Chapter 123: You Took, He Took, Everyone Took, Then What Do I Still Take?

"Zihou ah~"

Han Zanzhou rubbed his gemstone ring. "His Majesty has sent another decree urging us on."

"In a rush to summon that Doctor A, what was his name again?"

Lin Dao here flipped his tea bowl lid, replying with a light laugh, "Avatar."

"Right."

The Supervising Army Eunuch's face showed surprise. "This name, truly weird."

"That Doctor A~~~"

*Clink! * Lin Dao set down the tea bowl in his hand, the crisp sound cutting off Han Zanzhou's question.

"Lord Han." He looked over. "What sort of temperament the Son of Heaven has, I imagine you are clear on as well."

Of course he was clear.

Stingy and ungrateful, no matter how great the merit established, he always felt it was only what was due.

The moment anything went wrong, he would immediately shift the blame.

Grudges hard to forget, favors easy to forget.

Lin Dao said with a smile, "Lord Han, only with the Son of Heaven urging time and again without cease can one constantly remember your merit."

Hearing these words, the beaming Han Zanzhou reached out and tapped Lin Dao.

"Our family said long ago, what business could your mind possibly be in."

"If you entered the Court, you would be a great talent like Zhang Jiangling."

Lin Dao smiled without speaking.

Seemingly regretful, yet what he thought in his heart was:

'Zhang Jiangling poured out his heart and blood to prolong the Zhu Family's life, how did the Zhu Family repay him?'

'Dug up his grave and whipped his corpse! His whole family starved to death!'

'Say I'm like Zhang Jiangling?'

'You eunuch, are you cursing me?'

"Right." Han Zanzhou also began to speak of proper business. "How is the situation on the Yongwei Camp side lately?"

"Just about to report to Lord Han." Lin Dao immediately poured out bitter complaints. "Those refugees, quite a few are making trouble. Please, Lord Han, allocate more grain, let the porridge at the Porridge Factory be thicker, to stop up their mouths."

"A bunch of ungrateful things." Han Zanzhou coldly hummed.

"Being able to have a bowl of porridge to drink is already not bad. Up north, how many people have been reduced to white meat."

"Our family is kind-hearted, gave them the Yongwei Camp name, so they wouldn't end up dead in ditches, devoured by wild dogs."

"Not knowing gratitude is one thing, our family doesn't care about these empty reputations either."

"Yet they actually want to push for an inch and get a mile, wanting to eat more?"

"Our family has two sleeves of clear wind, where would we get so much grain to feed them!"

Han Zanzhou, overly confident.

He felt he could manipulate Lin Dao, yet completely unaware of the true situation inside Yongwei Camp.

Truly thinking he could kill two birds with one stone, both solving the refugee problem and having a large sum of military funds to embezzle.

And once any mishap occurred, he could still throw the pot onto Lin Dao's head.

When that time comes, the Ju Bao Lou bringing in gold daily, would have to change its East House.

"Lord Han."

Lin Dao's face showed a difficult expression.

"Even if the refugees don't eat, I won't take it either."

"But the various Generals, they still need to eat and drink."

Besides the Supervising Army Eunuch Eunuch Zhang, the positions of officers at all levels in Jinling Yongwei Camp were long since assigned to specific people.

As for these people's specific identities, no need to ask to know.

Either from Meritorious Noble families, or from Local Gentry Great Clans.

Of course, core disciples would certainly not come do this kind of work that is both shameful and hard.

Those arranged are all concubine-born sons, side-branch members, collateral branches, distant relatives and such.

In Han Zanzhou's view, with his own Adopted Grandson, and so many people all eyeing Yongwei Camp.

Even if Lin Dao is cunning like a ghost, he couldn't stir up any waves.

Since everyone hasn't reported any problems, naturally there are no problems.

As for Lin Dao's words, Han Zanzhou could also understand.

After all, those above have eaten up all the meat, the little ones below, they always have to drink some medicinal soup, right.

"Since it is so."

Han Zanzhou seriously thought for a bit, expressing himself with some pained reluctance. "Then allocate three thousand shi more grain."

