Outside the outskirts of Jincheng, harvested rice paddies gleamed with water, reflecting the clear autumn sky. Main Bookkeeper Zhou rode a bay horse, followed by a hundred Huaxia Army tax collectors in Light Steel Armor. Their hooves trod the edge of the threshing floor, startling a few sparrows pecking at fallen grains. The grains gleamed golden in the sunlight, and the air was filled with the fresh scent of straw.
"Lord Zhou, look—" Tax collector Wang Er pointed ahead to a large green-brick courtyard with upturned eaves and two white jade stone lions crouching before the gates. "That is Landlord Liu's estate, one of the top ten major landowners in Jincheng."
Main Bookkeeper Zhou narrowed his eyes. Over a dozen grain-laden carts were parked in front of the Liu estate, and laborers were bustling in and out carrying bulging sacks. He gently nudged his horse's flanks, and the bay horse broke into a trot, its horseshoes striking crisp sounds against the bluestone pavement and startling several laborers into scrambling out of the way.
Chapter 181