Chapter 218 I Don’t Want to Be a Loyal Servant!
Lin Shu could only choose to ignore these shameless people. After all, he didn't dare to take anyone into his backyard casually. What if there was a fire in the backyard and he fell into the hands of the person next to him, wouldn't he become a joke that would go down in history?
Lin Shu was a very cautious person. He did not trust the royal family members who seemed to have surrendered and had a good attitude.
However, when he rebelled, he did so under the banner of clearing the court of corrupt officials. It was not convenient for him to directly proclaim himself emperor and change the dynasty at this time. For the sake of face and reputation, a transition period was needed.
Although he captured the capital, he did not conquer the entire Central Plains. Some territories under the influence of the imperial court and occupied by rebel forces were still resisting stubbornly.
But those are just grasshoppers after autumn. Lin Shu does not need to lead the troops to fight in person. He only needs to stay in the capital and let his generals lead the troops to fight and suppress the rebellious forces.
Si Yuan, who had been staying in Licheng to help Lin Shu manage the base camp, was also brought to the capital by Lin Shu after Lin Shu conquered the capital.
What was a very coincidental thing was that on the day Si Yuan came to the capital and lived in the Prince of Loyalty's Mansion, Wen Jiarong, who had restored his original surname, happened to come to pay a visit to Lin Shu.
Previously, Cao Jiarong was very lucky to catch the whereabouts of Yu's father and son, and he got rid of the control of Lin Shu. However, Cao Jiarong was smart enough not to leave Lin Shu directly. Instead, he still worked for Lin Shu, but he was not as obedient and was more inclined to cooperate with Lin Shu.
What Cao Jiarong didn't expect was that Lin Shu would break into the capital so quickly. As the person in charge of the Northern Factory, he had to depend on Lin Shu to survive, so he was naturally not qualified to cooperate with him.
Cao Jiarong was flexible and decisively bowed to Lin Shu and joined Lin Shu's army.
He also took the initiative to restore his identity as Wen Jiarong, meaning to tell everyone that his surname was Wen, and he was an orphan of the Wen family who were exterminated by the emperor. He had a feud with the current emperor who had exterminated his family, and this feud was irreconcilable.
So he is absolutely loyal to Lin Shu.
Even if Wen Jiarong still wanted to continue to be loyal to the emperor, the emperor would not trust him as a remnant of the Wen family. Wen Jiarong was effectively cutting off his own escape route in order to show his loyalty to Lin Shu.
Of course, Lin Shu accepted Wen Jiarong without holding any grudges.
Wen Jiarong's previous little tricks and calculations did not cause any losses to Lin Shu. Lin Shu was broad-minded, and as long as Wen Jiarong still had good value, he would certainly not care about such a small matter.
With Lin Shu's support, Wen Jiarong quickly kicked out other people in power in Beichang and took sole control of Beichang. Everything that Lin Shu was not suitable to do was done by Wen Jiarong in the name of Beichang.
Anyway, Beichang has been notorious for a long time, so it doesn’t care about getting more bad reputation.
Wen Jiarong was willing to be a knife that everyone despised, so Lin Shu would definitely not refuse. And he had to admit that many of the things Wen Jiarong did touched his heart.
For example, a famous scholar wrote an article to denounce Lin Shu as a traitor, which exposed Lin Shu's fig leaf of "clearing the court" and made Lin Shu's ambition public.
Lin Shu's ambition is known to everyone. Are other people fools who don't know this? But why don’t you say anything? Isn't it because they are afraid of Lin Shu's current power that they are all silent?
This great scholar acted as if everyone in the world was drunk but he was sober. He directly tore off the fig leaf and made the truth public.
Lin Shu was very embarrassed. He could do this kind of thing but couldn't say it. If he said it, his reputation would be ruined.
But it was not easy for him to step forward and argue with the great scholar. After all, what the great scholar said was true. If he stood up and argued with him, he would not only lose face but might also lose.
Lin Shu couldn't send anyone to kill the black fan who had insulted him, otherwise, the black fan would insult him and then die without knowing why. Wouldn't that be like trying to cover up one's own fault? Does he still want his reputation?
Just when Lin Shu was considering how to deal with the situation so as to silence Heizi without damaging his own reputation, Wen Jiarong took the initiative to step forward. He led the people from the North Factory and rushed directly into the house of the great scholar. On the grounds that the great scholar was disrespectful to the emperor, he imprisoned the entire family.
After Wen Jiarong changed his surname back to Wen, it was equivalent to cutting himself off from the emperor and expressing his loyalty to Lin Shu. But now the emperor is still the emperor in name only, and Lin Shu is only the Loyal King.
It is impossible for the head of Beichang to be nominally loyal to a prince instead of the emperor.
So even though everyone knew that Wen Jiarong, the head of the North Factory, was actually loyal to Lin Shu, Wen Jiarong was still loyal to the emperor in name.
As for the saying that Wen Jiarong was a remnant of the Wen family who had their property confiscated and their clan exterminated by the emperor, and that he would harbor resentment towards the emperor, even though everyone knew that Wen Jiarong might resent the emperor because his family was exterminated, Wen Jiarong openly said something like, "The Wen family deserved their own destruction, and Your Majesty is wise and powerful. Even though I am also a member of the Wen family, I am loyal to the emperor and would never dare to have any complaints against Your Majesty." It was as if he was so loyal to the emperor that he would choose to be loyal to the emperor even if his entire family was killed.
