"City Lord, this is the entire territory of our Fengqi City."
After receiving Chen Yu's message, Ke Lai put down his work and found the map, coming to the fish pond where Chen Yu was.
The map was spread out.
The tabletop in the pavilion was not large enough to lay the map flat. The map was spread directly on the ground of the pavilion, occupying the entire pavilion.
Chen Yu stared at the unfurled map, frowning at the many markings on it.
"Are these markings all cities?"
"That's right, the one in the center with a flag is Fengqi City, where we are now," Ke Lai pointed to the city at the center of the map and whispered, "The others outside are cities within Fengqi City's territory."
"Seventy-two cities?"
"Yes!"
Upon receiving an affirmative answer, Chen Yu glanced at Ke Lai with a slightly dazed expression. Judging from the city markings on the map, there seemed to be over a thousand cities.
Perhaps sensing Chen Yu's confusion, Ke Lai explained.
"Seventy-two cities refers to seventy-two main cities. Below the main cities are various towns and city-states, as well as many resource cities. There are over 1100 cities in the entire territory."
Gulp.
Chen Yu, staring into the cave, swallowed silently.
He had misunderstood.
Initially, when Chen Yu learned that Fengqi City had seventy-two cities within its territory, he hadn't paid much attention. Vast territories required establishing branch cities when one city couldn't manage everything; this was understandable.
However, he had overlooked a very important point.
The territory of Fengqi City was truly too vast.
Seven thousand li in both width and length.
Outside the cave, this would be considered one of the top three largest countries in terms of territory. How could such a vast territory be controlled by just a few dozen cities?
He had indeed been misled by the word "city" in Fengqi City.
Though a city, it was comparable to a country.
It was only at this moment that Chen Yu realized how significant the undertaking he was now inheriting was. To reclaim the entire territory of Fengqi City, even if he wasn't a king, he was no less than one.
Fortunately, Chen Yu's psychological resilience was quite strong.
After a brief moment of composure, Chen Yu accepted the reality before him.
"Where is Mi Ye?" Chen Yu gazed at the map. Li Ya raised her hand and pointed to an area slightly south of the map. "This is the city where Mi Ye is located, and this entire area is her territory."
Li Ya drew a circle on the map, and Chen Yu was secretly startled.
This was an Earl?!
Judging from the map, the territory owned by Mi Ye was almost comparable to the area of a province, and the resources within her territory were abundant.
There were ore veins and fertile land.
It wasn't surprising that she could stand out within Fengqi City with these resources.
"She's one of Old Seven's people," Chen Yu narrowed his eyes slightly. "If Old Seven were to raise an army from her, I would receive the news and prepare accordingly. Point out the locations of the other cities to me, according to the list on this parchment."
Half an hour later—
The map was rolled up again. Leaning against a stone pillar, Chen Yu pondered in silence.
The situation was indeed more troublesome than he had imagined.
Chen Yu's initial plan was to identify all the city lords with ill intentions. Once Hei Lü arrived with his army, he would deal with these city lords in a lightning-fast strike, and then Fengqi City would dispatch personnel for subsequent management of the cities.
Currently, this idea seemed somewhat unsuitable for the present situation.
There were simply too many cities.
Although in times of turmoil, soldiers, food, and cities were the most important, no one would dislike having more cities under their command. However, Chen Yu was truly troubled by this.
He didn't have that many management talents.
Fengqi City was just beginning to move towards normalcy, and talent selection hadn't been fully implemented. Up to now, Chen Yu was still using Ke Lai's old team.
Or rather, he was deploying personnel from the Free Cities.
Compared to Fengqi City, which had just pacified the unrest and was slightly short of personnel, the Free Cities had been developing stably for more than half a year, and there were many foreigners from outside the cave who had entered the cave.
Their knowledge and vision surpassed that of most ordinary people in the cave.
Unfortunately, there was still a more troublesome problem.
Ambition!
Chen Yu couldn't guarantee the loyalty of those people. Many people in the Free Cities were actually restricted by Chen Yu. If they were truly given an opportunity, who could guarantee that it wouldn't be like a tiger entering the forest or a dragon entering the sea?
"Always finding trouble for me."
Chen Yu muttered while leaning against the stone pillar.
If the royal family had been obedient and competed internally, giving him some time to develop, his plan wouldn't have gone so awry. If he had been given half a year,
After Fengqi City was operating smoothly, he would recruit talented individuals from outside. The most direct way would be to prioritize those who held the Filial and Upright Edict. The problem would then be solved.
Chen Yu felt that the recommendation of Filial and Upright was tailor-made for him.
That ethereal god had already conducted selections for the rulers. Holding the Filial and Upright Edict was a form of recognition. Further selections could be made from them, or if they were too troublesome, they could be directly hired and given positions.
Even if they were mediocre, at least they could be honest and incorruptible.
These kinds of people were also generally loyal.
As long as the kingdom or city they served met their expectations, they would burn their lives to contribute to that kingdom.
