IDWBE -Chapter 97 Change

“I understand,” Wang Qingbang said as he straightened his robe and knelt. “I am willing to devote myself wholly to Your Highness and serve until death!”

Lin Yi replied expressionlessly, “I only look at results.”

Wang Qingbang smiled without speaking and carefully withdrew.

Watching his retreating figure, Lin Yi turned to Hong Ying. “Where is Consort Wen? Why haven’t I seen her for another whole month?”

Hong Ying bowed. “Consort Wen is in secluded cultivation. As for what technique she practices, this servant does not know. Your Highness, shall I summon her?”

“No need to disturb her,” Lin Yi sighed. “I was thinking that if she had time, she could make a trip to Ankang City for me. But since she’s in seclusion, forget it.”

With a Grandmaster by his mother and sister’s side, their safety would be much more assured.

Hong Ying immediately knelt. “This servant is willing to return to Ankang City.”

Lin Yi waved him off and sighed. “Forget it.”

Bored out of his mind, Lin Yi resumed writing the novel he had stopped updating for over two months.

“A general who does not wish to become emperor is not a good soldier.”

“One day, I’ll have my portrait printed on this empire’s banknotes.”

“Grassroots elites crouch like tigers and coil like dragons; great clans surge forward.
With a laugh, fleets turn to ashes!”

“A generation’s war god, infamous and fierce, forging unparalleled achievements.”

In his novel, he struck with iron fists.

In reality, he remained cautious and restrained.

He had a mother. He had a sister. Even if he disregarded himself, he had to consider them.

Personal freedom alone was not truly good.

If he acted too recklessly, trouble would inevitably fall upon them.

The West River was being widened.

Lin Yi stood on the riverbank, watching nearly ten thousand laborers toil under the blazing sun.

Their skin had already peeled from the heat—patches of white and black mottling their bodies.

There were even boys of fifteen or sixteen carrying shoulder poles.

Shan Qi stepped forward and knelt. “Your Highness must not be soft-hearted.”

Lin Yi calculated silently.

The one million taels Du Sanhe had “donated” was nearly exhausted.

When poor, one’s ambitions shrink; when a horse is thin, its mane grows long.

He could not speak forcefully, only sigh. “Make sure they’re fed. If they can’t eat their fill, dismiss them early.”

“We obey Your Highness’s command!” Shan Qi and Xie Zan responded in unison.

At dusk, passing the front courtyard, Lin Yi noticed Qi Peng’s servants rushing about in panic. A bad feeling rose in his chest.

Without hesitation, he went to Qi Peng’s room.

Qi Peng lay on the bed, sweating and groaning softly.

Lin Yi quickly lifted his trouser leg. The lower limb was ulcerated, emitting a foul stench.

“There are maggots.”

He sighed. “The rotting flesh must be cut away. Someone fetch Hulu.”

After long illness, one becomes half a physician. No one had more experience with such matters than he did.

But he lacked the courage to wield the knife himself, so he had Hu Shilu summoned.

Qi Peng’s servants stood frozen, unsure whether to obey.

Qi Peng said weakly, “Listen to His Highness. This commoner’s life is worthless anyway.”

Lin Yi had hot water brought and placed the residual limb into it.

“Do you admit it now?” he sighed. “If you don’t have the ability, don’t force it. Perseverance is important, yes—but respecting science is even more important. I told you to promote circulation regularly. You didn’t listen.”

Soon, Hu Shilu arrived.

Lin Yi stepped outside.

Hearing the screams from within, how could he feel at ease?

In his previous life, he had endured the same. He understood more than anyone.

As summer waned, news spread across the realm: Yuezhou and Chuzhou had fallen to bandits.

Cao Datong and Han Hui had joined forces, seemingly poised to march straight toward Ankang.

Sanhe remained Sanhe.

Aside from an increasing number of refugees and Lin Yi’s thinning purse, all was calm.

He Jixiang returned from bandit suppression.

As many left as returned.

But once again, they had lost money.

The large forces were too strong to confront; they could only trail behind picking scraps.

The small bands they defeated yielded little more than a few cattle and sheep.

“Ah, Elder He, Master He—if this continues, what are we to do?” Lin Yi lamented bitterly.

Ten thousand taels had been spent before and after the campaign.

Not even the fraction had been recovered!

He Jixiang said shamefully, “The bandits are powerful. I beg Your Highness’s forgiveness.”

Lin Yi shot him a glance but said nothing more.

No matter how He Jixiang argued, Lin Yi refused to mobilize troops lightly.

The former militia, now reorganized into garrisons, burned through silver with the slightest movement.

Better to improve the children’s meals with that money.

As roads gradually opened, more children arrived in Sanhe from inland and coastal regions.

Every classroom in every school was packed—from three-year-olds to teenagers of fifteen or sixteen.

The expenses were immense.

But watching them lively and chattering, Lin Yi felt incomparable satisfaction.

In the thirty-first year of Delong, Sanhe, for the first time in its history, sent tribute grain to Ankang City.

After a fierce auction, Liang Gen secured the transport contract.

Openly shipping grain by sea to Ankang—and conveniently smuggling his own “private goods”—the profits spoke for themselves.

What were the hundred thousand taels spent at auction compared to that?

Hundreds of great sea vessels and countless fishing boats docked at Pingfeng Bay on Fangniao Island. Their sails blotted out the sky.

Lin Yi could hardly recognize the place.

How much time had passed?

Just because a Maritime Trade Office had been established, so many ships had appeared?

Tian Shiyou approached quietly. “Your Highness may not know—Du Sanhe alone has more than fifty ships docked here. The rest are from Sanhe, Nanzhou, and Jiangnan. After resupplying, they sail overseas.”

Lin Yi snorted. “Damn it, not a single innocent among them. Where is Du Sanhe?”

He glanced at the once-ramshackle area, now replaced by a bustling commercial street of red-brick and stone shops.

Tian Shiyou grinned. “Your Highness, Du Sanhe isn’t here—but his daughter is.”

“Du Yinniang?”

“Indeed,” Tian Shiyou chuckled. “She’s quite the beauty—but that temper of hers isn’t easy to handle.”

Lin Yi smiled faintly. “The wasp’s tail holds a sting; a woman’s heart can be the most poisonous.”

Truthfully, he had never had a good impression of Du Yinniang.

With Hong Ying’s support, he carefully stepped ashore from the gangplank.

Du Yinniang suddenly appeared before him, catching him off guard.

Speak of Cao Cao, and Cao Cao arrives.

“Your Highness must be weary from the journey. Please allow this common woman to arrange rest for you.”

She curtsied slightly.

“Very well. Since I’m here, I won’t stand on ceremony.”

Lin Yi mounted his donkey and followed behind her.

The streets bustled with noise and movement.

It was entirely different from his last visit.

Inside a tavern, sailors were fighting, leaving the place in chaos.

Lin Yi frowned. “Has Sanhe lost all law and order?”

Hong Ying was about to respond when Wen Qian, walking behind Du Yinniang, strode into the tavern.

Instantly, silence fell within.