Chapter 107: In Wind and Rain, I Come to Find You

Yonghe Spacetime, the bedchamber.

Lin Dao, still damp with water stains, squatted down and reached out to test the house slave's breath.

He pressed his fingers on the house slave's neck to check the pulse.

Finally he lifted the house slave's eyelids.

The pupils were dilated, all life completely gone.

"As expected, humans are the same."

Lin Dao, squatting, sighed.

He had first gone to the Modern World, then turned around and come to Yonghe Spacetime.

This Tian Mansion's house slave had completely disappeared without trace from the Chongzhen Spacetime.

Truly, the kind that cannot be found even by searching.

He had already known that living things could not be brought through transmigration, yet still held a glimmer of hope in his heart.

Perhaps humans were different from other living things.

Now he had finally made a substantive confirmation; there was no difference.

"If I switched to being an assassin, would there still be a living for my peers?"

"The only drawback is that contact is required."

Lin Dao, squatting on the ground, let his thoughts wander: "If in a pre-battle duel I could grab a Xiang Yu or Lü Bu, wouldn't I be the fiercest general under heaven?"

He imagined for a while the glorious scene of himself punching the Hegemon-King of Chu and kicking the house slaves of the Three Surnames.

Lin Dao stood up and shouted, "Liu Hu."

Liu Hu, guarding outside the hall with his bodyguards, immediately entered.

Liu Hu glanced at the corpse on the ground, withdrew his gaze, and respectfully saluted.

"My lord."

"Drag it out and dispose of it." Lin Dao untied his clothes soaked by rainwater, revealing the stab-proof vest and chain mail armor inside.

Liu Hu immediately stepped forward, dragging the house slave's corpse away.

By the time he returned, Lin Dao had already changed into night clothes.

If people could be brought through transmigration, why go to so much trouble?

Now killing a few powerful nobles' lackeys still required him to do it personally.

If he could directly bring the begging army over, sweeping through the entire Great Ming inside and out would be no problem.

Seeing Liu Hu hesitating, Lin Dao immediately asked, "Something the matter?"

"My lord," Liu Hu saluted, "there is a military report."

"Bring it here."

The military report was sent by Ran Min from the north.

He had already breached Gaogouli's royal capital and dug up the tombs of Gaogouli kings of all generations.

Ran Min hinted that the army had been campaigning outside for a long time and wanted to rest for a period.

"Where is Xie Daoyun? Call her over."

The carefully dressed Xie Daoyun, upon arrival, saw Lin Dao still wearing clothes.

"Come?"

"Go write a letter."

She thought he had come to attend to her bed, but unexpectedly he had come in the middle of the night to write a letter.

Xie Daoyun, helpless, nevertheless stepped forward to spread paper and grind ink, knelt at the desk holding a brush, and turned her head to look at Lin Dao.

"Tell Ran Min, the troops may rest."

"Except those left to garrison Gaogouli, all other troops are to rest in Youzhou."

"Wang Meng sent people for land distribution there; let Ran Min cooperate, tally military merit, and distribute land to the soldiers."

"Youzhou also has the Gaogouli fields just taken; they can all be distributed to the soldiers."

Wang Meng handled matters meticulously, optimizing every detail of land distribution.

The soldiers of the begging army each received thirty mu of land, plus two mu of mulberry fields.

The ratio of paddy fields to dry fields was roughly one to two.

Compared to commoners, the advantage of military household soldiers was that as long as they served in the army, their family's fields did not need to pay tax grain.

Besides, soldiers could also choose to exchange military merit for land.

That meant giving up the grain and other rewards Lin Dao gave, and exchanging them for land instead.

Without doubt, the vast majority of begging army soldiers chose land.

Although the lord's rewards were extremely generous, they would eventually be eaten and used up.

But with land, they could harvest year after year.

For people of the agricultural people, this was still clear to see.

This way, it eased Lin Dao's expenses on execution rewards.

Of course, military merit could not be exchanged for land without limit, otherwise everyone would become a big landlord.

By Wang Meng's rules, exchanges up to one hundred mu were normal, but after that they began to stack.

After three hundred mu, if begging army soldiers wanted to exchange for more land under their name, they had to achieve great merit, or present dozens of heads.

As for the problem of military households having no time to farm while fighting outside, Wang Meng's solution was that they could rent out.

Rent to commoners in the same village, collecting a fixed amount of income every year.

This is also one reason why the begging army's combat strength kept growing stronger.

Not only were the weapons, armor, and military rations Lin Dao provided important, but more importantly, the Lord's rewards were truly generous.

"Three months to half a year for rest and recuperation."

"Arrange for the soldiers to rotate home to continue their family lines with the women allotted to them."

"Afterward, go to the land of Sanguo and sweep flat that place where strange anomalies occur."

The land of Sanguo is the land of the barbarians of later generations.

A land full of fools, oddballs, and criminals.

Sweeping them flat with a casual hand would also count as doing good and accumulating virtue.

At least the people of later generations in this spacetime won't have to see the barbarians' various oddities or hear their incessant jabbering anymore.

Lin Dao spoke plainly; as for the specific wording and flowery language, Xie Daoyun wrote it by hand.

After finishing, she dried the ink, picked it up, and handed it to Lin Dao to review.

Xie Daoyun got up from the bedside of the Qin Palace and took the Yushi.

"Crack!"

With a sound, it was considered done.

The letter, or rather the imperial edict, was handed to Liu Hu, who arranged for a messenger to ride at full speed to deliver it to Ran Min.

