Chapter 78: Earning the Gold, Silver, Pearls, and Jewels of the High-ranking Families of Jiangzuo

The remnants of the Stone bandits, the four sons Bao are still in Guanzhong.

In the cool pavilion of the imperial garden, Wang Meng said sternly: "I fear he may be in secret contact with the General Who Crushes the Hu."

Lin Dao was surprised and did not understand Wang Meng's meaning.

"The General Who Crushes the Hu acts with cruelty." Wang Meng stated bluntly: "Once we go to destroy the Hu, I fear not one in a hundred of the Hu in the Northern Lands will survive."

"The pen of history is like a knife; public opinion is fearsome."

"The infamy of later generations is better borne by him alone."

Upon hearing this, Lin Dao finally understood.

He stared at Wang Meng and shook his head slightly.

"I arranged for Ran Min to destroy the Hu; after the fact, should I pin a charge of colluding with the Hu on him and cook the dog once the hunt is over?"

"I don't know about others, but I cannot do such a thing."

He took out aromatic leaves and handed one to Wang Meng.

This de facto chief steward of the Buhuo Army skillfully produced a disposable lighter to ignite it.

Watching Wang Meng put away the lighter he was familiar with, Lin Dao said again: "How the scholars write with their pens is their business."

"I do not need the peaceful and prosperous age whitewashed by their pens."

"I only need a clear conscience."

"Bandits broke into my home, killing, burning, looting, and defiling, committing every evil."

"I slaughtered the bandits; it is only right and proper."

"If anyone speaks up for the bandits, they are probably not good people either."

Lin Dao found it somewhat amusing and waved his hand: "Let this matter rest; I believe Ran Min will not disappoint me."

Wang Meng did not expect his lord to be so direct; he was stunned for a moment and nodded.

But in his heart he thought: 'This matter must have someone to take the blame; the lord's prestige must not be tarnished.'

'If not Ran Min, it could be someone else.'

"My lord."

Setting aside the topic, Wang Meng leaned closer and lowered his voice to ask: "I wonder if the immortal realm has high-yield grain seeds?"

He was a smart man; through observing Lin Dao's various behaviors, he deduced that his lord was not using a spell to transform things, but had another channel.

A channel where things could be bought and sold.

"There are, certainly there are."

Lin Dao exhaled and showed a look of helplessness: "But if I bring them over, they will be sterile."

"Sterile?" Wang Meng pondered: "Could it be they can be eaten but not planted?"

Lin Dao slapped his thigh and gave him a thumbs-up.

Indeed a smart man; he understood at once.

"If so, then please trouble yourself."

Wang Meng fell into deep thought; the aromatic leaf held between his fingers burned to the end and scalded his hand before he came to his senses.

"The rewards for the troops of the General Who Crushes the Hu."

"Food to feed the common people of the Northern Lands until the autumn harvest next year."

"Such enormous expenses must be a heavy burden for your lordship."

He had calculated the various supplies Lin Dao brought, and also calculated the gold, silver, pearls, and jewels he took away.

Though the inferred result was not accurate, it could at least give a rough range.

If everything goes smoothly and they hold out until the autumn harvest next year, your lordship will need to spend at least tens of millions of shi of grain.

For your lordship, this must be a huge burden.

"I will think of a way." Lin Dao patted Wang Meng's shoulder: "When the carriage reaches the mountain, there will be a road; there is definitely a way to solve it."

"My lord."

Wang Meng nodded: "Jiangzuo has grain, and Chuan Shu also has grain."

"Open trade routes, find some rare items to sell to the high-ranking families of Jiangzuo, exchange them for grain; that should alleviate it somewhat."

Wang Meng knew the trade.

Jiangzuo indeed had grain, but it was all concentrated in the hands of the high-ranking families.

For ordinary commoner households, not starving to death was already like burning incense; where would they have surplus grain?

The high-ranking families had very high standards; they would not look at ordinary items.

