Qin Shi Ambitious

Page 172

On the contrary, this assassin group immediately took on several missions based on their soaring reputation, targeting various powerful figures or well-known martial arts heroes.

During the mission, Quicksand used a variety of killing methods, fully displaying his strength.

However, upon closer observation, it can be found that none of these assassins used a sword.

After killing Yan Dan, Wei Zhuang disappeared without a trace in the eyes of the world. The rampant actions of the Quicksand organization were actually a cover for his secret as the master of Quicksand.

Zhang Liang was the first to discover this.

He has a thorough understanding of the people of Liusha and keeps a close eye on their movements, so with a little inquiry, he can discover details that are easily overlooked by ordinary people.

Zhang Liang kept his suspicions to himself, doing nothing and pretending to know nothing, which was the best help to Operation Quicksand.

On the Mo family's side, Butcher Ding was not only an outstanding cook, but also a quick-witted and resourceful person as a Mo knight. In his youth, he traveled all over the country to learn cooking skills, which broadened this Manager Ding's horizons considerably.

However, in front of Zhang Liang, some of his actions and words were still too deliberate. If other interested people set their sights on this inn, it would be quite difficult to hide the truth.

It's important to know that even in the state of Qi, the Mohists were wanted criminals...

The equality between the two emperors of the past is long gone. Now, whenever Qin achieves a great victory or destroys a state, Qi not only does not feel nervous, but also frequently sends envoys to Xianyang to offer congratulations.

Fortunately, Sanghai City is located on the coast of the East China Sea, and most of the outsiders are students studying at Xiaoshengxianzhuang. With an inn nearby, there is not too much to worry about being exposed.

Has a new leader emerged within the Mohist school?

Zhang Liang smiled gently, rolled up the bamboo slips containing the letter, and took out a Confucian classic to read aloud with concentration.

News within the city of mechanisms is considered top secret if one doesn't want it to be exposed. The fact that the birth of a new leader of the Mohist school could spread so quickly among several major schools of thought must have been deliberately leaked by that new leader.

I wonder how many other people besides myself are considered reliable by this new tycoon.

This new tycoon is most likely still Yan Dan, who is living in seclusion...

...

Lu Wei, the head of Gonggong Hall in Dazeshan, is clearly not among these 'reliable people'.

He had not been notified of the new leader of the Mohist school, but he had already made a prediction in his mind.

After the main force withdrew from Jicheng, the Mo family virtually disappeared from the martial arts world. If they could simply remain hidden for a while, say eight or ten years, the Mo family might have a chance to rise to prominence again.

But they dared not gamble on what the world would be like ten years from now. Any school of thought needs an influx of fresh blood to maintain its vitality, so the Mohists would not sit idly by and wait for their demise.

Moreover, the Mohist school is not the same as the Daoist school; if the spirit of Mohist chivalry is not put into practice, how can it make any progress?

The Mohists must make a move, but how to make that move is the question.

Will they rebuild their reputation little by little through petty incidents, or will they continue their large-scale rebellion against Qin?

The answer would be the latter. Through Yan Dan's methods, the anti-Qin forces within the Mohist school gained an absolute advantage, and moreover, opposing Qin was entirely in line with the righteousness of the Mohist principle of "non-aggression."

As long as the Mohists continue to stand up against the Qin Dynasty, it means that Yan Dan, who faked his death, has not only become the leader of the Mohists again, but has also gained the unanimous support of the Mohists through his own means.

Lu Wei was initially unaware of Gao Jianli and Kuang Xiu's trip to Chu. The two musicians traveled light, and the Gonggong Hall's influence in Chu was concentrated in the secluded Mirror Lake, making their ability to gather information weak.

However, Chen Ping of Jun Jin Xuan discovered them and deduced from the clues that the two musicians were Gao Jianli and Kuang Xiu.

They were very vigilant, and Chen Ping's informants were unable to track them down or investigate to the exact location of the city, which was a pity.

