Chapter 202 I Don’t Want to Be a Loyal Servant!
When Mr. Fang heard Lin Shu say that the Marquis of Zhenbei said he was going to marry his second legitimate daughter, but in fact it was a fake legitimate daughter who came from nowhere, he immediately felt furious that he had been fooled.
He knew that the Fang family could not marry into the Zhenbei Marquis's mansion, and that the Fang family was marrying up if the Zhenbei Marquis could marry a concubine's daughter. But on the one hand, he promised to marry the legitimate daughter, and on the other hand, he passed off a concubine's daughter or an adopted daughter as the legitimate daughter. This was purely to fool the Fang family, and he had no intention of concealing his intention to annex the Huimin Chamber of Commerce.
Father Fang was furious, but also very puzzled: "How many legitimate daughters does the Zhenbei Marquis have? We can find out by asking around. Is there any need for him to lie like this? Even if he said he wanted to marry a concubine's daughter, our Fang family would not dare to ask for a legitimate daughter."
Lin Shu sneered, "It's probably because the Marquis of Zhenbei couldn't bear to part with his concubine's daughter, so he might have adopted a maid as his adopted daughter to fool us. As for whether we will find out? The Marquis of Zhenbei doesn't care. This kind of high-ranking nobleman would only think that he has given the Fang family a great honor by marrying off his nominal legitimate daughter."
Arrogant nobles like the Marquis of Zhenbei are not uncommon. Lin Shu has encountered many of them over the years.
For example, he had heard the story of Princess Chengyang being assassinated by her personal maid.
Princess Chengyang was the beloved daughter of the late emperor. She was spoiled and had a very violent and cruel temper. The people serving her were always blamed for everything, and many of them were beaten to death by her.
Her personal maid had a younger sister who had lively and beautiful eyes. She was noticed by Princess Chengyang's husband. After looking at her a few more times, Princess Chengyang ordered people to dig out the poor girl's eyes and did not allow doctors to treat her. The poor girl died of an infection after her eyes were dug out.
Under such circumstances, Princess Chengyang actually dared to continue to let the sister of this innocent girl who died tragically stay by her side as her personal maid.
Princess Chengyang was not unaware of the sisterly relationship between the two. She knew it, but she didn't care. She felt that she was the master and it was natural for her to decide the lives of the slaves. The relatives of the executed slaves not only could not blame her, but had to thank her for granting their sister a death.
Yes, these nobles naturally believed that they were rewarding their slaves with death by executing them, and they should be grateful instead of harboring resentment out of rebellion.
Princess Chengyang didn't know that I am also a human being, I have a heart and feelings, and not everyone is as loyal as Lin Zhong's father.
The sister of the tragically dead girl decided to avenge her sister. She took the opportunity of serving Princess Chengyang closely and blinded one of Princess Chengyang's eyes with a hairpin. It is said that the eyeball was pierced by the hairpin.
Although Princess Chengyang did not die, she lost one eye, and because of the necrosis of the eyeball, the ocular nerves often suffered from pain. The imperial physician suggested removing the eyeball, but the risk was very high. Princess Chengyang did not want her blind eye to become a black hole, so she could only endure the excruciating pain.
As for the maid who assassinated Princess Chengyang, although she was killed by Princess Chengyang out of anger and her body was thrown into a mass grave, her eyes could never be restored.
After this incident was exposed, the nobles in the capital accused the maid who avenged her sister of being disloyal to her master. In order to make the maid's revenge seem unjust, they threw dirty water on the maid's sister who was gouged out of her eyes and died by Princess Chengyang, saying that she was restless and seduced the prince consort, which made Princess Chengyang unable to bear it and punish her...
These nobles all thought that it was treason for a maid to assassinate her master, that it was justified for the master to dig out the maid's eyes and kill her, and that the maid's revenge for her sister was a betrayal of the master and a lack of loyalty.
When Lin Shu was investigating intelligence in the capital, he was surprised to learn about this incident. It seemed that these high-ranking officials and nobles did not regard their slaves as human beings.
Lin Shu also found a breakthrough point from this incident - those servants who served the nobles.
Not all slaves are loyal. They are also human beings, and they also want a better future and more money because of ambition, desire, resentment, and unwillingness.
These can all be used and bribed. Lin Shu sent people with large sums of money to the capital to set up an intelligence network among the servants in various mansions.
These slaves are very well-informed. They know many secrets that their masters are unaware of. Moreover, each slave has his own network of contacts. The intelligence network that Lin Shu sent people to manage has brought Lin Shu great benefits.
It was precisely because Lin Shu understood the arrogant attitude of the rich and powerful towards the lower classes that he built his own network among the servants.
Now seeing the methods used by Marquis Zhenbei again, Lin Shu felt a sense of déjà vu.
The Fang family was just a merchant family. In the eyes of the Marquis of Zhenbei, who commanded an army of over 100,000, the Fang family should have offered up all their property to please him after he sent someone to deliver such a letter. Even if they knew that the legitimate daughter he promised to marry was a fake, they should have pretended not to know and boarded his ship obediently.
Lin Shu analyzed the meaning of Marquis Zhenbei to Fang's father, and Fang's father almost laughed out of anger.
He is a merchant, his status and position are indeed far from that of the Marquis of Zhenbei, but he is not humble. The Fang family and the Marquis of Zhenbei are extremely far away from each other, one in the south and the other in the north, and they have no connection. If the Marquis of Zhenbei has the ability, it will not be too late for him to lead his troops south and then threaten the Fang family.
