Of course, such thoughts could only stay in his heart; there was no way he could say them out loud.
As a centrally appointed official, Lin Zhen knew very well that the struggles within the imperial court were far more frightening than one could imagine.
Even a position with a little real power would attract hundreds or thousands of people to fight over it, sacrificing themselves, bankrupting their families.
Not to mention, Lin Zhenxian held the lifeline of the entire Great Qian Nation, a sharp blade hanging over everyone’s heads.
How could those officials barely surviving under his oppression not be resistant? The moment they had a chance, they would think of killing him.
And in just three months, Southern Chu would invade. By then, Lin Zhenxian would die on the battlefield, the Lin family would fall, and Lin Zhen would be turned into a living corpse.
Actually, Lin Zhenxian was by no means weak in military matters; his only flaw was in politics.
Lin Zhenxian, who never understood tactfulness or played political tricks, had made too many enemies in court.
When the battle with Southern Chu became critical, the Empress listened to Gu Beichen and other treacherous ministers’ suggestions, cutting off provisions and supplies, leaving the frontline soldiers hungry, cold, and even their weapons rusting.
How could they win a war like that?
Therefore, Lin Zhen must handle everything in the court before Southern Chu invaded, preventing such a tragedy.
As long as Lin Zhenxian stood, the Lin family would not fall.
After hearing his grandson’s explanation, Lin Zhenxian seemed much more at ease. He sat down on the grand master’s chair, picked up the tea cup, gently stirred the tea leaves, and said leisurely,
“That woman has been crying outside all this time, and you don’t feel any pity?”
“Heh.” Lin Zhen sneered, “It’s nothing but crocodile tears. What’s there to pity?”
Lin Zhenxian was curious about this new term, “Crocodile tears? Is there a story behind this?”
“A crocodile is the native dragon of Southern Zhao. It’s said that before it attacks humans, it sheds tears, pretending to be pitiful to lower their guard, and then suddenly strikes. Another saying is that when the native dragon catches its prey, it would shed false tears while devouring it. In short, that woman deserves it. She’s not worth pitying.”
“Then all those things you did for her before were fake?” If that were true, even Lin Zhenxian would feel fear for Lin Zhen’s boldness and scheming.
But thankfully, Lin Zhen didn’t admit to it.
“Not at all. I just figured it out suddenly on my wedding day. With my status, what kind of woman can’t I find in the world? There’s no need to obsess over one flower.”
“Good! That’s my grandson Lin Zhenxian is proud of!”
“Hahaha.” The old man was obviously in high spirits. He stood up, took out a token from his belt, “Uh…”
Lin Zhen’s eyes widened.
He knew this was the Tiger Tally of the four major camps in the capital! It was something Gu Beichen dreamed of having.
With this, the 60,000 soldiers guarding the capital would be his!
Thanking his parents, society, heaven, and earth, and so on.
But Lin Zhenxian hesitated for a moment, felt something was wrong, and withdrew the token.
Lin Zhen was immediately anxious!
Don’t!
This thing would be far more useful in my hands than yours!
Lin Zhenxian coughed, “Zhen’er, you’ve performed well these days. If there’s nothing else, you can leave first.”
“I… Yes.”
Lin Zhen was a bit dejected.
It was still because of his past behavior that Lin Zhenxian didn’t fully trust him.
He was worried that if Lin Zhen got military power, he would act recklessly.
Which made sense. No one in their right mind would hand over military power to a scoundrel; that would be disloyal to the country and the people.
After leaving the hall, Liu Shuyao was still kneeling there, tears streaming down her face without stopping.
“Hus…”
“Young Master Lin!!”
Before she could call out ‘husband,’ a eunuch’s unique hoarse voice shouted from outside the moon gate.
Lin Zhen looked over and saw three eunuchs in deep blue robes, surrounded by ten imperial guards, entering the courtyard.
Lin Zhen recognized this person; he was Murong Yan’s chief eunuch, Murong Wushe.
Lin Zhen greeted him with a smile, “So it’s Lord Wushe. A pleasure to meet you.”
“Young Master Lin, hehe.” The eunuch’s smile was insincere as he said, “This humble one is here to deliver an imperial decree. His Majesty summons you to the palace.”
“Oh?”
Lin Zhen patted his body, realizing he didn’t bring any money. He turned around and rummaged through Lin Dada’s clothes, finally pulling out a silver ingot from his crotch area.
Lin Zhen showed disgust, “You miser, aren’t you afraid of crushing your eggs?”
“Don’t, Young Master, that’s my wife’s savings!”
“Keeping your wife’s savings in your crotch? It must be the reward grandfather just gave you. Stop pretending. Go to the accounts office later and get reimbursed.”
“I…” This chapter was taken from novelping.com without permission.
Lin Zhen handed the silver ingot to Murong Wushe with a fawning smile.
Although the latter looked a bit disgusted, having something was better than nothing, so he chuckled, “Oh, Young Master, what’s this for?”
“Dare I ask, Lord Wushe, why is His Majesty in such a hurry to summon me to the palace?”
“Oh, hehe, Prime Minister Gu brought his son. His Majesty is furious about it.”
Lin Zhen’s eyes flickered, “Alright, I understand. Thank you, Lord Wushe, for your trouble.”
“Not at all, not at all. Young Master, please come with me.”
“Please.”
…
The Regent’s Mansion was some distance from the palace, and the trip back and forth would take at least an hour.
Lin Zhen wondered if he could make a name for himself through this.
Maybe invent a taxi company.
Of course, there couldn’t be taxis in ancient times, but there could be rental carriages.
At present, horses were still important military supplies, very expensive, and not something anyone could afford.
Even if one could afford to buy a horse, feeding it was a costly affair.
Thus, the saying went: can afford to buy but can’t afford to raise.
Just like the taxis in the 1980s and 1990s, they were expensive, but most people couldn’t afford to own them; however, they could afford to ride them.
If there was an urgent need to go out and no carriage was available, people could choose to hire one, fast and affordable.
Lin Zhen had observed that the people traveling on the entire Zhuque Street were mostly walking, with only a few young masters galloping by on horseback, leaving chaos in their wake.
Very few people chose to ride in carriages, and only some officials would do so when traveling far. No one would ride a carriage to the palace to meet the emperor; they all walked to show respect for imperial authority.
If even officials were like this, let alone farmers, workers, and merchants.
Those with better conditions raised horses themselves, while those with worse conditions simply couldn’t afford to maintain carriages.
In that case, there was huge potential here!
Lin Zhen was quite pleased at finding a way to make money and soon arrived at the palace gate.