Although the Xu family was just a local tycoon in Jiangdong, a country bumpkin with their eyes fixed on such a small place as Jiangdong (compared to the aristocratic families in the Central Plains, they were no different from country bumpkins in terms of vision and strength), the Xu family had once been glorious!
The Xu family already existed ten thousand years ago, when Emperor Guangwu restored the Han Dynasty for the second time. However, at that time, the Xu family was truly penniless.
After five generations of hard work, they successfully became a family of scholars, albeit only the smallest county-level family.
In the sixth generation, a genius emerged. This person was a scholar named Xu Xing. At his strongest, he possessed the cultivation of a fifth-level Quasi-Saint. Later, he even created a blessed land to suppress the fate of the Xu family.
It was precisely because of this that they were upgraded from a third-rate family at the county level to a second-rate family at the prefecture level. Unfortunately, their descendants were unfilial, and after so many years, they remained only a second-rate family at the prefecture level.
"Alas, back in the day, Elder Xu Xing of the Xu family was also a near-sage, and he made considerable contributions to our Great Han. It's just a pity that the descendants of today are so unfilial. When they die and their souls perish, they won't even be able to preserve the blood offerings of their ancestors. How unfilial!" Lin Yang said, looking at the thick document in his hand.
This material was collected by Guo Jia, and it is quite detailed overall. It includes the number of Xu family's private soldiers, the origin of Xu family, the characteristics of their cultivation techniques, their direct descendants, and even some speculations about the location of their blessed land.
Upon hearing this, Guo Jia smiled and said, "Yes, so in order to ensure that the ancestors of the Xu family do not lose their ancestral worship in the afterlife, let's find the Xu family's blessed land and continue to worship them on their behalf."
Find the Xu family's blessed land and perform sacrifices on their behalf. Hmm, that reason might fool a three-year-old. Anyway, even without that reason, Lin Yang would find a way to steal their blessed land.
After all, robbery itself is a way to make money. And organizing an army to commit robberies is an even more lucrative business.
The Jiangdong aristocratic families had enjoyed peace and tranquility for a full 20,000 years, accumulating considerable wealth over that time! With this wealth, Lin Yang felt it should be enough to support the Wu Kingdom's comprehensive development for a period of time.
And this is Lin Yang's real purpose. Everyone knows that the Industrial Revolution was good, but before the Industrial Revolution, many important inventions and creations did not cost money.
Take Ou Yezi, for example. By now, he has already burned through tens of millions of taels of silver, and in the end, he has only developed an initial version of the steam engine.
The transformation of spirit stones has been successfully achieved, converting the powerful energy they contain into gentle, abundant, sustainable, and usable energy.
The next step is to miniaturize and scale up the steam engine. Only in this way can we truly ignite an industrial revolution in the style of fantasy!
"Hey, don't blame me when you get to hell," Lin Yang suddenly said with emotion.
Back then, Britain succeeded in the First Industrial Revolution by exploiting farmers, by inflicting the "sheep eat people" movement, by sacrificing generation after generation of farmers, and by exploiting the whole world to support its own family.
The Soviet Union, in particular, artificially created one famine after another, starving countless Russians to death, in order to save a large amount of food and exchange it for many key technologies and resources from abroad, thus enabling it to achieve industrialization.
This laid the most important foundation for the later Soviet punishment of the whole world!
Later, our great China had no colonies to exploit. Therefore, the price paid for industrialization cannot be explained in a few words.
Throughout history, every industrial revolution, in every country, has been achieved only with countless sacrifices. Now, let these powerful families of Jiangdong become the first victims!
History will surely record this event in great detail in the future. After all, the industrialization of the entire Wu Kingdom grew step by step by sucking their blood! Lin Yang thought to himself.
Thump, thump, thump. Five hundred Imperial Guards, three thousand veteran soldiers of the state rank, and Lin Yang, Taishi Ci, and Guo Jia were all present. Half of the five hundred nobles were also here this time. In addition, five or six hundred local wandering knights from Jiangdong were also temporarily recruited.
"Lin Yang, what do you want to do? Are you planning a rebellion?" Xu Qing shouted, looking at the army outside the wall. He especially emphasized the word "rebellion."
However, no sooner had he finished speaking than a middle-aged man appeared beside him and slapped him across the face.
"You scoundrel! How dare you address the Duke of Wu by his name? Besides, how could a duke of the court possibly rebel? The court is so powerful these days..."
