Zhutian: Starting from the Space-Time Merchant

Chapter 137 As long as money and food are distributed, we'll rebel!

"Huating".

"The Xu family."

Lin Dao tapped his fingers and said, "I need to go and see if your family really owns 400,000 mu of land."

"I heard that the entire Xujiahui area belongs to your family."

“We need to ask you properly, what gives you the right to have so much land?”

His previous marching plan was to sweep eastward all the way to Huating County.

They then turned south to sweep through the area, heading straight for Yiwu to recruit soldiers from there.

The plan can't keep up with the changes.

The wild boar hide has arrived.

Lin Dao's attitude towards the Ming army and the bandits was generally indifferent.

Just hit them.

Those who are guilty will be executed, and those who are innocent will be released.

But wild boar hide is different; faced with these butchers, the time traveler has only one choice.

Hurry and kill!
At this point, they learned that the wild boar skin was moving south and getting closer to them.

Lin Dao's desire to abandon his original plan and head north to hunt wild boar hides grew stronger.

Logically speaking...

Since they had already rebelled, the best option was to join forces with Yezhupi and Li Zicheng to kick down the dilapidated house that was the Ming Dynasty.

But time travelers don't need this rationality.

Because they knew very well what heinous things these butchers had done.

Lin Dao was worried that with the situation in Jiangnan still unsettled, he would be leading a large army thousands of miles north to fight against Yezhupi.

Strategically, it was definitely a mistake.

Moreover, his troops were mostly new recruits.

Its fighting ability is far inferior to that of wild boars that are slaughtered year-round.

This is a tactical shortcoming.

"do not care!"

Lin Dao slammed his fist on the table and said, "Let's fight first and talk about it later."

Next comes the preparations for deploying troops.

Ensuring that the soldiers are well-fed, watered, and in good health, and rigorously training them, is the most important thing.

"Commander."

On this day, a guard reported that "salt farmers and foremen have gathered outside the city, claiming they have been wronged and requesting an audience with the commander-in-chief."

"Salt farmers? What could they possibly want from me?"

Lin Dao did indeed intend to make trouble for the salt merchants.

Not now.

Are the salt farmers here to complain to me?

A group of salt farmers and suppliers bowed down to Lin Dao and addressed him as "Great King".

These days, bandits all like to call themselves kings, like the Great Western King or the Rebel King.

Upon encountering bandits, calling them "Great King" is perfectly reasonable.

Lin Dao's eyelids twitched.

He's a local resident, not a bandit.

Too lazy to explain, he said, "Speak, what do you want with me?"

"Your Majesty."

Salt farmers, who spend their lives exposed to the wind and sun by the sea, have dark, wrinkled skin.

They all looked like little old men, and I couldn't tell their exact ages.

“We have come to beg Your Majesty to allow us to join the righteous army and serve Your Majesty.”

Lin Daozhen hadn't expected that they had come to join the army. "Have you thought this through?"

"I'm rebelling here."

All the insiders declared, "We're going to rebel!"

The lives of salt farmers in the Ming Dynasty were extremely miserable.

In reality, anyone at the bottom of society is bound to suffer.

These salt farmers have been exploited by the saltworks authorities for many years.

They worked hard every day to boil salt, but the income they earned wasn't even enough to support their families.

In order to avoid starving to death, they had no choice but to secretly boil and sell smuggled salt.

The salt produced in the Ming Dynasty was mostly smuggled salt.

Only important figures are qualified to engage in activities like selling smuggled salt.

Ordinary people who sell smuggled salt are called salt smugglers or salt traffickers.

Once captured, they would be beheaded immediately.

The salt farmers lived worse lives than the dogs in the salt merchants' homes.

This time, someone came to Yangzhou to deliver salt and learned that the Grand Canal Gang had been destroyed.

A large number of canal workers joined the rebel army. They had an extremely rich diet and their families were very prosperous. One person could support the whole family.

When the news reached the salt fields, the salt producers went crazy, wanting to join the rebel army.

