Chapter 209 I Don’t Want to Be a Loyal Servant!
Si Yuan looked at Lin Shu with suspicion. He didn't understand why Lin Shu was still thinking about his "old master" Wen.
Could it be that the original owner's morbid loyalty was passed on to the child Lin Shu? However, in the original plot, Lin Zhong did not seem to have much affection for the male protagonist Wen Jiarong, but instead was full of hatred for him.
After hearing Si Yuan's question, Lin Shu was obviously relieved and explained, "I thought you were still thinking about the Wen family. After all, my father always said that the Wen family is our master and servants should be loyal to their masters. I was still worried..."
Si Yuan felt a toothache after hearing this. What kind of ideas did the original owner instill in his son since he was a child? The original owner was really twisted. On the one hand, he instilled in his son the idea of being a loyal servant, and on the other hand, he wanted his son to go to school instead of being a slave. No wonder in the original plot, he would abandon his own son to protect his master.
Si Yuan waved his hands and said, "That's all in the past, no need to mention it anymore. Most of the Wen family members are dead, and my father and I are no longer slaves. No one in the world knows our past, so there is no such thing as old master or not. In the past, he was the master, and now he is the servant. It shows that the world is unpredictable, and kings, princes, generals, and ministers are all of different species!"
Lin Shu looked at Si Yuan with sparkling eyes and was speechless for a long time. He felt his throat was choked and his heart was burning.
It turns out... he was not born the son of a slave, he was not born inferior to others!
Si Yuan was somewhat puzzled by Lin Shu's behavior. He did not quite understand what Lin Shu was thinking at the moment. Considering the child's mental health issues, he decided to have a frank talk with Lin Shu: "Shu'er, what's wrong with you?"
Lin Shu swallowed and said in a slightly hoarse voice: "Dad, I'm fine. I just remembered that my father always taught me when I was young that I should learn to be grateful for the master's gifts and to be loyal... Now when I hear what my father said now, I feel like it's a lifetime ago."
Si Yuan immediately understood why Lin Shu behaved so strangely just now. It turned out that Lin Shu remembered the original owner's teachings to him when he was young, and found that Si Yuan's teachings to him now were in conflict with the original owner's teachings to him when he was young. Coupled with his experiences over the years, he had so many feelings.
Si Yuan smiled faintly and said, "It's normal for people to have ambitions to climb up. This is called hard work and progress. But when you are at your lowest point, you should not make your ambitions public. Just keep them in your heart."
He slightly smoothed over the fact that the original owner had a different educational philosophy from him, and treated it as if the original owner's claim of being a loyal servant was just a pretense.
Lin Shu probably believed it, and without asking any more questions, he smiled and told Si Yuan about his next detailed plan, asking him to help him correct it.
Si Yuan also shifted his attention along with his new topic.
Lin Shu has been educated by Si Yuan for many years and has indeed grown up very well. He takes Si Yuan's guidance to heart.
Lin Shu soon raised the banner of "clearing the court and eliminating treacherous officials" and launched a war against the capital.
It was only at this time that the imperial court and other rebel forces realized that there was such a person as Lin Shu.
Lin Shu is not famous just now. Previously, as one of the presidents of Huimin Chamber of Commerce, he was responsible for the business dealings of many chambers of commerce at a young age and had a well-known name among all major forces.
Although among the four classes of scholars, farmers, merchants and artisans, merchants have the lowest status, but in this world, money is the most important thing.
What's more, Huimin Chamber of Commerce is not only extremely rich, but also has food. Who doesn’t need food when fighting a war? Huimin Chamber of Commerce’s grain business spread all over the country, and even the imperial court had to buy grain from Huimin Chamber of Commerce when the war was at its peak.
After all, there had been a severe drought in the north, and the harvest had plummeted. In addition, because rebel forces in various places had raised the banner of rebellion against the imperial court, the imperial court could not collect taxes. The major rebel forces also imposed harsh taxes on the people under their rule. In order to escape the war and harsh taxes, many people hid in the mountains and forests, and no one was willing to farm honestly.
If grain production decreases, then grain prices will naturally be high. There are also many unscrupulous businessmen who deliberately hoard grain to raise grain prices.
Only Huimin Chamber of Commerce is willing to take action to stabilize food prices, and only Huimin Chamber of Commerce can provide large quantities of food at one time to meet the needs of the army.
Lin Shu, the president of Huimin Chamber of Commerce, is naturally well-known.
But most people thought that the real ruler of Huimin Chamber of Commerce was the Fang family, and that Lin Shu was only able to join the Huimin Chamber of Commerce because he had done some favors to Fang Yuan, the second son of the Fang family, and he became the president because he was indeed capable.
No one had ever thought that Lin Shu was the real founder and person in power of Huimin Chamber of Commerce until now when Lin Shu officially raised the flag and flexed the muscles of the Lin family army.
That was a well-equipped army, and even had tens of thousands of cavalry. Such an elite force could not be trained in a short period of time. It was obvious that Lin Shu had long harbored the intention to rebel, and had been lying dormant and accumulating strength, and he had kept it a secret from everyone.
