diymy Chapter 11 The initial formation of military symbols
Chapter 11 The initial formation of military symbols
Tianjin.
The first thing Si Chen received was not the emperor's reaction, but the Duke of Yingguo's reply.
"I almost forgot, the emperor abolished the post stations, which rendered him deaf and blind."
Si Chen opened the leather tube, took out a piece of white paper, which was silky smooth to the touch and as clean as a mirror, with a blank surface.
The smooth, delicate paper reminded him of unpleasant things.
Is this thing made of human skin?
But something that a samurai has been running around for all night can't be a wasted effort.
After a moment's thought, Si Chen picked up his pen and wrote, "Too much money to burn?"
Zhang Shize's handwriting immediately appeared: "What? You think the money is dirty?"
Si Chen could almost see through the paper and imagine the scoundrel's ugly face.
"No, I certainly don't mind the dirt, it's just that some people have sensitive hearts."
"When someone was young and infatuated, he longed to build a golden house and have a dragon maiden, wearing wooden clogs and a skirt with copper bells, dance for him. Mountain spirits would accompany him with wine, spring guests would sing songs, and snow would be swept and tea brewed. In his waking hours, he would play the zither and listen to its melodies, and at night, his beautiful wife would read with him. In his drunken state, he would be unaware that the sky was reflected in the water, and his boat would be filled with dreams that pressed down on the Milky Way. What a romantic and carefree life!"
Si Chen picked up his pen and sighed, "Alas, that was nothing but youthful ambition."
The child is just kidding and doesn't understand.
Why did you actually take it seriously?
Zhang Shize: "Then I wish you all your dreams come true soon."
With a single stroke of the pen.
The pristine white paper turned to ashes, dissipating into the air through the gaps between Si Chen's fingers.
"I have so much money I don't know what to do with it." Si Chen drifted off to sleep in the winter sun, feeling every scale on his skin stretch out, the scales under his skin like flowing silk, shimmering.
That's the downside of being a dragonborn: the stronger the bloodline, the more irresistible this instinct becomes.
Emperor Jiajing was already considered one of the worst among them. He was drowsy for many years, his spiritual energy dissipated, and fires broke out everywhere in the palace.
Emperor Wanli slept for nearly ten years, which led to him being assassinated in his dream and leaving him with chronic illness.
The emperor, now crippled, became even less inclined to attend court.
He simply hid in the inner palace.
The Tianqi Emperor was fond of craftsmanship and delved deeply into it, which ironically prevented him from developing this problem.
But Emperor Chongzhen, it is said that he was originally a fish-dragon, and he had never seen such a diligent emperor. He really could endure hardship!
But diligence alone is useless; if you're going in the wrong direction, the harder you try, the more you fail.
He was driven by passion alone, but lacked both the courage and the ability to govern a country.
Back then, Emperor Wuzong conspired with the eunuchs, took the imperial seal, appointed himself to an official position, wrote an edict, stamped it, and then ran away over the wall. The Grand Secretaries of the Inner Cabinet searched for two days before finally finding out from his personal eunuch.
Even if Emperor Chongzhen were willing to send the nobles to other towns, he could easily bribe them to death.
Since the emperor couldn't make up his mind, Si Chen decided to help him.
Then I'll leave you with no choice, isn't that enough?
Si Chen's unconscious spiritual energy spread, inadvertently staining the surrounding area with a bluish hue.
The psychic winds from the highest heavens blow here.
Perhaps before long, a mineral vein could even form here.
"Sir, there's something I need you to handle."
When Jia Chen knocked on the door with an account book in his hand, he walked into the room without looking to the side and was immediately wide-eyed to see that it had been transformed into a paradise of jade.
"My goodness, this is incredible!"
If Si Chen achieves great success in the future, a jade empire will be indispensable.
Just like the Silver Empire of the Ming Dynasty.
"Who awakens first from the great dream? I know myself best." Si Chen got up, stretched his body like a cat, his bones cracking and popping, and exhaled a breath of stale air, instantly lowering the temperature in the room.
The power of the Dragonborn is growing.
"What are you muttering about?" Si Chen asked seriously. "What is it?"
It can't be that another nest of rats has been discovered in the city.
Jia Chen opened his palm, revealing a child's skull. "Someone is collecting human bones in the refugee camp and burning the corpses to extract corpse oil."
Si Chen suddenly sat up in shock.
"Who is it?"
Do you perhaps think my flying sword is ineffective?
