Qin Shi Ambitious

Page 211

Two disciples of the Mohist school died, both from having their hearts pierced by feathers.

Although those two feathers are now covered in blood, they should have originally been snow-white.

After examining the body, Gao Jianli stood up with a dark face: "It's Bai Fenghuang, an assassin from the Quicksand."

"Hmm!" The giant iron hammer slammed into the wall: "Quicksand!"

“Ah Xin and Ah Yi were the disciples who went out to investigate today. They must have recognized the people from Quicksand on the street, which is why they followed them!” Dao Zhi said with a sad expression, “Both of them had received favors from the Yan Dan Grand Master in Ji City. After the Yan Dan Grand Master was killed by Wei Zhuang, they have always harbored hatred in their hearts!”

"The Quicksand and the Mohists have a blood feud. We can't let Bai Feng get away now that we've found his trail in Shouchun! Blood debts must be repaid with blood!" Big Iron Hammer shouted sternly.

"This matter needs to be reported to the Grand Master as soon as possible." Gao Jianli's fingers, gripping the Water Cold Sword, were turning slightly white from the force, but he managed to maintain a degree of restraint in his expression.

"I'm going to find that scruffy bird. You all go and inform the Grand Master." Dao Zhi's voice rang out after he vanished in an instant.

"I'll go and mobilize the disciples in the city." Big Iron Hammer also left, leaving Gao Jianli standing upright with his eyes closed, pondering for a few moments before stepping towards the General's Mansion.

Despite the special occasion, the Xiang family's general's mansion was not bustling. After requesting permission to inform the Grand Master, Gao Jianli was led by his attendants to a secret room.

The report stated that the White Phoenix of the Flowing Sands had appeared and killed two disciples of the Mo family, but the Grand Master's reaction was merely a silent shake of his head.

"What is the Grand Master worried about?" Gao Jianli asked calmly, without any hurry.

"I know about the hatred between the Quicksand and the Mohists, but before that, the Mohists have more important things to do." From beneath the black bamboo hat, the Grand Master's weathered yet resolute voice rang out: "We're heading to Chenying City next. Xiao Gao... go and call back Xiao Zhi and Big Iron Hammer."

“Chen Yingcheng, yes, but…” Gao Jianli’s eyes were no less resolute than anyone else’s: “What does the Grand Master think is the best way to resolve the grudges on the other side of Quicksand?”

This issue is very important to Gao Jianli, and also to the leadership of the entire Mohist school.

Yan Dan observed the other person's posture through the black bamboo hat, realizing that she, who had faked her death and concealed her identity, could not be fooled on this issue: "I will settle the hatred with Wei Zhuang personally in the future, but right now, nothing is more important than the grand plan to overthrow Qin!"

After the conversation between the Grand Master and Gao Jianli ended, Bai Fenghuang, the assassin who had been tracked by the Mohists, was no longer in Shouchun City, but had arrived in a remote abandoned village outside the city.

Both Wei Zhuang and Chi Lian are here.

"Judging from your expression, did something fun happen in Shouchun?"

Playing with the slender blue-scaled fire snake in her hand, Chi Lian smiled as always at her companions who arrived on time.

Unlike the naive Princess Honglian of the past, Chilian's smile is now seen by many as the breath of a venomous snake before it launches an attack.

"I encountered two overconfident Mohist disciples and killed them. It wasn't exactly interesting." Bai Feng crossed his arms. "But when I think about how meaningless their deaths were, I realize that Yan Dan's disguise was truly well-intentioned."

"The Mohist school, huh?" Wei Zhuang said expressionlessly. The quicksand's 'killing' of Yan Dan was a transaction, and the other party had to bear all the consequences of this transaction. The quicksand offered absolutely no after-sales service.

"Most of the various schools of thought are still in Shouchun City, but they are all very restrained towards each other. Unless Chu wins again, these people will return to where they came from," Bai Feng continued his report.

