Qin Shi Ambitious

Page 250

The Snow Woman in the backyard was originally a dancer. It's just that this woman appeared early and had a truly exquisite figure and skin; she was a rare beauty. Otherwise, she wouldn't have been qualified to live in the backyard.

In contrast, Duanmu Rong comes from a medical family and is the last disciple of the sect leader, a status that the Moon Goddess can acknowledge.

However, neither of these two people possessed the strength to compete with her, so the Moon Goddess felt no pressure whatsoever, and since Shao Siming was a subordinate she had trained, she had even less to worry about.

Without lingering on such trivial matters, the Moon Goddess directly inquired about Xiao Qian'er's cultivation progress. The report she received was almost identical to her own predictions.

Subconsciously nodding slightly, the Moon Goddess smiled faintly and told Shao Siming to go and cultivate properly. Then, she found several scrolls of Yin-Yang magic spells in her mind and modified them according to her understanding of Qian'er's talent.

The details of these techniques need to be made more suitable for Qian'er's body so that his cultivation will be less hindered.

Chapter 289 Hu Hai

Along with the Yin-Yang School, the Luo Wang organization also rose to prominence.

Zhao Gao, with his hands behind his back, admired the blood-red flowers and plants in the garden, his expression focused and fascinated: This color is truly beautiful.

Behind him, Zhou Wen, with half-white hair and a missing arm, knelt on one knee with his head bowed, showing utmost respect and obedience.

From any perspective, the Net of Heaven gave him a second, or even a third, new life. Even though Zhao Gao was never one to remember favors and rarely believed that showing kindness to subordinates would earn their unwavering loyalty, he still trusted Zhou Wen, who was utterly desperate and should have been filled with abyssal hatred, more than he had with ordinary members of the Net of Heaven.

Zhou Wen's original strength could only be rated as average. After all, his martial arts had been crippled by his own grandfather a long time ago, and he was almost crippled again during the Chun Gu Manor incident some time ago. Furthermore, Lu Wei cut off his dominant right arm, and now he can only use his left hand to wield a sword.

However, after enduring the near-death experience of being exposed to the drug, he can still play a role at the cost of his life force.

As a tool, it still has a ten-year lifespan, which is enough for Zhao Gao.

"The Farmers are now gradually recovering their strength under the leadership of that Lu Xia Kui. Because of your failure, all the investment that Luo Wang has made over the years has turned to ashes."

Before officially reusing the position, Zhao Gao skillfully brainwashed the other party with words.

The reason why Luo Wang targeted the Farmers was primarily because they coveted the Farmers' strength. Although they failed, the actual losses were not that great.

"Yes, Your Majesty, I will serve you to the death from now on," Zhou Wencang said hoarsely.

"I saved your life, so it is only right that I repay you with my life." Zhao Gao picked a red flower and slowly twirled the stem in his hand. The swirling flower seemed like a vortex that could devour people's hearts. Affected by the fragrance of the flower, Zhou Wen's expression unconsciously became dazed.

Clearly, these ornamental flowers can also be used to make incense.

"I want you to successfully complete my mission. As for whether you live or die, that's secondary."

"Please give your orders, sir!"

"Take care of the farmhouses later; right now, I need you to go to the borderlands!"

Zhao Gao raised an eyebrow, and the red flower in his hand was shattered into dust by his internal energy, falling to the ground in a thread: "Someone in Jiuyuan County will be waiting for you. When you get there, just wait for his orders."

'Beyond the Great Wall, the wolf tribe?' Zhou Wen thought solemnly. He had no right to refuse, so he could only agree.

In recent years, the climate in the north has become increasingly cold, and it is only a matter of time before the wolf clan moves south. Zhao Gao needs to control this force in advance!

Not long after Zhou Wen left, a richly dressed child entered the garden. His heterochromatic eyes, amber and ice blue, were filled with a cruelty that did not belong to his age. In the entire city of Xianyang, only one person had such heterochromatic eyes: the eighteenth son of His Majesty the Emperor, Hu Hai.

"Has the Net not brought back anything fun lately?"

Hu Hai sat down in front of the respectful Zhao Gao with his hands behind his back. The words in his innocent and naive voice were unusually terrifying: "The punishments you taught me yesterday were very interesting. I want to find some people to try them out."

