Qin Shi Ambitious

Page 18

This can be seen from the fact that after Tian Zhongli made the contribution of "finding the scoundrels lurking in the upper echelons of the peasant family", he immediately recalled Xu Qiu, who was far away in Ji City, to work in the Qi State General Hall.

Xu Qiu and Xu Sheng must have seen through Zhou He's attitude, which is why they confidently competed with Tian Zhong, who had the support of the Tian family, for the position of successor to the hall master.

After all, the Gonggong Hall is still Zhou He's Gonggong Hall. He can't openly target it, but he can openly show favoritism!

Today, thanks to the gift from the Xiang clan, Lu Wei became instantly wealthy. Without hesitation, he allocated one-third of the three hundred gold coins in the giant chest to the system, raising his shop points to over one hundred, just in case.

This amount of points is far from enough to buy those expensive orange or red quality treasures, but it's definitely more than enough for daily needs: a bottle of highly effective healing pills only costs five gold!

There's also the Jade Soul Sword left over from the newbie bonus. This red weapon, which only costs twenty gold, will undoubtedly be a huge surprise to the enemy if you pull it out at a crucial moment.

He placed the black wooden box containing the pearls back into the huge chest, which was now missing an entire layer, closed it, and turned around, a hint of worry appearing between Lu Wei's brows:

"Xu Sheng has now become one of my problems as well..."

He felt troubled whenever he thought of the young master Xu's condition. In the first few months after the war with Luo Wang, even though Xu Sheng was seriously injured and disabled, he was still able to maintain his original personality. He even thought that after the caravan mission was completed, he would take him to Qi to fight against Tian Zhong.

Lu Wei made excuses at the time.

However, since entering the Chu region, Xu Sheng, whose internal injuries were gradually healing, became gloomy. He not only refused to see anyone, but also covered his body with a thick black robe, which was obviously very abnormal.

Regardless of whether the Xu family father and son wanted to use him, the benefits Lu Wei received from them were real. Even setting aside these favors, he personally needed the Xu family father and son to hold off Tian Zhong for at least another year.

Therefore, Xu Sheng's abnormal behavior cannot continue. If something happens to him, Xu Qiu will inevitably be affected as well.

Stepping out of the room, Lu Wei found Lu Ye and asked, "When will the disciple who reported the news to the main hall return?"

“The disciple sent out last month should have only just arrived at the main hall by now. It will take at least another month and a half for him to return to Shouchun,” Lu Ye replied without hesitation.

------

At the same time as the two were talking, in the State of Qi, at the headquarters of Gonggong Hall on Mount Daze.

Xu Tian, ​​from the Luqiu Pavilion caravan, met the hall master Zhou He without any trouble, instead of Xu Qiu, who had requested an audience.

This terrified him, and he knelt down with a thud.

The old hall master, who was over fifty years old, had black hair and beard and showed no signs of aging. However, due to the poor health of Elder Yu Tu, one of the six elders, he had to hand over the trivial matters of Gonggong Hall as soon as possible.

Only by giving up all gang positions and worldly life can one enter the Tomb of the Six Sages and succeed as an elder.

"Are you Xu Sheng's subordinate?"

Zhou He has been in charge of the Gonggong Hall for nearly twenty years, and he naturally possesses an imposing presence. In addition, his confirmation that he will succeed as the elder of the Farmer's Clan has added to his sternness!

"Yes...yes, my name is Xu Tian, ​​greetings, Hall Master!"

The other party's trembling reply displeased Zhou He, but he wouldn't deliberately torment an ordinary disciple, especially since this person contained information that interested him.

"By order of Manager Lu, I have come to headquarters to report on the caravan's situation... and the injury of Young Master Xu... Supervisor Xu..."

"Is young Xu injured?"

Zhou He was startled, but his expression remained unchanged: "What's going on?"

