CH 103

The so-called having a just cause, Lin Yuan actually didn’t quite understand it. After all, modern people preferred to believe that power came from the barrel of a gun, but the ancients didn’t seem to think so, just like the Xiao Ming Emperor, or other rebels. They must all hold up a banner, either that of the noble descendant of the Song Dynasty, or that of a god descended to the earth, it was always necessary to find a good-sounding reason for oneself, even if the reason was ridiculous, it was better than no reason.

Moreover, it was always easy for ordinary people to believe in these weird titles. So long as ordinary people believed it, their goal would be achieved. As for scholars, they were a minority, and it didn’t matter whether they believed it or not.

Probably having already transmigrated over for quite some time, Lin Yuan’s thinking gradually approached that of the people in this era.

But it was not so much that his thinking became close to theirs, it was that once something happened, what Lin Yuan thought was how to implement his plan in a way that was easy for the people to accept.

Dictatorship was simple for him. The people sincerely believed that he was a bodhisattva who descended to the world, and what the bodhisattvas said was naturally what they should listen to. As for whether it was right——this was not something they bothered to consider.

But Lin Yuan himself hoped that his dictatorship would be more humane, and he did not want to end up being a political machine without emotions.

“My Lord, a letter from General Chen.” The servant handed it over, bowed his head and retreated.

After reading the letter, a smile stretched at the corners of Lin Yuan’s mouth. He handed the letter to Song Shizhao. Song Shizhao read through it and said, “Congratulations, my Lord, you have a wise general!”

There were several types of generals.

Fierce generals, tiger generals, and wise generals.

Fierce generals were common, tiger generals were rare, and wise generals were even rarer.

There were people who were not afraid of death and dared to put their lives on the line, but there were not many people who were not afraid of death, dared to put their lives on the line, and possessed intelligence. People who were calm, intelligent, and attentive to detail were even fewer.

Lin Yuan smiled and said, “I thought my nanny brother and my sworn brother were the same kind of people.”

Song Shizhao’s expression became a bit distorted.

He knew who Lin Yuan was talking about, Li Congrong! A person who had been foolish for half his life but had impressively good luck. And although foolish, he was very loyal to Lin Yuan, so among so many generals, Li Congrong had the most carefree life.

Other generals were afraid to marry a wife because of various worries, and even did not dare to touch the maidservants.

Only Li Congrong, who fell in love with the daughter of a small household and followed after that lady like a bum beetle. However, he also paid attention to etiquette and never been alone with her unaccompanied, but he never held back in giving her gifts either. That family had fled over from another region and was quite poor. Li Congrong just caught a glance at her on the street and decided that he fell in love at first sight and that he would not marry anyone else but her.

The gifts he sent were all kinds and varied, ranging from small to large, small ones being pots and pans, as well as bed sheets and bedding.

The large items included tables, chairs and stools, as well as some gold and silverware. He also sent food and money, and was very happy in the gifting.

He was happy, but he almost didn’t scare the woman’s family to death.

After all, this was a big general and their daughter was from a small family. The family thought that Li Congrong was just looking for a concubine.

Was it so easy to be a concubine? If they were in other places, they might actually agree. After all, the daughter could shelter the family after marrying over. But under the South Bodhisattva’s rule, so long as they were willing to work, they would not starve to death even if they were crippled and lacked arms or legs. There was no need to sell their daughter for a living.

So the more generously Li Congrong pursued, the more frightened the family became.

In the end, it was Yang Zi’an’s idea to tell Li Congrong to go and sing a serenade outside the wall of their courtyard, which finally caused the daughter of that family to sprout amorous feelings. Thus, Li Congrong finally managed to marry the beauty.

Lin Yuan was in a daze when he heard about it.

With Li Congrong’s tone-deaf singing, a voice that would even sound like a granny’s when singing a simple ballad, just how did he use this to capture a wife?

This was simply a bizarre and fantastical event.

Among the several generals, Li Congrong turned out to be the first to marry, and it really shocked many people’s jaws into dropping. After all, Li Congrong’s mouth never had much tact, and his reputation outside might not even be as good as Chen Baisong who was known as a death god.

Song Shizhao sometimes felt that Li Congrong had put all the luck in this life on the matter of sworn brothers.

He could also be regarded as having a wise eye and recognizing a diamond in the rough, joining Lin Yuan when he was still an ordinary landowner.

It was said that adding flowers to brocade was easy, but it was difficult to send charcoal in snowy weather. So long as Li Congrong did not make a big mistake in this life, Lin Yuan would not move against him.

It could be seen that a foolish person had foolish luck indeed, not to mention that this foolish person also had some ability to lead soldiers and never formed factions. He could even be called a pure official.

Sometimes a person’s luck was really unpredictable, and Song Shizhao was also a little envious.

How much effort did he put in to become Lin Yuan’s confidant?

But look at Li Congrong, he didn’t have to work hard, just showed his true feelings. After all, a fool couldn’t pretend to be a genius. The more foolish he was, the more assured the person at the top would be, moreover he also had his own intelligence.

Since Lin Yuan moved to Gaoyou, he had ceased to call Lin Yuan as his sworn brother. He now called Lin Yuan ‘my Lord’ or ‘Boss’. He didn’t need the name of a sworn brother to seek benefits for himself. Towards this kind of person, it was not surprising that Lin Yuan favored him.

Song Shizhao suddenly said: “General Chen has matured.”

Previously, Chen Baisong could only fight wars, and he hadn’t read many books on warfare. Fighting was all based on his own intuition. And what was shocking was that his intuition was always accurate.

