Qin Shi Ambitious

Page 259

During the three years, in addition to continuing to build palaces, Ying Zheng also conscripted laborers to build altars and erect stone tablets to praise the merits of the Qin Dynasty on famous mountains and rivers such as Zouyi Mountain, Tai Mountain, Liangfu Mountain, Zhifu Mountain, and Langya Mountain.

The result of this series of actions was that, due to the proliferation of thieves, prisons in various places gradually became overcrowded.

However, this is not a major issue. These criminals will likely be used soon during His Majesty's next major construction project, so this can be considered advance preparation, allowing for the mobilization of fewer law-abiding citizens at that time.

As the Emperor traveled further and further away from the palace, Gai Nie grew increasingly silent. So when Ying Zheng once again went to Ganquan Palace for summer retreat, Gai Nie simply chose not to accompany him, instead turning his attention to a quiet, obscure town...

Based on clues gathered over the past three years, and with the help of certain forces with unclear motives, Gai Nie knows that the child he is looking for is there.

The ultimate destiny of the Guigu School is to reunite in the martial arts world.

His Majesty the Emperor will only find out about this after returning to Xianyang from Ganquan Palace.

The biggest changes in the martial arts world over the past three years undoubtedly belong to the Taoist sect: in the new year's Heavenly Sword Tournament, the Human Sect's Xiaoyaozi, who had previously lost three consecutive tournaments, was able to suddenly defeat the Heavenly Sect's Chisongzi and bring Xueji back to the Human Sect.

Moreover, Master Chisongzi, whose cultivation had reached a point quite close to the unity of heaven and man, died suddenly just a few months after this battle, and the strangeness of this led to a flurry of rumors in the martial arts world...

For a time, the Heavenly Sect was leaderless, but no disturbances occurred at the Heavenly Sect's headquarters in Mount Taiyi, mainly for two reasons:

Firstly, the Heavenly Sect cultivates the Way of Nature, and the nature of its techniques means that most Heavenly Sect disciples do not care about power struggles.

Secondly, there is still an elder in the Heavenly Sect, Bei Mingzi, who can decide who will succeed as sect leader. Even if the others want to compete, it's useless.

However, no one knew what the old senior's attitude was, and neither the elders nor the disciples of the Heavenly Sect went to inquire about it, which led to the complete vacancy of the position of the Heavenly Sect leader.

The Heavenly Sect itself does not engage in worldly affairs, and the absence of the sect leader does not affect the operation of the sect. As long as someone can step forward in the next Heavenly Sword Tournament, the Heavenly Sect will gradually adapt to life without a sect leader.

Over the past three years, there have been no major changes on the surface between the Confucian and Mohist schools. Although the two schools have not had any contact and are unlikely to have any contact, the two headquarters, Xiaoshengxianzhuang and Jijicheng, are doing similar things, one in the open and one in the shadows: waiting for the situation to change.

The current situation in the world is actually quite clear: if the Qin state continues to be so tyrannical, the accumulation of quantitative changes will likely lead to some qualitative changes.

Of the two, the Mohists were the most eagerly awaiting this qualitative change. Ever since Jing Ke's assassination attempt on the King of Qin, the leaders and high-ranking disciples of the Mohists felt that they had already experienced the darkest moment for the Mohists. Even so, the Mechanized City remained their strongest support. No matter how things developed from there, the Mohists would surely turn out for the better!

Xiaoshengxianzhuang isn't so optimistic about a qualitative change, but it's true that they're getting closer and closer to the farmers.

Because Jixia Academy was transformed into Dazeshan Academy, Fu Nian has been frequently visiting Dazeshan over the past three years. At first, he could only see the academy and Lu Wei himself, but as time went on, he gradually began to notice the entire farmhouse.

Sanghai City has been developing well under the patronage of Confucianism. However, once you leave Sanghai, even in the war-free Qi region, bandits begin to appear frequently. Compared to the faint signs of chaos outside, the vigorous development of the agricultural community makes Dazeshan seem like an anomaly.

The treasonous statement, "If the earth were to nourish all things and Shennong were to live, would generals, ministers, kings, and nobles be born with a special destiny?" can be compared, if understood correctly, to the Confucian saying, "As heaven maintains vigor through movement, a gentleman should constantly strive for self-improvement."

