TN: Should I even warn for some slightly disturbing content? I mean this is a historical fiction taking place during a turbulent period in history and the author is quite realistic about the situation. Anway, a certain section in the first half of the chapter is slightly disturbing, squeamish folks, you have been warned.

In the end, it was the San zi who went out. Lin Yuan didn’t relent on his decision despite Wu Yuelian’s initiative. From his point of view, San zi was obviously better at this kind of mission than Wu Yuelian. As a minor bandit, San zi was not so courageous. Physically he was also thin, short-armed and short-legged, there was almost no sound when he ran, and his eyesight was very good. Lin Yuan had given them all a simple vision test earlier.

You c an fi nd t he la te st cha pte rs at ( th e bl mu se . c o m )

Most people here have different degrees of vision problems. Many people think that because the ancients did not touch electronic products, waking up at the sunrise and sleeping at sunset, the vision would definitely be better than most modern people.

But in fact, some of them have been malnourished since childhood. And if they want to do something after nightfall, the poor use the moonlight, while the richer use the oil lamp, and none of them have access to glasses. Therefore, the weakness of their eyesight was inevitable.

Many people have night blindness, it was just a matter of severity.

San zi left hesitantly, one step at a time. He bent his waist, tucked in his neck, and walked out through the narrow door behind.

This narrow gate could only allow one person to pass through and this person cannot be too fat or too bulky. San zi was already considered thin among men, but it was still a bit difficult to get out.

Lin Yuan sat in the clearing and felt his emotions calmed down a lot. He didn’t seem to be afraid of having enemies anymore, as if he had completely accepted this fate.

From the time he transmigrated to here, he worked hard to do what he could do. Although he told himself that the Yuan Dynasty was going to fall, the land was going to be up in chaos, and those who had the ability could reap in the profits.

But he still couldn’t help but doubt himself.

Yes, doubt.

He wondered if he could do it.

In fact, thinking about it carefully, Zhu Yuanzhang, the founding emperor of the Ming Dynasty, had a very bumpy first half of his life. The education he received was irregular and not a formal education. In this era, any scholar could win against him, but he still became the emperor, and countless scholars could only bow down to him.

How much advantage can modern people’s theoretical knowledge have when taken to the ancient times?

Talk about gender equality?

Everyone would think he was crazy.

He had previously mentioned a joke “who said women are inferior to men” to Qiu Niang, and Qiu Niang looked at him with an incredulous look.

Invent the train and cannon? He thought about it, but the fact was that he knew nothing about the process.

He knew steam power, but he didn’t know how to build a steam train.

If the one that came here was an all-round engineering boss, maybe he could have opened up another path.

But the heavens just sent him, a liberal arts student.

Was he better than Zhu Yuanzhang? Better than Fang Shicheng?

Lin Yuan searched in his heart, no, he was no better than anyone.

To be precise, he was weaker than them, and much weaker.

Because even if he knew the history, he could actually do very little, but Zhu Yuanzhang and the others don’t need to know the history. They seem to be born with a gene, and this gene prompts them to do different things under different circumstances.

Most people in this world were creatures of profit, pursuing personal interests and family interests. They can’t do big things, but they also don’t make big mistakes.

Zhu Yuanzhang and the others were the smallest group of people. They were born as creatures of power, creatures of politics.

They have more keen insight than ordinary people, and they also understand better than ordinary people how to get more support from the people.

Lin Yuan looked at the white clouds up in the sky and fiddled with the blades of grass in his hands. His mood was more peaceful. It seemed that since he admitted that he was not that strong, the burden in his heart had been lightened a lot. Since coming here he had always had this feeling that, standing on the shoulders of giants, he will definitely do better than the ancient natives, so every time he did something, he would think and deduct repeatedly.

But actually, after figuring out that was not the case he let go of it all, releasing the shackles he had put on himself.

Just take one step at a time, in any case, this second chance at life was gifted freely to him.

Even if at the end, he was submerged in the torrent of the times, it would just be an established destiny.

San zi was crawling in the grass, scared and nervous. It was the first time he acted as a scout——as the boss called it, though he still didn’t understand what a scout meant. He lay motionless in the grass, and even when a bug crawled over his body and face he did not move at all.

It was as if he was just a rock by the roadside.

He was still looking, carefully listening for the sound of footsteps and movements around.

After he confirmed his safety, he quickly stood up, and started to run.

While running, San zi also observed the road ahead, where there were branches and where there was mud, he could see clearly. Stepping on the soft soil, feet avoiding all the branches. For the sake of his life, even if there should be no one around, he still made sure to not make a noise.

Timidity and fear became his capital for survival at this time.

After finally seeing brother Dao and Zhu Yuanzhang and the others, San zi’s heart finally dropped back down from his throat.

“Captain Li, Captain Zhu.” San zi felt that it was safe so his back straightened a little bit. He reported the news on the group of bandits stationed outside the farmstead, and then quickly relayed Lin Yuan’s plan.

