If that really was the case, then Wang Chong would happily let Li Siye go.
If he didn't need to confront that future catastrophe, if he didn't need to respond to the calamities of the empire and the perils confronting the Central Plains, why would he need to rack his brains and spend so much energy obtaining the Hyderabad ore and Meteoric Metal?
And if the empire really could endure those calamities without a problem, what harm would there be if Wang Chong gave all those things up?
Wang Chong's forthrightness had clearly taken Li Siye by surprise. Wang Chong was actually willing to just abandon a fortune of one hundred million taels of gold. This was not something any normal person could do.
"Very well! Young Master Wang!"
Li Siye looked into Wang Chong's eyes as he addressed him respectfully for the first time. Wang Chong's words had stirred the heroic spirit within him.
"If your Wang Clan really can give up on the hundred million taels of gold that the Hyderabad ore and Meteoric Metal represent and offer it up to the Imperial Court, what harm is there in Li Siye working for your Wang Clan for a few years? At the very least, if it really is as you say and a war really will break out on the southwest border, I, Li Siye wouldn't even need your order to gladly make my way there!
"If a true man of character can't make a name for himself, leave a dazzling record on the annals of history, make a contribution to the empire and the common folk, then what meaning is there in seeking out profits? If one can truly make a contribution, what does it matter if one dies for it, if one loses their head?"
Even a teenager like Wang Chong could uphold this ideal. As someone who believed himself to be a true man of character and as an adult with a tall and sturdy body, Li Siye couldn't possibly admit defeat to a child.
"Okay!"
Wang Chong was elated. After waiting for so long, he had finally heard those long-anticipated words. Those words were like sweet nectar to his ears.
"Li Siye, when a gentleman speaks…"
"Even a team of horses won't be able to catch up1!"
Li Siye was without hesitation, his words resolute and decisive.
At this moment, his eyes were firm and bright.
More than two months after Li Siye had been transferred from the Beiting Protectorate, Wang Chong had finally managed to gain the loyalty of the Invincible Great General!
……
Winter passed and spring arrived. Ice began to melt and all things began to grow. In the blink of an eye, a new year had come.
Row upon row of buildings had been built in Deflecting Blade Manor, their soaring eaves and arches lavish and beautiful.
Atop a high arch at the center of Deflecting Blade Manor, Wang Chong was seated cross-legged, floating in the air like it was flat ground.
After more than a month, Wang Chong's Phantom Steps had once more advanced. His body was now as light as a feather. Even if he stepped on a tree branch that was as thin as a finger, it still wouldn't sink.
This was a display of how far he had advanced.
Whoosh!
Wang Chong let out a long breath, his eyes glimmering as he slowly withdrew his technique.
Swooshswooshswoosh!
Right when Wang Chong opened his eyes, a black silhouette leapt from the eave of a distant building. It flew across golden roofs as dexterously as a cat.
The black silhouette had started off a fair distance away, but it needed only the blink of an eye to appear in front of Wang Chong.
"Young Master, your ginseng tea!"
The figure deferentially kneeled on the rooftiles as it offered Wang Chong a hot cup of ginseng tea. Up close, it was possible to see that this black silhouette was wearing a mask and had a slender and shapely figure. It had been extremely dexterous, and it seemed to carry with it a faint and alluring scent. If this wasn't Miyasame Ayaka, who was always at Wang Chong's side, who else could it possibly be?
With the new year, Wang Chong had once more deepened his influence with the Imperial Army instructors. On the spirit vein, the work of the old Imperial Army instructors began to show its effects as even more retired instructors joined Wang Chong.
Wang Chong had transferred some of them to the spirit vein to teach the students there. But he had also sent some of them to his home to protect his mother.
These abundantly experienced Imperial Army instructors were far more loyal and reliable than experts he could hire from the outside.
With those people to replace her, Miyasame Ayaka naturally had more time to spare.