"I think the fact that the cowardly King of Qi would send someone here is undoubtedly a more useful signal."

"Qi, it's too late." The Master of Quicksand sneered, "To be afraid when things are at their worst is just laughable."

"So what should we do next?" Chi Lian stepped forward. "The rebellion in Xinzheng didn't expose our identities, but this incriminating evidence will be in the hands of the Luo Wang..."

“A weakness is a weakness because it is something that is valued.” Wei Zhuang turned to leave. “Judging from the behavior of the Net, they would not use such a thing to threaten Quicksand.”

"As for the next step, we will continue to do our job as quicksand."

------

In the south, Lu Wei stayed in Jing County for a while, and soon after the New Year, he received news that Wang Jian's army had set off south to attack Chu!

This great battle had nothing to do with him, but two special letters that came with the news of the battle surprised Master Lu a little.

One letter came from Daze Mountain, sent by Ji Yan. The other came from Sanghai, sent by Fu Nian from Xiaoshengxianzhuang.

In her letter, Xiao Yan'er first reported on the Moon Goddess's arrival at Daze Mountain, but after only briefly mentioning it, she frankly stated that she had contacted Zhang Er of Siyue Hall several times.

Zhang Er has almost finished collecting a large amount of evidence of Situ Wanli's crimes over the years in running casinos, brothels and other entertainment venues.

In this kind of business, the less conscience you have, the more you make. Situ Wanli's Four Seasons Casino is making a fortune every day. Even though his investment in Daliang City suffered heavy losses, he can gradually recover by receiving financial support from other places, including the casino headquarters in Daze Mountain.

The gambling and prostitution businesses are inherently morally wrong, and the Farmer School, descended from the patriarch Shennong, is considered a respectable and upright family. A thorough examination of these crimes in the Farmer School's classic texts and moral codes would be enough to give Situ Wanli a hard time.

At the same time, Zhang Er's prestige among the lower-level disciples had reached a certain level, and given the right opportunity, he could initiate a re-election of the hall master.

However, the Farmer's Clan is composed of six halls. Even if the actions of the Four Peaks Hall are internal affairs, they will inevitably be interfered with by the other halls... just like the Kuiwei Hall in the past.

Zhang Er needs a strong backer to completely destroy Situ Wanli's crimes; otherwise, if the crimes are easily overlooked, everything will be in vain.

Moreover, after Zhang Er overthrew Situ Wanli, the position of Hall Master could not be held by Zhang Er himself. He was not actually close to Gonggong Hall, so another trusted confidant from within Gonggong Hall, who was loyal to Hall Master Lu and would never betray him, was needed to take over Siyue Hall.

The last sentence was clearly Xiao Yan'er's personal opinion, even though Lu Wei had previously promised to give her the Siyue Hall.

However, Xiao Yan'er is still too young. What she meant by saying this was that she was requesting that the action against Siyue Hall be postponed.

Once Ji Yan is ready to take over the Four Mountains Hall, then Situ Wanli will be dealt with, and Zhang Er will be 'fairly and squarely' defeated by her in the competition—everything will be perfect.

Ji Yan had even figured out why the action was postponed for several years: Now that the leader of the Farmer's Clan has disappeared, Lu Wei is currently the closest to the position of leader. If the other five halls have not given up, they will definitely unite to suppress the Gonggong Hall first.

The formation of this alliance will certainly take time. Once the alliance of the five halls is established, at the height of their prestige, they can immediately cause trouble for the Four Mountains Hall, which will deal a huge blow to the power of all five halls at once. At that time, Hall Master Lu can take the opportunity to directly become the leader of the heroes!

This plan is somewhat similar to Lu Wei's original plan, aiming to achieve absolute dictatorship in the Farmer's Clan by taking action against the other branches.

However, Xiao Yan'er lacked sufficient information and could only see the Four Mountains Hall. The Hall Master's plan, however, was to cause trouble for all three halls simultaneously!

