Heirs of the Seven Swords of the Qin Dynasty

He has many flaws, but he is relatively tolerant towards his teammates - he will vent his anger on others, be dissatisfied, and curse at others, but he rarely hits his teammates.

So even though he was very dissatisfied with Young Master Siming's performance just now, he just glared at them without any intention of punishing them.

The eldest son Siming was also used to it, and when he saw Xinghun leaving, they all went their separate ways.

But tonight's turmoil is not over yet.

Tianming and the others ran away and went about their business, but Xinghun Yueshen still had other troubles to deal with.

The mirage caused such a big commotion, and it was such a special commotion, it was impossible for Ying Zheng not to take action.

They also had to find a way to fool Ying Zheng.

Fortunately, this is not difficult.

Ying Zheng himself is not easy to fool, but in this farce tonight, the most eye-catching thing is precisely the golden dragon.

The Yin-Yang School is very good at making excuses for such mysterious things, and the Moon Goddess is especially good at it.

She has been fooling Ying Zheng for many years.

………………

The next morning, Ying Zheng summoned the Moon Goddess as expected, and was fooled by the Moon Goddess with the strange vision of the Seven Generals of the Blue Dragon appearing.

Ying Zheng may not believe it, but since the Moon Goddess gave a "reasonable" explanation, he couldn't find fault with it.

The emperor may be unreasonable, but the dragon last night was not a reasonable thing at all. It is pointless to argue about this topic.

After sending the Moon Goddess away, Ying Zheng immediately called Zhang Han.

"Go and inform the Imperial Master that the Mirage is about to set sail, and I intend to board the ship for inspection."

The implication is to ask Gu Xun whether he wants to join in.

Zhang Han, who was standing below, raised his hand to salute, then hesitantly responded, "Your Majesty, the whereabouts of the Imperial Master are unknown, and I don't know the details either."

"The national teacher is missing? When did it happen?" Ying Zheng's voice fluctuated and he immediately asked.

"Your Majesty, I just discovered it today. I currently speculate that the Imperial Master may have left yesterday afternoon or evening."

"He's not in Songhai anymore?"

"Your Majesty, at present, it seems that the Imperial Master has most likely left Sanghai, and his exact whereabouts are unknown."

Although Gu Xun did not disappear for long, considering that Gu Xun's movements had been almost transparent to everyone since he came to Sanghai, Zhang Han still concluded that he had left.

Of course, his judgment was correct.

After a moment of silence, Ying Zheng gave a calm order, "Pay more attention to the whereabouts of the Imperial Master, and report any news promptly."

"I obey your command." Zhang Han naturally had no choice but to obey the order.

However, Zhang Han had no control over whether he could give the emperor a satisfactory reply.

Gu Xun's whereabouts can only be known when he wants others to know, otherwise it is useless to investigate.

………………

At the Mohist stronghold outside the city, Tianming and the other two also rushed back exhausted.

After not sleeping all night and working on the mirage, the three men looked extremely haggard.

They had originally planned to rush back to make some noise, but when they really got back, the three of them just wanted to take a nap first.

It’s not that the three of them are so weak that they can’t stand staying up all night, but they just feel there’s no need to endure it.

The issue of the Book Burning Order is certainly urgent, but it is not urgent to the point where it is a matter of urgency.

It’s never too late to conserve your energy before working, just as sharpening the knife does not delay the chopping of wood.

Unfortunately, the three of them wanted to sleep, but Master Ban and the others couldn't let them lie down like that. When they knew they were back, they immediately dragged them over.

The Suzaku pilot who had returned earlier told them part of what happened last night, but that guy didn't know much, especially not the key parts. They had to find the real person involved to explain it clearly.

After the three of them had explained the matter one by one, they were all sleepy and almost fell asleep, but the people who listened to them all had gloomy faces and were so angry that they were about to burst out of their heads.

Even Master Ban couldn't help getting angry, slamming the table and scolding Dao Zhi:
"Nonsense! It's just nonsense!"

"These kids are ignorant, aren't you ignorant too!?"

Dao Zhi, who was originally a little confused, suddenly woke up. Facing Master Ban's accusations, he could only force an awkward smile and had nothing to say.

Tianming saw this and quickly took the responsibility on himself, "This is all our choice. It has nothing to do with Daozhi. He just couldn't get the better of us."

Master Ban immediately glared at him, "I haven't said anything about you yet!"

"I understand that you want to save people, but is the situation really so urgent that there is no time to waste and you must act right now?"

