Chapter 26: The Three Essential Elements of Rebellion

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  Lingyun didn't believe that the people of Sui were born with a heavy taste, so before Song Dynasty, they only boiled tea instead of steeping it. He thought the biggest reason was that at that time, people hadn't mastered the technique of pan-frying tea. They couldn't pan-fry tea, only steam it, which led to their tea being only boilable and not steepable. Once this technical barrier was broken through, these loose-leaf teas could be infused with rich tea aroma instead of relying on adding salt, ginger, and scallions to flavor the tea granules.

  As a feudal landlord class, at least his wife is a wealthy landowner. Lingyun appears to be carefree about money. He lives a life of luxury and leisure every day, with no need to use money. However, since Lingyun stays in Gaotai Village and doesn't want to engage in rebellion or other schemes, he can also spend his time reforming the tea-making technique.

  Of course, this will not just be a waste of time. If the new tea really has a great future as he expected, it can be foreseen that this will be a very promising project. Although Lingyun may not worry about lacking money, he also knows that Gao Qianshuang must need money, and still needs a lot of money.

  Rebellion, anyone can do it, as long as they are willing to sacrifice their lives, dare to pull the emperor off his horse, and with a rush of hot blood, anyone can start an uprising and kill officials. But if you want to succeed in rebellion, it's not that simple. First, there must be three prerequisites.

  Three essential elements for a rebellion: money, food, and soldiers; public opinion. This has been true throughout history, and a successful rebellion cannot lack any of these three things.

  Among the three, money and grain are the most important. Before the troops move, food and grass come first. Without money and grain, it is impossible to recruit soldiers and buy horses, and without money and grain, it is also impossible to win people's hearts. Without money and grain, let alone fight a war, it is even difficult to raise a force. Buying people's hearts, recruiting soldiers, preparing food, manufacturing military equipment, rewarding generals and soldiers - all of these require money. Gao Qianxue was able to maintain this anti-Sui force for so long because they had controlled a smuggling channel with the northeastern Hu people for many years. But he also believed that doing such treasonous things required an endless supply of money and grain. Moreover, this year the imperial court issued a new decree banning the construction of large ships at sea, and strengthened inspections along the northern border, clearly aimed at cracking down on smuggling. Others may not be clear about this, but Lingyun remembered it very clearly - in the 18th year of Kaihuang, war finally broke out between Sui and Goguryeo. According to historical records, in the 18th year of Kaihuang, the king of Goguryeo led tens of thousands of soldiers to invade Liaoxi, and then Emperor Yang Jian of Sui dispatched a large army of three million to conquer Liaodong.

  I don't dare to predict who will win or lose this war, but as the situation develops, the border blockade will only become more severe, and Gao Qianshuo's smuggling business will definitely be severely impacted. Looking at how active Gao Qianshuo is in Jiangnan now, he will need even more money later on. Lingyun can't help Gao Qianshuo with his plans or commands, but they can think of ways to help him make some money. This tea business, he believes will be a great starting point.

  "Green lotus!" As soon as Lingyun's words fell, the little girl was already looking at him like a small deer, it can be seen that this little girl is very dedicated to tea art, so she is very much looking forward to the new tea-making skills that Lingyun mentioned.

  "Can I teach you a new tea-making technique, are you willing to learn?" Mulan and Qinglian were both lovely maids, but if compared to the maids in the Red Chamber, Mulan was like the lively and outspoken Xiangyun, while Qinglian was like the gentle and obedient Hua Xiren. Girls like her could always turn a man's heart into soft wax. It had to be said that Lingyun still preferred Qinglian a bit more, she made a man feel more confident.

  Qinglian nodded.

  "Can we buy newly picked tea leaves now?"

  "Would you like some new tea, sir? We have a tea garden on our estate, and there's one under each of the six peaks of Liuhe Mountain. I heard from Little Gao that the first batch of new tea has already been harvested, if you'd like some, I can go fetch some for you right away."

  The key to stir-frying tea is the pre-frying process of the tea leaves, and Lingyun would not want already-made tea cakes. However, when I heard that Gaojiazhuang had several local tea houses under its name, I was still very happy. With tea houses, there are ready-made tea pickers and new tea leaves. Calculating the time, it just so happens to be after Qingming Festival and before Grain Rain season. The pre-Qingming tea has been missed, but it's still possible to catch the pre-rain tea picking season.

  He thought for a moment and said to Mulan, "Hmm, I don't want the tea that's already been made. I want freshly picked tea leaves, best if someone can go to the tea garden and pick some according to my requirements."

  "He arranged for someone to go to the tea house and inform them, asking them to bring over some freshly picked tea leaves."

  "Uh-huh, you prepare the pen and ink, I'll write down the new tea picking requirements and have them delivered to the tea estate, so they can pick according to the requirements."

  Lingyun is unclear about the original tea leaves' picking technique, but if it's for pan-frying tea, there are also requirements for picking tea leaves. When picking tea leaves, it's best to use your index finger and thumb to pinch the middle of the young stem between the tea leaves, using the elasticity of the two fingers to snap off the tea leaves. The best time for picking is from 12 pm to 3 pm. Generally speaking, different teas have different picking parts. Some pick one bud and the first leaf next to it, called "one heart one leaf". Some pick more leaves, called "one heart two leaves", or even "one heart three leaves". The fewer picked, the higher the grade.

