Qin Shi Ambitious

Page 170

"According to the initial design calculations, one bottle of powder can be divided into a supply of about twelve months, or it can be doubled to be used for six months."

"This is taking too long." Xinghun put away the medicine bottle, his expression returning to its feigned arrogance: "Since this bottle is for testing, you should give me a second one."

"This bottle of medicine is just to let you know that I can help you take revenge. As for when to do it, it won't be today. I'll give you something else later."

"You want to use the death of the King of Qin to completely destroy the Qin state, not just kill the King of Qin alone." Without the Hall Master's explanation, Xinghun, having enough information, could guess his intentions on his own.

If he could make the entire Qin state pay the price for his deceased mother and family, Xinghun felt that he would be remembered for eternity!

“You are very smart; I knew that from the first time I met you.”

"Is that so? Then how many more years will I, the clever one you speak of, need to serve Qin as a loyal subject?"

“People who grew up in Qin and have studied Qin law in detail, I don’t think I need to answer this question.”

“But I really liked your answer.” Xinghun stood up, smiling jokingly, preparing to leave. Just before he opened the door, Lu Wei’s last words reached his ears:

"The Yin-Yang School is not your final destination. After the death of the Eastern Emperor and the fall of the Qin Dynasty, you can start anew and continue to pursue your childhood ideals... I can continue to help you with this."

The Left Protector of the Yin-Yang School rarely heard such genuine sincerity in those words...

"You helped me three times, and I will repay you for each of those three times."

With his hand clenched into a fist, Xinghun didn't turn around. The moment the door opened, his figure vanished, leaving only a light promise of gratitude, which was received by the smiling hall master as he sipped his tea.

No matter how evil Xinghun becomes, before he became Xinghun, he was still the prodigy Gan Luo who was determined to serve his country with loyalty.

Even now, he is only fifteen years old.

It's truly sinful to fool a child... but it works very well.

------

Encouraged by Yan Dan's generous rewards, the Yan garrison in Jicheng successfully weathered the summer and autumn.

But the cost was indescribably terrible, and the last crippled white tiger was also lost, along with the two white tiger pilots.

After they piloted their mechanical beasts out of the city walls, they never thought they could come back.

The first snow of the year came exceptionally early, and it fell heavily and for a long time.

The State of Yan once again gained a much-needed respite.

In one crisis after another, external factors always managed to stop the Qin army from attacking the city. For a time, with deliberate propaganda, the people and soldiers of Yan all believed that their country was blessed by Heaven and that Yan was not destined to perish!

The Yan army's soaring morale allowed them to unleash extraordinary fighting power after the snow stopped, delivering a crushing blow to the Qin army, which had been repeatedly hampered.

This was a very important victory. Yan Dan dared not gamble with the one-year agreement any longer. He immediately contacted Liu Sha and arranged a time to take action.

That night, Bai Fenghuang used her lightness skill to silently leave the city walls of Ji, which were stained red with blood, and entered the Qin army camp...

During the day, news spread throughout Ji City: In three days, to celebrate the brave soldiers' repelling of the Qin army's futile offensive, King Dan of Yan would personally ascend the city wall in full view of the people to comfort the soldiers and distribute rewards.

It is said that Prince Dan of Yan will announce another piece of good news in public at that time.

The Yan soldiers were thrilled and speculated about all sorts of possibilities, completely unaware that it would be the last day for most of them.

The State of Yan survived only the first snowfall of the year, but could not survive the New Year of the following year.

In the remote Sanghai City, at the Xiaoshengxianzhuang, Zhang Liang, the third-in-command of the Confucian school, faced north and opened the bamboo scroll in his hand, revealing the story of the final battle of Jicheng...

Chapter 190 A new beginning

In the backyard garden of Xiaoshengxianzhuang, Zhang San, the head of the household, leaned against a tree trunk, admiring the snow while opening the bamboo scroll containing the northern war report in his hand.

When Zhang Liang learned from Lu Wei a few months ago that the Quicksand was in Ji City, he had a different view and speculation about the battlefield of Ji City and even the relationship between the various schools of thought.

However, all of this is predicated on the fact that what Master Lu said is true.

Although Master Lu had no reason to deceive himself on such matters, the possibility that his subordinates in the peasant faction's investigation was inaccurate or that the quicksand was deliberately mystifying things could not be ruled out. One should not make hasty affirmations or denials about certain matters.

He couldn't contact Liu Sha, so he couldn't directly verify the truth. But even if he had made contact, there was nothing Zhang Liang could do.

He was originally supposed to maintain his identity as an observer of the current situation for a long time.

But on the eve of the New Year, news of the death of Prince Dan of Yan and the fall of Ji City arrived, and Zhang San, the leader, was already somewhat restless.

