Zhutian: Starting from the Space-Time Merchant

Chapter 273 Separation
"Your Majesty~"

After reading the case file still in front of him, the Assistant Magistrate of Yingzhou cried out that he was wronged.

“That was the Darughachi’s carriage, and I am dealing with it according to the law.”

Remembering the judge's miserable state, he quickly added, "The Darughachi is the supervisor, and he is a Mongol nobleman."

"The Mongol nobleman wants the Han commoners to die, and there is nothing I can do about it."

"There's nothing we can do." Lin Dao laughed angrily. "You're right, there's nothing we can do."

"I have no choice but to let you die now."

"Drag him out and chop him up."

"Seize his house."

"And the house of that Darughachi, slaughter chickens and dogs, tear down the swallow nest in front of the hall, uproot the flowers, plants and trees, scoop out all the fish in the fishpond and throw them on the ground to suffocate, and dig out the earthworms in the ground and split them in half vertically!"

The guards loudly accepted the order and dragged the weeping and pleading magistrate out.

Lin Dao continued to peruse the case files.

"On the seventh day of the month, Sun, a military household in the west of the city, falsely accused a beggar of abducting his daughter and selling her into a brothel. He was sentenced to twenty strokes of the cane and exile for a thousand li."

I glanced at the signature on the court document.

"The Prefect of Yingzhou, please step forward."

The prefect, already drenched in sweat, shakily crawled into the courtroom.

Seeing Lin Dao staring at him with eyes as cold as stars, the prefect could no longer kneel and instead prostrated himself on the ground.

At that moment, he recalled how, for years, he had sat there high above, deciding the fates of many people.

I never imagined that I would one day be the one being judged.

This is truly a chaotic world where the state is on the verge of collapse!
He tossed the file over and calmly asked, "Tell me yourself."

Having witnessed the miserable state of the judge and the magistrate, the prefect felt that his delicate skin was simply not good enough to endure such suffering.

He immediately recounted the whole story.

Sun Chuqi's daughter was sold to a brothel by a beggar.

Sun Chuqi, who had searched for the beggar, went to the yamen to file a complaint, but was instead found guilty of false accusation.

"Sun Chuqi." Lin Dao raised his hand and tapped his fingers lightly on the desk in front of him. "Where did he die?"

The prefect trembled, his forehead pressing directly to the ground. "Die at Wild Boar Slope, thirty li outside the city!"

"Where is his daughter?"

"To die, to die in the brothel!"

"You're helping Pin Hua Lou so much, it doesn't seem like you're just taking money and giving them shares in return?"

The prefect was trembling all over; he had a premonition that he was about to die.

He wept bitterly, repeatedly kowtowing and pleading, "This humble official is willing to surrender, this humble official is willing to surrender~~~"

"I don't want someone like you."

Lin Dao scoffed, "Do you have a daughter?"

"This humble official has only two sons..."

"Spit." Lin Dao spat out with a hint of regret.

He looked at his personal guards and instructed them, "You, go to the pharmacies in the city and buy back all the mercury they have."

“You, take him out and dig a hole, a hole that reaches his neck, and bury him up to his neck.”

"And you, take men and ransack this prefect's house, leaving no chickens or dogs alive. Take all the men in the house and leave the women to Shi Nai'an's disposal."

"You, take your men to that brothel, and drag all the managers, workers, and errand runners out into the street and hang them. Oh, and don't spare the guard dogs either."

"Also, go and inform Zheng Chenggong to conduct a city-wide search for beggars, and tell them to go to the mass grave outside the city, dig a big pit, and bury them all."

Lin Dao reviewed many case files.

The number of officials in Yingzhou government offices is also decreasing.

Faced with immense mental pressure, some constables were even scared to death.

He only left the yamen when a guard rushed over to report that Shi Nai'an and Advisor Liu had a conflict.

When they arrived at the entrance of the government office, they stopped in their tracks.

