How can I bow my head and serve the powerful officials?

After Gu Lao finished redrawing the blueprint, he had a rough estimate in his mind. He shook his head, and it was obvious that this matter was a bit difficult to handle. "Second Prince, with the manpower currently available in Liaozhou, I am afraid that we will not be able to meet the deadline."

The snow in Liaozhou was too heavy. In order to transport food through the road, almost everyone was out, and they wanted to gather a large number of workers to rush to make the things needed for the ice sculpture festival...

If you do it slowly, it's certainly possible, but if you want to finish it before the New Year, it's difficult.

After listening to this, Xie Chengze frowned.

Although I anticipated this possibility, I still felt a little worried when I heard that there was a shortage of manpower.

He has already counted all the family soldiers. If it is still not enough, he can only continue to borrow people from the surrounding states.

"I'll take care of the workers' problem. Gu Lao, you take the people to Hunhe to make snow and ice sculptures first. If we don't have enough workers in the end, we can only give up part of the plan."

Xie Chengze tapped the desk with his finger and made the decision.

Gu Lao nodded, "Okay."

Several people began to discuss the specific details of the "Ice Sculpture Festival". The candles in the room were lit all night, and the melted candle oil flowed through the candle body again and again and froze again. It was not until dawn that the door was opened. Gu Lao walked out with a refreshed spirit, ready to show his skills on the Hunhe ice rink.

He had a premonition that this would become another achievement of his during his lifetime that would be recorded in history books and go down in history!

Su Qinghe and the two heads also walked out of the room. They did not look sleepy or tired at all. They were probably used to staying up late, so staying up all night was nothing.

As the few people dispersed, only Xie Chengze and Shen Yuan were left in the room.

The young man was quietly tidying up the drawings on the desk. Next to him was the stomach-warming rice porridge that Zhu Xiaobiao had brought him early in the morning. However, the young man was not in the mood to drink it. He just lowered his head and stacked the drawings aimlessly, staring at the contents on the paper without focus. His thumb and index finger kept rubbing a corner of the drawing paper, turning it over and over again, leaving rubbing marks all over his face.

Shen Yuan stirred the hot porridge in the bowl with a spoon and asked calmly, "Where can you borrow someone?"

Xie Chengze regained some consciousness and nodded, "Yeah."

After all, borrowing people from other states is a bit troublesome. Not only do you have to take care of their food, accommodation, and defecation, but you also have to make sure they are diligent enough to work. It's not like you can just ask the state government to post a notice and hire suitable workers.

What's more, the hiring process would be extremely time-consuming, which is why Xie Chengze is so troubled.

He lay prone on the desk, his little head rolling back and forth on the desk like a washed but uncut round potato being fried with a spatula, and he shouted in grief and indignation, "Oh God! Can't you just drop some people down for me! Is this so difficult? I didn't ask you for the stars, the moon, or the sun!"

Shen Yuan couldn't help laughing when he heard this. He pressed down the restless head on the desk with his broad, thin palm, and tapped his hard little head with his index finger. "Don't think about it alone. Didn't I tell you that you can leave any difficult problems to me?"

"Do you have a solution?" Xie Chengze's eyes suddenly lit up and he looked at Shen Yuan expectantly.

"Let's eat first." The man smiled softly and handed the rice porridge he had stirred to a soft consistency to the young man. His calm and composed look made people feel at ease.

He said, "You don't have to ask God for help in the future. I will summon troops for you as Your Highness wishes."

God can't hear his wish, but he can hear it.

……

Somewhere in Shenzhou, a large army was temporarily stationed in a slightly cleared snowfield, using an old iron pot to cook a thin noodle soup with the snow. In order to add some ingredients to make it look less shabby, some soldiers simply dug up wild vegetables, grass and tree bark from the snow and threw them in, which they could eat after being boiled soft.

"Your Highness, our military rations are almost gone."

The captain walked to a rock with a sad face. The man sitting on the rock had a blank expression on his face. He was wearing dark black armor and holding a very iconic black dragon long tassel spear. It was the current eldest prince Xie Shoujun.

