Chapter 207 I Don’t Want to Be a Loyal Servant!
After Lin Shu finished settling the refugees in Pingyang City, he returned to the Lin Mansion and complained to Si Yuan, "Dad, I never thought that the Marquis of Zhenbei would be so stupid. Doesn't he care about his reputation at all? He actually robbed the people of Pingyang City of their food. How is he any different from those bandits? How dare such a person compete for the throne?"
Lin Shu, who was taught by Si Yuan, knows very well how important the people's will is. He has been working hard to build his reputation. Now, everyone in Jiangnan knows that Lin Shu is a kind-hearted person.
Although Lin Shu was dormant, he was not a saint who did good deeds without leaving a name. He did not raise the flag of rebellion, but he was already building momentum for his own future bid for the throne.
He dealt with the Marquis of Zhenbei only because the Marquis of Zhenbei had set his sights on the Huimin Chamber of Commerce run by him, and he wanted to teach him a lesson and weaken his future competitor at the same time.
But I didn't expect that Marquis Zhenbei, a man who wanted to rebel, could be so stupid.
Si Yuan was watering the flowers leisurely with a kettle. Ever since he trained Lin Shu, Lin Shu needed Si Yuan's guidance except when he first started to build his power. Later on, he was almost able to stand on his own. Si Yuan also officially retreated behind the scenes and no longer interfered in Lin Shu's affairs.
Hearing Lin Shu's complaints, he did not stop watering the flowers, and said in a light tone: "Bandits are like combs, and soldiers are like rakes. This is what the people think of the officers and soldiers nowadays. The officers and soldiers of the court have long regarded robbing the people as a normal way to generate income. After all, the military pay cannot be paid on time. If they want to have enough food, they have to think crookedly, so wielding knives to bully the weaker civilians is what they can do. The soldiers under the Zhenbei Marquis are the same."
The world has been rotten for a long time, otherwise Si Yuan would not have supported Lin Shu as his first reaction after he had the idea of rebellion.
Lin Shu frowned slightly: "Dad, what you mean is that Zhenbei Hou's behavior will not have any impact on his reputation?"
Everyone is oppressing the people and is so rotten. No one is worse than the Marquis of Zhenbei. Does it mean that because robbing the people is so common, it will not affect the reputation of the Marquis of Zhenbei?
Si Yuan sneered and said, "Among the nobles who do not regard the common people as human beings like the Marquis of Zhenbei, the Marquis of Zhenbei's behavior will not affect his reputation. But among the common people, everyone fears the Marquis of Zhenbei like a tiger. He has lost the support of the people."
If all the rebel forces had no popular support like Marquis Zhenbei, they might not be able to see the importance of popular support.
But Lin Shu had already won the hearts of the people under Si Yuan's guidance. With Lin Shu as a comparison, the people would never choose a ruler like the Marquis of Zhenbei.
In order to rule, there naturally needs to be a sufficient population to be ruled, so that the emperor can become the supreme ruler.
Marquis Zhenbei has a bad reputation, and the people under his command are unwilling to stay in his territory, fearing that they will be robbed by Marquis Zhenbei's soldiers at any time. They voluntarily bring their families to Lin Shu's territory to live a stable and happy life. This is what the people want.
As the population of the Marquis of Zhenbei's territory decreased, the economy became worse. No one farmed the land, and there were not enough young and strong men to supplement the army. The Marquis of Zhenbei's ambitions had no basis for realization.
Of course, for this to happen, it will take a long time before the effects are seen.
But if Lin Shu led his troops to attack Marquis Zhenbei, the number of people willing to offer food and drink to welcome the royal army would probably be countless. No one would want to continue living under the rule of Marquis Zhenbei. The people all hope that Lin Shu would rule them, and this is what the people want.
Si Yuan explained the reason in detail to Lin Shu, telling him not to underestimate anyone, because even an insignificant person has his or her own abilities.
Si Yuan looked at Lin Shu steadily and said, "Have you forgotten what your true origins are?"
In terms of identity, Lin Shu was the son of a slave and was originally a slave, not as good as the ordinary people with good status outside.
And Lin Shu, who came from such a background, could reach this point and even attempt to compete for the world and ascend to the supreme throne.
How could he still look down on other little people of humble status?
In this chaotic world, there are many heroes who are buried. Times create heroes, and heroes emerge in troubled times.
When Lin Shu was taken away by Si Yuan, he was already nine years old and could remember things. Of course, he would not forget his original identity, nor would he forget...
Lin Shu looked at Si Yuan deeply, bowed his head and said respectfully: "Dad, don't worry, I won't forget your teachings."
Si Yuan put away the kettle he had used to water the flowers, then picked up a pair of scissors and began to prune the branches and leaves of the flowers he grew. As he cut off the yellow, curly leaves, he said, "Managing power is like growing flowers. If you want to grow beautiful flowers and produce sweet fruits, you must not only fertilize and water them, but also prevent and control pests. Some dead branches and rotten leaves must also be ruthlessly cut off. This is the only way to ensure that the flowers grow healthily..."
Lin Shu seemed to be thinking about something, standing with his head down and listening attentively.
The thing that Si Yuan is most satisfied with about his adopted son Lin Shu is that he is good at listening to the teachings and suggestions of others. He is not the kind of person who is stubborn, nor is he the kind of person who is easily influenced.