Lin Yuan sat down to drink tea and looked out the window: “I haven’t been out for a walk for a while.”

Song Shizhao was startled, and quickly said: “My Lord! It’s dangerous outside. Without me or a general it doesn’t matter much, but without you it is different! The noble son does not sit in the hall in person!”

Lin Yuan: “…..I didn’t plan to wander around just anywhere either, I mean, I intend to personally go to Ru Ning, and I will come back when the resettlement is completed.”

Song Shizhao breathed a sigh of relief, he was only afraid that Lin Yuan would refuse to listen and did things willfully.

“I have been idle for a long time, and even my bones are now brittle.” Lin Yuan let out a lazy stretch. Only in front of Song Shizhao, he was so careless about his image, always having to present himself decently outside.

The people loved a bodhisattva-like leader.

This “Bodhisattva” title has now become something concrete. He had to wear a compassionate smile, like a perfect statue. He only needed to be a little more stiff and he could be worshipped at the altar.

Lin Yuan had been acting the part for a long time, and over time, it really felt a bit like he had become the part.

Sometimes when facing the surface of waters, he could be startled by his own smile in the reflection, which aroused goosebumps all over him.

Too horrifying! Was it really him in the reflection? That smile was almost like that of a perverted murderer in a horror movie.

But the people seem to like this kind of thing. So long as Lin Yuan showed such a smile to them, they would want nothing more than to offer Lin Yuan two sticks of incense immediately and place Lin Yuan on a pedestal.

Lin Yuan himself felt that he was becoming more and more unfamiliar. He was also afraid that he would embark on a path of no return. He chose to go to Ru Ning and was not prepared to take the familiar people around him.

Besides, Chen Baisong was the nanny brother of the original owner, and the relationship with the original owner was different from others. Although Chen Baisong was half-servant and half-brother, the original owner had a good temper and a good heart. He had never treated Chen Baisong with the requirements of a servant. Therefore, Chen Baisong had no fear of Lin Yuan today.

In getting along with such a person, Lin Yuan would not break away from the category of “human”.

The people around him, including Song Shizhao, no longer regarded him as a human being. They all saw him as an all-knowing and almighty God.

Only Lin Yuan knew in his heart that he was just taking advantage of his transmigration side-benefits.

If he didn’t have any memory of history, he would just be an ordinary person. Perhaps he would still be holed up in the countryside struggling to make a livelihood, and every day looking forward to when he could go back to the modern times. After all, there was no famine in modern times. One could make a livelihood with one’s own hands and feet.

The more he thought about it, the more panic Lin Yuan felt.

He was walking on a very narrow road, and he was also deceiving himself while deceiving others.

It was like when a liar lied to others. After having lied too much, even they themselves believed it.

One of his former colleagues was quite good looking, but with good working abilities. However, he had a clever mouth, and managed to date a rich second-generation girlfriend.

The girlfriend was fat and had a bad temper. She always beat and scolded when in a bad mood. She would even smash tableware and flip tables in front of an outsider while angry. So his colleague could only coax and say things like “I love you the most in my life” and “You are my darling, I can’t do anything without you.”

Having said such things so often, his colleague even believed it himself. Lin Yuan personally watched as his colleague was being tormented into a trance, while muttering that he loved his girlfriend.

They got married in the end, and Lin Yuan was also invited to visit his home as a guest.

His colleague had carried his wife, who did not want to eat, in a princess hold out of the room.

His colleague was one hundred and forty pounds, and his wife was one hundred and eighty pounds.

Once, his colleague became drunk, and when his wife was absent, he sobbed in pain while at the same time expressing his love and loyalty to his wife.

The men in the whole work unit all had lingering fears from his crying fit.

Lin Yuan also got goosebumps at the time.

The highest rank of a liar was that he himself also believed in his lies.

Lin Yuan felt that he also seemed to be making his way to being a high-ranking liar now.

Song Shizhao said from the side: “My Lord, it is still best to bring more people, if there is danger on the road…..”

Lin Yuan nodded, he would not joke about his life: “Mister, don’t worry, I have my own measures, but I must trouble Mister to look after things here.”

Only now did Song Shizhao discover that with Lin Yuan leaving, he was the biggest figure here. At that time no matter how he wanted to make it difficult for Wu Changqing, he could do as he wished. Song Shizhao blinked his eyes and instantly felt extremely excited.

“Although Wu Changqing has a lot of problems, I still have to use him. Muster, don’t just leave me half a person when I come back.” Lin Yuan reminded him with a smile on his face.

Song Shizhao held his breath: “We are officials under the same lord. Although there are some conflicts between District Head Wu and I, it is not impossible to resolve…..”

Lin Yuan interrupted him: “However, with his temperament, Mister can temper it a bit, don’t let him remain so proud and arrogant.”

Song Shizhao was excited again.

Lin Yuan smiled helplessly.

How could he not know that Song Shizhao’s hostility towards Wu Changqing was purposely shown to him? It might not be a pretense, but of the ten points of hostility Song Shizhao felt towards Wu Changqing, only about three points were likely true.

The other just wanted to reassure him that these officials with real power would not collude and commit crimes.

The harder they fight among themselves, the more it would benefit Lin Yuan.

Lin Yuan knew, but he could only pretend not to know.

In life, there were times one needed to be seldomly muddleheaded.

AN: This is probably similar to me. Although I know that my cat just likes the dried fish that I feed, I just pretend not to know and think that my cat just likes me. (TN: LOL)