Song Dynasty: Yuan Dynasty, you didn't expect this, did you? I'm still alive.

The day after Quanzhou fell, Liu Demao had a horse-drawn carriage ready.

He was a large landowner in Quanzhou, owning 5,000 mu of land that stretched from the banks of the Jinjiang River all the way to the foot of the mountain. Standing on his own attic, he could not see any other people's land.

His great-grandfather's generation were large landowners, his grandfather's generation were also large landowners, and his father's generation were still large landowners.

The Liu family, spanning four generations, has no other skills but accumulating land.

There's only one secret to accumulating land: be pragmatic.

Whoever comes, the Liu family will welcome them.

When the Yuan people arrived, the Liu family took the lead in paying taxes.

When the Ming Dynasty arrived, the Liu family took the lead in paying taxes.

Now that the Song Dynasty has arrived, Liu Demao got out of bed before dawn and personally supervised the steward to count the grain and silver.

Three thousand shi of grain and five thousand taels of silver were loaded onto twenty oxcarts and transported in a grand procession to the Song army camp.

He was wearing a faded old cloth long gown, standing at the front of the motorcade, holding the gift list in both hands, his back bent lower than the wheels of the vehicles.

"This humble citizen, Liu Demao, respectfully welcomes the royal army. My small gift is but a token of my respect; I humbly request that the angels accept it."

His proficiency in this process was so evident it was almost heartbreaking.

From facial expressions and tone of voice to the angle of bending over and the gesture of holding the gift list, every detail was impeccable.

This is a craft passed down from his great-grandfather, honed over four generations for a hundred years, reaching a level of expertise that is almost an art.

Liu Demao knew perfectly well: the new conquerors would definitely strike the landlords first. Rather than waiting for them to come to him, he'd rather deliver the knife himself—if he brought the money and provisions, would they still have the nerve to attack him?

The Prefectural Government Office of Quanzhou.

Liu Wenzhao sat in the signing room for the entire night.

He was a former prefect of the Ming Dynasty, a core member of the Quanzhou smuggling ring, and Su Jing's biggest front man in Fujian.

When Zhu Di sent the Embroidered Uniform Guard to investigate smuggling, he successfully passed the test by "arresting local cloth merchants to make up the numbers," and even received a reward from the imperial court.

But that's how things were played in the Ming Dynasty.

Quanzhou is now under the Song family name.

Liu Wenzhao looked at the official seal on the table—the official seal of the Ming Dynasty, which he had used for six years, its edges worn smooth and shiny.

He reached out and touched it, then put it in the box and closed the lid.

From today onwards, this thing is just a piece of scrap copper.

He suddenly wanted to be a good person.

He spent half his life studying the classics, passing the imperial examinations, becoming a scholar, and being appointed as an official in other regions. He climbed the ranks step by step, but along the way he was corrupt, took bribes, cheated, and harmed others. His hands were not clean, and his conscience had long since been fed to the dogs.

But he always felt that there was no other way—officials in the Ming Dynasty only had a small salary, and they couldn't survive without being greedy.

Moreover, the requirements are numerous, and there are frequent life-threatening situations.

Let's live for today and enjoy the moment.

But now the Song Dynasty has arrived.

It is said that officials in the Song Dynasty received extremely high salaries and were not prohibited from engaging in commerce.

What else is he greedy for?

He wanted to pick up the broken piece of his character from the ground, clean it, and put it back on his waist.

So he sought an audience with Zhao Qian that very night.

Zhao Qian is still awake.

He was flipping through the fish-scale register of Quanzhou Prefecture, reading it page by page by candlelight, thoroughly enjoying himself.

When Liu Wenzhao came in, he had just turned to Liu Demao's page, staring at the words "five thousand mu of farmland" with a slight upturn at the corner of his mouth.

"Lord Zhao," Liu Wenzhao bowed deeply, "I have important matters to report."

Zhao Qian closed the fish-scale book and pointed to the chair opposite him. "Sit."

Liu Wenzhao did not sit down.

He stood there, took a deep breath, and then exhaled, as if he were emptying away something he had accumulated over half a lifetime.

"Liu Demao, a local gentry, has been seizing land and oppressing the villagers for decades, relying on his wealth. The people of Quanzhou have suffered for too long! I implore you—to thoroughly investigate this scoundrel!"

After saying that, he let out a long breath.

The stone that had been pressing on my chest for six years seemed to have loosened a little.

Is this what integrity is?

Feeling good.

After listening, Zhao Qian did not slam his fist on the table, nor did he become indignant; he didn't even frown.

He simply nodded and said, "Okay. You can go back now."

Liu Wenzhao was stunned.

understood?

What does "I know" mean?

Should we investigate, or not?

Do you think I'm meddling, or do you think my surrender wasn't thorough enough?