"Your Majesty, don't want us to go back?" The captain complained. "You knew there was heavy snow on the road, but you sent people to warn all the prefectures, but you forgot to warn us. It's ok that you didn't pay us, but you gave us so little rations! How can this be enough for us brothers to get back to the capital?"

Xie Shoujun wiped the spear in his hand, raised his eyes slightly when he heard the words, and no expression could be seen on his handsome and cold face.

"Disaster prevention costs a lot of money. I'm sure the court is also stretched to the limit and can't afford more money." He said calmly, "No matter what, I will take you home."

He knew that although Emperor Jian had allowed him to lead his troops back to the capital, he was actually wary of the military power in his hands. He was afraid that he would develop rebellious intentions if he stayed at the border for too long, so he made them suffer from hunger and cold along the way. In this way, after returning to the capital, the exhausted army would no longer have the energy to rebel.

The emperor is wary and suspicious, and as a subject and son, he can understand that.

Xie Shoujun had no intention of rebellion. For him, guarding the city at the northern border had become his life. He was not interested in the throne and had no confidence in governing a country well.

He just wanted to go back and see his second younger brother, to see what he looked like now and whether he had grown up well.

"I will solve the problem of military rations." Xie Shoujun lowered his black eyes and stroked the Black Dragon Long Tassel Spear in his hand with an inexplicable look, "Tell the brothers that there is no need to save on food."

They had been eating bland soup for several days. It was icy and snowy and they had to travel. If they didn't fill their stomachs, how would they survive the cold?

The captain nodded and went down, but he did not let the soldiers eat as much as they wanted. He just asked them to have more rice.

After dinner, the troops continued to march towards the nearest county town. There were not many military bases in Beidizhou City that could accommodate the army. Many times, they could only build tents outside the city and make fires to keep out the cold, like this time.

In the evening, the army arrived at a slightly larger county town. With a glimmer of hope, the captain went to negotiate with the city gate commander and asked if there was any extra old grain that could help the army.

He did not notice that someone had quietly left the army and entered the city in disguise.

Gold and Jade Pawn Shop.

"Shopkeeper, pawn."

A low and hoarse voice sounded, and the sleepy shopkeeper rubbed his eyes. He saw a tall man standing in front of the counter. He looked like a martial arts master with extraordinary temperament.

"What?" His eyes fell on the counter, where he saw a long black tasseled spear. The blade was polished to a very bright shine, revealing a bloody aura. It was obvious that it was a weapon that had killed many people.

The shopkeeper was not surprised why someone would pawn such an item, and only asked, "Is it for your own use, or someone else's?"

If it was stolen from someone else, the price would drop.

"For my own use." The man said calmly, "This long tasseled spear has killed Huns. Please raise the price."

Oh? Killed the Huns?

The shopkeeper was startled and could not help but glance at the man again, secretly guessing his identity. At the same time, he reached out to touch the Black Dragon Long Tassel Spear. He could feel that this sharp spear must have been made by a master. The shaft wrapped in black iron was extremely wear-resistant, and there was not a trace of wood on it.

This is a rare and good weapon, why should we pawn it?

Although he was a little curious, the shopkeeper was very fond of this long-tasseled spear, so he asked, "Live or dead?"

"How much can you give for living?"

"If you want to pawn it alive, I can only get thirty taels of silver. But if you are willing to pawn it dead, I can give you this amount." The shopkeeper raised his thumb and index finger, "Eighty taels of silver."

This price was already considered high by the shopkeeper. He received news that Liaozhou was about to hold a grand festival, and many wealthy merchants from other places would be invited to attend, and even the current emperor might come to attend the festival. Therefore, the Liaozhou Chamber of Commerce cordially invited the Shenzhou Chamber of Commerce to decorate the venue and bring the local treasures over to sell for a good price.

If this spear is added with the gimmick of "killing the Huns", it will definitely be able to be sold at a higher price.