Zhutian: Starting from the Space-Time Merchant

Chapter 114 Treasure Pavilion

"Wake up, wake up!"

The beggar, waking up from his afternoon nap, rubbed his eyes, which were full of eye boogers, and kept nudging his companion.

My companion rolled over impatiently. "Why aren't you sleeping in the middle of the day? What are you doing?"

"Listen, there's a sound outside!"

"There really is a sound!"

A groggy companion got up, instinctively rubbing the mud off his clothes. "You rascal!"

His companion fell silent in astonishment.

A loud rumbling sound came from outside, and even the dust on the floor inside the hall trembled slightly.

"W-what?!"

Inside the dilapidated hall, the beggars who had been taking a nap got up one by one.

They all looked surprised and uncertain.

Some of the bolder ones stepped forward, wanting to open the palace door and take a look.

The next moment, the house collapsed!
The falling wooden objects buried the beggars beneath them.

Beneath countless ruins, the faint screams and cries of beggars could still be heard.

However, the loud roar of the bulldozer engine couldn't reach Lin Dao's ears.

He skillfully pushed and pulled the control lever, driving the huge bulldozer back and forth several times, pushing all the ruins of the entire hall together to form a mountain of garbage.

Reverse the car a short distance, stop the car, and turn off the engine.

He opened the door and got out of the car, then took out a stalk of herbs and lit it.

There was a faint commotion beneath the ruins.

Lin Dao, with a sharp look between his brows, took out an account book.

He had found this in the room of the leader of the group of beggars, or what you might call the gang leader or helmsman.

On the eighth day of the fifth month of the Renshen year, Master Qian of Yuminfang bound Xu, a widow from the northern city, and charged her twenty-three taels of silver.

On the 19th day of the second month of the year Guiyou (1393), Luo Shanren of Zhongcheng Street bound the orphaned daughter of the Wu family at Maogongdu, and paid her thirty taels of silver.

On the eighth day of the eighth month of the Jiaxu year, the entire family of Fang Yong from Shangfang Village, outside Shangfang Gate, along with Gao, a wealthy man from Cunyi Street, drowned in the river. The cost was 85 taels of silver.

"On the 27th day of the fourth month of the Bingzi year, the monk Yuanzhi of Chengen Temple bound a devout woman surnamed Zhou near the Dazhong Bridge, and charged her with sixty taels of silver."

'The first day of the third month of the Dingchou year'

'.'

The ledger was very thick, and it recorded far more than a hundred victims.

To describe these people as beasts is an insult to beasts.

With a flick of his finger, Lin Dao sent the fragrant herbs flying, and then carefully put the account book away.

Once they captured Jinling City, they followed the records in the ledgers to confiscate property, arrest people, skin them, stuff them with straw, demolish houses, and seize cattle.

He took a breath and took out several Molotov cocktails.

He lit the cloth strip at the bottle opening with a lighter, turned sideways to assume a standard throwing posture, and threw the Molotov cocktail towards the pile of rubble.

'Snapped! '

The Molotov cocktail shattered, and a large ball of flame shot up, quickly igniting the surrounding area.

The main building material for buildings in this era was still wood.

Wood is flammable, and once it catches fire, extinguishing it depends on the weather.

The Japanese, who have held many large-scale citywide barbecues, are very experienced in this area.

The beggars under the rubble were lucky to have been crushed to death earlier.

Those who are still alive now are a matter of destiny.

Fate decreed that they should receive their due punishment, and they could only watch helplessly as the fire approached, unable to move.

It also allowed me to experience firsthand the endless suffering endured by those victims who were brutally murdered by them.

Although they were complete strangers.

However, within his power, Lin Dao is willing to speak up for them!

He sent the bulldozer back and changed out of his armor.

As they left the burning temple, the rescued women in the distance all bowed deeply to Lin Dao.

Lin Dao waved without turning his head and returned to the carriage.

"Is anyone still there?"

"Yes, yes, I'm here." Dong Xiaowan, holding a hairpin in her hand, lifted the curtain and saw Lin Dao. Her pretty face immediately lit up with joy. "Master, you're back!"

Chen Yuanyuan followed them out, but her attention was focused on the temple burning fiercely in the distance.

"Go in." Lin Dao led the packhorse around, then jumped onto the carriage shaft and drove the carriage.

Along the way, we saw many shops and cooks carrying buckets of water, rushing to put out fires.

As we exited the street and turned onto another road, we encountered a professional fire brigade of this era.

Fire soldier.

As you can tell from the name, this is a team specifically designed for firefighting.

They usually only stationed themselves in large cities such as the two capitals, Suzhou, and Hangzhou.

It is equipped with fire extinguishing equipment such as water buckets, rattan buckets, hemp ropes, bamboo ladders, axes, and saws.

It can be said that the level of civilization of the Ming Dynasty during this era was something that those later savages could hardly match.

Lin Dao didn't care about this.

It was just clearing out some trash in the city; why make such a fuss?

The carriage traveled on and finally arrived at the shop at the bottom of the street.

There were dozens, if not hundreds, of craftsmen and artisans busy finishing up inside and outside the shop.

Most of them had bloodshot eyes and looked exhausted, clearly indicating that they had been staying up late for a long time.

Upon seeing the person in question appear, the foremen hurriedly stepped forward.

"Master Lin~"

"Now let's finish up and clean up."

"It will definitely be completed before dark."

"We didn't see the plaque."

For a shop, the signboard is its reputation.

If you open a shop without a signboard, people will laugh at you to death.

Of course, the style and color of the signboard are determined by themselves; no one requires all shops in Yingtianfu to use the same style.