  Lingyun picked up a pen and wrote in a beautiful, cursive script.

  On one side, Mulan and Qinglian, who were grinding ink for Lingyun, looked at the ink character and couldn't help but shine their eyes. It wouldn't be easy to follow a princess as a personal maid. Although they had never stayed in the palace of Ye City before, the woman who taught them was indeed a former female official in the Qi State Imperial Palace of Ye City. They were not ordinary maids, piano, chess, calligraphy and painting, even horseback riding and archery, all of which they could do. As soon as Lingyun's character came out, the two maids were shocked. However, neither of them said anything, and quickly put away their surprise.

  Lingyun bowed his head to write, and didn't notice the surprise of the two girls. In fact, he was writing on one side, and himself sank into surprise on the other. He had practiced calligraphy before, but it could only be said that it was a general level. However, as soon as he picked up the pen, he wrote out a stroke of unfamiliar and wonderful calligraphy. His own writing wasn't good, but his appreciation level was still very good. This character was even better than their teacher who taught them calligraphy back then, and he could see it clearly. He was surprised that this body could ride horses, martial arts, and actually write such good calligraphy. Was it really as Gao Qianxue said, that this was a young master of a large family? But if so, why would he be ambushed, and for so long, the Gao family village couldn't find out any related news?

  After writing down all the new tea-picking techniques in detail, Lingyun dried the ink marks, folded them up and handed them over to Mulan.

  What kind of tea is in Gao's Tea Garden he still doesn't know, but Yangzhou is a famous tea production place anyway, so the tea leaves shouldn't be too bad.

  "Have the tea farm manager take over this tea-picking technique and have him pick a batch of new tea according to this method and send it over. No processing is required, just send it as is."

  Two girls nodded together.

  "Go."

  After the two maidservants left together, Lingyun remembered that Gao Ding, a seriously injured soldier, had not yet woken up after his surgery yesterday, so he headed towards the east wing.

  When they arrived at the east wing, there was a large group of people sitting or standing under the corridor in the small courtyard. They were mostly guards and servants from the Gao family. These people had previously worked with Gao Ding and had a good relationship with him. Gao Yi was also there, having been hastily relocated last night, and Gao Ding had been dragged along for quite some time. If not, Ling Yun would probably have woken up early today. When Gao Yi saw Ling Yun appear, he immediately stood up. He seemed to be a bit embarrassed in front of Ling Yun.

  Before, he was full of hostility towards Lingyun, thinking that Lingyun's background was unclear, and they were the adopted children of the Gao family. To Gao Qianshuang, they were like siblings. Which brother would be willing to let their sister suddenly decide to marry a mysterious stranger? However, when Gao Ding got injured, Master Qian had already said that there was no hope of saving him. In the end, it was Lingyun who came up with a plan and saved Gao Ding's life. Now, although Gao Ding hasn't woken up yet, his breathing is stable, and Master Qian has examined him and said that he has a 90% chance of waking up, which means everything will be fine once he wakes up. Moreover, during the meeting this morning, the young lady told everyone about Yifeng's behavior and attitude last night. Although some private matters between the two were not mentioned, Yifeng's words to the princess still greatly changed everyone's impression of this new son-in-law. This is a man who is willing to share weal and woe with the Gao family, this is a man who makes the young lady willing to truly love him.

  Gao Yi was also a member of the Northern Qi's Imperial Guard, a bold and generous man. After putting aside his prejudices, he showed great magnanimity towards Ling Yun.

  Take a big step forward, bend your knees and bow, clench your fists and strike your chest.

  This grand ceremony is not only to repay the kindness of saving Gao Ding, but also represents the true recognition of this loyal minister of the Gao family towards Ling Yun, the new son-in-law. He did not treat him as just a live-in son-in-law, but truly regarded him as the master of the Gao family.

  Gao Yi's attitude made Ling Yun somewhat unexpectedly surprised and a little proud. Gao Yi's status in the villa is not low, even in front of Gao Qianxue, he is also a director-level personnel of the group. This kind of respect from such a core member means that his position will rise substantially within the villa and the Gao family group, and he will no longer be just an outsider son-in-law.

  Good things come in pairs. Lingyun helped Gao Ding check his body, and Gao Ding happened to wake up at this time. Although he was still a bit weak due to excessive blood loss, he indeed woke up, and the situation wasn't bad. After waking up, Gao Ding heard for the first time that Miss had married someone, and also saw this new brother-in-law for the first time. Hearing that his life was saved by the new brother-in-law, this fierce and robust man opened his mouth, but in the end didn't say anything, only nodding at Lingyun.

  Lingyun smiled and said, "It's good that you're awake. Since you can wake up, it means nothing serious happened. From now on, just rest and take care of yourself. With your physical condition, it won't take long to fully recover. Great difficulties will not kill you, and there must be blessings afterwards. Also, don't worry about other things, Brother Ding. The guests and brothers who were with you are all fine. That day was just a sneak attack by a group of greedy officials, but fortunately, there was a Mr. Xiao who helped us. Now the guests and your brothers are temporarily resting at Mr. Xiao's estate and will return in a few days."

  Gao Ding finally let out a long sigh of relief after hearing it.

  "Take a good rest, I'll go tell your wife and Uncle Qian that you've woken up." Lingyun patted Gao Ding's hand reassuringly.

  P.S: Kneeling down to beg for recommendation votes and likes!