Chapter One: Perplexity

  At this time, Huang Yan suddenly found a sturdy wooden stick somewhere, held it in his hand, and walked over with a sinister smile on his face. His eyes kept scanning Li Tong's legs, as if he would break both of Li Tong's legs with just one word from Gao Huaiyuan. Zhou Hao also went to the side of the road and soon found a wooden stick, standing on the other side of Li Tong, staring at him expressionlessly.

  Li Tong felt his arm getting more and more painful, as if it was about to be twisted off by Gao Huaiyuan. Listening to him talk and the two eager young men beside him who seemed ready to take action at any moment, Li Tong had already been scared out of his wits. Only then did he realize that Gao Huaiyuan's previous knockout of Li Shi's servant wasn't just luck, but actual brute strength, and he was no match for him. His earlier plans were purely delusional!

  "Spare my life, young master! It's all my fault, I deserve to die, I'm a scoundrel! Spare my life, young master! From now on, I'll never dare again, from now on I'll serve you well, young master, please don't treat me like an ordinary person!" Li Tong suddenly collapsed, crying and wailing as he begged for mercy from Gao Hua Yuan.

  "Oh? You're scared now? But I'm still not at ease! If you're just pretending, and I let you go today, wouldn't that be raising a tiger to harm me in the future? Alright, I'll just break one of your arms instead, so you won't dare to speak out of turn and harm me later, that would be terrible!" Gao Huaiyuan's face was coldly smiling as he added more force to his grip.

  "Oh no! Young master, spare my life! I know I was wrong, I know I was wrong! I'll never dare to do it again! Please, young master, spare my life! From now on, I swear a poisonous oath that I will be loyal and devoted to you. If I'm not sincere, let me die a terrible death, exposed in the wilderness, and let wild dogs tear me apart! From now on, I'll treat your horse's head as my ancestor, you are my own father! Oh no, please go easy on me, my arm is really going to break!"

  Li Tong was truly frightened this time. He didn't expect Gao Huaiyuan to be so ruthless and merciless, actually saying that he would twist off one of his arms if he made another move. The pain and fear made him cry out loud, like a pig being slaughtered.

  Gao Huaiyuan took a look and saw that Li Tong was indeed scared out of his wits today, and didn't want to really break one of his arms. Since the goal had been achieved, he relaxed his grip on Li Tong's wrist and stood in front of him with his hands behind his back.

  Li Tong felt a sudden relief, quickly turned around and knelt down in front of Gao Huaiyuan, crying and kowtowing repeatedly to thank him: "Thank you, young master! Thank you, young master! My heart was blinded by dog shit, I won't dare again, rest assured, young master!..." He went on and on, saying all the words that could express his loyalty, almost exhausting all the phrases he knew.

  Gao Huairen took a step back, gazing coldly at Li Tong: "Get up, this matter will be settled for today. I'll be watching your future behavior, but let me warn you! If you dare to play any tricks on me, I guarantee you'll suffer a fate worse than death. I demand absolute loyalty from you. From now on, if I say something or do something, even if you see it, you must pretend you didn't. If I find out you've told anyone about anything, I'll consider it betrayal. Think of the consequences yourself! Can you understand what I'm saying?"

  Li Tong was taken aback after hearing this, and the current performance of Gao Huaiyuan made him feel puzzled. Why did he used to be a silly kid, but now become so ruthless, intelligent, and what he said seemed to have some other meaning? How did it seem like he wanted to do something big?!

  But Li Tong was not stupid either, and after a moment's thought, he immediately understood Gao Huaiyuan's meaning. He wanted him to be his loyal servant, only loyal to him! Not daring to say no, he hastily replied: "I understand, I understand! I will definitely remember, Young Master, you let me do what, I will definitely do what, absolutely not dare to tell anyone!"

  Gao Huaiyuan nodded slightly and said, "I think you're not too old, and you're not a fool either. But remember, being clever can easily get you killed. If you really follow me and do well, I won't promise anything else, but I can guarantee that your future days will be very good. As for what to do next, you should carefully consider it yourself! In the Gao family, even if you serve for a lifetime, you'll only be a house slave. Following me is the best opportunity of your life, so you'd better seize it! Otherwise, you'll end up worse than anyone else in the Gao family! Get up now and let's continue on our journey. We need to arrive at the next place by noon to have lunch!"

  "Yes! Young Master!" Li Tong was taken aback by Gao Huaiyuan's words and quickly scrambled to his feet, with his buttocks still sore, he nodded and bowed to Huang Yan and Zhou Hua on the side, then hastily ran to the front of the large cart, not even daring to sit in the cart, respectfully inviting Liu'er to take a seat, only then did he lead the big black mule, honestly and obediently setting off on the road.