Lu Wei didn't take this to heart: the Moon Goddess said that the Yin Yang School had already obtained the location of the Mechanized City through various means, and she would send the news back to Daze Mountain once she found it.

The Lord of the Mysterious Mechanical City has always been very interested in it, but for now it remains just an interest. He doesn't have the opportunity to visit it right now, and what he needs to prepare for is the trip to Mirror Lake.

Everything was ready at Mirror Lake, so the girls didn't need to bring many things. They only brought a few obedient maids because they were worried about needing help with some miscellaneous tasks.

In this regard, Situ Wanli's Siyue Hall has a special industry. The all-around maids trained by its subordinates are usually sold to the mansions of the powerful and wealthy. On the surface, the relationship between Hall Master Lu and Siyue Hall is not bad. They are all from farming families, so he would certainly not be refused if he wanted to buy a few.

However, the maids of Gonggong Hall are all descendants of the elders in the hall. Although these people are not as useful as the professionals, their advantage lies in their loyalty. The matter at Jinghu is of great importance, and we cannot bring any hidden dangers there.

The group heading south to Jinghu consisted mainly of apprentices from the mechanical workshops, with few pure blacksmiths among them.

The forging needs of tens of thousands of disciples in Daze Mountain are still very large. Jinghu is located in the former Wu and Yue lands of Chu State, where there is no shortage of craftsmen, so they can be recruited locally.

To avoid attracting attention, all the carriages in the procession were of the same ordinary model. Two of them, however, had some shock absorption measures added without changing the shape of the carriages, which reduced the bumps considerably.

They were respectively ridden by Duanmu Rongxue Nu, Lu Ni Ji, and Yan Qian Er.

As for the hall master, he is more used to riding horses. If he really gets tired of life on horseback, he can just take turns staying in these two carriages.

The marriage between Lü Qing and A Shan in Gonggong Hall has been finalized with Lu Wei's tacit approval. Although he is not worried about being sidelined during this trip south, for the sake of the system, he still pulls out Li Mu, who is using the alias Li Bairen, to share some of the responsibilities, while recalling A Yu from Wei Kingdom back to the supervisory headquarters.

In addition, Peng Yue, a disciple guarding the main hall, soon got his chance to be given an important position.

He was originally a fisherman and a water pirate, and was skilled in swimming. When Li Zuoche recruited him into Daze Mountain, he joined the farm family alone, while the other water pirate brothers remained in Juye Lake.

Without Lu Tangzhu's request, Li Zuoche took the initiative to conduct an in-depth investigation and made a careful judgment on this water force, and concluded that the Juye water bandits could be packaged up and subdued into the farmhouse!

Upon receiving this report, the head of the hall summoned Peng Yue and inquired about the situation. Peng Yue was overjoyed and fully agreed with Li Zuoche's investigation report, while also expressing his willingness to help the farmers in this matter.

The area around Mirror Lake was sparsely populated due to the epidemic, and the places that the people who left could not return to were already occupied by Gonggongtang. The lake could be used to settle the subdued water bandits and make a living by fishing.

If Peng Yue could be subdued by the name of the peasants, then most of the bandits, except for a few vicious ones, would not refuse to be recruited.

However, they are used to being thieves, and the management of these pirates cannot be handled by Peng Yue alone. Li Zuoche is more suitable to become the new leader of these pirates, with Peng Yue serving as his assistant for the time being.

The main caravan headed south to Chu first, while Li Zuoche and Peng Yue returned to Juye Lake. They needed to use the name of the farmers and their own abilities to subdue the water bandits before heading to Mirror Lake.

They didn't receive much actual support. Although they could ask Dazeshan or Chungu Town for help, they tacitly avoided asking for assistance.

This is a test. Being able to subdue the pirates with minimal cost will undoubtedly showcase their outstanding abilities to the Hall Master.

