Zhutian: Starting from the Space-Time Merchant

Chapter 520 The traitor Wei Xiaobao has stormed into the mansion!

"I ask you."

When the thugs boarded the ship, did Miss Lin smash them all to pieces?

The Salt Administration Office, Lin Ruhai's main room.

Amidst his repeated cries of "Quickly go and invite the Buddha!", Lin Dao, who had been in seclusion, was finally invited.

Upon seeing the salt worker who had been released to report the news, Lin Dao's first question silenced everyone in the room.

What do you mean, "Did Miss Lin smash them to pieces?"
Do people say it?
The salt worker was wounded by a knife and an arrow.

According to him, not long after they boarded the ship and set sail, more than a dozen ships from upstream and downstream surrounded them.

Arrows rained down.
That's when he was shot in the leg with an arrow.

Lin Dao examined his wound and found it was indeed an arrow wound, but it wasn't a standard iron arrowhead; it must have been from a civilian weapon.

Then came the boarding action.

A large number of thieves, armed with sharp blades and barefoot, boarded the official ship and fought with the salt workers.

It was at this moment that Yan Ding was stabbed in the back.

Fortunately, he was wearing leather armor, so the injury wasn't too serious.

As for why he was stabbed in the back, it's because he was attacked while trying to run away.

According to Yan Ding, after the thieves took control of the deck, they steered the boat toward a private salt wharf at the mouth of a river.

They also threatened the people inside to come out and surrender, or they would set the place on fire and smoke them out.

Young Master Jia argued his case forcefully.

This indicates the various identities of the Salt Commissioner, the Rongguo Mansion in the capital, and the imperial ship.

The result was, of course, useless.

Later, this salt worker, along with several others who were still alive—in fact, those who had surrendered—were escorted to a remote spot on the riverbank after reaching the shore.

Everyone else had been chopped down and buried, leaving only him, the wounded. He was given a simple bandage and dragged onto a carriage, which then sped off.

When I woke up, I found myself abandoned at the entrance of the Salt Administration Office.

"That is to say."

Lin Dao frowned slightly. "You don't know what happened on the ship later."

According to his logic.

If he were in Lin Daiyu's position, he would definitely grab Jia Lian by the back of the neck and make him stay put.

He then swaggered out and slapped all those damned rebels to pieces.

Lin Daiyu has cultivated an indestructible body; in this world, who can kill her?
By the way, Lin Dao dreamt of seeking a master and asked why his cultivation had not progressed.

His master also responded to him.

Lin Daiyu progressed quickly because she had a predestined connection with the divine.

To put it bluntly, Lin Daiyu was someone who had cultivated herself.

It's like having a bank account. You used to forget your account number and password, but now that you've remembered them, you can have the money back quickly.

As for Lin Dao, the reason is equally simple.

Because of his position.

The title of Emperor!

This was a position equal to that of the Heavenly Sovereign and the Sovereign of Heaven and Earth, and one of the earliest rulers after the creation of the world.

They possess the ability to rule over the human race, communicate with heaven and earth, and command demons and gods.

Lin Dao's ability to summon wind and rain is actually the ability to communicate with heaven and earth.

He has never demonstrated the ability to command demons and gods because these things didn't exist in the worlds he visited before.

What was truly displayed was only the ability to rule over the human race.

However, because Lin Dao selectively governs, the picture is not fully revealed.

If one were in a world of cultivation, even immortals cultivating in the mortal realm would have to bow down and submit.

For this reason, Lin Dao's cultivation power was all integrated into the Human Emperor's position.

It's not that you don't have any; on the contrary, it's like having a huge sum of money in a bank, and continuous cultivation is like continuously increasing the amount of your savings.

However, it can only be used after the power of one's rank is completely complete.

Let's get back to the point.

After questioning Yan Ding, Lin Dao simply looked at Lin Ruhai.

"Imperial Censor Lin."

"Now you can tell me who your enemy is."

"At least within Yangzhou Prefecture, they are open rivals."

It's obvious without asking that this has nothing to do with Wei Xiaobao, the Flood Dragon of the Lake, because the real Wei Xiaobao is standing right here.

Anyone who would dare to do this, risking the execution of their entire family, must be Lin Ruhai's mortal enemy.

