"Whoever gets engaged to her, I'll kill them!" Lin Yang said fiercely.
"Killing one isn't enough, then kill ten! I want to see who else is like me, loving beauty more than power! When I can defeat you, I'll just take her by force! That's right, I love Wenji, and Wenji can only be mine!" Lin Yang said firmly and domineeringly.
The more he talked, the more confident he became; this was truly a brilliant method. Whom did Cai Yong intend to become engaged to? Wei Zhongdao of Hedong? If it was him again, then just kill him!
So what is the Wei family of Hedong? Just a first-rate aristocratic family. Once the Wu Kingdom is developed, what will a first-rate aristocratic family amount to?
At that time, unless Cai Yan never marries again, she will have no choice but to marry him! This idea is truly brilliant.
Upon hearing this, Cai Yan, standing outside the window, suddenly felt her face flush and turn red. Listening to Lin Yang's domineering words, she instantly felt a warm and happy feeling in her heart.
After all, she is a woman, and her emotions outweigh her reason. Suddenly hearing such domineering yet sweet words, she would naturally be happy and subconsciously not consider the feasibility of the matter!
Upon hearing this, Cai Yong was also taken aback, seemingly not expecting Lin Yang to use such a method! His daughter would eventually marry, and undoubtedly, she would become the wife of a wealthy and powerful family. If Lin Yang truly dared to kill, killing just one would prevent anyone else from marrying his daughter.
There's no need to offend a madman and use your family's resources just to marry your daughter. This isn't some urban romance novel where high-ranking officials with vast resources do all sorts of things for their sons.
In the Han Dynasty, unless a clan faces annihilation, it is impossible to use its hidden resources. Even the clan leader does not have this right. Moreover, at most, one is only a junior clan leader.
Would a clan really use up all the resources accumulated over thousands, even tens of thousands of years for the marriage of a young clan leader? Unless someone's completely insane, no one would do that. They could simply find another family. That's the way a proper scion of a noble family acts.
"The eldest son of a first-rate family is not easy to kill!"
"Hehe, I am the Duke of Wu. It's just killing a scion of a powerful family. The emperor won't blame me; in fact, he'll be quite pleased. So, the court won't stop it. As for the powerful families, they'll just offer some compensation privately. When the time comes, I'll just throw a hundred million taels of silver at them. Who would be dissatisfied then?" Lin Yang said smugly.
One hundred million taels of silver—one hundred million taels for Wenji, to wipe out an unfortunate scion of a powerful family. After this, there won't be another powerful family like that! Then, when it comes to marrying off their daughters, who else but themselves would be suitable?
Upon hearing this, Cai Yong opened his eyes wide, carefully examined Lin Yang, and then laughed, "Good, kid, you've got guts! You really have guts! I'll wait for your promise. Alright, hurry up and go see Wenji."
With that, he threw Lin Yang out. Accompanied by a gust of wind, Lin Yang crashed into the artificial hill outside the door. With a loud bang, the artificial hill collapsed. Fortunately, Cai Yong was strong and had excellent control, so Lin Yang only suffered superficial injuries.
Seeing Cai Yan running towards him with some worry, Lin Yang couldn't help but laugh. The problem was finally solved.
Seeing this, Cai Yong couldn't help but shake his head and say, "These young people nowadays are truly remarkable! They are all highly skilled, powerful, intelligent, and ruthless. I'm really getting old!"
To be honest, if Lin Yang really offered 100 million taels of silver as compensation, even if the eldest son of a noble family was killed by Lin Yang, the heads of the noble families would have no choice but to accept the compensation under pressure from their clansmen.
In other words, if Lin Yang really did that, Cai Yong would have no other choice but to marry his daughter to him.
(A first-rate family could settle things with 100 million taels of silver; second-rate families probably wouldn't dare touch them. As for third-rate families, Cai Yong wouldn't even consider them. Marrying into a third-rate family as their first wife is worse than being Lin Yang's concubine.)
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Chapter 11: Second Base? Second Base!
