CH 62

“What?!”

After hearing Lin Xiaotang’s words, everyone was stunned.

This group of bandits never imagined that they would kick the iron plate today.

What kind and helpless little lady? This was certainly a bigger robber who was more ruthless than they were!

Some people were moved by Lin Xiaotang’s appeal, while others were not pleased.

Lin Xiaotang, on the other hand, was unconcerned about their opinions.

They couldn’t beat her anyway.

Wasn’t it true that in this kind of setting, whomever has the bigger fist listens to whoever?

As a result of her force, these bandits had no choice but to acquiesce to her request and transport them to their stockade.

On the plus side, the woman has pledged to raise them.

Lin Xiaotang arrived at the mountain soon, guided by these people, and observed their so-called stockade.

She took a look around and noticed that there were just a few modest dwellings, most of which were thatched cottages and a few were made of stones.

There were two caves a little further away.

Some elderly women, holding farming tools, were working on a newly opened field.

Lin Xiaotang had previously detested these bandits because they were weak.

When she got to the top of the mountain, she realised they were already the strongest people in the stockade.

Ragged old ladies, grey guys, skinny kids…

Rather than calling them mountain bandits, it was more accurate to call them refugees.

“A-hu, who exactly are these people?”

A graceful scholar came over while Lin Xiaotang was observing the area and asked in confusion.

“Mr. Li, this is Miss Lin, the future owner of the stockade.”

The young man named “A-hu” recounted the general process of the matter.

When A Hu said that Lin Xiaotang was going to occupy the stockade to raise these people, Mr. Li showed a suspicious look: “Isn’t this really a joke? You haven’t been cheated of money, have you?”

Lin Xiaotang: “……”

There wasn’t a need to be so straightforward.

Mr. Li ultimately relaxed his guard after confirming repeatedly that Lin Xiaotang was not lying and truly desired to be a bandit leader.

Despite the fact that he didn’t say anything, his glance towards Lin Xiaotang turned odd.

In further detail, it’s like looking at someone who was both ignorant and wealthy.

Lin Xiaotang: “……”

Despite his odd demeanour, Mr. Li was fairly valuable in explaining the situation at Hulu Mountain.

Lin Xiaotang immediately learned how this squad of “bandits” appeared thanks to Mr. Li.

They were initially villagers in a village at the foot of Hulu Mountain, but the local government and various levies were oppressive, paired with the drought, they were unable to harvest anything.

Their situation grew even more despairing when the county magistrate’s son beat the locals to death and forcibly took away the women from the village.

Mr. Li was an academic. Because his family was poor, he did not pursue his studies, but instead established a school near the village to teach the youngsters there to read.

When the locals’ dissatisfaction grew, he advised them to be robbers on the mountain to avoid taxation.

Mr. Li, who has read books, was smarter than the illiterate villagers.

The world now wasn’t peaceful; internal and external conflicts abound, and bandits emerge endlessly.

As long as there was no significant incident, the court typically turns a blind eye to robbers like them who were merely seeking to make money and not endanger people’s lives.

The local county magistrate, on the other hand, would merely hide the affairs of Hulu Village to the death in order to receive high ratings in the performance review, and would not send troops to deal with them at all.

“I know it’s wrong, but this year’s harvest is far too small. Two village children died of starvation.” Speaking of this, Mr. Li felt helpless, saying, “If they go up the mountain, they might only survive a few days at most.However, if they don’t get up the mountain, they won’t even live past this year.”

His rhetoric was designed to sell miserably, yet Lin Xiaotang still listened to it.

She could feel that this Mr. Li was a very kind person.

A scholar, as long as he has the heart to just dawdle, would not live a bad life, especially if he was a teacher who ran a school.

But, in order to assist these folks, Mr. Li gave up his cushy life and took the initiative to move up the mountain.

Furthermore, the ability to offer such a recommendation demonstrated that he was not a naive and loyal person, but rather a gutsy one.

It’s only that raising this set of people, as well as raising them up, would not be easy.

“Mother, what we should do…”

Looking at this desolate place, Lin Yiyi couldn’t help but ask in a hushed tone.

She was still quite enthusiastic when she first heard that her mother was going to rob the stockade, thinking that her mother was going to do something great.

