Qin Shi Ambitious

Page 228

However, since the Xinzheng Rebellion three years ago, King Han An was immediately killed, and the rest of the royal family members were also wanted and pursued, living in exile and constantly in danger.

Because of the feud between the State of Zhao and the King of Qin, almost none of the direct royal family members survived. When the six states were restored to power in the future, which King Jian of Qi did not know, only Zhao Xie, whose records are scarce, was able to be elected as the King of Zhao.

Because of its swift demise, the state of Wei fared somewhat better than its two brothers from the Three Jin states, but only slightly better. Members of the royal family were all demoted to commoners.

Among them, Lord Ningling, Wei Jiu, was executed by Xinghun at the behest of Lu, and Wei Bao was killed by Chen Sheng in the street years earlier... King Jian of Qi didn't care much about these things, but the fact that he had been demoted from a nobleman to a commoner had greatly terrified him:

King Jian of Qi was weak-willed. In his view, everyone was of noble birth, and if they wanted to curry favor, they could all be related by marriage. Why be so heartless?

Because of its plot to assassinate the King of Qin, the State of Yan was deeply resented by Qin. After the fall of Ji City, all members of the Ji clan of Yan were killed. When the powerful nobles of the State of Yan in Liaodong learned that the King of Qin disliked the royal family of Yan, they handed over all the royal family members of Yan in their territory. As a result, when the peasant uprising broke out, the vast State of Yan could not find a single member of the original royal family of Yan to recommend as a new king, and had to install an outsider.

Similar to the situation in Yan, the royal family of Chu was also convicted because of Xiong Qi's rebellion. Lu Wei knew from history that only a shepherd boy who had been living among the common people escaped the calamity. However, in the eyes of the general public, including King Jian of Qi, the royal family of Chu was basically wiped out.

Otherwise, if there were any other options, the powerful and influential people of Chu, who would later face a crisis, would not have gone to such lengths to find a shepherd boy to be their King of Chu.

The apparent fates of the five royal families vividly illustrate that King Ying Zheng of Qin was a man of strong likes and dislikes and extremely vengeful.

If you go along with him, for example, Ouyang Yao, the ruler of the small state of Dong'ou to the south, you can get a decent result.

In China, Zhao Gao was to be executed by Meng Yi for committing a crime, but Meng Yi intervened and saved him.

However, if one chooses to rebel against Qin or even betray it, the consequences will be extremely dire.

The mere mention of the fates of the royal families of the five kingdoms caused King Jian of Qi's previously firm resolve to oppose Qin to waver once again. Without needing further explanation, the cowardly thought of surrendering and living out his remaining years in comfort as a wealthy old man resurfaced.

"Does the Prime Minister think we should surrender?" King Jian of Qi asked, his eyes darting around and his expression unnatural.

"No, Qi is a wealthy state with abundant military resources and is among the great powers. How can we surrender so easily?" Hou Sheng had been in power for many years and had a very clear understanding of Tian Jian's thoughts. He knew that although the other party was asking questions with unease, he was actually still hesitant, after all, the Qin army had not yet reached the city gates.

Hou Sheng's goal was indeed to persuade King Jian of Qi to surrender, but this persuasion required certain methods.

Moreover, through this attempt to persuade him to surrender, Hou Sheng hoped to demonstrate his own value to the King of Qin.

"We might as well hold back for now. If the Qin attack, we will fight back fiercely and let them know that Qi is not to be trifled with. In this way, Your Majesty will have more options."

"I have ordered my officials to purchase grain from the people without restriction, enough to defend Linzi for five years."

"This...is not a bad idea." Seeing Hou Sheng's confident words, King Jian of Qi immediately felt there was some truth to it. He nodded, then suddenly seemed to remember something: "How is the investigation of the Qin people's Azure Dragon Seven Mansions going over Sanghai?"

"It's still just monitoring. I specifically instructed Tian An not to act rashly." Hou Sheng was always well-prepared and fluent in answering the questions the king would ask from the throne.

"Yes, Prime Minister, you are steady and prudent. Keep a close eye on this matter... and consider alternative plans." King Jian of Qi gave this extra instruction.

"Your Majesty, rest assured, I understand." Hou Sheng smiled and withdrew.

Having served as prime minister in Qi for decades, dealing with the King of Qi was much easier for him than dealing with other miscellaneous matters.

