Chapter 66: Evil Path Rises
In Nanzhao Commandery, on the Wu Family’s food fief, all the good fields were planted with millet. Golden millet waves were undulating. As the last worry-free group within this force’s sphere, they were the model leading in planting millet and eating miscellaneous sweet potatoes. This was also the license standard Wu Fei proposed to the clan disciples upon returning to the family for “opening the back door.”
Wu Family disciples, if you want to get a promotion through the back door from me, that’s fine. But in this wartime now, family members must stick to their duties, all properly tilling the fields, then eating plain tea and simple food. Only when victories and festivals come, with military camp reward benefits arriving, can they celebrate.
Now in this fully militarized situation, as the ruling class’s core beneficiaries, when the ruling machine conducts large-scale resource mobilization for strategy, they themselves need to show frugality. Only then can the team comply with the laws of strict resource expense management.
In his youth, Xuan Chong had sneered at the Japanese king’s performance art of eating only one meal a day before the Sino-Japanese War, thinking how much it could save. But later he understood that this performance art drew a line for the entire group’s upper echelon against possible “luxurious” behavior.
Wu Fei now clearly understood that he rose by borrowing the feudal group’s power, and also knew that the ties between himself and the Wu Family could not be severed. If he couldn’t control these roots of his, they would drag him down at critical moments.
Just as in later generations, there’s a saying: corrupt elements are often pulled down by family members.
That’s even after dismantling the clan; now the Wu Family clan’s people are numerous. And as his career grows bigger, the family members face more and more external means to drag them down.
When Wu Fei was vigorously developing commerce, the entire Southern Merchants Group was trying to take the Wu Family route. Treasured Jade and beauties couldn’t be sent directly to Wu Fei. So they went around in a circle to send them.
It was also thanks to some elders in the clan supporting him, reining in the young people in the clan from ideas of gaining without labor and sitting idle eating up the mountain.
But the elders in the clan weren’t helping him discipline the clansmen for nothing; no one would be those thankless Confucian scholars.
If Wu Fei couldn’t secure solid positions for the young people in the clan, then he couldn’t blame the clan’s in-laws for borrowing the name to seek their own paths out, after all, Wu Fei started by borrowing the family name, what he borrowed must be repaid, he can’t borrow alone while clansmen can’t.
Wu Fei: If borrowing momentum is used on the righteous path, it’s easy to talk about. But if used to break laws and discipline, and causes big trouble, clan internal private rules handling won’t convince other factions in the group, then Wu Fei has to use public law to crack a major case to handle it.
Xuan Chong summarizes: In the feudal era doing big things, one must control one’s own family members; in outsiders’ eyes, nepotism is just interest exchange with one’s own family side. Li the paperhanger was limited by historical limitations, just so constrained.
Li the Great paperhanger’s knife wasn’t sharp enough, couldn’t suppress the foreign merchants, inevitably letting his feudal structure be infiltrated by foreign merchants into a comprador group.
But Wu Xiao Que’s current “gold brick merchants” under him aren’t so powerful, unable to involve themselves in the core decision-making power within the Wu Family military group.
Modern history textbooks comparing the Foreign Affairs Movement and the Meiji Restoration said that transitioning from a feudal system to industrial capitalism also certainly requires sufficient independence.
Wu Fei wants his Wu Family disciples to currently become a rank group benefiting from military merit, not mixing with commercial oligarchs now.
Now the Wu Family’s core competitiveness is the military system; if they can’t align with their core bases on food expenses, then just wait for collapse.
Over in Tianchi City, what Wu Hanluan told Wu Hengyu, “Wu Fei is busy with important matters,” was exactly busy with this matter.
When Wu Fei was preparing to leave, he received a secret box sent by Wu Hanluan. Wu Fei opened it and saw a roster. After reading this roster, Wu Fei sighed and slowly said: “Still have to make a trip to the north.”
The roster Wu Hanluan sent was the list of Wu Family people in the Wu Family Army Northern Army group. Wu Fei understood his intent.
Obviously, Wu Family people in the Northern Army currently haven’t earned any merit; after all, the talents Wu Hengyu recruited from poor family clans were really too many, making Wu Hengyu’s own clansmen appear very useless in the military camp.
So Wu Hanluan wanted to drag the family’s true “talents” to the north for a spin.
Obviously, once Wu Fei is summoned over, Wu Hanluan will assign these Wu Family disciples on the list to him, letting these groups follow Wu Fei to earn some merit, making the discourse power in the Northern Army more balanced.
Wu Fei accepted this list, meaning he was still prepared to go, despite how much he didn’t want to get involved.
…System: Only want to do half a test paper, don’t want to flip the page?…
Perspective to the north; at this time, the bandits haven’t completely disappeared. After Da Yao’s army’s first round of suppression, the remnant bandit remnants soon began to grow strong again.
One by one mountain tops hung with large flags pieced together from unknown cloth, claiming kings outside the prefecture and county. Even the protection fees from the mountains below they started calling “tribute.”
The essence of this upheaval is actually the expansion of the local powerful clan stratum under Da Yao’s ritual system.
