Chapter 104:

It was a sunny day when Lin Yuan arrived in Runing. Most of the spring has passed, and summer will come after a month or so. The sun is falling on the ground, and the farmers in the fields are ploughing in spring. Chen Baisong took over the first spring in Runing. The people still live as they did in previous years. If there is anything different, it is that the people are more fearful than ever.
Even if Chen Baisong controlled all the big landlords like Lin Yuan, even if he let the farmers get more benefits, the farmers are still uneasy and afraid.
People seem to prefer the previous life, not having enough food, being hungry, having a hard life, being oppressed and exploited, but even so, they have become accustomed to that kind of life, and suddenly someone tells them that they are free and don’t need to be a landlord. Increase the living under rent over and over again, without worrying about drowning the child after giving birth.
They opened their horrified eyes and buried their heads like ostriches.
Chen Baisong didn't know what he did wrong.
Shouldn't people be happy and inspired?
When Lin Yuan rode his horse into the city, he turned his head and saw the fields beside the road, and the fields trembling, looking at his people with despair and numbness.
This made Lin Yuan more clearly aware of the difference between Runing and other places.
In other places, Lin Yuan is the only and noble spiritual leader of people.
Lin Yuan forgot where he saw it.
At the end of the development of science, it will become theology. People with empty spirits will desperately seek sustenance, and this sustenance is all kinds of religions.
People in the troubled times were the most mentally broken time. People in Gaoyou Taizhou and other lands conquered by Lin Yuan captured Lin Yuan, but Runing did not.
"My lord!" The guards followed Lin Yuan, they watched Lin Yuan ride the horse, raised their whip, and galloped with the wind.
Lin Yuan reined in front of the barracks. The black steed under his hips stood upright like a man. Lin Yuan sat on the horse with his waist straight. No one in the barracks did not recognize him. The soldiers were neatly placed when they saw Lin Yuan. Kneeled down.
The horse's hoof fell to the ground, Lin Yuan rolled over and dismounted, and soon the soldier walked over with excited eyes flushing. The soldier seemed to want to say something, but he couldn't utter a tone after opening his mouth several times. Lin Yuan glanced at the soldier, his face again With an inertial smile, he said softly, "Lead the horse away and feed some beans."
The little soldier nodded again and again, he was leading the horse, but proudly he seemed to be leading the whole world.
The creeps even left with the same hands and feet when they walked.
He was only fourteen years old when he fled to Gaoyou, and he had no parents or relatives. On the way to escape, he was full of sneers and eyes.
Until he fled to Gaoyou and entered the military camp, no one bullied him in the military camp. Everyone was the same. They would gather together every seven days to hold a party. They would talk about their past and their hometown in front of many people. , How did you come to this place after going through hardships.
In this barracks, the soldiers felt happiness they had never felt before.
Here he is tolerated, he is full of a sense of belonging, the more so, the more he admires Lin Yuan.
His admiration is blind and irrational.
But most people in the barracks are like that.
This is not only true of the soldiers in the hands of Chen Baisong, but also the soldiers in the hands of Zhu Yuanzhang, Li Congrong, and Yang Zian.
This extreme spiritual worship made the military and political power tightly held in Lin Yuan's hands.
But the most deadly point is that if Lin Yuan dies one day, the world centered on him will quickly fall apart and fall apart.
Lin Yuan knew it himself, but he was powerless, and he couldn't spread the idea of ​​democracy and freedom.
Democracy and freedom cannot grow on deformed ideological soil.
Only by waiting, waiting for the stability of the country, waiting for the new generation to receive education, waiting for this extreme worship to end, will democracy and freedom fall into the ground and blossom in people's minds.
Maybe after he dies, democracy and freedom will sprout.
The premise is that he can stabilize the country before he died.
As for his merits and demerits, he can only be left to future generations to evaluate.