From such a long distance, you want the Fang family to hand over all their property and surrender just because of a letter? Do you really think you are some kind of Long Aotian, with a tiger body shaking and exuding domineering aura, and everyone bows down to you?
Father Fang looked at Lin Shu in front of him. Lin Shu, who was still a teenager, was so tall and mighty, with a handsome face that was resolute and calm. He thought that Lin Shu was more reliable.
Because Fang Yuan is so deeply bound to Lin Shu, it can be said that the entire Fang family has boarded Lin Shu's pirate ship and can no longer get off.
Fang's father already knew that Lin Shu had secretly raised tens of thousands of private soldiers and had the intention of rebelling. You should know that Fang's father was responsible for purchasing and supplying the food and fodder for that private army.
When Mr. Fang first learned about this, he was scared, but once he got on the pirate ship, he couldn't get off, and Lin Shu gave him too much.
The Huimin Chamber of Commerce, which was established under the leadership of Lin Shu and the Fang family together with other merchants, was extremely profitable. Moreover, Lin Shu was a very generous person. He never kept all the money he made in his own pocket, but also never forgot other people who worked with him and was not stingy in sharing the profits.
The Fang family made a lot of money following Lin Shu. Today, the Fang family is no longer a small merchant in Licheng, but a wealthy merchant with business from the south to the north.
Otherwise, he wouldn't be rich enough to be targeted by the rebel force Zhenbei Hou.
The Fang family can get so many benefits just by following Lin Shu. How can the Fang family be willing to get off Lin Shu's pirate ship?
Therefore, the Fang family had long been determined to stick with Lin Shu until the end.
Not only the Fang family, but other merchants in Huimin Chamber of Commerce had almost the same idea. After all, Lin Shu's performance over the years really impressed them. He had a strong ability to make money, was generous in rewarding people based on merit, was never lenient towards traitors, and was clear about rewards and punishments. He also had food, money, and private soldiers. Everyone knew that if Lin Shu really raised the banner of rebellion, he might be able to create a peaceful world.
None of the merchants whose interests were tied to Lin Shu were willing to get off the boat. After all, if they reported Lin Shu, the worst that could happen to him would be that he would not be able to continue lying dormant and would hastily raise an army in rebellion. Even if the rebellion failed and he died, that would be a matter for the future. Lin Shu had so many private soldiers in his hands, it would be very easy for him to kill the traitors who betrayed him.
So after weighing the pros and cons, betrayal has no benefits and may even lead to the death of the whole family, while surrendering has many benefits and may lead to a bright future. Anyone with a normal mind will understand what choice to make.
People with abnormal brains cannot enter the Huimin Chamber of Commerce.
It can be said that Huimin Chamber of Commerce is one of the basic bases for Lin Shu’s rebellion and the logistics department of Lin Shu’s future power.
The fact that Marquis Zhenbei sent such a letter to the Fang family in an attempt to swallow up the Huimin Chamber of Commerce was no different from trying to seize the logistics department of another rebellious prince. How could he possibly succeed?
Mr. Fang expressed his loyalty to Lin Shu crazily, but Lin Shu waved his hand, signaling him to calm down for a while, saying that he still believed in him.
Father Fang then asked, "Then how should I reply to the letter from Zhenbei Hou?"
Lin Shu looked at the letter, pondered for a moment, and suddenly smiled and said, "You can reply that the eldest son should marry the eldest daughter, and you want to ask for the eldest daughter of the Marquis of Zhenbei to marry your eldest son. Let's see how the Marquis of Zhenbei reacts."
The Marquis of Zhenbei would definitely not agree to marry his eldest daughter to a merchant, and would even think that the Fang family was provoking him and was ungrateful.
Regardless of whether the Marquis of Zhenbei decides to temporarily agree to it and settle accounts with the Fang family after annexing the Huimin Chamber of Commerce, or decides to give up on the Fang family and send people to attack the Fang family directly... Lin Shu can test the current situation of the Marquis of Zhenbei.
If the Marquis of Zhenbei agreed, and if the Marquis of Zhenbei, who looked down on the Fang family so much, could swallow his humiliation and agree to marry the eldest daughter, it would mean that the Marquis of Zhenbei was really short of money and food, not just ordinary short of food.
Then the Marquis of Zhenbei is a soft persimmon, and he might be able to try to pinch him.
If Marquis Zhenbei does not agree and still wants to retaliate against the Fang family, it means that Marquis Zhenbei's situation is not that critical and he is still the arrogant Marquis Zhenbei. In this case, Lin Shu, the man sent by Marquis Zhenbei, can be captured and interrogated for intelligence about Beidi or someone else can be sent to replace him and then sent back as a spy. These are all good ways.
Lin Shu only thought of so many things in his head. Father Fang couldn't think of all these in a short time, but he was obedient enough.
Although Father Fang didn't understand Lin Shu's intention of asking him to write a reply in a way that would anger Marquis Zhenbei, he obediently did as he was told.
The letter was sent out and arrived in the hands of Zhenbei Hou two months later.
The Marquis of Zhenbei just took a look at the letter and was immediately furious at the seemingly respectful but actually provocative reply from Fang's father: "How dare you bully me like this!"
He was so angry that he was about to tear up the letter in his hand, but was stopped by his brother-in-law.
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