These expanded families’ real population far exceeds the quotas given by Da Yao’s ritual system; large numbers of hidden branch clans gathered on local land. Rather than calling it a bandit chaos, it’s better to say that as Da Yao’s ritual law’s deterrent power declines, these local powerful clans flip out the power hidden underwater, starting a round of battle royale!
The just-passed first wave was clearing out the truly small smallholder self-farming farmer forces; these without clans, or excluded by clans, small families that had just proliferated one or two generations, were eliminated in the first wave of chaos.
After these people had their land seized, either taken as powerful clan slaves, or fled as refugees; sure enough, the Wu Family Army’s southern reclamation took in a large batch.
Now it’s the second wave; after individual operators are eliminated, it’s the “greenwood good fellows” supported by some large-scale powerful clans.
And these gathered good fellows have two choices: choice one, tear faces and turn hostile to battle royale each other; choice two, ally up to play a big one, not only dragging themselves into the chaos, but also pressing those family direct line members who always arrange for them onto the gambling table.
In Da Yao’s north, in Jiuyang Commandery, such a thing has already happened. Jiuyang Mountain, a “replace heaven to act righteous” large flag was raised, then in the gathering hall, each great chieftain sat in a chair, together drank blood wine.
This “alliance meeting” is properly the ancient vassal lords’ “vassal alliance,” needing to be conducted under the joint witness of the five parties “heaven earth man god ghost,” a series of covenanting, one of which is to jointly drip blood then drink wine. Hence also called “blood alliance.”
This set evolved in the countryside into a very common beggar version: a group of rural men chop chicken head, drip chicken blood into wine, swear brotherhood.
And at this time here, between bandit leaders, each force has several hundred men under them, the largest gathering around a thousand howling. (Not that they don’t want to continue gathering, but without military strategist inheritance, managing over a thousand is already the limit.)
These giant bandits now swear blood alliance, not using chop chicken head; on their desks, eight Confucian scholars’ heads are placed on the desk. The Confucian scholars’ dead unclosed eyes’ heads drip blood, falling into the alcohol, then drunk together by the thugs.
Among them the topmost Confucian scholar was very famous; he came to this mountain to persuade the bandits to lay down their sabers, imitating a certain sage from a thousand years ago persuading a grave robber who could gather over ten thousand; that grave robber was noble-born, knew military strategist strategies. Because his actions were unrighteous, his original “young lord air” was thoroughly criticized by the Confucian School. Got a nice beautiful tale.
However, the grave robber a thousand years ago was young lord-born, but the current thugs are not.
Blessed by heaven and earth supernatural power’s various “opportunities,” the bandit leaders one by one have big shoulders thick waists, eyes like tiger or cow, skin red or indigo, one by one demon states, in fact they really are demons.
The Confucian scholars’ righteous principle preaching obviously used the wrong target, result is placed on the desk as pledge of allegiance.
After drinking the alcohol, the burly man codenamed “Dai Tanyue” wiped the alcohol stains from his mouth with his sleeve, boldly said: “Everyone, before this, we were strands of thread one by one; now we’ve twisted together.”
Then the various great chieftains haha laughed. Echoing in agreement: “Jiuyang Commandery now is our greenwood good fellows’ under heaven; even if the emperor old man comes, he has to dismount!”
This “Dai Tanyue” originally was a ground-drilling grave robber; a few months ago joined a small thug group with his partner “Chang Wangri.” At that time he and “Chang Wangri” joined the team that broke into the great manor; the original great chieftain had no knowledge, thought after gaining dragon qi he could continue expanding, went to attack another village where the Liu Family ancestral manor was, result encountered the imperial court army returning to local great tide; when they were raiding homes, bumped into regular army’s armored soldiers, soon scattered to ashes.
He and Chang Wangri, at that time in the thugs on the verge of disbanding, through feng shui technique, calculated east great luck, then led everyone to Jiuyang Commandery, Jiuyang Mountain to become bandits; sure enough suddenly grew strong again. He self-titled “Wasteland Great King.”
As for Chang Wangri?
As an “out family member,” he’s not suited to be thief leader, too improper. He has to fiddle with compass and fly whisk, be “great priest” in the mountain stronghold; the mountain thief leader has to wield big saber supervising the battle.
But this doesn’t mean the “Daoist Priest’s” influence is weak. The empty chair to the mountain king’s left is “Chang Wangri’s,” and the alcohol and meat placed on the table before this chair are not lacking. Of course after the banquet ends, this alcohol and meat will mysteriously be eaten and drunk bit by bit.
No one dared to steal the alcohol and meat in front of Chang Wangri’s table. Once, a lackey didn’t know better and stole a piece, resulting in half his teeth falling out the next day. He was forced to kneel before the Daoist Priest, bitterly begging, “Grandpa, spare my life. I dare not do it again.”
However, now the Chang Wangri Daoist Priest, who was greatly revered in the mountain stronghold, was kneeling before another Daoist Priest like a Daoist Boy. This was the “Xian” Daoist Priest who had just escaped from Wu Hanluan’s camp.
Xian Daoist Priest leisurely floated his fly whisk onto the back of this nominal disciple. Beneath the Daoist robe on Chang Wangri Daoist Priest’s back, it was as if there were mouths breathing greedily. With the whipping of the fly whisk, these terrifying things were soothed.