While secretly protecting the Wang Clan for more than a year, Miyasame Ayaka had no other duties or any distracting thoughts, allowing her to focus on cultivation. She was now much stronger than she was in the past.
Her Spectre Steps had made a great leap in progress. Even in broad daylight, unless she was noticed beforehand, she could sneak by completely unseen.
Even Wang Chong found it hard to track her down at times.
"I've troubled you!"
Wang Chong took the golden and fragrant Goguryeon ginseng tea and drank it down. At Wang Chong's current level, the ginseng tea had already lost most of its effectiveness, but the nourishment to his meridians provided by this hundred-year ginseng was still useful.
The faster one progressed and the more tyrannical the techniques one cultivated, the more nourishment the meridians would require. This was a hidden process.
Seeing that Wang Chong had finished drinking the ginseng tea, Miyasame Ayaka said, "The madam wanted me to tell Young Master to remember to take care of yourself. In addition, she also had me bring some clothes. She said that since the snow only recently melted, the weather is still cold, and she hoped that Young Master would remember to keep warm."
Wang Chong was a little astonished at this message, and then he began to laugh.
Miyasame Ayaka had spent some time in the Wang Residence, so even though she no longer had the duty of protecting it, she had still become a messenger for his mother's words.
At Wang Chong's current level of cultivation, he was a completely different person. Even in a blizzard, he wouldn't feel much of anything, so warm clothes were completely unnecessary.
But his mother clearly thought differently. She was still thinking of him as that frail and inexperienced boy.
"I know. I've put you through a lot of trouble this time. This is the newest cultivation method for the Spectre Steps. Take it."
As he spoke, Wang Chong took out a book from his bosom and threw it over. Once she studied this book, Miyasame Ayaka could reach True Martial Tier 6 or 7.
After more than a year, Miyasame Ayaka had slowly managed to win Wang Chong's trust, and Wang Chong had never been stingy with people who were loyal to him.
Whoosh!
Miyasame Ayaka snatched out with her palm, and in a way that was unfathomable even to Wang Chong, the book was in her bosom.
"Thank you, Young Master!"
Elated, Miyasame Ayaka tightly held the technique manual Wang Chong had inscribed as she kowtowed. The more one advanced in martial arts and the more one comprehended their cultivation techniques, the more one would feel that they were lacking in both.
Miyasame Ayaka now completely trusted in the words Wang Chong had told her. The Spectre Steps that she had practiced before assuredly had some fatal flaw.
But the power of this technique also could not be questioned.
As long as that flaw could be resolved, one would get stronger as one advanced with this cultivation method. And as an assassin, Miyasame Ayaka could not give up on this sort of technique.
"Go!"
Wang Chong waved his hand. Now that Miyasame Ayaka was freed up, she could take on the duty of secretly guarding Deflecting Blade Manor. Deflecting Blade Manor's importance to Wang Chong was growing by the day.
As an experienced assassin, she was more suitable than him for guarding against hidden dangers.
"Thank you, Young Master!"
Miyasame Ayaka flipped off the
roof, quickly vanishing from sight. Her speed was so fast that she seemed like an illusion.
"Young Master!"
At almost the same time that Miyasame Ayaka left, a well-built eagle-like figure jumped off the ground and before Wang Chong.
Creeeee! a snow falcon cried. Old Eagle glanced over at the direction in which Miyasame Ayaka had left before turning back to Wang Chong.
"Young Master!"
"Mm, has there been any news from Solitary Wolf?"
Wang Chong raised his head with a grim look on his face, completely different from the look he had shown to Miyasame Ayaka. At the moment, Wang Chong's greatest concern was the southwest.
"The southwest is far and it's not easy to send news. I asked Solitary Wolf before, and Solitary Wolf sent back a letter saying that everything was normal. I haven't received a report from Solitary Wolf since. However, Young Master should be at ease. If something really does happen, Solitary Wolf will send a report on his own," Old Eagle said.