  Looking at Li Tong, who was frightened out of his wits, Huang Yan couldn't help but burst into laughter and gave a thumbs up to Gao Huaiyuan: "The boss is indeed the boss! He's much better than us when it comes to handling people. Just now, I saw this guy almost getting scared to pee by the boss!"

  Although Zhou Hao didn't say a word, the corners of his mouth also brought out a faint smile. Gao Huaiyuan patted their shoulders and said: "In this world, there's no need to talk about reason, it's one's own strength that speaks for itself. When dealing with people like him, you can only use your fists to speak! Let him remember forever who his master is! However, you two must also remember for me, although we are currently practicing martial arts, we cannot bully the weak with our strength. We don't bully others, nor can we let others bully us!"

  Huang Yan and Zhou Hao both nodded in agreement, and the three of them followed the big cart back on the road, heading forward.

  In the following days, Li Tongguo really became honest. He wasn't stupid, and since being beaten by Gao Huaiyuan, he had been a bit dissatisfied in his heart at first, but after careful consideration, there was a subtle change in his mind, and he began to understand something.

  He was originally dissatisfied with being named to send Gao Huaiyuan back to Daye, mainly because he thought that following this foolish kid would make him never have a chance to rise in life. These people who serve as family slaves only think about finding a good master so they can also live a better life and suffer less among the slaves. If he had previously thought Gao Huaiyuan was an incompetent guy, then following him would mean having no hope of rising in life, but now it seems things aren't that bad!

  This Third Young Master is not what he thought, after careful observation these days, he began to discover that Gao Huaiyuan is not only not stupid, but also extremely intelligent, and his speech is extraordinary, with a very powerful kung fu, making people dare not underestimate him again. Who knows if he was pretending to be stupid on purpose to leave the Gao family, who knows if he can really do something after arriving in Daye!

  If I follow him, in Daye's vast and remote place, as long as Gao Huaiyu stands firm, then my life as his subordinate will not be too bad!

  After realizing this, Li Tong's heart also became more lively and no longer felt that following Gao Huaiyuan to leave Shaoxing Prefecture was a bad thing. The resentment in his heart gradually disappeared, and he began to follow Gao Huaiyuan wholeheartedly, not daring to have any other thoughts.

  As the saying goes, attitude determines everything. After Li Tong understood this matter, he looked at Gao Huaiyuan with a different attitude and felt that everything was fine. He listened to him obediently when working and treated Gao Huaiyuan with great respect, never showing any disrespect again. All along the way, he carefully served Gao Huaiyuan, even becoming very polite to Liu Er.

  After taking in the scenery of Li Tong, the road for several days was very calm. Gao Huaiyang and a few others looked at it with relish, the ancient scenery compared to later generations, that is absolutely incomparable. There is only one point, let Gao Huaiyang see that his heart is quite dissatisfied. It should be said that Southern Song Dynasty should be the country with the most developed economy in the world at that time, but after walking along the way, he saw that there were tattered refugees everywhere on the road, so he walked and inquired all the way.

  It wasn't until later that I found out that many of these vagrants had their land taken away by the wealthy or landlords, and after losing their land, they couldn't make a living, so they became vagrants out of desperation.

  Moreover, among these refugees, there were quite a few northerners who had escaped from the north. These so-called "northerners" were actually Han people from the Jin State. A hundred years ago, they were also subjects of the Song Dynasty. After the Jin State destroyed the Northern Song, they became subjects of the Jurchen people. In recent years, the wars in the north have been incessant, and the Jurchen people have increased their exploitation and oppression of these Han people from the Central Plains. Furthermore, with the emergence of Yang An'er in Shandong, who led a rebellion, the situation has become even more severe, adding to the Jin State's burdens. It can be said that the Jin State is now beset by internal troubles and external threats, its decline evident, like a lone boat on a stormy sea.

  Such a situation made it impossible for the Central Plains people to live, so they could only pour into the Southern Song through the borders of the two countries, seeking to make a living in the Han Chinese country. However, after coming over, they also had no way out, and could only keep migrating, relying on begging for a living, with no stability in life at all.

  Looking at these tattered refugees, Gao Huai's heart sank even further. When the country prospers, ordinary people suffer; when the country is broken, ordinary people suffer even more! These people living at the bottom of society are always the ones who suffer the most! Yang An'er wasn't very clear about it, but he vaguely remembered that there was a famous person named Li Quan in Shandong history. He didn't know if this Li Quan had also rebelled now.

  Gao Huaiyuan also learned that under the strong pressure of Mongolia, Jin had already sprouted the idea of moving its capital to Bianliang. For Gao Huaiyuan who knew some history, if Jin did so, it would become the second Northern Song and put itself in the position of the former Northern Song, abandoning the natural barrier of the north after that, and it wouldn't be far from their demise!