The rebel forces closest to Lin Shu's territory were frightened. After all, they were far inferior to Lin's army in terms of the number of troops and the sufficiency of food and grass. How could they fight?
In this era, defeating a larger force with a smaller one is a miracle. Basically, the outcome of a battle can be determined by comparing the number of troops and their military equipment.
The soldiers of one army wore ordinary leather armor, or even no armor, and the machetes in their hands had curled blades. The soldiers of the other army wore armor that protected their entire bodies, held sharp weapons in their hands, had all kinds of arms, had meat for three meals a day, and trained all year round. Even if such an army had never officially seen blood, it was enough to crush the former.
Therefore, the leaders of several rebel forces near Lin Shu's territory sent people to send letters to Lin Shu to ask for peace. Although no one took the initiative to surrender and was still waiting and watching, their intention to seek peace was very obvious and they did not want to fight with Lin Shu.
Although Lin Shu is aiming at the capital, he doesn't want other forces to be eyeing his old nest. It would be ridiculous if one day he led his troops to war and turned around to find that his home had been robbed.
Therefore, Lin Shu ignored these letters of peace and directly sent troops to attack the one closest to him, making sure to wipe out all the surrounding forces and ensure the safety of his lair.
One battle shocked the world!
In the first battle in which the Lin family army officially appeared, they defeated an enemy army of 50,000 with only 20,000 troops, and became famous throughout the world.
In this battle, the military quality displayed by the Lin family army was shocking, because 50,000 enemy soldiers were killed or fled, and the rest were captured, but the total casualties of the 20,000 Lin family soldiers were less than 100.
Such a perfect victory shocked the whole world.
This was also the first time that the Lin family army showed its fangs to the outside world.
The rebel forces around the Lin family's lair were quickly wiped out by Lin Shu and his men, and then they headed directly towards the capital with a clear target. After all, he wanted to purge the emperor's side, so of course he had to go to the emperor's side to do it.
After the imperial court heard about the battle achievements of Lin's army, there was an uproar among the civil and military officials.
The emperor was even more worried. The rebel forces that had survived the suppression of bandits by the imperial court could be said to be those that the imperial court could not do anything about for the time being.
The rebellious forces near Jiangnan that the imperial court could not deal with were easily wiped out by Lin Shu and his men.
This contrast and gap made the emperor deeply aware of the threat posed by the Lin family army.
At the morning court session, when the emperor asked who was willing to lead troops to deal with Lin Shu, all the civil and military officials were silent, and no one was willing to give up his life.
After all, the emperor could see the comparison in combat power, and of course these elite men could see it too.
The emperor is merely the winner who emerged from the competition among the princes of the previous emperor, and these civil and military officials are all ruthless old foxes who have fought their way out from countless officials. They are truly one in a million, especially in today's situation of unclear administration and serious party struggles. The officials who can stay alive and continue to attend court are all very scheming and good at protecting themselves.
The emperor had no way to deal with these old foxes. Seeing that no one took the initiative to stand up, he was furious: "A bunch of rubbish! You can't even deal with a merchant! That traitor has trained so many elite soldiers under your noses, and you didn't even notice it..."
The emperor was furious and wanted to punish the officials from the Jiangnan faction.
Although local officials in Jiangnan had already defected to Lin Shu, those officials who defected to Lin Shu also had relatives and friends in the court of the capital, otherwise they would not have been able to get the lucrative positions in Jiangnan.
The emperor was helpless against the Jiangnan officials who had defected to Lin Shu. The emperor was far away and they were no longer powerful, so how could people be afraid of him?
However, the officials in the capital who were related to these officials were still under the control of the emperor. The furious emperor just wanted to kill all of them.
"Cao Jing! Arrest these traitors immediately, throw them into the imperial prison, and interrogate them severely. I want to see how many people have betrayed me!" The emperor already felt that these officials in the capital who had connections with officials in the south of the Yangtze River had betrayed him. They were the spies planted by Lin Shu in the capital.
Seeing that a bloody scene was about to take place in the Golden Throne Hall, everyone worked together to say to the emperor: "Your Majesty, Lin Shu is fighting under the banner of 'clearing the emperor's side and eliminating treacherous officials', and is not really rebelling. Please eliminate the treacherous officials and appease the people's hearts."
All the civil and military officials said in unison, "Your Majesty, please eliminate Cao Jing, Cao Jiarong and other treacherous villains and appease the people!"
Although Lin Shu was indeed rebelling, and his slogan of "clearing the imperial court and eliminating treacherous officials" was just talk, this did not prevent the court officials from using this as an excuse to force the emperor to deal with Cao Jing and other eunuchs from the Northern Factory.
The emperor looked at the court officials who were forcing him to get rid of his confidants. He was so angry that he felt dizzy and his vision went dark.
Cao Jing, who had been guarding beside him, quickly stepped forward to support the emperor and said worriedly, "Your Majesty, please take care of yourself! Send for the imperial physician!"
The emperor took a deep breath, held Cao Jing's hand, glared fiercely at the courtiers who wanted to force him to cut off his arms, and refused to give in.
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