As the saying goes, a scholar encounters soldiers and can’t argue his point, but in fact, it’s not just scholars; for the majority of the ordinary class, it’s the sa for you.
Li Ming is now a prominent figure, an aide-de-camp for the Imperial Court, coming back to his hotown to establish an army.
What is an army? It’s a fist.
Today, having seen them once, not to ntion the assets they actively handed over, even if Li Ming had acted without martial honor and directly targeted their families, coercing their property out by any ans necessary, they would have had no recourse.
Now, they’re eager to pay, and Li Ming accepting this money, whether for military planning or his own use, is a good thing for them—it at least ans they can get by with Li Ming.
Otherwise, once Li Ming didn’t accept and kept smilingly deflecting, they’d have to keep increasing their offer, never knowing how much it would take to get past him.
Even worse, he could take his soldiers and find so pretext to raid their hos and there would be nothing they could do about it.
Because if Li Ming bullied them, they couldn’t even take their grievances to the officials. Firstly, locals could only file complaints locally, but do you think the officials in Linshan Town would dare to ss with Li Ming?
Forget Linshan Town, even those higher up wouldn’t dare to cross Li Ming, and if they went over Linshan Town’s head without permission, it would be illegal. Even if their case was compelling, they’d be beaten half to death and sent back to file their complaint locally.
You’d ask Linshan Town’s officials to find fault with Li Ming?
Li Ming not finding fault with them was thanks enough!
So, what could they do? If Li Ming really did that, they’d have nothing left but to wait for death.
Fortunately, Li Ming hadn’t done so, otherwise they would’ve been truly helpless.
And thus, when Li Ming walked out of the restaurant safe and sound, the local gentry breathed a trendous sigh of relief.
"In Green Mountain Town, a true dragon among n has erged, a peerless hero of our ti!"
The Linshan Town officials in the restaurant couldn’t help but lant as they watched Li Ming leave, and the surrounding gentry echoed their praises, the flattery endless.
"......"
Of course, Li Ming wouldn’t care about what happened in the restaurant after he left with Wang Guangyun and the others.
If anything, he was more concerned about the ’good fellows’ he had t that morning.
"Dad, you should keep an eye out, pay attention to everyone’s mood."
On the way back, after much thought, Li Ming couldn’t help speaking to Li Chenglin, "They’ve co early to join my army, surely with great expectations. But today, there were no spots in the Personal Soldier Camp, and I didn’t even join them for lunch. I fear so might start feeling uneasy."
"Ah, what are you talking about? No matter how much they expect, they are re common folk. You, as an aide-de-camp of the Duke’s rank, have already honored them greatly by eting them in person."
Li Chenglong raised his eyebrows at his son, "You know, although they have co to join under you, rember that the army isn’t established yet, recruitnt hasn’t even started. They’ll be your soldiers once they’ve enlisted, but for now, they’re just riffraff from Jianghu, what’s there to be uneasy about?"
"That’s right, big brother, just your willingness to see them shows ample respect. Don’t overthink it!"
Liu Zhuang, hearing Li Ming’s words, couldn’t help but speak up. Wang Guangyun and Zhao Xiu both watched with lifted eyebrows, especially Zhao Xiu, who spoke softly, "Big brother, you must recognize the difference in status. Now, as an aide-de-camp, you can lead five thousand n into battle, not just so trivial Jianghu character. Your mindset needs to change."
Zhao Xiu felt genuinely relieved as he said this, now more than ever appreciating the benefits of having sworn Li Chenglin, Li Ming’s father, as his sworn father.
Although they were followers of Li Ming before and shared his fate as mbers, they were rely followers, not family as they are now.
In the past, as followers, even if they sensed sothing off about Li Ming’s deanor, they certainly wouldn’t have spoken so bluntly, instead carefully considering how to subtly remind him in a way that he would accept more readily.
But things are different now. He is now Li Ming’s brother, part of the family. They can speak their mind directly, saving a lot of effort.
This difference may not seem big now, but on the battlefield, it would be quite another matter.
Consider this, on the battlefield where the situation changes rapidly and opportunities can slip away in an instant, if you have to tiptoe around your words with the commander, wouldn’t that easily lead to missed chances?
By contrast, speaking directly like now undeniably saves trouble and sotis might even have a surprising effect.
Li Ming stood stunned at everyone’s words, then smiled, shaking his head sentintally, "It’s true, concern leads to chaos, the player is blind, the spectator sees clear. Here I am, the leader, and I hadn’t even thought of this. Alright, then, let’s go, we should head back and reflect on our own martial arts cultivation."
"Ha ha, big brother, you have a great love, believing in the equality of all under heaven, that’s why you feel this way. This is true compassion."
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