Zhutian: Starting from the Space-Time Merchant

Chapter 380 Let the common people suffer again

Jinyang, the imperial palace of the Northern Han Dynasty.

Laughter and cheerful conversation filled the main hall, accompanied by the melodious sounds of traditional Chinese string and wind instruments.

A group of dancers, composed of the concubines of Liu Chong and Liu Chengjun, danced gracefully to the sound of string and bamboo instruments.

A triumphant Chai Rong kept calling out and urging the generals to drink.

As the banquet progressed and everyone became slightly tipsy, the guests were already quite drunk.

They stopped playing music and dancing and began to discuss serious matters.

"Lin Dao."

Chai Rong laughed loudly and pointed at Lin Dao, "This battle..."

You were credited with being the first to reach the summit.

Throughout history, there have been countless brave generals, but those as valiant as you are few and far between.

"You have rendered great service and deserve a reward."

"You will be promoted to Marquis of the Founding County, with an additional 1,000 households in your fief and a total of 400 households in your actual fief."

After the Tang Dynasty, the granting of titles and fiefs was strictly controlled.

The nominal fiefdom is mainly for the sake of appearances.

A real fiefdom, on the other hand, means providing tangible benefits through taxation.

Real fiefdoms are generally very few. Some people may have a fiefdom of 2,500 households in name, but the actual fiefdom they receive is only 300 households.

The forest road is nominally adding a thousand households, but only four hundred households can actually be granted fiefdoms, which is already a very good deal.

However, there are fewer other rewards.

He only gave them 10,000 strings of cash and 4,000 bolts of silk.

Chai Rong felt the reward was too little, so he asked him, "Is there anything you want? Just say it."

It wasn't that he didn't want to give rewards, but rather that the economy was collapsing and he lacked sufficient funds.

There was nothing that could be done about it; the national treasury was empty, and the major rewards for the soldiers had not yet been distributed.

Lin Dao's first glance fell upon the young Zhao Er, who stood below the steps.

That bastard has brought disaster for a thousand years; Lin Dao wished he could chop him to pieces.

If we could kill him so easily, wouldn't that be letting him off too easily?

Lin Dao planned to make him lose everything and then slaughter him like a dog.

Withdrawing his gaze, Lin Dao immediately clasped his hands and said, "Your Majesty, I have heard that the Prince of Wei has a daughter of marriageable age. I humbly request that you grant me this marriage."

As soon as he said this, everyone turned to look at him.

Fu Yanqing, who was bestowed the title of Prince of Wei, was so surprised that his hands trembled and he spilled wine.

How did this get involved with me?

Fu Yanqing's eldest daughter was Chai Rong's empress.

If Lin Daoruo were to marry his sister, he would become Chai Rong's brother-in-law.

This relationship is already very strong.

Of course, in this morally bankrupt and distorted era, it is common for fathers and sons to kill each other and for brothers to fight each other. No relationship can compare to interests.

Chai Rong frowned and pondered.

He intended to use the Empress's younger sister to win over important officials.

There was no other way; his family and relatives had all been killed, so the only way for him to arrange a marriage was to target the Empress's sister.

Once you agree, it means you will inevitably have to make good use of Lin Dao.

This person appears to be not only brave and skilled in martial arts, but it remains to be seen whether he is loyal and righteous.
After all, he had several candidates for the confidant he wanted to cultivate.

However, since Lin Dao made the request in public, a response was still required.

After a moment's thought, Chai Rong made up his mind.

"Can!"

He was confident in his skills and abilities, feeling that he was no less capable than Emperor Taizong of Tang.

He will surely be able to subdue his generals, just like Emperor Taizong of Tang.

Even someone as capable as Li Jing still honestly worked for Emperor Taizong of Tang!
Upon hearing that Chai Rong had agreed, everyone burst into laughter and came forward to congratulate him.

Lin Dao glanced at Zhao Er.

Your future wife is mine now!

Fu Yanqing coughed and replied, "I have two daughters at home who are of marriageable age."

"The third daughter is too young, but the second daughter is suitable."