The attack on Sanghai's Mirage Shipyard was a deal between Luo Wang and Hou Sheng. The deal was originally just to cause some trouble. It wouldn't matter if they offended the Yin Yang School, but it wouldn't be worth offending the King of Qin for it.

Sending Tian An, who often disagrees with him over trivial matters, to take charge of this task was a win-win situation.

It would be even better if the Yin-Yang School could kill that kid.

...

In the Great Swamp Mountain, after Ji Yan returned to her assigned office area with her little maid with red-rimmed eyes, the first thing she did was to hand over her task to her brother, the hall master.

Sowing discord between the Tian family and other families in Chiyou Hall was a long-term project, and bringing Mi Lian back with a semi-compliant attitude was the first complete task that Xiao Yan'er accomplished.

Overwhelmed with grief, the young girl was unaware that Ji Yan, who had kidnapped her, belonged to the Gonggong Hall, even after being taken to Daze Mountain.

Mi Lian's usefulness lies in the future; she's not useful now, so let's just keep her alive for now.

Lu Wei calmly instructed Ji Yan to continue looking after the former Chu princess, who nodded happily in agreement.

Gonggong Hall currently maintains a total of over 30,000 disciples across its headquarters in Daze Mountain, the Luqiu Pavilion in Yan, Chungu Town in Wei, and Sanghai City in Qi. However, if the disciples in Zhao and Dai who have not been counted are included, the total number would definitely exceed 40,000.

If all the residents of Jing County are secretly included in Gonggong Hall, the number of people will reach a terrifying number among Jianghu forces. Such a size determines the power of Hall Master Lu.

Any exposure, however slight, would undoubtedly invite Qin's fierce suppression.

However, considering that disciples from other places besides Dazeshan and Jingxian, especially those from Yan and Zhao, are likely to be conscripted for labor, and Wei is also not very safe, only Sanghai will be under less pressure. The number of these disciples after unification will be extremely uncertain.

Most ordinary disciples joined the Farmer's School hoping to band together for mutual support and avoid being bullied in such a chaotic world. However, the Qin state's power meant that the Farmer's School could not fully protect its disciples who were away from home. It could only try to unite its members into small groups so that even if they were conscripted for labor, they could look after each other.

The meticulous management of the branch disciples is a complex task that Lu Wei is personally responsible for.

Under the guidance of Daze Mountain for so many years, the number of literate disciples has reached a considerable scale. Taking advantage of the time before the Qin state is fully unified, they can be sent out to establish a military system among the lower-level disciples, with five people forming a squad, two squads forming a platoon, and so on, in the Jianghu (martial arts world).

After reporting, Ji Yan did not return immediately, but went to the backyard. This trip to Licheng had lasted a long time, marking the first time she had been separated from her mother and Sister Xue Nu for such a long period.

Not long after Ji Yan left, another disciple came in to report that "Chen Ping, the manager of Kuiwei Hall, has come to visit," forcing the hall master to stop his work again.

Several months ago, when Chen Ping received the news in Jing County that Lu Wei had proposed that he serve as the head of the Kuiwei Hall, he did not think too much about it, but only greeted his senior brother Xiao He before heading north to Daze Mountain.

With the covert support of Gonggong Hall, Chen Ping quickly joined Kuiwei Hall and made several minor contributions, rising from an ordinary disciple to a manager.

Everything was done according to the rules. In fact, even without the Gonggong Hall, Chen Ping could have gradually risen to the middle level in the Farmer's Clan based solely on his own abilities, but he would certainly not have had the opportunity to become the head of the Farmer's Clan.

In the past ten years or so, there have only been two changes in the position of head of the Farmer's Hall: Tian Mi's succession to the position of head of the Kuiwei Hall was the result of the Tian family's careful planning and the secret assistance of the Luo Wang organization. Lu Weineng's succession was due to his accurate seizing of the opportunity when Zhou He of the Gonggong Hall was about to succeed as elder.

From then on, the positions of the hall masters were secure on the surface, and it was not a problem for the eldest of the six hall masters, Zhu Jia, to serve for another twenty years.

The upper echelons of the peasantry are stagnant, and Lu Wei believes that as the leader of the chivalrous sect, he has an obligation to revitalize the six halls and create more channels for advancement for those at the bottom.

