Constructing a city wall was not a simple matter. You needed bricks and cement but now there was no place to buy bricks, let alone cement. Nowadays, building a house only used a mixture of mud which might look alright but in truth it was not very sturdy. 

As a humanities major Lin Yuan did not know the formulation for cement but even if he did, where would he even find the materials needed to make it? In this kind of desolate countryside, there wasn’t even a sight of plaster.

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He was sighing to himself when Yang Zi’an passed by, sitting down next to him on the field. Yang Zi’an was different from brother Dao and the others, he knew how to read and write. Although he might not have studied the books of sages and scholars but he could not be considered illiterate. A couple days before when Lin Yuan first taught the people of the farmstead how to recognize simplified characters, he began ignoring Lin Yuan. 

But it was a good thing Yang Zi’an wasn’t part of an aristocratic family or literati family and was just a son of a landowner. His irritation at Lin Yuan ‘butchering’ the words of sages soon passed.

In any case, these farmers wouldn’t be going to take civil examinations and becoming officials. Knowing a few wrong words was not a big deal. 

“Fourth brother, why are you sighing? Did you come across a problem?” Yang Zi’an asked.

Lin Yuan scratched the back of his head: “I’m thinking on the city wall issue. Although here we are surrounded by mountains but it is still not considered safe. The only weapons are just a dozen hoes. What will we do if something does happen? We will be finished if refugees come, let alone bandits.”

Yang Zi’an: “City wall?” 

Lin Yuan said without expecting the other to give a good solution: “Bricks can’t be bought, even if there are bricks being sold we won’t be able to afford it anyway.” 

“I had thought it was a big problem.” Yang Zi’an waved his hand, “it’s just making bricks, right? This I know.” 

The bricks used in his old home were made by his family’s workers, but they were just mud colored bricks, not as handsome as the blue grey bricks that were used by the wealthy and officials. 

Lin Yuan’s expression when he looked at Yang Zi’an instantly changed, becoming exceptionally ardent and warm.

Yang Zi’an rubbed his chin feeling a bit satisfied. As a boy he used to watch his family’s workers make bricks and even made some himself. 

“We’ll set up a brick making team!” Lin Yuan decided, “second brother you’ll be the leader!” 

Yang Zi’an was quite willing. Recently brother Dao became the leader of the hunting team. Even though they were at first unsure on what a team leader was but they soon realized the position had advantages.

Yang Zi’an currently managed farming but he didn’t want to farm forever. The team leader of the brick making team sounded much more important. 

After all it was a leader position and not just one of the managers of the farming team. 

“We still need to find more people.” Lin Yuan said, “our manpower is too little.” 

Currently the farmstead had about 100 grown men and about 100 women, children and the elderly. 

The number of children was the least. Including Gou zi, Er Liang, and Guo er in total there was not even near ten.

Lin Yuan didn’t want to see this large group of bachelors harm the women, so normally they were separated when working.

But the relations between women and men could not be completely controlled. In these turbulent times etiquette and tradition were no longer as important. If a woman and man become attracted to each other then nature would take its course. Now there were already 3 women pregnant.

The ancient times didn’t have much entertainment, when the sky darkened then there wasn’t much to do. Bed affairs became the only activity left.

Lin Yuan now understood why ancient people had so many children. 

Without any contraception and with bed affairs as the only entertainment, it would be a strange thing if there weren’t that many children. 

But because the bodies of these people were currently still weak, there were not as many pregnancies. 

Especially the women since most were malnourished and hadn’t improved much even after this long. 

Yang Zi’an: “I’ll bring people to go buy some more.” 

The safest choice was still buying people. Allowing refugees to come could result in trouble if there was even one or two who harbored errant thoughts.

There were some refugees who had human life on their hands.

A thing like murder, so long as there was a first and the heart had lost any reverence and respect for human life then one would become increasingly twisted.

Therefore, modern soldiers who had been on the battlefield must receive psychological checkups afterwards. 

In the ancient times, soldiers who didn’t heed the orders of their commander and massacred cities during war was not out of the ordinary.

“Fine.” Lin Yuan knew that now using money to buy people wouldn’t work anymore, the currency having already lpat its value. He said quietly, “Use food to buy.”

Yang Zi’an nodded: “I understand.” 

Lin Yuan: “Bring some more people and take the ox cart. Take a couple hoes along too. If you could buy some kitchen knives and metal pots it would be great as well.” 

After all, that was all metal. After melting, it could be made into weapons. 

Yang Zi’an also recalled this issue. Different from brother Dao and Jiang Gui, he thought that they must have weapons and a city wall. His family had been landowners but when the bandits came they couldn’t even put up a fight.

After all, whether they were servants or workers they all had their own families and didn’t dare to use their life to fight. If their families lost their breadwinner then staying alive would be a problem for the whole family. But bandits were different, they lived with their heads tied to their belt, as if there was no tomorrow. 

Even if bandits did not eat or live better than them, when they put their lives on the line no one would be their opponent.

“Alright.” Yang Zi’an, “I will try to get as much as I can.” 

When Yang Zi’an left he took with him 20 grown men who did not have families. In addition to having eaten well the whole year every one of them had gained muscle mass and would present a good intimidation. 

Lin Yuan even made a mobilizing speech. 

“If you come across bandits, fight back if you can, but if you can’t then just run away.” Lin Yuan said, “running away is not shameful!” 

Lin Yuan: “But you cannot lead them to the farmstead, you must by-pass the area and disperse yourselves, understand?”

The men shouted: “Understood!”

Yang Zi’an left with the men, and didn’t return until 2 months later. 

With no pressing matters, Lin Yuan focused his attention on Zhu Zhongba. Now, Zhu Zhongba farmed the fields everyday. Looking at his outer appearance he was just like any other normal farmer boy. He lived in the dormitories and quickly familiarized himself with everyone. When a person was smart he or she would be popular anywhere. 