San zi had a very good memory. He didn’t need brush and paper. Once he remembered, he could repeat it verbatim: “Boss said, after you get closer, the farmstead will raise the red flag, which is the signal. The city gate will then open, and together we attack those people on both sides.”

Li Congrong and the others came back with the things Chen Half-Immortal and the others needed. At this moment, they could only first find a place to hide the things——these things were not easy to buy, as now people cannot even eat fully, let alone these things that cannot be eaten. Having said that, it was also common for high-ranking officials to support a few Daoist priests, including quite a few alchemists, but not every high-ranking official support a personal group of alchemists, especially such a large group.

They bought it from an old Daoist, and the Daoist asked for a low price, but he only accepted grain, coarse grains and fine grains. Coarse grains were the best, as the quantity was large. If they were old grains, even better as he could trade for more.

The old Daoist needed to support more than himself. His Daoist temple had more than 20 small turnip heads, all children who have no parents or mothers. They had followed the old Daoist since childhood and learned their skills from the old Daoist.

Daoist temples were different from Buddhist temples. Many Daoist temples were actually unoffical temples. In difficult times, the court will not give them a grain of rice.

Buddhist temples also have unofficial ones, but as long as one enter an official Buddhist temple, such as Huangjue Temple, there will be food provided from the court.

Li Congrong really wanted to bring back the old Daoist and the group of small turnip heads. He was a bit smarter now. He felt that if he brought these people back, fourth brother will definitely be able to use them.

It was a pity that the old Daoist did not agree.

But in these times, it was normal to disagree.

The days outside were now even more difficult. When they came back, they passed by a village, the men rushed out to stop them while the women opened up their clothes revealing their chest and told them they could touch for just some beans, if they wanted to do something more, then they will have to give a handful of grains.

They depended on this for a living.

Before that, they were probably just simple villagers in marital harmony. If other men even looked at their wives they would hit them.

When Li Congrong watched them wait for their wives and other men to finish their business with numb expressions, and then hunched over to ask for the promised grains, a chill rose from the bottom of his feet to the top of his head.

It was not only women, but also some men who were good-looking.

What they want was just a bite of food that can allow them to stave hunger pains.

He also saw with his own eyes a boy with slender arms and legs being pressed down by a strong man. After the strong man left, the boy’s butt was covered in blood, but he still crawled to the grains left behind by the strong man, shoveling it into his mouth with his hands. The food was not washed or boiled, and was chewed directly in the mouth.

As for whether he will die, he probably doesn’t care about it himself, only whether his belly can be full.

It was clearly already spring, but the vitality seemed to have not arrived.

Everyone thought that after the beginning of spring, with wild vegetables to be found, everyone could at least live a little bit better.

But the belief was just a belief.

Li Congrong didn’t know why, but he also felt a sense of sadness. If he wasn’t lucky, if it wasn’t for fourth brother selecting a good location for the farmstead, where would he be now?

Become a refugee or become a bandit, or just like the people in the village, find a wife and ask her to sell her body for food?

“Brother Dao?” Zhu Yuanzhang called him.

Only then did Li Congrong come back to his senses.

Zhu Yuanzhang said to Li Congrong: “We go from here, they are here.”

Zhu Yuanzhang drew a simple map on the ground, which Li Congrong could also understand.

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After determining the direction and tactics, they first hid the things they had to bring back, and then the group proceeded forward cautiously like thieves. All of them wore green vine armor, which was also a natural protective coloration in the spring woods.

A bit like camouflage clothing.

Lin Yuan stood on the observation deck and watched carefully. Now he was not alone on the observation deck. Everyone had to watch the surroundings intently. After all, they didn’t know where Li Congrong and Zhu Yuanzhang would come out.

“They’re here!” someone yelled.

Lin Yuan: “Raise the flag!”

A red flag was raised from the observation deck.

Brother Dao saw it, as did the group of people waiting outside the city wall.

As soon as Lin Yuan raised the flag, the city gate opened.

Everyone charged out at that moment. They were used to following Lin Yuan’s instructions, rushing wherever Lin Yuan pointed. Some were timid, but when everyone around them was charging forward, they could only follow the crowd.

Zhu Yuanzhang raised his knife, he kicked the person in front of him with one foot, and with the tip of the knife facing down, he pierced the enemy’s chest.

Then someone behind him was about to make a sneak attack with a knife, and Zhu Yuanzhang was about to draw his knife, but that person had already been defeated.

Li Congrong’s blood stained face appeared: “You should change this habit of yours.”

Zhu Yuanzhang tugged the knife up from where it was embedded: “I’ll remember it next time.”

These people were not as easy to deal with as the people they met before. They were a group of real desperate criminals, well-armed and with tall and strong physiques. Maybe when they passed by, they saw Lin Yuan’s farmstead and developed covetuous desire. But as they didn’t have a siege device, they could only stay near the farmstead temporarily, waiting like snakes for their prey to reveal an opening.

Maybe it was because of the vine armor, maybe it was because of other reasons. The deaths and injuries this time were not as tragic as Lin Yuan had expected. Although close to 20 people died, and a dozen seriously injured, with the rest sporting large and small minor injuries.