But the more Fu Nian interacted with Lu Wei, the clearer it became that his friend was likely treating the peasants' slogans as real, achievable goals and striving towards them...

Fu Nian was conflicted about such a dangerous friend, but between emotion and reason, he ultimately chose the path his heart had chosen: to see how things went first.

Farmers are not empires from which one cannot escape once entangled; Xiaoshengxianzhuang can now maintain a gentlemanly relationship with them.

The changes in the farming family over the past three years cannot be described in a few words, but for Lord Xia Kui, his greatest achievement in these three years has undoubtedly been devising a way to deal with the harassment from the Luo Wang (Net of Heaven).

That means turning around and harassing the Luo Wang (a powerful online organization)!

The reason why Luo Wang helped Wang Li was to win Wang Li's favor, and then hope that Wang Li would support Hu Hai, who was controlled by Luo Wang.

For the Luo Wang (Net of Heaven), the greatest enemy was none other than Fusu, the eldest son of the First Emperor!

Thus, fundamentally speaking, as long as Fusu shows signs of rising in power, the Luo Wang (a powerful organization) will always have to spend most of its energy on him.

Even without the farmers' help, Fusu himself was already rising in popularity as he aged.

Based on this, if Lu Wei were to further incite the Yin-Yang School and certain Jianghu forces to provide Fusu with even the slightest bit of assistance, the Luo Wang would have to suppress them with ten times the force!

It's quite remarkable that Ying Zheng's eldest son became his shield, allowing him to develop his power with peace of mind.

Chapter 302 The Heroine's Romance

The Nushan Bandits are a young bandit group, established only ten years ago, but their strength is already among the top in the entire Taihang Mountains.

The bandits of Nushan numbered over a thousand, all armed, and many even wore armor. Such strength was beyond the control of the constables from the surrounding small counties, who could only let them be.

Moreover, the bandits were rational and almost never plundered county towns, which made the county magistrates less enthusiastic about spending their efforts to deal with the bandits of Nushan.

Since the empire first established itself and confiscated all weapons in the land to cast into golden statues, it has become increasingly rare for ordinary martial artists to even carry long swords. The fact that this group of bandits possessed such abundant resources is naturally closely related to their social class.

The initial members of the Nushan bandits were remnants of the Yan, Zhao, and Qi states who refused to surrender to Qin after their destruction. Later, as the empire conscripted laborers from the south to the north to guard the border, members who escaped from the increasingly active wolf tribes' labor service dared not return to their hometowns and thus became part of the bandits.

As time went by, the Nushan bandits expanded at an increasingly rapid pace, but as their strength increased, problems also emerged.

The more people there are, the greater the daily food consumption will be, which makes their original cautious route impassable. Even though the Angry Mountain Bandits have tried farming and hunting in the mountains, the results have been mediocre.

This forces them to shorten their original whitelist when robbing people...

The Yan region was once an important branch of the Gonggong Hall. After the fall of the Yan Kingdom, its importance declined considerably. However, in recent years, with the resurgence of horse smuggling on the grasslands, the Yan region branch has become important again.

However, due to imperial control, the safe trade routes originally controlled by farmers were now subject to inspection, which forced smuggling to take more remote and dangerous routes.

Despite the dangers, the Farmer Clan is currently the most powerful force in the martial arts world. Although it is inevitable that they will be extorted by some local officials of the empire from time to time, they have never been robbed by other martial arts forces. This has led the Farmer Clan disciples to gradually develop an arrogant mindset, feeling that they are superior to other martial arts figures.

The precautions taken when smuggling goods are no longer as cautious as those set by Lord Xia Kui.

'Lord Hero is so busy with state affairs, how could he possibly pay attention to what we insignificant characters do in our spare time!'

It was with this in mind that a grain transport convoy from Daze Mountain to Yan was taught a lesson by the Nu Mountain bandits on one occasion...

With bow drawn and arrow nocked, the bandit leader shot and killed the last peasant disciple who tried to escape. All that remained was to clean up the battlefield.

As the two newly joined martial arts practitioners were collecting the bodies, they noticed a string of pearl-like beads falling from one of the corpses. One of them, his hands trembling, couldn't help but exclaim, "These were all farmers!"