"I don't know, but ever since the caravan was assassinated by the enemy at Qingfeng Ridge, Manager Xu has not shown his face in front of his disciples. Manager Lu sent me to headquarters to tell Pavilion Master Xu about this."

"Assassination at Qingfeng Ridge?" Zhou He frowned. "Qingfeng Ridge in Qi territory?"

"Yes"

"And which disciple is this Manager Lu? Does Luqiu Pavilion even have a manager position?"

"The position of Fourth Steward is a newly created position by Acting Supervisor Lu, and Supervisor Lu, I only know that his name is Lu Ye..."

After saying this, Xu Tian cautiously observed the expression on Hall Master Zhou's face and added in a low voice, "The other three managers are named Lu Shan, Lu Yu, and Lu Mu..."

"Absurd!" Zhou He slammed his hand on the table beside him, startling Xu Tian into lowering his head.

But for some reason, the hall master, who was about to get angry, suddenly calmed down: "What's your name again, Supervisor Lu?"

Lu...Wei

"I've never heard Xu Qiu mention that he has five people with the same surname under him... How did Lu Wei become the acting manager of the caravan?"

"It was...Professor Xu who promoted him..."

Xu Tian's voice was even lower; if Zhou He hadn't possessed such profound skill, he wouldn't have been able to hear the whisper.

"After Xu Sheng promoted Lu Wei, he disappeared from your sight. Then, this acting manager Lu promoted the other four Lus to management positions?"

"Just as the sect leader said!"

"Take him away. No one is to see this man without my order!"

After instructing two trusted men to take Xu Tian away, Zhou He fell into deep thought. The disciple hadn't mentioned the name 'Zhou Wen' at all.

Given the friendship between his grandson and Xu, he would never easily let Xu get hurt...

Unless, this Lu Wei is approved by his own grandson!

"Furthermore, an assassination attempt occurred at Qingfeng Ridge against my Gonggong Hall disciples, and I, as the head of the Gonggong Hall, was completely unaware of it!"

"Shouchun..."

Chapter 25 Mechanical Arts Do Not Require Science

Zhou He really wanted to go to Shouchun to see the situation in person and also to meet his grandson who had gone to Chu.

However, he certainly couldn't leave the Gonggongtang headquarters at this time: traveling to Shouchun by fast horse would take at least two months, enough time to change many things.

“But we can’t ignore Xu’s situation. Only if he’s safe can Xu Qiu focus on his work…” Zhou He tapped his index finger lightly on the table, pondering a solution…

After a long while, he summoned two of his trusted confidants and gave them a few instructions...

Turning the camera back to Shouchun, in a rented courtyard, Lu Wei is watching Lu Mu tinker with the new mechanical devices he has learned.

By combining wooden blocks and gears, and tapping and hammering a few times, a slightly ugly little rabbit starts hopping aimlessly.

This amazed Lu Wei, who hurriedly asked what the power source of this thing was.

Lu Mu's answer was mechanical arts...

"I know it's a mechanical device, but why can this thing move?" Lu Wei continued to ask, unwilling to give up.

"Because it's a mechanical art..."

Lu Mu couldn't understand what his boss meant by the question at all. In his opinion, wasn't it normal to use mechanical arts to make a wooden rabbit that could jump two meters high?

But out of respect, he still answered as meticulously as he could.

"?"

Can mechanical arts generate power out of thin air? After gaining a deeper understanding of the scientific aspects of this world, Lu Wei's mouth gaped open for a long time before he forced himself to remain calm and accept the situation:

As long as you attribute it to mechanical arts, then everything unscientific becomes scientific!

With a flourish of his pen, he approved all the proceeds from the sale of his hundred-gold goods to Lu Mu to continue his research on the mechanical device. After that, he left the messy backyard piled with miscellaneous materials.

Clearly, with his materialistic and scientific perspective, he is neither suited to nor has the time to study those strange and unusual things. Let Lu Mu continue on the path of becoming a master of mechanical devices.

In the future, mechanical engineering will play a significant role in both agricultural tools and weapons!