But if your lordship obtained rare items, such as bottles of yellow peach canned fruit or bottles of Pu Tao wine, they would likely be very popular among the high-ranking families.

The high-ranking families had no small amount of gold, silver, pearls, and jewels in their hands.

Lin Dao nodded: "This is indeed a path."

Wang Meng laughed and said: "If so, your lordship can get closer to the young lady of the Xie family."

In these times, whether doing business or anything else, the most important thing is connections, that is, relationships.

Lin Dao appeared out of nowhere and had no connections in Jiangzuo.

At this time, the importance of the Xie father and daughter became prominent.

With them acting as intermediaries, much trouble could be saved.

"Ha~~~"

Lin Dao heard this and laughed: "Are you asking me to use a beauty trap?"

"With my appearance, I have nothing in common with those jade-tree-in-the-wind noble scions of Jiangzuo."

"The noble scions of Jiangzuo are noble in their bloodline, and nothing else." Wang Meng shook his head: "What are they, that they dare compare with your lordship?"

"The lady of the Xie family is reasonable."

"Why does the Lord need any scheme? The Xie family itself would be eager to serve the Lord."

Lin Dao smiled. "Doing business, I'm familiar with this."

The high-ranking families of Jiangzuo like luxury goods and novelty items.

This is great; Lin Dao likes doing this kind of business most.

After chatting for a while, Lin Dao asked again, "Next, where should we launch our military campaign?"

With the current military strength of the Beggar Army, plus Lin Dao as a human transport hub, supported by advanced technological supplies,

it can be said they can attack wherever they want; even Jiangzuo could be taken down in one battle.

"The place is unstable," Wang Meng presented the practical difficulties. "The various provinces, prefectures, and counties all lack effective administrative capacity."

"If we rush to expand territory, those who rely on the Lord for food will increase greatly."

"We should first pacify the localities and establish an administrative system from top to bottom."

"Train the army and strengthen military discipline."

"Promote agriculture and develop water conservancy."

"When granaries are full and soldiers are elite with ample grain, we should sweep across the world with overwhelming momentum."

These are things Wang Meng did historically for Fu Jian.

Before his death, he asked Fu Jian to persist in implementing this for a period; after stabilizing the interior, they could then move south to attack Jin.

As a result, Fu Jian, incited by a group of ambitious men, launched a hasty southern expedition and ended up dead with his nation destroyed.

Merely taking it down is not enough; we must control it.

The Beggar Army lacks a large number of talents capable of governing localities.

This is only mentioning provinces, prefectures, and counties; not even going further down, there is truly a lack of people.

"Strengthen training within the military units and increase demobilization numbers to fill the localities."

Wang Meng knew the Lord dislikes children of great families.

So cultivating talent within the army became the best choice.

Military units transferring to localities; Zhuangzhu retiring can become a county magistrate.

Lin Dao pondered in silence.

Wang Meng's heart stirred, and he laughed heartily. "Of course, troops must still be sent."

"Bingzhou and Guanzhong must both be taken."

Tens of thousands of Qiang people retreated into Guanzhong, currently fighting fiercely with Shi Bao, who guards Guanzhong.

An even larger number of Di people fled into Bingzhou.

"General Who Destroys Barbarians Ran Min can be ordered to send troops to Bingzhou first, then move from Bingzhou into Guanzhong."

"Very well."

Lin Dao thought it was fine. "I'll go prepare supplies; leave the other matters to you."

Wang Meng saluted. "Willing to die for the Lord~"

Modern World, Hai Gang Cheng.

Inside the reception room, Lin Dao warmly received the manager and party of Liu Yu Jewelry.

"These are all relevant procedures for the South African mine."

"Completely legal and compliant."

The people from Liu Yu Jewelry beamed with smiles. "Mr. Lin is a big businessman; we hope for long-term cooperation in the future."

They sell gold jewelry, and a stable source of goods is very important.

