Zhutian: Starting from the Space-Time Merchant

Chapter 538 Signs of National Demise
The Rongguo Mansion was filled with joy and celebration.
Their family officially transitioned into in-laws, and from then on, they enjoyed wealth and prosperity that would last forever.

The price paid was nothing more than the manor outside the pass.

Once they become a powerful maternal relatives family, how could they possibly lack money?

With silver, you can buy vast tracts of land anywhere in the world!
"The Tartars became increasingly rampant and frequently harassed the local area."

“Zhuangzi’s harvest is decreasing every year, and it’s hard to say when the Tartars will plunder, slaughter, and burn it.”

"Today, we have exchanged these dilapidated estates for the foundation of our family's century-old roots. It is truly a great fortune."

This is the mainstream perception of the Rongguo Mansion.

In their view, they were exchanging a dilapidated village a thousand miles away for the opportunity to become relatives of the emperor.

If Jia Yuanchun were to give birth to a prince in the future, she might have a chance to advance her career further.
Upon thinking of these things, he immediately held a grand banquet, reveling and celebrating lavishly.

Wang Xifeng was overjoyed.

The emperor, who was usually very stingy, was unusually generous this time in allocating the funds to redeem the estates outside the Great Wall.

The public funds of Rongguo Mansion immediately became abundant.

The funds earmarked for building a villa for visiting relatives have attracted the envy of countless people.

In order to get a chance to take advantage of the situation, Wang Xifeng used all her tricks, pretending to be silly, acting cute, and making jokes to make Grandmother Jia, who was in a great mood, laugh non-stop.

It seems that a golden opportunity to regain overt control of the household and thus get involved in the provincial villa project is just around the corner.

The real power to manage the Rongguo Mansion actually rested in the hands of Grandmother Jia and Lady Wang.

The two women controlled the mansion through their respective personal attendants and confidants.

Wang Xifeng took charge of the household affairs openly only to avoid suspicion and to save herself the trouble.

In reality, what Wang Xifeng did were all mundane tasks like those of a laborer.

Jia Lian, who was enjoying himself abroad, rushed back to join the celebration upon hearing the news.

However, not long after, under Wang Xifeng's sarcastic remarks and Jia She's arrogant scolding, he left in a sorry state.

"I can't live this life."

Arriving at the side room in the forest, we found several small dishes on the table and a jar of wine.

After drinking a cup of wine, Jia Lian spoke with a sense of vicissitude.

Grandma favors the second wife's family.

"My father is short-sighted."

"My wife is even more of a shrew!"

"He doesn't even have a son!"

"What kind of life am I living?!"

Hearing Jia Lian's tearful complaints, Lin Dao certainly wouldn't transform into a confidante.
He responded readily, "Why don't you try 'Transformation'?"

"How about we go to a village outside the city and stay with a farmer for a month?"

Lin Dao never cared about other people's family situations.

You walk your own path, and you live your own life.

Complaining is the most useless approach.

The fact that he can complain about these things means that his standard of living is already quite high.

People from farming families outside the city are busy digging for food in the fields all day long, and they have no time or energy to complain.

Besides, many men in farming families in this era were bachelors for their entire lives.

He didn't even have a chance to complain about his wife.

"Zihou~"

Jia Lian quickly changed the subject, "I just feel like something's not right about this, but I can't quite put my finger on it."

"It felt really uncomfortable."

"The fact that you can have this feeling means you're already one of the more discerning people in this mansion." Lin Dao nodded slightly. "Many things cannot be judged by appearances alone."

"I have a question for you."

Lin Dao simply asked, "Your Majesty, do you have any sons?"

"Haha~" Jia Lian, having taken a sip of wine, burst into laughter upon hearing this. "Who in the whole world doesn't know that the Empress has a son, and he's the eldest son of the legitimate wife~"

"That's it."

Lin Dao laughed again, "Even if your older sister gives birth to a son, do you think she can seize the position?"

"This..." Jia Lian hesitated for a moment and shook his head. "Difficult, too difficult."

“Since ancient times,” Lin Dao tapped the table with his fingers, “I have only ever heard of empress’s family relatives, never of concubine’s family relatives.”

"If she can't be empress and her son can't become crown prince, what kind of maternal relatives are they?"

"Of course." Lin Dao changed the subject. "No one can say for sure what will happen in the future."

"Who knows, the Empress and the Crown Prince might die suddenly one after the other at any time."

"But what if he didn't die?"

"And the emperor has quite a few sons."

"If we are to fight for it, then we will be drawn into a brutal battle for the throne."

"The victor is king, the loser is a bandit."

"If we don't fight for it, we will be acting as Imperial Noble Consorts without the title."

"Even if we say we won't fight, do you think others will let the Jia family off the hook?"

Jia Lian broke out in a cold sweat.

He knew the Jia family's situation all too well.

A bunch of people who only know how to enjoy themselves have no ability to compete with others.

Jia Lian forced a smile, "It's too early to say that. My eldest sister hasn't even given us any good news yet!"

Lin Dao scoffed at this typical escapist rhetoric.

"The core competitiveness of the Jia family lies in the support of a powerful and influential group of relatives and friends."

"It is the prestige of two dukes."

"But the Rongguo Mansion took the lead in selling its estates outside the Great Wall. What about the other noble families?"

"When the emperor uses the Jia family as an example to force other nobles to sell their estates outside the Great Wall, will they be grateful to the Jia family or hate them?"

Lin Daode made the Rongguo Mansion realize that they had betrayed their social class.

After that, there will inevitably be a rush to make amends.

And if you do that, you'll be the most typical fence-sitter, going back and forth between two sides.

In general, regardless of the number of parties involved in a conflict, the first to be eliminated are always the fence-sitters.