This was something Lin Yuan had no doubts about after all he would be the godson-in-law of Guo Ziyi. At that time, Zhu Zhongba also had nothing to his name. 

Zhu Zhongba felt that the current days were quite good. He no longer needed to live like a vagrant and everyday after work he could rest. There were even women who, seeing him young and healthy as well as hardworking, made both subtle and obvious advances on him. They were all ignored by Zhu Zhongba. 

His heart still remembered the hate and vengeance he had of the imperial court. 

At times when Lin Yuan had conversations with Zhu Zhongba he would notice his difference from others.

He was more acute and more daring to challenge traditional views.

But also more extreme. 

“Corrupt officials bring disaster on the people.” Zhu Zhongba said, “they should all be killed.” 

Lin Yuan asked: “What if they do not embezzle much?” 

Zhu Zhongba: “Embezzling is embezzling. There is actually a difference?”

Lin Yuan was silent for awhile, then asked: “Do you know how much their salaries are?”

Zhu Zhongba paused, he didn’t know but as an official it could not be low. 

Lin Yuan: “Let’s say brother Jiang. He was a minor official in Wu c5ity who managed the land and property. I met him when I was planning to buy land.”

“He needed to support his wife and son as well as his parents. Later he also brought his parents-in-law to live with them as well. Think about it, how much must his salary be in order to support this many people?”

Lin Yuan said, “This is just the basics. There is also gift exchange with friends and relatives and preparations on holidays. If he just relied on his salary then his whole family would starve.” 

Zhu Yuanzhang as an emperor, in order to eradicate corruption, had executed 150,000 people. But still corruption continued. When he died, Ming dynasty’s officials embezzeled the most out of all of the dynasties before and after. 

He himself had suffered from corrupt officials so his methods became extreme. But during Zhu Yuanzhang’s reign, the salaries of the officials were very low. Some officials could not even compare in wealth with common people, let alone with the landowning class. 

Even if they knew embezzling would lead to execution, the officials still continued, otherwise they could not support their families or maintain their dignity. 

Likely, Zhu Yuanzhang could not understand why, despite executing this many people, they continued embezzling. 

Did they not fear death? 

Zhu Zhongba said sincerely: “But they shouldn’t embezzle!” 

Lin Yuan: “When I was buying land I gave brother Jiang 10 taels and 1 guan of bribery.”

Zhu Zhongba: “…….” 

Lin Yuan: “Do you feel brother Jiang is a bad man who leeches on the common people?” 

Zhu Zhongba: “I…..” 

Lin Yuan thought a bit and said: “The human greed is endless. When they are poor they will want to eat full and dress warm. When they can eat their full and dress warmly they will want to eat meat and fish and other delicacies. When they can eat all the meat and fish they desired they will want the respect of others, and then after that they will want power.” 

Zhu Zhongba did not say anything.

Lin Yuan said: “Putting up a wall is not as good as clearing away obstructions.” 

Zhu Zhongba suddenly asked: “Boss, if you were to sit in that seat (TN: the emperor’s throne) what would you do about corrupt officials?” 

Lin Yuan thought, he was not a politician and only had superficial knowledge. Before he time traveled the country was currently undergoing a large scale anti-corruotion policy. From this, one could see that since ancient times a thing like corruption would continue despite repeated prohibition. 

So Lin Yuan said with spread hands: “I am just a commoner, what kind of method would I have?” 

But Zhu Zhongba fell into thought. 

If it were him…..what would he do? 

The sky was cloudy when Yang Zi’an returned. It did not rain but neither did the sun come out and made one feel depressed. Yang Zi’an walked in the front of the procession, the 20 men who left with him, only 12 returned relatively uninjured. There were 2 who had been injured and was laying in the ox cart.

“On the way we encountered bandits, half the people we bought died.” Yang Zi’an said, “6 of our men died.” 

Lin Yuan almost stopped breathing. 

“The 2 injured, I put some herbal medicine on them.” Yang Zi’an furrowed his brows, expression dark, “it will be their fate whether they can make it pass.”

The herbal medicines were just herbs picked from the side of the road. The wilds often had them and could stop blood loss when pasted on wounds. 

But those two injured men already came down with fever. 

Once the fever set upon you then you were basically on the edge between life and death.

The people who returned were all tired, every one of them had injuries. Against the bandits they were fearful and wanted to run but they could not; there were too many bandits every one of them with violence in their eyes. 

Luckily, the bandits were all malnourished, otherwise they would not still be alive. 

The people bought back were all extremely skinny and must recuperate a while before their health and strength improved.

Yang Zi’an said to Lin Yuan: “There are pots in the ox cart, and also weapons I took from the bandits.” 

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The bandits had originally been farmers, their weapons only being axes, hoes, and kitchen knives. 

Lin Yuan asked: “The bandits all ran away?” 

Yang Zi’an smiled at Lin Yuan: “All dead.” 

Lin Yuan sighed, the world like it was, if you didn’t want to die then the other must die.

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Pig raising was troublesome work, they ate most anything but in an era without pig feed, having them grow fat was very difficult. Farmer families usually just fed them ragweed. Those with better conditions fed them husks as well. From spring to autumn if there were milk starch grass they would pick some for the pigs. Milk starch grass, or in other words the dandelion, had a long growing period. But now with so many fleeing people, by spring’s arrival it would have all been picked and eaten by refugees. 

Now that Lin Yuan was raising pigs, he fed them ragweed and bean curd. 

Nowadays, bean curd was considered a good source of food so the people on the farmstead felt heartache while at the same time they hoped the pig to grow fatter. 

Some young boys, like Er Liang and Gou zi went to the river to gather snails to feed the pigs. 

Because of castration, the two pigs were not as lively. As for putting on fat, for the time being Lin Yuan could not see anything yet. 

Er Liang and Gou zi both quite liked the pigs, but Er Liang still needed to serve Lin Yuan so normally only Gou zi followed along the pig carers to pick ragweed.  