It has to be said that Lin Yang's domineering words were quite effective. Haven't you seen how popular domineering CEOs are in later female-oriented fiction? One after another, female protagonists, after meeting a handsome and domineering CEO, often lose both their wealth and their looks!
Recalling Lin Yang's words, whether it was his initial attempt to steal Cai Yan away or his later threat to kill whoever got engaged to her, Cai Yan was deeply moved.
So when Cai Yong returned to the Cai residence and found Lin Yang outside the grove, Lin Yang had already successfully reached second base!
Second base! Only one step away from third base! Unfortunately, at that moment, Cai Yong returned.
Looking at Cai Yong's face, which was as black as the bottom of a pot, Lin Yang seriously suspected that the old man had prepared the imperial edict long ago and was waiting outside, only to interrupt at the crucial moment.
Then, Lin Yang was chased away by Cai Yong, who had a furious expression on his face. Cai Yong claimed that he would take the initiative to test Lin Yang's strength at their next meeting.
If you're not strong enough, you should definitely break your own dog's legs. Lin Yang knew this was jealousy! However, considering that the old man had worked so hard to support his wife for over ten years, he decided not to argue with him.
Afterwards, holding the imperial edict in his hand, Lin Yang returned to Jiangdong with great satisfaction. This trip not only resolved a potential future crisis with his wife, but also successfully obtained the imperial edict that allowed him to act expediently, making it a great success.
Next, it's time to properly deal with the Jiangdong bumpkins, plunder a large number of people, and carry out a fantasy-style industrial revolution.
It's safe to say that when I come back next time, everything will be completely different! The Industrial Revolution, cross-border warfare—just thinking about these things is breathtaking!
"The remnants of Xiang Yu's forces pose a serious threat. Therefore, I hereby appoint Duke Fei Peng of Wu as the Inspector General of the Six Counties of Jiangdong, granting him the authority to act expediently in any matter. This is my decree!"
The Han dynasty inherited the Qin system, therefore, in addition to the Imperial Seal of the State, there were six other seals, all made of white jade with dragon and tiger knobs, and sealed with purple clay from Wudu.
1. The Emperor's Seal, used for enfeoffing states.
II. The Emperor's Seal, used to bestow upon princes and dukes.
3. The Emperor's Seal, used for dispatching troops.
IV. The Emperor's Seal was used to summon his ministers.
5. The Emperor's Seal, used to confer titles upon foreign monarchs.
6. The Emperor's Seal, used for offering sacrifices to Heaven, Earth, and spirits.
The seal before us is clearly the Imperial Seal of the State, also known as the legendary He Shi Bi jade. It is of a higher rank than the six seals of the Emperor.
This demonstrates the level of this imperial edict: it can mobilize dragon energy equivalent to at most a sixth rank! Clearly, the imperial court is also quite disgusted with the powerful families of Jiangdong. They want to use him, the Duke of Wu, to thoroughly eliminate them.
It can be said that with this item, not to mention Xiang Yu's remnants, even if Xiang Yu really came to Jiangdong again, Lin Yang could rely on the imperial edict and borrow the imperial dragon energy to fight him properly.
Carefully reading the imperial edict and sensing the immense power it contained, Guo Jia smiled and said, "With this in hand, we can now go all out and make a big splash."
Hearing this, Lin Yang nodded smugly. He never expected his father-in-law to be so helpful, obtaining the highest-level imperial edict so quickly.
"Alright, now it's time for the big purge. Let's start by finding a place that's rich, populous, and also a bit cocky," Lin Yang said casually.
"Well, the aristocratic families in Wu County are alright, but the Xu, Liu, and Zhang families in Kuaiji County... these families are all very dissatisfied with us. Any one of them controls several thousand tenant households, so they have a large population."
Upon hearing the word "population," Lin Yang couldn't help but say, "Alright, then it'll be the Xu family."
At Lin Yang's command, Guo Jia began mobilizing his troops. Simultaneously, based on the intelligence he had gathered, he devised several strategies.