Bearing the blue sky

Chapter 297 The Mohist School! The Mechanism!

Preparations are proceeding smoothly.

Li Han found several skilled carpenters and had them make several printing blocks.

Although not as efficient as movable type printing in the previous life, it was much faster than hand copying.

He also found two storytellers, one surnamed Liu and the other surnamed Wang.

Both were regulars at the city's teahouses, eloquent and loud, able to draw their audience into the story with just a few words.

"Mr. Liu, Mr. Wang," Li Han handed the two manuscripts to them. "This is the content of the first issue of the 'Human Race Daily.' Take a look and familiarize yourselves with it."

The two took the manuscript, read it once, and then read it again. Then they looked up at the same time, their faces full of complex expressions.

"Manager Li, this article—" Mr. Liu's voice trembled slightly.

"It's true," Li Han exclaimed. "It's all true; the person who wrote the article saw it with their own eyes and heard it with their own ears."

"Won't reading these things cause us trouble?" Mr. Wang asked, somewhat worried.

"Yes," Li Han said frankly. "But trouble is coming. I can handle it, but I can't. I have people above me. You just keep reading."

The two looked at each other and then nodded simultaneously.

"Okay." Mr. Liu stood up. "We'll take the job."

The first issue of the "Human Race Gazette" was published half a month later.

It was called a "newspaper," but it was actually just a few sheets of paper with three articles written by Zhu Ge and a poem printed on them.

Newspapers were posted at the city gate, market entrance, and teahouse entrance.

Mr. Liu and Mr. Wang stood on the street, each holding a newspaper, and began to read aloud.

"There is a village in Yunjiang called Jianshan."

"The villagers made their living by farming, working at sunrise and resting at sunset. However, monsters roamed freely, and plagues spread. All the able-bodied men in the village perished, and the old and weak died—"

"Outside Xianyang City, there was a farmer who cultivated a hundred acres of land. Of the harvest, three-tenths was used to pay taxes, three-tenths to pay off debts, three-tenths to feed himself, and only one-tenth was left to prepare for famine."

"On the banks of the Wei River, there lived fishermen who made a living by fishing. The government levied a fishing tax, taking three out of every ten catches. The fishermen's earnings were insufficient to support their families."

'

Mr. Liu's voice echoed through the street, and passersby stopped and listened intently.

Some shed tears, some remained silent, and some clenched their fists.

Mr. Wang was reciting the poem written by Zhu Ge.

"Lying in my office, I hear the rustling of bamboo, and I suspect it is the sound of the people's suffering. We petty officials of the county are concerned with every single branch and leaf."

After reading the last sentence, Mr. Wang was silent for a moment, then said, "Gentlemen, what is written in the newspaper is all true. The people who wrote these articles wanted the world to know that there are still people suffering in this world."

"If you have anything to say, you can write it down and send it to Wenhan Bookstore. Good articles will be published in the next issue of the newspaper."

From the crowd, a young man stepped forward: "Me—can I write too?"

"Yes," Mr. Wang said. "As long as it's what's on your mind, you can write it down."

The young man gritted his teeth, turned around, and ran home.

The next day, Wenhan Bookstore received a submission.

It was a short letter, containing only a few sentences.

"My father was conscripted to build the city wall and died on the construction site. The city lord did not provide any compensation, and the official in charge of the Jingzhe Festival even forced me to pay taxes."

"I had no money to pay, so they took my cow away. It was my only cow."

After reading the letter, Li Han remained silent for a long time.

He carefully put the letter away and said to his assistant, "This letter will be published in the next issue."

By this time, the news had spread, and more and more people were submitting their work.

Some farmers wrote about how they were exploited by landlords, some fishermen wrote about how they were oppressed by the city lord's mansion, and some craftsmen wrote about how their foremen withheld their wages.

Each submission tells the story of an individual, a family, or a village.

Those stories, some filled with anger, some with sadness, some with despair, all have one thing in common: they are all true.

Li Han sorted through the submissions, selected the most authentic and compelling ones, and printed them in the next issue of the newspaper.

The day the second issue of the Human Race Gazette was published, the entire town was in an uproar.

Those stories, like fire, ignited the emotions in everyone's heart.

Someone rushed to the city gate and burst into tears in front of the newspaper advertisement.

Someone ran to Wenhan Bookstore, knelt in front of Li Han, and begged him to help write a letter to plead for justice.

Some people started to make plans and discuss going to the city lord's mansion to file a complaint.

When the news reached Zhu Ge's ears, after listening to Liu Jianjian's retelling of what had happened, he remained silent for a moment, and then said, "Li Han did a good job."

"Master, those powerful people probably won't let him go," Liu Jianjian said.

"I know," Zhu Ge said, "so we need to move faster and let more people know about the Human Race News."

"Walk faster?"

"Yes." Zhu Ge nodded. "I want to go to more cities, find more bookstores, and let more Li Hans stand up."

