King of Creation Chapter 2103 - 2088: Ten-Day Deadline

The ’Marquis Kaiyuan Ji Guan’ that Ye Zhen transfigured into urged urgently, with words that implied whoever didn’t cooperate would be targeted.

Considering the background of the Human Demon Battlefield Grand Commander Prince Ji Yuan behind Marquis Kaiyuan Ji Guan, the royal identity of the Marquis, plus the promissory notes stamped with the Grand Seal of the Zhengyao City Guardian of Marquis Kaiyuan Ji Guan, both borrowing and weapon collection proceeded exceptionally smoothly.

Speaking of the Grand Seal of Marquis Kaiyuan Ji Guan as the Zhengyao City Guardian, it was a result of his own actions.

Marquis Kaiyuan Ji Guan loved entertainment and disliked ordinary chores, particularly many paperwork orders. Including matters like Ye Zhen’s application for the Heavenly Wave Army of North Sea to pass through the Zhengyao City Ancient Teleportation Formation, it only required him to read through, stamp the seal as the Guardian, and send a reply.

This kind of work was common.

Marquis Kaiyuan Ji Guan was too lazy to handle such tasks himself, so he delegated all such trivial matters to his trusted Grand Steward, Hee Xun, since it was just stamping the Grand Seal.

Thus, the originally crucial Guardian Seal that should be carried with him was left in the study for Grand Steward Hee Xun to use at any time, and he just had to make a record when stamping the seal.

In this way, Ye Zhen effortlessly acquired the crucial Guardian Seal capable of gaining trust.

However, when accounting for the situation, this was not unexpected.

Because when a chief officer possessing the seal leaves for an extended period, they typically entrust the seal to a trusted aide for temporary use; otherwise, many tasks cannot proceed.

Like when Ye Zhen left North Sea County to head to Taimeng Demon Realm, setting out to find Caiyi, he entrusted the Grand Seal of the Second Route Wind Patrol Envoy and the personal seal of the Third-class Earl of North Sea to Gu Tieqi and Liuu Feng.

Otherwise, lacking these two seals, many official tasks couldn’t continue.

In the Great Zhou Dynasty, many official tasks recognize seals, not people.

The absence of the person is allowed, but documents lacking the stamped seal aren’t recognized by anyone.

Hence, just within one night, as dawn broke, Marquis Kaiyuan Ji Guan’s Grand Steward Hee Xun and two Military Commanders of Zhengyao City, Hua Su and Jin Jun, appeared in the Guardian’s study with several storage rings.

The first to report was Grand Steward Hee Xun, whose face was full of smiles, as the matter had gone much smoother than he anticipated.

"Marquis, the soldiers are extremely excited to hear about Marquis leading them to wealth, and they are eagerly participating. This time, the amount of Spirit Stones borrowed far exceeded what this old servant imagined."

"According to Marquis’s prior standards and numbers, a maximum of 1.02 million High Grade Spirit Stones could be borrowed, but now almost 1.97 million High Grade Spirit Stones were borrowed from the army," Grand Steward Hee Xun stated.

Ye Zhen was astonished, "Nearly two million High Grade Spirit Stones, how did it come to so much?"

Ye Zhen was surprised, for based on the Zhou Army system, fifty men form a team with a Captain, five teams form a Guard, with a Commander as Capital Commandant, four Guards of a thousand men form a Regiment, with a Commander as General-in-chief, three Guards of three thousand men form a Captain, with a Commander as Captain, three Captains plus trusted aides forming a division of ten thousand men, with a commander as leader.

Three divisions totaling thirty thousand form an army, with a commander as Military Commander.

And within Zhengyao City, inside and outside, there were two stationed armies, but both were understrength, each army with twenty thousand men.

Calculating this, based on Ye Zhen’s previous standards, borrowing began at the Captain level, capable of borrowing up to one million High Grade Spirit Stones, yet now it suddenly doubled, which surprised Ye Zhen.

"Marquis, the soldiers below are unwilling to miss such a wealth opportunity, a 20% interest in about ten days, and it’s guaranteed, so it’s like picking money up off the ground.

Therefore, many officers have borrowed amounts exceeding the standards set by Marquis.

Additionally, some soldiers also received the news and want to borrow, although their amounts are relatively small, there are many, in the end, it was the old servant who set the minimum borrowing standard to one hundred High Grade Spirit Stones, otherwise, there would be even more ordinary soldiers borrowing." Grand Steward Hee Xun stated.

"Ordinary soldiers also joined, how many?" Ye Zhen’s expression became even more surprised.

Originally, Ye Zhen specified the borrowing subjects to be military officers starting from Captain to avoid harming ordinary soldiers. Those ordinary soldiers lived hard lives; Ye Zhen didn’t want to harm them, but unexpectedly, ordinary soldiers still participated.

Seeing Ye Zhen’s expression change, Grand Steward Hee Xun felt anxious, "If Marquis dislikes it, this old servant will return the excess immediately; also, the total number of ordinary soldier participants isn’t much, mostly soldier leaders, ruffians, or those with good family backgrounds, about ten thousand people, each borrowing an average of three or four hundred High Grade Spirit Stones."

"No need!"

Benefits received shouldn’t be given up easily.

If Ye Zhen softened and backed out now, it might ruin the plan.

Anyhow, with the Guardian Seal involved, and it affects tens of thousands of troops, Marquis Kaiyuan Ji Guan couldn’t renege even if he wanted to.

Taking the storage ring filled with nearly two million High Grade Spirit Stones, Grand Steward Hee Xun handed over another storage ring and a Jade Scroll list, "Marquis, these are Spirit Stones pooled by the marquis’s internal stewards, deacons, butlers, totaling sixty thousand High Grade Spirit Stones.