However, none of the bandits survived.

Previously, he accepted the bandits lile San zi because they were at the bottom of the ladder. In other words, they weren’t really big evildoers. They just wanted to eat fully, following whoever that could provide them with food. Such a person was easy to subdue, so Lin Yuan would accept them. As for the obedience and sense of belonging, this can only be cultivated slowly.

But these bandits were different.

Their butcher knife could point to anyone.

Lin Yuan could not allow the gamble.

With such a big farmstead behind him and so many people in the farmstead, if he lost the bet, he would not be able to afford the consequences.

For the twenty people who died, Lin Yuan had people prepare simple coffins for them overnight, and buried them not far from the farmstead. The seriously injured were moved indoors where the women with the lightest hands and feet took care of them. The lightly injured was even simpler, just have them apply the medicine from time to time.

Li Congrong and Zhu Yuanzhang were also seriously injured. Fortunately, there were the medicinal herbs bought from Jiang Guang. There were several kinds of hemostatic medicinal herbs, all very useful. After two days, the wounds turned pink with no more bleeding and no purulent infection.

Lin Yuan had always paid great attention to the hygiene of the hospital ward.

All the clothes of the patients have to be boiled and disinfected, and the people who take care of the wounded were all women who had cleaned themselves thoroughly.

Although there were not many oral medicines left, Lin Yuan was quite generous providing them meat porridge almost every meal.

Some people even felt that it would not be a bad thing to live in the ward forever.

Of course……when they have to solve the three urgent problems (TN: refer to the natural body processes to urinate, defecate, and let out gas), it was the men who helped.

Chen Half-Immortal and the others naturally knew what had happened. When the fighting started outside, they hid trembling in the alchemy room. After the incident, they gathered together and discovered the importance of exploding the furnace for the first time.

If it really was like what Boss said, after adjusting the gunpowder recipe and then adding metal beads in it, then in the face of such conflicts and attacks, they will lose a lot less people using such a weapon.

After getting the things Li Congrong and the others brought back, Chen Half-Immortal and the others developed an unprecedented enthusiasm for work for the first time. They were holed up in the alchemy room almost all day long, even putting aside the production of fake jade. During meal times only one went to the cafeteria to bring take outs back for everyone, returning to the alchemy room to continue experimenting.

Lin Yuan also went to see it once and found that their method of adjusting the formula was actually quite scientific.

Because there was no accurate measurement tool, they use small wooden spoons. The size of these small wooden spoons was very consistent, and the error would not be too big. They would put them little by little, and the person next to them will record it.

When they felt that it was almost done, they took the small stove outside, sealed it, and lit the lead rope on fire.

Unfortunately, most of them just caught fire, but they did not explode.

Lin Yuan stayed with them all day, and found that they were eating steamed buns in their mouths but continued doing things with their hands, seeming completely wrapped up in their work. If they thought of something in the middle of the night, they rushed to the alchemy room to continue experimenting.

This group of people lost weight at a speed visible to the naked eye.

But their sacrifice did become fruitful.

On a day with clear blue sky, Lin Yuan received the best news in the past three years——

The homemade explosives were finally created.

Although simple and not very lethal, it could still explode and deter the enemy. To a certain extent, it was probably not enough as a weapon, but as a deterrent tool, its symbolic meaning was greater than its practical value.

Just like in the animal kingdom, many animals roar at each other before fighting to scare away the enemy.

In fact, people were also the same, but what people fear was different from what animals fear.

Chen Half-Immortal was also a little proud: “We have thought about the method you mentioned. You see, this bag is made with beads added.”

These beads were made by Wu Sansi. He had his own methods and experience with ironwork so it was not difficult to make beads of similar size.

In order to test the usefulness of explosives added with metal beads, Lin Yuan decided to sacrifice the simplest hut, and then threw the explosive into it after setting it on fire.

In an instant a loud noise was heard, and the top of the hut was blown up as a fire started to burn.

However, the fire was not too big, and Lin Yuan looked through the hut after the fire was put out.

Many beads were embedded in the wall. Although this shed was simple, the wall was still very strong. If this was a human body, even if they cannot penetrate through it, the beads will still be embedded in the body.

The addition of beads will increase the attack range and lethality of the explosives.

Lin Yuan was overjoyed, and as soon as he turned around, he enveloped Chen Half-Immortal, the wrinkly old man into a bear hug and patted his shoulder with excitement, “Half-Immortal! You have made a great contribution!”

Chen Half-Immortal himself was a little stunned. He really didn’t expect the explosives to be so powerful just by adding some beads.

“Boss……” Chen Half-Immortal swallowed, “that……is that really that pack of gunpowder I gave you?”

Lin Yuan nodded fiercely: “Yes! Half-Immortal, you are really amazing!”

Chen Half-Immortal got praised and finally became excited. Only now did he return to the ground from the sky, his feet finally landed on firm ground.

There were also many onlookers.

They were currently chatting and discussing.

“Good fellow! Such a loud noise! ​​I thought it was the dragon god sneezing!”

“Did you see that the roof was blown up!”

“It even went on fire!”

“This is truly incredible.”

“In the future, if anyone is still waiting outside our farmstead, we will throw a few packets of this and scare them to death.”

“That’s right!”

Lin Yuan was in a good mood and waved his hand, everyone could taste meat again today.

Although it was just a bowl of meat flavored broth, it was still a supreme enjoyment to occasionally find some minced meat within.

Regarding gunpowder, Lin Yuan felt that these Half-Immortals alone would not be able to keep up with production. They were already quite old so if the workload increased, he was afraid that they would kick the bucket one day. These were talents who can’t even be exchanged for gold and must be well protected.

So Lin Yuan asked Wu Yuelian to take a few women who were not pregnant to study under them as apprentices.

Of course, Chen Half-Immortal and the others would not accept. Who would accept female apprentices? What’s more, it was not to worship the Daoist school of thought, but to recognize him alone as a master. Don’t know how Wu Yuelian did it but after several days of persistence, Chen Half-Immortal and the others began to teach them reluctantly.

Lin Yuan asked the women to go learn for a reason.

Now the number of men was nearly 20 fewer, and he must find a way to supplement the numbers in the farmstead.

Also, men have to farm and train, and they really don’t have the time to learn how to make gunpowder as well.

Wu Yuelian and the others were different. They don’t have so much work, and they don’t need to go out to fight. The logistics of making gunpowder was just suitable for them. In addition women were always more careful, and the possibility of making mistakes will be reduced.

After the division of labor was clear, Lin Yuan called over Li Congrong, Jiang Gui and Zhu Yuanzhang to discuss recruitment.

In fact, if they recruit people in winter, it would cost less food, but now Lin Yuan couldn’t wait for winter, so he could only find a way now.

“Where is the merchant last time?” Jiang Gui asked, “He naturally has a way to buy people.”

Lin Yuan: “I don’t know where he lives.”

There was nowhere to find him.

Zhu Yuanzhang said again: “Or, I will take some people out looking again?”

Lin Yuan shook his head: “You still have to rest for a period of time. You have such a serious injury, if it rips open it will make it more troublesome.”

Zhu Yuanzhang touched his waist where there was a stab wound. Fortunately, it was treated in a timely manner so now it had begun to scab, and it was estimated to recover completely soon.

“When Jiang Guang brings the horses over, I’ll ask him to find some people for me.” Lin Yuan said, “If he doesn’t come, we have to go out and find people by ourselves.”

Jiang Gui suddenly said, “Why don’t you let me make the trip?”

They all looked at Jiang Gui.

Jiang Gui smiled and said: “I can pretend to be a taveling merchant. Not just buying people, I’ll also be faster at getting news than you here at the farmstead.”

“This is a good idea.”

“It needs to be planned in detail.”

Lin Yuan listened to them discussing, he needed people, and a lot of them. Their granary was full, and they have opened up all the surrounding lands that could be opened nearby so the harvest this autumn would be more than in previous years.

Lin Yuan planned on accepting another five hundred people to the farmstead, and wait until winter to accept another five hundred people.

Although a thousand people may not seem to be many, in fact, the armaments in each town were actually very small. With a thousand people, they could even attack a small city.

Lin Yuan was now waiting for Yang Zi’an to return. If he could bring Zhang Shicheng and his brothers, he could finally take the next step.

To attack and capture Xinghua.

There was a salt mine in Xinghua.

But it would have to wait for the Red Turbans to raise the flag of rebellion first.

Most of the imperial court’s forces will be directed at the Red Turban Army.

That way he would be able to hold onto Xinghua.

Zhang Shicheng, this person……

Lin Yuan felt it was hard to say right now. Zhang Shicheng was actually a very ordinary person. He had some talents and some kindness, but at the same time he also had the bad habits of ordinary people. After success, he became arrogant and proclaimed himself to be a king. On the one hand, he did business with the Yuan Dynasty, delivering food to Emperor Yuanshun, but at the same time he also asked the imperial court to recognize his status as a king.

However, in the early days Zhang Shicheng had some leadership ability, and he would not be afraid to stand up for his brothers, nor bow to power.

And would also pity the weak.

Robbing the rich and helping the poor, wanting to keep more people alive.

But when the power in his hands grew bigger and bigger, and more and more people followed him, with no one to voice objections, his whole person swelled up.

Most of the leaders of uprisings will go through this stage, but some people were able to suppress their egos, while other people really let their ego become inflated.

Lin Yuan didn’t doubt Zhang Shicheng’s original intentions. What he wanted at the beginning was likely not power. Living at the bottom of the social ladder, what he wanted was to live a life with food, clothing, and dignity, but when one’s power and influence grew stronger desire will also likewise increase.

Lin Yuan didn’t know if he will become like that one day.

You c an fi nd t he la te st cha pte rs at ( th e bl mu se . c o m )

He only hoped that if that day came for him too, someone around him would wake him up.