Sure enough, Jia Lian was clearly stunned.

"If there really comes a day when they fight, not to mention the noble families, even the Ningguo family next door will probably distance themselves from them."

"By the way, has the Imperial Clan Court been finalized yet?" "Oh, oh~" Jia Lian wiped the sweat from his forehead and breathed a sigh of relief. "It'll be soon, it'll be finalized as soon as Master Jing gives his approval."

Jia Zhen is dead, and the murderer has still not been caught.

But life had to go on, and the title of Ningguo Mansion still had to be passed down.

Everything went according to the rules and procedures; it wasn't as troublesome as I had imagined.

However, Jia Rong was crippled and still had no son.

The internal struggle was extremely fierce.

In the end, Jia Jing, who still wanted to become a Taoist priest, nodded in agreement.

It must be said that Cao Cao was quite an interesting person.
Jia Jing~ Jia Jing~ is a Taoist practitioner.

Isn't this a blatant reference to the Jiajing Emperor of the previous dynasty?
Cao Xueqin also used puns.

Seeing that Jia Lian was distracted, Lin Dao changed the subject and chatted casually.

"Has anything interesting happened in the court lately?"

"Interesting things?" Jia Lian subconsciously said while drinking, "There are things, but they're not interesting."

"Upon hearing that the Tartars in Liaodong had formed an alliance with the nomadic tribes on the grasslands, the ministers in the court said they would increase the tax on Liaodong."

"The envoy to Annam has returned. Annam refuses to withdraw its troops and even clamors to take all of Lingnan."

Liaodong military pay~
Upon hearing this term, Lin Dao's first thought was of the late Ming Dynasty.

His experiences on his return journey from Yangzhou, as well as what he saw and heard in the capital, gave him a deeper understanding of the Great Zhou Dynasty.

The Great Zhou Dynasty, which had been established for less than a hundred years, was no different from any other dynasty in terms of corruption and decadence.

While noble families lived in luxury, ordinary people often went hungry.

In prosperous places like Yangzhou Prefecture, there are no traces of self-cultivating farmers.

The situation around Beijing is equally dire.

The famous Granny Liu in the book comes from a family of officials whose son-in-law had even married into the Wang family. The family also had a small business to support them, so they definitely belonged to the small landlord class.

Even so, the family only had two acres of meager land.

This shows just how serious the land consolidation around the capital had become.

If additional taxes were levied on Liaodong, it would naturally not fall on the shoulders of a noble family like the Jia family.

Ultimately, it is the people who toil in the fields who bear the burden.

According to the rules of past dynasties, if the emperor asked for an additional coin of silver per mu of land, the amount could be increased to one tael outside the capital!
When the tax collectors collect the taxes, it will probably amount to several taels of silver.

This is a sign of national ruin!

Lin Dao remained silent for a moment, then asked again, "Annam is just a small country, how can it be so arrogant?"

I heard~

Although he held the title of Tongzhi, Jia Lian was not concerned with matters of the court, and the information he knew was all from what he heard at the dinner table.

Don't assume that his visits to Piaoxianglou and other buildings were just for pile driving.

In fact, noblemen of his status usually had maids assigned to them at a young age, and they were never short of them.

When dining out, people enjoy the warmth and care that they don't experience at home.

Even if it's just acting, as long as the acting is good enough, it can provide enough emotional value.

Another activity is gathering and chatting with friends from the same social class.

The information he gathered came from drinking parties, where he would laugh and talk with beautiful women in his arms.

"In Annam, they hired Europeans to train the army."

"They also bought European muskets and cannons, saying they were very powerful."

Lin Dao frowned and carefully calculated.

The timeline in the book is roughly during the reign of the Qing Dynasty.

Although the Central Plains underwent tremendous changes, the timeline outside remained largely unchanged.

The Europeans, who relied on firearms and cannons to dominate the world, were gradually approaching Middle-earth.

But what about the Central Plains at this time?
It's still the same old thing that's been around for thousands of years!
The emperor and the retired emperor were vying for power, the nobles were living a life of debauchery, and the ministers were all more greedy than the last.

Local organizations are rampant, and the people are becoming increasingly impoverished and homeless.

He originally thought this was just a world in a book, and he came here with a carefree attitude to avenge Lin Daiyu.

But now~
It's unclear whether this is his true nature or influenced by his position as the human emperor.

Lin Dao couldn't bear to see the people suffer.
Even the world within a book.

Jia Lian was extremely drunk and was lying on the table shouting.

'Youyou~Anan~Fanfan~Fufu~Zhuiwen~'

'Pingping~Dandan~Rongrong~Zhenzhen~'

'Like a dream~ For a long time~'

'Tokoro~'

It's unknown how many brothels and pleasure boats he's frequented, or how many beautiful women he's met who have been so emotionally fulfilling.

No wonder that even though he has a wife who is as beautiful as a fairy and a beautiful woman named Ping'er at home, he still has no interest in them and only wants to run away.

A man like that has a hard time settling his mind at home.

Thinking of this, Lin Dao looked at Ping'er, who was serving him.

"Call a few people and send him back."

Ping'er, with her head down, responded and went to call the maids and servants to help Jia Lian up.

"Don't come back this time."

Upon hearing this, Ping'er was slightly taken aback.

"Your second grandma will have money soon."

Lin Dao nodded. "Then there's no need to keep the deposit."

"You go ahead."

Once the Grand View Garden project started, money flowed like water into the hands of everyone involved.

Wang Xifeng's debts can naturally be repaid.

It’s just~
Lin Dao smiled again as he watched the crowd escort Jia Lian away.

"It's easy to spend money."

"When the emperor comes to collect the debt, you'll be in trouble."

"Come and borrow money from me again."

"Then we can start the countdown!"

(End of this chapter)