When Er Liang had free time they would gather snails together. 

In truth, Lin Yuan had a craving for snails, but there wrren’t any spices or condiments now. Just adding salt and vinegar was not enough to get rid of the dirt and fishy flavor. No one was willing to eat it now but in the modern days snails with some chili oil and sticky chili bean sauce, a sprinkle of scallions and ginger, some soy sauce, and all stir fried together made for an incredibly fragrant dish.  

But now no one ate it at all. 

They had yet to come to a dead end so no one was willing to eat it. 

But pigs were not picky, having something to eat was enough. Every half a month Lin Yuan would go see them, after all he had a craving for meat as well. After 4 to 5 times of making sure the pigs were growing well he no longer worried. 

As for what would have them grow fatter Lin Yuan still could not be sure. The conditions now were lacking so taking only a year to raise them was already a good thing. 

If it truly took 2 to 3 years Lin Yuan could only give up on the endeavor.

Other than pigs, they had also bought 20 or so of chickens, 10 hens to lay eggs and one rooster for breeding. All the rest were chicken raised for meat. The eggs relied on the hens to incubate and it would be lucky if one or two were able to be hatched. A hen lay one egg per day, on lucky days it would lay two a day. 

Eggs could be stored for awhile, so they were basically stored for a week and everyone could receive a share, with those doing outstanding work getting more.  

As for shabby work——there weren’t any. 

They all cherished their current days on the farmstead where they had food to eat if they worked and the landowner did not dock their rations. 

If they were to slack off, angering the landowner, they would then be thrown out. They were very clear on what kind of life was waiting outside for them. 

Recently, Lin Yuan was quite idle. With nothing to do he began to teach people how to read and write simplified characters. 

Traditional Chinese characters had a greater difficulty and must be learned by rote from a young age of 3 to 4. 

Lin Yuan felt that teaching them traditional characters would be too difficult, after all without the original owner’s memories he could only read and not write traditional characters. 

Writing simplified characters was much more convenient and suitable for uneducated people to learn. 

Pursuing scholarship in ancient times had a high threshold. Aside from the four treasures of study (TN: pen, ink, paper and ink-stone) being expensive there was also the payment for the teacher. Ancient people adhered to the belief that a teacher for a day was the same as a father for a lifetime. When your teacher grew old, you as the student must provide for his retirement. 

The cost of getting an education was too high.

When they heard that Boss would teach them to read and write no one could understand.

“What read and write?” 

“I have never seen farmers read and write.” 

“That’s right, our ancestors do not know how to read and write, but they still lived their days?” 

There were some who said impatiently: “Say that to Boss.” 

“How come you don’t go.”

“Why should I?”

“Then I won’t go either.”

Lin Yuan used a burnt charcoal stick to write words on the wall, teaching them simply: “This is the character for mouth, it looks like the shape of a open mouth.” 

This one was easy. 

“Just a circle! How convenient!” 

“Ai, I also now know a word?” 

“I remembered it, I can definitely write it!”

Lin Yuan also taught them: “This is ‘person’, there is no head or arms, only two legs.”

Because Lin Yuan taught simple characters that could be remembered easily, it gave them some confidence. So long as they realized that it was not as hard as they thought then they wouldn’t have an unwilling mindset. Lin Yuan also did not plan to have them recognize a lot of words, just 300 words was enough to satisfy daily needs. 

Back in the days when China conducted activities to wipe out illiteracy, recognizing less than 500 words was considered illiterate, above 500 and under 1000 was half an illiterate. 

Wiping out illiteracy was not going to be possible, Lin Yuan felt he did not have such a large capability. 

But, some of these people remembered words quicker. Sure enough even learning to read required talent.

The weather gradually warmed and the wild beasts in the woods also began to increase in activity. Brother Dao lead a small team everyday to create traps and often there were catches. The biggest catch were a mountain goat and a deer. With the weather warmer they could not store fresh meat so the viscera was all eaten the day of the catch while half the meat was made into bacon and another half stewed in a pot for communal meals.

Fishing also yielded several fishes each day and were all eaten the same day. Only they were a bit small with a lot of bones. Lin Yuan nearly choked four times before he gave up and only drank fish soup. 

“Wonder what the situation is with Wu City.” Lin Yuan said suddenly.

On the side Jiang Gui worked on braiding straw sandals and straw baskets. He raised his head and said without much expression: “When I left, Wu City was on fire, everything must all be burnt by now.” 

In that kind of situation, no one would bother to put the fires out, people were either stealing or fleeing. 

“It is likely now a dead city.” Jiang Gui finished a straw sandal, “even if there are still people they would definitely be hiding.”

“But they won’t last long, the city has no food.” 

Lin Yuan said quietly: “Brother Jiang, I plan to go to Wu City in the spring.” 

Jiang Gui startled: “Go there for what!” 

Lin Yuan: “It has a city wall at least, there are also farm fields inside.” 

Jiang Gui rolled his eyes: “If the city walls are useful would the refugees have even gotten in?” 

Lin Yuan sighed: “The city walls can be repaired.” 

Jiang Gui did not think so: “Repairing would require people, even if women and children were included it is still not enough.” 

Lin Yuan: “But there are still a lot of refugees.” 

Jiang Gui sighed: “I know you pity them, but refugees can not be reasoned with.”

Lin Yuan also sighed. 

Jiang Gui put a pair of straw sandals aside and said to Lin Yuan: “Fourth brother, there is one method.” 

Lin Yuan: “What method?”

“Basically, if you just want a city wall, then we can construct one here.” Jiang Gui said sincerely.

Lin Yuan clapped his hands together: “Brother Jiang, that is true, I must think for a bit.” 

When Lin Yuan left, Jiang Gui rubbed at his chin. 

Jiang Gui thought privately: “Silly little brother, you don’t even have the people to go repair Wu City’s wall, how will you have the people to construct a wall here?”

Nowadays they couldn’t buy any bricks, but if they were to use stones, with just the people they had in the farmstead they would not be finished even after half a year.

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The pigs were bought back by brother Dao and his guys. At first Lin Yuan thought they were off to commit robbery with the hoes they took with them. But brother Dao had his reasons. 

“The mountain paths are hard to walk through. The wild beasts are also a nuisance, not to mention the mountain bandits.” Brother Dao said with experience, “having something heavy at hand would be better than nothing at all.” 

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Lin Yuan thought it reasonable and only told them to be careful. Compared to human life, pig or sheep meat was not as important. 

On the side, one of the guys heard this and said in a loud voice: “Boss, only you think this way. When I was young and my hometown became ravaged by famine, a sack of fine grains can buy a young pretty girl. Sometimes human life can also be cheap!” 

At certain times, grains and meat could be more important than human life, especially during turbulent times.

Lin Yuan: “Go quickly.” 

The person smiled wide showing yellow teeth: “We’re going.” 

When they came back they brought with them 2 goats, 5 piglets, 2 females and 3 males.

The 2 female pigs and 1 male pig would be left to breed. The remaining 2 pigs had been castrated. Lin Yuan made sure to relay this clearly since nowadays the practice was not common everywhere. And since no one in the farmstead knew it was better to have the seller do it just in case. Once they were raised a bit then they could be killed and eaten.

The goats were rather large in size, just a bit skinny. These days humans couldn’t even eat their full let alone livestock. 

Brother Dao: “The seller lives on the mountain and only asked for some old grains in return, saying that livestock can’t be sold for a good price anymore. But they don’t want to sell cheaply so they kept it themselves.”

Nowadays people with money all bought grain, those who bought meat were very few. 

One goat was killed that evening, the goat head was used for soup while the meat was salted and made into bacon which would be used for rewards.

Li Da heard that there would be goat head soup that evening so he finished his work very early and sat in the field to wait. The cold wind blowing on his face even seemed as if it had become warmer. 

Someone struck up a conversation with him: “What’s with the foolish smile?” 

Li Da said quietly: “Tonight there’ll be goat head soup, there might even be some pieces of meat!” 

The person was surprised: “How do you know? There really is goat head soup!”

Li Da laughed: “The head cook in the dining hall told me that there is goat head soup tonight and also goat feet, everyone will get a piece of bone to gnaw at.”

The mention of meat had everybody swallowing their saliva. All people had a craving for meat.

The human body needed energy. The source included carbohydrate, fat and protein. White buns had carbohydrate, soybeans had protein as for fat——now even Lin Yuan craved fat meat, let alone others. 

Although there wasn’t any fat meat, but on the flavor and tastiness, beans could not even compare with lean meat. 

If there was meat to eat, who would eat beans instead?

Now, the snack eaten in the farmstead was sauteed beans which were chewy and filling. Except, it caused a lot of gas so for those living in a dormitory, if someone ate too much beans then the rest would suffer the whole night. 

At dinnertime, everyone cleaned up and headed towards the dining hall. Poor people only ate two meals a day, one in the morning and one at night, having never even heard of lunch. In order to improve his workers’ physical strength so that in the future they would be assests Lin Yuan changed it to three meals a day. 

Although the food was simple and crude, it was filling. Indeed the physiques of the people have already begun to improve. 

At least during this winter there were not many people who came down with a cold. Though it could have also been related to proper warming conditions as well.  

Recently the women had been busy with sewing. At first they were hesitant, poor families must cherish a single needle and couldn’t even buy a roll of cloth in a whole year. So their skills in making clothes coukd only be called average, being able to be worn without it splitting apart was already very good.   

Lin Yuan had them make long sleeves and long pants, which was rather easy, just cut along the lines drawn on the cloth and then sew the pieces together. 

This of course could only be worn as under clothes, and there was no cotton to be added but the women thought of a solution. They separated into several small groups with three to four people focusing on rubbing dry grass which would then be stuffed into the seams of the clothes. 

This actually improved the warmth of the clothing, though it was not too convenient to move around in them. 

Lin Yuan also had them make the clothes in the same size, known as uniform size in the modern times. A piece of cloth was used as a belt and attached at the waist so if the size was too big they could just tighten it up. As for if the size was too small…..everyone was just skin and bones and likely wouldn’t even grow too much width in the coming years.

Rubbing dry grass was something Gou zi taught them. 

First dry the grass by the fire then rub each of them until it was no longer hard on the outside. Then use a rock to flatten, repeating the process all over again. Although it was slightly troublesome but it was still effective. 

Without cotton or wool this was already the best solution. 

As for the goat fur and down, Lin Yuan did not know how to process it so he left it for now.

Lin Yuan wanted to raise goose next year, maybe by the end of the year there would be down-filled garments to wear. But likely there won’t be enough cloth, so he could only wait until then to consider. 

“It smells really good!” 

“It’s too fragrant, I’m almost drooling.”

“I can even eat two more buns just by smelling this scent.” 

When they arrived to the dining hall, they lined up the way Lin Yuan taught them, there was no choice since they wouldn’t be allowed to fill their bowls with food if they didn’t line up properly. 

The bowls were all on the side and each person took one to fill with rice. Once finishing, all the cutlery must be placed in the same place. 

“Add some more, add some more for me!” Someone moaned, “I saw some meat pieces, move your ladle in that direction!”  

“Hey, I got a piece of goat brain!” 

“Me too, me too!” 

Aside from goat head soup, there was also cut up pickled vegetables. And combined with mixed grain buns, everyone ate without lifting their heads. The female cooks already ate but they still felt a craving for more. If there were any leftovers it would then belong to them. 

Though they also enjoyed the tastiness when they were eating but looking at the men eating like they were hungry ghosts, they couldn’t help but feel hungry again.

The head cook hollered from outside: “Tomorrow evening we’ll have goat organ soup.”

The weather now was good for storing animal viscera as it wouldn’t spoil so quickly. The head cook prepared the goat head today, and planned to prepare goat viscera tomorrow. The day after they could have blood sausage. 

First clean the goat intestines then fill it with blood, a crude version of blood sausage would then be made.  

And then cook it with pickled vegetables; it would be considered a rare delicacy. 

Lin Yuan and his family also ate simply, only cutting a small piece of goat meat, enough for each person to have two bites, to stew with pickled vegetables. With a side of rice it was fairly savory and a rare delicacy. 

Lin Yuan wondered privately if there were any starch vegetables in the area since rice flour was too expensive…..he dared not even think about it. 

Mung beans could be made into mung bean flour too, only it was a question whether there were any mung beans in the current time.

Its origin land seemed to be India and Myanmar. 

When spring arrived he planned have people ask around, maybe there would be some result? 

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When the pig grew a bit the pig meat could be stewed with vermicelli, what a happy prospect. 

Thinking of pig meat reminded Lin Yuan of the foul smell of pigs. 

As for the smell, he needed to also think of a good solution.

And a way to have them grow fatter.

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The next morning Lin Yuan woke early. He went to open the window in his underclothes but shivered when the cold wind blew in. He pulled on his cotton coat quickly, not expecting the temperature to drop this drastically over night.

“Young master.” Er Liang came in with a water basin and said, “master just asked me, where will you be eating breakfast, and has me tell you not to go to the dining hall….” 

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Lin Yuan: “I know, I will eat at home.” 

Lin Yuan understood old father Lin’s meaning. Being the landowner one must have a landowner’s airs. If you were too friendly and approachable then no one would be willing to listen to you. It was much easier for people to offend a person with good temperament because this kind of person would not get angry. 

This was true in the modern times too. Your boss could be friends with you in private but during work he was your superior. A good temperament did not mean others would obey you. 

He could treat the tenant farmers well, but only through the land rent and the provision of food. If the tenant farmers crossed his boundaries then he must act according to his status as a landowner.

Similar to how emperors of ancient times refered to themselves as the son of heaven and claimed their birth was accompanied by auspicious signs. This would be a type of spiritual rule which was especially effective in the ancient times where most of the people were ignorant and uneducated. 

Like Li Congrong, who actually sincerely believed every emperor to be the human counterpart of divine dragons. 

Jiang Gui did not believe that they were dragons but definitely agreed they were not mortals.

Yang Zi’an thought that emperors were human beings but human beings with a fate destined for the extraordinary. 

Lin Yuan told them: “The emperor is also human except he is able to sit on the highest ruling seat. Otherwise, how would you look at fallen dynasties? The emperor of a destroyed empire is still an emperor.”

Li Congrong and the others replied sincerely: “That is because they did not do the job right so heaven punished them. How can you say they are mere mortals?”

Lin Yuan: “……”

Lin Yuan felt that the path of rebellion was rather difficult. 

The thing that most shocked him was when he found out Zhu Yuanzhang also believed that the emperor was the son of heaven, just not all emperors were true sons of heaven. 

He thought that only the founding emperor was whereas all the rest that succeeded him weren’t. 

Towards this kind of thinking Lin Yuan could only admit defeat to. 

Lin Yuan was born in modern China and grew up under its red flag. The education he received was also atheistic. He believed that there were things unexplainable by science but he did not believe in the existence of ghosts or gods. Time travel could also be explained by science. 

When two time lines approached and become parallel lines and a magnetic field appeared between these two parallel lines, or due to some other reason, these lines would form an hourglass shape. Then certain people from the line on the top would fall down into the timeline on the bottom, essentially time or space traveling. 

Lin Yuan had already forgotten where he saw the theory, maybe it was on CCTV science channel. 

He thought that he was coincidentally an unlucky fellow who was in a certain place at a certain time. Indeed, the White Lotus was rather convenient, rebelling whenever they want, their faith not in the emperor but in the head of their sect. If their leader said the emperor was the son of heaven, they must support him, then the members would believe the emperor was indeed the son of heaven. Leader said no, everyone should overthrow him then the members would actually stand up and start a rebellion. 

Just what kind of executive power was this? 

Lin Yuan felt that only the army had such absolute speed and decisiveness in carrying out orders. 

No wonder all the dynasties treated the White Lotus sect as a threat. 

The food was all placed in the cellars, and not just one cellar, like a rat who would dig several holes, they stored the food in many cellars spread out across the farmstead. 

“Set up a watchtower.” Lin Yuan already gave up convincing them to rebel. Once the fires of war began to burn, even if they didn’t want to rebel they would have no choice. Besides, convincing others to rebel was quite tiring. 

There were some beliefs that were too deeprooted, not something he could change by just talking.

Brother Dao let out a relieved sigh, he said: “I will immediately have people on it, it will only take 2 to 3 days.” 

Lin Yuan asked: “Now, every night there is someone to keep watch?” 

Brother Dao nodded. 

Lin Yuan said: “This evening we’ll have a meeting, call all the men.”

Brother Dao asked: “What’s wrong? Only men? Did something happen?” 

Lin Yuan said: “I would like them to all to take up their own specific duty. Ten people in a team, one team will be responsible for patrolling and lookout on the watchtower. Another team will focus on cutting firewood, and a third for fishing and hunting. The last team will continue farming.”

Brother Dao was surprised: “Fourth brother, you have such organized plans. Where did you learn this?”

Lin Yuan said: “In the books.” 

Specializing could increase production. Not only did modern people know this, the educated people of the current era must know as well. 

Only in this era not many people were educated. 

“What books? Let me have a look too?” Brother Dao said with an ingratiating smile on his face. 

Lin Yuan did not make excuses, only saying: “I did not bring the books with me, and you know what happened to my old home……nowadays where can we even buy books?”

Brother Dao: “…..That’s right.”

“After the men have a meeting, women and the elderly will also have a meeting.” Lin Yuan also said. 