Lu Wei will personally carry out the farmer's plan. He doesn't need to reply to Ji Yan's letters, since he will be returning to Daze Mountain soon anyway.

The other letter from Fu Nian was written in a very conventional way. The letter contained very ordinary content about friendship, and the words probably implied an invitation for Lu Wei to meet again in Sanghai.

Originally, Lu Wei had no plans to go to Sanghai in recent years, but since the head of Xiaoshengxianzhuang, Fu Nian, sincerely invited him, he could take the time to go after he finished dealing with the trivial matters in Dazeshan.

After having a friendly conversation with his two Taoist disciples, Xiao He and Chen Ping, in Jing County, he did not look down on his trusted peasant disciples.

Li Zuoche and Peng Yue had tamed the original Juye water bandits completely. In the past year, this team had also recruited a group of Gonggongtang disciples who were good at swimming and some Yue people, becoming the first naval force under the Farmer's family, which was of great significance.

The problem was that their equipment was relatively outdated, and their ships were too small compared to the Chu navy.

Although this problem is troublesome, it is not very important, as the navy has limited role in this era.

On the contrary, the good news coming from Amu's workshop was truly delightful...

Chapter 237 The Net and Yin Yang

"This is the mechanical water snake?"

Lu Wei traveled by boat to the secret workshop on the east side of Mirror Lake, where he saw a crude new type of mechanical beast: the mechanical water snake.

To be honest, this thing in front of me is somewhat overrated.

In the simplest terms, this is a 'snake embracing an egg', that is, an oval-shaped metal 'egg' surrounded by a spiral mechanical snake.

Upon closer inspection, the mechanical snake and the metal egg can be roughly separated. If all goes as expected, the 'egg' contains the pilot, while the mechanical snake possesses a certain degree of aggression.

Based on the size of the egg, including the driver, it can probably carry five to six people.

“Yes, boss.” Amu explained the function of the mechanical water snake to Lu Wei: “The water snake is an underwater transportation tool. Theoretically, it can carry six disciples and dive to a depth of twenty feet. Currently, our experiments in Mirror Lake have no problems, but due to technical reasons, it still needs to be further improved before it can be taken to the sea for testing.”

A Qin Dynasty 'submarine' was placed in front of him. Although compared to the behemoth that the Mo family had in Lu Wei's memory, or even the mechanical Xuanwu with its underwater searchlight, this mechanical water snake seemed insignificant, it was still incredible that Amu could create such a simple mechanical beast in such a short time.

Although he was no longer surprised by the mechanical beast's mysterious power system, Hall Master Lu couldn't help but ask again, "How does it allow disciples to breathe underwater?"

"The 'water droplet' contains a breathing mechanism, which the driver disciple can activate by inputting internal energy to ensure air circulation within it."

The 'water droplet' refers to that metal ellipsoid, which is indeed dark blue in appearance.

"But the efficiency is limited. Theoretically, if fully loaded, it needs to surface for repairs every four hours after diving."

"The lake is calm and still, so the test results only prove that it can dive, which is only symbolic. If we were to actually test it at the seaside, it would probably take at least ten years of testing and correction."

At this point, Amu sighed heavily: Although it was the result of following the blueprints, it cannot be considered a complete mechanical beast due to various reasons.

Compared to the difficulties in making the mechanical ox and the mechanical rooster, this mechanical water snake truly revealed the weakness of farmers' mechanical skills.

If the Mohists or the Gongshu School were to create this water snake, they could certainly do it quickly and well.

"For now, let's focus on accumulating technical expertise." Lu Wei patted Amu on the shoulder encouragingly. "Right now, you have too few resources at your disposal. More resources will be available to assist your research on mechanical beasts in the future!"

Mechanical beasts that deviate from the theoretically orthodox technological path have endless possibilities. I will definitely make the Mohists and the Gongshu School entangle themselves on this path in the future!