"Young Master," Zhao Gao certainly couldn't treat this puppet he had chosen as a puppet at this moment: Hu Hai's usual little schemes, though naive, were not out of line in the eyes of adults, especially the First Emperor. The First Emperor even liked this eighteenth son quite a bit because of this, which was something Zhao Gao would find difficult to manipulate.

His Majesty the Emperor had many children: about twenty sons and ten daughters. It was impossible for the Emperor to have a deep impression of each of them. The Net did provide some assistance in helping Hu Hai gain favor, but Hu Hai himself fought for it more.

After all, the more Luo Wang (the organization) gets involved with Hu Hai, the easier it is to be exposed, which carries a great risk.

Before Ying Zheng died, Zhao Gao still indulged Hu Hai to some extent. After the First Emperor died, it was extremely easy for him to control Hu Hai.

“For you, my lord, living in the palace, the greatest pleasure is gaining His Majesty’s favor, rather than the punishments,” Zhao Gao said repeatedly. “Once you become the new master of the country, everything will belong to you.”

"I know you say this every month!" Hu Hai said impatiently to Zhao Gao's nagging. "But Father rarely has time to rest these days. Only Fusu can visit occasionally!"

He addressed his elder brother by his given name in a very smooth tone, showing that this was a common practice for Hu Hai.

"Prince Fusu is the eldest son and has already come of age, so it's normal for the Emperor to value him. But you mustn't forget..." Zhao Gao's fear of Fusu was actually greater than that of Huhai, but he was very shrewd and would never show any disrespect on the surface: "Prince Fusu's mother and uncle... are taboo subjects for His Majesty the Emperor!"

"As long as His Majesty the Emperor himself does not want to remove this taboo, it can forever remain Prince Fusu's Achilles' heel!"

"Oh, do you have a way to get rid of him now?" Hu Hai was very anxious.

"My lord, do not worry. Last time I accompanied the emperor to the State of Chu, I eliminated the Tian clan's power among the peasants for you." Zhao Gao smiled slyly, preparing to make the most of the failed operation.

"The Tian family of farmers? What's that?"

"The Farmer's Clan is the number one sect in the martial arts world with 100,000 disciples, while the Tian Clan has been supported by Lord Changping for many years. Lord Changping is indeed Prince Fusu's weakness in His Majesty the Emperor's eyes, but he has also left Prince Fusu with a force, namely the Farmer's Clan."

From Ying Zheng's perspective, Zhao Gao could argue that the peasant Tian family had close ties to the Qi royal family, and eliminating the Tian family would make Qin's unification of the world easier. From Hu Hai's perspective, however, the Tian family could be portrayed as staunchly loyal to Lord Changping and as a powerful force within Fusu's inner circle.

"The Tian family has been in charge of the Farmer's School for many years. With them around, it is very likely that the 100,000 disciples of the Farmer's School will develop a favorable impression of Prince Fusu under their influence. The hearts of 100,000 people plus the strength of the Farmer's School is something that even His Majesty the Emperor cannot completely ignore."

“This servant had been keeping an eye on this for a long time, which is why I deliberately eliminated the Tian family for the young master and even made the current leader of the Farmer’s Clan a mortal enemy of the Tian family. In this way, the Farmer’s Clan has turned from being an ally of Fusu into an obstacle to him.”

"Even if His Majesty the Emperor knew this, because it involved Lord Changping, he would only feel disgust towards Fusu."

"Good! It'll be quite satisfying to see Fusu's power gradually diminished and to watch him despair!" Hu Hai clapped his hands and chuckled as he listened to Zhao Gao's words: Just moments ago he wanted to get rid of Fusu quickly, and now he wants to deal with him slowly. His moods are so unpredictable; he really is just a child...

------

When Lu Wei saw Tian Mi again in the Daze Mountains, this former beauty from the countryside had become much thinner due to fear. However, she always took good care of her appearance, subtly replacing her former alluring style with a frail and sickly look, which made her disciples reluctant to punish her severely.

When Tian Mi saw Lu Wei arrive, she sobbed and kept saying that all her actions were forced by the Luo Wang organization, and that she was just a weak woman who was powerless to resist.

The chivalrous leader was unmoved by her performance; he had only come here to personally perform acupressure on her.