"Master." Chen Baisong left the tent and greeted him with a quick walk. It has been nearly two years since he left Lin Yuan. During the past two years, he has been bleeding and sweating on different battlefields. Only when he was alone in the dead of night would he think of Lin Yuan. .
Sometimes he even felt that he no longer knew the young master.
The gentle, kind-hearted young master he remembered with a bit of innocence and weakness has become a calm, strong, and powerful person in power.
This gave Chen Baisong an unspeakable sense of confusion.
He hopes he can protect the young master, but the young master does not need his protection.
Lin Yuan looked at Chen Baisong, he was also a little surprised. Chen Baisong looked more mature. If he was a wolf before, now he has become a tiger. He has learned to be calm and not always bright as before. Out of his fangs and claws.
"Beard is growing." Lin Yuan smiled at Chen Baisong, "Thanks for your hard work these days."
Chen Baisong was silent. He walked to Lin Yuan and looked at this man who was half a head shorter than himself.
He is taller than him, but in front of him, he is always in a lower position.
"Get in." Lin Yuan walked in front, as if he was the master who was familiar with Runing Barracks for the first time.
Chen Baisong followed him, and the two walked into the tent together.
Lin Yuan sat in the seat that originally belonged to Chen Baisong. Chen Baisong's soldiers served Lin Yuan tea. The soldiers were nervous and excited. His legs were trembling-after being on the battlefield so many times, he would not shake his legs when killing. Only then did it keep shaking.
"You have done a good job about Runing." Lin Yuan took a sip of tea. He didn't rush into the city or take care of the trouble. "Don't worry."
Chen Baisong's thin lips are tightly pressed, and he has been fighting all year round. Now Chen Baisong is like a knife, he has seen a knife in blood.
His face looked a little thin, which made his facial features unusually distinct. Lin Yuan had to admit that Chen Baisong was handsomer than him just by appearance.
"I didn't do it well." Chen Baisong said of what he did in Runing and what he could not figure out the most. "The people are even more panicked."
Gaoyou changed hands, Taizhou changed hands, and Suzhou changed hands. The people seemed to accept it well. They hoped that Lin Yuan would lead them to a better life. But why is Runing different? Why are the people of Runing different?
Chen Baisong did not understand.
Lin Yuan smiled and said like a stern and loving father: "You have done well enough. It's not to blame you."
Chen Baisong lowered his head, he felt ashamed.
He finally made up his mind to take care of Runing's affairs, but the reality slapped him.
"Well, let me take care of it. Come and see. When things are done, you can tell me what you learned." Lin Yuan whispered, "OK?"
Chen Baisong suddenly raised his head and looked at Lin Yuan with incredible eyes.
Lin Yuan: "Come slowly, you can always learn something."
Chen Baisong drank a cup of tea and saluted Lin Yuan: "Thank you, Master."
On the edge of Runing city, the farmers are cooking at home. The women brought out vegetable soup and multi-grain rice. The family squatted on the ground and threw the food. There was no rice in the multi-grain rice. The chaff was the protagonist. They sat after eating. Speaking on the threshold, talking about the weather tomorrow and how much the autumn harvest will yield.
"The village chief said that the landlord will not take our rent." The woman's expression was a little dazed. "Now the five families use three hoes and a cow together, do we have to return these to the master?"
The man coughed twice. He was only thirty years old, but he seemed to be close to fifty. His skin was rough and yellow, his cheeks were sunken, and his brows were frowning. He spit out thick sputum on the ground and arched his waist. Say: "I will ask tomorrow."
A child was with rags on the woman's back. The child didn't know anything. He was only two years old. He didn't understand the adult's sorrow and was playing with his mother's hair.
"They said that when the Nan Bodhisattva is here, the landlord will ignore us." Tears burst into the woman's eyes. She asked her husband, "Is that Nan Bodhisattva really not leaving?"
The man looked at the ground under his feet in silence.
The woman said angrily: "Why do Nan Bodhisattva want Runing? Why do they come? Isn't it good for us to live the past?"