"I've already prepared the plaque." Lin Dao drove the carriage towards the backyard. "You can put it up in a bit."

The plaque was meticulously crafted by the artisans of Yonghe Time and Space, and the inscription was personally written by the talented Xie Daoyun. The large, gold-plated characters are absolutely beautiful and eye-catching.

Ancient inns all had backyards.

It serves multiple functions, including part-time dormitory, kitchen, woodshed, and stable.

The renovations here were minimal, just a complete overhaul, with the courtyard walls being raised and thickened, and the back gate being replaced.

After dismissing the craftsmen who were finishing up in the backyard, Lin Dao instructed the two women, "You two should find a place to settle down on your own."

After the two women entered the house, Lin Dao found another room and moved on to Yonghe Time and Space.

When he returned, he was holding a huge plaque in his hand.

'Jubaolou'.

The name may be a bit common, but the meaning behind it is genuine.

The industrial products he sold were indeed treasures for that era.

They carried the heavy plaque, dragged it to the front room, and handed it over to the craftsmen for installation.

The foreman, who was literate, glanced at the date on the plaque and then looked at the signature of the person who wrote it.

"what?"

"Xie Taoyuan? Who is this great scholar?"

Lin Dao glanced at the seals below. Fortunately, Xie Daoyun hadn't used the Imperial Seal of the State to stamp it; she had used her own private seal.

Otherwise, this business would have to be shut down and people arrested on the very first day it opened.

Lin Dao carefully inspected the renovation project and, after confirming that everything was in order, returned to the backyard.

Chen Yuanyuan and Dong Xiaowan have already gotten busy.

A person stood by the well, drawing water with difficulty.

The other one was in the kitchen, busy starting a fire.

The stoves used in ancient times did not use natural gas that could be automatically ignited by simply turning a knob.

First, you have to clean it up, then add firewood, and then ignite it; it's very troublesome.

Lin Dao walked to the well.

"Your bucket of water doesn't even have a third of its capacity."

Chen Yuanyuan was furious; she had never done such work before.

It's already exhausting and tiring enough, and to have to be criticized on top of that is just...unbelievable!
"okay."

Lin Dao took the bucket of water and put it aside. "Go and call Dong Xiaowan over. We're going to the people's market."

They found a room and went inside. When they reappeared, there were five large boxes inside.

Upon opening the box, it was found to be filled with silver ingots weighing ten taels (Ming dynasty standard).

These silver ingots are smooth and clean, without any inscriptions indicating their place of origin, year, fineness, furnace name, or silversmith's name.

Compared to the dark and dull silver ingots of the Ming Dynasty, it appeared very bright.

Lin Dao purchased industrial silver from the modern world and sent it to Yonghe Time and Space, where he arranged for craftsmen to recast it.

They were also specifically instructed to polish the surface and apply a special solution, making it look very nice.

The purity of these industrial silvers is not high, usually around 90%.

Coincidentally, the purity of silver in the Ming Dynasty was not high, only around 90%, so it could be used directly.

"It's really heavy."

Lin Dao grinned, lifted a box, and bent over to load it onto the carriage.

The two women who came out of the kitchen rushed forward to help when they saw this, but Lin Dao scolded them and told them to move aside.

'boom! '

The heavy thud of the box falling onto the carriage made Chen Yuanyuan and Dong Xiaowan realize that this thing was simply beyond their ability to lift.

"Hurry up and buy people."

Lin Dao waved his hand and said, "From now on, we need to arrange for people to do these heavy tasks."

Chen Yuanyuan instinctively reached to open the courtyard gate, but Lin Dao called out to her, "What are you doing?"

"Didn't we say we were going to the human market to buy people?"

Lin Dao turned and walked towards the room. "Wait a minute, I didn't bring enough money."

The two women were speechless.

This box of silver must be worth over a thousand taels. Such a huge sum of money, and it's still not enough?
Then they saw Lin Dao, who carried over a total of five boxes.

The silver weighed over 300 jin, and with the box, it weighed nearly 400 jin.

By the time Chen Yuanyuan and Dong Xiaowan boarded the carriage, they weighed nearly 600 jin (approximately 300 kg).

The old horse pulling the cart neighed and kicked, indicating that it was too old and weak to pull such heavy goods.

With no other option, the two women had to dismount and walk to reduce the burden on the packhorses.

The name "Ren Shi" (人市) tells you what kind of business is conducted here.

According to custom, people come here to find human traffickers and buy slaves from them.

They were called servants, but they were actually slaves.

In theory, only people of certain status are qualified to buy servants here.

But the Ming Dynasty was already on its last legs, and many of its so-called rules had become a joke.

As for human teeth, anyone who has the money can buy them.

Inside the hall.

Lin Dao sat in a chair, with Chen Yuanyuan and Dong Xiaowan standing behind him as his maids.

Seeing his extraordinary demeanor, the men treated him with great hospitality.

"Master Lin, what are your requirements?"

Lin Dao put down his teacup. "We need both men and women, and they should be married."

He doesn't really want single women, let alone single men.

You can't see into someone's heart; before you've completely won them over, who knows what they might do?

This visit is a temporary measure to add some help.

The real large-scale recruitment of volunteers will have to wait until after the business opens, when time is set aside to visit soup kitchens outside the city and find refugee families.

The group of people exchanged glances, all seeing the joy in each other's eyes.

Those who came to purchase in the past.

They only pick those who are capable of working and have some good looks.

Family members and such are just unwanted burdens.

This Mr. Lin is truly their most favored guest!
(End of this chapter)