As a high-ranking inside agent sent by Gonggong Hall to Kuiwei Hall, Chen Ping should not normally be visiting openly. His methodical actions must be for official business of Kuiwei Hall.

Indeed, after the two met, Chen Ping was instructed by Tian Mi to purchase grain from Shennong Hall.

This is a rare occurrence: the number of disciples in the Kuiwei Hall is the lowest among the six halls of the Farmer's School, and the hall's sphere of influence is all in the State of Qi. Now that there is no large-scale disaster in the State of Qi, the Kuiwei Hall should not be short of food.

In a private chat, Lu Wei learned what had happened.

Under normal circumstances, Kuiwei Hall should not be short of food, but since last year, the very wealthy Qi State has suddenly started buying large quantities of grain across the country at a relatively high price. Tian Mi, driven by greed, wanted to sell some of it to make a profit.

Her "some" were priced up layer by layer during the lower-level communication process, and in the end, she inadvertently sold too much...

It wasn't a major issue. Tian Mi's own collusion with Luo Wang to murder Chen Sheng was already sufficient evidence to remove her from her position as leader; there was no need to gather any other evidence.

"Tian Mi's connection with Luo Wang is not deep. Although her status is high enough for Luo Wang to take her seriously, Luo Wang cannot instruct her to do anything important because she is fond of pleasure and lazy."

During the visit, Chen Ping calmly recounted all the information he had gathered about the inner workings of the Kuiwei Hall: apart from the more than 10,000 local disciples from Qi State and their families, which were quite wealthy, the rest of the hall was simply indescribable.

Frankly speaking, among all the martial arts practitioners in the hall, only Chen Ping himself can be considered top-tier.

But that's okay, because the most worthless and most valuable thing in this era is human resources.

Chen Ping is confident that he can make the best use of the more than 10,000 strong laborers he has.

"Just as I expected," Lu Wei said with a smile. "But Tian Mi must have sent you here for something else besides purchasing grain, right?"

"Master's insight is profound." Chen Ping nodded respectfully with his fists clasped. "There's also the issue of Kuiwei Hall's wavering allegiance."

"It's been so long, and you're still agonizing over this issue." Shaking his head, Lu Tangzhu didn't seem to care. Tian Mi had vaguely expressed her intentions in this regard a few years ago. "I'm very confident in entrusting this matter to you. You should become the general manager of Kuiwei Hall as soon as possible and maintain regular contact with the Zhu family and Tian Hu."

"An accident could happen at any time."

"I will obey the Hall Master's orders!" Chen Ping's address clearly indicated his proper position.

Chapter 259 Zhang Liang and Xiang Bo

Lu Wei had thought that Tian Mi's use of Chen Ping would be limited in the short term, but in reality, perhaps due to the situation at Kuiwei Hall, Tian Mi was somewhat anxious. This woman actually sent a subordinate who had only joined a few months ago to visit Gonggong Hall. The purpose of the visit was to test the attitude of the Hall Master.

More than a decade ago, the level of disciples in the Farmer's Sect was strictly controlled. Without merit or time to accumulate, even the most talented disciple would find it difficult to advance quickly.

More than a decade later, the rules in this regard have indeed been broken quite a bit, but the extent of the damage is far less than Lu Wei had anticipated.

Chen Ping is now a three-star pearl grass disciple of Kuiwei Hall. Advancing two levels in a few months is considered fast in a farming family. However, given the precedent of Lu Wei's rapid advancement, this speed, while surprising, is not common within Kuiwei Hall.

Compared to more than a decade ago, the farming families under Tian Guang's control were more united, and their connections were deeper. All six branches had the right to criticize the misconduct of other branches.

For example, the reason why it took so long to establish a new leader after the scandal broke out in Kuiwei Hall was because Tian Meng and Tian Hu could both "help" Kuiwei Hall choose a leader in the name of "brothers" and had an obligation to give a reasonable explanation to the "brothers" of Shennong Hall and Siyue Hall.

Promotion of key positions in the Six Halls requires consideration of the opinions of the outer halls. For example, in the dispute over the head of the Gonggong Hall, Zhou He was more tolerant of Tian Zhong because of Tian Zhong's influence.

However, as time went on, the six halls became increasingly divided, and the fact that they became more independent gave each hall leader absolute decision-making power over the affairs of their own hall, without having to consider the opinions of others.

The most typical example here is Lu Wei himself: he was the one who promoted the division of the peasant family.