He pointed to the officials who had quietly breathed a sigh of relief, thinking they had escaped a calamity, and said, "Tie them up and drag them out to the street, pointing them out from house to house."

“Those who were identified by the people as having committed evil deeds were beheaded in the street and their homes were confiscated.”

Lin Dao was well aware of the evils of these clerks.

Often, the clerks are even worse than the officials.

He had never accepted these clerks before, regardless of the time or place he was in.

This time is no exception.

If these people are left behind, then the uprising is not an uprising, but merely a meaningless historical cycle.

There was a clerk who was bad in nine out of ten ways, and one who was even worse than the other.

There is no need to worry about misjudging these petty officials.

Arriving at the warehouse not far from the government office, they saw soldiers with red turbans tied around their heads standing in a standoff, shouting insults at each other.

"You've really grown in ability."

With a cold expression, Lin Dao stepped forward and said, "You've learned to fight amongst yourselves."

Upon seeing the Ming King approach, everyone immediately fell silent.

Lin Dao glanced at Shi Nai'an, Liu Futong, and the others, then gestured for Shi Nai'an to speak.

"King Ming!"

Shi Nai'an bowed and said, "This humble official has come to check and seal the granaries after distributing the rewards to the various departments on the orders of the Ming King."

"The inventory process was going smoothly, and most of the items had already been sealed off."

"But Consultant Liu suddenly brought people over, saying he wanted to take away the valuables stored in the warehouse."

"This humble official inquires whether there is a warrant from the Ming King."

He said no, but I forbid it.

"That's why they started arguing."

Lin Dao let Shi Nai'an speak first, which meant giving him the initiative and that he would definitely start by talking about his own good points.

This sets the tone.

After recounting the events, Shi Nai'an left a small loose end.

They only said it was an argument.

This gives Liu Futong a chance to work things out.

After all, the great cause has just begun, and it's not the time for real internal strife yet.

This matter is actually very simple.

Liu Futong felt that his efforts and rewards were disproportionate.

Dissatisfied, he wanted to make up for some of his losses.

I never expected that Shi Nai'an would be so tough, and Lin Dao would be so unyielding.

Lin Dao glanced at Liu Futong. "Is that so?"

"King Ming~"

Liu Futong protested, "This humble official only saw that the army was short of food and supplies, so..." "I ask you, is that so! Answer me!"

"Yes~~~"

"Without my military order, you dare to arbitrarily open the warehouse?" Lin Dao asked sternly. "What audacity!"

"Guards, drag him away and give him twenty lashes!"

The guards immediately stepped forward and pinned Liu Futong down.

Among the Red Turban Army behind him, some wanted to step forward, but Lin Dao glanced at them and immediately felt a chill run down their spines.

This is true killing intent.

When Liu Futong broke his family's fortunes and rebelled against the Yuan dynasty, he not only brought out wealth and provisions, but also thousands of men.

His family had a considerable number of tenants, farmhands, guards, relatives, and other family members.

In those days, if you rebelled, the imperial court didn't care whether your family had joined or not. As long as you had relatives who joined, everyone would be in trouble.

This is why, once someone rebels, the entire family will basically join in.

After all, the outcome is the same whether you win or lose.

In that case, we should definitely give it our all.

Lin Dao, standing with his hands behind his back, glanced at the people and made a plan in his mind.

Unstable factors should be eliminated in advance.

'Boom! '

'Boom! '

'Boom! '

The military baton struck his body with a dull thud, like the cracking of tattered leather.

After the twenty strokes of the military rod were finished, Lin Dao looked down at Liu Futong and asked, "Are you convinced?"

Heaving heavy breaths, Liu Futong managed to say, "This humble official is convinced."

That evening, at the prefect's residence.

Han Shantong, Du Zundao, Sheng Wenyu, Luo Wensu, and others gathered in the room.

Lying on the bed, Liu Futong, enduring the excruciating pain in his back, slowly said, "We must separate the family!"

"If this continues, we'll all be killed by the Ming King."