Brother Dao was even more surprised: “They…..they can actually be of help?” He had thought Lin Yuan had only took them in out of kindness.

Lin Yuan: “Also separate them into teams, specializing in cooking, knitting, and farming.” 

Brother Dao nodded, in the countryside women and the elderly must also farm. When it was a busy farming season even children had to help in farming. 

Every person was a source of wealth. The people Lin Yuan currently took in were not a lot so every one of them was valuable, and must perform their purpose. 

Lin Yuan pressed his lips together, if the foodstuff still had surplus by early spring then he could add more people. 

Next year in the winter, he wanted to besiege and capture Wu City. 

The farmstead could only be a temporary shelter. It would not be realistic to live here forever, completely separated from the world. 

The men had no problems with having a meeting in the evening, after all the work on the fields was currently not a lot. Besides, they were all eating communal meals——and in order to prevent the equal treatment from affecting their motivation Lin Yuan implemented a scoring system. 

Every 10 people had a team leader who at every week could give the people under him a most outstanding score. In order for the team leader to get the most outstanding score all team members must agree. Getting the most outstanding score would mean that on the weekends the person would get two pounds of meat and a bottle of oil as well as salt and pickled vegetables. 

The final audit would be agreed upon by both brother Dao and Yang Zi’an. 

Every month there would be a most outstanding team and the team’s members would all get a reward. 

“Hei, that will definitely be our team!” 

“Nonsense, the fishing team is also really capable! Don’t be too quick in your words.”

 ……. 

Even more people just swallowed profusely. 

Two pounds of meat, two pounds. Not two taels but two pounds. They almost fainted in excitement. 

Lin Yuan whispered to Jiang Gui: “Brother, where can we buy pigs?” 

Jiang Gui: “…..” 

Bro, you dare to make promises when there wasn’t even a sign of meat?

Lin Yuan smiled in embarrassment. He got too excited and forgot that he currently did not have any livestock or source of meat. 

But he couldn’t go back on his words so he could only think of a solution. 

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Raising sheep was not likely as herding was too dangerous now. Pigs were the best, once he bought some piglets he could then experiment how to raise them fatter. They could also buy some sheep meat to make bacon which could be used as rewards. But the pigs must be raised bigger so that there would be meat in the future.

Lin Yuan did not expect that his plans of rebellion had yet to have any signs of showing, instead he would likely first become a swineherd. 

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When they finally returned to the farmstead, the temperature had completely cooled. On the way here, quite a lot of people stuffed dry grass under their clothes for warmth. Luckily there were many of them so they could use body heat to warm each other at nights so no one came down with a cold. The boundaries between men and women were also put away and the women also sat close to the men at nights for sleep. 

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“Finally back.” Walking out of the woods they finally saw the farm fields. The crops that could be harvested in winter were few so currently only Chinese cabbage and spinach were planted. 

These vegetables make up the rare greens that could be found on the table during winter.

But only for awhile as most of it would have to be pickled with the salt brother Dao bought from a private salt merchant which was cheaper than the salt sold by the government. 

Sometimes brother Dao would also take the men to hunt in the woods——the only catch being a wild pheasant and a wild boar, both rather skinny but at least it was meat.

The farmstead did not raise livestock so there was no meat to eat. 

Seeing that Lin Yuan had returned with foodstuff, everyone sighed in relief. These laden filled carts contained quite a lot of foodstuff and in addition to the grains from the fall harvest, it was enough for them to eat for one to two years. 

This was the advantage of few people but there was also a negative side. 

They didn’t have weapons as they couldn’t even afford copper, let alone iron. The price for just one iron pot would take up an entire common family’s life savings. 

Lin Yuan thought on how to get his hands on some iron, but even if he had iron, without a bkacksmith it would be useless. 

The sharpness and durability of knives and swords required a blacksmith’s work.

If the casting was not up to par then the weapons could easily break which could cause one to lose his life if it broke in the middle of a fight. 

Actually, axes could be a good option. Lin Yuan rubbed his chin, axes were not easily broken nor did it require much training and had a heavy weight that could deal extensive damage. 

The most important thing——they were familiar to people who farmed the land. 

Though they wielded hoes easily as well. 

Lin Yuan asked Jiang Gui who just got down from the ox cart: “Third brother, do you know where they sell axes?” 

Jiang Gui: “Before when working in the city government I had the connection, but now…..” 

Whether the city government still existed was still in question. 

Lin Yuan sighed, he could only leave it for later. 

“Axe?” Zhu Zhongba suddenly in5serts himself into the conversation, smiling with white teeth, “No one is selling anymore?”

Anything related to iron was almost impossible to buy. 

Lin Yuan sighed, his heart full of despair. Where did the rebel armies even get their hands on iron weapons, he really wanted some too! 

“But I know where an iron ore mine is located.” Zhu Zhongba said, “except it is heavily guarded by soldiers. Even if we were to steal, it likely won’t be successful.” 

Zhu Zhongba: “But nowadays, everywhere is in upheaval, the armed soldiers should be less than before.” 

Lin Yuan’s eyes lit up.

“Big brother! Second brother!” Lin Yuan called to brother Dao and Yang Zi’an, “there’s something we need to discuss! To the meeting room!”  

Meeting room as the name implied, was the place to hold meetings and was dubbed by Lin Yuan. He was not a real ancient person, he might have the original owner’s memories but memory did not mean he could remember all of the books the original owner had read. So it was best to stick with what he was familiar with. 

Brother Dao leaned on his hoe and rubbed the back of his head: “Strange, not resting after a long travel but discussing official business, os fourth brother made of iron?” 

Yang Zi’an said sarcastically: “Better than you swearing brotherhood all over the place.” 

Brother Dao wass not happy: “How can you describe it like that? I am making important brotherly ties. Let me tell you, the world will only worsen, with more brothers to have each other’s back is better than fighting alone.” 

Yang Zi’an: “Fine, fine, you are right, let’s go.”

