Da Ming: The system granted me immortality; I clock in every day.

"Yes, sir! Brothers, let's do it!"

At Lu Zheng's command, five hundred Jinyiwei warriors, who had been itching to fight, grabbed heavy giant axes, saws, and long ropes.

They pounced on the Tingyu Pavilion, which cost 100,000 taels of silver, like wolves and tigers.

"Bang! Crack!"

The dull thud of a giant axe striking a wooden stake.

The sound of shattering glazed tiles was particularly jarring in this famous garden in Jiangnan.

Qian Dafu and the other merchants collapsed to the ground.

They watched helplessly as their proud garden collapsed under the violent demolition of the Imperial Guards.

Those eight incredibly precious golden nanmu logs were bound with thick hemp ropes, like they were dragging prey.

The wheels rolled over the precious Taihu stones and flowers, leaving behind deep, muddy gullies.

"My garden... my wood..."

Qian Dafu beat his chest and stamped his feet, crying his heart out.

Not only did those 500,000 taels of silver go down the drain.

The house was also completely demolished.

Pei Yuan ignored their wailing.

He ordered someone to bring over a grand master's chair and sat upright in the center of the dilapidated courtyard.

A member of the Imperial Guard served freshly brewed tea.

Pei Yuan took the teacup and slowly took a sip.

Looking at the dusty demolition site, his eyes gleamed.

These wealthy gentlemen in Jiangnan have accumulated their fortunes over a century, making them richer than a nation.

They used the pillars of the nation to build their own pleasure quarters.

If we were to use the usual methods of reasoning with and appealing to the emotions of ordinary civil officials...

Even if you talk until your lips are sore, you still can't get a single piece of wood back.

Only such unreasonable and ruthless methods can be used to take their money and demolish their houses.

Only then can they truly understand.

In this Ming Dynasty, who is the true master?

This is how Pei Yuan, a notorious traitor, works for the Ming Dynasty.

In less than half an hour.

The once-famous Tingyuxuan in Nanjing was reduced to ruins.

Eight enormous golden nanmu logs, along with hundreds of cubic meters of fine roof beams, were loaded onto a specially made cart.

"Sir, all the timber has been loaded onto the carts."

Lu Zheng arrived to report, covered in dust.

Pei Yuan stood up and straightened the hem of his flying fish robe.

He walked up to Qian Dafu and the others, who were already pale with fright, and bent down slightly.

"Boss Qian, I gladly accept the money. But if I ever find another piece of wood in this house that shouldn't have been used..."

Pei Yuan gently patted Qian Dafu's mud-covered cheek, his tone extremely soft.

"The next time I come to demolish your Listening Rain Pavilion, it won't be your Listening Rain Pavilion, but your bones."

Having said that, Pei Yuan straightened up and strode out of the courtyard.

"Back to the shipyard. Start shipbuilding."

The Imperial Guards, in a grand procession, escorted the timber away from the devastated Qian Mansion.

A river breeze blew through the dilapidated garden of the Qian family mansion, swirling up a few fallen leaves that drifted into the pond.

Silently.

All that remained were the wealthy merchants from Jiangnan who lay paralyzed in the ruins, too afraid to even utter a sound of their cries.

On the banks of the Yangtze River, Longjiang Shipyard.

This royal shipyard, which has been renowned throughout the world since the Yongle era, once built the massive fleet that carried Zheng He on his voyages to the Western Ocean.

After decades of trials and tribulations and exploitation by officials.

The originally abandoned and dilapidated factory area was transformed in just half a month by the Embroidered Spring Blade of the Embroidered Uniform Guard.

It then regained a breathtaking vitality.

In the early morning, the white mist on the river had not yet dissipated.

The shipyard was already bustling with activity.

More than three thousand skilled craftsmen, "invited" back from all over Jiangnan by the Embroidered Uniform Guard, were shirtless, wielding axes, chisels, saws, and planes amidst the shouts of their supervisors.

Huge piles of timber were stacked like mountains, with sawdust flying everywhere.

Mixed with the dampness of the river breeze, it exudes a vibrant fragrance of pine and cypress.

On a two-story watchtower at the highest point of the shipyard, Pei Yuan, wearing a black cloak, stood leaning against the railing, facing the river breeze.

He looked down at the craftsmen below, who were bustling about like ants, and listened to their deafening shouts.

A long-lost sense of joy welled up inside me.

