Zhutian: Starting from the Space-Time Merchant

Chapter 401 Emperor Zhou E

"Your Majesty~"

Zhou Zong explained in a flustered manner, "This matter... this matter is already over."

Seeing his reaction, Lin Dao smiled and asked, "Why did you give up?"

Zhou Zong was so anxious that sweat beaded on his forehead, and for a moment he didn't know how to explain.

The marriage agreement did exist. Zhou Ehuang was now almost twenty years old, waiting for Li Yu to protect himself from stigma.

In this day and age, she's definitely an old maid.

In this era, women over forty are all grandmothers, but no one calls themselves a fairy; they all call themselves "Old Shu."

"Since the engagement is off," Lin Dao said, no longer pressing the matter. "How about having your daughter come and serve me?"

Zhou Zong was stunned, blinked, and then quickly bowed, saying, "This is truly my daughter's good fortune!"

Marrying a descendant of the previous dynasty is nothing compared to serving the emperor.
Zhou Zong, who was overjoyed to return home, told his eldest daughter the news.

"I'm not going!"

Unexpectedly, Zhou Ehuang immediately turned cold and said, "I am already engaged, how can I serve two husbands!"

"nonsense!"

Zhou Zong, whose hair and beard were all white, was very angry. "The Tang Dynasty is gone. Wu Wang—bah! It's already a stroke of luck that Li Congjia was able to survive."

"Who knows when he might suddenly die!"

"You're going to marry him? You're just asking for trouble!"

"I don't care." Zhou Ehuang hugged her six-year-old sister tightly. "I won't serve the emperor."

"If you force me, then I will die!"

Zhou Zong had no sons, only these two daughters.

Even if you're very angry, you can't really drive your daughter to her death.

After all attempts to persuade her failed, the only thing he could do in frustration was to lock his daughter up, hoping she would change her mind.

Unexpectedly, Zhou Ehuang went on a hunger strike!
After hesitating for a long time, Zhou Zong went to find Lin Dao and told him about it.

"The trouble should end it."

Lin Dao, who was preparing to leave, gave Zhou Zong a suggestion: "This matter needs to be resolved by Li Congjia."

Realizing what had happened, Zhou Zong hurriedly arranged for people to search for Li Congjia.

As for Lin Dao, he led his iron cavalry eastward, heading straight for Hangzhou.

At the end of the Tang Dynasty, Qian Liu was granted the title of Prince of Wu upon the recommendation of Zhu Quanzhong.

After the fall of the Tang Dynasty, Zhu Quanzhong, who established the Later Liang Dynasty, enfeoffed Qian Liu as the King of Wuyue.

More than fifty years have passed since the founding of the Wuyue Kingdom.

The current King of Wuyue is Qian Chu, who controls the Liangzhe region centered on Hangzhou.

Geographically, the Wu-Yue region and the Southern Tang dynasty were closely interdependent.

Logically speaking, these two countries should help each other and jointly resist the powerful threat from the north.

However, Qian Chu did the opposite, recognizing the northern dynasty as the legitimate one and considering himself a subject.

Every time the north attacked the Southern Tang, he would respond by sending troops, which infuriated the people of the Southern Tang.

Now that Lin Dao had crossed the river and destroyed the Southern Tang, Qian Chu, upon learning the news, took the initiative to send an envoy to express his willingness to submit.

Lin Dao didn't hesitate and went straight to Hangzhou to meet Qian Chu.

"Greetings, Your Majesty!"

At the foot of Phoenix Mountain, inside the palace of the King of Wu and Yue.

Qian Chu led the civil and military officials to bow to Lin Dao.

"No need to be so polite." Lin Dao gestured for him to sit down, his smile warm. "You have made great contributions to the country and its people."

He said this not only to say that the people of Wu and Yue had avoided the ravages of war.

There is another layer of meaning, which is that among Qian Chu's descendants, there were three famous Qians.

These three top scientists made indelible contributions to the rise of China.

"I dare not take credit for this."

The young Qian Chu rose and took the heavy document from the civil official, handing it to the Imperial Guard.

"Your Majesty, these are the land registers and household registers of the thirteen prefectures of Liangzhe."

"The Kingdom of Wu and Yue was thus brought under the control of the Qin Dynasty."

After flipping through the documents for a while, Lin Dao nodded again. "In this chaotic world, it is a blessing for the local people to have someone like you."

"From now on, you will still be the King of Wuyue!"

Unlike ordinary investitures of kings, this investiture included the title of a kingdom.

"His Majesty."

Qian Chu bowed and earnestly pleaded, "Your Majesty, please abolish the title of the nation!"

Lin Dao was about to persuade him again when Qian Chu bowed once more and said, "Your Majesty, please cancel the title of the nation!"

"In that case," Lin Dao said, taking a breath, "I hereby bestow upon you the title of King of Wuyue."

With the return of Wu and Yue, the thirteen prefectures of Liangzhe were spared from war, allowing the people to transition peacefully.

Lin Dao was very happy, and in the days that followed, with Qian Chu as his guide, he toured Hangzhou and other places in that era.

During his visit, Qian Chu was also surprised by Lin Dao's familiarity with Hangzhou.

This person should have never been here before, so how come they are so familiar with Hangzhou?
On this day, the two, accompanied by a large number of servants, arrived at the port of Qiantang County.

Just then, a merchant ship from the Abbasid Caliphate docked, and Lin Dao went forward to examine the maritime trade goods of this era.

An interpreter stepped forward to inquire and learned that it was a ship fully loaded with spices.

Besides spices, there were also a small number of Damascus steel knives and other goods.

Lin Dao nodded in agreement; this matched the information he had gathered.