Currently, most of the mechanical arts techniques are mastered by the Mohist and Gongshu families. The Farmer's Clan doesn't have such a long-standing tradition, and Lu Mu's talent is probably not as good as the core disciples of these two families. But Lu Wei has the blueprints for advanced technology!

Being fast in a straight line isn't necessarily fast; the opportunity to overtake on a curve is still on your side!

"The Gongshu family has already submitted to the Qin state. We need to find an opportunity to write a letter to the old man Gongshu in the future."

Lu Mu's work is progressing smoothly, but he can't neglect to check on his other three underlings.

Every morning, Lu Shan would lead his caravan disciples to the Yunmeng Market in the east of Shouchun City. His main tasks were selling goods and learning.

After all, Lu Shan took over the caravan's main business, which forced him to spend a lot of time studying and learning to read.

Illiteracy may make you a wandering knight-errant, but it will never make you a good accountant.

Lu Yu and Lu Ye acted together, faithfully following Lu Wei's instructions, and secretly selected fifty orphans around ten years old in the countryside outside Shouchun City to adopt and educate.

Although the peasant disciples in the caravan are now under the Lu brothers' command, those old hands still have families, relatives, and former superiors in Yan.

Xu Sheng has indeed been out of the public eye for a long time, but if he wanted to, he could easily take back control of the caravan.

While absolute loyalty from subordinates is extremely difficult to obtain, a mob that is always at risk of betraying one's orders is far less easy to manage than these orphans.

Moreover, Yamayu and Konoha themselves had been orphans for several years, so they had a personal understanding of the psychology and emotions of orphans, making it very relatable for them to teach these people.

After stuffing a box of "Military Training Manual" and some blue and green martial arts manuals into Yu Ye's daily inventory, and a box of elementary mathematics into Lu Shan's, Lu Wei completely relinquished control over the three of them's work.

The items have been given; whether the three of them can understand them, and how they can understand them, depends on their initiative.

The Yunmeng Market is known locally in Shouchun as the East Market, a place where goods and wandering knights from seven countries can be found.

The news that a large merchant caravan from the Yan Kingdom had arrived here and would stay for several months had spread widely throughout Shouchun, resulting in a large influx of people coming to see the goods recently.

Although the most valuable horses among the goods brought by the caravan from Chu had already been handed over to the Xiang family, resulting in no horse trade among the knights, the remaining specialties from Yan and beyond the Great Wall were still novel items for the people of Chu.

The northern liquor, in particular, is extremely popular among wandering knights, and the number of drunkards in Shouchun at night has increased significantly.

When you travel to another place, you must gather local intelligence.

In their spare time, the disciples of the Farmer School would be widely distributed in teahouses, taverns, and certain brothels.

This is partly their hobby, and partly a channel for gathering information.

The information obtained by the disciples was reported up the chain of command, and finally compiled by Lu Wei's four younger brothers before being handed over to Lu Wei for his personal review.

Therefore, even without leaving his house, Lu Wei could learn about the rumors and gossip circulating throughout Shouchun, the entire Chu Kingdom, and even the whole country.

This is one of the advantages of having a large number of farmers.

Lu Wei himself would sometimes put on makeup and personally visit those enchanting places.

His main purpose was to observe the customs of the Chu people and the usual behavior of the caravan's disciples.

It's not that I'm interested in slender-waisted Chu women; I only occasionally glance at those glamorous scenes to relax.

The results of my undercover investigation were: the overall quality of the farm children was indeed poor...

They are skilled at all kinds of indecent acts, such as speaking rudely, engaging in gang fights, and harassing dancers. When drunk, they are no different from thugs!

Admittedly, this is due to the overall environment in rural areas:

If there were any other way out, these people wouldn't have joined the farmers' caravan.

If the peasant family had been more rigorous in its assessment of disciples, the Six Halls wouldn't have tens of thousands of disciples on its roster today.