Everyone expressed that the marquis gave them jobs, if Marquis encounters difficulties, they are willing to assist, they don’t even ask for the interest."

Ye Zhen smiled as he took the storage ring. "This marquis keeps his word, how could I take advantage of your small amount. Tell them, their generosity will be remembered by this marquis, ten days later, all will be repaid with principal and interest included."

"Marquis is noble-hearted!" Grand Steward Hee Xun suitably bowed with a compliment.

"Marquis, these are three hundred twenty thousand High Grade Spirit Stones borrowed from several hundred renowned merchants within the city."

"Good!" Ye Zhen once again received them with a smile.

Afterward, Grand Steward Hee Xun left, and Military Commander Jin Jun and Hua Su came together to meet.

Compared to the joy of Grand Steward Hee Xun, these two Military Commanders, even if the matter was settled, their eyes were still filled with deep concern.

After all, if this matter got out, it would really have serious consequences.

"Master, we have collected a total of thirty-four thousand sets of various grade standard armor and weapons, sixteen thousand crossbows, two hundred Sky-Breaking Dragon-Slaying Crossbows, over eight hundred thousand various crossbow bolts, forty thousand various talisman shields, and thirty flying boats of different grades from the soldiers." Jin Jun and Hua Su hesitantly handed over four storage rings.

Ye Zhen’s eyes widened in surprise, not expecting that these two had even managed to include flying boats and Sky-Breaking Dragon-Slaying Crossbows, which were true treasures.

Especially since the equipment of the army at the Human Demon Battlefield was inherently more advanced, the equipment under the command of Marquis Kaiyuan Ji Guan was more comprehensive due to his background and identity, not to mention that they were all the latest equipment rotated by the Military Department.

Ye Zhen scanned with his Divine Sense briefly and found that this equipment was at least three generations more advanced than the military armory provided to the Heavenly Wave Army of North Sea, only inferior to the current equipment of the Imperial Guard of Great Zhou by one generation, it could be considered highly advanced.

"You did a very good job with this matter." Ye Zhen collected the storage rings silently, secretly feeling delighted.

Five million eight hundred thousand High Grade Spirit Stones, this was already an extremely huge wealth, whether for Ye Zhen or Marquis Kaiyuan Ji Guan.

Plus this batch of advanced military armory, which might not even be purchasable with Spirit Stones, Ye Zhen could already imagine how Marquis Kaiyuan Ji Guan would be in a difficult situation once he returned.

"Excuse me, sir, are you sure about the ten days?" Hua Su and Jin Jun, still extremely worried.

"Don’t worry!" Ye Zhen waved his hand confidently, after all, this promise was made by Marquis Kaiyuan Ji Guan, it wasn’t related to him, Ye Zhen.

"That’s good."

Jin Jun added again, "Sir, to prevent the news from leaking out and causing an incident, we have ordered that all soldiers who had their armory confiscated are strictly forbidden from leaving the camp within ten days.

If the military armory arrives, please return it to the troops promptly to avoid any unexpected issues."

"Okay, I understand, you may leave now."

As Jin Jun and Hua Su left, Ye Zhen could barely contain his laughter, causing his face to almost twist.

Marquis Kaiyuan Ji Guan would never have imagined that his initiative to leave to avoid trouble would end up causing such a major problem.

If he hadn’t left, at most he would have suffered some torment, endured some physical pain, killing a member of the Royal Clan, especially when Ye Zhen was a suspect, Ye Zhen wouldn’t dare.

But now...

After dawn, Ye Zhen transformed into Marquis Kaiyuan Ji Guan, after giving some instructions, he confidently walked out through the main gate of the garrison commander’s mansion, then soared into the sky and vanished.

Watching the back of Ye Kai’s ’Marquis’ from the mansion’s gate, Grand Steward Hee Xun couldn’t shake the feeling that something was a bit off, yet he couldn’t pinpoint exactly what was wrong.

Finally, Grand Steward Hee Xun shook his head vigorously and returned to the mansion with a smile.

This time, he had lent the Marquis a sum of up to two hundred thousand High Grade Spirit Stones, with a twenty percent interest rate; when it was paid back, that would be a pure profit of forty thousand High Grade Spirit Stones.

This amount would be enough for him to reap advantages for a long time.

....

Five days later, Marquis Kaiyuan Ji Guan’s chariot descended from the sky.

Having received the news, Grand Steward Hee Xun greeted him early, and only then did Hee Xun remember why the Marquis felt a bit peculiar that day.

The chariot.

Marquis Kaiyuan Ji Guan always travelled with a chariot and a large entourage, exuding grandeur and style, but that day, the Marquis was alone.

However, by now, Grand Steward Hee Xun had stopped thinking too much, perhaps the Marquis was simply being expedient in an emergency.

"Marquis, was the trip smooth?" Grand Steward Hee Xun hurriedly approached and asked.

Marquis Kaiyuan Ji Guan responded with a somewhat noncommittal snort, this old fool in front of him was getting more and more lacking in tact.

This time he had left to avoid trouble after receiving news that Ye Zhen was coming, talking about a successful trip was pointless.

Marquis Kaiyuan Ji Guan would never have dreamed that what Grand Steward Hee Xun asked was about something else entirely.

But in the following days, the returned Marquis Kaiyuan Ji Guan noticed something was amiss: the gaze from all the stewards, deacons, and military officers in the mansion, each was full of anticipation, some even with fervor.

Especially from some ordinary soldiers and officers, their gaze was one of heartfelt admiration.

This surprised Marquis Kaiyuan Ji Guan, but also delighted him, thinking it was due to his excellent military governance.

Soon, the ten-day period arrived.