"In that case, when you return to Bianzhou, you should send someone to propose marriage."

Lin Dao blinked.

"The King of Wei has two more daughters?"

"Hahaha~~" Everyone laughed. "Since you're asking for marriage, how come you don't know that the King of Wei still has two unmarried daughters?"

Lin Dao chuckled, but what he was really thinking was that he should hurry back and check the information.

After he finished checking the information, he raised his hand to his forehead.

"Little Empress Fu!"

"Zhao Er's wife is the Third Sister!"

This is the result of not being rigorous in researching.

He only investigated Zhao Er's wife, who was Fu Yanqing's daughter.

Little did they know, Fu Yanqing had three daughters.

His eldest and second daughters both became Chai Rong's empresses.

The third daughter was Zhao Er's empress.

I chose the wrong person.

"There's nothing we can do about this; we can't just go and say we need to replace the person."

"There's nothing we can do but talk about it another day."

Upon learning of the fall of Jinyang, the Liao troops, who had not yet broken through Xinkou, saw no hope of rescue and could only retreat in frustration.

The remaining prefectures and counties of the Northern Han dynasty each sought their own way out.

Many troops from various regions surrendered to the Later Zhou, but the Shatuo troops did not.

News of Chai Rong's massacre of the city had already spread. The Shatuo people's stronghold had been wiped out, so of course they would not surrender.

The Shatuo people from various places fled to the grasslands and sought refuge with the Khitans.

The Han army, on the other hand, mostly surrendered to the Zhou army.

Lin Dao selected a group of prisoners who could ride horses to supplement his troops.

Yang Ye was one of them.

He was originally the military governor of Jianxiong Army during the Later Han Dynasty, stationed in Daizhou.

If they came from Daizhou to surrender, they would naturally not submit to Lin Dao.

The problem is that he lost Daizhou City.

Daizhou was seized by the Shatuo people, which also attracted the Khitans.

Yang Ye escaped alone and came to join the Later Zhou dynasty. He had no territory or troops, so he naturally had no status.

Lin Dao took the initiative to recruit him, and Yang Ye joined without hesitation. "Your name was bestowed upon you by the false emperor Liu Chong."

Lin Dao instructed, "Change it back to your original name."

Faced with the reprimand, Yang Ye immediately accepted the order, saying, "This humble servant's name is Yang Ye."

"You shall serve as a military commander in the army, leading a detachment of men."

Yang Ye was naturally unhappy about being reduced from a local military governor to the rank of captain.

"Commander-in-Chief."

Yang Ye took the initiative to suggest, "My wife comes from the Zhe family of Fuzhou. I am willing to go to the Zhe family to recruit some of their sons to join the army."

The Zhe clan were Tangut people.

Originally a local powerful family from outside the Yellow River, they seized the opportunity during the chaos at the end of the Tang Dynasty and took over the three prefectures outside the Yellow River.

Their family has many sons, many of whom are skilled in horsemanship and archery, making them an excellent source of elite cavalry.

Given Yang Ye's relationship with the Zhe family, bringing two or three hundred cavalry would not be a problem.

Yang Ye's wife was from the Zhe family, and through word of mouth in later generations, she became known as Lady She.

This is the result of misinterpreting accents.

"No need."

Lin Dao shook his head. "Just let them stay in Fuzhou."

Yang Ye was taken aback, not understanding why Lin Dao didn't want a strong source of soldiers, and why he could also establish a relationship with the Zhe family.

'Could he be a reckless brute?'

If that's the case, then we need to think more about our future options.

Lin Dao dispatched men to search for Han Chinese who had lost their homes and families throughout the Northern Han.

These people were recruited into the army, and the number of soldiers quickly expanded.

This has already exceeded the maximum authorized strength of 2,500 cavalrymen in the main force.

"Commander-in-Chief."

Yang Ye was puzzled: "Many people can't even ride a horse, what's the use of recruiting them?"

Faced with Yang Ye's question, Lin Dao only replied, "Just do your own thing."