Although Li Zuoche had already demonstrated outstanding performance in both his background and handling of the Daidi incident, he always regarded his grandfather Li Mu as his role model, and his lofty ideals drove him to be extremely strict with himself.

Lu Wei was naturally pleased that his subordinates were willing to participate in the internal competition.

------

One faction within the Mohist school found itself in a precarious situation.

Those were the guards, confidants, wives, and daughters sent into the Mechanized City by the former Grand Master Yan Dan.

Logically speaking, regardless of their past behavior, now that they are all disciples of the Mohist school, they should obey the Mohist school's arrangements.

However, that special identity cannot be ignored, making the situation very awkward to handle.

Initially, the Mohists only supported them, but with the birth of a new leader, the placement of these people became urgent.

The commander, Da Tiechui, was a pure Yan person and a Yan general highly regarded by Yan Dan. Therefore, he volunteered at the high-level meeting to go and negotiate with them.

However, the newly appointed leader refused the hammer and publicly announced that he, as the leader, would handle this group of people, as it was the leader's duty.

Having been appointed by the previous leader to obtain the Ink Eyebrow and having traversed the forbidden area of ​​the Mo Clan, even though his identity is unknown, the black-robed leader's identity has still been initially recognized by the leaders.

This initiative to propose resolving the troubles left by the previous leader was a test he set for himself. If he succeeded, the leaders' approval rating would naturally increase again.

Underneath his black robe, Yan Dan noted the expressions on the faces of the various commanders, announced the end of the meeting, and headed straight for the residences of his trusted confidants.

He did not intend to use the method of revealing his true identity to make his old confidants obediently submit to him: the more people who knew the secret, the greater the possibility of it being exposed. No matter how reliable those confidants were, even his own queen Yan Yun and his youngest daughter Princess Gao Yue, Yan Dan was determined to keep the secret.

His only means of persuading these people was his understanding of his confidants and his public identity as a direct disciple of 'Prince Yan Dan'...

Yan Yun heard the news of the new leader's appearance in her room, her expression unchanged despite the change in her expression, even though she knew from Lord Dongjun of the Yin-Yang School that this new leader was most likely her husband, Yan Dan.

Yan Yun clearly saw the Mo family's precarious state. She knew that the Yin Yang School had its eye on the Mechanical City, but was just waiting for the right opportunity. This great ship would sink sooner or later.

Having already become a disciple of the Yin-Yang School, there's no need for her to perish along with this ship!

Staring at her daughter meditating and practicing Yin-Yang arts in the room, Yan Yun's thoughts drifted to other things: 'I still have two older brothers; they escaped the pursuit of that scoundrel Yan Yi, they must still be alive!'

'I personally killed Yan Yi, and that bastard King of Yan was killed by the Yin-Yang School. My family's revenge is complete, and the Yan Kingdom is destroyed.'

'If word of my identity spreads throughout the martial arts world, my brothers will surely come looking for me once they hear about it!'

"Lord Dongjun wants revenge on Yan Dan, that's fine, I can help her. My father always taught us to repay even the smallest kindness tenfold."

'But after I've taken my revenge, I want to reunite with my real family...'

Chapter 193 The Barbarian King

Backed by Mirror Lake, and relying on the hard work of the farmers' disciples who possess internal energy, along with the auxiliary mechanical oxen, Mirror County rose from the ground.

Although it is still in its infancy, in addition to the three thousand Gonggong Hall disciples sent a year ago, there are also local mountain people and even Yue people from Jinghu who are attracted to this county town that exudes vitality.

The construction of the city was authorized by the Chu state with the help of the Xiang clan's power. The Chu state did not need to provide any assistance to Jing County, and each matter in Jing County was decided by Jing County itself.

Mirror Lake is too remote. The State of Chu has been in chaos for the past two years and has no time to attend to it.

Moreover, at the beginning of this year, the Qin army launched an offensive against the Wei-Chu border based on Wang Jian's suggestion, and the main force of the Chu army did not react as expected.