"Why don't you come back and discuss it first?"

"This opportunity is rare. It's not easy to take an unconscious person to a mirage." Tianming defended himself.

"No matter how urgent it is, let one of them come back alone. How much time will it take for Dao Zhi to come back alone?"

"I specially gave you a mechanical Suzaku. It takes at most half an hour to go back and forth. Can't you wait for this little bit of time?"

Dao Zhi hung his head, pretending not to hear the first half of Master Ban's words - he had indeed had this thought, but as soon as he left at dawn, the others would definitely take action immediately.

He might as well stay and help, one more person means more strength.

But there is no point in explaining these now, so it is better to shut up.

Tianming responded helplessly, "I said before, the reason I took the risk is because asking for help is useless!"

"It's useless even if it doesn't take even a stick of incense to delay it!"

"Will it be any use if more people go to Mirage?"

"Since you know the danger, you should exercise restraint!" Gao Jianli took over the conversation and criticized.

"I said it's not that I can't control myself, I just can't help it." Tianming responded unconvinced, "We can't beat them with more people, we can't win!"

"That's better than you youngsters taking risks." Gao Jianli pointed out clearly, "Maybe even if we all take action, we can't deal with the worst situation, but if the situation doesn't get to that point, it will still be useful."

"You are very lucky this time. Only Xinghun took action. If you had informed us and had one or two more experts, you would have been almost certain to escape."

"Instead of the current situation, if that Shushan boy hadn't suddenly woken up and defeated Xinghun with a surprise attack, how many of you do you think would have been able to escape?"

Gao Jianli's words were very clear.

Perhaps Tianming was really faced with a dilemma of being stuck between two ends, and could only do it reluctantly.

But even if it is difficult, we must do our best within our ability.

If Tianming had informed the Mohist School and Gao Jianli and the others had sent reinforcements, they would not have been so embarrassed when facing Xinghun and the eldest son Siming, and they would have been able to escape safely without the need for Yu Ziqi to take action.

Although there is no difference in the final result, they are fundamentally different when you look into it. The latter is more stable and safer.

Tianming opened his mouth, but found that he had nothing to refute, so he shut up. Master Ban saw his depressed look, sighed and said earnestly, "Don't act on your own next time... If you had informed us before taking risks, I wouldn't be so angry."

"Think about it yourself. If you do this, even if something happens to you, we won't know anything about it. Is that okay?"

"Ah..."

Tianming and the other two all hung their heads and nodded in sync, expressing their agreement with Master Ban's words and their reflection on their own behavior.

As for how much sincerity there is... I can only say don't take it too seriously.

Master Ban could only sigh again.

To be honest, no matter how angry they are, all they can do is scold and educate them. They can't do anything else and they can't control anything else.

Tianming is not big, but he is not small either. In addition, he has a special status, so Master Ban and others cannot use the method of beating him to make him a filial son.

Besides, strictly speaking, they are not Tianming's guardians, so it is not their turn to use sticks.

Then again, with Tianming's current strength, it's not easy to use a stick on him.

………………

As time went on, news of the book burning order gradually spread throughout the empire.

Due to the extreme reactions of the various schools of thought, the news spread very quickly. In just two days, it had basically spread throughout the Qi, Lu, Jing and Chu regions, not to mention Guanzhong.

So far, the news of the book burning order has not spread to Bashu, Longxi, Beidi, and the Nanling area where the war is going on.

As everyone expected, the book burning order caused a nationwide uproar, but... it wasn't actually that serious.

For the common people, no matter how outrageous the book burning was, it had nothing to do with their immediate food, clothing, housing and transportation, and the harm it caused to them was less than an additional corvee.

The people in the Qi and Lu regions probably had the most intense reaction. This is the stronghold of Confucianism and the place with the strongest Confucian atmosphere.

At the same time, because Qi had developed commerce in the past and had not suffered a real war to destroy the country, the people were relatively wealthy and stable, and more people had the spare time to study.

However, no matter how intense the people's reaction was, it was nothing more than a few complaints. As an orthodox feudal centralized state, the people of the empire had no channels to complain about officials or the court.

The real resistance came from the numerous Confucian scholars.

In the past two days, they have tried to put pressure on the empire and the emperor through various channels to prevent the complete implementation of the book burning order.

In terms of effectiveness, their pressure may not be more useful than people's complaints, but it has additional effects.

The emperor must be very annoyed.