When he was the Grand Secretary, in order to save tens of thousands of taels of silver, he spent his days in the Wenhua Hall arguing with officials from the Ministry of Revenue over wording.

Now that he's in the guise of a treacherous minister, he can simply take a knife and rob whatever he wants.

This unconventional approach to doing things makes them incredibly efficient and decisive when it comes to getting things done.

"grown ups."

Lu Zheng quickly climbed the wooden stairs to the watchtower and knelt on one knee to report.

"The eight golden nanmu trees that were taken from the Qian family mansion, as well as the autumn fir trees that were forcibly requisitioned from various parts of Jiangnan, have all been properly sorted and placed in the factory."

"Master shipbuilder Yan is inspecting the timber downstairs. But..."

Lu Zheng hesitated for a moment, his face showing difficulty.

"Old Yan said that to build a thousand-ton treasure ship, top-quality wood alone is not enough. Tung oil for corrosion prevention and waterproofing, cast iron nails to reinforce the hull, and top-quality hemp fibers for sewing the seams—these things were all sold out in the shipyard's warehouse by the previous manager."

"Now we are entirely relying on the Nanjing Ministry of Revenue and Ministry of Works for funding."

Upon hearing this, Pei Yuan's lips curled into a mocking sneer.

"The Six Ministries of Nanjing? Those clay and wooden sculptures who're just living a leisurely life in Nanjing?"

Pei Yuan pulled his cloak tighter, turned around, and walked down the watchtower.

"Let's go and meet this old man Yan."

Beside the shipyard's huge dry dock.

A gaunt old man with white hair and beard and a deeply lined face was squatting next to a thick piece of golden nanmu wood.

He held a delicate little wooden mallet in his hand and gently tapped the log.

Listening to the deep, resonant echo, his old eyes were filled with fascination and regret.

This man is Old Yan, whose ancestors for three generations were all master craftsmen at Longjiang Shipyard.

He personally participated in the construction of the Yongle Emperor's treasure ships.

Later, when the shipyard declined, he went into hiding and made a living by making odd jobs selling furniture in Suzhou.

If it weren't for the extraordinary abilities of the Embroidered Uniform Guard, who pulled him out of a pile of wood shavings...

This titan of the shipbuilding industry will probably take his skills to his grave.

"What fine material... truly a gift from heaven!"

Old Yan's withered fingers traced the grain of the wood as he sighed repeatedly.

"Old man, does this timber meet your standards?"

A lazy voice came from behind.

Old Yan turned around and saw Pei Yuan, the legendary ruthless Jinyiwei (Imperial Guard) and living Yama, with his hands tucked into his sleeves, looking at him with a half-smile.

Old Yan was a madman, his mind filled with the intricacies of shipbuilding.

They didn't seem to fear Pei Yuan like those civil officials and merchants.

He stood up, dusted the sawdust off his hands, and spoke frankly.

"Replying to Your Excellency, this golden nanmu wood is extremely rare, appearing only once every hundred years. It is perfectly suited for the main keel of a thousand-ton treasure ship. I heard that you forcibly retrieved it from a wealthy merchant's residence?"

"If I may be so bold as to speak, that wealthy merchant using such a precious tree to build a garden is a blatant waste of resources and deserves to die!"

Upon hearing this, Pei Yuan threw his head back and laughed loudly.

"Speak frankly, sir! That wealthy merchant certainly deserves to die, but since I accepted his money, I will spare his life for now."

Pei Yuan stopped laughing and walked to the golden nanmu tree.

"I've found the timber for you, and I've also assembled the craftsmen. I only need six months to launch a prototype of a thousand-ton treasure ship in this dry dock. Are you confident, sir?"

Old Yan frowned and shook his head repeatedly.

"Sir, building a ship is not like molding clay. Even a skilled cook can't make a meal without rice."

"The treasure ship is enormous. To prevent it from falling apart or leaking in the waves, a large amount of high-quality tung oil is needed to boil hemp fibers to fill the gaps in the ship."

"We also need thousands of kilograms of pig iron to forge specially made grappling hooks and iron clamps."

Old Yan sighed and pointed to the few empty side rooms.

"Nowadays, this factory can't even extract a pound of tung oil, let alone pig iron. I heard that you submitted a request to the Ministry of Revenue in Nanjing to allocate tung oil and pig iron, but it's been three days and we haven't even seen a single handyman pushing a cart."

"If the materials are not complete, let alone six months, it could take three years for this ship to be launched."