Lin Ruhai, who was extremely anxious, also secretly admired it.

Lin Dao is indeed a man of great ability.

Knowing that his mortal enemy is out in the open, among all the young people of his generation that he has met, none can compare to Lin Dao.

Now that things have come to this, Lin Ruhai naturally won't hide anything anymore.

"Jiang Chun, head of the Lianghuai Salt Industry Guild."

"Jiang Chun?" Lin Dao laughed. "Could it be a variant of the character 'He'?"

Lin Ruhai paused for a moment, then shook his head. "His courtesy name is Yingchang, and his pen name is Heting. He has no other name, Biehe."

Lin Dao then asked, "Is his son named Jiang Yulang?"

“He has many sons,” Lin Ruhai shook his head again, “but none of them are named Yulang.”

"clear."

Lin Dao nodded. "I'm going. After this is over, I'll send Sister Lin and the others directly to the capital and I won't be coming back."

Lin Ruhai opened his mouth, as if to ask if he was confident.

But Lin Dao had already set off to find Jiang Biehe and Jianghe Pavilion.

The traditional approach would be to gather intelligence first, and then go to rescue the hostages.

Lin Dao, however, did not intend to go through such trouble.

He went directly to find the mastermind behind the incident and addressed the problem at its source.

Jiang Chun was the head of the Lianghuai Salt Merchants Guild of the Great Zhou Dynasty.

Guangda Salt Company, under his name, is the largest salt company in the world.

He held an official position and had a private relationship with the retired emperor.

When the retired emperor made his southern tours, he always stayed at Jiangyuan whenever he passed through Yangzhou.

Jiangyuan is the Jiangnan-style garden owned by Jiang Chun.

"Was it instigated by the Emperor Emeritus?"

"How can it be!"

"As the retired emperor who still holds military power, why would he need to go to such lengths to deal with a mere salt inspector?"

“He has powerful backers, or rather, real bosses behind him.”

Upon arriving outside the wall on one side of Jiangyuan, a light rotary-wing drone was launched from the forest path.

With a soft hum, the drone hovered and flew over Jiangyuan.

Just like in war, the first step is reconnaissance.

After the investigation was completed and all the information was confirmed, the investigation was concluded.

Lin Dao looked up at the sky.

Having set the time, he set off for the armory in Yonghe Time and Space to change his clothes.

Full-body heavy armor, a scarlet cloak, and a menacing mask. And various weapons.

He didn't have time to play hide-and-seek with Jiang Chun.

Go straight to Huanglong!

With everything prepared, Lin Dao carried the large Guan Dao in one hand and walked towards the gate of Jiangyuan.

Amidst the resounding clang of armor, the servants and guards of the Jiang family stared in astonishment as an armored man walked over step by step.

"The Lake Dragon, Wei Xiaobao, is here!"

Upon arriving at the entrance of Jiangyuan, Lin Dao brandished his sword and roared like thunder.

"You have used the people's hard-earned money to serve a foolish emperor and deceive the people. Today, I, Wei, will act on behalf of Heaven to uphold justice!"

"kill!"

Weren't you impersonating Wei Xiaobao to capture Lin Daiyu?
Alright, I, the real Wei Xiaobao, am coming to find you now!

Inside the study, Jiang Chun was discussing matters with his son, Jiang Zhenwu, who had rushed back.

"Father, this mission was too risky."

Jiang Zhenwu looked slightly nervous. "That's an official ship after all!"

"And then there are the people from the Rongguo Mansion in the capital; this is a complete breakdown in relations!"

"Don't talk nonsense." Compared to his somewhat flustered son, Jiang Chun remained calm. "It's clearly the traitor Wei Xiaobao who's holding officials' families hostage to oppose the court. What does that have to do with us honest merchants?"

"Father."

Jiang Zhenwu sighed helplessly, "Such a story may fool those lowly people, but how can it deceive Lin Ruhai?"

"It doesn't matter if we can't hide it."

Jiang Chun finally became serious. "After the poisoning incident came to light, I knew that Lin Ruhai would definitely seek revenge."

"Instead of waiting for him to make a move, it's better to strike first."

"After all, he only needs to think about it to understand how his wife and son died back then."

