Am I the old man who's always by my apprentices' side?

Chapter 219 "Project Hundred Formations"

The saying goes, "If you spend a thousand pieces of gold to buy horse bones," but at the very least, you should buy "horse" bones. You can't buy donkey bones, pig bones, and mule bones as if they were horse bones, can you?
What value does Lu Chengyi have besides being known as the "first to surrender"?
He Shilie's brows furrowed deeper and deeper until he heard the voice of Guo Dingfang, the Left General of the Mighty Guard—

"Yes, there are generals!"

Suddenly, He Shilie muttered something to himself. Guo Dingfang then cupped his hands and said, "General, although this man is not very famous, he was entrusted with an important task by the traitor Li to guard Xiangwu City. He can be considered a close minister of Li. Even if he is not a confidant, he is not much different!"

"Longxi is different from Longzhong. The local gentry in Longzhong are scattered, unlike Longxi, which is almost a state within a state. Clearing up cases, reorganizing land, and redistributing land are all easier there. As for Longxi... I'm afraid the people only know the Li family and not Li Zhou, let alone the current White Stone Immortal Sect! Therefore, governing Longxi will be very difficult! It would be better to use this person's words, combining kindness and severity, to break down Longxi's isolation. Who knows, it might be quite effective!"

Upon hearing this, He Shilie's eyes lit up.

To put it bluntly, Lu Chengyi's attitude was just a show.

He had no fame, no experience, and his martial arts skills, which he was so proud of, were nothing special. That's why he took off his clothes and carried a coffin. His goal was to stand out—regardless of whether it was good or bad, he needed to be famous first so he could continue to make a living!
But he insisted on having both.

He wanted fame, preferential treatment, and to preserve his "morality," trying to prove that he was not a traitor or a disloyal person, but was doing this out of a sense of justice and for the sake of the people...

He's really figured out how to play the moral high ground.

but……

It all boils down to those three words: Are you worthy?

You want to change course and board the White Stone Immortal Sect's ship? Sure. After all, considering you were the first city-defending general to surrender, we can certainly treat you well. But you should keep that in mind; for example, you could accuse your former master of deceiving his superiors and exploiting the people…

If you want benefits, forget about saving face!

Then, He Shilie suddenly nodded and said, "General Guo is right. How about this, you can temporarily settle Lu Chengyi, and then have him accompany the inspector to investigate backlog cases. I will report to the clan leader and then discuss this person."

Although Guo Dingfang and General Luo Youchun of the Right Mighty Guard were temporarily under the command of Heshilie Tudi, they were not nominally under his control. Moreover, both men came from martial arts families, their ancestors being renowned generals of the Former Zhou Dynasty (the Zhou Dynasty before the one destroyed by Zhang Chengdao), and thus held considerable status within the military. Even though Heshilie Tudi also came from a military family, it paled in comparison to the centuries-old lineages of these two, hence the general's more polite demeanor.

Of course, it was also because Guo Dingfang and Luo Youchun were quite sensible from the beginning, and they changed course very quickly, recognizing Baishi Immortal Sect as the "Imperial Court" very readily.

They had no choice but to be decisive. If they weren't, they would either be dismissed immediately or, if dismissed, would be unwilling to accept it, rebel, and meet a tragic end—which is exactly what the two of them are doing now, leading their troops to fight in Longxi.

Not to mention, the two of them had personally witnessed He Shilie suddenly and frequently unleashing "immortal techniques," which were far beyond the capabilities of ordinary martial artists. Anyone with a sound mind wouldn't deliberately cause trouble!

Guo Dingfang then clasped his hands and said, "This humble general obeys!"

The prisoner handover ceremony was completed quickly. The Xiangwu City garrison led by Lu Chengyi had long lost its fighting spirit—it wasn't like they had any irreconcilable deep-seated hatred. Who would want to go against a "god" for no reason?
Just as He Shilie suddenly entered the city without bloodshed once again, preparing to adopt the suggestion of his second senior sister Murong Ruyan to order some centurions of the Weiwu Guard to lead the captured Longxi soldiers to repair the people's houses and cultivate the fields, Tang Xiaoyu, who rushed over, stopped him.

Tang Xiaoyu didn't have any objection to this behavior, but because she had just received an order from Zhang Chengdao, she rushed over to convey the order to Heshilie Tudi and seek his cooperation.

She needs a large number of prisoners to complete the "project"!
"They want to build a teleportation array in Xiangwu City!?"

Upon hearing the message from Tang Xiaoyu, He Shilie's eyes suddenly widened.

Even the simplest teleportation array is not cheap to build! The required spiritual materials can be converted into hundreds of high-grade spirit stones!
The sect leader...

