which was powerful.

The Great Sun Immortal Sword cultivated the Dharma Form; theoretically, the most perfect sword-holding immortal should be the Sun Star Lord. But the Shaoyang Star Lord was actually not inferior at all, with a bit less intensity, but many more changes.

Both Star Lords only existed in theory. I didn't expect that today someone would really cultivate the Shaoyang Star Lord.

At least among the clansmen of the Xiao family who cultivated the immortal sword, it couldn't be said that there were no successors, at least there were no predecessors. With this Dharma Form, this child was probably the next generation's immortal ancestor of the Xiao family. At least when the contemporary immortal ancestor was in the Dharma Form stage, he was still slightly inferior to this child.

At this time, a voice as clear as a chime sounded in the ancestral land below: "Who is the first to wake up from the great dream, I know my life..."

They saw Xiang Xiaoyu break through the seclusion and stand, standing side by side with the Shaoyang Star Lord, his demeanor like a god for a time!

Although facing a group of Master Yu Jing elders, Xiang Xiaoyu was not the least bit constrained or cautious at this time, and said calmly: "After several years of seclusion, success is achieved today. In these few years, has there been anything related to me?"

Looking at the Shaoyang Star Lord beside Xiang Xiaoyu, several Master Yu Jing elders of the Xiao family didn't dare to rely on their seniority, so an elder said: "There are no other major events, it's just that someone has written you many letters, all of which are in your study."

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 807 =====