AN: In an uprising that originated among the lower class, leaders were especially prone to ego swelling. Many of them will proclaim themselves kings without even making sure their seat of power had stabilized or not. Then there will come conferment of empresses and concubines, ministers and officials. None of them succeeded in the end.

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Brother Dao and Zhu Yuanzhang have not returned yet, but Lin Yuan had encountered the most serious thing after transmigrating——several of the women who were rescued were about to give birth, and they weren’t full-term. All those who were about to give birth were premature, and Lin Yuan fearing a chain reaction, moved them to a separate room that was kept clean and sanitary. They were in labor pain for three days, and Lin Yuan was terrified for three days.

He was not a gynecologist in his previous life. He didn’t know how a woman gave birth!

You c an fi nd t he la te st cha pte rs at ( th e bl mu se . c o m )

Yang shi with Mother Chen and the Lin family servant women took care of those women. After all, they were the only experienced people in the farmstead now. Guo er’s birth mother, Yang shi’s personal maid, had experience and asked people to prepare scissors and hot water, as well as ginger——without ginseng slices, ginger slices would have to make do, although Lin Yuan doesn’t understand the scientific principle of the whole thing.

“Why do you want scissors?” Lin Yuan swallowed, feeling that the whole thing was rather bloody and violent. At this age, there was no suture operation. Can people still live if they cut their stomachs with scissors?

Mother Chen said while directing people: “If the fetal position is not correct, it must be cut out.”

Lin Yuan was taken aback: “Cut the belly?”

Mother Chen was also taken aback: “Don’t scare people, young master, that’s the belly. Can you survive if you cut it?”

Lin Yuan: “……Then where is that cut?”

Mother Chen was old after all, and she wasn’t like a young woman with thin skin, but she didn’t explain to Lin Yuan in detail, she just said: “There is always a place to cut, I just hope it won’t be used.”

Lin Yuan also said: “It’s best not to use it.”

If one bleeds heavily now, there was no way to survive.

He can only hope that the fates of those women will be good, and the heavens don’t let them suffer too much.

In the middle of the night, before dawn, someone in the yard called: “It’s broken! They’re about to give birth!”

Lin Yuan hurried out putting his outer clothes on the way.

It was obviously not his child, but he had the illusion that he was going to be a father. He was too nervous. He paced outside the door, and clutched the servant girl who walked out and asked: “Did they give birth yet?”

The servant girl looked anxious, but after all the question was from her own young master, she stopped and said: “There are two fetal positions in the right position, and one……the feet came out first.”

Lin Yuan’s vision went black.

Feet out first……

Isn’t that an incorrect fetal position?

If one didn’t handle it well, it could be deadly.

When a woman give birth to a child it was not the business of just one night sometimes. It was only when the rooster crowed and dawn arrived that Lin Yuan heard the first cry.

“It’s out! It’s a girl!”

The woman with the strongest body gave birth first.

Lin Yuan breathed a sigh of relief.

The second one was born in the afternoon and was a boy, but the boy was small and pitiful. Lin Yuan even felt that he was not as big as a puppy. The two women were still sleeping as they had spent too much energy on giving birth and were too exhausted to stay awake. The two infants were also cleaned up and placed next to their mothers. On the side a Lin family servant girl took care of them.

There was only the last one, who didn’t give birth even by the time it was night.

Mother Chen took out the scissors.

Lin Yuan was sitting in the yard with a dazed expression. Last night, he could still hear the hoarse scream of a woman, but today, the woman seemed to have little energy. The servant girl said she couldn’t even drink water. After about two hours, he heard a very low sob.

The servant girl walked out with a basin full of blood. She bowed to Lin Yuan and said in a very low voice, “Both mother and child are gone.”

Neither the child nor the adult survived. Lin Yuan fell and sat directly on the ground.

“The blood wouldn’t stop.” The servant girl had obviously never seen such a situation, her expression was similar to Lin Yuan.

“She told us to save the baby.”

“But even the baby wasn’t able to be saved.”

It was just an incorrect fetal position!

In modern times, it can be solved by caesarean section at most.

Even if there was heavy bleeding, modern medical treatment can save her life.

But now, when a woman gives birth, it was as if her child welcomes life while she welcomes death. On the day the woman was buried, even the heavens seemed to feel the sorrow of the loss of life. The pattering rain began to wet the soft land after the beginning of spring.

Lin Yuan had someone make a coffin and put the woman and her child to be buried together.

Lin Yuan heard the woman’s friend mention that she was the daughter of a carpenter’s family. She had already been engaged with a waiter in a restaurant, and only waited for the waiter to save up enough for a marriage.

The two of them were also childhood sweethearts. The people at the bottom level class were not as strict about men and women keeping a distance.

It was not unusual to talk to each other sometimes.

But in the end, the bandits came down the mountain. Her father died and her mother died. She was snatched to the mountains and defiled by the bandits.

The only conviction that supported her to continue living was to see the man who almost became her husband again.

She could not make it.

She finished the last journey of her life with regret.