He opened his mouth, as if to say something, but Zhao Qian had already reopened the fish-scale book, his gaze passing over the candlelight and landing on a certain page, as if Liu Wenzhao had already disappeared from the room.

When Liu Wenzhao left the room, his steps were ten times heavier than when he came in.

Oh no, Lord Zhao is in cahoots with Liu Demao.

The officials of the Song Dynasty were no different from those of the Ming Dynasty.

The little bit of integrity he had just managed to regain has fallen to the ground again.

The next day, Zhao Qian summoned Liu Wenzhao.

Liu Wenzhao hadn't slept all night, his eyes were dark, and when he walked in, his steps were unsteady, as if he were walking on cotton.

Zhao Qian glanced at him and smiled.

"Sit down. Really sit down. Have some tea."

Liu Wenzhao sat down.

He wasn't in the mood to drink.

Zhao Qian picked up the teacup, blew away the foam, took a sip, and then put it down.

"Prefect Liu, do you think 5,000 mu of land is a lot for Liu Demao?"

Liu Wenzhao was taken aback by the question. "Five thousand mu...that's certainly a lot. Within Quanzhou Prefecture, there are very few places with more land."

Zhao Qian nodded, then asked, "Do you know how much land the Song Dynasty has?"

Liu Wenzhao opened his mouth.

This question is beyond the scope of the curriculum.

How could a mere prefect of Quanzhou know how much land the Song Dynasty had?

Zhao Qian answered for him.

"I don't know either," he said. "Because nobody can calculate it. Plantations in Southeast Asia can easily span thousands of acres. In the Americas, newly cleared land is marked with leather ropes, and the size of the marked area is whatever it is. In India, there are endless plains where cotton is planted to the ends of the earth. In Africa, land is given away for free and nobody wants it. Liu Demao's five thousand acres would only be the size of a medium-sized plantation in the Song Dynasty."

Liu Wenzhao's mouth opened even wider.

Zhao Qian picked up his teacup and took another sip.

"The Great Song Dynasty has been established in Nanyang for over 130 years, and all its policies have changed. But one thing has remained unchanged—it does not prohibit land annexation."

Liu Wenzhao's eyes nearly popped out.

"Not...not prohibited?"

"I won't forbid it," Zhao Qian said calmly. "Because there's no need. The Song Dynasty has no shortage of land. Southeast Asia, India, the Americas, Africa, Central Asia—there's so much land that no one wants to cultivate it. Let Liu Demao take over as he pleases; he'll just be confined to this small plot of land in Quanzhou. How much can he harvest from those 5,000 mu of land? After deducting rent, labor, and taxes, how much money will he actually have left?"

He put down his teacup, looked at Liu Wenzhao, and his eyes held the kind of tolerance that an experienced person would show to a younger person—not mockery, but genuine sympathy for his difficult situation.

"What's truly valuable isn't farmland. It's land for factories, land for mining, and land for docks. One acre of land along the Quanzhou dock is worth three hundred acres for Liu Demao. Do you believe it?"

Liu Wenzhao sat in the chair, not moving for a long time.

He had a whole set of ideas about land, wealth, and power in his mind, which he had accumulated through half a lifetime of studying, six years of official service, and struggling in the Ming Dynasty's officialdom.

Now, Zhao Qian has shattered this set of ideas in the time it takes to drink a cup of tea.

He opened his mouth, wanting to say something, but found that he had no words in his vocabulary to match what he was saying.

He looked down at his hands. These hands, which had been filled with righteous indignation yesterday over five thousand acres of land, suddenly didn't know where to put them today.

He felt like a country bumpkin.

It feels like something you cherish is just trash that others casually discard.

On the other side, Liu Demao found that the Song army had not caused him any trouble, and he couldn't help but feel proud of his actions.

But then they realized something was wrong.

Why were the other gentry not punished even though they didn't offer gifts?

Soon after, Liu Wenzhao informed the gentry of Quanzhou of Zhao Qian's attitude and the policies of the Song Dynasty in order to appease the people.

Upon hearing this, the gentry couldn't help but exclaim, "This is truly a kingly army! This is the demeanor of a true king!"

When the news spread, the eight prefectures of Fujian surrendered without resistance, and gentry from various places vied to offer up their cities.

. . .

On the other hand, Zhu Di felt that the Song Dynasty's strategy of landing in Quanzhou was utterly foolish.

If it were him, he would definitely attack Yingtianfu from the Yangtze River immediately.

Just as Yao Guangxiao once said, "Do not conquer the cities, but rush to the capital. The capital is weak and vulnerable, and it will surely fall."

If the Song Dynasty were to attack from Quanzhou, it would only waste time with the local Ming army, giving them time to deploy troops to defend Yingtian.

The odds of winning this battle are already 30%.