Chapter 95

"Secretary Lang."

Lin Dao bowed forward, his gaze locking onto Xi Tan. "What are you doing here?"

Instinctively averting his eyes, Xi Tan replied timidly, "The city interior is stifling; I came to the garden to rest for a while."

Straightening his posture, Lin Dao surveyed the surroundings.

In the corner, a group of dancing girls draped in thin gauze huddled together, trembling.

At the entrance, the musicians lay prone on the ground with their heads in their arms, trembling.

His gaze fell; the table was laden with a sumptuous spread.

Mutton legs, beef, fine wine and delicacies — all were present, even a full set of glass tableware.

Reaching out to pick up a bottle of red wine, Lin Dao also smiled happily. "My goods are quite popular, it seems."

He stood up and walked to the entrance, gazing into the distance beyond the courtyard gate.

Before entering the Zhuang Yuan earlier, he had seen those farm slaves.

Each wore tattered clothes, some even had no clothes at all, letting suspended objects sway freely.

Skin and bones, filthy all over, their eyes dull and lifeless.

The deathly aura and despair coiling around those farm slaves were palpable.

"This truly is: behind vermilion gates wine and meat rot, while on the road lie frozen corpses."

"Farm slaves? Heh!"

Withdrawing his gaze, Lin Dao gave Liu Hu a slight nod, then strode out.

Liu Hu took the hammer hanging from his waist and approached Xi Tan directly.

As if sensing the approach of danger.

Xi Tan trembled all over, a wet patch spread between his legs, and his voice cracked into a shrill scream.

"I am a scion of the Gaoping Xie Clan! I am of the Gaoping Xie Clan!"

A dull thud sounded, and the scream cut off abruptly.

The armored soldiers moved swiftly; the retainers and followers inside the Zhuang Yuan were dealt with one after another.

Early the next day, Lin Dao did not rush to set off.

He came outside the Zhuang Yuan and mounted a temporarily erected wooden platform.

Looking at those farm slaves who had gathered, trembling.

Raising the megaphone in his hand: "We are the Gluttonous Army!"

"I am the Gluttonous Army Marshal, Lin Dao!"

"Today I tell you one thing: from now on, you are no longer farm slaves!"

The gathered farm slaves stirred slightly.

But the vast majority remained dull and lifeless, unmoved.

"The fields here were cleared by you, planted by you, harvested by you!"

Lin Dao's next words, however, truly moved the farm slaves.

"From now on, the fields here belong to you!"

He took a deep breath. "Distribute the land!"

The Gluttonous Army armored soldiers had mostly attended night school; at least they could write a few hundred characters.

Xi Tan wrote a fine hand and liked to practice calligraphy; the Zhuang Yuan had quite a few superior brushes, ink, paper, and inkstones.

The Gluttonous Army used his fortified Zhuang Yuan to write land deeds through the night, sealed by Lin Dao with his seal and signature.

Allocated to the farm slaves at the standard of thirty mu of fields and two mu of mulberry grove per person.

If insufficient, they may reclaim new fields themselves, with no tax grain due for three years.

The Ancient world has many mountains and forests, rivers crisscrossing.

Reasonably speaking, they should be able to obtain considerable food and reclaim many fields.

But the problem is, mountains and rivers all have owners.

Either the Imperial Court's, or High-ranking Families and Meritorious Nobles' clans, or Local Tyrants'.

To fish, hunt, or reclaim new fields, one must obtain permission; otherwise one will be beaten to death alive.

And this is the standard man-made disaster.

Only upon hearing of land distribution did the numb farm slaves finally stir.

For the Agricultural People, there is nothing that moves the heart more than land distribution.

Watching the land deeds being handed out one by one, someone finally could not help but shout.

"The Imperial Court will send officials and soldiers to kill us all~~~"

"The Imperial Court?" Lin Dao sneered. "In a few more days, there will be no Imperial Court."

