Myths Begin From Boys' Gong

The general trend of the world is like the rolling Yellow River, once it starts, it cannot be stopped.

On the vast land of Tianyuan, countless heroes rose up and ambitious people fought each other, and Hebei Province was no exception.

After the Zhang family, a prominent clan, raised an army, they quickly amassed a large force, conquered cities and territories, and established government offices. Although the timing was somewhat unfavorable, the Zhang family had capable people who handled everything in an orderly manner. In addition, the Zhang family had deep roots in Hebei Province, and in a short period of time, they really became a force to be reckoned with.

The current head of the Zhang family calls himself General Qingtian. He has established his own government and military headquarters, recruited talented individuals, and gathered capable people. His influence extends throughout Hebei Province and he has even begun to venture into other regions, displaying a powerful and unstoppable momentum.

However, the Zhang family's rebellion quickly attracted the attention of the Tianyuan Dynasty. The army arrived in ten days, with General Hengshan as the commander-in-chief, to quell the rebellion. In an instant, the vast Hebei Province became a battlefield of life and death, where countless lives were intertwined.

Chaos, slaughter, the growth of ambition, the loss of goodness, and weakness becoming the original sin constitute the main theme of the vast Hebei Province.

The passing of bandits is like a comb, and the passing of soldiers is like a grate.

Meng Zhao, disguised, quietly joined the Zhang family, demonstrated a certain level of martial prowess, and became a minor leader of the Zhang family's militia.

During his infiltration of the Zhang family, he collected a constant stream of information, which was then processed and developed to a certain extent by his mysterious organization.

For example, the Zhang family's various experts, resources, and especially their important medicinal gardens suffered various attacks and plundering within just two months, which led to them being at a disadvantage in the struggle against the imperial army that was suppressing the rebellion.

For the imperial army, suppressing the Zhang family rebellion was not a difficult task. In the process, the army gained far more than it lost, whether it was wealth, martial arts skills, or anything else.

The two sides engaged in a tug-of-war, fighting more than twenty major and minor battles in just six months.

Meng Zhao used the Three-Part Returning Origin Qi as a foundation to create a cold-type internal energy cultivation method, which, combined with the Heavenly Frost Fist, created a considerable momentum. By leveraging the Zhang family as a hen, he laid many eggs for himself and recruited a considerable number of experts.

Subduing powerful experts is not as difficult as one might imagine in the Tianyuan Land.

Firstly, it requires voluntariness. Different internal cultivation methods require different secret medicines to support cultivation. Secret medicines are resources. Possessing secret medicines means possessing the foundation to subdue martial artists. Meng Zhao certainly does not lack these.

Especially under Yan Congke's leadership, during the raid on Zhang's medicinal garden, he captured many of the garden's managers and began planting medicinal herbs and developing his own medicinal garden, which eventually grew to a considerable scale.

Secondly, martial artists are generally straightforward, or have a strong sense of right and wrong, and they respect the strong.

When Meng Zhao's martial arts skills far surpassed those of others, he naturally became the leader. With the help of his political skills, winning people's hearts was a natural process that didn't take much time at all.

Thirdly, and most importantly, Meng Zhao can give these people what they want.

Most of those who were persuaded by the Zhang family to rebel were people who were dissatisfied with the status quo and had strong motivation.

They each had their own desires: wealth, power, authority, sex, and so on.

Meng Zhaoguang's use of force to suppress them is not enough; he also needs to meet their needs, but not all at once. He needs to meet them little by little, in stages and at different levels, so as to completely tame them.

Thus, this was no challenge for Meng Zhao; on the contrary, he thrived in it, treating the operation as a valuable learning experience.

Gradually, as he met more people and reflected more, Meng Zhao could often see through people's hearts with just a glance.

This is different from the ability of the primordial spirit in the land of China to see into people's hearts and even recall memories; that is a great supernatural power, an extraordinary martial art.

Now, it has nothing to do with supernatural powers; it's simply a skill honed through personal talent, insight, experience, and knowledge. The Zhang family fought tooth and nail against the imperial army, their resources rapidly depleted, and they gradually suffered more defeats than victories.

Meng Zhao changed his name and surname, and with the help of the Zhang family as a big stage, he developed his own power and was quite successful.

During this period, in order to better exploit the Zhang family, Meng Zhao even disguised himself as an assassin several times, infiltrating the imperial army to gather intelligence and assassinate key military officials, thus relieving the pressure on the Zhang family.

It's not that I have any goodwill towards the Zhang family; it's just that I haven't taken enough advantage of them and I don't want the Zhang family to fall too quickly.

The Zhang family was truly disappointing. The imperial court didn't even send a general; they only had a fourth-rank general named Hengshan, who was able to fight them with his own troops and even gain the upper hand, which shows how incompetent they were.

If it weren't for Meng Zhao's secret assistance, the Zhang family wouldn't have survived for more than half a year and would probably have been wiped out.

Essentially, the Zhang family's rebellion, initiated by scholars, failed after three years.

However, as Meng Zhao gradually gained a grasp of the Zhang family's secrets and resources, and emptied them out, the Zhang family's value to Meng Zhao greatly diminished. After making the necessary arrangements, Meng Zhao quietly left, taking a large number of his men with him, and they dispersed into the vast Hebei Province.

On the other hand, the army that was suppressing the rebellion failed to achieve any success for a long time and instead suffered heavy losses, which also displeased the imperial court, which dispatched another elite army to take over the army that was suppressing the rebellion.

This army is no ordinary force; it is called the Imperial Guard, the inner guard of the imperial palace. Each member is a martial arts expert with mastered internal strength, and a significant portion of them come from excellent family backgrounds.

The leader arrived and was one of the two commanders of the Imperial Guard. After grasping the overall situation, he took advantage of the Zhang family's lax mentality and launched a fierce attack on a rainy night, defeating the rebel army established by the Zhang family and completely turning the tide of the battle.

Seeing the defeat at the front and the inevitable loss of the situation, the Zhang family knew that if they did not quickly make arrangements for their retreat, they would be wiped out by the imperial army.

A powerful family like the Zhang family is no ordinary peasant uprising army; before taking action, they consider defeat before victory.

They had long ago arranged for their direct descendants to live in hiding and to control a large amount of the wealth and resources accumulated by the Zhang family.

In the future, these people will become like grass seeds buried underground. Once the fire is extinguished, they will surely take root, sprout, and be reborn.

However, none of Zhang's actions could escape the notice of Meng Zhao, who had long been targeting Zhang.

No sooner had the Zhang family arranged their escape routes than Meng Zhao sent people to cut them off, and plundered the Zhang family's last remaining resources, turning them into part of the mysterious organization he had created.

His methods are varied and ruthless, profound yet also delicate and ingenious.

Lu Xiang, who possessed some of the secrets, was also chilled to the bone.

Meng Zhao completely devoured the Zhang family, leaving them no room for maneuver.

But upon closer reflection, there's nothing to criticize.

The two sides had no special relationship to begin with, and Meng Zhao was willing to pay any price to achieve his goal.

It could even be said that after plundering the Zhang family's resources, Meng Zhao's power was far greater than that of the Zhang family in the past.

The question remains: when will Meng Zhao have the opportunity to raise an army? (End of Chapter)