“It’s precisely because they are farmers that the eldest brother must not leave a single one alive.” Another person was quite bold: “Otherwise, if these people escape back, wouldn’t they incur the farmers’ retaliation?”

"What I mean is that taking action against the farmers' group is too dangerous. You know how powerful they are! What if they get caught..."

“There is a shortage of food in the mountains now. If we don’t rob the farmers, we will have to attack the county town. Compared with provoking the Qin army, it is a last resort to take action against the farmers.” After a pause, the second person continued, “Besides, the farmers are rich. This little bit of food is nothing to them. I think they won’t care.”

The last sentence was both to comfort his companion and himself. The two had been in the martial arts world and knew that the Farmer's Clan was a behemoth. Before joining the Nushan Bandits, they had tried to visit Dazeshan, but after learning that new disciples like them without any special skills had to work in the fields for several years before they could be promoted, they decided to leave.

The chivalrous heroes of the martial world, who were eager to settle scores and seek revenge, could not be confined to farming. Instead of farming, they decided to rob, so they joined the Angry Mountain Bandits.

"Even if something really happens, Lu Wei, as the leader of the Farmer's School of Chivalry, is known as 'all-encompassing and all-powerful.' We are just following orders, so the responsibility will not fall on us."

"Hopefully."

The bandits of Nushan had gained a lot and suffered little loss in this operation. If we disregard the potential retaliation from the farmers, it would have been a perfect operation.

The bandit leader, who had orchestrated the entire operation, beamed with pride after its success. His wrinkled face trembled even more dramatically with the smile. He knew, of course, that the Farmer Clan was powerful, but Daze Mountain was Daze Mountain, and Nu Mountain was Nu Mountain. The Taihang Mountains were vast; how difficult it would be for the Farmer Clan to find him!

Not to mention that even if they found them, there are more than a thousand bandits in Nushan who can fight. With their knowledge of the terrain and the defense of the mountain stronghold, even if the Farmer Clan sent three thousand disciples, they would have a hard time winning. And now that we are under the rule of the Empire, would the Farmer Clan dare to send so many people across the border to attack us?

With food no longer scarce, a grand feast was held that very night on Mount Nu. The joyous atmosphere dispelled the last vestiges of fear in some members of the bandit group, and the abundance of food strengthened their bond. Everything seemed to be moving in a positive direction.

One month later, on a bright moonlit night, the thief leader, who was in his room planning who to rob next, was studying the map intently. Unbeknownst to him, the mountain stronghold gradually quieted down.

Only the high-pitched insects in the mountains and forests continued their shrill chirping; in the absolute silence, their chirping sounded very noisy.

The thief leader was so agitated that he couldn't sit still any longer, so he stood up and wanted to go for a walk. However, when he opened the door, he was stunned: he saw a tall, slender girl with delicate features and a touch of heroic spirit standing outside his door.

The girl's hair was simply tied into a high ponytail, and her long hair was as smooth as silk in the night breeze. She had a straight nose, rosy lips, and a natural smile that made people feel good about her.

What captivated the thief leader most were the girl's bright and deep eyes: the refined, scholarly air in them was something a rural peasant woman could never possess.

'Is there really a woman like this in my mountain stronghold?' The bandit leader was itching to ask when he saw the girl 'take' the cold glint of the moonlight and slowly swipe it towards his neck.

In an instant, lust turned into terror. The thief leader saw it clearly: the girl was wielding a pink longsword and slashing at him!

However, despite the seemingly slow attack, he couldn't control his body. He could only stare wide-eyed, acutely feeling the sharp blade slicing through his throat and bones, the intense pain seeping into his senses...

From Zhu Jia's perspective, Ji Yan, who had come with him to deal with the bandits of Nu Mountain, only took two breaths to draw her sword and swiftly kill the bandit leader before sheathing it again. By the time the head fell, she had already turned around and was standing in front of him.

"Has the matter been resolved with Hall Master Zhu?"

Ji Yan smiled faintly and spoke softly. Her delicate face showed no trace of the ferocity she had shown after personally killing more than ten bandits. Instead, she exuded an unbelievable composure that was chilling upon closer inspection.