Especially since, when they previously contacted him, Lin Dao said the price could still be negotiated.

Recently, the international gold price trend is obviously rising; those in the gold jewelry business need lower costs and more supply channels.

"These are samples sent from the mine."

Lin Dao pushed two gold bars in front of the manager. "There are some flaws in purity."

Professional personnel stepped forward to conduct an inspection.

The manager asked with a smile, "Mr. Lin, how about the supply of goods?"

"For now, supply one hundred kilograms per month, signing a six-month supply contract—how about that?"

Yonghe Spacetime swept up the wealth of Ye City.

The various gold products seized, after being melted down, reached several hundred kilograms.

Enough to support half a year of supply.

The manager nodded and asked again, "Then what about the price?"

Lin Dao smiled and said nothing, signaling to inspect the goods first.

After inspection, the purity was somewhat lacking, but thanks to the recent continuous rise in gold prices, both parties agreed on a price of five hundred per gram.

The one hundred kilograms for the first month were delivered directly by Lin Dao.

After deducting corresponding expenses, the company's account received over forty million.

Such a large sum of money hadn't even warmed in hand before it was quickly spent.

First was paying the final payments for previous orders.

Being able to pay the final payment makes future business talks much easier.

Then more orders were placed.

Still mainly importing large quantities of potatoes.

As for refined rice and wheat, they turned to importing from places like India.

Potatoes mainly supplied the common people of Yonghe Spacetime, while rice and flour continued to supply the military households.

For the military households, this was their military pay.

After arranging matters here, Lin Dao set out to return to Haicheng.

Exporting grain here was somewhat troublesome, but industrial goods were absolutely no problem.

Lin Dao purchased large quantities of cloth under the pretense of export.

On the Yonghe Spacetime side, there were many families who could not find a single complete set of clothes.

Lin Dao intended to distribute cloth so that the common people would have something to cover themselves with.

Cloth could also be used as currency; distributing it to the military households could likewise serve as military pay.

He arranged for the excellent employee Liu Bo to visit hardware tool factories everywhere to place orders for large quantities of hoes, rakes, sickles, plows, and other agricultural tools.

Just as Wang Meng said, no matter what, the land could not be left idle; whatever could be planted should be planted first.

It could more or less fill some of the grain gap.

These agricultural tools were unremarkable in the Modern World, but taken to the Yonghe Spacetime side, they could be passed down as family heirlooms.

In most places on that side, they were even still using wooden or even stone agricultural tools.

Taking steel agricultural tools from the Modern World there was an overwhelmingly superior existence.

Amidst the busyness, he did not forget to transport the clothes, shoes, and socks made by the female workers of Yonghe Spacetime over to compete with his former company.

He also ordered a large quantity of alcohol at nine yuan nine with free shipping.

And various beautiful glass products, and so on.

These were used to earn gold, silver, and jewels from the high-ranking families of Jiangzuo.

One day Lin Daozheng was viewing houses; he intended to reward himself by buying a set of housing in Haicheng.

On the way to view houses, he received a call from his ex-girlfriend.

"Lin Dao, can you accompany me to a prenatal checkup? I dare not go alone; I'm so afraid."

"Why isn't your CEO accompanying you?" Lin Dao smiled. "You should find him first."

"He blacklisted me." Sobbing sounds came from the phone. "Going to the company to find him, he wouldn't see me, and even drove me away."

"Don't worry." Lin Dao softened his tone to comfort her. "After you give birth to the child, he will surely change his mind."

"You're right!"

On the other side, she quickly became strong again. "I have their family's child; he will definitely marry me! I will definitely marry into a wealthy family!"

"Go for it!"

Lin Dao encouraged her. "Believe in yourself; you can definitely do it! Once you get married, I will definitely give you a great gift!"

Hanging up the phone, Lin Dao spat.

"It's obvious he's tired of playing, yet she still wants to marry into a wealthy family; are the people of wealthy families all blind?"

"Fool."

End of Chapter