So what if we rebel? There are plenty of rebels these days.

Uprisings of servants and farmers broke out one after another in various parts of Jiangnan, including by canal workers and salt merchants.

As long as they can get money and food, they'll rebel!

After listening to everyone's tearful complaints, Lin Dao nodded.

"I was wrong."

Only then did he realize that the salt workers were thugs employed by the salt merchants.

They were supported by salt merchants, so their lives were naturally quite comfortable.

Unlike the salt farmers.

But the salt farmers at the bottom of society, who boiled salt under the sun and wind by the sea, lived extremely miserable lives.

Especially during times of soaring grain prices, the salt they painstakingly boiled was not enough to buy grain to feed their entire families.

As for why they don't fish for food since they're so close to the sea...
Seafood is high in protein, but low in fat and carbohydrates.

When the body lacks sufficient nutrients, consuming large amounts of oil over a long period will not only fail to effectively replenish energy but will also accelerate the depletion of the body's energy, potentially leading to death.

Eating too much seafood can cause a painful feeling of having a full stomach but still feeling unbearably hungry.

Now that they have the opportunity to receive pay and rations, they are willing to do it even if it means rebellion.

There's no way, I'm too hungry.

"That's it."

Lin Dao carefully considered the proposal to "levy three thousand laborers from the salt households".

Real bandits would take as many people as they wanted, abducting men, women, and children alike.

Besides boosting morale, it can also be used as a grain reserve.

Lin Dao is different; once he occupies a place, he will guard it.

The recruited soldiers were all regular troops, whose families had land and were exempt from taxes, and who received full pay.

In terms of both quality and quantity, strict control is definitely necessary. The salt farmers were initially overjoyed, but then they begged the king to take more people.

All I need is a bite to eat.

“That’s also available.”

Lin Dao jokingly said, "We'll also recruit auxiliary soldiers."

"They only provide food and drink, but no military pay."

"To get promoted, you have to take the head of an enemy soldier."

He had very strict requirements for recruiting regular soldiers; even from tens of thousands of salt-producing households, he only recruited three thousand men.

This was because they needed to win over these salt producers.

According to Lin Dao's actual plan, all regular soldiers were drawn from auxiliary soldiers, and those who captured heads on the battlefield could be promoted to regular soldiers.

The soldiers recruited along the way, including canal workers and salt producers, were primarily valued for the entire community behind them.

Lin Dao stayed in Yangzhou for nearly a month.

The newly recruited troops need to undergo training.

These recruits, who can't even tell left from right, are just going to their deaths if they go to the battlefield without any training.

Although there is rigorous training every day, to the point that my calves cramp up.

But the commander's settlement allowance, or rather, his life-saving money, was paid out in full.

They lead very fulfilling lives.

They train during the day and study at night.

Moreover, they were able to eat three meals a day in the camp.

In the morning, they are given plenty of feed porridge, and at noon, their lunchboxes are filled with grain, plus a can of meat.

This is meat, meat with lots of oil and spices added; many people have never eaten it in their entire lives.

In the evening, you can eat as much mashed potato as you want, even if it's a whole bowlful.

Even when attending night school, they were given an extra can of honey water.

Feed containing heavy oil, heavy salt, added sugar, and hormones.

After a month, the soldiers had noticeably gained weight.

Lin Dao replenished their equipment.

Even auxiliary soldiers can manage to get a set of armor.

The regular soldiers were even upgraded to lamellar armor covered with armor plates.

Lin Dao also brought all the muskets produced by Yonghe Time and Space.

He entrusted the training to his personal guards, who practiced day and night without stopping.

News kept coming from the north: the Wild Boar Skin, having entered the pass, successively conquered Bazhou, Hejian and other places, and was heading straight for Shandong.

Lin Dao understood that the time had come to send troops.

Before sending out troops, he once again imposed quotas on the salt merchants, ordering them to provide 1,000 salt workers.

