Longzang

Chapter 81 They will surely come from afar to join us.

After treating their wounds and eating something, it was already late at night.

Fang Hetong was exhausted and went to bed early. His ability to lead three hundred militiamen with the imposing presence of a thousand elite soldiers today was entirely due to the enhancement provided by the Merit-Building Manual. Enhancing three hundred men was extremely taxing, and Fang Hetong had quickly depleted most of his magical power. Fortunately, Li Zhi had Qi-nourishing pills from the Four Saints Academy. Both the Four Saints Academy and the White Maple Academy were Confucian academies, and their pills were exceptionally effective. After taking one, Fang Hetong not only recovered his magical power but also saw some improvement in his hidden injuries. Although Fang Hetong's magical power had recovered, his primordial spirit was still fatigued, so he needed to rest.

The night was still long. Li Zhi meditated and cultivated himself, while Wei Yuan read under the lamp, comparing the day's battle with the contents of the book.

As the saying goes, "What you learn from books is never enough." After today's bloody battles with the Northern Liao, Wei Yuan has finally gained a true understanding of the Northern Liao and has new insights into the descriptions of them in the book. Now is the time to take advantage of this fresh experience and deepen his understanding.

The next day, at the crack of dawn, Li Zhi led the bodies of his personal guards back to Lin County to send them back to Southern Qi. Li Zhi valued his men highly; he was even slashed while trying to retrieve the bodies. Only six bodies were recovered; the rest had to remain in Liaodong. If a body remained in Liaodong for more than a day, it was essentially lost. The creatures of Liaodong were fierce; for one thing, even the Liao horses were carnivorous.

All morning, Wei Yuan and Fang Hetong were building city defenses and digging more traps. While working, Wei Yuan listened to Fang Hetong recount the current situation and the progress of the war, finding it very rewarding. Although Fang Hetong was down on his luck, nearing forty and still without a single official position, he was skilled in farming, teaching, and training troops, and his analysis of the current situation was incisive and insightful.

He could analyze the political situation and officialdom clearly and understood the principles, but he could never put them into practice. He was easily moved by injustice, just like how he wrote that letter even though he knew he couldn't bring down General Liao. It can only be said that it was his personality that made him unsuitable for being an official.

For the past ten years, Wei Yuan had been secluded in the Taichu Palace, his understanding of the current situation limited to books. It was only through this in-depth conversation with Fang Hetong that he learned the origins of many of the people's hardships.

At noon, the aroma of food began to waft through the air. Li Zhi had left behind many arrows and weapons, as well as all the military rations. Now, the men of Shayang Village not only had meat soup, but also refined rice and flatbread mixed with spirit rice and spirit bark powder. If they ate this kind of ration for a month, even the weakest men would become burly giants. However, when these men received their food, they always hid a little, hoping to save more to send to their wives and daughters in the two villages behind them. Wei Yuan repeatedly assured them that the rations were plentiful, but to no avail.

At lunch, Wei Yuan asked Fang Hetong if he was willing to serve in the Southern Qi government, which was essentially to follow Li Zhi. Wei Yuan knew that Li Zhi always liked to recruit talented people, and if he could follow Li Zhi, Fang Hetong's skills would finally have a place to be put to use.

At Sun Chaoen's banquet, even Wei Yuan could tell that Fang Hetong's nature was not suited for officialdom, and that it would be more suitable for him to find a wise ruler to be his advisor.

Fang Hetong hesitated and didn't speak, just eating in silence.

Wei Yuan further advised, “The sages spoke of three things that lead to immortality: establishing virtue, establishing merit, and establishing words. Brother Fang, if you want to establish virtue, you first need a position where you can fully utilize your talents. I think Magistrate Sun is right about this. Since you also have a heart to help the world and the people, what difference is there between working for the people in Southern Qi and working in Western Jin? Once you have established many merits, you will naturally be praised by the world, and then establishing virtue will be a natural outcome.”

Fang Hetong replied, “Brother, don’t you plan to make a name for yourself? I’ve heard that expanding territory is a tradition of the Taichu Palace. You will soon reach the Dao Foundation stage. If you share this ambition, I will do my utmost to assist you!”

"Huh? Me?" Wei Yuan was taken aback, then shook his head and said, "I don't have any great ambitions. I just want to cultivate as quickly as possible and earn more immortal silver. In the future, when I go out to expand the territory, I will probably assist my sect elders and collect my share of the money."

