Martial Arts World Assassin

Chapter 184 Special Relic
At the foot of Luding Mountain.

The stone door of the treasure cave has been opened.

The entrance to this cave is several feet high, but the tunnel inside is deep and long. Huang Sixi sent hundreds of royal guards to explore the way ahead, and it didn't seem crowded at all.

As the royal guards inserted torches into the stone wall to illuminate the dark environment in the cave and confirmed that the cave was safe, Huang Sixi also entered the treasure house accompanied by the generals.

These generals were headed by Hu Guinan.

Ever since Huang Sixi ascended the throne, the generals under his command began to pay attention to the order of hierarchy. Only Hu Guinan stood next to Huang Sixi, and the rest followed behind him, not daring to step forward.

Hu Guinan was the Governor-General of Liaodong and one of the cabinet ministers appointed by Huang Sixi.

At present, the imperial court basically follows the old system of the former Ming Dynasty, with Huang Sixi appointing the chief minister of the cabinet to assist in handling internal and external affairs.

The difference is that the Prime Minister of the Ming court was promoted through the imperial examination, and once he secured the position of Prime Minister, as long as he did not anger the emperor or be impeached by his colleagues, he could make decisions on his own and continue to serve as Prime Minister until he died of old age or illness.

Huang Sixi's cabinet ministers were not appointed through the imperial examination. After all, the new dynasty had just been established and the imperial examination had just begun. Even if Jinshi officials were selected, they would not be able to take on the important task of assisting the government without several years of experience.

Huang Sixi directly selected civil and military officials into the cabinet. There were four civil officials: Gu Yanwu, Huang Zongxi, Wang Fuzhi and Lu Liuzhong.

As early as when Huang Sixi started his rebellion in Kunming, these four people had joined Huang Sixi's army. Over the years, they worked diligently to stabilize the rear for Huang Sixi. Letting them join the cabinet was not only a reward for their merits. They were all great scholars of the time and leaders of the upright class. Choosing one of them as prime minister was also what everyone expected.

In addition, four military generals were selected by Huang Sixi into the cabinet, including Hu Guinan.

At the same time, Huang Sixi established a peculiar system for the cabinet, allowing eight cabinet ministers to take turns serving as prime minister. Each term of office was three years. After that, no matter what their political achievements were, they had to step down and let their colleagues take over.

Although this system did not conform to the rules of the previous Ming Dynasty, all eight cabinet members had the opportunity to become the prime minister. None of them raised any objection and they gladly accepted Huang Sixi's appointment.

In fact, they all understood Huang Sixi's intention. In the past, the cabinet ministers of the Ming court had been ostracizing each other for the position of the prime minister. Most of their thoughts were spent on how to defeat the prime minister, and very few of them had the energy to truly govern the world.

They thought that Huang Sixi let eight cabinet members take turns to serve as prime minister because he didn't want them to spend all day thinking about how to impeach and attack traitors.

After Huang Sixi ascended the throne, the first prime minister was Gu Yanwu, who was succeeded by Hu Guinan three years later. From then on, the positions would be taken alternately by one civil official and one military official.

Initially, Huang Sixi set the term of office for the Prime Minister to be five years, but Gu Yanwu, Hu Guinan, Huang Zongxi and others were too old, all over 60 years old, and they might die of illness before their turn came.

The eight people in the cabinet were all heroes who followed Huang Sixi to recover the Central Plains. In order to allow them all to take over the position of prime minister during their lifetime, Huang Sixi shortened their term of office to three years.

Of course, this term may be adjusted in the future, including the system of appointing the prime minister.

Huang Sixi is not a man who sticks to the old ways and insists on following a certain system. He will follow the development of the world situation and adjust various national policies in line with the times.

At present, letting the eight cabinet ministers take turns in power is the most appropriate arrangement for the current situation.

Hu Guinan is the next appointed prime minister, holding a high position of power and is qualified to stand beside Huang Sixi.

Hu Guinan's disciples Mu Jiansheng, Mu Jianping, Bai Hanfeng, Liu Yizhou and other former generals of the Mu Palace all followed behind Huang Sixi and Hu Guinan in the second row.

The generals following in the third row were all surrendered soldiers from Shenlong Island, including Lu Gaoxuan, Su Quan, Yin Jin, Zhang Danyue, Zhong Zhiling and Wugen Taoist.

Because Su Quan and his companions made great contributions in capturing the city of Yaxica, they were appointed to official positions by Huang Sixi after the city was captured. In the future, they will be stationed in the Far East and become the first batch of officials and generals to open up the Far East.

The ministers surrounded Huang Sixi and entered the treasure cave. They walked a hundred feet along the tunnel and stopped together.

Looking around at this moment, one can see that the cave is filled with densely packed stone boxes. These boxes look like coffins, but what is inside the boxes is not corpses, but melted gold and silver.

The ministers roughly counted and found that there were about a hundred coffins at the scene.

The hundreds of royal guards who entered the cave first dispersed, opened the coffins one by one, and counted the amount of gold and silver in the boxes.