Although poor, hungry, and struggling to farm but can’t eat enough, life is very stable.
But now, they don't know what is waiting for them.
The unknown makes them fear, and fear brings them resentment.
The next morning, before the sun rose, the man had left home and went to the ground, and the woman had to go to the ground. She used cloth strips as a rope like a ox, and tied the child to a tree where she could see, and followed Farm together.
Her eyes are broken, and she can't see things clearly before it's bright, but after so many years of work, she can do even to smear, and farming has become her instinct.
Just as the first ray of sunlight broke through the clouds and sprinkled on the ground, the village chief ran on the ridge. Someone behind him knocked a gong. When the gong rang, the villagers knew that there was news. They took agricultural tools and walked to the clearing at the entrance of the village and looked up. Looking at the village chief standing on the stone.
The village chief is over fifty and his body is not very tough. He shouted with all his strength, "The South Bodhisattva is here! The soldier is coming today!"
The villagers were terrified.
"What are the soldiers doing here?"
"My family has no food! No daughter!"
"Don't let them come!"
It is a minority that speaks, and more people just bow their heads in silence.
Someone was shaking, shrugging their shoulders.
No matter how fearful or unwilling the villagers were, the soldiers still came.
Not many soldiers came, only a hundred people, but this group of soldiers did not come empty-handed. In addition to housing arrangements in the village, the soldiers brought their own food and daily necessities.
When the soldiers came, the villagers hid in their houses, and they didn't even dare to go out and take a look.
"Mother, are those soldiers?" The children are nestled in their mothers' arms. Children are not like adults. Sometimes they have courage and are not afraid of many things like adults.
The woman hugged the child and whispered: "You are not allowed to see, they are ghosts, they will eat you, they will eat your brain and intestines."
The child shivered.
But the next day, the child forgot his mother's intimidation, and he took the children from the same village to sneak in to see the soldiers.
In the children's world, soldiers have a natural sense of majesty. This sense of majesty is different from their parents. They dare not let the discovery of the soldiers, but dare to hide behind the trees and watch quietly.
The soldiers wore dark cloths and had their waists straight, unlike the adults in the village who were always squatting.
They look stronger and taller.
This is the ideal "future" in the eyes of the boy.
"I want to be a soldier too." A boy whispered.
The other boys also nodded.
They don't know what to face as a soldier. At this moment, they just yearn for the day when they can stand upright.
The soldier who was squatting on the side of the field to eat with a bowl saw the group of dolls. He was young and had a lively personality. He waved at the group of dolls: "Come here, give you sweets."
The boys first turned around and ran, and ran for a short distance. Finally, a boy found the word "sugar" the soldier said.
The boy stopped by coincidence.
They have never eaten sugar since they were born. They don't know what the real sugar tastes like and how it differs from the wild fruits on the mountain.
But they know that sugar is the sweetest thing in the world.
They looked at each other and finally turned their heads the boldest, and ran in the direction of the little soldier.
The little soldier watched him running, laughed and threw a piece of maltose over. The maltose fell on the grass. The boy bent over to pick it up. He didn't dislike the piece of sugar falling on the ground and quickly stuffed it into his mouth.
He squinted his eyes and the sweetness of maltose filled his taste buds. His life has only been a few years, but this must be one of the happiest moments in his life.
The boys behind him could only watch the boy put such a large piece of maltose into his mouth.
The boys walked over and looked at the little soldier longingly.
The soldier smiled and asked them: "I want to eat candy."
The boys nodded frantically.
The soldier said: "Okay, want to eat candy? Come and work with me."
The boys realized that the soldiers in this group were not holding weapons, but farm tools.
They turned their heads and found that the soldiers with straight backs in their eyes were also crouching and doing farm work.
What's more, they do it quickly and well, and they look like old crops.
A boy slapped his head: "They are turning over the land of my house!"
Are these soldiers working for them? !