This man was none other than Xu Lin, the current head of the Xu family. Lin Yang smiled without saying a word about the father and son's charade. Trying to intimidate me using the imperial court's name? You're dreaming!
With a smile, perhaps sensing the curiosity of the many spies around him, or perhaps simply to show off or demonstrate his power, Lin Yang produced an imperial edict from his hand.
"The imperial edict reads: The remnants of Xiang Yu's forces pose a grave threat. Therefore, Wu Gonggong Feipeng is hereby appointed as the Inspector General of the Six Counties of Jiangdong, authorized to act expediently in any matter. This is the imperial decree!"
With a flash of golden light, everyone present realized one thing: the Xu family was in trouble, in big trouble.
"Do things as they please," what a convenient way to do things! It's practically doing whatever you want!
"Hehe, the many bigwigs in the court are indeed very perceptive. The imperial edict had just been issued when someone reported that your Xu family was colluding with Xiang Yu. Therefore, it was our duty to do so, and we have no choice but to comply. Please forgive us, head of the Xu family." Lin Yang said sincerely.
After a pause, Lin Yang continued, "Actually, I also believe that this is definitely a slander. Why don't you, Xu Lin, open the door, put down your weapons, and let me investigate thoroughly to see if there is any collusion with Xiang Yu? Wouldn't that be enough?"
As he spoke, Lin Yang recalled the Bald Eagle from his previous life. When the Bald Eagle attacked Iraq, it claimed that Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction. Although many years of investigation later yielded no results.
But who cares? It's just a reason, isn't it?
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Chapter Twelve: Death and Soul Demise, Family Legacy Remains Paramount
Hearing Lin Yang's words, Xu Lin was speechless for a moment, and then he was deeply afraid.
In this world, can any aristocratic family truly be clean-cut? If they don't do bad things, don't take advantage of others, and don't abuse the privileges of the imperial court, can they still be called an aristocratic family?
In other words, none of the powerful families could withstand scrutiny. Just like officials in later generations, they couldn't withstand investigation; once investigated, they were sure to be found guilty of corruption. These powerful families were the same; they couldn't withstand investigation, and once investigated, they would definitely be exposed.
Even if they can't find evidence of collusion with Xiang Yu, they can easily pin a charge of oppressing the people on him. So, although Lin Yang's words sound very righteous, in reality, agreeing means certain death!
However, even though Xu Lin saw through Lin Yang's lies at a glance, what was the point? Shaking his head, Xu Lin said loudly, "Fine, I also believe that our Xu family has been wronged and we are willing to cooperate with the Duke. However, this matter is not something I can decide alone. Duke, could you allow me to discuss it with the elders of my family?"
"Haha, of course!" Lin Yang said with a smile.
Upon hearing this, Xu Lin turned and, with his son beside him, returned to the mansion. Seeing this, Lin Yang said, "They're stalling for time. Fengxiao, why don't you guess what they're going to do next?"
"It's nothing more than stalling for time to prepare for our escape. In any case, the Xu family's private army is no match for us. So, what else can we do but run away?"
"However, the space within a radius of several dozen miles has already been frozen in place. It is impossible to teleport at all. Therefore, apart from facing it head-on, the only way to escape is probably through the underground tunnel."
"Judging from the terrain of the Xu family mansion, there is a lake to the east, where Yinglong is guarding, so there is no way to escape. To the south is a plain, where I have sent more than a dozen sentries to guard. As soon as they appear, they will definitely be in sight, so the possibility of escape is not high."
"As for the front, that's our army, which is basically a dead end. The west side is high mountains, with towering peaks and ridges, full of various trees, birds and animals, which is the easiest to cover. Even if we know that the tunnel leads to the west, we can't find the exact exit."
"Therefore, if I were the head of the Xu family, on the one hand, I would gather all the family's private soldiers and flee in one direction; on the other hand, I would arrange for a small number of elites to escape through the tunnels," Guo Jia said confidently.
Hearing this, Lin Yang smiled. Whether Guo Jia's analysis was correct or not, at least his aura was quite impressive, giving off a sense of complete confidence. Moreover, Lin Yang felt that this was probably the case.
While Lin Yang waited idly, Xu Lin, along with his son Xu Qing, arrived at an inconspicuous little courtyard. This courtyard had been uninhabited for a long time.