Using the Five-String Finger Technique, Lu Wei sealed all of Tian Mi's important acupoints, including the one for speech, from a distance. Then, Lu Wei instructed his disciples to escort her to Kuiwei Hall and hand her over to Chen Ping.

This woman could be linked to Tian Hu, the last of the Tian family, and he was quite at ease entrusting Chen Ping with the task of fabricating false charges against her.

Although Lu Wei had been having Ji Yan of the Four Mountains Hall instigate internal strife within the Chi You Hall, this was ultimately just harassment. The final decisive blow still had to be delivered by the more experienced Chen Ping.

Moreover, no matter what, Tian Mi is a traitor to the Kuiwei Hall, and it is most in line with the laws of the peasantry to hand over this identity to the new head of the Kuiwei Hall.

After sending Tian Mi away, the consequences of the Chun Gu Manor incident were ostensibly over, bringing a short period of peace to the farmers. However, the storm brewing against the remaining members of the Tian family hidden beneath this calm was merely a gentle breeze and drizzle for Lu Wei to enjoy.

Having learned his lesson from the Xu family years ago—to eliminate any potential threats—he no longer needed to personally deal with the Tian family.

Upon arriving at Gonggongtang Medical Clinic, Nian Duan was exceptionally busy: Hei Qilin and the two sisters, Hei Bai and Hei Bai, were both important patients she treated.

The Black and White sisters, in particular, displayed an extraordinary enthusiasm for treatment because their symptoms were very similar to the old doctor's own past experience of weakness.

It would be easy for Lu Wei to save the two himself, but the old doctor was willing to do it personally, and was kind to the chivalrous leader who had been used by Nian Duan many times.

Duanmu Rong also helps out here: researching medical techniques is not only her job, but also her pleasure.

When enjoyment and work can be combined, Duanmu Rong doesn't feel any mental fatigue:

Years ago, she was unable to help her master, and that incident almost became her last. This time, she encountered a situation with vastly different circumstances but a similar outcome: Black and White. She was even more fervent than Nian Duan.

As the head of the Gonggong Hall, Nian Duan was completely uninvolved in affairs, so after only a short stay in the clinic, Lu Wei still managed to find Lü Qing and A Shan.

Gonggong Hall was where Lu Wei started his career. Although he inspected more places with Chen Ping and Ji Yan after becoming the leader of the Xia clan, Lu Wei never relaxed his focus on his roots.

Lu Qing had been in charge of Gonggong Hall's affairs for over ten years without making a mistake. Under his tutelage, Ashan had also become very skilled at handling matters. He then checked various data of Gonggong Hall for a certain month and could see that Gonggong Hall was still making progress.

However, due to the loss of the free supplies from Jing County, the pace of development inevitably slowed down.

Speaking of Jing County, I haven't been there to inspect it for a long time since it became independent from Gonggongtang. The last time I sent Li Mu there, it wasn't because I went myself.

Although Xiao He sent a regular letter and a small box of various data every month, cold data cannot replace the facts seen with one's own eyes. It was a real loss that I did not attend their negotiations with Wu Zhu and Yi Yu Song some time ago.

No matter what, I must make a trip south next year; I can't let my presence in Jing County be so weak!

Chapter 290 Jixia Academy

Linzi has been the capital of the State of Qi for over 600 years. Since Duke Xian moved the capital here from Bogu, neither the later Jiang Qi nor Tian Qi ever changed it again.

This stands in stark contrast to the frequent relocations of the capital by the southern state of Chu.

When Lu Wei and Fu Nian met up as agreed, they clearly saw Qin soldiers in black armor monitoring the laborers as they entered the city and demolished the Linzi city wall.

Linzi's city defenses were strong, and Wang Ben did not launch an attack when his army approached the city. Therefore, the city walls were well preserved. The reason for demolishing them now is to prevent the powerful and influential in Linzi from following the example of the rebellion in Xinzheng a few years ago, where Champa relied on the fortifications to launch a rebellion.

Not only Linzi, but also the capitals of the other six states and a small number of major cities were ordered by Xianyang to have parts of their city walls demolished.

The Qin state currently rules over a region, and its soldiers are known for their bravery. As things stand, it wouldn't be too much of a burden for the government to abandon the walls of cities in the Central Plains, except for those on the borders. However, if the people were to rebel, it would be easy to suppress such an uprising.