Brother Dao did not move from his spot, shamelessly putting on an expression that said ‘if you don’t apologize then I won’t move.’ 

Yang Zi’an ignored him: “It’s up to you.” 

Brother Dao followed along, crestfallen. 

Lin Yuan first introduced Zhu Zhongba, not in detail but only saying that he had a beggar background and was trustworthy. 

Brother Dao’s gaze when it settled on Zhu Zhongba changed——this was a good candidate for swearing brotherhood!

“Big brother, second brother, you both know what it is like nowadays. I predict that soon rebellion will sound, when the time comes even remote places like here might not be safe.” Lin Yuan said calmly. He could trust the people in front of him. Besides, if they weren’t trustworthy, where would they go to report? Wu City? No one would be that foolish, besides they all were aware of each other’s roots so there was no need to hold suspicion. 

“Then what should we do?” Li Congrong was shocked. 

Everyone else looked at Lin Yuan, they all understood the reasoning but they were still unsure how to face the situation at hand. 

Lin Yuan only remembered that Zhu Yuanzhang joined the Red Turbans when he was 25 and the year was the 13th year of Yuan Shun. Therefore, the Red Turbans rebelled before the 13th year of Yuan Shun. 

A rebellion that hadn’t made it past two to three years was not much of a threat, therefore the Red Turbans possibly rebelled in the 10th or 11th year of Yuan Shun. 

The leaders of the Red Turbans were Han Shantong, Liu Futong and Xu Shouhui.

Han Shantong later proclaimed himself the emperor of ‘Great Song’. He was not only a leader of the Red Turbans but also had connections with the White Lotus (TN: a religious and political movement that appealed to many Han Chinese who found solace in worship of Wusheng Laomu, who was foretold to gather all her children at the millennium into one family). 

“Presently, we need more people.” Lin Yuan said, “this way we can have the ability to protect ourselves. These people must also have weapons, or else we would be just like a fish on the cutting board.” 

Including Zhu Zhongba, everyone swallowed.

Jiang Gui: “This is….what do you mean? Raise a private army? This, this is something to be executed for, if the imperial court finds out…..” 

Brother Dao also agreed: “Right, right, right. The imperial court has how many soldiers, what are we, something for them to pick their teeth with?” 

But Lin Yuan shook his head: “It’s not like we are going to be obvious about it. Here we are surrounded by mountains and rivers, away from the eyes of people. It is already hidden, we juat need to be careful then the imperial court will not discover us.” He did not mention that before long the imperial court would have their attention taken away by the other rebelling factions. 

The death of Han Shantong was exactly because of the imperial court managing to encircle his troops and annihilate him. 

“In order to have weapons, we need iron.” Lin Yuan looked at them, “big brother, second brother, third brother, please listen to little brother. No one can be exempt during turbulent times. If we do not rebel but follow the flow, this is one path, but when war begins will we truly be able to remain unaffected?” 

“When the time comes and we can’t protect ourselves, we would be lamb for the slaughter.” Lin Yuan also said, “let’s put this aside for now but what about bandits? Can we hold up against bandits?” 

Their only weapon being hoes, whereas the bandits that could pose a threat all had weapons. Even if they were not of good quality but it was at least better than a few hoes used for farming.

Everyone looked down, raising a private army…..their ancestors had all been honest commoners, and had never done something that might as well be a rebellion! 

Zhu Zhongba lost his entire family, so he said: “I think brother Lin is right, even if we don’t rebel we still should have the means for staying alive. We need food to fill our bellies, weapons to fight off bandits. Only when there are more people can we have the ability to protect our livelihoods.” 

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Brother Dao said with an expression showing his world had just been overturned: “I….I need to think for a bit.”

Yang Zi’an also did not say anything. 

Jiang Gui sat fidgeting as if he was sitting on needles.

No one wanted to rebel, who would when they could have a safe and easy life?

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The bag of foodstuff was left with the beggars. Lin Yuan saw them directly eating the old grains hungrily and could not explain the feeling he got. Sometimes he thought that the collapse of Yuan dynasty was heaven’s will. The later stage of Yuan was simply too miserable with drought, famine, and plague all happening at the same time. It would be unreasonable if it did not collapse with so many years of natural disasters. 

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The beggars who had been only able to see food before finally became clearheaded with a few bites to relieve their hunger. They would not be able to win in a fight against Lin Yuan’s people but they were still covetuous, following the procession for several miles before leaving when it was clear Lin Yuan was not willing to take them in. 

No one knew what would wait for them when they left. 

Lin Yuan also didn’t know. 

Lin Yuan only knew that his ability had limits. If he could help he would, but it would be impossible to help this many. 

Zhu Zhongba was a young man and was quite familiar with pulling the cart, putting his energy into it and causing Lin Yuan to become absentminded. The future emperor was pulling the cart for him, who would even believe it? 

After all, he was a newcomer so at his side someone asked him: “Zhongba where are you from?” 

Zhu Zhongba: “Zhongli, Hao Province.” 

The person at his side sighed: “That is quite far.” 

Zhu Zhongba smiled: “Not too far.”

“How old are you?” The person asked. 

Zhu Zhongba: “How old do I look?” 

Lin Yuan suddenly answered: “19.” 

Zhu Zhongba paused, then he raised a thumb: “What a correct guess.” 

Wasn’t it? Lin Yuan looked at the road ahead. He was considerably aware of Zhu Yuanzhang’s historical facts and knew that he joined Guo Zixing’s Red Turbans when he was 25 years old. And then married Guo Zixing’s adopted daughter Ma shi. Ma shi could be considered Zhu Yuanzhang’s lucky star. 

Everytime Zhu Yuanzhang was framed by others and locked up by Guo Zixing it was all thanks to Ma shi who had to contend with the situation. After gaining military power, all the documents and accounts were managed by Ma shi. There was also a legend that during a lost battle, Ma shi relied on her big feet to carry Zhu Yuanzhang as they fled from the enemy army. 