He still couldn't help but add a reminder. "Currently in the city, mixed grain, one shi costs two taels of silver."

Meaning to say, this time giving you six thousand taels, behave honestly and properly, don't ask for more.

You took, he took, everyone took, then what do I still take?

Lin Dao, expression unchanged, "Many thanks, Lord Han."

'Stingy poor ghost!'

'They all say eunuchs are greedy and stingy, truly not said wrongly!'

This grain, he would definitely turn around and sell.

The silver in hand, would also be divided among those Dushi, garrison commanders, company commanders, squad leaders and such.

But Han Zanzhou didn't know that these military officers hadn't even been to the military camp at all!

During this period, they were all living in the Qin Lou Chu Guan.

Day in and day out they led lives of drunken revelry, carefree and happy.

These men were not of the direct lineage; the resources they had enjoyed were truly not that many.

Now that they had the chance to enjoy themselves, they were already lost in pleasure and forgot about Shu.

Who would be crazy enough to leave the gentle township and run off to the military camp in the wilderness outside the city to see what the situation there actually was?

All their expenses were paid by Young Master Lin!

The eyes and tentacles Han Zanzhou had sent to the Yongwei Camp had long since been manipulated by Lin Dao.

The information he knew now was all what Lin Dao let him know.

As for the real situation inside the Yongwei Camp, he could only wait until the great army entered the city to find out.

Standing outside the Da Men of the Jinling Cheng Imperial Palace.

Lin Dao gazed at this majestic huge palace complex.

Built by filling Yanque Lake back then, its inherent flaws, after precipitating for over two hundred years, erupted uncontrollably.

The palace gradually sank, countless cracks and gaps everywhere.

Just like this Ming Empire, on the surface it still looked somewhat glorious.

But inside, it had long since reached the brink of collapse.

"Who knows."

Lin Dao mounted his horse, turned the horse's head, and gradually rode away from the palace. "I wonder if that Tian Deman's curse, persisted in for over two hundred years, is about to come true."

Legend has it that when Zhu Yuanzhang built the palace, he filled in Yanque Lake.

He mobilized hundreds of thousands of civilian laborers, yet no matter what they couldn't fill it.

Then someone suggested offering a sacrifice to the lake god.

A civilian laborer named Tian Deman became this sacrifice.

The ancient world truly didn't have that much sunlight.

There was more, rather, darkness cruel to the point of making one's hair stand on end.

Lin Dao wasn't assimilated by the era, not because he possessed an iron will.

But because he could return to the Modern World at any time.

This was the sole reason he hadn't lost his original heart and gradually been assimilated into a pervert.

"Zhu Yuanzhang's Ming, it's time for it to end."

Returning to the Prefecture, Lin Dao went to the East Courtyard.

"Jiao Lian~~~"

The ten-plus half-grown youths reading inside all stood up and saluted Lin Dao.

These were all selected by Lin Dao from the Shaonian Camp, intending to cultivate them according to personal guard standards.

Among the refugees, males aged twelve to sixteen all entered the Shaonian Camp.

During the day they trained martial skills, practiced army formations, learned to distinguish military flags and signals, scout cavalry and other military knowledge.

After eating dinner they went to night school, learning literacy and arithmetic.

Those with excellent results could be selected into the personal guard unit.

Once selected into the personal guard unit, the treatment was extremely generous.

Not only could they receive generous pay silver, they also ate well and dressed well and became the Jiao Lian's confidants.

In the eyes of the refugees, this was just household servants.

On the bandit side, they were called adopted sons.

Precisely because of this incentive, these half-grown boys worked harder one than the next.

Their earnest and diligent momentum in learning was comparable to modern world cram classes.

"Is the food on this side still okay?"

Eating rice, flour and feed together, and also given stir-fried cabbage with oil to accompany the rice.

One meat can per day, fatty pork once every three days.

It's precisely the time for growing bodies, all heavy oil and heavy salt, eat their fill.

"Is the lodging still okay?"

It's hot now, each person gets one thin military blanket, crowded together on the big communal bed it's quite okay.

"Is the studying still serious?"

