Zhutian: Starting from the Space-Time Merchant

Chapter 107 Through Wind and Rain, I Came to Find You

Yonghe Time and Space, the Imperial Bedchamber.

Lin Dao, still wet, squatted down and reached out to check Hao Nu's breath.

He pressed on his pulse for a while, then tentatively placed his fingers on Haonu's neck.

Finally, he even pried open Hao Nu's eyelids.

The pupils were dilated, indicating that there was no sign of life.

"Indeed, people are the same."

Lin Dao, who was squatting down, sighed.

He first went to the modern world, and then turned around and came to Yonghe Time and Space.

This powerful servant of the Tian family has completely disappeared from the Chongzhen era.

In the truest sense, the kind that you can't find even if you look for it.

I knew beforehand that I couldn't bring living creatures through the journey, but I still held onto a sliver of hope.

Perhaps humans are different from other living things.

Now, a substantive confirmation has finally been made, and there is no difference.

"If I switch careers and become an assassin, will there be any way for my colleagues to survive?"

"The only downside is that it requires contact."

Squatting on the ground, Lin Dao's thoughts wandered: "If I were to engage in a one-on-one duel on the battlefield and capture someone like Xiang Yu or Lü Bu, wouldn't I be the fiercest warrior in the world?"

I imagined myself punching Xiang Yu, the Hegemon of Chu, and kicking three families, the three masters of the treacherous vassal state.

Lin Dao stood up and called out, "Liu Hu."

Liu Hu, who was guarding the outside of the hall with his personal guards, immediately went inside.

Liu Hu glanced at the corpse on the ground, then looked away and bowed respectfully.

"Master Lang."

"Drag him out and deal with him." Lin Dao unbuttoned his clothes, which were soaked through by the rain, revealing a stab-proof vest and chainmail underneath.

Liu Hu immediately stepped forward, dragged the slave's corpse away.

When he returned, Lin Dao had already changed into night clothes.

If it were possible to transport people through time, there would be no need for such trouble.

Now, to take down a few lackeys of the powerful, I have to do it myself.

If we could bring the Beggars' Army directly there, sweeping across the entire Ming Dynasty would be a piece of cake.

Seeing that Liu Hu hesitated to speak, Lin Dao immediately asked, "Is something the matter?"

"My lord," Liu Hu bowed, "there is military news."

"Bring it here."

The military report was sent by Ran Min from the north.

He has already captured the capital of Goguryeo and even dug up the tombs of all the Goguryeo kings.

Ran Min subtly indicated that the army had been fighting abroad for a long time and wanted to rest for a while.

"Where is Xie Daoyun? Call her over."

Xie Daoyun, who was dressed up, saw Lin Dao still wearing his clothes as soon as she arrived.

"coming?"

"Go write a letter."

I thought she was coming to serve me in bed, but I never expected her to come and write a letter in the middle of the night.

Helpless, Xie Daoyun had no choice but to step forward, spread out paper, grind ink, kneel on the table, pick up her brush, and turn to look at Lin Dao.

“Tell Ran Min that the troops can be rested and reorganized.”

"Except for those who stayed behind in Goguryeo, the rest of the troops went to Youzhou to rest and recuperate."

"Wang Meng sent people there to distribute land and fields, and asked Ran Min to cooperate in compiling military merits and distributing land and fields to the soldiers."

"Youzhou also has the land from Goguryeo that we just conquered, which can be distributed to the soldiers."

Wang Meng was meticulous in his work and optimized every detail of the land distribution.

Each soldier in the Beggars' Army was allocated thirty mu of land, plus two mu of mulberry fields.

The ratio of paddy fields to dry fields is roughly one to two.

Compared to ordinary people, the advantage of military households and soldiers was that as long as they served in the army, they did not have to pay taxes on their family's land.

In addition, soldiers can choose to exchange their military merits for land.

It means giving up the grain and other rewards given by the forest road and exchanging them for land.

Without a doubt, the vast majority of the Beggar Army soldiers chose to ask for land.

Although the Lord's rewards were extremely generous, they would eventually run out.

With land, one can reap harvests year after year.

For people of agrarian societies, this is something they can understand.

This alleviated Lin Dao's expenses on beheading rewards.

Of course, military merits cannot be exchanged for land indefinitely, otherwise one would become a large landowner.

According to Wang Meng's rules, the exchange rate before 100 mu was normal, but it started to increase after that.

After reaching 300 mu, if the soldiers of the Beggar Army wanted to exchange for more land, they had to make great contributions or receive dozens of heads.

As for the problem that military households had no time to farm while fighting on the front lines, Wang Meng's solution was to rent it out.

They rented it out to the common people in the same village, receiving a fixed amount of income each year.

This is one of the reasons why the Beggars' Army is becoming increasingly powerful.

It wasn't just the weapons, armor, and military supplies provided by Lin Dao; more importantly, the rewards from the Lord were simply too tempting.

"It will take three to six months to repair."

“Arrange for the soldiers to take turns going home to have children with the women assigned to them.”

"Afterwards, go to the Three Han regions and clear out that strange place for me."

The land of the Three Hans is what later became known as Korea.

A place teeming with idiots, freaks, and criminals.

I smoothed things over as I went along, which can be considered an act of kindness and good deeds.

At least the people of this time and space in later generations will no longer have to see the various oddities of the Koreans, nor listen to their incessant chatter.

Lin Dao's writing is straightforward, while the more ornate and elaborate language was written by Xie Daoyun herself.

After finishing writing, he blew the ink dry and handed it to Lin Dao for review.