Fang Hetong was not disappointed, but said, "I used to be just like you, only wanting to read more books, farm in my spare time, take care of my wife and children, and live a peaceful life. But a few years ago, when the Liao barbarians attacked, I realized that it was a luxury to live a peaceful life in a chaotic world. So I often think, what is the purpose of us scholars reading so many principles, and what is the purpose of cultivating ourselves every day to achieve great power?"

Upon hearing this, Wei Yuan suddenly recalled the words spoken by the Taoist priest when he first entered the Taichu Palace, when he recounted the life of the patriarch and the origin of the Taichu Palace: "The reason why the cultivators of the Taichu Palace cultivate supernatural powers is to expand the territory, develop the world, and fight for more land for our human race to thrive!"

These words resonated deeply, striking a significant blow to Wei Yuan's young mind at the time. However, after ten years of arduous cultivation, he gradually forgot about them. Hearing Fang Hetong's words now, Wei Yuan couldn't help but recall his state of mind back then.

Fang Hetong looked up at the sky and said slowly, "As the ancients said: 'To establish a heart for heaven and earth, to establish a destiny for the people, to continue the lost learning of the past sages, and to usher in an era of peace for all generations!' This is the meaning of studying, and the 'Four Sages' in the name of the Immortal Sect's Four Sages Academy comes from this. However, my brother is right; to establish virtue, one must first have a position. After defeating the Liao barbarians, if General Li is willing to recruit me, I will serve him." "That's good!" Wei Yuan was genuinely happy. Fang Hetong's talents could not be buried forever in the small Quyang County.

Fang Hetong looked at Wei Yuan and said, "Whenever my brother comes to the idea of ​​expanding our territory, I will come to serve you no matter what position I hold!"

"Huh? Isn't Li Zhi's place good? Before he left, he told me that if you went there, you would be the chief strategist." Wei Yuan was a little confused.

"General Li comes from a distinguished family, possesses great potential, and has the ambition of a king. Although he is young now, he has already shown his talent and will surely become a great man in the future."

Wei Yuan was surprised that Fang Hetong had such a high opinion of Li Zhi, and was even more puzzled: "If Brother Li can achieve the greatness of becoming a king, wouldn't that be even better? Then Brother Fang will be a minister who follows the dragon."

Fang Hetong shook his head: "General Li is still young, gentle and humble, willing to recruit talented people, and able to listen to honest advice even if it is unpleasant. It will be different when he achieves great success. The heart of a king is not always good for his subjects, nor necessarily for the people. If I encounter anything I cannot stand in the future, I will most likely speak frankly and honestly. General Li can tolerate me now, but that may not be the case then."

At this point, perhaps realizing the topic was getting a bit heavy, Fang Hetong laughed and said, "Besides, if one day I, Fang, become too powerful and overshadow the emperor, General Li might not be able to let me retire to my hometown."

Wei Yuan laughed and said, "Then you still want to come to me? Li Zhi can't tolerate you, but do you think I can? Let me tell you the truth, I, Wei, can wipe out heads with a single stroke of my butcher's knife!"

Fang Hetong snorted, unconvinced: "Given your temperament, even if I publicly berated you in court, you'd only give me a beating out of consideration for our past relationship. But I have a third article to draw upon; I'm not necessarily afraid of a fight!"

Wei Yuan didn't like hearing this: "Don't even mention the third article, even if you have thirty more, I can still suppress you! Let me put it this way, if my Dao Foundation is only at the Heavenly Rank in the future, I won't be able to forgive myself!"

Fang Hetong laughed heartily, taking it as Wei Yuan bragging. After the boasting, the two actually grew closer.

However, Wei Yuan's last sentence was not an exaggeration. He was currently burdened with tens of millions of debts. If his Dao Foundation only reached the Heavenly Rank, he would have no hope of repaying his debts in this lifetime. Whether Wei Yuan forgave himself or not, Zhang Sheng would take action to clean house.

After chatting and laughing for a while, the gloom dissipated considerably. Suddenly, a formation plate in Wei Yuan's arms heated up and vibrated. Wei Yuan stood up abruptly and immediately took out the formation plate.

"What happened?" Fang Hetong asked.

Wei Yuan said in a deep voice, "Someone has requested reinforcements!"

A point of light on the array plate kept flashing. Wei Yuan scanned it with his divine sense and read the information inside: A powerful enemy is attacking. Hold your ground and wait for reinforcements! Yu Fei, Taichu Palace, Pinghe County.

(End of this chapter)