Chapter 208 I Don’t Want to Be a Loyal Servant!
Lin Shu's actions became more and more aggressive. Si Yuan called him over and asked, "Are you planning to start a war?"
Lin Shu nodded: "Yes, Dad, I can't hide it any longer."
Si Yuan picked up the teacup and said quietly, "Are you just going to raise the banner of rebellion?"
Lin Shu was slightly startled, and realized that Si Yuan had something else in mind, so he asked: "Dad, what advice do you have?" If he had just raised the banner of rebellion, would he continue to lie dormant? He has been lying dormant for so many years. Now he has a strong army and sufficient food supplies. There is no need for him to remain dormant, right?
Si Yuan glanced at his adopted son and said, "The imperial court has ruled the country for more than 200 years, and the orthodoxy has long been deeply rooted in the hearts of the people. If you raise the banner of rebellion like this, you will only be labeled a traitor like the Zhenbei Marquis and his men. Sometimes it is very important to have a legitimate reason and a legitimate reason."
Whenever there was a change of dynasties, especially those founding emperors who did not conquer the Central Plains by force but relied on coups to change dynasties, which one of them would not hypocritically make three requests and three concessions?
He had to show that it was the last emperor of the previous dynasty who voluntarily abdicated the throne to him, and that he was not a traitor but a wise and capable monarch who conquered the last emperor of the previous dynasty with his personal charm and was the one to whom he abdicated the throne.
Although everyone knows that this is a rebellion, the hypocritical fig leaf still has to be covered, even if this fig leaf is the emperor's new clothes, they still have to save face.
The same goes for Lin Shu's rebellion. When he first started the rebellion, he could not do so in the name of resisting the court. It would be better to start with the name of clearing the emperor's side and eliminating traitors. Once he breaks into the capital and takes over the imperial city, by that time the current emperor will have become a king who has lost his country. He will have to obediently and voluntarily present the imperial seal, "willingly" issue an edict of repentance, admitting that he is not fit to be a king, and voluntarily abdicate the throne to Lin Shu, a virtuous man.
Isn't this justified?
Si Yuan combined some similar stories of dynastic changes and abdications in the history of this world and told Lin Shu about this matter.
Lin Shu was very smart and quickly understood what Si Yuan meant. He smiled meaningfully, "Dad, I understand. I will raise the army under the banner of clearing the emperor's side. It just so happens that the current emperor trusts the North Factory and even lets Cao Jing, the head of the North Factory, openly come to court to frame officials. His adopted son Cao Jiarong is cruel and ruthless and persecutes loyal officials. The Cao father and son are the great treacherous ministers of our dynasty!"
Si Yuan nodded with satisfaction. He reacted quickly and thought of the goal of clearing out the court so quickly.
Because uprisings broke out everywhere and rebellious forces were flourishing on all sides, no matter how deceived the emperor was, he would not be unable to hear any news at all.
The emperor was already a little panicked. He found that the loyalty of the civil and military officials in the court was superficial, and no one took the initiative to inform him of the current situation. So he selected people from the eunuchs in the palace to take charge of the North Factory and exercise power on his behalf. The emperor believed that only the eunuchs whose power came from him would be truly loyal to him.
But the emperor did not know that the more he relied on the Northern Factory to control the civil and military officials, the more these officials feared that one day the emperor would eliminate dissidents and execute their entire families or exile them, and the more they thought about how to leave a way out and collude with other rebellious forces.
The more the civil and military officials played double-edged tricks, the more the emperor distrusted them. He felt that everyone was out to harm him, and he became even more crazy about giving the Northern Factory the power to execute first and report later.
Those eunuchs in Beichang are all rootless and psychologically twisted. Once they gain power, besides working desperately to climb up, they also work hard to make money and save money for their future retirement.
From the very beginning, the eunuchs of the North Factory were pushed by the emperor to the opposite side of the civil and military officials. If they wanted to be useful to the emperor, they had to work hard to frame the officials and let the emperor know that court officials were not good people and were not loyal to the emperor. Only in this way would the emperor trust and rely on eunuchs like them more.
The villain factory owner Lin Zhong in the original plot also relied on the emperor's trust to climb to the position of nine thousand years old. However, the emperor's kingdom in the original plot was not so precarious, at least he could hold on until the next emperor came to the throne.
Now that Si Yuan and Lin Shu have joined the rebellion, under the butterfly effect, the emperor has no time to care about the princes' fight for the throne. His mind is filled with panic and anger at the rebellious forces that are blooming everywhere.
The more the emperor valued and trusted Cao Jing, the head of the Northern Factory, the more Cao Jing would oppose the civil and military officials in order to maintain this value and trust, which resulted in many bloody incidents that shocked the capital.
There is absolutely no problem with Lin Shu choosing Cao Jing as the treacherous minister who needs to be purged, and there is no need to worry that the emperor will abandon Cao Jing immediately, because Cao Jing is now Eunuch Cao, who has more power than Lin Zhong in the original plot, and his minions are spread all over the court. In order to avoid persecution from the North Factory, many civil and military officials choose to flatter Eunuch Cao and become his lackeys.