He paused, then said, "It's too slow for one person to do it; we need more people to do it together."

Just then, a loud laugh came from afar.

"Hahaha, you scholar, what are you going to do? Let me do it too!"

As soon as he finished speaking, a streak of light flew in from afar.

Zhu Ge narrowed his eyes, but before he could make a move, Liu Jianjian next to him flicked her sleeve, and a blood-red chain shot out.

"How dare you! You dare disturb Master Tianji's carriage?!"

Liu Jianjian let out a delicate shout, and a surging aura rose up.

This was a name that Liu Jianjian and Hua Liusha came up with themselves to shoo people away.

Logically speaking, given Zhu Ge's strength, it wouldn't be an exaggeration to call him a Martial Arts Venerable.

In martial arts, one can be called a Venerable One when one reaches the third realm.

For example, the "Xu Family Swallow Fist" that Zhu Ge learned was passed down from the Swallow Venerable.

On the Confucian and Taoist side, there are three realms: first, Confucian scholar; second, scholar; and third, scholar.

People of the second realm are called "sir".

The third realm is simply called a scholar.

So Hua Liusha and Liu Jianjian discussed it and decided to call Zhu Ge Tianji.

In any case, Zhu Ge is the founder of the Heavenly Secrets Sect.

Normally, if the newcomer couldn't even beat Liu Jianjian, there would be no need for Zhu Ge to intervene.

"Bang!!!!"

The person who entered was slammed to the ground by the chains and exploded.

Upon closer inspection, it was discovered that the newcomer was not a human, but a clay and stone puppet.

"The Mohist school?"

Zhu Ge raised an eyebrow slightly as he looked at the pile of earthen and stone golem fragments that Liu Jianjian had smashed with a chain.

Although the puppet was broken, the breakage was quite regular.

It didn't explode randomly, but rather cracked neatly along certain lines, as if it had been carefully disassembled.

"interesting."

Zhu Ge smiled and said, "The puppet's craftsmanship is exquisite, at least the work of a second-realm mechanic. The fact that it can be manipulated from a thousand miles away to probe indicates that the puppet's master is at least a third-realm expert."

Liu Jianjian retracted the chains and pouted, "Who cares what realm they are? If they dare to harass their master, just smash them."

No sooner had the words left his mouth than another whooshing sound came from afar.

This time it wasn't just one, but more than a dozen.

The streams of light flew in from all directions, transforming into puppets of various shapes upon landing.

There were tiger-shaped, wolf-shaped, human-shaped, and eagle-shaped figures. Each one had a bronze-colored sheen, with fine gears embedded in its joints and a ghostly blue light gleaming in its eyes.

"Oh?" Liu Jianjian's eyes lit up: "So many people? Perfect for practicing."

Before she finished speaking, the puppets had already moved.

The tiger-shaped puppet opened its mouth and spewed out a ball of flame, the wolf-shaped puppet's claws tore through the air, the eagle-shaped puppet swooped down, and the humanoid puppet formed hand seals, condensing spiritual energy into arrows that shot forth.

More than a dozen second-realm puppets attacked simultaneously, creating a formidable spectacle.

"Watch this!" Liu Jianjian waved her hand, and a strand of hair on her head fell down, turning into a stream of light that transformed into a giant, snow-white wolf when it landed.

It was that snow wolf from the third realm.

As soon as the snow wolf appeared, it let out a long howl to the sky, and a chilling aura spread from its body, instantly covering the ground within a radius of dozens of feet with a layer of white frost.

The flames spewed by the tiger-shaped puppet were frozen into ice crystals by the cold air before they even got close, the eagle-shaped puppet's dive was blocked by an ice wall, and the spiritual energy arrows shot by the humanoid puppet froze in mid-air.

"Wait, wait, wait!" Liu Jianjian quickly waved her hand, "Don't freeze them all at once! I still want to play!"

The snow wolf snorted in dissatisfaction, suppressed its chill, and squatted down to the side like a giant watchdog.

Liu Jianjian plucked another hair and threw it on the ground.

"Come out, Xiao Mo!"

The strands of hair fell to the ground and transformed into a giant bear, completely black, larger than a snow wolf, with bulging muscles all over its body.

The two bear paws slammed together, making a muffled "thump" sound.

"Xiao Mo, go play with them!" Liu Jianjian pointed at the second-realm puppets: "Don't break them, just practice with them."

The black bear nodded sheepishly and walked heavily toward the puppets.

Its movements appear slow, but each step it takes leaves a deep footprint, causing the ground to tremble slightly.

The tiger-shaped puppet spewed flames again, but the black bear neither dodged nor avoided them. Instead, it slapped the flames away with its paw.

"Aww?" The black bear looked down at its paws, then at the tiger-shaped puppet, as if it didn't understand what had just happened.

It scratched its head, then slapped the tiger-shaped puppet on the head.