Of course the emperor knew that what Wen Jiarong said was false, and many people knew that Wen Jiarong's words were insincere, but these words were politically correct. Who dared to say that it was wrong for Wen Jiarong to choose to forget family hatred in order to be loyal to the emperor? Who dares to expose the truth that Wen Jiarong actually harbors resentment towards the emperor and wants to avenge his family?
Everyone remained silent, acquiescing in the fact that Wen Jiarong was still a loyal subject of the emperor.
Then it was reasonable for Wen Jiarong to lead the people from the North Factory to arrest the entire family of the great scholar, claiming that the great scholar was disrespectful to the emperor.
How was this great scholar disrespectful to the emperor?
The emperor praised Lin Shu as a loyal and righteous man who helped to eliminate the treacherous villains and save his life. He even broke the ancestral rule of King Sejong that people of the opposite sex could not be made kings, and made Lin Shu the King of Loyalty and Righteousness.
The Prince of Loyalty, who was personally judged by the Emperor to be a loyal and righteous man, was actually insulted and slandered by this great scholar. Doesn't this mean that he is dissatisfied with Your Majesty? Is this disrespectful to Your Majesty? As His Majesty's loyal lackey, isn't it only natural for Wen Jiarong to lead the people from the North Factory to arrest the entire family of the traitor who was disrespectful to His Majesty?
Wen Jiarong's action not only helped Lin Shu solve the problem of his haters, but also put the blame on the emperor for arbitrarily arresting people and imprisoning their entire families.
Ordinary people who do not know the truth and are easily fooled will naturally think that what Wen Jiarong showed to the outside world is the truth - the great scholar insulted the loyal and righteous people appointed by the emperor and was extremely disrespectful to the emperor. The emperor's loyal lackey, Beichang Factory Master Wen Jiarong, imprisoned the entire family of this disrespectful great scholar, and it was all the fault of this great scholar himself.
Those who knew the truth knew clearly that the person Wen Jiarong was truly loyal to was the so-called loyal and righteous King Lin Shu. The reason for arresting this great scholar was that he had exposed Lin Shu's mask and ambition, which led to this misfortune.
Many people who still care about the royal family only feel grief for the loss of the rabbit, but there are not many people like this stubborn scholar who dare to risk the lives of his entire family for the sake of verbal gain.
Everyone watched it all in silence.
The emperor secretly mourned the loss of another loyal minister, but he had no intention of stepping forward to protect the family of this great scholar. He also watched in silence as the loyal minister who had served him but ended up in such a fate was arrested by Wen Jiarong and thrown into the imperial prison.
Some unwilling royalists secretly contacted the emperor, intending to discuss ways to deal with Lin Shu who rebelled against Tian Gang.
Previously, the court officials worked together to oppose the emperor because the emperor trusted and valued the Beichang. The Beichang and the court officials were on opposite sides, so even the royalists among the court officials would temporarily stand on the opposite side of the emperor in order to deal with the Beichang.
Now that the North Factory commanded by Wen Jiarong is truly loyal to Lin Shu, the royalists among the court officials will naturally continue to choose to stand on the side of the emperor. Even though the situation is so unfavorable to the emperor now, they remain loyal.
However, Lin Shu fell silent as he watched the royalist officials sent by Wen Jiarong to meet the emperor in the palace and the detailed conversation between the two sides on how to deal with him.
No, are these guys so useless? Is this a conspiracy? Is there such a loud conspiracy? This is because he is afraid that his people can't hear him!
Are these people really royalists? Aren't you here to risk your life to betray the emperor?
If Lin Shu was not sure that he did not send an undercover agent, he would have suspected that these royalists were undercover agents sent by him to specifically harm the emperor.
Lin Shu looked at Wen Jiarong standing respectfully in front of him, nodded with satisfaction, and said, "You did a good job."
Although there was a reason why this group of royalists were not on guard when they conspired with the emperor, the Beichang spies led by Wen Jiarong were indeed very powerful. They monitored the emperor's every move, which made Lin Shu very satisfied.
At this time, the butler of the palace came to report: "Your Majesty, Lord Fang has brought the master back and will soon be outside the palace!"
Lin Shu asked in surprise, "Why didn't you tell me in advance that Dad had arrived in the capital, so that I could go to the city to greet him in person? You waited until Dad arrived at the gate of the palace before reporting to me. You are too negligent!"
Lin Shu suppressed his anger and had no time to deal with these servants who neglected his father. He hurried to the gate of the palace and personally welcomed Si Yuan into the palace.
Si Yuan had guessed that Lin Shu might be angry, so after seeing Lin Shu, he said to him: "I asked them to keep it a secret. Why do you want to pick me up? I am going back to my son's house, and you want my son to go out of town to pick me up. Such a big show is too eye-catching."
Lin Shu responded helplessly, saying that this was also his filial piety, but since Si Yuan didn't like it, he could do nothing about it.
Si Yuan's eyes fell on the feminine and handsome young man who followed Lin Shu to greet him.
Lin Shu understood and took the initiative to introduce: "Dad, he is Wen Jiarong, the head of the North Factory."
Si Yuan nodded. What a coincidence! He met the original male protagonist Wen Jiarong as soon as he returned to the capital.
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