The sudden move by the royal family had completely disrupted Chen Yu's plans.
"Alright, put the drawing back. I have it in mind now," Chen Yu said in a deep voice. Li Ya frowned and leaned closer. "If you need my help, just ask."
"Can you send troops to reinforce me?"
"This..."
"Fengqi City is my subordinate city, and I will resolve these troubles." Chen Yu stretched lazily. "Hurry back to the royal city. Since there are so many eyes in my city, your frequent contact with me is likely already known to Old Seven, and he will definitely keep a close watch on you. After you return to the city, help me keep an eye on his actions, and notify me immediately of any news."
"Understood. I'll return to the royal city now."
Li Ya, along with a few attendants, hurried away from the City Lord's mansion. Chen Yu narrowed his eyes, still thinking about the branch cities, but he noticed that Ke Lai, who should have left long ago, was still standing there, hesitating.
"Do you have something to say?"
"City Lord, it's not a big deal. Those merchants are again pressing me about the grain issue. I feel that if we delay any longer, they might lose patience," Ke Lai said with a slight frown. "We can't just abandon all this grain, can we? Judging from your earlier intentions, you seem to be preparing to take action against the branch cities. Once the cities are incorporated and your salary system and tax policies are implemented, the consumption of grain will likely increase significantly."
"I almost forgot about them."
Chen Yu suddenly grinned, rubbing his hands together.
"What did those merchants say?"
"They're asking if we want the grain. I intended to have them bring the grain to our city for negotiation. Problems are much easier to solve on our territory," Ke Lai whispered. "It's just that they don't want to do that, and they said that if the transaction needs to take place at a location they provide, and if we can't reach an agreement, the matter will be delayed like this."
"You're too obvious."
Chen Yu, leaning against the stone pillar, chuckled.
Who wasn't lacking in brains?
Ke Lai's insistence on trading within Fengqi City clearly showed his firm intention to seize the grain. Fengqi City was their territory, and if those merchants brought the grain into the city, they would be waiting to be robbed.
"Millions of tons of grain, how would they dare to enter the city?"
Regardless of the hidden stakes behind this, even if they were sincere grain merchants, carrying millions of tons of grain through the streets would be something no one would do.
Such a large business definitely required a location where they felt secure.
"The problem is, I think there's something fishy about this," Ke Lai said, frowning deeply. "If they provide the location, how do we handle it if they make a move against us? There must be a hidden force behind them that doesn't want to reveal itself, otherwise, how could these merchants obtain so much grain? Do you really think they are grain merchants?"
Initially, when Ke Lai learned that these merchants had grain, he was somewhat excited.
However—
The more he thought about it, the more he felt something was wrong.
Even if traveling merchants collected scattered grain their entire lives, they wouldn't be able to collect this much grain, unless a noble was in need of money and needed to exchange it for grain.
How could it be such a coincidence that so many nobles were short of money and all found them?
Millions of tons of grain!
Even the Kingdom's Resource Officer would treat them as ancestors, so how did it inexplicably end up in Fengqi City contacting him?
Afraid of the Kingdom snatching it, but not afraid of Fengqi City snatching it?
And it just so happened that after the granary was burned, they popped up one after another. Before the granary burned down, they were never heard to have grain.
Anyone could see that this was a deliberate trap for Fengqi City!
Ke Lai even suspected that they didn't have any grain at all.
"Your thoughts on this are not entirely wrong."
Chen Yu's eyes were filled with a smile. "Unfortunately, they are determined to conduct this transaction outside, and our city is short of grain, so we can only be led by the nose."
"City Lord, you mean..."
"Grain, we must buy it."
Chen Yu said with a smile, tapping the table lightly with his finger.
"You also know that without grain, our city will soon run out. Since they are willing to provide us with such a large amount of grain, why shouldn't we take it?"
"City Lord, what if they don't have the grain?"
"If they don't have the grain, don't the people behind them have it?" Chen Yu said with a slight smile. "I believe you probably already know the hidden implications behind this trade. They want to make a fortune from us, so why can't we make a fortune from them? If there's no grain, detain the trading people, bring them back to the city for interrogation, find out who they belong to, and then use them to exchange for grain."
Chen Yu was absolutely skilled in such matters.
When he was still a small camp in the cave, he had done many such things as kidnapping people for ransom. He would extort as much as he could. If he couldn't, he planned to open mines and throw the useless ones into the mine pits as black slaves. When their bones softened, they would naturally rack their brains to buy their freedom.
These people were not like the refugees and displaced people in the cave; they had some assets.
"It sounds easy, but our city..." Ke Lai frowned and lowered his voice. "As you know, our city has no military force. Even if we really brought troops, if they saw too many people, they might stop trading with us. If we brought too few, our city doesn't have any elite forces to show off. Relying only on Lauren, it's doubtful if he can escape safely from such an environment."
"Simple."
Chen Yu suddenly grinned and pointed to himself, indicating Ke Lai.
"I'll go, that's enough."