Chapter 1114
Growth
The villagers were very hospitable, offering them not only water but also food—or rather, porridge.
They had no food to eat either, but the family in the lead specially scooped out some porridge from the bottom of the pot, removed some water, and ladled out three bowls of very thick porridge for them.
Pan Yun looked and saw that after scooping out those three bowls of porridge, all that was left in their pot was plain water and a few scattered grains of rice.
Pan Yun was moved as she drank the porridge in big gulps.
The villagers surrounded them, asking where they came from.
Zhu Jianji honestly replied, "I am from the capital."
"People from the capital are also venturing out of the capital to make a living?"
"Are there also refugees in the capital?"
Zhu Jianji looked helplessly at Pan Yun and Xue Shao.
After finishing his porridge, Xue Shao calmly continued, "There are also poor people in the capital. His family is struggling to make ends meet and can no longer survive in the capital. I am from Hedong."
"Hedong? And what about you?"
Pan Yun said, "I'm from Jiangxi."
As soon as Pan Yun spoke, some villagers immediately became excited: "Young lady, your voice sounds familiar. Where in Jiangxi are you from? I'm from Ji'an, Jiangxi."
Upon hearing this, Pan Jun happily replied, "It's not far; I'm from Guangxin Prefecture."
Pan Yun was immediately given a warm welcome, while Xue Shao and Zhu Jianji, who were still holding bowls, were pushed aside one after another, and soon they were pushed to the very edge.
Zhu Jianji looked at Pan Yun, who was surrounded in the center, and remained silent for a long time: "Teacher didn't even rely on his status as a Taoist priest, but was so lovable just because of his background."
Xue Shao, with his keen ears, picked up another accent and raised an eyebrow, saying, "She can be even more lovable."
Pan Yun also heard the familiar accent and immediately introduced herself: "I grew up at the foot of Sanqing Mountain in Guangxin Prefecture, but my ancestral home is Changzhou Prefecture."
"Changzhou?" A group of people immediately rushed over, shouting, "We are also from Changzhou!"
Pan Yun was welcomed by most of the villagers. She introduced Zhu Jianji and Xue Shao as her companions on the road, saying that all men are brothers, and so the two of them also received a warm welcome.
This allowed Zhu Jianji to infiltrate their ranks and hear their true thoughts.
"Things are good now, but we don't know what the future holds. I'm afraid the court tricked us into coming here first, and then imposed heavy taxes and labor on us. This place is different from our Jiangxi and Jiangnan areas; people can freeze to death in the winter."
"Yes, this place is close to the border. I wonder if they will force recruits in the future."
In addition, they were worried about their relationship with the local tribes: "If we are bullied, will the imperial court protect us?"
They've been here for two years, and so far, they're doing well and quite satisfied. They've been allocated land and houses. Although they have to work every year to repair roads and irrigation canals, the government provides them with subsidies. And whether it's repairing roads or irrigation canals, they end up using the money anyway, so it's all for their own benefit.
Currently, they are content as long as they can have the same future.
Pan Yun dressed Zhu Jianji up as a refugee child and took him to various new villages to find fellow villagers;
They turned around and dressed him in a grassland outfit, then applied a little powder to his face, and he became a minor nobleman of the Oirat. Pan Yun became his wet nurse, and Xue Shao was fortunate enough to become his retainer. The two of them, along with a group of guards, escorted him to contact the Jurchen tribes to rebel.
"Rebellion?" Zhu Jianji's eyes widened when he received his new assignment. Pan Yun shook his finger and said, "This method is not to be learned. I am only letting you understand what they are thinking, but if you take power, this is entrapment, or fishing with heavy bait. It's somewhat insidious."
Xue Shao: "Then why are you still teaching him?"
Pan Yun said, "If I don't take him on a trip, how will he know how dangerous the world is, why those who rebel rebel, and why those who don't rebel can tolerate the benefits without rebelling?"
"Human nature is treacherous. I don't like it when they only teach you the methods but not the reasons. Since you want to investigate, then lay everything out on the table, good or bad, and expose it all to the sunlight. Let me see it clearly and understand it before you go and learn the methods your seven teachers taught you."
Zhu Jianji seemed to be deep in thought.
Then, Pan Yun led him to a group of people in Heilongjiang who wanted to rebel. Through them, he made contact with the Oirats and Tatars in the three neighboring tributary states and formed a rebellious force.
Of course, they are currently in the stage of accumulating strength, so they need to hide their identities.
In order to avoid arousing suspicion from the imperial court, these tribes outwardly submitted to the court and befriended court officials, even bribing them to place their tribesmen in the army or as officials in the court.
Zhu Jianji created a tribe out of thin air. As the eldest prince of the tribe and the future tribal leader, he was fortunate enough to enter the leadership and come into contact with many secrets.
Upon learning of their plot to rebel, Zhu Jianji was stunned and couldn't help but ask the Imperial Guard beside him, "Teacher, did you really not use any bewitching magic? How come they believed everything I said?"
This is too naive. So naive that even if the other party is on the opposite side, he wouldn't dare to make a move.
The Imperial Guards, being well-informed, said, "The Imperial Preceptor didn't use any magic, Your Highness. Human hearts are complex. They are not simple-minded, but rather greedy and ruthless."
"Because of greed, they were misled by the money and conditions you offered; because of ruthlessness, even if they had doubts, they could not investigate further, and in the end, a single blow would be enough to end it all."
The Imperial Guards didn't think they were simple-minded; instead, they believed they were malicious. Otherwise, why would they rebel instead of living a peaceful life?
Pan Yun walked past him and said, "What family would let their ten-year-old son take out millions of assets to trick a group of people who want to rebel into joining them in a rebellion? Would your father do that?"
Zhu Jianji shook his head.
If it weren't for the Imperial Advisor guiding him, his father would never have agreed to him taking such a dangerous risk.
In fact, not many people knew about this, but everyone in the capital who did know about it vehemently opposed it, except for his father, who had boundless trust in his teacher.
Pan Yun then asked, "Which minister in the court do you think would be willing to use his ten-year-old son to go fishing?"
Zhu Jianji thought about it carefully and shook his head.
He's the eldest son!
Good-looking, smart, good at studying, and obedient, who would be willing to use such a good son for fishing?
Pan Yun spread his hands: "Look, everyone is reluctant to part with it, so who would have thought you were fishing?"
Pan Jun said, "Make preparations. We'll go see them in a bit and tell them that in order to buy weapons, we need to do business with the Han people and make more money. We need to prepare not only swords, spears, and crossbows, but also firearms."
Zhu Jianji's eyes widened: "What, what, what... what are you doing?"
“Let’s collect some small fish,” Pan Jun said. “We’ve thrown in so much bait to create a feeding area, we can’t just turn around and leave, can we? Let’s collect some interest.”
"This matter is of great importance; wasn't it supposed to be handled jointly by the Northern Garrison Command and the Ministry of War?" (End of Chapter)