Three years have passed, and eighteen-year-old Xiao Yan'er has served as the head of the Four Mountains Hall for more than four years. The training she has received in the position of hall head over these four years has added a layer of nobility to her clear and spring-like appearance.

As the youngest head of the Farmer's Clan in history, Ji Yan's reputation spread far and wide in the martial arts world: a little over a year ago, she left the mountain to uphold justice and personally killed thirteen of the most notorious assassins in the martial arts world.

Whether in terms of status, appearance, or ability, Ji Yan is a renowned female knight-errant in the martial arts world, and her elegant and aloof persona has attracted the pursuit of many young heroes.

But the Zhu family, being from the same farming clan, were well aware of just how 'cruel' this 'heroine' could actually be...

"They were all knocked out with sleeping potion. These people will now dedicate the rest of their lives to the development of the farm."

Zhu Jia's smiling mask made him appear very honest and simple. As a man of many faces, he was not qualified to comment on Ji Yan's reputation in the martial arts world.

Everyone was working for the farmers, and considering their relationship with the leader of the chivalrous sect, they had to give this girl face.

"Besides the Nushan bandits, there are countless large and small bandit organizations throughout the Taihang Mountains. Subduing them all and making the entire Taihang Mountains the territory of the Farmers is part of Brother Xia Kui's plan."

Ji Yan turned to look up at the moon, her smile undiminished. In her words, she made no attempt to conceal her close relationship with Lu Xiaokui in front of the Zhu family: "Starting tomorrow, I will openly eliminate the bandits of Taihang Mountain in my capacity as a member of the Jianghu (martial arts world). As for the secret subjugation that follows, I hope Hall Master Zhu will put in some effort."

"Don't worry, Master Ji," Zhu said, cupping his fists and deliberately placing himself half a rank below Ji Yan.

When news of the attack on the farm transport team reached Daze Mountain twenty days ago, Lu Wei didn't need to handle such a minor matter personally. Ji Yan volunteered to go and resolve it, and took the opportunity to propose the idea of ​​subjugating the entire Taihang Mountain.

Lu Wei was very satisfied with Xiao Yan'er's growth over the past three years, and she was gradually becoming his deputy. Given the current situation, cultivating a force in the Taihang Mountains would likely be effective soon, so he readily agreed.

The Zhu family's Shennong Hall is well-informed, making it suitable to send them to assist in the aftermath.

The fact that the bandits of Nushan could force the Farmer Clan to send two hall masters and about a hundred elite disciples shows that their deaths were not in vain.

------

At Xiaogeng Manor, the three years that had passed had left no trace on Lu Wei, who was in the prime of his life. His robust physique seemed to have peaked at the age of twenty and remained so ever since.

After quickly completing a round of the Whale Drinking Sword Technique, Lu Wei, slightly sweaty, looked up at the setting sun as he sheathed his sword, a thought stirring within him:

The turmoil in the world has reached a certain point; perhaps it's time for Xinghun to take action!

He and certain forces with ulterior motives were keeping an eye on Gai Nie's whereabouts. Based on intelligence gathered half a month ago, it was estimated that Gai Nie had likely found the child and escaped from Guanzhong by now.

The next focus of attention will be on the Mechanical City!

It's time for me to get out and about.

Sheathing his sword, Lu Wei returned to the main hall intending to go to Gonggong Hall, but just as he arrived at the entrance of the manor, he coincidentally ran into Mi Lian:

"Heroic Leader." Mi Lian, whose long black hair was styled into several intricate patterns, bowed respectfully. Her slender, curved eyebrows resembled a crescent moon, revealing a gentle tenderness.

For the past three years, Mi Lian has been working under Ji Yan. Ji Yan also intends to train her, so whenever Ji Yan goes out, Zhang Er is in charge of the external affairs of the Four Mountains Hall, while the internal affairs are handled by this princess of Chu.

"What is it?" Lu Wei was already quite familiar with Mi Lian, so he asked casually.

“The hot spring resort of Siyue Hall has been renovated and is ready for use,” Mi Lian replied obediently with lowered eyes. “Therefore, I would like to invite Xia Kui to take a look.”

"Oh?"