Jia Chen pressed his hand on the ring-pommel sword at his waist. "I don't know yet. The transaction takes place in the ghost market beneath the South Canal."
"A skull like this is worth ten gold coins."
"The oil extracted from women is more expensive."
"It is said that these are all methods passed down from South India, and such ritual implements are even more powerful."
The whole of South India is a pile of dog shit.
Only in a caste system could such inhumane stories be born.
With the addition of the East India Company, this inhumane business was able to expand worldwide.
Si Chen never expected that it would also become widely known in the Central Plains.
Si Chen lowered his head, his eyes gradually sharpening. "The sons and daughters of Han are the descendants of the Han emperor, while the barbarians are all fish and turtles, beasts. What is there to regret in exterminating them? It is pitiful that my sons and daughters of Han have to die because of their greed."
"Before dusk, remove that bastard's head and hang it on the mast at the confluence of the three rivers, to set an example for others."
"Anyone who makes a deal with him will be killed without mercy!"
This is how we should do things, Jia Chen said with a happy smile, "Yes, sir!"
Finally, I can go on a killing spree.
When was the last time I was allowed to go on a killing spree?
I remembered.
They are remnants of the White Lotus Rebellion in Shandong, following the rebellion of Xu Hongru.
Worshiping the Eternal Mother is one thing, but they insist on extracting the souls and essences of talented women to create animals through the art of harvesting life and mutilating them, quickly turning them into demons and monsters.
That was a necessity.
Jia Chen raised his arms, his entire body covered in armor. A warrior of the Tang Dynasty, he drew his blade and jumped into the Haihe River, stepping into the Ghost Market at the intersection of the spirit world and reality.
It is said to be a place beyond the reach of spiritual practitioners.
It is also a haven for criminals.
Si Chen stepped out of the room, which had now transformed into a large military camp.
Originally a missionary church, it housed a school for discerning the will, an orphanage, and a pharmacy, all connected together.
Because large tracts of land around the area were registered under the names of scholars, they were all bulldozed at this moment.
After all, it had already been burned to the ground by Si Chen.
The camp, which sprang up overnight, was about two hundred paces long, facing the Haihe River, forming a semicircle, with wooden walls and arrow towers standing tall.
Thirty paces in front of the wooden wall, a trench was dug, two zhang wide and one zhang deep. Soil was piled up at the edge of the camp to form a low wall. Water was poured last night, and today it has formed an ice wall.
It cannot be compared to Tianjin Weicheng, but it is sufficient to keep out wild animals and drive away refugees.
The supply area occupied one-fifth of the camp, and the granary and the quarters where the officers were stationed were adjacent to each other, leaving a large blank space. The stables were completely empty.
With Si Chen's location as the central axis, low-rise houses are distributed around him like stars surrounding the moon.
The latrine pits were set up away from water sources, on dilapidated field ridges, in a sheltered spot in the camp.
The cooking stove was located in the northwest corner of the camp.
Behind the camp were abandoned farmlands, overgrown with withered grass and willows, with weeds reaching up to the ankles, and the paths between the fields were indistinguishable.
When the Jurchens invaded, it was burned to ashes. Arrowheads and remains of corpses still remain inside.
To the right of the camp were shacks where refugees gathered, with reed mats as roofs and loose soil as walls.
Some came from Hebei and Shandong, while others came from the south.
On the left is the now-empty customs office and more than two hundred illegally built warehouses.
Five li from the camp gate towards the riverbank lies the fish market.
The camp was quiet and still, with burnt-out fish oil lamps stuck everywhere. The garrison soldiers, wrapped in mandarin duck battle coats, huddled at the camp entrance, dozing off.
The air was thick with the smell of burning bones, mixed with the aroma of fish.
A few wisps of smoke rose from the embers of the campfire outside the camp.
Zhu Yiding, holding a sword, presented a tortoise-shaped talisman. "Your Excellency, the military talisman was completed last night."
"The initial completion of this item is a silver tortoise talisman; these garrison soldiers are indeed quite good."
Troops with fewer than three thousand soldiers evolved into tortoise-shaped formations, which were distinguished by their bronze, silver, and gold talismans.
Si Chen reached out and took it, and immediately felt that the more than 1,320 people in the camp were clearly in his sight.
There were also about two hundred people on the other side of the Haihe River, whose location could only be vaguely sensed, and whose breaths were connected.
The military tally melted away like flowing water, converging in the heart, and more than a thousand dim points of light appeared in the inner vision.
Si Chen clenched his fist, feeling an unprecedented sense of solidity.
"Beat the drums, gather the troops."