Zhutian: Starting from the Space-Time Merchant

Chapter 419 Why weren't you born fifty years earlier!

"Han Yanhui, an official from outside the capital, is hereby appointed as the Left Vice Minister of the Southern Palace of the Great Liao Kingdom."

The white-haired old man, over seventy years old, bowed respectfully to Lin Dao.

"Greetings to His Majesty the Emperor of the Great Qin Kingdom!"

"You old man." Lin Dao, sitting in the chair, looked down at me with a disdainful gaze, showing no respect for his age whatsoever. "How dare you appear before me?"

To put it bluntly, this old man is a traitor.
When he was young, he served as a staff member for the military governor of Lulong during the Tang Dynasty.

Later, however, he joined Yelü Abaoji and served as his military advisor.

He assisted Yelü Abaoji in attacking and conquering many tribes, including the Dangxiang and Shiwei, and then incorporated them into his own forces.

They also proposed to employ Han Chinese to work, cultivate fields to provide food and fodder, and to manufacture ironware and other production materials.

This allowed the Khitan tribe to gradually grow stronger, eventually swallowing up the grasslands and Youzhou.

If it weren't for the military deterrent left over from the late Tang Dynasty, the country might have perished and the race might have been wiped out much earlier.

"His Majesty."

Having weathered many storms, Han Yanhui remained calm, saying, "Each serves their own master."

"spit!"

Since Lin Dao didn't have anything handy at hand, he simply took off his shoe and threw it at the target.

The shoe was thrown with precision, hitting the old man squarely on the forehead. He screamed in pain and crouched down, clutching his head.

The previous nonchalant demeanor was gone.

"You treacherous scoundrel, how dare you bark at me like that!"

"If you say you were forced into it, or that your family was massacred by the warlords, I won't say anything to you; I can completely understand."

"But what about you?"

"As a staff member of the military governor, you have voluntarily surrendered to the barbarians and assisted them in killing and enslaving the people of the Central Plains. You deserve to die!"

Lin Dao despised such people the most, and naturally he would not give them any special treatment just because they were old.

With a bump on his forehead, Han Yanhui struggled to his feet. "Your Majesty, I have nothing more to say about the past."

"But nowadays, foreign officials are here as envoys to discuss state affairs."

"Your Majesty, please be mindful of your dignity."

The generals around him were all shouting and cursing, completely following Lin Dao's rhythm.

If Yang Ye hadn't been resting and recovering from the twenty strokes of the cane, he would have already rushed up and given him a good beating.

"Then let's get down to business." Lin Dao raised his voice, "What brings you here?"

"This foreign minister has come for peace talks."

"Ha!" Upon hearing this, Lin Dao immediately scoffed.

He didn't say much, waiting for Han Yanhui to finish speaking.

"When the two countries fought, countless people were killed or wounded, and the land was littered with corpses."

Han Yanhui spoke with great emotion and was very engaging.

"Now that Your Majesty's army is marching north, the war will inevitably escalate further, leading to more human tragedies."

"Your Majesty, as the Son of Heaven, can't you consider the people's welfare more?"

"Isn't Your Majesty afraid of being recorded in history as a tyrant?"

Clearly, this is a common tactic used by scholars to appeal to emotions.

They used righteousness and the people to blackmail others.

In reality, it was these scholars who were the most ruthless towards ordinary people.

"Old Han," Lin Dao smiled slightly, took the shoes Cao Bin handed him and put them on. "You're a storyteller by trade, aren't you?"

"If you're such a good storyteller, why don't you go and become a storyteller and earn money?"

"We soldiers have a saying."

"Battle reports may lie, but the front lines will not!"

"You're saying future historians will portray me as a tyrant?"

"Let alone whether you scholars have the opportunity to write history books."

"Even if you write history books to slander me."

"Yes~"

Lin Dao smiled even more broadly, "I have laid out a vast territory for future generations."

"When they look at the history books that slander me, and then at the vast maps, don't they ever think about how such a tyrant conquered such a vast territory and how he ensured that his descendants could live a good life?"

"You intellectuals may be able to deceive people for a while with your pens, but you can't deceive them forever!"

In the information explosion era of later generations, countless people who were slandered and smeared by scholars have become known for their great achievements.

Countless so-called good people, packaged by scholars, have had their veils removed!
Like Qin Shi Huang, a tyrant who has been slandered for so many years.

But without him, where would the standardization of writing, the unification of cart tracks, and the unification of China have come from?
Perhaps a thousand years from now, it will still be fragmented like Europe.

Sima Guang, for example, was praised to the skies, and the story of him smashing the water jar became widely circulated, almost elevating him to the status of a saint.

But in the end, they became the ones who ceded territory and paid reparations!

As for right and wrong, and how future generations will judge him, Lin Dao himself truly didn't care.

Seeing that reasoning with him was useless, Han Yanhui decisively changed his approach and started to appeal to his logic.

"The King of Liao wishes to become sworn brothers with the Emperor of Qin."

"From then on, the two countries became brotherly nations."

"To extinguish the flames of war and restore peace and tranquility to the people."

The people of this era are truly living in misery.

The people of the Central Plains are often dragged away and forced to be eaten while walking on the street.

The people of Liao were constantly subjected to forced labor and reduced to slavery, worse than livestock.

But when it came to negotiations between the two countries, these people who were treated like dirt were repeatedly mentioned, as if they were the most important people in the world.