In the end, these people’s dwellings appear to be more run-down than their modest home?

“Don’t worry,” Lin Xiaotang said calmly, much more so than her daughter. “Let’s keep doing what you’re doing.”

Lin Xiaotang did not wish to utilise her unusual skill to intimidate these common folks.

She had also been training hard in past worlds to apply the knowledge she gained to deal with the enemy.

In fact, it appeared that her terrifying ability could now be put to use.

“Usual business trade?”

When Li Xiucai heard what Lin Xiaotang said, he looked perplexed: “Miss Lin, aren’t you going to let us continue to be bandits?”

Lin Xiaotang answered, “Of course.”

Being a bandit is tedious, and it is easy to be targeted by the court at first sight. If the cause was significant, there was a 80% chance of the imperial court dispatching troops to destroy them.

If you want to do it, do something obscure that will be tough for others to notice.

“Then what do you want to do?” When Scholar Li felt something was wrong, he immediately inquired.

Lin Xiaotang gave a faint smile and said, “Build a religion.”

Time flies, and in a blink of an eye, three years have passed.

The drought had not been relieved in the last three years, the treasury was still empty, and border battles had erupted on occasion.

Civil uprising organisations arose one after the other, and they were all repressed by the imperial court.

The southern regions were often far more comfortable than the tumultuous north.

Nowadays, a cult known as the “Tanghua Sect” was stealthily spreading among the people at the bottom wrung.

This sect’s origins were unknown, supposedly to be a gathering of desperate poor people who dreamed of something horrific while sleeping.

When they were terrified by those terrifying scenes, the deity of Tanghua Sect came.

The goddess came down from the sky, drove away the darkness, drove away the fear, and saved them from hell.

She promised those poor people that if they believed in her and joined the Tanghua Sect, they would be able to obtain food and education.

In the face of such a weird dream, the poor folks selected without hesitation to join Tanghua Sect.

But as they awoke one by one and followed the goddess’s guidance in the dream to the Holy Land of Tanghua Sect, they encountered a woman who looked precisely like the goddess and received the food she gave!

The woman claimed to be the goddess’ believer, Her messenger in the mortal world, and the Tanghua religion saintess.

As long as their hearts were pious enough, after seven days, she would give them a crop called “potatoes” and teach them how to grow and nurture them.

And this type of crop may easily produce 1000 kilogrammes per sqm, which was plenty to feed their family.

“As long as you sincerely believe in the goddess, we don’t need you to provide money and sacrifices,” the saint explained, “what the goddess needs are believers who truly love her.”

The saint further stated that the goddess was unconcerned about her reputation and simply wished to make people aware of her existence.

As a result, once they joined the Tanghua Sect, they couldn’t tell anyone about it because doing so would enrage the goddess and cause her to take back everything she had given them.

In order to be able to eat enough, these poor people strictly abide by the teachings.

The outside world would not have known that such a hidden group existed unless a cultist drank too much wine a few days earlier and mistakenly disclosed his statements.

When the Tanghua Sect story was published, it sparked an uproar among the folks at the bottom.

Stories having mythical overtones in such traditions have always been popular with the general people.

One by ten, ten by a hundred, and ordinary people in many locations have faintly heard the name Tanghua Sect.

They were excited to join the Tanghua Sect, become believers, and receive the goddess’ favour.

A woman sat silently watching the secret information in her palm thousands of miles away, on the former Hulu Mountain, now part of the Tanghua Sect Holy Land.

The majority of the above content was gathered secretly by the oldest group of Tanghua Sect believers, and the main content was information from various places, as well as the degree of Tanghua Sect publicity among the general public.

The story of the Tanghua group has recently become highly popular, and many people have expressed a strong desire to join the group.

“The information of the Tanghua Sect will soon reach the capital,” a scholar beside the woman stated. “Saintess Lin, what should we do next?”

“Let’s just let it go,” the woman said lightly. “If the court intends to target us, then prepare to attack the nearby towns.”

They recharged their energy for so long, for this day of the uprising.

“As ordered.”

The scholar’s expression did not change in the slightest after hearing such rebellious words.

He nodded calmly, indicating that he understood.

This “Saintess Lin” and the scholar was naturally Lin Xiaotang and Scholar Li.

However, three years later, their identities had already undergone earth-shaking changes.

Li Xiucai’s countenance changed dramatically after learning that Lin Xiaotang was planning to start a religion, and he almost ran away.

This was no laughing matter!

Li Xiucai eventually stayed after seeing Lin Xiaotang’s martial prowess and discovering that Lin Xiaotang was teaching the people on the mountain how to sow farms, build houses, and build roads.

He had a feeling that the gorgeous woman in front of him would go on to have a successful career.

And his intuition was correct.

Lin Xiaotang’s subsequent acts demonstrated her erudition and brilliance to him.

Lin Xiaotang did not proceed directly to publicise any teachings at first, because she suspected Hulushan’s position might be bad.

The first thing she did was to try to make the people on Hulu Mountain stronger.

In the last world, Lin Xiaotang was a researcher who had won many heavyweight awards and had acquired a lot of knowledge.

Whether it’s smelting metal or forging iron, she knows a little bit.

Even if the ancient technology was outdated, and the starting place of Hulu Mountain was not ideal, she never imagined that these factors would hinder her plans.

Because of her efforts, the population of Hulu Mountain has progressively expanded, and many people have settled here.

Lin Xiaotang’s religious strategy began when she had two or three hundred soldiers in her hands, after much cultivating and ultimately finding the two crops of potatoes and maize.

Her plan was to go the “poor route” and recruit believers from the bottom.

Lin Xiaotang believed that the condition of the people on Hulu Mountain was not an exception.

In this world, there were many more people who are generally in a state of being bullied.

And what these desperate people want was to be able to eat and wear warm clothes and never have to go hungry again.

As long as they were given hope of living, they will become her most loyal followers.

Lin Xiaotang deliberated for a long time before deciding to copy the plot of “Fairy dream” commonly found in folk stories and recruit her first group of believers, taking into account the peculiarities of the people at the bottom and in order not to alert the authrorities.

It just so happened that she possessed the power to control dreams.

Those desperate people invested in the Tanghua Sect, formed by Lin Xiaotang, under the design of a blend of dream and reality.

They were even more appreciative after waiting seven days for the fabled holy fruit “potato” from Lin Xiaotang and bowed down and kowtowed to her.

With this help, most of the commoners near Hulu Mountain became members of Tanghua Sect.

Simultaneously, Lin Xiaotang frequently utilised the saintess’s name to give chores to such believers.

The most usual was for them to dig wells and reclaim wasteland around their hometowns, or to build canals near their homes.

As a reward for completing the assignment, she taught them how to grow crops such as maize and cotton.

Normally, she also spreaded “oracles” in the form of dreams to these followers, imparting some fundamental scientific knowledge to assist them live a better life.

Lin Xiaotang had the impression that she was putting on a holy mask while working on infrastructure.

Tanghua Sect’s name could be altered to “Science and Education Institution” to be more fitting.

However, that didn’t matter.

What Tanghua taught, after all, was just a tool she used to attract people’s hearts and rise up.

The only problem was that the beliefs of these people seem to be too religious…

They strictly abide by Lin Xiaotang’s teachings, do not reveal the existence of Tanghua Sect, but silently believe in the religion themselves.

Two years have passed, and there were hundreds of thousands of followers of Tanghua Sect, and potatoes have gradually become one of the staple foods of the majority of the people.

But in the outside world, there was no rumours about Tanghua Sect.

Lin Xiaotang: “…”

She didn’t even know how they did it.

She could only helplessly prepare for someone to play the drunk man and announce Tanghua Sect’s condition.

She would have enough reasons to revolt if the imperial court took action.

They had prepared sufficiently after three years of planning.

It was not difficult to keep secrets all of the time. It was time to expose her in public and recruit more individuals in the name of the rebel army.

“Mother, I heard that we are finally going to fight?”

At this time, a girl’s crisp voice suddenly came from outside.

Immediately afterwards, a young girl in training clothes walked in.

Compared with other girls from aristocratic families who pursue fairness, her skin was a healthy wheat color, with a pair of piercing black almond eyes, and she was holding a long red spear in her hand.