Based on the most widely known information, the core reason for the fall of Jicheng was the quicksand:

When King Dan of Yan climbed the city wall to reward the defending troops, the Qin army, which had learned of this in advance, launched another attack. However, the Yan army, which had just received the reward and learned from the King of Yan that reinforcements would arrive within three months, was in high spirits. The Qin army encountered greater resistance that day than in any previous siege.

The Qin army's morale inevitably began to decline, and it was at this moment that the Quicksand made its move.

Suddenly, Wei Zhuang, the master of the quicksand, stormed up the city wall from inside Ji City. Amidst the chaos, facing the bewildered Yan army, Shark Tooth was invincible and went straight for Yan Dan, who was only protected by two personal guards.

After ten sword strikes, Yan Dan was beheaded, and Wei Zhuang, carrying the head of the last Yan king, jumped off the city wall...

Everything happened too fast. Before anyone could react, the last bastion of the Yan army's faith—King Dan of Yan—was beheaded in full view of everyone...

The initial high morale immediately turned into confusion, and then the whole group fell into a slump.

Beneath the city walls, Qin general Li Xin, who had been in charge of the day's siege and had been contacted by Liu Sha, discovered that Liu Sha had indeed taken Yan Dan's head as agreed. He burst into laughter and ordered the drums to be beaten, summoning all the prepared reserve Qin troops to advance...

The garrison of Jicheng had long since run out of reserves. Faced with the news of the king's death, some soldiers were filled with rage and determined to perish with the Qin people, but most soldiers lost their will to resist and began to flee.

The chaos on the city walls turned into a complete rout after the Qin army stormed up the walls.

Ji City fell, and the State of Yan perished.

When the Qin army annihilated all resistance forces within the city and arrived at the dilapidated Yan royal palace, the oil and flammable straw that had not been removed from the palace indicated that King Dan of Yan had planned to set the palace on fire after the city fell. Fortunately, the quicksand walls intervened, preventing him from directing the palace to be set on fire.

The Quicksand organization rendered great service to the Qin state. This assassin organization, originally composed of fugitives from the former Han state, was removed from the wanted list. Moreover, due to its ability to take the head of the King of Yan amidst a vast army, the Quicksand's reputation also greatly increased.

However, what increased was their reputation as assassins. Wei Zhuang, a disciple of Guiguzi, and the former founder of Quicksand under Han Fei, strayed further and further from their original path, instead sinking deeper and deeper into another bloody trail...

Rolling up the bamboo slips, Zhang Liang confirmed that quicksand had indeed appeared in Ji City, just as Lu Wei had said. This meant that the other information Lu Wei provided was very likely true, and Zhang Liang was now certain that there was another hidden truth behind the Qin-Yan war.

Based on his understanding of Wei Zhuang, if it were just about killing someone, there would be no need to wait in one place for a whole year.

Time is precious for Liu Sha and Wei Zhuang.

Yan Dan probably sacrificed the lives of his soldiers and civilians to cooperate with the Quicksand and fake his death in order to save himself and the Mohists.

Zhang Liang had no clear evidence to prove this; he only deduced this conclusion from limited intelligence and hints in Lu Wei's previous conversation.

The greatest use of this conclusion is that it helped Zhang Liang to know in advance that the Mohists would continue to firmly oppose the Qin Dynasty amidst the changing times.

This is a reliable ally, and if the leader of the Mohist school is still Yan Dan, then the other party has a similar status and position to me. There is no harm in establishing a simple connection with the Mohist school now.

It just so happens that over the past year he has thoroughly investigated the identity of the innkeeper, Paoding, in Sanghai City, confirming that he is a disciple of the Mo family. This is a good opportunity and it is probably not a coincidence.

Confucianism and Mohism have clashed fiercely in history, but the current social environment is very different from the past, and both sides are subtly showing signs of downplaying their hatred.

However, there are still huge difficulties in getting the two companies to stand side by side in the same direction, and Zhang Liang is prepared to help overcome these difficulties in his own way.

Just as they were making plans, a series of orderly crunching sounds came from the snow. It turned out that Fu Nian, the head of Xiaoshengxianzhuang, had also come to the backyard to enjoy the snow.

"Senior Brother Sect Leader," Zhang Liang said slowly, brushing the snow that had fallen from the treetops onto his shoulder as he leaned against the trunk. He then walked out of the forest onto the path and bowed respectfully to Fu Nian.

"Oh, it's Zifang. Come for a walk with me."

Fu Nian paused and nodded, then took Zhang Liang for a stroll in the backyard.

The snow on the ground had not yet melted, and the disciples who were cleaning were mainly focused on the front yard, which was the storefront, so they hadn't had time to take care of the back yard yet.

The two young sages, who were in charge of the village, left a long string of similarly spaced tracks on the pristine snow.

"What book did Zifang read today?"

Fu Nian glanced at the bamboo slips in Zhang Liang's hand and casually asked a question.