Daily diligent study and bitter practice, persisting without cease.

The youths deeply knew the preciousness of the opportunity.

Being selected as Jiao Lian personal guards, their family members in the Bian Village walked with heads held high and chests puffed out.

Lin Dao showed a round of care, urging them to pay attention to their bodies, seek medical treatment promptly if sick, and so on.

As the sky grew late, Lin Dao went to the Flower Hall to eat dinner.

Now when he ate dinner, the people serving him had become three.

The dishes were still made by Dong Xiaowan; the work of serving rice and laying out dishes was still done by Chen Yuanyuan.

Before she was still somewhat unwilling.

But after Li Xiangjun came, she immediately became proactive, afraid her work would be snatched away.

As for Li Xiangjun, she wanted to pour wine, but Lin Dao didn't drink alcohol when eating.

She wanted to play the zither and dance to add to the fun, but the habits Lin Dao cultivated in the Qi Huo Army fundamentally didn't use these.

As a result, she stood there at a loss, not knowing what she should do.

What shocked her even more was that every night, apart from Dong Xiaowan occasionally getting a chance, she and Chen Yuanyuan had not a single opportunity at all.

This made Li Xiangjun's sense of crisis grow increasingly severe.

In a wealthy household, a fallen-out-of-favor courtesan's fate was extremely miserable.

Being given away like goods was considered a good outcome.

Even being dragged off to be paired with a lowly servant was considered having an ending.

What was terrible was being used as a tool for entertaining guests, worse than before in the brothel.

For such things, their former seniors had far too many examples.

As for why she didn't look for a chance to escape, it was because her Contract of Servitude had been given by Ruan Dacheng to Lin Dao.

Some said, why not steal the Contract of Servitude and then escape~~~

The status of the Slave Registry was not just that piece of paper, but more importantly, the Official's records.

A single Contract of Servitude was useless; one had to truly leave the Slave Registry to be considered a person.

Seeing Lin Dao return to his room after eating, Dong Xiaowan twisted her way in after him.

Li Xiangjun hurried to Chen Yuanyuan's side as she cleared the table. "Sister Yuanyuan, we can't go on like this."

Chen Yuanyuan was somewhat distracted. "What do you want to say?"

"Aiya~"

Li Xiangjun appeared outwardly calm like a chrysanthemum, but was actually impatient.

"Sister Yuanyuan, have you forgotten Sister Jin Hua, Sister Xiang Lan, Sister Yu Jin, and Fu Niang?"

Chen Yuanyuan, clearing the table, paused in her posture and position.

These were all former seniors who had once been glorious.

But later, after entering wealthy families, the results were one more miserable than the next.

Being driven out when old and faded to fend for themselves was considered a good outcome.

Even many died without a trace, wrapped in a torn mat and thrown into the Burial Mound.

"If we continue to be unlikable like this," Li Xiangjun grabbed her hand, "could you really want to be a maid for a lifetime?"

A maid's ending was usually being dragged out to be paired with a lowly servant.

"Where did you hear all this?" Chen Yuanyuan smiled somewhat. "Don't scare yourself."

"Of course from people in the brothel."

Li Xiangjun confidently thrust out her granary. "Although there are no good people in the brothel, their gossip is rarely wrong."

"Then what do you want to do?" Chen Yuanyuan simply sat down, looking up at her.

Her vision was somewhat blocked, Chen Yuanyuan lowered her face and stepped back.

"Sister Yuanyuan, I just don't believe the master can truly ignore us two great beauties."

Li Xiangjun was certain Master Lin didn't like eating peaches separately.

Although his face was pale and beardless, he wasn't like Eunuchs, lacking a core.

Even occasionally for several nights, Dong Xiaowan's singing voice was graceful and lovely, her humming circling the beam.

Since this was so, it was absolutely impossible for him to truly ignore her and Chen Yuanyuan.

Her body leaned forward, taking Chen Yuanyuan's hand, her pretty face full of sincerity.

"Let's go up together!"

Chen Yuanyuan, leaning back, "Ah~"

"Ah?!"

End of Chapter