"Click!"

The tiger-shaped puppet's head was dented, its gears clattered, and it staggered back a few steps.

"Don't break it!" Liu Jianjian shouted from behind.

The black bear withdrew its hand, looked at the dented tiger head it had made, then looked at Liu Jianjian, and gave a simple and innocent look, as if to say, "I didn't use any force."

Liu Jianjian sighed and said, "Never mind, just keep an eye on things."

The black bear nodded, then plopped down on the ground, pressing the tiger-shaped puppet under its rear end, like an adult holding down a disobedient child.

The tiger-shaped puppet struggled twice, its gears creaking, but it couldn't move at all.

Seeing this, the other puppets all bypassed the black bear and rushed towards Liu Jianjian.

Liu Jianjian plucked another hair and threw it on the ground.

"Big Mouth, come out for dinner!"

The strands of hair fell to the ground and transformed into a giant, crimson python, its scales gleaming with fire. The air itself became scorching hot with each flick of its tongue.

As soon as the giant python appeared, it opened its blood-red maw and bit at the nearest wolf-shaped puppet.

"Don't eat it!" Liu Jianjian cried out immediately, "That's a puppet! You can't eat it!"

The python's mouth hovered in mid-air, only an inch away from the wolf-shaped puppet's head.

It tilted its head and looked at the puppet, then at Liu Jianjian, its eyes full of doubt, as if to say, "This thing doesn't smell like food."

"Of course it doesn't look like food!" Liu Jianjian said angrily, hands on her hips. "It's made of iron! You'll get diarrhea if you eat it! My God, how did you guys even reach the third realm?!"

The giant python retracted its head, flicked its tongue, and gave a disgusted look before turning its head and spitting fire at another puppet.

The flames turned the puppet red-hot, and the gears creaked and groaned as it jumped around like a scalded flea.

Liu Jianjian burst into laughter.

"So much fun!"

She plucked another hair and threw it on the ground.

"Little thorn, come out and prick me!"

The strands of hair fell to the ground and transformed into a hedgehog over ten feet tall, its body covered with sharp, gleaming quills, each over a foot long.

As soon as the hedgehog appeared, it curled up into a large ball and rolled towards the group of puppets.

"Awooooo—"

The puppets were riddled with holes by the hedgehog, their gears jammed, their joints malfunctioning, and they fell to the ground one after another.

The hedgehog rolled over, stopped, stretched out its body, and looked smug, as if to say, "How about that? Pretty cool, right?"

Liu Jianjian nodded in satisfaction: "Not bad, not bad, I'll give you extra food when we get back."

The hedgehog happily shrank its neck, its sharp quills trembling slightly and making a rustling sound.

At this moment, all of the dozen or so second-realm puppets had fallen to the ground.

Some were frozen, some were flattened, some were heated until red-hot, and some were pierced into sieves.

Looking at the mess, Liu Jianjian clapped her hands and turned to Zhu Ge, saying, "Master, it's done."

Zhu Ge nodded slightly.

When it comes to group attacks, Liu Jianjian is no match.

At that moment, a middle-aged man in a blue robe emerged from behind a large tree in the distance.

He had a thin face, three long wisps of beard, and a palm-sized bronze box hanging from his waist.

"I am Mo Shou, the master of the Mo family's mechanical arts, the third realm."

"I have met Master Tianji."

Mo Shou moved slowly and deliberately, bowing to Zhu Ge and saying, "I apologize for my earlier probing."

"Mo Shou?" Zhu Ge looked him up and down. "Those puppets from earlier, were they yours?"

"These are just some of my little trinkets." Mo Shou nodded with a smile. "I wanted to test Mr. Tianji's abilities, but I didn't expect to get a lesson from this young lady."

He looked at Liu Jianjian, a hint of curiosity in his eyes: "Your beast-taming skills are quite exquisite, young lady. May I ask who your teacher is?"

"My master taught me!" Liu Jianjian proudly raised her chin.

Naturally, she mentioned that she was a disciple of the Lamp-Bearing True Lord upon their first meeting.

"Master?" Mo Shou looked at Zhu Ge, a hint of surprise flashing in his eyes: "Master Tianji is also proficient in beast taming?"

"Not exactly an expert." Zhu Ge shook her head: "She's very talented; she learned it on her own."

Mo Shou nodded thoughtfully, then took the bronze box from his waist, opened the lid, and a flash of light revealed a brand new puppet in front of him.

The puppet was entirely silver-white, with no facial features, except for a blue gemstone embedded in its forehead, which emitted a faint glow.

Three Realms Puppet?

"Those second-realm puppets were just for you to play with, young lady," Mo Shou said, cupping his hands in greeting. "This third-realm puppet is the real test. Would you be interested in playing with it again?"

Liu Jianjian licked her lips: "A third-realm puppet? Easy peasy! That's more like it!"

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