The Qin envoy arrogantly told King Fuchu of Chu that Qin's actions were intended to attack Wei. At this time, the negative impact of Chu's two consecutive changes of kings had not yet been resolved, and the troublesome local forces were even more deeply entrenched. Now, Qin's ambition to conquer the world was blatantly obvious. Even knowing that after Wei, Qin's military might would be directed at Chu, the King of Chu could only swallow his anger and make concessions in exchange for Chu's time to prepare for war.

The people on the border between Wei and Chu suffered from the ravages of war. Qin general Li Xin was relatively unscathed, but another Qin general, Tu Sui, slaughtered his way through the land, causing a large number of people to become refugees. However, the Chu state, which was preparing for war, cared a lot about these precious human resources, and it was not up to Jing County to take them over. The largest source of labor for Jing County was the Yue people.

During this period, a large area along the southeastern coast was collectively known as Baiyue. The Baiyue people, far removed from the Central Plains, lagged far behind the other seven kingdoms in both culture and technology. The area around Mirror Lake, historically part of the Wu-Yue kingdoms, had undergone some cultural influence and was relatively better off.

The further one ventures into the southeastern hills, the more ferocious the various Yue tribes become.

Even the Yue people, whose labor force was ignored by most of the powerful and wealthy, were being fought over by other forces and Gonggongtang.

"Fan Jun?" Lu Wei, who had just arrived in Jing County, heard a strange name from Yan Shen, who had become the county magistrate.

“It is indeed the Fan King!” Yan Shen nodded, somewhat wary of the title: “It is said that this man is not yet twenty years old, but he is already a leader of a region, with more than five thousand elite soldiers under his command. He occupies Fan Lake in the east and enjoys a very high reputation among the Baiyue people in the southeast.”

"Although Fanhu and Jinghu are far apart and generally have no contact, this Fanhu chieftain is also spontaneously building a new county town based on Fanhu, doing the same thing as us."

“In trade with the Baiyue, the Fan Jun caravans are our direct competitors.”

"Fan Jun..." Lu Wei recognized the name, but couldn't quite place it. However, regardless of the circumstances, a young man starting from scratch was able to command five thousand subordinates, and the population in his jurisdiction was likely even greater... Such strength made him a powerful figure in the region.

The head of the hall relied on the peasants and the authority of the Xiang clan to establish the prototype of Jing County. The assistance that this vassal king received in establishing Fan County was far inferior to that of Jing County. However, in the Baiyue region as a whole, the vassal king was more popular. This person should not be underestimated.

After Yan Shen learned of the name of the Fan King in Baiyue, he immediately sent his disciples to Fan Lake to investigate. It would take them some more days to return.

After noting down the name Fan Jun for the time being, Lu Wei was in no hurry to deal with it. He requisitioned several small boats belonging to Jing County and first sent Xue Nu Duanmu Rong and others who had come with him to Jinghu Medical Manor on the island in the middle of the lake.

It has been a long time since I left the medical manor. Fortunately, the dock that Master Lu built was made of solid materials and is very sturdy. It is still as stable as Mount Tai in use today.

Duanmu Rong hurriedly directed her maids to clean out a room in the medical estate, as there were still too few rooms specifically for people to rest. Further planning and construction of this vast island in the lake would be necessary, a plan already approved by Nian Duan, the actual owner of the medical estate.

Doctor Nian Duan did not return with them this time. She said that she had taught Duanmu Rong all her knowledge, and Duanmu Rong would have to walk the rest of the journey on her own.

Now that the old doctor has recovered his health, he not only throws himself back into his beloved work of saving lives, but also opens a rural clinic in Gonggong Hall and takes on several more junior brothers and sisters for Duanmu Rong.

While Duanmu Rong was delighted by her master's vitality, she couldn't help but feel a pang of sadness at having her affection taken away from her...

Inside Jinghu Medical Village, Physician Nian Duan's only request was to be given a flat burial plot; the rest was up to the farmers to modify.