Chapter 214: Extortion
For the time being, the Realm of Coldbelow was off-limits. He had already caused such a huge stir, he should at least wait for the dust to settle before doing anything else. In the meantime, he should make some targeted preparations.
Although he had only visited the Coldbelow a couple times, Wei Yuan had gained quite a lot from it: a pair of high-grade mystic treasure daggers, several thousand Cold Flies, and a small hill of nether soil weighing hundreds of thousands of catties. And of course, his greatest gain was the primordial spirit girl and her Yin Yang Dao Foundation.
That said, the pool of black water within his jade hill seemed even more mysterious than yin and yang. Despite possessing the ability to “visit” his Dao Foundation, she had failed to see through the jade hill, she knew nothing about the pool of black water it contained, and she definitely hadn’t noticed the shadow in the moon.
For the time being, Wei Yuan decided to redirect all his energy back to the realm of Qingming. On one hand, he needed to cultivate karmic bonds as his Big Senior Sister had advised. On the other hand, Zhang Sheng had noted that having a large populace under his rule would also increase the cost of a Great Karmic Curse. The realm currently boasted a population of 120,000, and they had contributed over a thousand wisps of blue fortune to Wei Yuan. He reckoned that all of them would become targets of the Great Karmic Curse if it were to descend this very moment.
The problem Wei Yuan currently faced was an old one: a shortage of food. The realm only had enough grain reserves to last its population for another five days. Outside their borders, the Shamans were still watching and waiting for an opportunity while continuously reinforcing their main camp. In the north, the whereabouts of the Shamans’ main force remained unknown, though they could appear at the realm’s borders at any moment.
At the moment, Wei Yuan’s strategy was to play the “porcupine”. If the Shamans’ main force were to launch an all-out assault with no regards for the cost, then of course the realm was going to fall, and he would have no choice but to remove Qingming and flee. But before that happened, Wei Yuan intended to inflict heavy casualties upon the Shamans, fighting until the very last commoner had given their all. With the blessing of “Life is a Flash”, if all 120,000 commoners were to fight to the death, they should be able to take out 50,000 elite Shaman troops give or take.
His strategy was set, so Wei Yuan summoned Cui Yu to discuss the corresponding troop movements and deployments. He intended to manufacture a new batch of miniature firearms loaded with two taels of gunpowder and equip every commoner with one—regardless of age or gender. The way Wei Yuan put it, this would ensure that everyone would be able to put up a fight when the invaders attacked.
But Cui Yu was conspicuously silent. After a moment, he said, “Junior Brother, even when our feud with the Northern Liao were at its hottest, there was a rule where one does not kill those who are shorter than a wheel. Similarly, Shamans do not kill women and children. Instead, they keep them captive to be used as sacrificial offerings in the future. Although being kept captive like this is no different from being treated as livestock, at least they can live for several more years. But if we do this, then we are effectively pushing the elderly, the young, and the women to the front lines—they will die on the battlefield.”
Wei Yuan replied slowly, “You said it yourself, Senior Brother. Those who are captured by the Shamans live no better than beasts. If that is the case, then why go on living at all? It would be better to die gloriously in battle! If Qingming falls, not a single one of these hundreds of thousands of commoners will survive for long anyway. In my view, they should fight to the death rather than living a miserable existence—at least then they might have a sliver of hope.”
Cui Yu argued, “The people living in the Shattered Realm were barely surviving in the past couple years as well, yet they lasted until Qingming was founded, and Western Jin reestablished the commanderies, didn’t they? As long as one is alive, there is always a chance. But if one is dead, then all is lost. I don’t think we should make that choice for them.”
Wei Yuan frowned and said, “Senior Brother, when you deal with enemies or rivals from the noble clans, you are decisive and ruthless. When you are leading the troops, you are strict and impartial. This is completely unlike you.”
Cui Yu sighed. “All scions of a noble clan receive an education for a young age and lack nothing in terms of basic cultivation resources. They of all people were granted countless opportunities throughout their lives. Thus, I feel not a shred of guilt no matter how I use them. Even if I tricked them into walking to their deaths, it is their fault for being too stupid[1]. But these commoners are different. They’ve never been educated; never had a meaning or purpose for as long as they lived. They’ve never had the right to choose, but now we have the power to grant them that choice. Naturally, we should allow them to make their own choices.”
Wei Yuan finally understood. Cui Yu was quite harsh toward those of the same background as him, yet he harbored an inexplicable sympathy and protectiveness toward commoners.
However, Wei Yuan had no intentions of heeding Cui Yu’s words at this moment. He said, “Senior Brother, the vast majority of these people cannot read a single letter. If not for the war, they would never have ventured more than a hundred li from home their entire lives. Now, they are days away from starving to death—and you want them to make their own choices now?! Choose what? Choose the place where they’ll starve to death?
“Senior Brother, your ideals are lofty and ethereal, floating high in the clouds. However, these people are all living on the ground, wallowing in the mud. Until they’ve filled their bellies, those things in the clouds mean absolutely nothing to them.”