"Lord Liu is right." Han Shantong nodded repeatedly. "If the Ming King wins a few more battles, we will have no chance to rise again."

Luo Wensu frowned. "How do we divide the family property?"

"I've made up my mind." Liu Futong took a breath. "Didn't Shi Nai'an encourage the Ming King to go to Xinghua?"

"We support it!"

"Tell him to go to Xinghua as soon as possible."

"We'll develop our business here in Yingzhou."

“As long as we are separated from the King of Light, we will surely prosper.”

"Well said!" Han Shantong clenched his fist. "That's exactly right!"

He also had a lot of opinions about Lin Dao.

He, the leader of the White Lotus Sect, had lost his ancestral position and become some kind of holy son with no real power.
Even though doubts still lingered in his heart about whether Lin Dao was truly the reincarnation of the Bright King.

Even if he is true, he can turn his back on you when it affects your own interests.

"I've lost my money and provisions."

Liu Futong gritted his teeth and said bitterly, "Let's see how he feeds so many people!"

In his view, without his own supply of money and food, the people who followed Lin Dao to Xinghua would soon scatter.

After all, who would risk their life for you if there wasn't even any food?
At midnight, in the Darughachi residence of Yingzhou City.

Lin Dao, who had been left behind to attend a grand banquet after sending the railway planning map from the Wude era, returned to the Zhizheng era.

He just came to take a look, and then he'll go to sleep in the Chongzhen era according to the schedule.

"King Ming?"

Upon seeing Lin Dao emerge from the house, Zheng Chenggong, who was waiting outside, hurriedly bowed and said, "Military Advisor Du Zundao requests an audience."

"so late?"

Lin Dao looked up at the sky and knew that someone had come to tell him something urgent.

Considering that Du Zundao was one of Liu Futong and Han Shantong's men, he already had a guess in his mind.

"Let him in to talk."

Before long, Du Zundao, who had come to visit late at night, was led inside by his personal guards to pay his respects.

"Greetings, Your Majesty."

"Get up and talk."

Sitting in the chair, Lin Dao glanced at him and asked, "What is it?"

“King Ming,” Du Zundao stood up, his expression anxious, “Liu Futong, Han Shantong, and others intend to split the Red Turban Army!”

Lin Dao raised an eyebrow.

He thought Liu Futong and his group wanted to start a rebellion.

That's a miscalculation.

"How to say?"

Du Zundao immediately recounted what had been said during the previous gathering.

"Our army has finally achieved its current momentum with great difficulty." He lamented, "How can we let it be ruined by internal strife!"

He was a graduate of the Imperial Academy and also served as an official in the Yuan Dynasty.

Having witnessed the darkness of the Yuan Dynasty, he voluntarily resigned from his official post and returned to his hometown to devote himself to the anti-Yuan cause.

Such people usually have their own ideals, rather than being opportunistic.

Liu Futong and his group's plan clearly crossed the line.

"This matter," Lin Dao stood up and paced back and forth, "is not entirely unacceptable."

"Huh?" Du Zundao was greatly surprised.

"The anti-Yuan movement has now taken hold across the land. We must ignite the flames of anti-Yuan sentiment throughout the world as soon as possible."

“We can split up. I’ll go to Jianghuai, and Liu Futong and Han Shantong can go to Henan and other places. That would be fine.”

Lin Dao has now confirmed his identity as the Ming King.

If Liu Futong and his group wanted to develop smoothly, they also had to raise the banner of the Red Turban Army and serve the Ming King as their master.

No matter how much they do, it's essentially all for the benefit of Lin Dao.

Separating the family and spreading the flames to Henan, Shandong, and other places as quickly as possible would be a good thing.

"Tomorrow, I will summon all the generals to discuss this matter together."

"As for you," Lin Dao looked at Du Zun and said, "are you willing to travel the world with me and drive out the Tartars?"

Du Zundao immediately performed a grand ceremony.

"I am willing to die for the Wise King!"

(End of this chapter)