Gu Ying changed horses and hurried back to the river mouth with Lin Xie.

  Lin Xuhong, who was hiding behind the gate, saw Lin Ye being escorted by the guards and hurried over to say: "It's chaotic, it's chaotic. These bastards eat Lin family's food and wear Lin family's clothes, but now they dare to rebel. Zhao Qingshan, that turtle son, doesn't listen to orders either. The Lin family didn't treat him unfairly, but he still dares to refuse to lead the militia to drive away the rebels. Old Seventeen, you must order the troops from Dui Island to come over and suppress these bastards..."

  "What's the hurry," Lin Xie said in a deep voice, "with sharp swords and spears, how can we casually add them to our fellow villagers' heads?"

  Cao Zikang, Ge Cunxin and others will not take the lead for Lin's family affairs, but will secretly strengthen their vigilance. Moreover, except for Lin Xie's order or encountering a real enemy attack, Zhao Hu and Zhou Pu, Yang Shi will possibly lead the prison island soldiers to cross the river to support.

  Lin Jingzhong and Lin Mengde left the river mouth in the afternoon, and at this time, Lin Mengde, who had gone to Quyang Town to do business, received a message and hurried back with Lin Fu. Lin Fu didn't have time to discuss anything with him, and seeing the crowd gathering ahead, he went straight to the scene of the disturbance.

  The new house on the west street has not been fully built, but the Lin family can't stand the simplicity of the surrounding houses. After taking over this three-room courtyard house, they moved in hastily these two days.

  The new mansion's front gate hadn't had time to be paved with bricks, and the hitching posts were only temporarily buried with two makeshift stakes. The stepping stones for dismounting horses weren't ready either, and the garden in the back was just newly built. As the Lin family was a noble clan, the gate had just been painted crimson red and hadn't fully dried yet, emitting a strong scent of tung oil.

  The Lin family plans to cut 167 village guards this time, and the news of cutting village guards has been spread out early, but the real decision was made just before noon today.

  The riotous braves either sat or squatted on the open ground in front of the new house, the weather was scorching hot, and the armor was thick and heavy. Some people couldn't bear the heat, so they opened their armor, bared their chests, and shouted loudly, throwing knives, guns, swords, spears, bows, and arrows all over the place. With the onlookers crowding around, not only the area in front of the new house but also the entire south-north street was completely blocked. The scene was truly boisterous and chaotic.

  But it was seeing Lin Xie and Gu Yingxiu as well as Lin Mengde and others riding horses over, that this side suddenly quieted down.

  Zhao Qing-shan led only thirty or forty local militiamen to guard the front gate of his new residence, not allowing the rowdy militiamen to get close and cause trouble, nor did he take any other measures. He waited until Lin Xie and the others returned before leading a few people down the steps to greet them.

  The vermilion gate and the side gates on both sides were all closed, only a face was exposed in the peephole of the side gate to observe the situation outside, it was Lin Xulü inside.

  Lin Xian sighed slightly, Lin Xuelu's knowledge and behavior were good, but his temperament was also somewhat insufficient. He and other members of the Lin family closed their doors and hid inside, not only making it difficult to communicate with the village braves, but also causing the village braves guarding outside to feel estranged.

  After Lin Tingxuan's death, there really wasn't anyone else who could control the overall situation.

  "What's going on here? Soldiers don't look like soldiers, bandits don't look like bandits. How can you behave so recklessly at the river mouth?" Lin Xie dismounted and handed his horse to a guard, then walked straight into the midst of the mutinous militiamen with Gu Ying, kicking away the knives and spears that had been casually discarded on the ground. He shouted sternly, "As long as you haven't disbanded, you are soldiers of Linli Village. Who allowed you to abandon your weapons and armor? If the enemy attacks the river mouth, how will you defend against them?"

  "General Lin, your kindness to us will be repaid for generations to come. However, the Lin family is disbanding tomorrow and we won't even have any settlement money. What right do you have to ask us to sacrifice our lives for the Lin family today?" a soldier stood up and argued.

  "Are there no parents, wives or children waiting for you?" Lin Tie looked at the soldier and asked, "You are holding arms to guard the land, is it really just for the Lin family?"

  Lin Tingxuan has passed away, and there is no one in the Lin family who can match his prestige.

  Lin Xie's short half-year stay in Jiangning has earned him such a great reputation, and his legend is spreading throughout Shanglin.

  He led the crowd to fight against the water thieves at Luoyang Lake, and then led the crowd to confront the water thieves at Shanglin Ferry for half a day, successfully evacuating thousands of civilians from Shanglinli. Later, the refugees who escaped to Jiangning were all taken in by Lin Xuan without exception. Those militia men who scattered when the village was attacked were also gathered and sheltered by Lin Xuan and brought back tohekou to take refuge.

  Although older generations of villagers in Shanglin have different views on Lin's more radical stance, the younger generation undoubtedly regards him as a role model.

  Lin Xie and Qi Furen Gu Yingxiu walked over, no one was squatting or sitting on the ground; at this moment, Lin Xie had been scolded, even if there was still resentment in his heart for abandoning the Lin family, he still put on his uniform armor, picked up the weapons and equipment on the ground.

  "You've been at the river mouth for more than a day or two, and yet you see people starving to death on this side. What do you have to worry about?" Lin Fu stepped up onto the steps and said loudly, "If you have any grievances, choose a few people to follow me in to talk things over. I, Lin Fu, guarantee their safety; as for everyone else, return to the temporary campsite immediately. What kind of scene is this? Before nightfall, the Lin family will make an announcement to everyone."