"Mm. Starting from now, you need to open up two channels of information for me. One should be carrier pigeons in the air and the other should be hand-delivered messages on the ground. Since the southwest is far away, we need to station men on the road so that a message can cover three hundred li in a single day. I want to shrink the time needed to deliver a message from the southwest from several months to twenty-some days. In this way, with the two channels of information, one detailed and one simple, we can cut down on the delay in news.
"In addition, at times the skies will be watched. Once a large number of gyrfalcons and other such birds of prey begin to hunt down our carrier pigeons, our communications through the air will be cut. With this land-based channel, we can guard against this possibility," Wang Chong said.
Old Eagle nodded, a hint of reverence in his eyes. Although Wang Chong was young, in certain ways he thought about problems more meticulously than Old Eagle.
"Also, send two letters for me, to my father and older brother!"
Wang Chong paused as he took two prepared letters from his bosom and handed them over. Now that the winter was over, Wang Chong was taking the initiative to communicate with his father and older brother.
Although it might be easy for him to communicate with Xianyu Zhongtong, their relationship was still very shallow, making it inconvenient for Wang Chong to intrude in many matters. If something happened, it was better to rely on his own family.
At the moment, if something were to happen in the southwest, his father and older brother would be his best sources of help. Moreover, they could interpret many pieces of information that Solitary Wolf might not, allowing Wang Chong to have a better grasp of the situation there.
"Yes, I will do this right now," Old Eagle sternly said.
Sticking two fingers into his mouth, Old Eagle let out a series of short whistles, so shrill that they pierced into the firmament. Flapflap. In just a few moments, two large golden falcons flew down from the sky and landed on Old Eagle's left and right arms.
Old Eagle rolled up the letters and skillfully tied them to the thick legs of the golden falcons. Creee! With these shrill cries, the two golden falcons flapped their wings and took off, two streams of light that quickly faded into the southern skies.
Wang Chong nodded in satisfaction.
One Old Eagle was worth several hundred soldiers. The birds that Old Eagle had raised were incredibly fast and nimble. It wouldn't be too long before his letters were delivered.
This was also why Wang Chong so highly regarded and trusted him, and why he was gradually giving him increasingly important duties.
______________
1. The meaning of this saying is that when a gentleman makes a promise, he will never break it.
Chapter 434: Xu Qiqin's Final Challenge!
Chapter 434: Xu Qiqin's Final Challenge!
Translated by: Hypersheep325
Edited by: Michyrr
As he watched the two golden falcons disappear, Wang Chong gave a long sigh. He only had to handle King Song's side now. In order to address the problem of the southwest, he couldn't rely on only his father and older brother.
The Great Tang was set up so that an army could have from twenty thousand to at most forty thousand troops. The troops his father and older brother commanded would number in the tens of thousands, which was in no way enough to defend against the combined armies of Mengshe Zhao and Ü-Tsang.
In order to handle the problem of the southwest, Wang Chong needed to work with the Bureau of Military Personnel. But in this matter, Old Eagle wouldn't be able to help him. He would have to personally pay a visit to King Song in order to come up with a plan. At the same time, he would have to be careful to not stir any objections from the Yao Clan and King Qi.
"Okay, let's go!"
Wang Chong stretched, gathered his robe, and then began walking along the golden rooftiles. The tiles under his foot seemed unmoved, as if it was only air stepping upon them.
Buzz!
Waves of noise came from around him, and as people saw Wang Chong appear on the edge of the roof, they began to call out.
"Young Master!"
"Young Master!"
"Young Master!"
……
As he stood on the edge of the golden arch and looked around, he could see that Deflecting Blade Manor was bustling with people. There were people riding horses, shooting arrows, playing chess, drinking wine, drinking tea, frolicking, competing… and many more things.
With the winter over, Wang Chong's Deflecting Blade Manor had regained its lively air. The moment the training camps reopened, these people almost immediately wanted to make their way to Deflecting Blade Manor.
And as he surveyed Deflecting Blade Manor, he could see various piles of supplies, all of them brought over by the students. The already-lavish Deflecting Blade Manor had now become even more luxurious.
