Developing a faction

After these words, a brief silence occurred in the living room.

Long Chen broke this silence by speaking, "I will get something to eat from the kitchen. I am really hungry."

He quickly headed into the kitchen and planned to cook something depending on the ingredients available.

"I will help you!" Ren Yue spoke happily.

Peng Gen and Hu Jie exchanged puzzled looks as they both pondered what was going on. They appeared to be communicating via their eyes.

"What happened to young lady? In all my years of service, I have never seen her act like this with a guy."

"Yeah. I have never seen her help a guy so excitedly. In fact, let alone helping in the kitchen, she wouldn't have taken a walk with a guy not belonging to her family."

"That's right. Maybe she has been caught in a spell."

"Really? But when I met her, I checked her Ardor and there didn't seem to be any technique affecting her mind."

"My friend, you are still too green. This is the most powerful spell in the world known as love."

"What?! You are saying that our young lady has fallen in love with this country bumpkin?!"

"It's pretty clear if you observe young lady's expressions when she talks to this guy."

"What should we do? We can't let young lady do something impulsive with this boor."

"That's not something we can decide. I am sure Sir Mo has also seen through young lady's feelings. If he hasn't said anything, then who are we to say anything about young lady's romantic pursuits."

"T-That's true. But still, this is unacceptable. If Lord Ren knew of this, he would have been completely against it."

"That's still not for us to decide. In any case, it doesn't appear that this man has fallen in love with young miss or is aware of her feelings for him. For now, we should do nothing and observe the situation. At best, we should consult this matter with Sir Mo. He will know what to do."

After coming to this conclusion, Peng Gen and Hu Jie stopped talking.

In the meantime, Long Chen and Ren Yue had continued their talk in the kitchen while they were cooking food.

"…What's the status of your faction?" Long Chen inquired.

Ren Yue was startled to hear this question shortly after entering the kitchen. However, she soon understood that he was probably uncomfortable to ask this question in the presence of her guards.

"It's a bit complicated. Shortly after I was imprisoned, my faction split apart into two. One of them remained loyal to me and stayed in Suqui Town, trying to rescue me secretly. Unfortunately, their attempts failed."

"Meanwhile, Major Wei Yan heads the other part of my faction. Grandpa Mo informed me that Major Wei does not believe in my leadership, so he and his loyal subordinates split apart after I was imprisoned. His faction possesses most of my resources and he is using them to create a large army that can fight against the Jin Family's Forces."

Long Chen's eyes widened slightly as he heard about Major Wei Yan.

'In my previous life, Major Wei Yan indeed managed to raise a huge army to destroy the Jin Family. However, Jin Family had seemingly anticipated this attack and struck a secret deal with Zou Family. When Major Wei Yan attacked the Jin Family, a trap awaited them. After his death, his loyal subordinates also died in that battle while the rest of the soldiers surrendered. Thus, this attack didn't destroy or weaken the Jin Family, and even strengthened them significantly."

"I see," Long Chen whispered.

With a dejected look, Ren Yue spoke, "…You must be thinking that I am utterly incompetent. I lack the charisma to keep my subordinates devoted to me."

Long Chen stares at Ren Yue seriously, "Miss Ren, your subordinate's disloyalty or ambitions will never define your incompetence. I will consider you incompetent if you let this situation drag you down."

Ren Yue was a bit startled upon hearing Long Chen's words and chuckled, "Thanks. I really needed to hear that."

Long Chen nodded, "I can roughly guess the reason for Major Wei Yan's disloyalty to Miss Ren. Should I speak?"

"Yes. What do you think about this?" Ren Yue asked. She had her own guesses about this situation, but she wanted to hear Long Chen's thoughts as well.

"I believe that Major Wei Yan is a bit disappointed with Miss Ren's leadership. He must believe that you are too young to handle this entire faction and take the charge against the Jin Family. Moreover, you proved him right when you attacked the Jin Family's Heir three months ago and were imprisoned," Long Chen spoke seriously.

There was a sad smile on Ren Yue's face as she recalled that Major Wei Yan did advise her to give up on this attack, but she didn't listen to him.

Long Chen noticed the sad smile on Ren Yue's face and continued, "...However, this also shows me a way for Miss Ren to regain Major Wei Yan's loyalty."

"What is it?" Ren Yue asked curiously.

"You must build this part of your faction to such an extent that it can greatly harm the Jin Family. I am very sure that Major Wei Yan will take the initiative to swear allegiance to you," Long Chen spoke.

"I also understand this point. But how do I increase my faction's power? I don't have enough resources, manpower, or even charisma to conduct alliances and increase my faction's power," Ren Yue spoke wryly.

Long Chen smiled and slowly spoke, "Miss Ren, you are looking at it the wrong way. You are thinking of increasing your faction's strength by conducting alliances with other organizations. But that's not the only way for you to increase your faction's strength."

His words caught Ren Yue's entire attention. She couldn't help but blush madly as she saw his handsome smile.

However, Ren Yue didn't let this affect her focus. Noticing that he had caught Ren Yue's attention, Long Chen continued, "Firstly, you should invest your resources to set up multiple businesses across your entire territory. This would generate you profits and also increase your connections with people in your entire territory. Secondly, use these funds to support various individuals of different organizations. Make them reach a prominent position in their respective organizations. Through this, they will be compelled to repay you appropriately."

"Thirdly, once your faction's strength has increased, create your personal army who are loyal only to you. As long as your faction has enough money, creating your army will be easy. I will provide you with a cultivation art that you can teach these soldiers. Within a year, these soldiers will be powerful enough to defeat the Jin Family's personal forces," Long Chen finished speaking.