Transmigrating Through the Heavens: Starting with the Silly Pillar of the Courtyard

Chapter 333 Accumulate Grain and Build High Walls

Later, Wu Tao started developing a side business and handed over the blacksmith shop to Qian Hu to manage.

He was also responsible for handling some private matters assigned by Wu Tao, making him a trusted subordinate outside the office.

It's actually more convenient to have someone outside than to have him with me.

Qian Hu naturally obeyed Wu Tao's orders without question. At the same time, Qian Hu also vaguely guessed what was going on, so he did his best in his work outside. He knew that this might be the most crucial change in his life.

Chen Wu, Wang Liu, Zhao Si, and Niu Er secretly envied Qian Hu.

Fortunately, the five of them had a deep bond, and since they were all working for the adults, they weren't jealous of Qian Hu because of this.

The few of them could stay by Wu Tao's side and protect him at any time. If the adult became successful, their families could also have a better life.

Nowadays, the families of Chen Wu, Wang Liu, Zhao Si, and Niu Er are all working at the blacksmith shop.

It's as if Wu Tao single-handedly brought about earth-shattering changes to the lives of several of their families.

Chen Wu and Wang Liu secretly vowed in their hearts that they would never let their master suffer the slightest harm.

If you want to hurt adults, you have to get over them first.

The blacksmith shop didn't need to pay protection money to the Embroidered Uniform Guard or the constables of the local government. Besides, Wu Tao was a member of the Embroidered Uniform Guard, so no one would investigate if the blacksmith shop sold anything privately.

Unless it's a really large shipment, neither the constables nor anyone else would bother coming to Wu Tao's place.

With these resources, Wu Tao's blacksmith shop could earn hundreds of taels of silver every month.

The blacksmith shop now has over fifty employees, including five or six master blacksmiths and the rest of the blacksmiths, all of whom are apprentices.

Aside from a few women, all these men had been well-fed and raised by Wu Tao, becoming burly and strong. In addition, Qian Hu would privately have them practice their swordsmanship and combined attack techniques in the courtyard.

They say they're teaching them self-defense skills, but in reality, they can be transformed into elite soldiers at any time.

Wu Tao is now enjoying a very comfortable life, ever since he bought the new yard next door.

Chen Wu, Wang Liu, and the others have moved to live in the neighboring courtyard.

Now there are two young girls in the family taking care of Wu Tao's daily life, and they also have to stay with him at night.

The two girls were also from Xicheng and had some kinship ties with Chen Wu and Wang Liu.

For the two girls from the slums, being able to come and serve Wu Tao was like rising from the ashes to become a phoenix.

These days, a girl's life is worthless; in a year of famine, it might only be worth a load of grain.

Wu Tao worked at the Qianhu Office in the morning, and rested at home in the afternoon.

He called it a rest, but it was really just playing around with beautiful women at home.

After the two maids fell asleep at night, Wu Tao would enter his personal space to tend to the land and feed the livestock.

Wu Tao knew that no matter what he wanted to do, food and weapons were necessities.

He should accumulate more resources now, which will become his greatest strength in the future.

The grains are dried in the sun, and the chickens, ducks, fish, pigs, and sheep are slaughtered after they grow up and made into cured meat. This makes them easy to store and provides them with food at any time.

Wu Tao's personal space wasn't limited to these things; he originally intended to forge weapons as well.

Before the raids on several powerful families, Wu Tao secretly took a lot of weapons using his personal space.

These weapons and equipment could easily equip several hundred people, so it's no wonder that those powerful families dared to have other ideas.

Wu Tao only took one-tenth of the items, which shows how well-prepared they were.

This is just in Songjiang Prefecture, and there are so many people thinking about what to do.

Not to mention the families in other provinces of the Great Yan Dynasty who were even wealthier and more powerful than those in Songjiang Prefecture.

This also shows that the current situation of the Great Yan Dynasty is already in a precarious state.

Everyone sensed something was wrong, but no one thought about saving the situation; instead, they were all calculating what they could do.

The proverb "Are kings and nobles born with a special destiny?" seems to have taken deep root in people's hearts.

Wu Tao had no interest in being a loyal minister who could save the country. When the entire court had problems, it meant that the management system itself was flawed.

Instead of wasting time and effort patching up the holes in the ruins, it's better to just tear it down and start over.

However, Wu Tao's strength is too weak right now, and he can't do much with the money he has.

Compared to those powerful families, his 10,000 gold bricks were worth only a little over two million taels of silver.

They have money and power, and countless servants, so no one dares to act rashly. He'd better play it safe and develop his strength cautiously, waiting until the empire is truly on the verge of collapse and heroes rise up before making his move.

Wu Tao is now focusing on developing his side business, in addition to continuing to serve in the Embroidered Uniform Guard.

The blacksmith shop was one thing, but Wu Tao was also thinking about how to acquire more land.

Just like those big landowners, only those who truly own large tracts of land can support their guards.

They could become the backbone of the army at any time in the future. The blacksmith shop has dozens of people, plus the ten strongmen by his side, which is still too few.

For the time being, Wu Tao has neither the opportunity nor the courage to make a big show of buying land.

People aren't fools; no one cares if a blacksmith runs a small business. But that doesn't mean he really thinks he can recklessly seize land.

Even if you paid to buy it, that's unrealistic. Don't assume that information was scarce in ancient times; quite the opposite, in this era, anything that actually happened was most easily exposed.

Wu Tao had no way of explaining where his money came from; it couldn't be explained by the tens or hundreds of taels of silver he earned from running a blacksmith shop.

Wu Tao's days passed by leisurely, while the borders of the Great Yan Dynasty became even more chaotic.

The Songjiang Prefecture Thousand-Household Office investigated a major rebellion case, bringing in nearly two million in revenue for the imperial court, which helped alleviate the emperor's urgent financial crisis.

However, this amount is still insignificant compared to the annual shortfall of several million.

To truly ensure a full national treasury, it is necessary to find ways to collect taxes from large landowners and powerful families.

Unfortunately, this method is the most difficult. All the officials in the court are beneficiaries of the system; how could they possibly allow the emperor to collect taxes from their own household?

Even though they saw some crises, they each harbored their own unspeakable plans.

Or perhaps they felt that their family's strength was sufficient to handle the crisis; at most, it would just mean a change of emperor.

Perhaps the next emperor will be more advantageous to them than the current one. In any case, no matter how the court changes or who the emperor is, it will not hinder their family's long and prosperous history.

These ideas caused a huge rift between the court officials and the emperor. The emperor was preoccupied with the throne, while the ministers were only thinking of themselves.

The two sides are now unable to reach a consensus due to their own interests. Even though they see the emperor jumping up and down in a panic, they appear sad on the surface, but in their hearts they are laughing at the other side's incompetence.

They probably never imagined that their greed would ultimately destroy their family's century-old business.

It can only be said that human greed is enough to make them pretend to be asleep until they die, or that too much peace has made them forget some things.