In the process, Xiaoshengxianzhuang, which had initially resisted the empire and even had a direct conflict with Ying Zheng, fell into a mysterious silence.

They did not surrender to the empire, but they also did not try to unite with other Confucian factions to obstruct the book burning order.

In the eyes of many people, it is a dilemma - it is unwilling to side with the empire for the sake of face, but it does not have the courage to resist the empire.

For the sake of Xiaoshengxianzhuang's reputation and the prestige of Confucianism, Fu Nian did not bow to the empire in the end, but the result did not seem to be very good.

If loyalty is not absolute, it is absolutely disloyal.

The Confucians could not do anything to the empire and the emperor for the time being, so many people began to target Xiaoshengxianzhuang and fiercely criticized the head of the village, Fu Nian.

Generally speaking, Sanghai City is in a state of chaos now.

Amidst the chaos, Ying Zheng decided to inspect the mirage - this was his first and only inspection of the mirage.

Within three days of his inspection, the Mirage would sail.

Songhai raised the alert level, but not to the same level as before.

As for the various schools of thought, just as Gao Jianli had expected, none of them were able to take action.

Even other anti-Qin forces that did not care about the Book Burning Order were very busy at this time - busy taking the opportunity to disrupt the empire and accumulate strength for their own side.

They wanted to take this opportunity to further stir up the dissatisfaction of the people in various places towards the empire, and at the same time absorb local forces that were useful to them and were dissatisfied with the book burning order.

The empire was huge. It had a central court, officials serving in the central court, local governments, officials serving in local governments, powerful lords in the central government, and wealthy gentry and elders in local areas.

Only a small number of people can profit from the Book Burning Order or will not suffer losses from it. The other people who are dissatisfied with the Book Burning Order and are not simply ordinary people who can be slaughtered at will are the ones they want to win over.

This type of people will not, nor dare to, openly oppose the empire's policies at the first opportunity, but they will always vent their dissatisfaction, and they will always find ways to protect their own interests.

The best way is to quietly unite with anti-Qin forces.

If the anti-Qin forces fail, they can still find ways to protect themselves. If the anti-Qin forces succeed, they can smoothly enjoy the fruits of their interests.

The reason why many anti-Qin forces were able to remain at large despite the empire's wanted list was, on the one hand, because of the local government's lip service to the central court, on the other hand, because of the self-collapse of the central court's censor system, and partly because of the protection of local forces.

Some are protected by local officials, some are assisted by local tyrants, and some are simply both.

So in the final analysis, although Ying Zheng's book burning order did not harm the direct interests of ordinary people, it still further shook the foundation of the empire, and it could even be said that it was more serious than harming the people.

After all, the people of this era...are more like tools used by ambitious people.

They may be destructive, but they lack execution.

And Ying Zheng is stimulating the birth of more ambitious people.

………………

Another two days passed, and Mirage set sail safely with Ying Zheng's personal farewell. Everything went incredibly smoothly.

There were people causing trouble during this period, but under the double attack of the Shadow Secret Guards and Luowang, as well as the final protection of the Yin-Yang Family, all of them returned in vain, and were even taught a lesson by the Empire.

Standing on the coastal cliff on the outskirts of Sanghai City, facing the sun at dawn and looking out at the huge ships slowly sailing away from the port of Sanghai, there was a sense of unreality.

He had always felt that he could not leave the ship full of secrets, and that he would definitely go out to sea with it, but he did not expect... it would just leave like that! ?

How could it just leave like this?
Tianming was full of doubts, but he was just puzzled by it and did not want to get on the boat.

Standing next to him were Shao Yu and Shi Lan.

They both felt deeply moved about Mirage's departure.

Needless to say, Shi Lan's eyes were full of regret and sadness.

Once the mirage opens, it means that the sacred tree of Mount Shu has completely said goodbye to it.

Maybe the ship will come back one day, but how long will it take?

After returning, will the sacred Fusang tree still be there? If so, will it be safe and sound?

Everything is unknown, and the unknown represents danger.

In fact, she wanted to get on board more than once in the past two days and stop Mirage from setting sail at all costs, but was dissuaded by Tianming and Shaoyu for various reasons.

As for Shao Yu, he felt much more relaxed about the Mirage Voyage, as if he suddenly breathed a sigh of relief.

He was very clear about the connections between Tianming Shilan and Mirage, and he would be worried as long as the ship did not leave.

Now that I'm gone, everything is fine. (End of this chapter)