The Maritime Silk Road primarily involved exchanging spices for goods such as silk, porcelain, and rhubarb.

He was about to board the ship to see the varieties of spices from that era, as well as the famous Damascus steel knives.
But before boarding the ship, they were surprised to find several shirtless Black sailors on board!

Seeing Lin Dao in a daze, Qian Chu stepped forward to explain, "Your Majesty, this is a Kunlun slave. They were sent from overseas during the Tang Dynasty."

"At that time, Kunlun slaves and Silla maids were very popular."

Lin Dao took a breath, his expression grave.

"Kunlun slaves are natives of the southern islands of the South Seas!"

"They were short in stature, uncivilized, and all savages."

"These."

He pointed to the few Black men on the ship. "They are not."

Lin Dao looked at the interpreter and said, "Go ask the people on the ship where these people came from?"

The interpreter hurriedly went to inquire and soon returned to report. "Your Majesty, the Arabs say that these are slave sailors they captured from the hot lands to the west of the Arab world."

This is a galley sailboat, and oars are the main source of power.

Hiring sailors to row would require paying them a high price.

A round trip like that would cost a fortune.

To save money, these Arab merchants chose to capture Black people from hot regions and train them to work as slave sailors.

No wages were required, and they were strong and healthy, making them well-suited for manual labor.

Everyone looked at Lin Dao with confusion, not understanding why he seemed so angry.

Taking a breath, Lin Dao gestured to the imperial guards who had followed him.

"Get on the boat, arrest them."

The imperial guards surged onto the ship like a tidal wave, capturing everyone on board and pressing them before Lin Dao.

"Those Black people shall not be allowed to set foot on the land of Middle-earth!"

Lin Dao raised his hand and reprimanded the imperial guards, preventing them from taking the person down.

He looked at the Arab merchant, who was also the ship owner, who was being held down in front of him. "Today, because you didn't know beforehand, I'm just giving you a lesson."

"Pour all your goods into the sea!"

"You are not allowed to enter the city to buy goods. Get out of here in a minute!"

"Remember this: doing business in Middle-earth is fine, but absolutely no Blacks are allowed on board!"

"If you bring any more Blacks next time, your entire ship will be sunk to the bottom of the sea!"

"Now, get out of here!"

The interpreter relayed Lin Dao's words to the Arab merchants.

The ship's captains threw all the cargo into the sea.

The flustered Arab merchant bowed repeatedly, indicating that he would never dare to bring the Blacks again.

Lin Dao's good mood was affected by this incident, and he kept a sullen face on the way back.

No one dared to speak, except for Qian Chu, who couldn't help but ask.

"Your Majesty, why is this?"

Lin Dao stopped in his tracks and smiled helplessly.

"Because some swordsmen are born swordsmen!"

Lin Dao ended his trip to Hangzhou ahead of schedule and set off to return to Nanjing.

Qian Chu will soon be heading to Bianjing, where civil and military officials arranged by Feng Dao will come to take over the land.

Lin Dao was in a low mood the whole way.

Upon returning to Jinling City, bad news followed.

The Nanping Kingdom in Jingnan, the Wuping Army in Huguang, and the Southern Han in Lingnan all refused to surrender and insisted on resisting Lin Dao.

There's definitely no problem with hitting him.

However, these places are remote and the roads are difficult to travel.

Taking it down would definitely take time and effort, which made Lin Dao, who was already in a bad mood, even more impatient.

Then, Zhou Zong came to make things worse for him.

"Your Majesty, Li Congjia has returned the marriage certificate, and the engagement has been dissolved."

Upon hearing this, Lin Dao slowly nodded. "In that case, send your daughter over."

Unexpectedly, Zhou Zong looked hesitant and troubled.

"My daughter is vulgar and ugly."

"I suppose I'm still not qualified to serve His Majesty."

Lin Dao immediately narrowed his eyes.

What do you mean? Are they all here to make things difficult for him?

No matter what time or space, if Lin Dao takes a fancy to a girl, she will happily rush over as soon as he beckons.

But Zhou Ehuang was rebuffed.

I met the Black people in Hangzhou before, and then I thought about those fairy-like girls in the modern world.

Now, after being rejected by Zhou Ehuang time and again, Lin Dao's anger visibly grew.

Zhou Zong saw it all clearly, and his heart pounded like a drum.

He dared not hide it any longer and had no choice but to tell the truth.

"My daughter, she has a terrible temper."

"After Li Congjia came to annul the engagement, she started threatening to cut her hair and become a nun."

"I had no choice~"

This violated another taboo of Lin Dao's, as he devoted himself to Buddhism.

Taking a deep breath, Lin Dao burst out laughing.

"Never mind, it's not like I haven't seen beautiful women before."

"If they are unwilling, they shouldn't resort to forcibly taking women from the people."

"Let's just leave it at that."

He waved his hand and said, "Go ahead, just pretend this was never mentioned."

Terrified, Zhou Zong returned home in a daze.

Lin Dao, whose collecting obsession was interrupted, was annoyed for a while but quickly got over it.

He began preparing to send troops to quell rebellions in various regions.

This matter seems to have ended there.

However, all the generals in the army already knew about this.

Rape women?

In this era, let alone forcibly taking women, it was common to lay them on a chopping board!
There are plenty of generals who are eager to advance their careers.

Shi Shouxin and his men, who remained in Jinling City, simply led their troops directly into the Zhou residence.

These generals held knives to Zhou Zong's neck, questioning him menacingly.

"Hand over your daughter!"

In the chaos, Zhou Ehuang and her sister were both captured.

"General, these two are both Zhou Zong's daughters!"

"Then arrest them all!"

"Send them all to His Majesty!"

(End of this chapter)