Why build a teleportation array in a city that has just been captured?!
"Hey, don't get me wrong!"

Tang Xiaoyu quickly dropped an even more explosive bombshell: "The sect leader said it's not about building a teleportation array for Xiangwu City! He doesn't even know you've conquered Xiangwu City yet! What he means is that all cities! According to the original Hundred Cities Plan, all cities must have teleportation arrays built! The sect leader calls this 'If you want to get rich, build roads first'!"

Seeing that He Shilie's eyes were about to pop out of their sockets in surprise, Tang Xiaoyu quickly added, "Actually, it's because the population here was just counted and the land was redistributed. The sect leader said it would be better to carry out sweeping reforms, so we'll start building the city here first!"

Murong Ruyan, who was idly cultivating nearby, yawned and asked, "But teleportation arrays can't be used by non-cultivators, so why does Master insist on building a teleportation array in this mortal city?"

"Second Senior Sister, don't tell me, Steward Xu also asked this question back then. I could tell he was really worried about the materials in the sect's warehouse! The sect leader said that in the future, disciples would be assigned to be those 'teleporters,' which are specifically responsible for opening the teleportation array once at a time and in a specific direction to facilitate the travel of the people!"

As Tang Xiaoyu spoke, she exaggeratedly imitated Steward Xu's tone: "Steward Xu was immediately outraged! He said, 'Maintenance and upkeep of teleportation arrays require a lot of spiritual materials, worth a lot of spirit stones! Using them for the common people would be a waste of a lot of spiritual materials.' Then the sect leader said that we can't give up helping the people develop just because it's a loss. Only when the people develop and their lives improve will society prosper! Moreover, now that spiritual energy is recovering, there will only be more spiritual materials in the future, not a shortage. He also told Steward Xu to rest assured that he would find a way to make up for the shortage of spiritual materials and strive to build a hundred teleportation arrays in the territory under the White Stone Immortal Sect's jurisdiction. The sect leader calls this... oh! the 'Hundred Array Plan'!"

Murong Ruyan had spent a long time with Zhang Chengdao and had frequent contact with him, so she had a general understanding of his ideas. Therefore, after hearing Tang Xiaoyu's explanation, she roughly understood what was going on and immediately rolled her eyes: "So the 'Hundred Cities Plan' wasn't even finished yet, and now they're doing the 'Hundred Array Plan'! Master really has too much money to burn!"

Like Steward Xu, she felt sorry for the spiritual materials in the sect's warehouse!

Even if she herself doesn't need it at all!

After the initial shock, He Shilie quickly displayed the qualities of a subject, nodding and saying, "In any case, since it is the sect leader's will, then we will listen to Fourth Senior Sister!"

"Alright, then you can gather all those prisoners up and build the teleportation array according to these blueprints! Don't worry, I've brought the craftsmen! They're the same craftsmen Third Senior Brother always used, they're very clever!"

As Tang Xiaoyu spoke, she took out several blueprints with "houses" drawn on them.

In this era, there were no architectural blueprints. Leaving aside the earthen houses built by ordinary people, when high-ranking officials and nobles wanted to construct gardens or wonders, they would first create a model, and then build the actual structure based on the model. This process would take a very long time because the models were so exquisite that they could be considered works of art, and they would even be collected by the owner after the building was completed.

However, the teleportation array that Zhang Chengdao planned to write as "teleportation array" and read as "ancient immortal cultivation version of a passenger station" was one that prioritized speed.

Therefore, despite his poor drawing skills, he dragged Ye Shuyun along and taught her how to draw "architectural blueprints".

Of course, Zhang Chengdao wasn't an architect before he transmigrated, so the "architectural drawings" he taught were just for show. Not to mention the various special symbols, there wasn't even anything like a scale!
So-called "architectural drawings" are really just drawing the building on paper and roughly explaining the function and appearance of each part, nothing more!

Even the "renderings" were added by Ye Shuyun herself, who took the initiative and added them after receiving praise from Zhang Chengdao.

Moreover, Ye Shuyun's "rendering" is in the traditional ink wash style, which is very abstract compared to the actual rendering.

Regardless, architectural drawings greatly improved project progress and efficiency, and the craftsmen's workshops had a very high acceptance of them.

As long as the money is right, they're happy to save the trouble of making the hot stamping pattern!
Because of Ye Shuyun's "renderings," even Murong Ruyan was very curious and came over to the table to look at the "architectural drawings" with everyone.

Murong Ruyan stared at it for a long time, her expression unusually dazed: "This...is really a teleportation array?"