  Lin Mengde saw Lin Xian controlling the situation with just a few words, and at this time Lin Xuanchu allowed people to open the big door from inside. Don't look at Lin Xuanchu's appearance or family background, his speech and demeanor are extraordinary, and he also has official titles, but compared to Lin Xian, it is truly worlds apart.

  The mutiny must have someone leading the way, with Lin Ge's guarantee, the five leaders quickly stood out, to show respect for Lin Ge, they even handed over their personal weapons to others to take back first.

  "Third Brother, Third Madam, Sixth Madam, Young Madam and the three clan elders are all inside?" Lin Xian asked Lin Xu Lu.

  "Fortunately, you and Seventh Aunt came back in time." Lin Xulü didn't dare to speak harshly to the five people who were leading the trouble, and followed Seventh Lady, Lin Fu, Lin Mengde, and Lin XuHong into the new house.

  Passing by the照壁, walking into the垂花门, Lin's widow and three clan elders were all in the middle courtyard, anxiously waiting with bated breath. They took the five ringleaders who had caused trouble as Lin Shou's attendants. Seeing Lin Shou return, they seemed to see a savior, and hastily said: "You're back, that's good! Quickly notify the government to send soldiers to arrest those troublemakers. We always said those lowly people are unreliable. When Master was alive, he didn't treat them unfairly in the slightest. Before his body even went cold, they wanted to rebel. They're truly as despicable as Zhao Neng, that treacherous slave."

  "Alright," Lin Xian slightly frowned and lightly shouted, stopping them from speaking out of turn. He said, "The situation isn't that serious, everyone has dispersed, I let everyone elect five people to discuss with the head of the household about disbanding the village guards and their arrangements. Disbanding the village guards is after all related to the village guards themselves, we can't not listen to their opinions. Zhao Neng this slave deserves a thousand knives and ten thousand cuts, the village guards gathering outside the door just want the head of the household to carefully consider disbanding, cutting down, and arranging matters, how can these two things be mixed together?"

  At this time, the crowd finally understood that the five Han men who came in with Lin Xiao were the troublemakers who had been pushed forward to negotiate. Their faces all turned ugly, and when they saw Lin Xiao return, they took control of the situation and also gained confidence. The third madam spoke coldly: "Do you have anything to discuss with them? Originally, it was the Lin family that supported them, can't they even take care of their own lives and deaths?"

  Lin furrowed his brow, knowing that the women were trying to get him to immediately turn back, which was impossible. He had already made up his mind about how to handle this matter, and said: "With several madams and three clan elders present, as well as five representatives selected by the village braves, we need to resolve this matter properly. Since our household has decided not to use them, I'll take over for now. After Upper Lin is recovered, having fewer people won't work... Although the river mouth is in a difficult situation, it's not like we can't afford to feed one or two hundred more people. The problem is that the Ji Yun Society's armed guards only have a quota of 40 people and cannot maintain private troops. I think we shouldn't report Lin's dismissal of the village braves to outsiders. What do you all think, Third Brother, Third Madam, Sixth Madam, and Young Madam?"

  Lin's intention was to take over all the trouble-making village braves, but still occupy the Lin family's military quota.

  Although Lin Tie's private army was raised in the name of Ji Yun She, it would not be bound by the limit of 40 Wu Wei, but suddenly increasing so many people would make it difficult to hide again. If it were to be exposed to Gu Wudu's political enemies or those who had offended Lin Tie in Jiangning, there would be big trouble.

  Although the Linli Village Militia in Jiangning were guest soldiers, they had a formal name and with this name, Lin Xue could even drive them to go north to participate in the Hongze Pu battle.

  "It's also good this way," Lin Xulü was momentarily unclear about the actual strength of Lin Gu's private army, which could support nearly two hundred people on its own. However, it wouldn't be good to provoke the village braves either. If Lin Gu was willing to take over the hot potato, that would be even better. After all, Lin Gu was still a member of the Lin family. He looked at several of the Lin family widows, "What do you ladies think?"

  "People with different surnames are really not trustworthy. Since Old Seventeen is not afraid of trouble, then let's take over all the outsiders and village braves," said Third Madam in a huff. "That Zhao Qing Shan, we've all decided to increase his monthly silver allowance to four taels. Just now, when our family head gave him an order, he even dared to be evasive. This time, he must be dismissed..."

  "This matter will be put aside for now. Since it has been decided, I'll trouble Third Brother and Seventh Lady to accompany me to the camp to announce this decision." Lin Xie said, thinking that Third Lady was deeply entrenched in her mansion, how would she know that grasping people's hearts was never a simple matter? Even if all of Lin clan's descendants were used, it would still be hard to guarantee that they wouldn't harbor dissenting thoughts. Hadn't there been many instances of fratricide throughout history? In this world, there was no such thing as unwarranted loyalty. The Lin family viewed the village braves as nothing but weeds, while the village braves saw the Lin family as sworn enemies - it was only natural. Whether they were of different surnames or not made no difference. However, those who had a broad and magnanimous heart could make even those from other tribes feel like their own arms."

  Lin Jie no longer delayed in the new house, leading five leaders of the rioting villagers, along with Lin Xu Lu, Lin Xu Hong, Lin Meng De and Seventh Lady Gu Ying Xiu, rushed to the temporary campsite of the village braves west of He Kou Wei, gathering all the rioting villagers together after noon to announce the decision to incorporate them into the Ji Yun She Wu Wei.

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  PS: Chapter 1, seeking red tickets.