"This kind of irreconcilable feud can only end when one side is completely defeated."

After saying that, he sighed again.

"Do you think your father wants to do this?"

"Provoking a powerful enemy for no reason?"

"The Lin family has been marquises for four generations, and the Jia family is even more so, being dukes of two states. These four families are closely related, and I don't want to provoke them."

Jiang Zhenwu blinked, his expression quite clear.

If you don't want to cause trouble, why do this?

This is a blood feud.

Moreover, the other party was not some lowly commoner, the kind of ordinary people who could be crushed with a flick of a finger.

Those were all real officials and nobles!

When Jia Daihua was still alive, he was the military governor of the capital garrison, holding a large number of troops in the capital!

Although Jiang Chun was a big businessman, he was unwilling to offend such a powerful force.

"no way."

There's really no other way.

"What can I, your father, do to disobey an order from the capital?"

To put it bluntly, Jiang Chun was nothing more than a front man.

How to proceed still depends on those powerful figures in the capital.

As for why they targeted Lin Ruhai...

Jiang Zhenwu didn't ask, because he knew perfectly well.

It was all for the sake of salt tax.

The first tax of the Great Zhou Dynasty was the salt tax.

Logically, it should have belonged to the maritime trade, but it was divided up by the gentry of Jiangnan, and even the emperor couldn't get his hands on this lucrative piece of meat.

Salt tax became the most important source of revenue for the Great Zhou Dynasty.

After all, people can go without wearing new clothes, eating fine rice, living in luxurious houses, or riding in carriages.

But you absolutely must eat salt!

Without salt, you will get sick and die.

Having seized upon this vital weakness of the people, they naturally intend to squeeze wealth from them relentlessly.

But the annual salt tax is fixed; if the powerful Lin Ruhai takes more, others can only take less.

As the saying goes, cutting off someone's livelihood is like killing their parents.

Lin Ruhai's existence has affected the interests of his backers, so he must be eliminated.

Even the emperor behind Lin Ruhai wasn't immune to being coveted.

To put it bluntly, self-interest comes first.

Even if it's the Emperor himself who ruins my interests, I still have to get rid of him.

Jiang Chun is the one who does the work.

They had previously used methods to eliminate Lin Ruhai's wife and children as a warning.

However, as Lin Ruhai continued to seize the salt tax revenue, he handed it over to the emperor for important matters.

Having been tempted by the powerful figures' interests, they finally ordered Jiang Chun to take action against Lin Ruhai.

The operation was going smoothly at first, but unknowingly it caused Lin Ruhai to fall ill, and even become terminally ill.

If you end up dying of illness, then it's good for you, me, and everyone else.

But then a wandering sorcerer showed up.

Not only did they expose the poisoning, but they also found a miraculous medicine to save Lin Ruhai.

An open killing is impossible; that would be a challenge to the entire court, and all officials would, for their own safety, want to kill the perpetrator's entire family.

It's not the piece that moves, but the player who manipulates it.

Don't underestimate officials; they are among the smartest people in the world.

But if they act covertly, the prepared Lin Ruhai will absolutely not give them any chance in the short term.

Seeing that Lin Ruhai's daughter was about to leave, they had no other choice but to take the risk of kidnapping her as a form of blackmail.

"The Lin family's daughter~" Jiang Chun had just begun to speak when he heard a commotion outside the study.

He frowned slightly, about to reprimand her.

The study door was suddenly pushed open!

Jiang Chun was furious. "Is there no manners left?"

Despite his public image, he is a great philanthropist who has never missed a day of building bridges and paving roads. He is also a famous calligrapher who often gathers with talented people to compose poems and write calligraphy.

But all of that was just for show.

In the Jiang family, it was truly a one-man show.

Countless servants, maids, and women in the household were beaten to death for offending the family.

When he got angry, even Jiang Zhenwu hurriedly got up.

Jiang Chun was taken aback when he saw who came in.

The person who barged in was none other than Jiang Zhenwen, the eldest son who was in charge of the family business.

No wonder the servants outside didn't dare to stop them.

"Father!"

Jiang Zhenwen looked terrified and screamed.

"The traitor Wei Xiaobao has stormed into the mansion!"

(End of this chapter)