The population of Deflecting Blade Manor couldn't compare to the three training camps, but this place was still extremely active. The students who Wang Chong had selected basically all had some specialty or talent.
From a certain perspective, it was correct to call this a camp of geniuses, making the place even more popular and appealing.
"Wang Chooong!"
Right when Wang Chong was looking around, a cold and clear voice suddenly rose from Deflecting Blade Manor.
The bustling Deflecting Blade Manor was instantly silenced.
In Deflecting Blade Manor, everyone either addressed Wang Chong as 'Young Master' or 'Young Master Wang'. Few people were so rude as to address him directly as 'Wang Chong'.
Standing on the arch, Wang Chong turned to look. In the direction of the Chess Hall, he immediately noticed an abnormally handsome young man with rosy lips and white teeth, dressed in blue, standing in the crowd. He was looking at Wang Chong with a challenging gaze.
"It's him!"
Old Eagle's eyes widened as he immediately recognized who this young man was. This youth had recently become extremely famous in Deflecting Blade Manor, stirring a great storm within.
"Xu Chong, is there something you need?"
Wang Chong put his hands behind him and faintly smiled.
There were few in Deflecting Blade Manor who dared to speak with him like this. And in the Chess Hall, only Xu Chong—or perhaps one should call her Xu Qiqin of the Xu Clan—dared to do such a thing.
Xu Chong, or Xu Qiqin, proudly raised her head and issued a challenge to Wang Chong. "Wang Chong, do you dare fight a match with me?"
'It takes ten years to hone a sword.' Xu Qiqin was currently bursting with confidence. Wang Chong could feel from her the aura of a sharp sword being unsheathed.
"Hmph, how boring. Young Master, ignore that woman!"
A voice came from the chinks between the tiles under Wang Chong's foot—Miyasame Ayaka's voice. Xu Qiqin's disguise could fool other people, but it couldn't fool Miyasame Ayaka.
As an assassin, Miyasame Ayaka was far more perceptive than most.
"Young Master, this woman is too conceited and she's too rude to Young Master. Why don't I teach her a lesson, or perhaps just make her disappear?"
'Like repels like.' Proud women never much liked proud women. From her first glance at Xu Qiqin, Miyasame Ayaka had gotten a bad impression of her.
"Hey, Ayaka, you're looking down on her too much. If you two truly fought, you probably wouldn't be a match."
Wang Chong smiled to his feet.
"Hmph, Young Master is underestimating me?"
Hidden under the rooftiles, Miyasame Ayaka immediately replied, refusing to back down.
Wang Chong couldn't help but chuckle. He really wasn't looking down on Miyasame Ayaka. She just knew too little about Xu Qiqin, only that she was a woman masquerading as a man. Miyasame Ayaka had no idea that Xu Qiqin was actually extremely strong, comparable to Marchioness Yi.
However, in order to play the part of a man, she had intentionally concealed her aura and cultivation.
It was for this reason that Wang Chong had never once competed with her in martial arts or the like. He was simply no match for her.
"There's no need. Leave this matter to me. Just help me keep a watch on King Qi's side," Wang Chong indifferently said.
Although Miyasame Ayaka was weaker than Xu Qiqin, Wang Chong still did not dare to risk a fight. In his plans, Xu Qiqin was a vital member of Wang Chong's team.
This woman's skills in logistics were far too good, and she was also a woman, which meant that she was more meticulous and careful.
On the battlefields of his last life, Xu Qiqin's logistics skill had been enough for her to view the entire world with disdain. Even someone as paranoid as King Qi had great trust in her, placing the logistics of basically his entire operation in her hands.
If he had had this sort of talent helping him, Wang Chong would not have had to lead an army of tens of thousands on an empty stomach and ultimately come to a dead end.
Now he had been reborn, and Xu Qiqin had still not made a name for herself, at least not on the level of her reputation from his last life.
The Human Emperor c1-2382 Page 306