Lin Yuan sighed, ai, such a good woman was Zhu Yuanzhang’s wife, he dared not even think of stealing. 

Considerate, gentle, cultured and could even provide support for her husband’s career. Able to face hardships as well as share wealth together. 

Lin Yuan envied Zhu Yuanzhang a bit in his heart. 

Besides, big feet was not much of a flaw. In the modern times, his office had two female coworkers who wore size 42 shoes (TN: 42 EU size, 11 US), and it didn’t look all that strange. 

Lin Yuan sighed again, this kind of woman, in these sorts of times, you could only meet by chance and not by request.

Just being cultured was something that could filter out a lot of people. 

“My dad died from starvation, my oldest brother and oldest nephew as well.” Zhu Zhongba recalled his past and his eyes flickered with dark unclear emotions, “my sister married and my third oldest brother married and lives with his wife’s family.” 

The people near him did not continue to ask, who didn’t have a painful past? 

Dying from starvation, it was too normal an occurrence. 

The money for disaster relief provided by the imperial court was exploited at every government level. In the end, the actual sum received by the common people was not even one percent of what they should have got. 

The scent of wine and meat come from behind vermillion doors, but the roads outside were covered with the bones of the frozen (TN: a line from Tang dynasty poet Du Fu’s poem that mocks how the scent of wine and meat drifts from behind the vermillion doors of the rich while just outside the poor are dying from the cold and starvation). It described what was reality on earth, occurring everyday.

“It will be better.” Lin Yuan said suddenly, “it will become better.” 

It would just take a long time. 

Zhu Zhongba smiled: “Us poor people, being able to eat fully is enough.” 

The common people did not want much. To be able to eat fully and dress warmly, no worry of taking a beating, and having a family was enough to satisfy them. Once such things were not possible then their requests would decrease to just having something to eat so long as they didn’t die from starvation. Once the lowest condition could not even be met, then they would stand up and shout out the ancient saying: Are the lives of aristocracy, officials, and generals naturally more precious and noble than ours? (TN: first said by Chen Sheng and then later used as a slogan for rebellion) 

The Zhu Yuanzhang of now perhaps had already learned to hide his hate and anger at the imperial court deep in his heart. He could calmly speak of his past, as if he had no emotions, but Lin Yuan was clear, this kind of hate was burrowed deep in your bones and could never be dug out.

“Right, brother Lin.” Zhu Zhongba said as he pulled the cart, “how come you have so much foodstuff?” 

The surrounding people also perked their ears, they all wanted to know! 

Lin Yuan: “I have a farmstead with a population of about 100. Now that the times are hard, the harvested grains are not enough so I left to buy some from outside. I cannot let the people following me suffer hunger.”  

Zhu Zhongba looked at Lin Yuan with different eyes, strange emotions roiling in them. In the end, he sighed: “Brother Lin, I have never seen a boss like you.” 

His previous boss would not even let him bury his family’s bodies. Without the landowner’s permission, he could not find any land to give them a burial.

It was only another landowner who gave him a piece of land to bury them under, but even then it was without any proper coffins. 

What landowner would be concerned whether their tenant farmers were able to eat fully? If it was possible they would have them be animals who could be used for physical labor and didn’t need to eat at all. 

Zhu Zhongba suddenly came across a peculiarly different landowner that his expression when looking at Lin Yuan became more respectful and solemn.

“It is almost winter.” Lin Yuan tucked in his neck, having felt the lowering temperature. In these times there were no electrical heaters, only cotton blankets which not everyone could afford. 

Zhu Zhongba did not say anything, no one said anything. 

Jiang Gui sneezed: “Fourth brother, do you want to add on another coat.”

Lin Yuan only then remembered he had packed another two thin cotton coats. He had the two coats given to two women who were carrying children. The women themselves wrre thin and yet they were trying to block the wind from their children. 

A mother’s nature…..  

“Thank you boss, thank you boss!” 

“Boss is kindhearted, I will give boss kowtow!”

The two women wrapped their children in the coats and immediately kneeled, kowtowing three times with sincerity. 

Lin Yuan looked at the other people who watched with longing and said: “If you gave birth to children then I would have the coats given to you as well.” 

The men paused, then all laughed out loud.

“How can we have such ability.” 

“Hahaha, maybe if you find a man to do it, it might just happen.”

“Why are you looking at my behind?” 

“I see your behind is big, it can definitely bear children.” 

With the group of men telling each other vulgar jokes, the depressed atmosphere from before warmed up. 

Zhu Zhongba was also smiling. He pulled the cart but did not feel it to be too heavy since three other men were also pulling it with him. In the back there was also the families of these men pushing at the cart. The cart was ladened with foodstuff, no matter how heavy they would not complain.

Jiang Gui lead the ox cart, saying to Lin Yuan: “Don’t let brother Dao see this fellow.” 

Lin Yuan was confused: “Why? Brother Dao would not be against…..” 

“Ai, what are you thinking!” Jiang Gui said lowly, “I see this fellow may have an ordinary appearance but his eyes are clear and his body strong. I’m afraid once brother Dao catches sight of him he will want to become sworn brothers with him.”

Jiang Gui: “Then you will become fifth brother.” 

Lin Yuan: “……” 

I actually forgot something like this.

A cold breeze blew past and brother Dao who was currently tending to the fields sneezed. Rubbing his nose: “Who, who is scolding me?”

Yang Zi’an chewed on a piece of grass on the side, expressionless but with a disdainful look in his eyes when he glanced towards Li Congrong. 

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If not for his prevention, Li Congrong almost became sworn brothers with another two strong men. The fellow truly does deserve a scolding. 

AN: Li Congrong: “Not swearing brotherhood is not possible, relying on swearing brotherhood as a means of livelihood.” (TN: In Chinese this is written like a tongue twister but it loses its tongue twister qualities when translated into English ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ )

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