It is not so easy for the emperor to deal with Cao Jing now. Cao Jing is no longer a vicious dog that can be dealt with by the emperor with just a few words.
In the original plot, Lin Zhong is a vicious dog tied with a rope by the emperor. He can only bite whoever the emperor tells him to bite. Once it is discovered that he is not loyal enough, he can be beaten to death by the emperor at any time.
But now Cao Jing is like an unleashed vicious dog raised by the emperor. At present, he will bite whoever the emperor tells him to bite. Even if he is not pleased with someone, he will take the initiative to bite them, and he will ask the emperor, his master, to clean up the mess for him. Once this vicious dog caused trouble, the emperor wanted to settle the matter by beating the dog to death. However, the untied vicious dog would not obediently allow its owner to beat it to death, but would bite its owner instead.
Therefore, Si Yuan felt that Lin Shu’s goal of purging the court was a good one, and it would at least last long enough for Lin Shu to lead his troops to the capital.
However... Si Yuan focused on the name of Cao Jing's adopted son Cao Jiarong, which Lin Shu had just mentioned: "You said that Cao Jing's adopted son is called Cao Jiarong, what are the characters?"
Lin Shu picked up a pen and wrote Cao Jiarong's name for Si Yuan to see.
When Si Yuan saw the word "Jiarong", his eyebrows raised. Could this be the male protagonist Wen Jiarong? Because he took Cao Jing as his adoptive father, he changed his surname to Cao and his name to Cao Jiarong?
After all, it’s impossible for any random cannon fodder background character to have the same name as the male protagonist.
Seeing Si Yuan staring at the name Cao Jiarong, Lin Shu couldn't help but feel a little confused and asked, "Dad, is there anything wrong with Cao Jiarong?"
Si Yuan didn't want to hide it from him, so he said, "Do you still remember the Wen family that was confiscated by the emperor before we left the capital?"
Lin Shu's face changed slightly, and he glanced at Si Yuan with a flickering look, and said in an unclear tone: "Remember, after all, my father and I lived in the Wen family's manor at the beginning."
He was already nine years old when he fled, so how could he not remember anything? Of course he remembered that it was because of the downfall of the Wen family that he and Si Yuan needed to flee the capital.
Si Yuan didn't look at Lin Shu's expression. He was still staring at the three words 'Cao Jiarong' that Lin Shu had just written. He said slowly, "Back then, the housekeeper of the Wen family handed their young master Wen Jiarong to me and asked me to take Wen Jiarong away. Then I sent Wen Jiarong to his maternal grandfather Yu's family. Later, I inquired and found out that the Yu family handed Wen Jiarong over. Wen Jiarong was young, so he was not beheaded or exiled. Instead, he was sent to the palace to be a eunuch. If I'm not mistaken, this Cao Jiarong should be the Wen Jiarong of that year."
Lin Shu's expression became even more unpredictable, and his face was a little stiff: "Really? So Dad, what you mean is..."
Si Yuan smiled and said, "Perhaps we can use Wen Jiarong. After all, the Wen family ended up like this. But given the emperor's golden decree, will Wen Jiarong really have no resentment towards the emperor?"
If Wen Jiarong was still a normal man with a bright future, he would give up using extreme means to avenge the Wen family for the sake of his own future. After all, the dead are dead, and he can only revitalize the Wen family if he lives well and carries on the family line.
Then Wen Jiarong would naturally be able to use various roundabout and gentle means to vindicate the Wen family, just like in the original plot.
But now Wen Jiarong has become Cao Jiarong. He can't even keep his surname "Wen" and has become a eunuch. He is the only one left alive in the Wen family. Once he dies, the Wen family bloodline will basically be cut off.
So if Wen Jiarong still wants to avenge the Wen family and still harbors hatred towards the emperor, and he doesn't need to consider his own basically nonexistent prospects and future, what means of revenge will he choose?
Si Yuan is full of expectations for this.
He just gave Lin Shu a brief reminder and Lin Shu understood what he meant.
Lin Shu's expression was a little subtle, as if he was relieved, but also as if he was surprised, but after a few moments, Lin Shu regained his composure, smiled slightly, and said, "Dad, don't worry, your son understands."
Si Yuan laughed, patted Lin Shu on the shoulder, and said, "You have done a good job so far. Your father can only give you a few pointers. Your father is very relieved to leave these things to you."
After all, the person who was truly responsible for the rebellion was not Si Yuan himself, but Lin Shu himself, so Si Yuan only occasionally interrupted and gave Lin Shu some advice. It was Lin Shu himself who truly developed the foundation of the rebellion bit by bit.
Those who are loyal to the Lin family are also loyal to their lord Lin Shu.
Si Yuan felt a sense of accomplishment as he watched Lin Shu grow step by step from a timid and skinny nine-year-old child to the elegant and scheming young man he is today.
When it comes to raising cubs, I’m a professional!
Lin Shu was silent for a moment, then suddenly asked Si Yuan in a tentative tone: "Dad, Wen Jiarong is the only bloodline of the Wen family. Should I help save his life? After all, the Wen family is our former master."
When Si Yuan heard the word "old master", he frowned and said, "We have no relationship with the Wen family for a long time. What old master or not? Do you still want to find a master for yourself?"
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