He Shilie suddenly hesitated and said, "I'm afraid even an ordinary county government office can't compare to this 'teleportation array'?"

The conflict between his sense of responsibility as a subject to offer advice and his duty as a disciple to trust his patriarch once again plunged him into distress.

Your Majesty… cough, no, it should be…

Master! Spectacular spectacles are ruining the country, Master!

It's no wonder He Shilie was suddenly conflicted; the "teleportation array" in the picture was indeed huge. Ye Shuyun had also drawn tiny figures walking inside it, so its size was naturally obvious. Not to mention the flowers, plants, and trees nearby for comparison, making it easy to see...

This "teleportation array" is at least five acres in size!
Moreover, the actual area marked with teleportation arrays only occupied one-third of the space; the remaining two-thirds consisted of buildings, some of which contained rows of chairs arranged in an orderly fashion. He Shilie had never seen such a bizarre "design" before!
Tang Xiaoyu argued confidently, "Master said that this shouldn't actually be called a 'teleportation array' anymore, because it's for the convenience of people's travel, so it should be called a 'passenger teleportation station,' which means exactly what it says, a place for transporting passengers!"

Murong Ruyan seemed to understand somewhat. She suddenly realized, "Like a 'post station'?"

Tang Xiaoyu replied, "It's kind of similar, isn't it? Look at these chairs, they're for people waiting to be teleported to sit temporarily! And you have to buy a ticket to use the teleportation array. You see there are five teleportation arrays behind here? That means, the one in the middle will either teleport you to White Stone Mountain, or to a level one city, or to a level two city..."

The so-called "first-level city" and "second-level city" were originally established by Zhang Chengdao at the court meeting. The division of military and political affairs, such as the circuits, prefectures, counties, etc., was very chaotic. Instead, the city was classified according to various factors such as its size, permanent population, and geographical location.

After the court assembly proposed this classification concept, Chang'an City (formerly Jingzhao Prefecture) immediately dropped to a first-level city, while the White Stone Immortal Sect was listed separately and not included in the hundred cities, thus gaining a superior status.

At that time, Zhang Chengdao had not yet clearly defined the White Stone Immortal Sect as a capital city. After all, a city must have people living there to be considered a "city". The White Stone Immortal Sect was a place for cultivators to practice, and the number of people was pitifully small, so it was indeed difficult to call it a "city". The discussion on the "capital city" was temporarily shelved.

The disciples of the White Stone Immortal Sect all knew about these things, because Zhang Chengdao would have Xu Ying give a brief summary of the content of each court assembly and post it on the sect's bulletin board. So when He Shilie and Murong Ruyan heard this, they roughly understood what was going on. Only Guo Dingfang and Luo Youchun were confused and did not dare to ask any questions.

Tang Xiaoyu didn't care whether others could understand her or not, and continued to speak in a "Mandarin" that was much more standard than before: "For example, Xiangwu City is a level three city, so the one in the middle is a fixed teleportation point to a level two city, and the four around it can be added or removed as appropriate to teleport to the surrounding cities!"
"For example, Xiangwu City is a level 2 city. The teleportation array in the middle is for teleporting to level 1 cities, and the surrounding teleportation arrays are for teleporting to nearby level 3 cities!"
"If it's a level one city, then the one in the middle..."

Murong Ruyan blurted out, "The one that reached White Stone Mountain?"

"Yes! That's exactly what I mean!"

Tang Xiaoyu was delighted to see that Murong Ruyan understood immediately, and added, "Moreover, Master announced at the court meeting a few days ago that the future capital will be Baishi City! That is, Baishi Mountain and the area around Baishi Mountain! However, we belong to the Baishi Immortal Sect on Baishi Mountain, and the teleportation array is not on the mountain. Master should build a new city at the foot of Baishi Mountain, which will be Baishi City!"

Murong Ruyan asked in surprise, "Huh? But isn't Baishi Mountain part of Xiao Kingdom's territory?"

"Master has exchanged letters with the Emperor of Xiao Kingdom. Our Master has already taken over that small area east of Baishi Mountain!"

Tang Xiaoyu gestured and said, "But I heard that the exchange condition is that students from the Imperial Academy of Xiao Kingdom are allowed to study immortality at the White Stone Immortal University!"

Murong Ruyan immediately became dissatisfied: "Then they don't need to take an exam?"

They seemed to have completely forgotten their own "nationality".

Tang Xiaoyu held up three fingers and said, "Each admission has three spots for exemption from the exam, and the rest have to take the entrance exam!"

Hearing this, Murong Ruyan became happy again: "Then they won't be able to make it this year!"

The slower rise of the Xiao Kingdom is also beneficial to her.

……

(End of this chapter)