"Senior brother, please don't be offended. This morning, when Zifang was reading the second section of 'Mencius - Gongsun Chou Chapter 1,' he received a bamboo slip from the north. He found it interesting, so he took the slip to the backyard to slack off, but was caught by senior brother again."

Zhang Liang bowed apologetically with a smile.

“When the will is focused, the spirit is stirred; when the spirit is focused, the will is stirred. Now, those who stumble and those who rush are acting on their spirit, and this stirs their hearts.” Fu Nian shook his head and did not ask Zhang Liang to open the bamboo slips for him to see: apart from the destruction of the Yan state in Jicheng and the Yan state in Liaodong barely surviving, there were no other new developments in the north.

He used a sentence from Mencius that Zhang Liang had just quoted to admonish his junior brother, who had national and personal grievances, to focus on the right path and not go astray.

"With the world in chaos, Xiaoshengxianzhuang cannot save the world; it can only protect itself. Zifang should focus more on the path of learning so that he can teach the students of the world when the situation stabilizes in the future."

“I cultivate my own noble spirit and take the cause of the Confucian predecessors as my own responsibility,” Zhang Liang replied with his hands clasped in respect. This answer pleased Fu Nian.

As for what Zhang Liang meant by "righteous spirit," the two had different understandings...

Zhang San's words were obviously intentional, but did Fu Nian, who was 'satisfied', really not notice?

Zhang Liang had no idea.

In his eyes, Fu Nian's dedication to scholarship as the head of the Confucian school could be seen as genuine rigorous academic pursuit, or it could be a form of covert anti-Qin sentiment...

------

Thirty miles north of Jicheng, on the snow-covered ground, two men in black robes faced off.

"Mo Mei?" one of them said in a deep voice, his eyes fixed on the black sword in the hand of the person in front of him: "It is known throughout the world that the previous leader of the Mo family, Prince Yan Dan, died in battle in Ji City. Mo Mei, which is the symbol of the leader of the Mo family, is in your hands. Are you the new leader of the Mo family?"

"This is none of your business." The swordsman holding the black-browed sword spoke in a hoarse voice, his age impossible to discern.

Both men could sense that the other was quite skilled. After a long standoff, the man who asked the first question removed his bamboo hat.

"Please do not take offense, sir. I am Xiaoyaozi of the Daoist sect and have no ill intentions toward the Mohists." The face under the bamboo hat was handsome and refined, with an air of otherworldly elegance and righteousness. "I came to Yan to help the Yan Dan leader fight against the tyranny, but due to various reasons, I was a step too late and was unable to enter Ji City before the war began."

"So I decided to look for a good opportunity around Jicheng. A few days ago, I heard that the leader of Yandan was killed by Liusha. In my indignation, I unexpectedly discovered your whereabouts. I did not know your identity and mistakenly thought you were acting suspiciously. I did not mean to obstruct you."

"Xiaoyaozi, the leader of the Taoist sect?" The hoarse voice rang out again, and the tone was much friendlier: "That's right, I am the new leader of the Mo family, and I have received the dying wish from Prince Dan of Yan."

"I see," Xiaoyaozi seemed to believe this explanation very easily, and the tense muscles in his body relaxed: "The brave men around Yan Dan are all wanted by the tyrannical Qin. I have shown my sincerity. I wonder if you would like to take off your hat and let us see each other frankly?"

"Please forgive me..." The hoarse voice refused quickly, but withdrew the black eyebrows from its hand, showing further goodwill: "The Mo family is in turmoil. It's not that I don't trust Master Xiaoyao, but I was secretly trained by the Yan Dan Master. Even within the Mo family, I will not reveal my true identity."

“In that case, Master, please leave first. The Mohist school does indeed need your presence to appease the people.” Xiaoyaozi understandingly made way, not dwelling on the issue of identity.

"Thank you for your understanding, Master Xiaoyao. I will apologize to you again after I have appeased the Mo family."

The two parted ways. Xiaoyaozi watched the black-clad giant's departing figure, glanced back towards Jicheng, then put his bamboo hat back on and left in another direction...

The previous leader of the Mohist school, the Six-Fingered Black Knight, also concealed his entire body under a black robe. Given the current situation of the Mohist school, it is understandable that the leader of the Mohist school would follow the precedent and hide his identity, but there are probably quite a few problems with this person's identity.

Xiaoyaozi silently speculated in his heart... But no matter what, it's a good thing that the Mo family has a new leader so quickly, and this important branch of the Hundred Schools of Thought can quickly stabilize.

The Taoist family also had to take an anti-Qin stance...

In the Daze Mountains, Lu Wei listened to the outcome of the battle in the north and then let it pass, as it was already predetermined.

The assassin group Quicksand has become famous throughout the world, but Wei Zhuang and Lord Changping's next plan is to launch a rebellion in Xinzheng, which should actually cause Quicksand to fall into obscurity.