After gaining control of Gonggong Hall, he recklessly crossed the border from Yan State within Gonggong Hall's sphere of influence, first recruiting a large number of disciples from Zhao State and obtaining huge sums of money from Tantai, then entering Wei State of Siyue Hall to stir up trouble and establish Chungu Town, and then secretly building Jing County in Chu State of Shennong Hall.

Finally, even though the State of Qi was the territory specifically belonging to the three "Tian" factions—Lieshan, Chiyou, and Kuiwei—as planned by Tian Guangxia, Lu Wei still forcibly violated this customary law and established a branch in Sanghai City.

It is precisely because of its disregard for rules that Gonggongtang has expanded so rapidly. The other five halls, due to their inherited habits and experiences, are deeply resistant to breaking the rules; it is not the path they are familiar with, and therefore they are always one step behind Gonggongtang.

The reason why the farm family is in such chaos, with brothers turning against each other and distrusting one another, is because Lu is extremely guilty and must bear inescapable responsibility!

But the Hall Master shamelessly applies double standards with an attitude of entitlement: he benefits from breaking the rules and makes Gonggong Hall the head of the six halls, while he tries his best to prevent the other five halls from breaking the rules and demands that they abide by the status quo of always being subordinate to Gonggong Hall.

Not only that, Lu Wei also wanted to seize the positions of the other five hall masters to promote his own confidants.

Although the hall master didn't say it outright, what he did was indeed this despicable.

Because Lu Wei exacerbated the divisions within the Six Halls, it's fair to say that the millennia-old rules for promotion within the Farmer's Clan have been disrupted: after all, any hall master now theoretically has the power to promote an outsider from the Farmer's Clan to the position of steward, second only to the hall master.

The reason why it was said that the destruction did not reach the extent that Lu Wei had anticipated was because none of the hall masters actually used this right.

When Qin conquered the six states, it was a good opportunity for the various branches of the Farmer's Clan to recruit talents from the refugees of the six states. However, due to the rampant tyranny of the Gonggong Clan, most talents ended up under the Gonggong Clan's command instead of being evenly distributed among the six branches. The best example is that Dian Qing, who should have been recruited by the Shennong Clan, and Mei San Niang, who should have been recruited by the Lieshan Clan, are now working for the Gonggong Clan in this timeline.

The Five Halls haven't acquired any outstanding talents. Even if they wanted to break the rules to promote someone, they would need someone willing to do so.

Tian Mi was very satisfied with Chen Ping's talent, but Chen Ping himself felt that Tian Mi would not allow him to continue to advance rapidly.

The reason might be that Tian Mi suspects Chen Ping might try to seize her position as the head of the hall... This woman's intuition is quite accurate; she's even willing to forgo male beauty for the sake of power.

This is a bit troublesome, but Mr. Chen is confident he can solve it.

...

After seeing Chen Ping off, Lu Wei continued to handle some miscellaneous matters in the hall. When he had some free time and returned to the backyard, he found Ji Yan holding the Jingni Sword and competing in swordsmanship with Xue Nu.

Xue Nu started learning swordsmanship several years later than disciples from martial arts families, but she was still considered to be among the earlier learners in the martial arts world.

Especially after combining swordsmanship with her beloved dancing, Yuki-onna has carved out her own path, although this path did not go very far for various reasons.

On the other hand, Xiao Yan'er is a true genius. She has been taught by famous teachers since she was a child, and she can learn any skill very quickly once she gets the hang of it.

However, the downside is that because there is so much to learn, it is impossible to specialize in just one thing.

However, neither Xiao Yan'er nor Lu Wei felt that this was a drawback: Gonggong Hall needed an all-around subordinate who 'knows a little about everything' more than one martial arts master.

Ji Yan's own hobby is power. She can like or dislike martial arts, depending solely on what kind of role her brother, the hall master, wants her to be.

Both women practiced top-tier internal cultivation techniques and regularly consumed high-quality pills to enhance their internal strength. However, Xue Nu had a significant advantage in this regard because the Jade Soul Technique suited her better and she was considerably older.

When Lu Wei arrived at the sidelines of Duanmu Rong and Lu Ni, the sword duel was already coming to an end. Xiao Yan'er had fine beads of sweat on her forehead, while Xue Nu remained calm and composed, the jade sword ringing out clearly.