Don’t know what she thought at the moment of her death. Lin Yuan stood in front of her tombstone, though it was called a tombstone, but it was actually just a wooden sign that could not stand up against the wind and rain and had to be replaced after a short time. Lin Yuan did not cremate her. People now think that cremation was a form of torture and curse, and after death the soul would be scattered and unable to be reincarnated so Lin Yuan respected the custom.

“The fate of humans is to be born, to grow old, to get sick and to die.” Old father Lin stood beside Lin Yuan and put a dish of wild fruit as an offering in front of the tombstone.

Old father Lin seemed to think of something, and said, “Your mother went like this back then.”

She gave birth to the baby, but she didn’t make it through herself.

Lin Yuan: “She was too young.”

When the baby was born, the mother of this body was only fifteen years old.

Old father Lin sighed.

In this age, fifteen was no longer young. Many people have already become mothers, and maybe their children were already one or two years old.

But they themselves have not even grown up yet.

Old father Lin: “I have already forgotten what she looked like.”

Lin Yuan turned his head to look at old father Lin. This was an authentic ancient Chinese traditional man. He had all the shortcomings of this type of man, as well as the strengths of this type of man. He was not a purely good person nor a purely bad person.

He was the type of person who can be seen everywhere while walking on the streets.

Old father Lin: “Fortunately, she had some good days before she left.”

At that time, the Lin family was at its most prosperous, they wore gold, silver, and silk, and had whatever they wanted. Old father Lin was never stingy with his women, and the mistress Yang shi would not treat them harshly.

Lin Yuan said: “Father, you are at this age already, from now on you should just be content with Mother and the others.”

Old father Lin pretended to put on a stern face: “You are bossing around your old dad!”

Lin Yuan: “I’m afraid you will commit a sin.”

Old father Lin did not speak.

He still remembered Lin Yuan’s mother, she was the worst sin he had made.

He believed in the underworld and the heavens, and also believed that Lin Yuan’s mother might be waiting for him below.

With that pair of big eyes she would ask him: “Master, what about the jewelry you promised for Xing Niang?” Xing Niang was a bought servant. She entered the Lin family at the age of six. She started in the kitchens and over time, she might have become a skillful lady on the stove, marry a male servant of the same background, and give birth to a child in the Lin family.

But she was taken by old father Lin. The newly grown girl had big and bright eyes, as if she had never had any troubles, she would sing beautiful country tunes, and still be beautiful and lovely without any makeup and powder.

After being with old father Lin, Xing Niang went to the inner courtyard to take care of Yang shi’s food. She would massage Yang shi’s leg and act like a baby to Yang shi, telling her that she had learned how to make a new type of cake.

Yang shi occasionally rewarded her with some jewelry. At that time, Xing Niang seemed like she had received the best thing in the world.

Before giving birth, she even said to Yang shi: “Mistress, if I have a baby boy, then I will give him to be raised by Mistress.”

“Mistress, have him show you filial respect.”

Old father Lin sighed and touched the corner of his eye: “I’m getting old.”

Lin Yuan patted old father Lin on the shoulder.

Old father Lin: “Cheeky.” (TN: Literally he said ‘no big no small’ which is an expression for referring to someone who treat their elders as if treating their peers, hence cheeky or impudent)

Both newborns were born prematurely, and their bodies were not comparable to those of full-term infants. The girl infant was healthier than the boy infant. The boy was born two days ago and still did not open his eyes. Most people felt that the boy might die.

The women still with big bellies were frightened by the woman who had died in childbirth. They occasionally held their stomachs in a daze.

Lin Yuan heard that many women have told their friends their last words.

For example, if they want to offer offerings after they die, which fruits were best.

If possible, could their friends burn more paper money for them during the holidays.

Lin Yuan felt very sad when he heard that.

It would be nice if he was a gynecologist, even if there were no surgical instruments here, he could still help a little.

Mother Chen comforted him: “Young master, women have to pass this hurdle eventually!”

“When I gave birth to Niu Dan, I also felt that I wouldn’t make it, but when I saw Niu Dan, I had the strength to continue.”

Lin Yuan didn’t give birth to a child, he couldn’t empathize at all!

But in this era where death was common, there was no such thing as holding sorrow for the dead for too long. Life must still continue. If one person died, even if all people died, the earth will not stop turning.

Just when it was still two days away from the promised tenth day of brother Dao and the others’ return, the people on the observation deck suddenly sounded the horn.

In the middle of the night, everyone ran out of the bed.

Both the men and women were frowning, standing on the center square of the farmstead without saying a word.

Lin Yuan: “The men follow me to get weapons, pregnant women hide in the house, and those who are not pregnant follow me to get weapons as well.”

Although a woman can’t have the strength of a man, having a weapon will still mean an extra layer of guarantee.

Fortunately, there were still a lot of knives in the warehouse.

Most of the men who stayed in the farmstead now have been part of the raid on the bandits last time. After the experience, they were not particularly flustered now.

“We have a city wall. They won’t be able to break in for a while. Even if they do, our people are not less than them.” Lin Yuan cheered them up, “Li Congrong and Zhu Yuanzhang are also on their way back, as long as we hold for these two days. When the time comes, we will act together to attack from inside and outside, eliminating the enemy outside in one fell swoop. You can once again eat your fill for several days.”