"My Lord." Xie Daoyun hesitated.

"You go back and wait for me first," Lin Dao instructed. "When I return, I'll come find you at your place."

Chongzhen Spacetime.

The East House owner of Yi Zhai, Yao Yuanwai, was one of the famous wealthy men of Jinling City.

His residence was vast and luxurious, and not far from the Wei Guogong Fu.

In the night sky, drizzling fine rain drifted down.

Not long after the night watchman passed, Lin Dao, dressed in light gray night clothes and carrying a travel bag, approached the outer wall of the Yao residence.

White walls and black tiles, the courtyard wall was over a zhang high.

He threw out the iron hook and successfully flipped over the wall.

Straddling the wall to look around, within the several layers of courtyards, most places were dark, with only a few spots emitting light.

He released a small drone; it took off with a humming sound, dragging an extremely thin optical fiber up into the night sky, circling around the Yao residence.

In a courtyard on the west side, several lamps hung on the corridor.

Tian Gui, seething with anger, was loudly cursing the steward of the Yao residence.

"Believe it or not, when I go back, I'll put eye medicine on your family in front of the master?"

"You don't know a single rule!"

"I told you to send a few maidservants over to serve, and what a bunch of ugly rejects this is!"

"Send all your beautiful maidservants over!"

"Where is Yao Bangzhi? Tell him to get over here!"

"In the middle of the night, your house is buzzing nonstop, it's deafening!"

The steward kept smiling apologetically, insisting the master had gone out to attend a banquet and had not yet returned.

There indeed were no beautiful maidservants in the house.

"Wait until tomorrow when it's light and the wind stops and rain clears; I will definitely go out to buy beauties to serve you all."

Tian Gui refused to give in, making a big scene without stopping.

In the end, Tian Bao came out, scolded him a couple of times, and only then did he sulkily go into the house.

"This place isn't like Jing City."

Returning to the East Room of the Zhengfang, Tian Bao advised, "The emperor is far away and the sky is high; our master's influence works just as well here."

"Not a single southern barbarian is any good!"

Tian Gui's face was full of hatred: "Can't even find a few women."

"You..."

Tian Bao shook his head: "Don't always keep your thoughts on this."

"What's important now is to find a peerless beauty and send her back to Jing City."

Over there, Tian Gui immediately winked and signaled toward the West Room across the way: "Isn't there already a beauty?"

"I've heard she's still a famous courtesan here, and plays the zither very well."

"Why don't the two of us have a few cups and call her over to liven things up?"

"Get that thought out of your head!" Tian Bao said sternly: "This is a Noble the master is preparing to send into the palace!"

"Is it something you and I can touch? Do you want to get our whole family killed?"

Seeing Tian Bao get angry, Tian Gui gave an embarrassed smile: "I was just saying."

Who dares to touch a woman sent into the palace beforehand?

Put a grassland hat on the Emperor?

That would truly make the whole family tired of living.

"Remember," Tian Bao's tone softened, "take good care of her."

"If that one gains favor after entering the palace, a single sentence could cost you and me our whole family's lives!"

"I know." Tian Gui shrank his head: "Drink, drink~"

"That person on the flower boat today." Thinking of Lin Dao from before, Tian Gui was furious: "He's really too arrogant!"

"No rush."

Tian Bao, holding a wine cup, narrowed his eyes: "First find out his background and identity."

"If your background connections aren't solid, one Xunzhang will send you to Ying Tian Fu."

"When the time comes, we'll brew him good and proper!"

"Right!" Tian Gui nodded repeatedly. "Make him unable to live, unable to die!"

"Dare offend our National Preceptor's Prefecture—you're tired of living!"

Recalling the drone, Lin Dao, perched on the wall, took out dog repellent spray and sprayed some on himself.

Putting on night vision goggles, holding an electric baton in hand, he flipped inside.

Avoiding patrolling slaves along the way, he crossed courtyards and scaled walls to reach the courtyard where Tian Bao, Tian Gui, and the others lived.

At this moment, only the Main House East Room still had faint light; the whole courtyard was very quiet.

The pattering rain masked Lin Dao's footsteps.

Removing the night vision goggles, starting from the east and west Xiangfang, he unlatched each door and stepped inside one by one.

When he came out, the Tian Mansion's wealthy slaves in the room were all gone without a trace.

Finally arriving at the Main House East Room, he kicked the door open and entered.

Tian Bao and Tian Gui were sitting there drinking wine facing each other.

They were greatly surprised and instinctively tried to rise.

Lin Dao stepped forward, pressing the electric baton, which crackled, against Tian Bao's body.

Tian Bao, face deathly pale, immediately rolled his eyes, trembled, fell to the ground, and convulsed.

Tian Gui was greatly surprised, overturned the square table, and shouted, "Someone~~~"

"Stop shouting."

Lin Dao held the electric baton and stepped forward. "When you were drinking wine, the little brothers you brought have all been dealt with by me."

"It's, it's you~~~"

By the candlelight, Tian Gui clearly saw Lin Dao's face and was greatly surprised.

"It's me." Lin Dao stepped forward. "Through wind and rain, I've come to find you."

Tian Gui suddenly knelt on the ground, kowtowing repeatedly. "This lowly one has eyes but fails to recognize Mount Tai, spare my life~~~"

Lin Dao kicked a chair over, slamming it into Tian Gui, who was drawing a dagger from his boot.

The next moment, the crackling electric baton was pressed against his neck.

End of Chapter