This method of 'destroying famous cities' has actually happened in history, and Fu Nian is no stranger to it, because Confucius, the founder of Confucianism, carried out the famous 'destroying of three capitals' when he was in power in the State of Lu.

In the past, the State of Lu was a capital that preserved the Zhou rites relatively well. During the reign of Duke Huan of Lu, he had four sons. Apart from his eldest son who inherited the throne, Duke Huan enfeoffed his other three sons. However, the families of these three sons continued to grow in power in the State of Lu, to the point that even the legitimate ruler had to rely on them in certain matters.

Because they all came from the same lineage of Duke Huan, these three families were known as the "Three Huan".

Even during the time of Confucius, the enfeoffment system in the State of Lu continued, which led to the Three Huan families having their power usurped by their enfeoffed retainers. This resulted in these retainers controlling the Three Huan families and then the ruler of Lu.

The reason these retainers were able to achieve this was because they all possessed secure private fiefs that exceeded the bounds of propriety. Within these fiefs, protected by city walls, if these retainers were to rebel, the entire state of Lu would face utter ruin.

During the reign of Duke Ding of Lu, after Confucius served as Grand Minister of Justice and acting prime minister in the State of Lu, he naturally could not tolerate the collapse of the rites and music, and took the opportunity to propose the "destruction of the three capitals": to destroy all the cities and walls that exceeded the standards.

Neither Duke Ding of Lu nor the three powerful families wanted to be controlled by their retainers. Now that someone was willing to step forward, they naturally supported Confucius's decision. As a result, Confucius did not encounter any obstacles in the early stages and successfully caused the power of those retainers to plummet.

But after his retainers finished their work, Confucius turned his attention back to the Three Huan families themselves.

Now that the Three Huan families had regained power from their retainers, they immediately became the opposition again, and Confucius was suddenly mired in a quagmire. Meanwhile, the State of Qi in the east heard that the State of Lu was actually destroying important defensive walls in its own country, and decisively sent troops to patrol the border, just waiting for Confucius to finish dismantling them so that they could attack and enter!

With the opposition of the Three Huan families within the state and the Qi army pressing in from the outside, Duke Ding of Lu decisively abandoned Confucius. Confucius, having lost his value, had no choice but to leave with his disciples. From then on, he had to travel around the various states.

With Confucius as a precedent, the Confucian school had no explicit opinion on the First Emperor's "demolition of famous cities," and some branches even praised and admired it.

Meanwhile, as the city was being destroyed, another proposal regarding whether or not the state should be divided into feudal domains was also sparking ongoing debate in Xianyang...

Neither Fu Nian nor the disciples of Xiaoshengxianzhuang held official positions. However, there were other branches of Confucian scholars serving as officials in the Qin Dynasty court. They all supported the enfeoffment system. Fu Nian was aware of the various disputes involved, but he did not speak out against them.

Lu Wei knew a little about Confucius's destruction of the three capitals, but not much. Now, traveling with Fu Nian, he looked at the partially destroyed city walls and, of course, wouldn't be so tactless as to bring up those inappropriate historical topics, instead focusing solely on business:

"Won't Master Xun come to Linzi?"

“My master has been in seclusion for four years, and I have never seen him in these four years. Although the matter of Jixia Academy is important, as a junior and the head of Xiaoshengxianzhuang, it is more than enough for me to handle it.”

Fu Nian shook his head, answering Lu Wei's question seriously while glancing away from the city walls.

Just as Fu Nian said, the reason why the two peasant heroes and the head of Xiaoshengxianzhuang suddenly gathered together in Linzi was for the Jixia Academy.

The reputation of Jixia Academy reached its zenith during the reign of King Wei of Qi, but with the decline of the State of Qi, it gradually lost its former glory.

Master Xun served as the chief priest of the Jixia Academy three times. Relying on his reputation, the Jixia Academy was briefly revived, but with the fall of the State of Qi, the academy has completely disappeared.

The academy also housed a large number of scholars from the seven states. Unlike Xiaoshengxianzhuang, which only accepted Confucian disciples, the students here studied a wide variety of subjects, with almost none of them focusing on a single school of thought. Therefore, they did not belong to any of the Hundred Schools of Thought, and Qin would not accept them. After the funds allocated by Qi when it was still in existence were exhausted, these people had no choice but to wander the world.