Cui Yu sighed and said, “The sages said that righteousness is worth sacrificing one’s life for. Righteousness is a matter of principle; it cannot be changed in life or death.”
Wei Yuan replied, “Senior Brother, Qingming might not be able to hold out if we lose even a fraction of our combat strength. The lives of over one hundred thousand people are at stake here, not to mention my own path to immortality. That is why I will utilize every ounce of combat power that is available to me. Besides, the only reason these people have survived this long is because of Qingming. I’m the one who granted them life, surely it’s not a problem if I refuse to watch them merely eking out an existence?”
Cui Yu simply let out another sigh and chose not to argue further. He prepared to leave.
“Senior Brother!” Wei Yuan called out to Cui Yu and asked, “You’ve never starved before, have you?”
“That is indeed true.”
“I have.” Wei Yuan said frankly. “When I was very young, I saw refugees eating people before. I couldn’t understand it at the time, so my father starved me for a few days, giving me only water. I’ll be completely honest with you: by the third day, everything looked edible to me, and by the fifth day, even the passersby smelled delicious. I was thinking that the best way to eat them was to roast them. It was then I realized: a person really is capable of anything when driven to the brink of starvation. Those things up in the clouds have absolutely nothing to do with them.”
Cui Yu paused for a moment, then pushed the door and left.
Not long after that, Wei Yuan left the central peak as well. He took ten scions with him and departed the realm of Qingming wearing masks.
..................
Willow Ash Town.
Yuan Qingyan had already finished breakfast and was sitting in his temporary yamen, preparing to read. It was at this moment a servant entered with a report, “General Hsu requests an audience, my lord.”
The official frowned slightly but ultimately set down the book he was holding.
Moments later, a burly general walked into the study. He clasped his hands once and bowed before taking a seat without waiting for an invitation. This caused Yuan Qingyan’s eyebrows to knit even tighter, but the general seemed oblivious to his reaction. He spoke bluntly, “Lord Yuan, I’ve been here for three days already. I was in such a rush to get here that I had brought almost no provisions with me—the main reason I was able to arrive within the deadline, mind you. I came to see you first thing this morning just to ask one question: Where are the provisions?”
Yuan Qingyan replied coldly, “General Hsu, with your vast wealth and influence, surely you need not worry over such a paltry sum of provisions? Besides, I allocated you ten days’ worth of rations as soon as you arrived. How could they possibly have run out already/”
General Hsu gave a cold laugh and said, “You said it yourself, Lord Yuan. What you allocated was merely rations—there isn’t a single morsel of meat to be found anywhere. Do you expect my ten thousand odd men to survive on plain rice alone?
“Besides, I expected the commandery city to offer some entertainment, but it turned out to be a ghost town. There aren’t even as many people here as there are soldiers under my command! I’ll be blunt, Lord Yuan: If this continues, I won’t be able to keep my men in line. If something were to happen, it would reflect poorly on all of us, yeah?”
Yuan Qingyan’s eyebrows shot up in fury, and he was about to explode.
General Hsu immediately raised his hand to stop him. “Hold it! Lord Yuan, your routine might work in the royal court, but it won’t work on me! I’m a rare heaven foundation cultivator—at worst, I’ll quit this shitty ass job and go home to cultivate in peace. But before I lose my position, rest assured that I’m going to destroy everything I can! Once I’m no longer a general, how the hell are you going to impeach me?
“Lord Yuan, my demands aren’t high. Within three days, my men must have chicken, duck, fish, and meat to eat.”
With that, the general simply stood up and left. He did not bid Yuan Qingyan farewell.
The commandery administrator’s face grew ashen, and his hands trembled slightly. Gritting his teeth, he muttered, “Rare heaven foundation... rare heaven foundation....”
Suddenly, he grabbed a teacup and smashed it violently against the floor!
Although Yuan Qingyan was an Avatar, and General Hsu a mere late-stage Dao Foundation stage cultivator, Yuan Qingyan’s Dao Foundation was Earth-tier. Reaching the Avatar stage had already been a stroke of luck, and it was extremely difficult for him to advance any further. That was why General Hsu carried far more weight than Yuan Qingyan in the eyes of the cultivators.
Yuan Qingyan’s anger subsided somewhat after smashing the teacup. He then summoned his chief clerk and asked for advice.
The chief clerk was getting on in years, but he was still well-fed and looked quite plump. After listening, he let out a chuckle and said, “Just chicken, duck, fish and meat? There is nothing for you to worry about, my lord. Setting aside distant solutions, isn’t there a household right here in Willow Ash Town that eats even better than we do?”
Realization struck Yuan Qingyan. “You mean the Xu Clan?”
“Exactly! The common folk may be gone, but the wealthy one is still here, isn’t it? Besides, one wealthy household is worth far more than a thousand common households.”
Yuan Qingyan said at once, “Take a few men and seek out Xu Jingfeng immediately. The fellow hasn’t kept in touch with us since sending us a gift last time—he really doesn’t know his place!”
“Worry not, my lord. This old servant will give him a good talking-to.”
1. So stupid they fell for it; so stupid they couldn’t make themselves valuable enough not to be sacrificed like fodder, and so on. ☜
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