There was nothing more motivating than food.

The men shouted in excitement.

The women seem to be much more at ease as well.

Lin Yuan climbed up to the observation deck. Sure enough, when he ascended to take a look he saw a group of people not far from the farmstead. Although there were not many people in this group, all of them were strong physically, their hands holding onto all kinds of weapons. Lin Yuan actually saw a strong man holding two huge hammers in his hands.

Could this person have heard too many wuxia stories and decided to cosplay Li Yuanba?

Don’t know if he had named his hammer.

Was it also called the Golden Drum Hammer?

Fortunately, the people in the farmstead couldn’t see them, otherwise they hadn’t even faced the enemy head-on but have already given up.

Sometimes physical strength can intimidate the opponent to a great extent.

Lin Yuan also saw those people seemed to be pulling a cart, which was very tightly obscured. He guessed that it was food. If he thought about it carefully, the area around the farmstead had no more bandits, at least within three days distance. This meant that this group of people should have come from afar, likely passing by here. If the motive was to attack, they wouldn’t bring so many things.

But these people were all mature men, no women, and no children, which proves indirectly that they were desperate criminals.

Lin Yuan also began to get nervous. These people likely won’t make a move in these two days. At least they will have to wait until they understand the surrounding environment and know the approximate combat power in the farmstead.

Lin Yuan can only hope that brother Dao and Zhu Yuanzhang can come back quickly.

Although tense, but life still carried on these two days. The atmosphere in the farmstead was not good. It seemed that there was a knife hanging above their head. Everyone could barely taste the food they were eating, and even can’t sleep well at night. Many people climbed up to the observation deck in the middle of the night just to stay alert of those people’s movements.

Lin Yuan couldn’t sleep well either. He also sat on the observation deck. Fortunately, the space in the observation deck was quite large, and it was not a problem to sit three or four people.

In addition to the night watchman originally arranged, there were two others who came up with the night watchman. Lin Yuan was the fourth uninvited person.

“You all can’t sleep well too?” Lin Yuan asked.

The three people, including the night watchman, nodded in nervousness.

They haven’t had close contact with Lin Yuan, nor have they spoken to Lin Yuan alone.

For them, the landowning class was an existence that they couldn’t touch.

But the most courageous one said: “We……we are also worried that they might take advantage of the night……”

Lin Yuan nodded: “I am worried too.”

The three of them breathed a sigh of relief. Lin Yuan smiled: “Don’t be too scared. Our city walls are still very strong. Even if they really attack, as long as we don’t open the city gates, we can hold on for a long time with the food we have. Besides, Li Congrong and Zhu Yuanzhang will be back in two days. As soon as we see them, we will rush out to meet them, our three parties will then act together to eliminate the enemies. The enemy is not too many either so it will not be a difficult task.”

Probably because it was Lin Yuan who said this, the three of them believed it easily, and the expressions on their faces relaxed a lot.

Since Boss said it was okay, it must be okay. They breathed a sigh of relief.

“Fortunately, Boss did not go out this time.”

“Yes, if Boss went out, we really don’t know what to do.”

“When Brother Li and Brother Zhu come back, we will charge out to let them know that we are not easily bullied!”

All three of them have fought with bandits and have the blood of bandits on their hands. They were not so afraid of fighting.

On the contrary, they also saw the benefits of victory. On the day they defeated the bandits, they ate a lot of good things.

White rice and smoked meat were things they couldn’t eat before the country had fallen into upheaval.

But in fact, even though Lin Yuan comforted them personally, he didn’t feel much assurance in his heart. They sat on the observation deck until dawn, standing up from time to time to look at the group of people outside the city wall. The group seemed to have settled down in a camp. Although there was no tent, it was still fine to sleep in the wild in this weather. They started a fire and slept surrounding it, like a group of wild people.

But they still have working brains, not everyone slept, but divided into two shifts, one sleeps in the first half of the night, the other sleeps in the later half of the night.

If the farmstead had any movement, they would immediately be able to react back.

He estimated that the leader of this group was not an ordinary person.

At least compared with many farmers and commoners, he was more suitable for this kind of survival situation.

In the past few days, Lin Yuan discovered one thing, that the women were actually better at adapting than the men who had never fought with bandits. They were divided into two groups, one group was pregnant women, waiting in the house for the situation to pass, another group was women who were not pregnant. They were very calm these days. Apart from the initial panic, they spent more energy on asking men how to fight their enemies.

Sometimes Lin Yuan could see women practicing swinging knives in the open area.

Lin Yuan had to admit after watching it a few times that women seem to be naturally able to survive in various environments.

He still remembered the reality show he had watched before in modern times. It was a show of survival in the wilderness in which men and women were put on different parts of the deserted island.

The women almost immediately started assigning everything as soon as they arrive, discussing what everyone should do. As for the men they at first had fun and enjoyed themselves carefreely. As a result the first few days they were practically hungry and starving all the time, because compared to survival, the first thing they did was to compete for the position of leader, no one was willing to follow another’s lead.

