On our wedding night, my wife acted strangely.

While corrupt officials certainly deserve to die, the system within the imperial court is also a major contributing factor.

The high concentration of power inevitably breeds corruption; Lin Yi has seen too many cases over the years, so it is not surprising.

However, in addition to investigating and confiscating the assets of corrupt officials, they also need to have decent assets themselves; otherwise, no matter how much money a corrupt official has, it will eventually be wiped out.

Lin Yi was eating and pondering when the fat man rushed in from outside.

"Big Brother! Fatty's here!"

Lin Yi looked up at him and raised an eyebrow slightly.

This fatso, despite being all flesh, walks with remarkable stability. His flesh isn't loose and flabby; it's taut and piled up in chunks.

Especially when he was shirtless, his chest and abdominal muscles, though covered by a thick layer of fat, were still clearly visible.

Is this the legendary fat-covered muscle?

"You're dressed so disheveled so early in the morning, what kind of behavior is this?" Lin Yi said with disdain, but his eyes were full of smiles.

"Hehehe, Fatty is just in a hurry to pay his respects to Big Brother." Fatty didn't care at all, plopped down opposite Lin Yi, picked up a bucket of millet porridge that was prepared for Lin Yi, and gulped it down.

"Glug glug... glug glug..." That kind of behavior is more like chugging water than drinking porridge.

Yang Mi was completely dumbfounded.

My goodness, is this young master Wang a reincarnation of a starving ghost? This huge bucket of porridge is enough for more than a dozen of us to eat in one meal, and he ate half of it in one go.

"Ha...that feels good!" Fatty Wang put down the porridge bucket, wiped his mouth, picked up a crisp radish from the table and stuffed it into his mouth, chewing it with a crunchy sound.

Lin Yi shook his head as he watched.

This rascal, sometimes you just can't do anything with him.

"You've come at the right time. I have something to tell you." Lin Yi put down his chopsticks and let Mimi wipe his mouth.

To be fair, this girl is quite sensible. Seeing that Lin Yi wanted to talk about serious matters, she immediately left.

Lin Yi said, "Go find Yue Nan later and tell him to immediately send troops to the area around the capital to collect grain from those big landowners."

"Grain harvesting?" Fatty Wang scratched his head and picked at his toes. "Brother, didn't we just rob the emperor of his grain? That should be enough to eat for a while."

"That's the Divine Machine Camp. The 100,000 brothers from the Northern Frontier will be here soon. What will they eat? Drink the northwest wind?" Lin Yi explained. "Now that we've fallen out with the Emperor, he'll definitely try every means to cut off our supplies. The grain merchants in the capital are all cunning; they dare not offend the Emperor, much less us. Besides, they're all middlemen, so they don't have much surplus grain. We can't even rob them. So we can only try to find a way from the countryside."

Fatty Wang nodded, seemingly understanding, "Oh, I get it. Big Brother means to have Brother Nan take some men to the countryside to buy grain?"

"Buy? Ha," Lin Yi sneered. "Do you think those landlords and rich folks are saints? They're lucky they won't try to rip us off. Tell Yue Nan to send troops over and negotiate prices with them first. If they're willing to sell at a fair price, then we'll buy at a fair price. Cash on delivery, we won't take advantage of ordinary people."

Fatty Wang pressed further, "What if they refuse?"

"If they dare to raise the price or refuse to sell, we will confiscate their property."

The fat man slapped his thigh excitedly.

He then realized he was wearing shorts, and yelled in pain as his knee was visibly bruised.

"Damn it!" The fat man winced in pain, rubbing his knee as he said, "Brother, besides robbery, do we have to bring back all the landlords' stuff too?"

"Nonsense, but I figure the landlord's family probably doesn't have much of value, so take what you can. Also, tell Yue Nan that after the confiscation, all the landlord's land will be taken over by the Regent's Palace and then distributed equally among the surrounding farmers. Tell them that this land was allocated to them by the Regent's Palace, and they only need to pay 20% rent to the Palace; the rest is theirs. Anyone who dares to sell land to the landlord again will be executed without mercy!"

The fat man was stunned.

He could understand scrambling for food, but what kind of operation was this land redistribution?

"Brother, what are you up to? Giving land to those poor folks?"

"Winning people's hearts and minds," Lin Yi said calmly. "Didn't your father tell you about the principles of land consolidation? Those officials and landlords are unreliable. Only by winning the hearts and minds of the people can we remain invincible."

Although Fatty Wang is straightforward, he's not really stupid.

After Lin Yi's explanation, they immediately understood the significance of the matter.

"Damn! Brother, you've really messed with the emperor! If we distribute the land to those poor bastards, they'll treat us like living saints! We can raise our voices and, without even lifting a finger, those peasants alone will be enough to give the old emperor a run for his money!"

"It's good that you know." Lin Yi picked up the remaining half bowl of porridge, took a sip, and said, "You handle this personally. Remember, the commotion can be big, but innocent civilians must not be harmed. If those landlords are guilty of heinous crimes, execute them on the spot and confiscate their property. If they are relatively honest, just take their grain and land, and leave them a way to survive."

"Alright! Just you wait and see, big brother!" After saying that, the fat man grabbed the last plate of crisp radishes on the table, shoved it all into his mouth, turned around and walked out, shouting as he went, "Damn it, I've been wanting to get my hands on those landlords for ages, let's see how I deal with them today!"

Lin Yi smiled helplessly.

The reason he sent the fat man was because the guy was intimidating enough; just standing there was enough to scare people.

Those landlords and wealthy people were unlucky to have met him.

Lin An stood by and listened, his heart filled with admiration for Lin Yi.

The prince is finally not stupid anymore; he even knows how to plan for the people. That's wonderful.

The Lin family is saved.

"Lin An, how has Luo Qingyu been these past two days?"

Lin Yi hadn't forgotten that he had a legal wife, and he didn't think Luo Qingyu was the kind of person who would silently suffer injustice; she would definitely take action.

Sure enough, Lin An replied, "Your Highness, the Madam hasn't left her room these past two days, but that maid named Xiuzhu has gone out a few times, probably to get reinforcements."

"Yes, stay vigilant. Nangong Jin won't let go of Luo Qingyu easily."

"Yes, next time Xiuzhu goes out, this old servant will send someone to follow her."

"Um."

Lin Yi was actually looking forward to what surprise Luo Qingyu would bring him, and was also curious about who else besides Nangong Jin would help her.

As long as someone dares to help, I have a reason to take action.

Otherwise, it would be really difficult to directly target those court officials.

......

West Wing

The doors and windows of the room were all tightly closed, with only a small vent letting in a little light to prevent the room from being too dark.

Luo Qingyu sat alone in front of the dressing table, looking at her increasingly haggard face in the bronze mirror.

She hasn't been eating or sleeping properly for several days.

She has never been happy since she was locked in the west wing.

It wasn't that Lin Yi was mistreating her, but rather that she couldn't eat or sleep.

Because as soon as I close my eyes, all I can see in my mind is the humiliating image of myself kneeling on the bed.

She hates!

She hated Lin Yi for hitting her so hard, and she hated Lin Yi for making her say those vile things.

If it were Ah Jin, he definitely wouldn't bear to hit himself, nor would he let himself lie there like a dog.

"Squeak—" The door was pushed open, interrupting Luo Qingyu's thoughts.

Looking back, I saw Xiuzhu carrying a food box, walking in with a terrified expression.