Xian: “Old Six, give me the metal compass.”
Chang Wangri Daoist Priest, called “Old Six,” immediately crawled up and said, “Ancestral Master, that magic tool has been getting more and more~”
He opened his mouth, suddenly forgetting how to describe it. While he was dazed, the compass had already fallen from his embrace.
Xian Daoist Priest beckoned slightly, and the compass flew into his hand. The original hexagram in the compass turned into densely packed eyes—some mocking, some eerie, undergoing myriad changes. An ordinary person who glanced at it would surely fall into madness and dementia.
Xian Daoist Priest smiled faintly, his forehead splitting open to reveal that third eye. Under this eye’s gaze, the variously expressive small eyes on the compass immediately froze in fear, then collectively trembled and closed timidly. The compass returned to stability.
Xian Daoist Priest fiddled with the compass, and with the crisp sound of metal turning, it seemed as if everything was normal.
Xian Daoist Priest then whipped “Old Six” with the fly whisk and lightly called, “Foolish child, wake up.”
Only then did Chang Wangri, whose mind had been seized by ghosts and spirits, realize his foolish drooling state.
After completing the intimidation and reward of his subordinate, Xian Daoist Priest said: “Old Six, you did very well spreading the Dao last year.”
Chang Wangri: “It should be, Teacher. For the prosperity of our Dao, this disciple has been expanding the followers day and night!”
However, Xian Daoist Priest shook his head: “The followers you’ve expanded are numerous indeed, but most are rustic villagers. You need to pull in a few more disciples from prestigious clans. The Great Tribulation of Xuanhuang is imminent; you must not slack off.”
Although the last sentence was mild, “Old Six,” kneeling on the ground, habitually curled up his entire body.
Then he stammered, “The Confucian School now advocates self-cultivation, and the children of high clans are all shut away studying sage books.”
However, before he finished, Xian Daoist Priest kicked him away: “They study sage books? Can’t you make them unable to study? Your master granted you a magic tool to command heroes and dominate all directions, yet when asked to do a little thing, you make so many excuses. Do you think your days with hands and feet are too comfortable?”
Chang Wangri immediately kowtowed and begged for mercy. He realized that his “evil master” had a bad temper. He didn’t dare to provoke him, after all, he had personally seen that fat junior brother who followed him turn into a pig with bound trotters after being affixed with talisman paper. And he also had the corresponding transformation talisman paper.
When he looked up again, Xian Daoist Priest had left, but a Daoist crown was left in place. At this time, a message came from the Daoist crown: “This crown can summon wind and thunder to aid in battle. You lot wear it, and you can break into this powerful clan’s household.”
Chang Wangri’s eyes lit up, thanking profusely for the new magic tool. But after putting on the crown, he suddenly found he couldn’t take it off. He panicked immediately.
At this moment, Xian Daoist Priest’s voice came again, this time full of teasing: “If you disappoint your master again, this crown can draw nine heavens thunder for your initiation.”
Chang Wangri: “Ah?!” — Then he hurriedly kowtowed and begged for mercy.
……
Due to the backlash suffered earlier at Wu Hanluan’s place, Xian Daoist Priest had barely muddled through this period, following his visible time points to find an opportunity to escape Wu Hanluan.
Now, after escaping, he looked back at the locked Southern Border Wu Family. Clearly, the counting tallies showed boundless prospects, but none of the Wu Family’s three people had been taken by him.
That Wu Hanluan, ever since revealing the Golden Dou, Xian Daoist Priest knew this guy was a stone in the latrine pit—both smelly and hard—and had long been preempted by others.
As for Wu Hengyu? He was currently surrounded by the auspicious qi of a “killing star,” making it hard to approach.
As for that Wu Fei in the south, previously thought the weakest, he had unexpectedly grown stronger these years. But! Stubborn and ignorant under the Great Dao’s repeated favors, Xian Daoist Priest: truly found it strange.
He opened his forehead and began inquiring about the situation from the “Eye of the Past.” He hadn’t received information from Qian Cuo for a long time.
……
In the room, San Gu, who was combing her hair, paused, dismissed her attendants, and faced the mirror, opening her eyes.
Myriad Changes: “Have you taken him down there?”
San Gu: “What do you mean taken down or not.”
Myriad Changes: “If you can’t take him down, I’ll give you some more changes.”
A smile appeared on San Gu’s face: “What do you want to do?”
Myriad Changes: “You marry him as a concubine, I’ll arrange his principal wife for him, alright?”
San Gu’s smile bloomed even more: “Sure.”
After one incense stick, the conversation ended, and Myriad Changes left.
San Gu’s expression paused, her pupils dilated, staring at that wisp of golden light at the edge of her vision. The golden light, as usual, covered and quickly deleted her memory. Before fainting, San Gu made a little report to this system: “Can’t let the Eye of the Future interfere, otherwise that task can’t be completed.”
Golden task issuer: “You need to complete the task faster.”
San Gu: “But him?”
However, before she could speak, the dizziness from the memory correction made her pass out.