After a while, he came to report: "Your Majesty, there are about 200,000 kilograms of gold and 800,000 kilograms of silver buried in the cave. No jade, agate or other jewelry was found. All the treasures are gold and silver."

The treasure of Luding Mountain was left by the Tartars. All the gold and silver were looted by the Tartars from the Central Plains. These Tartars had no ability to recognize jewels, they only recognized gold and silver, so when the treasure was buried, there was only gold and silver, no other treasures.

When the ministers saw the ground covered with pools of gold and seas of silver, they could not help but sigh in admiration.

Mu Jiansheng sighed, "Total, the money buried in the cave is at least 30 million taels of silver. Who buried such a huge fortune here?"

A few days ago, Huang Sixi ordered the Jianglong Army to explore the terrain of Luding Mountain, but he did not reveal the reason or tell his ministers the origin of the treasure, which made them confused.

Lu Gaoxuan chuckled and continued, "This Luding Mountain was originally the territory of the Tartars, but was later occupied by the Russians. But no matter whether they were the Tartars or the Russians, they have mountains of gold and silver but cannot find any clues to the treasure at the bottom of the mountain. The treasure is definitely not theirs!"

At this point, he kowtowed to Huang Sixi and said, "Your Majesty has been here for only a few days, and the treasure has been brought to light. The treasure is obviously related to Your Majesty! Your Majesty is blessed by heaven. Even if you bury the treasure thousands of miles away from the Central Plains, no one can see it. Your Majesty is worthy of being the Lord of Heaven. You have been blessed by heaven from beginning to end!"

His original intention was to flatter Huang Sixi and win the emperor's favor.

But when the ministers heard this, instead of thinking that he was flattering them, they agreed with it deeply.

Apart from the prince charming, who else could easily dig out a windfall of 30 million taels of silver in this uninhabited primitive land of Liaodong?

After the ministers fell silent, Huang Sixi said with a smile: "All of you have contributed greatly to digging out the treasure from the bottom of the mountain this time, and you deserve to be rewarded. Ninety percent of the gold and silver here will be handed over to the national treasury, and the remaining tenth will be distributed to all of you as a reward to commend your military exploits in defeating the Rakshasa people!"

Hu Guinan, Mu Jiansheng and other generals from Prince Mu's Palace immediately knelt on the ground and said, "Thank you, Your Majesty, for your grace!"

They were happy to accept Huang Sixi's reward.

Lu Gaoxuan, Su Quan and other surrendered generals of the Shenlong Sect did not dare to be greedy for credit, and even more so did not dare to compete with Huang Sixi for profit. They originally wanted to refuse the generous reward, but when they saw Hu Guinan and others thanking their master for the grace, they could not help but hesitate. If they refused the gold and silver, they might offend the old generals of the Mu Palace. For a moment, they did not know how to express their attitude.

At this time, Su Quan suddenly said: "I was ordered to attack Yaksa City. This is to atone for my sins. I dare not accept your Majesty's reward again. As long as your Majesty does not blame me for colluding with the Russians, I will be honored!"

When Lu Gaoxuan and Yin Jin heard this, they quickly agreed: "We are all doing our best to atone for our sins. Your Majesty, please take back the reward!"

Huang Sixi certainly knew that they were trying to make up for their mistakes, but Huang Sixi still decided to offer a generous reward, which actually had another meaning.

He said, "I am serious. When I said I would give you a reward, just accept it with confidence. This money is for you to use to settle down! Soon the court will set up the Far East Chamber of Commerce here, and you can all become members of the Chamber of Commerce, live in the Far East, and share the profits of the Chamber of Commerce! I rewarded you this time just to let you know that in the future, as long as the court promises you profits, it will be paid to you in full. You have been dedicated to managing the Far East for the court, and the court will give you the rewards you deserve!" Long before Huang Sixi left the capital, he had arranged for the cabinet to establish the 'Far East Chamber of Commerce'.

The nature of this Chamber of Commerce is exactly the same as that of the 'Indian Chamber of Commerce'. On the surface, it is engaged in trade, but in reality it is a colonial group that combines administrative, military, economic and other functions.

The trading commodities of the 'Indian Chamber of Commerce' are tea and silk.

The trading commodity of the 'Far East Chamber of Commerce' is fur.

From Liaodong to the north, there are countless animal furs in the vast territory of Siberia. These furs are rare in the Central Plains. As long as the "Far East Chamber of Commerce" can hunt furs continuously and transport them to the Central Plains, then the "Far East Chamber of Commerce" can reap continuous profits.

Fur was the driving force behind the Far Eastern Chamber of Commerce's expansion into Siberia.

In the current Americas, the driving force behind the English, French, and Dutch colonization of America was also fur, and the fur trade ran through almost the entire history of the conquest of America.

The Russians traveled thousands of miles to Liaodong, and the fur trade accounted for most of their profits.

After Huang Sixi established the 'Far East Chamber of Commerce', he incorporated all the former officials of the Mu Palace and the surrendered generals of the Shenlong Sect into the Chamber of Commerce, and then announced it to the Central Plains to attract adventurers to the Far East, allowing them to go deep into Siberia to hunt furs. The profits would be divided equally, with the court taking half and the remaining half shared by the Chamber of Commerce members.