But apart from Lin Dao, which leader truly cares about the people?

Putting everything else aside, who else could do what Lin Dao did, distributing land and providing seeds, fertilizers, farm tools, and livestock to the people for free, and even abolishing exorbitant taxes and levies?

Even for the sake of the people's future, they were willing to give up a life of luxury surrounded by beautiful women, braving ice and snow, and fighting to the death in wind and rain, risking their lives to secure a vast living space for the people.

Compared to those transmigrators who transport poems and songs to woo beauties and enjoy the privileges of the elite, Lin Dao has done enough.

"To become sworn brothers?"

Leaning back in his chair, Lin Dao raised an eyebrow and smiled, "Who's the elder brother, and who's the younger brother?"

“Our ruler is slightly older,” Han Yanhui replied methodically. “He is naturally the elder brother.” “Oh,” Lin Dao smiled again. “The older one can be the elder brother.”

"As the elder brother, he should always give way to his younger brother."

“If we honor the Liao emperor as our elder brother, that would not be unacceptable.”

"However, this older brother should at least give his younger brother some gifts when they meet."

A look of emotion finally appeared on Han Yanhui's wrinkled face.

He asked with a hint of urgency, "What does Your Majesty desire?"

“I remember.” Lin Dao sat still and spoke calmly, “The history books say that Maodun went to war with the Donghu king back then.”

"Because of his lack of strength, he gave the Donghu king his precious horse when he asked for it."

"Later, when the King of Donghu demanded his queen, she was given one."

"But when it comes to demanding land, they turn on us and start a war."

Han Yanhui's expression was rather unpleasant.

From his youth when he served as a staff member of a military governor at the end of the Tang Dynasty, he witnessed countless events and encountered all sorts of people during decades of turmoil.

With such a wealth of experience, very few people or things can move him.

But the young man in front of him gave him a great shock.

There was even a thought in his mind.

'Why weren't you born fifty years earlier!'

Sure enough, Lin Dao then changed the subject, saying, "I want that good brother's head to appease the wronged souls who died at the hands of the Khitans."

"Go back and ask my good brother if he's willing to give it to me."

Han Yanhui could only manage a wry smile.

Let alone a good brother, even a biological brother would never lend his head.

He finally understood that Lin Dao had absolutely no intention of negotiating.

Even so, he still insisted on finishing his work.

"If Your Majesty is dissatisfied, my king may become the younger brother and Your Majesty the elder brother."

"In addition, our Great Liao is willing to give away 10,000 cattle, 30,000 sheep, 3,000 horses, 30 pearls, and 20 gyrfalcons every year."

These are the Liao Kingdom's bottom lines in negotiations.

It shouldn't have been thrown out so easily; it should have been pulled back and forth, released little by little, saving as much as possible.

But by this time, Han Yanhui had already realized that the other party had no intention of negotiating at all.

That so-called bottom line has become a joke.

"I am an only child."

Lin Dao yawned. "There's no need for any older or younger brothers."

"As for cattle, sheep, horses, Dongzhuhai Dongqing and the like."

"I don't need you to give it to me, I'll take it myself!"

Without a doubt, the negotiations completely broke down.

With a blank expression, Han Yanhui bowed and prepared to take his leave.

But Lin Dao called out to him.

"Wait a minute."

Han Yanhui frowned. "Your Majesty intends to kill the envoy?"

"I am already this old, it's not that I'm afraid of death."

"I'm just worried that His Majesty will bear the blame for this."

Lin Dao finally stood up and walked over to Han Yanhui.

He looked down at the old man in front of him and said, "I'll say it again, I don't care about any bad reputation!"

"You scholars, even if you curse me until your tongues rot, I won't care!"

"I only care about whether the people of the Central Plains can live a good life!"

"I only care about whether we can prevent the Central Plains from facing the danger of national extinction again in the future!"

As soon as these words were spoken, a thunderclap suddenly resounded outside the tent!
It was a bolt from the blue.

It was sunny and cloudless outside before.

It was truly astonishing that a thunderous roar could be heard.

With this sudden clap of thunder, a crack appeared at the top of the tent.

A ray of golden sunlight streamed down, enveloping the forest path.

As luck would have it, this opening was created.

Even more coincidentally, the sunlight that shone through fell directly on Lin Dao.

That's really something!
Lin Dao squinted and looked up at the hole in the tent, feeling a warm sensation all over his body, before bringing his attention back to the tent.

His gaze fell on Han Yanhui once again.

"Don't let my harsh treatment of barbarians fool you, I'm actually a civilized person."

"However, my civilization is only shown to my own people."

"Enough with the small talk, I called you here to tell you something."

A sense of foreboding flashed through Han Yanhui's mind. "Please speak."

"Han Deshu, is he your son?"

"He was previously in Youzhou City, where he organized people to resist the army that was entering the city."

"Died in battle."

"The heads were used to build a mound of skulls, while the bodies were thrown into a mass grave."

"If you have time, you can go and take a look~"

"Hey! You won't get a chance to see it either. I'll kill you next time we meet!"

When Han Yanhui heard the word "died in battle," his mind went completely blank.

He didn't hear what Lin Dao said after that.

He was completely disoriented and dazed, as if the whole world had become an illusion.

After an unknown amount of time, Han Yanhui collapsed to the ground, tears streaming down his face, wailing and crying his heart out!

(End of this chapter)