Arranged for the farm slaves to elect their own Bao Zhang Jia Long, redrawing village boundaries.

Distributed the grain, weapons, and other supplies seized inside the Zhuang Yuan to them for self-defense.

As for whether they are willing to use swords and spears to protect their own fields, that is up to them.

The Zhuang Yuan was pasted with seal strips.

Henceforth this place will become a Guan Fu Yamen location.

With these matters settled, Lin Dao led the Gluttonous Army troops, loaded those dancing girls and female dependents onto carts, and advanced along the Da Jiang, heading straight for Jiankang City.

From here to Jiankang City is less than two hundred li.

That afternoon, the vanguard attacked and broke a Zhuang Yuan of the Ying Chuan Yu Clan.

Just like before, the Gaoping Xie Clan's operational arrangements.

Those who should be disposed of were disposed of, and supplies and fields were distributed to the serfs.

The manor was sealed off, to await future activation as an official yamen.

The next morning, after eating, the Qihuo Army set out again, heading straight for Jiankang City.

Along the way there were quite a few villages and market towns, cities, military forts, and manors.

The Qihuo Army did not stop at all, simply bypassing them and advancing.

Ancient warfare rarely involved detours, the reason lying in the logistics transport lines.

If enemy cities and military forts on the transport line were not eliminated, the logistics line would be blocked.

Without logistics, even the strongest army would collapse on its own.

But this Qihuo Army did not need to, because Lin Dao was there.

Where Marshal Lin was, there was the logistics supply center.

With no supply line, there was naturally no need to worry about it being cut.

The garrison troops at various places also dared not come out to block them, after all the Qihuo Army's numbers were too many, and the garrison troops also feared them.

The only thing they could do was dispatch fast horses to warn Jiankang City.

Outside Jiankang City, on the official road, many horse carts and ox carts were parked.

Retainers and attendants hid in threes and twos under trees, avoiding the scorching sun.

Maidservants and servants held and carried various objects, standing by awaiting summons.

The scions of high-ranking families gathered on the grass drinking wine freely, playing zithers and singing loudly.

They wore loose robes and open-crotch trousers, baring their chests and splaying their legs, laughing unrestrainedly.

This was the most common daily life of the Jiangzuo high-ranking family scions.

Eating, drinking, and pleasure — that was their main work.

"I heard that a large bandit force has appeared near Jiankang City, seemingly intending to attack Jiankang City."

"Brother Wang, you haven't even taken Five Stone Powder yet, and you've only drunk a few cups of Pu Tao Wine — you're already talking drunk nonsense?"

"What kind of bandits would dare come to Jiankang City to seek death?"

"Brother Huan speaks the truth; the world is at peace today, the northern barbarians have all been driven back to the grasslands, where would any large bandit force come from?"

"Everyone, everyone~ we gathered today to discuss music and calligraphy; baseless rumors, let's not mention them again."

"Only regretting that Wang Youjun is far away in Hui Ji; if he were here today, it would surely be a grand occasion."

"This Xie considers his calligraphy not inferior to others; that Wang Youjun~~~"

"Did I drink too much? The ground seems to be moving."

The crowd gradually fell silent, faces showing puzzled expressions.

Some even wondered in alarm, could it be an earthquake?

Amid the puzzlement, they saw the household retainers and guards of each family rush over like madmen, hoist up their young masters, and run.

Everyone was greatly startled, hurriedly asking what had happened.

"A large force of men and horses is approaching!"

"The numbers are so great the very earth is trembling."

Jiankang, in the Han dynasty named Mo Ling.

Since over a hundred years ago, when Sun Quan built Shi Tou Cheng, it has been a famous strong city.

Sun Quan declared himself emperor and renamed it Jian Ye.

After the Yongjia Dongdu, to avoid the taboo name of Emperor Min Si Ma Ye, Jian Ye was changed to Jiankang.

Jiankang City's area is extremely large, forty li in each of the four directions: east, south, west, and north.