...

Wang Jian led an army of 600,000 from the Ba River. Before even leaving Qin territory at Wuguan Pass, he had already sent five waves of envoys back to Xianyang to demand rewards from King Zheng of Qin, showing no concern whatsoever that fullness leads to deficiency or that going too far is as bad as not going far enough.

Having confirmed that they had clearly demonstrated their greed for wealth, the army quickened their pace.

Xiang Yan's 400,000-strong Chu army had already set up defensive positions. The army had just defeated Li Xin's 200,000 troops a few months earlier, and now their morale was high and their fighting spirit was strong.

Even Xiang Junzhong, whose young master Shaoyu was only eight years old, went to the front line wearing the Seven Seas Dragon Armor.

This undoubtedly boosted the morale of the Chu army.

However, Wang Jian's actions after entering Chu territory rendered this momentum ineffective: the veteran general commanded his troops to build strong fortifications in the Shangshui, Shangcai, and Pingyu areas, and strictly ordered his troops not to engage in battle.

The old general had fought for many years and had seen all kinds of battles. How could he possibly let the Qin army deliberately charge into the Chu defenses?

Now that Qin has destroyed the three Jin states, and Dai and Yan are barely surviving, King Jian of Qi, although he intends to do something, has his uncle Hou Sheng's mansion once again received dozens of boxes of treasures and gold coins from an 'unknown' distant merchant. The Prime Minister of Qi has his own ways to keep the King of Qi in line.

With no worries about its rear, Qin could afford to slowly wear down Chu.

Warfare is inherently risky. Even the ancient military strategist Sun Tzu said: "The best strategy is to attack the enemy's plans; next is to disrupt their alliances; next is to attack their army; and the worst is to besiege their cities." To render the 400,000 Chu troops helpless without resorting to military force is undoubtedly the best approach.

Xiang Yan could not wait for the Qin army to attack, nor could he retreat hastily. Charging into Wang Jian's defenses would be a pointless act that would result in the loss of his soldiers' lives, so he could only remain seated.

In theory, he could have waited for the Qin army to make a mistake after a long and impatient defense... but the opposing general was Wang Jian.

Some generals are able to make a bloody war that determines the life and death of a million people very simple, and Wang Jian is undoubtedly one of the best among these generals.

It seems like he did nothing, yet he always managed to win effortlessly, with no suspense whatsoever.

Such a war was extremely difficult for young Shao Yu: it wasn't the blood-pumping battlefield and passionate charge he had imagined...

Such meditation, from the very beginning, was destined to last at least several months. It will only end when one side can no longer endure it.

Generally speaking, the one who can't hold on is often the ultimate loser...

Just as Qin and Chu were locked in a standoff, Zhu Jia, who had set out from Chenying, and Lu Wei, who had set out from Jing County, returned to Dazeshan almost simultaneously.

Since the incident involving the leader of the Heroes, the six hall masters have finally gathered again at the Farmer's Headquarters. However, it is clear that everyone has their own agenda this time.

With the leader of the Heroic Sect, Tian Guang, remaining missing for a long time, and neither the Autumn Harvest Festival nor the Shennong Order's bounty being held last year... this vividly conveyed to every disciple of the Farmer's Clan the fact that the leader of the Heroic Sect was most likely in trouble.

When there is a vacancy in the leadership of the heroes, it needs to be filled. Among the six halls, not only Gonggong Hall, but also a considerable number of disciples from the other five halls believe that Lu Wei is the best choice.

Gonggong Hall is the head of all the halls, and Hall Master Lu is undoubtedly the number one expert of the Farmer School. Isn't the choice easy?

The head of the hall, who was fishing by the mountain stream in the backyard, heard Ji Yan, who was standing by the fish basket, reporting in a serious tone with a stern face the sentiments of the people in Daze Mountain. He chuckled and said in a melodious voice: