Qin Shi Ambitious

Page 19

There are countless unofficial disciples who are not included in the roster.

These things are understandable, but Lu Wei believes that if he wants to achieve his ambitions, he cannot rely on these thugs!

Of course, Lu Wei understood that he couldn't rush things. He didn't yet have the ability to change the lives of farmers from the bottom up. If he wanted to do it, he should wait until he became at least the head of the Gonggong Hall.

Furthermore, one must never act blindly; the future Xin Dynasty emperor Wang Mang serves as a stark warning.

If you want to use discipline to restrain lower-level disciples, you must first let them experience the benefits of obeying discipline.

In other words, we must first make the pie of Gonggongtang bigger!

Motivating the masses requires whipping them with self-interest, while motivating righteous individuals requires coercion with prestige.

Lu Wei already possesses the methods and techniques to make Gonggongtang better, but he cannot release them until he has gained control of the power.

Otherwise, how can I convince everyone in the future that choosing me as the head of the hall was the best decision they ever made?

Without punishing the disciples who were causing trouble on the street, Lu Wei pretended not to see them and went straight out of the city towards the Xiang family's military camp.

Drinking with Xiang Bo and other Xiang clan generals was one of his recent forms of entertainment.

The Xiang family is a crucial future ally...

Of course, they might also be enemies.

Chapter 26 Hunting

Besides Xiang Bo, the Xiang clan also had two other young generals in the army: Xiang Dong and Xiang Liang.

Dong Liang and his brother were the sons of the commander-in-chief Xiang Yan, and both of them held higher positions in the army than Xiang Bo.

Among them, Xiang Dong, as the eldest son of Xiang Yan, is almost certainly the current young general of the Chu state.

However, what interests Lu Wei more is not Xiang Dong himself, but his son: the future Hegemon-King of Western Chu, Xiang Yu!

Of course, this overlord hasn't been born yet, but it's estimated to be within the next year or two.

"Brother Lu, you've come at just the right time!" Xiang Bo laughed heartily as he welcomed Lu Wei into the military camp, but instead of entering the central command tent, they went side by side to the horse farm.

The Xiang brothers, Xiang Dong and Xiang Liang, were changing into their leather armor by the horse farm, as if they were about to go to war.

When the two men saw Lu Wei arrive, they smiled kindly. Through Xiang Bo's introduction, the two had met a few days ago, but their relationship was not yet very close.

"Brother Xiang, are you planning to take action later?" Lu Wei asked seriously. "Did I come at the wrong time?"

"No, you came just in time!"

Xiang Bo took a bow from the weapon rack, drew the string and gestured a couple of times before laughing, "My brothers and I have nothing better to do, so we've been discussing going hunting in the countryside. Brother Lu, why don't you come with us?"

"Hunting?" Lu Wei waved his hand after hearing this: "I'd better not disturb the enjoyment of you brothers Xiang. I am really not good at archery. If I go, I will only embarrass myself."

"Hey~" Xiang Bo stuffed the bow into Lu Wei's arms: "It's just for fun anyway. If I hit a deer, I'll give you half of it!"

“Indeed, Brother Lu, now that you’ve come, it would be too impolite for the Xiang family to leave like this.” Xiang Dong’s cheerful laughter rang out. He walked up to Lu Wei and met his eyes. “To become a farm manager at the age of ten or so, Brother Lu must have something extraordinary about him.”

"I've heard that chivalrous heroes in the martial world can injure their enemies with a single flower or a flying leaf. If Brother Lu doesn't demonstrate this to me today, are you looking down on the Xiang family?"

“This…” Lu Wei smiled wryly and clasped his hands in a fist salute: “Since the young general has said so, I will not refuse.”

"Haha, that's more like it!" Uncle Xiang patted Lu Wei's shoulder with his big hand. He was quite strong, but Lu Wei remained steady and didn't move an inch. Xiang Dong noticed this and secretly made a note of it.

They casually led a few black horses, and the three members of the Xiang family did not bring any personal guards. Only Lu Wei accompanied them, and the four of them galloped out of the camp and quickly disappeared from the sight of the camp guards.

They spurred their horses to run extremely fast. The Xiang brothers seemed to be deliberately testing Lu Wei, and they started with a horse race right from the beginning.

About five minutes later, the group stopped galloping; the horses, which had been running at full speed, were exhausted.

As cavalry generals, the Xiang family loved horses and understood the potential dangers of their mounts at any time.

"Brother Lu, what excellent horsemanship!" Xiang Dong turned around and couldn't help but boast, "My knights can't keep up with the speed of us brothers."

Brother Xiang, you flatter me.

Lu Wei clasped his hands in acknowledgment of the praise: "I'm just thick-skinned and tough, I just forced the horse to accelerate, there's no skill involved."

“These past few days, I’ve called you Brother Lu, and you’ve called me Brother Xiang,” Xiang Dong said, raising an eyebrow and speaking seriously, “As friends, why be so formal!”

“From now on, you can just call me Xiang Dong, and I will just call you Lu Wei. We three brothers are reckless soldiers, and you are also a man of the Jianghu. How about we throw away those tedious formalities?”

"As Brother Xiang Dong commands!"

Lu Wei's answer satisfied Xiang Dong, and even Xiang Liang, who had been mostly silent, smiled. As for Uncle Xiang, his laughter remained loud throughout.

"Alright! Let's go to the hunting grounds now, hunt some wild deer, and have a barbecue!"

The four of them spurred their horses to a trot again. This time, Lu Wei took the opportunity to ask about the use of bows and arrows. His practical performance won the favor of the three Xiang brothers.

Upon arrival at the destination, draw the bow and shoot the arrow.

The hunt began quickly.

...

Over the course of the afternoon, they hunted six large deer, two fawns, and an uncounted number of other small animals such as rabbits and foxes.

As evening fell, Xiang Jun sent a special convoy to bring back the game. Having had his fill of fun, Xiang Dong watched as his soldiers loaded the game onto the carts and shouted loudly:

"Keep the fawn steady and avoid any bumps or knocks; we'll enjoy it tonight. As for the larger deer and rabbits, you can divide them among yourselves."

"Thank you, Young General!"

After giving instructions to the soldiers, the four of them walked slowly side by side at the front of the convoy. The breeze blowing in their faces was very stuffy and not refreshing.

"Lu Wei, are all the disciples of the Farmer's Clan as skilled as you?"

Xiang Dong's words sounded like a question, but judging from the smile on his face and the actual situation, it was clear that he was boasting about his military strength.

After all, what are ordinary disciples of farmers like? Could Xiang Dong, a young general of the country, really not know?

Having grasped this implication, Lu Wei naturally knew how to respond. He didn't directly answer Xiang Dong's question, but instead turned and pointed to the orderly marching convoy:

"Are all the soldiers in the Chu army as elite as Xiang Yu's army?"

"Hahaha!" Xiang Dong laughed loudly, his smugness evident in his eyes. "If what you say is true, then the banners flying in Xianyang Palace are probably those of my Xiang family!"

The arrogance of the Xiang family in this world is perfectly understandable:

Even when the King of Chu still bore the surname Xiong, it dared to call itself "the strongest clan in the State of Chu".

The generals of the Chu army only knew about the Xiang family's tiger tally but did not know what the king's decree was.

After the fall of the Chu state, the remaining Xiang clan forces completely abandoned the Chu royal banner and made the Xiang family the center of their efforts to restore the state.

It can be stated definitively that although the King of Chu belonged to the Xiong clan, the state of Chu belonged to the Xiang clan!

Therefore, no one found Xiang Dong's words about Xianyang Palace strange. Although Lu Wei knew that the Qin army was by no means so incompetent, he did not need to refute Xiang Dong at this time.

Besides, this successor will indeed be able to defeat the main force of the Qin army in the future; right now, it's just the father boasting about his son.

------

Under the bright moonlight, Lu Wei, reeking of wine and meat, was escorted back to his residence in Shouchun City by Xiang's soldiers.

Lu Yu had already prepared bathwater and a change of clothes for her brother Lu, showing the utmost thoughtfulness.

“Brother Lu, given our current status, we should hire some young maids for the mansion.”

Lu Yu symbolically helped Lu Wei up in front of the Xiang family soldiers, and after the outsiders left, he spoke in a serious tone:

“Those noble doctors all have maids to serve them and bed warmers. We brothers are much better off than those good-for-nothings. We should be entitled to what they have!”

"What, you're not willing to do these little chores anymore?"

Lu Wei smiled as he looked at his underlings beside him.

"Of course not!" Lu Yu shook his head violently: "I've heard that a true knight-errant can die for his lord's word, and I can do that too!"

"But now that Brother Lu has such a noble status, his lifestyle shouldn't be worse than those people's."

Staring at his underling whose values ​​seemed to have been corrupted by the world, Lu Wei's mind raced. He neither reprimanded nor agreed.

"I will handle my own affairs. You, Shan, Mu, and Ye only need to obey orders unconditionally, understand?"

"...Yes!" Lu Yu withdrew.

Compared to lengthy verbal lectures, a simple command is more likely to bring the fourth brother to his senses.

As for their gradually converging views with those of the powerful and wealthy, in this era, it is not necessarily a bad thing.

As long as you have the reins, it doesn't matter what kind of grass your horse likes to eat.

Chapter 27: People from the Main Hall

Happy and carefree times always pass much faster than times of sorrow and depression.

Another winter has arrived, and the New Year is just around the corner.

At this time last year, Lu Wei and his four younger brothers from Shan Yu Mu Ye had just deserted from the Zhao Kingdom and were hiding in a cave deep in the mountains, where they could only cook some wild vegetable soup and eat rabbits and rats that they hunted themselves.

Even on New Year's Eve, the fourth brother had to brave the freezing cold to hang lanterns from house to house because he wanted a bronze sword worth five knives.

Even though it was so hard, when they finally got the real weapon they had been dreaming of, they were overjoyed for days. The backyard of the inn was filled with the clanging and clattering of metal all day long.

Now, they have moved from the northernmost state of Yan to the southernmost state of Chu for temporary residence:

His subordinates included a whole caravan of peasant disciples, whose food and drink were all the finest items delivered by inns, and whose friends were all wealthy merchants, heroes, and even members of the Xiang clan.

Their lives took a complete turn, and they acquired it all so easily: they had only been traveling with a caravan for a few months.

However, when recalling last year, there is one thing that Lu Wei still cares about: the female voice that appeared out of nowhere behind him after he finished hanging the lanterns on New Year's Eve.

With Lu Wei's current martial arts cultivation, he himself admitted that he could not approach his past self silently and leave without a trace.

In terms of strength, Lu Wei compared himself to the killer-level Luo Wang he encountered at Qingfeng Ridge in Qi State: if he had won the revival match and then fought him one-on-one today, he might not necessarily win, but he could easily retreat.

The woman who appeared in Ji City possessed strength far exceeding that of the Luo Wang Killer level; such a person is extremely rare in the world.

At the time, Lu Wei guessed that the other party was Yan Fei or Jing Ni, but after careful analysis, he ruled out both of them.

As his strength grew rapidly, his curiosity about the person's identity intensified. However, nearly a year had passed, he had temporarily left Ji City, and the woman had never reappeared. This mystery could only remain unsolved...

With nothing else to do, I pulled my four younger brothers over to practice the Twenty-Four Earthly Branches.

Although everyone in the Mountain Rain Leaf Village currently has their own missions, these are long-term tasks, and they cannot afford to abandon their own martial arts cultivation.