The men wasted more than a week in comparison to the women, and only slowly got on the right track after having suffered.

If a woman was depressed, other women will comfort her and encourage her.

If a man was in a depressed mood, the other men would give up after one or two persuasion, and even started accusing each other on who was lazy at work, and even escalating into physical fights.

When the men and women meet up, the men seem to regain their sanity, and the depressed instantly cheered up.

It was a good thing that there were women in the farmstead.

If it were all men, conflict would accumulate deeper and deeper.

The positive mutual relationship between men and women was very complicated.

No wonder human beings were matriarchal in the beginning.

Of course, Lin Yuan didn’t think about asking these women to fight with the men.

He gave them knives, hoping that they could protect themselves when the men had no time to take care of them.

And this group of women seem to have automatically selected a leader, that was, the woman that brother Dao had unrequited love for.

Compared to other women, she looked more imposing. She changed into shirt and pants and tied her hair high up in a ponytail, unexpectedly having a somewhat distinctive aura.

“We can’t be burdens that hold you back.” This is what the woman said to Lin Yuan.

She was the only one with a formal name among these women——Wu Yuelian.

Wu Yuelian was actually a bandit. Her father was a bandit and even a bandit leader. Her mother also grew up in the bandit villa and was considered the wife of the bandit leader. She grew up in such an environment so naturally thought differently from others.

She was the only daughter of her father and mother. She should have found a husband to ruzhui (TN: a man who marries into his wife’s family), and be a half leader of her own villa.

It was a pity that their villa was too small, and she was also taken away after they lost.

It wasn’t that she had never conceived a child, but when she was pregnant, she tried her best to get rid of the child.

Maybe for other women, it was just a piece of meat in their belly.

But for her, it was a shame engraved in the flesh and blood. She had always wanted to avenge her parents and brothers and sisters back in her villa.

The dream of revenge supported her to continue surviving.

Wu Yuelian said to Lin Yuan: “If the fight really starts, you don’t have to worry about us, life and death are destined, if Yanwang want people to die at 3 o’clock, he never keeps them up to 5.”

Lin Yuan smiled at her: “It hasn’t reached that point.”

Wu Yuelian shook her head and said: “When our villa was raided, everyone didn’t think that it reached that point……”

“But they all died in the end.”

Lin Yuan took a deep breath, and suddenly felt that he was able to hold up heaven and earth and could support the woman in front of him. He said with machismo: “Don’t be afraid, with me here, they have to step past our bodies if they want to come in.”

Wu Yuelian smiled and said, “Boss, what you said, I don’t know how to respond.”

“Then don’t respond.” Lin Yuan said heedlessly, “There are two things for men in this world that must not be violated.”

Wu Yuelian asked strangely: “Which two things?”

Lin Yuan: “His dignity, and his woman.”

Wu Yuelian: “……”

Lin Yuan smiled and said: “Although I don’t have any intentions towards you all, but you all are now part of my farmstead, that means you are my women.”

Wu Yuelian didn’t know why, her eyes suddenly reddened, and she took a deep breath. It was obvious that the young Boss in front of her did not have a sturdy figure, nor did he have strong arms or thighs, but she just felt that this was an indomitable man who could hold up heaven and earth.

“How can you be like that……” Wu Yuelian whispered, but her face was clearly smiling.

Lin Yuan: “Is it all right now? Are you less scared?”

Wu Yuelian shook her head: “Much better.”

Lin Yuan wanted to pat her shoulder, but thinking about the problem of the times, he retracted his hand halfway up, and said embarrassed: “In fact, I think brother Dao is pretty good.”

Wu Yuelian looked at Lin Yuan blankly.

Lin Yuan: “I mean Li Congrong.”

Wu Yuelian smiled again: “Boss, I have been pregnant before, no longer intact, I don’t want to marry in this life.”

Lin Yuan: “It depends on you, maybe you will change your mind later?”

Wu Yuelian didn’t speak any more, she seemed to have made up her mind.

Lin Yuan was not good at persuading people, regarding the matters between men and women, the forcefully pulled up melon was not sweet (TN: expression for force will not result in good things).

It was probably because the women appeared so calm that the men were no longer worried. They began to discuss how they should respond if people outside really want to attack.

Lin Yuan also counted the days, waiting for brother Dao and Zhu Yuanzhang to appear in the area.

On the last day, before dawn Lin Yuan ordered San zi to guard the road where brother Dao and Zhu Yuanzhang will come back from, and tell them the time to cooperate attacking on both sides.

You c an fi nd t he la te st cha pte rs at ( th e bl mu se . c o m )

San zi trembled, he was so frightened that his legs felt like jelly and didn’t dare to accept.

“Boss, I’ll go.” Wu Yuelian appeared with mud on her face and her hands. She was also wearing rags, and said, “I will go out from the back.”

She looked at Lin Yuan with determination, and Lin Yuan was speechless for a while.

The women do not concede to men, this must be refering to such women.

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