The salt merchants were dissatisfied and wanted to make some underhanded moves, but Lin Dao had already sent people to forcibly conscript them into the army.

The day before the troops were to be dispatched, Lin Dao paid their wages.

All regular soldiers received their full pay, which included silver, grain, cloth, and salt.

This scene made the auxiliary soldiers watching turn red-eyed, wishing they could rush into battle right now, cut off a head, and become full officers.

"You were all handpicked by me."

Lin Dao instructed the young guards in front of him, "I have high hopes for you."

"While stationed in Yangzhou, we must be vigilant against those salt merchants."

"Remember, never fall for their sweet-coated bullets."

This is both trust and a test.

Those who pass the test will naturally be able to reach even greater heights in the future.

Those who fall are those whose abilities and character are insufficient, making them unfit for great responsibilities.

If they didn't seize the opportunity, that was their own choice.

Hundreds and thousands of boats seized from the canal gangs were filled with people and sailed north along the Grand Canal.

It stretched out across the river like a long dragon.

The two sides of the strait have a much larger number of auxiliary troops, densely packed and stretching as far as the eye can see.

Our first stop on our northward journey was Gaoyou Prefecture.

When the army passed through, the city was filled with panic and the city gates were tightly shut.

The city walls were covered with men who had been urgently conscripted, all of them looking extremely fearful.

Lin Dao did not attack the city; he simply sent men to demand silver, pigs, and sheep.

These things were not available to ordinary people; they could only be provided by the gentry.

Having obtained the silver, pigs, and sheep, the army rested and spent the night in Gaoyou Prefecture.

I really want to know how terrified the officials and gentry in the city were when they saw tens of thousands of bandits spending the night outside the city.

The army continued north, passing through Baoying and arriving at Huai'an Prefecture.

This was the residence of the Grand Canal Transport Commissioner, but Shi Kefa had already led his troops north to defend the emperor, and it was unknown where he was at this moment.

With such weak city defenses, the garrison dared not even leave the city.

They still didn't attack the city, but instead breached the Huai'an Customs House on the Grand Canal.

The Grand Canal was a vital artery for freight transport connecting the north and south, with merchants and goods traveling back and forth in an endless stream.

The establishment of a customs post here to collect tolls made it an important source of tax revenue for the imperial court.

Inside the Guan Yamen, a three-courtyard compound, Lin Dao was looking through thick tax ledgers.

"Why is this all taxes from peddlers and laborers?"

Lin Dao asked the eunuch in charge of collecting taxes, "Aren't there any large merchant caravans on this Grand Canal?"

When the officials and military officers of Nanjing were investigated and their property confiscated, those with some power had their own merchant caravans traveling to various places, and there were quite a few fleets on the Grand Canal.

"Reply to the king."

The trembling eunuch touched his forehead to the ground. "We dare not accept those with connections, and also, many merchant ships fly government flags, so we cannot accept them."

"That's bullying the weak and fearing the strong."

Lin Dao shook his head. "You're in charge of collecting taxes. Have you embezzled any?"

"No, no, this servant is utterly loyal to Your Majesty. Uh~"

The eunuch suddenly realized that these weren't people checking accounts; they were rebels.

Pleading loyalty to the emperor backfired.

Lin Dao shook his head. "Drag him away and torture him. If he embezzles, he'll be given a whole corpse."

“Interrogate all the officials and staff at the customs office.”

In the Ming Dynasty, there was no tax official who was not corrupt.

For every extra coin the imperial court collects, they'll be worth at least a tael here!
Why are so many people going bankrupt?
All of this stemmed from these vicious tax collectors.

Hundreds of miles away in Linqing, cries and screams could be heard incessantly, as if it were a living hell.

Abatai, mounted on horseback, glanced at the corpses scattered on the ground and yawned.

"Hurry up, kill those who should be killed, arrest those who should be arrested, and rob those who should be robbed."

"You're only allowed to eat for one night. We have to head to Yanzhou tomorrow. Don't let that prince get away!"

(End of this chapter)