Lin Dao was not recruiting these Han Chinese men, but rather gathering them under the guise of laborers.

In this way, there is no need to occupy the cavalry formation.

These people have lost their homes and loved ones, and will soon follow Lin Dao to Bianzhou.

Their food, clothing, shelter, and transportation all depend on Lin Dao. If he were to bestow favors upon them to win them over, they would surely become his loyal subordinates.

Lin Dao was unwilling to give important positions to the martial artists of this era. After all, their character was clearly written in history books, and he himself could see it clearly.

He recruited men from good families in order to form a new army.

As for not knowing how to ride a horse, you can just learn.

Leaving behind garrison troops, Chai Rong finally led his army back to Bianzhou.

Warfare is all about money and supplies.

Although they won every battle in this campaign, they also eliminated the treacherous Han who was a major threat.

However, the corresponding military expenditures are also extremely large.

In particular, the rewards distributed to generals and soldiers directly drained the already empty treasury of the Later Zhou Dynasty.

The thought of returning to Bianzhou and lavishly distributing rewards, and of Chai Rong personally leading the expedition to conquer the country, sent chills down his spine.

This was a huge headache for successive military governors and emperors since the end of the Tang Dynasty when regional warlords established their own regimes.

The desires of warriors are insatiable!

These warriors, who have passed down their skills through generations, are truly formidable fighters when it comes to real combat.

At the beginning of its founding, the Liao Dynasty was incredibly powerful, but when it encountered the brave warriors of the Central Plains, it was defeated and forced to flee in disarray. Even the emperor was frightened to death in the Killing Hu Forest.

But they were too greedy.

Rewards for the three festivals, daily salary, mobilization expenses for going to war, and military merit rewards after a victory, etc.

Not a single coin, not a single grain of rice, not a single foot of cloth could be missing.

If there are any shortages, the warriors will cause trouble and may even kill their commander.

Countless military governors and emperors died as a result.

In the late Tang Dynasty, there were quite a few military men who carried the heads of military governors and went to the streets to find a successor, banging drums and gongs.

"Difficult, extremely difficult."

Chai Rong knew all this, which is why he was now troubled about the rewards he would receive after his triumphant return to the capital.

"His Majesty."

Lin Dao, who had come with Fu Yanqing to discuss his marriage to Fu Ergu, asked Chai Rong, "What's troubling you?"

Chai Rong looked at Lin Dao.

The thought that this man would not only marry his beautiful sister-in-law, but that she would also have to give him a mansion and rewards made her roll her eyes.

"The national treasury is empty, and we don't know where the rewards for returning to the capital will come from."

Fu Yanqing had clearly already considered this matter for his eldest son-in-law.

"There is no other way but to raise taxes."

What if I don't have money?
The only thing we can do is to make the people suffer even more.

Tax increases are something that can only be applied to ordinary people.

The soldiers in the army are wealthy, so levying taxes on them is tantamount to forcing them to rebel.

It should be noted that even in the Northern Song Dynasty, where the fighting spirit was emasculated and the military strength was extremely weak, there were still many instances of the Imperial Guards rioting over their pay.

In this era brimming with martial virtue, how can you accept money from martial artists?

We'll have to ask the swords and spears in the hands of the warriors if they agree.

Imperial relatives and high-ranking officials also had money.

But they were the cornerstone of dynastic rule.

Should we ask them to collect taxes?
Believe it or not, a new emperor will be put forward immediately.

After all is said and done, the only people who can be exploited are the poor, miserable commoners, who are treated like cattle and horses.

Officials had mountains of wealth in their homes and no one cared, while commoners had to pay taxes even if they found a copper coin on the road!
This has been the case for thousands of years and for every dynasty.

Chai Rong nodded. "That's the only way."

Lin Dao suddenly spoke up.

"There is a place that is extremely rich."

"Not only will it be enough to pay the rewards, but there will also be a large surplus to fill the national treasury."

"Moreover, they are also very easy to target."

These words piqued Chai Rong's curiosity.

"Where?"

Lin Dao grinned.

"Buddhism!"

(End of this chapter)