He listens to other people's advice, then thinks for himself and makes the most appropriate decision after comprehensive consideration.
He is kind-hearted and appreciative of the old times, but he is also decisive and ruthless.
With such a character, he indeed possesses the qualifications to become a qualified king.
Just like before, when Lin Shu went to Si Yuan to complain about the stupidity of Marquis Zhenbei, he actually felt sorry for the ordinary people who were harmed by Marquis Zhenbei. But no matter how sorry he was, if time could go back, Lin Shu would still choose to instigate Marquis Zhenbei and King Pingyang to fight each other and reap the benefits himself.
Because this is the best way to weaken the Marquis of Zhenbei without exposing one's own power.
The Marquis of Zhenbei lost a considerable amount of troops in attacking Pingyang City, otherwise he would not have abandoned Pingyang City and returned.
One reason is that Pingyang City was almost turned into a deserted city after being burned down by the King of Pingyang. It was not cost-effective for the Marquis of Zhenbei to occupy it and be responsible for its reconstruction. It would be better for him to just grab some food and run away.
The second reason was that the Marquis of Zhenbei suffered heavy casualties during the siege and was unable to defend Pingyang City. After Prince Pingyang was defeated and fled the city, he returned to the capital to cry to the emperor. Before he revealed his ambition to rebel, Prince Pingyang, his cousin, was still very trusted by the emperor. After all, Prince Pingyang was a prince of the royal family, and all his soldiers had been exhausted in Pingyang City, so he posed no threat to the emperor. Under the instigation and crying of Prince Pingyang, the emperor sent troops to attack Marquis Zhenbei who dared to openly rebel. Marquis Zhenbei did not want to stay and be beaten, so he fled in advance, leaving behind an empty city that had been looted and all the people had fled to the imperial army.
The Marquis of Zhenbei and the Prince of Pingyang fought each other and suffered heavy losses, and they were temporarily unable to move south.
So next time the Marquis of Zhenbei sent a letter to the Fang family, the Fang family simply pretended not to have received it and only read it without replying.
Anyway, no matter how angry the Marquis of Zhenbei is, can he still lead his troops south?
However, spies lurking in the north reported that although the Marquis of Zhenbei was angry, he was not angry at the Fang family, but at other rebellious forces.
Perhaps because of the precedent of Prince Pingyang intercepting the letter, when Marquis Zhenbei saw that the Fang family did not reply, he thought that the letter was intercepted by other rebel forces and the Fang family did not receive the letter.
As for the possibility that the Fang family received the letter but did not reply...Zhenbei Hou was quite confident that the Fang family did not have the guts to fool him. How could a mere merchant dare to fool him?
Wang Jinyun, who came from a noble family, also had a mysterious self-confidence. He looked down on the Fang family and did not think that the Fang family had the courage to just read the letter to the Marquis of Zhenbei without replying.
After the damage done to the forces of the Marquis of Zhenbei, he could no longer make enemies easily. Currently, he was licking his wounds and quietly rebuilding himself. He could only temporarily suppress his dissatisfaction with other rebel forces. When his letters were intercepted, he could only pretend that he didn't know.
Seeing that Marquis Zhenbei was so cowardly, Lin Shu knew that there was no way he could persuade him to give up his life, so he turned around and continued to concentrate on developing his power.
Anyway, the Marquis of Zhenbei, who has set his sights on the Huimin Chamber of Commerce, can no longer have any influence on the chamber of commerce.
With the development of Lin Shu's farming, the entire Jiangnan area, with Licheng as the center, fell into Lin Shu's control.
Gradually, the imperial court and other rebel forces came to their senses.
This situation is not going right. They are fighting each other to the point of losing their brains, and a land of fish and rice like Jiangnan has been isolated all this time?
As the saying goes, when the three armies set out, food and fodder must go first. Everyone knows the importance of food and fodder. Naturally, every force has set its sights on large-scale producers like Jiangnan. They all want to bring the land of fish and rice into their own sphere of influence.
But up to now no one has succeeded. Instead, after sending people to Jiangnan, they found that a scholar named Lin Shu had become the uncrowned king here.
Lin Shu only achieved the title of Juren in the imperial examination and did not continue to take higher exams, because he had no intention of going to the capital to take part in the metropolitan examination, nor did he want to pass the Jinshi examination and become an official in the court. The title of Juren was just to make it convenient for him to do things sometimes.
He has many other titles, such as Mr. Lin, Chairman Lin, General Lin...
Under the cover of other rebel forces, Lin Shu built Jiangnan into his own territory. After discovering the identity of the uncrowned king of Jiangnan, the people sent by other forces had no way to leave, let alone pass the message back.
The masters behind these spies would only receive news processed by Lin Shu, such as their own spies encountering spies from hostile forces in Jiangnan and dying together... Although it was too coincidental, the two forces already had a deep hatred, so this one was not a big deal, so such a coincidence was still easy to believe.
Fang Yuan has now grown into Lin Shu's right-hand man. He is responsible for dealing with the spies sent by those forces: "There are more and more spies. We can't hide it any longer."
Lin Shu took a sip of tea and said calmly, "Then I won't hide it."
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