It embraces the Qinhuai River to the south, leans against Hou Lake to the north, and faces the Changjiang River to the west.

The four sides are surrounded by numerous satellite cities — Shi Tou Cheng, Xi Qi City, Dongfu City, Baixia City, Nan Langya Commandery City, and so on — forming a protective ring.

Lin Dao led the Qihuo Army here and encountered genuine resistance for the first time.

Built by the river, with its back to Jiankang City, Shi Tou Cheng used arrows and thrown stones to block the road, preventing the Qihuo Army from approaching Jiankang City.

Lin Dao did not waste words, directly bringing out the excavator.

The clatter of tracks crushing the earth rang incessantly; under the terrified gaze of the garrison troops, it withstood arrows and stones falling like rain, driving all the way to the foot of the city wall.

The bucket descended, smashing heavily onto the city wall.

The sturdy city wall was pried open under the squeeze of enormous force.

Fragments flew down, dust billowing.

Facing such a giant thing, the garrison troops were terrified to the extreme.

The Qihuo Army's armored soldiers surged into the city, quickly driving the garrison troops out of Shi Tou Cheng, who fled in wretched disarray toward Jiankang City's Ximing Gate and other gates.

By then the gates were already shut; no matter how the routed soldiers wept and begged, they absolutely would not open.

With no choice, the routed soldiers either scattered and fled or surrendered on the spot.

Amid the roar of the engine, the excavator tracks crushed the earth, advancing slowly but steadily.

Ignoring the counterattacks of various defensive engines on the city towers.

Lin Dao manually operated multiple control levers, using the bucket to dig earth and stone, filling the moat.

Jiankang City's moat connects directly to the Qinhuai River, with ample water source, and was dug both deep and wide.

Under normal circumstances when besieging a city, one must first cut off the living water source.

Then mobilize tens of thousands of civilian laborers as cannon fodder, at a tragic cost, to fill a section of the moat.

The work of filling the moat usually takes several days, with casualties in the tens of thousands.

But Lin Dao, driving the super excavator, moves dozens of tons of earth and stone with a single scoop.

He didn't even cut off the living water source, just shoveling away like this, filling in a section of moat over a hundred meters long.

Amid the teeth-grating screech of tracks, the excavator continued advancing, reaching the city wall.

Ignoring the clanging of various attacks, it swung its bucket and began dismantling the wall.

With one scoop down, the city wall cracked and shattered, earth and stone flying everywhere.

With another scoop down, a large concave chunk was gouged directly out of the city wall.

In just three to five scoops, a breach several zhang wide was torn open.

The defending soldiers endured unprecedented psychological pressure.

The terrifying giant object was impervious to blades and spears, and possessed infinite strength.

The Jiankang city wall they took pride in, in merely half a double-hour, was torn open into a huge breach over a hundred zhang wide.

This kind of siege speed, let alone witnessing it, they had never even heard of!

Lin Dao operated the excavator, swinging its long arm to sweep the city tower.

Whether defending soldiers or various defensive equipment, all were swept clean in one go.

The Gluttonous Army Soldiers, in units of zhuang, surged like a tide up the ramp formed from rubble and raw earth, holding riot shields as they poured into the city interior.

And at this time, the various high ministers of the Eastern Jin minor court had just arrived at the Imperial Palace and begun deliberations.

These high ministers were also completely baffled.

Even at this point, they still did not know who the attacking forces were.

Everyone guessed it was a military rebellion.

But a rebellion of this scale must necessarily have the backing of High-ranking Families behind it.

Right now, the heads of the notable High-ranking Families of Jiangzuo are basically all in the Imperial Palace.

They truly could not figure out, just who it was!

Driving the excavator into the city interior along the ramp, Lin Dao stopped the vehicle.

Gazing at the Imperial City at the end of the central axis, Lin Dao picked up the walkie-talkie.

"When confiscating property, confiscate the clan registers first, dispose of them according to the clan registers!"

(End of Chapter)