The old ministers of Prince Mu's Palace had already received the notice that these rewards were actually the start-up capital of the Chamber of Commerce, to build city defenses, infrastructure, and purchase military equipment. They had also made preparations to expand into the Far East, so when Huang Sixi proposed to reward them with gold and silver, they accepted it without hesitation.

The surrendered generals of the Shenlong Sect did not know the situation of the "Far East Chamber of Commerce" for the time being, so they refused Huang Sixi's reward.

After Huang Sixi explained the arrangements for them to stay in the Far East, they no longer raised any objections.

"Your Majesty, this cave contains hundreds of boxes of gold and silver, and nothing else!"

After the commander of the Royal Guards counted the hundreds of boxes of treasure, he came to report the situation to Huang Sixi.

"Are there any murals or statues?" Huang Sixi asked.

"There is no mural on the cave wall, but there is a dragon head carving!" The commander of the royal guards pointed to the end of the tunnel, where there was a stone carving of a dragon head.

"lead the way!"

Huang Sixi led the ministers through hundreds of coffins, walked hundreds of feet into the cave, and finally stopped in front of a stone wall.

There was a dragon head about ten feet in diameter carved on the wall, but the dragon head was made entirely of rock, and there was nothing special about the material. Apart from looking majestic, it actually had no value.

Of course, this is the opinion of the ministers.

Huang Sixi stood alone in front of the dragon head, staring at it intently.

Seeing Huang Sixi so engrossed, the ministers did not dare to disturb him and waited patiently. During this time, they could not help but observe his words and expressions. They suddenly discovered that Huang Sixi was gradually showing joy, but they did not know why he was so happy. They could not help but feel confused and wondered, could there be something special about this ordinary rock dragon head?
They can't see through the leader's true colors.

Only Huang Sixi in the world could see it. There was a line of shining stone characters appearing on the dragon's head.

This dragon head is actually a martial arts relic, and its function is to stop the flow of time.

As long as he controls the dragon head, after Huang Sixi returns to the "Blooded Jianghu", no matter how many years he stays in this Jianghu, the time he has experienced in other Jianghu will all remain stagnant.

He couldn't help but draw the Dragon Subduing Sword from his waist.

This sword is a wall-breaking sword. Back then, he was able to break through the wall from "Swordsman" and return to "Blood-stricken Rivers and Lakes" thanks to the power of the Dragon Subduing Sword.

The sword still flashes with these lines of sword words: "A sword that breaks the wall can re-enter 'Bi Xue Jiang Hu'. If it breaks the wall in 'Bi Xue Jiang Hu', it can only return to 'Swordsman'!"

He can now use the Dragon Sword to break the wall and return to "Swordsman" at any time.

Originally, he was worried that he had stayed in "Blood-stained Jianghu" for too long, and even if he returned to "Swordsman", his old friends would have grown old.

Now with this faucet, this worry can be completely eliminated.

No matter how many years he stayed in "Blood-stained Jianghu", when he returned to "Swordsman", it would be the same as the time when he left.

That is to say, he lived in "Blooded Rivers and Lakes" for sixty years, but in "Swordsman" only six hours and six quarters may have passed, which was just a blink of an eye.

Huang Sixi could not hide his joy and could not help laughing up to the sky: "Great, this martial arts relic is really great! Even if I stay here for sixty years, when I return to 'Swordsman', it will only take a moment, and nothing will change!"

When the ministers heard this, they were even more confused. They wondered where His Majesty was going to stay for sixty years? What was the "Swordsman"? What did it mean that there was no change?

As the Holy Heart is unfathomable, none of them asked any questions.

Even Hu Guinan only smiled and made a suggestion: "Your Majesty likes this dragon head so much, why not dig it up and transport it back to the palace?"

Huang Sixi immediately rolled up his sleeves and said, "That's exactly what I meant! Guinan, go get the iron tools to chisel the wall. I want to dig out this dragon head myself!"

"what!"

The ministers exclaimed: "Your Majesty is a noble man, you don't have to do it yourself, we are willing to serve you!"

"The dragon head cannot be damaged in the slightest. No matter who digs it, I will not feel at ease!"

Huang Sixi waved his hand and said, "This dragon head is about ten feet tall. It will definitely be very heavy after it is dug out. Go and arrange for a carriage to transport it!"

Seeing that Huang Sixi had made up his mind, the ministers stopped trying to persuade him and split their forces into two groups. One group refined iron tools to assist Huang Sixi in digging out the dragon head, while the other group built a special carriage.

A few days later, the dragon head was peeled off the stone wall by Huang Sixi and placed in a wooden cart.

Since there was another city called Nerchinsk near Yaksa, Huang Sixi was not in a hurry to leave the Far East. After annihilating the Rakshasa Musketeers in Nerchinsk, Huang Sixi led the Dragon Subduing Army and escorted the dragon head back to the capital.

(End of this chapter)