Xie Daoyun got up and took the imperial seal from the head of her bed in her palace.

'Snapped! '

With a single sound, the matter was considered settled. The letter, or rather the imperial decree, was given to Liu Hu, who then arranged for a messenger to deliver it to Ran Min at top speed.

"My Lord," Xie Daoyun said, hesitating to speak.

"Go back and wait for me," Lin Dao instructed. "I'll come find you when I get back."

The Chongzhen era.

Master Yao, the owner of Ruyi Zhai, was one of the most famous and wealthy men in Nanjing.

His family's residence was spacious and luxurious, and it was not far from the Duke of Wei's mansion.

A light drizzle was falling from the night sky.

Not long after the night watchman passed, Lin Dao, dressed in light gray night clothes and carrying a travel bag, approached one of the outer walls of the Yao residence.

White walls and black tiles, the courtyard wall is about ten feet high.

He swung out the hook and successfully climbed over the wall.

Looking out from the wall, the courtyard, with its many layers, was mostly dark, with only scattered spots of light.

A small drone was released, taking off with a buzzing sound, dragging an extremely thin optical fiber into the night sky, circling around the Yao residence.

In a courtyard on the west side, several lamps hung on the corridor.

Tian Gui, seething with anger, was loudly berating the steward of the Yao residence.

"Believe me or not, when I get back, I'll make your family look bad in front of the master."

"He doesn't understand any rules at all!"

"I told you to send over some maids to serve me, but what a bunch of ugly girls these are!"

"Send all your beautiful maids here!"

"Where's Yao Bangzhi? Tell him to get over here!"

"It's so late at night, and your house is making a constant buzzing noise. It's so noisy!"

The butler smiled apologetically, insisting that the master had gone out to a banquet and had not yet returned.

There were indeed no pretty maids in the house.

When the sun rises tomorrow and the wind and rain stop, I will go out to buy beautiful women to serve you all.

Tian Gui refused to listen and made a huge fuss.

In the end, Tian Bao came out, scolded him a couple of times, and then reluctantly went back inside.

"This place is not like the capital."

Back in the main house, Tian Bao advised, "Even though the emperor is far away, our master's influence is still very useful here."

"Those southern barbarians are all bad!"

Tian Gui said with a resentful expression, "I can't find any women even if I look for them several times."

"You."

Tian Bao shook his head. "Don't always focus on this."

"The important thing now is to find the stunning beauty and send her back to the capital."

Tian Gui immediately winked and gestured to the person in the west room opposite, "We already have a beauty, don't we?"

"I've heard that he's a renowned musician here, a very skilled pianist."

"How about we have a few drinks, and call them over to liven things up?"

"Stop thinking about it!" Tian Bao said seriously. "This is a noble lady that Master intends to send to the palace!"

"How dare you or I get involved? Do you want your whole family to die?"

Seeing Tian Bao get angry, Tian Gui chuckled sheepishly, "I was just saying."

Who would dare to touch a woman sent to the palace beforehand?
To put a grassland hat on the emperor?
That would be a death wish for the whole family.

"I've remembered," Tian Bao said gently. "Take good care of them."

"If that person gains favor after entering the palace, a single word from her could take the lives of your entire family!"

"Got it." Tian Gui shrank back. "Let's drink, let's drink~"

"That guy on the pleasure boat today." Remembering Lin Dao from before, Tian Gui was furious. "He was so arrogant!"

"Not urgent."

Holding his wine glass, Tian Bao narrowed his eyes. "Let's find out his background and identity first."

“If his background isn’t strong enough, a single document will send him to the capital.”

"When that time comes, we'll prepare it properly!"

"Yes!" Tian Gui nodded repeatedly. "We must make him wish he were dead!"

"Dare to offend our Imperial Father-in-Law's Mansion? They're tired of living!"

I retrieved the drone, climbed onto the forest path atop the wall, took out dog repellent spray, and sprayed some on myself.

He put on night vision goggles, grabbed a stun gun, and slipped inside.

They dodged the patrolling servants and climbed over the walls to reach the courtyard where Tian Bao, Tian Gui, and the others lived.

At this time, only the main house in the east wing of the courtyard still had some light, and the whole courtyard was very quiet.

The pattering rain drowned out the footsteps along the forest path.

After removing the night vision goggles, they began to enter each room, starting from the east and west wing rooms, by unlatching the door bolts.

When he came out, all the servants of the Tian family in the room had disappeared.

Finally, he arrived at the main house, the east room, and kicked the door open.

Tian Bao and Tian Gui were sitting there drinking wine.

They were terrified and instinctively tried to get up.

Lin Dao stepped forward, his stun gun sizzling as he pressed it against Tian Bao's body.

Tian Bao, his face deathly pale, rolled his eyes, trembled, and collapsed to the ground, convulsing.

Tian Gui was terrified and overturned the square table, shouting, "Help! Someone come here!"

"Stop shouting."

Lin Dao stepped forward, holding a stun gun. "While you were drinking, I took care of all the thugs you brought."

"Yes, it's you~~~"

By the light of the candle, Tian Gui could see Lin Dao's face clearly and was shocked.

"It's me." Lin Dao stepped forward. "I've come to find you through wind and rain."

Tian Gui suddenly knelt on the ground, repeatedly kowtowing, "I was blind and didn't recognize your greatness, please spare my life!"

Lin Dao kicked the chair over, causing it to collide with Tian Gui, who was pulling a dagger from his boot.

The next moment, a stun gun, buzzing loudly, was pressed against his neck.

(End of this chapter)