Dragon Canon

Before coming here, Wei Yuan had done his homework and studied the political situation of the Western Jin court thoroughly.

The factional strife within the Western Jin court was quite intense. Among the various factions, the most prominent was the group of civil officials—the Qingliu—led by the Left and Right Counselors. However, the Left and Right Counselors were also at odds with each other, and currently, the Right Counselor was at a disadvantage. Otherwise, Sun Chao’en’s bribes would not have been accepted nearly as easily.

Next was the hereditary nobles and military officers led by King Cheng. King Cheng was the blood uncle of the current King of Jin. His cultivation was earth-shaking, and his Imaginary World had already begun to manifest externally. In the court, the vast majority of military officers holding significant troops belonged to this faction—but not Yue Jinshan.

Yue Jinshan belonged to no faction.

Then, there was the Eunuch Clique led by Liu Quangong, Grand Eunuch and General Director of the Directorate of Ceremonial, and Zhao Tong, Grand Eunuch and General Director of Writing. This faction received both overt and covert support from the King of Jin, but it was targeted by both civil and military officials and struggling.

Originally, this was the faction Wei Yuan had dreamed of joining. Although the Eunuch Clique had never enjoyed a good reputation in history, those records were also written by the literati. Naturally, they would never write a single favorable word about the Eunuch Clique. When Wei Yuan read history, he focused solely on the events themselves and paid no heed to the historians’ own judgments. Viewed in this light, he was able to discern many things he wouldn’t have otherwise.

Historically speaking, the shared interests of the Eunuch Clique were relatively straightforward. Their demands were simple as well: wealth being first, and power coming second. Most Eunuch Cliques[1] got the job done as long as they were paid well. On the other hand, civil officials coveted power, wealth, women, pleasure, and fame—in short, they coveted everything and always asked for more.

In any case, it was an exceedingly complex web of relationships. Just looking at it was enough to deflate anyone.

Another reason Wei Yuan wanted to join them was because the Eunuch Clique was the weakest of all the factions and possessed zero military authority. This was a shortcoming Wei Yuan could perfectly compensate for.

But as it turned out, there existed an even weaker faction in the Western Jin court: the consort kins. How weak were they, exactly? They were so weak that the central figure himself, the Xiang Marquis Wang Qian, had come knocking on Wei Yuan’s door.

Wei Yuan possessed a very clear sense of his own standing. In the Palace of Absolute Beginning, he was just a Dao Foundation stage cultivator. There were over 9000[2] such individuals within the sect. In the jianghu, he didn’t even count as a regional warlord. At best, he was a bandit king of a mountain and a patch of forest. But of course, Wei Yuan felt that his status had risen slightly after repelling the Shamans’ latest assault. Specifically, he was one step closer to becoming the number one horse bandit group in the western regions.

That was all. That was why he could hardly believe that a marquis of the royal court was personally extending him an olive branch. It was so unbelievable that even a novel writer wouldn’t dare to write such a plot, not unless the bandit leader had a nickname like “The Flower” or something.

Though, now that he thought about it, he did have a flower in his possession.

Wei Yuan said, “Surely the Xiang Marquis isn’t setting his sights on my immortal tree, right? If so, he’s got another thing coming.”

“He definitely has his sights on your immortal tree, but it’s not a must. That’s why he needs to assess your strength. Also, I suspect there’s something in the delegation that the higher-ups want, but they don’t want anyone to know about it. That’s why it would be best if this thing gets stolen. The Xiang Marquis wouldn’t have bothered mentioning it otherwise,” Sun Chao’en replied.

“Got it. I’ll play it by the ear when the time comes. However, I should say that the ‘service fee’ is going to be a bit steep if they’re just using me to settle a score,” Wei Yuan said.

The two quickly hashed out the details and settled the matter just like that. Meanwhile, Yue Qilin was fidgeting restlessly in his seat, wanting to leave but knowing he could not.

Seeing his constipated expression, Wei yuan chuckled. “Is the chair uncomfortable?”

Yue Qilin complained, “My worst offense was flipping some military provisions and equipment, but what the two of you are plotting could easily lead to familial exterminations, and I have a family! Dammit, I haven’t even had enough time to enjoy my new wife yet!”

Wei Yuan reassured him, “Nonsense. Flipping military provisions and equipment will also result in familial exterminations.”

He then added, “Speaking of which, I’m curious about something. You must already have everything you need. Why did you go so far as to sell me a million military provisions at once?”

Yue Qilin replied irritably, “First off, I’m not the one selling the grain. It’s Lord Sun and everyone else in the administration. Even Lord Lee is turning a blind eye on it, and trust me when I say he’s getting his fair share. Second, giving you the grain eases my conscience. Finally, there are no ghost positions in my camp. I have exactly eight thousand troops as per stated in the papers. However, my allocated funds and provisions are barely enough to feed half that number. If I don’t find a way to make money, then what are my men supposed to eat? This is the front lines; it’s only a matter of time before we fight against the Shamans. How can we possibly fight on an empty stomach?”

At that moment, Sun Chao’en spoke up. “Speaking of which, I have an idea. Since Mister Zhang is here, let’s discuss it together.”

The vice administrator produced another map and unfurled it—this one was also hand-drawn by him. The map was slightly less detailed than the previous one, but it was densely annotated, marking the defensive deployments across all four commanderies of the Shattered Realm.

Yue Qilin sucked in a sharp breath. “Are you planning a rebellion?”

Wei Yuan laughed. “You exaggerate, General Yue. I’m an upstanding citizen! I just want to know where the defenses are weakest and might be vulnerable to bandit raids.”

Several military forts were marked with conspicuous red circles—these were the traps set by Yue Jinshan. The others were marked with question marks. Wei Yuan and Sun Chao’en then looked at Yue Qilin as if they were waiting for something.

“Why are you looking at me? This is a capital offense! I’m not doing it!”

Sun Chao’en chuckled. “As if you haven’t committed enough capital offenses already. You don’t want the horse bandits to attack your uncle’s loyal forces, do you?”

Yue Qilin harrumphed and pointed at the map. “I only know of this one. I have no idea about the other strongholds.”

Wei Yuan nodded. “Four traps, huh? It’s more or less within my expectations.”

“What do you plan to do?”

Wei Yuan tapped on a small town on the second defense line and declared, “I intend to clear this place out.”

Yue Qilin recalled that the town had some stockpiled grain, but not much—only 200,000 to 300,000 catties. He asked, “You’re still short on grain?”

“No, but I need others to think that I am,” Wei Yuan replied.

Wei Yuan and Sun Chao’en’s conversation would continue until late into the night as they plotted several more schemes. Throughout the evening, Yue Qilin ate without tasting a single bite—after all, he was involved in every single one of these schemes.

Before attending this dinner, he could not have imagined that it would produce not one, but multiple capital offenses worthy of slow torture.

He finally understood the true meaning of the word “clique”. It could be used to mean a group of like-minded fellows, but it could also mean a group of reluctant allies.

Wei Yuan’s trip back to the realm of Qingming was a fruitful one. His robes alone contained multiple maps detailing stronghold layouts, trade routes, and even the distribution of mineral deposits.

For this scheme, Wei Yuan had no real intention of aligning himself with any particular clique. He merely sought to muddy the waters. Just give him a bit of time, and he would be able to deliver his enemies a surprise of sufficient magnitude.

Qingming had lost over 40,000 people after the recent major battle. With the military provisions they had secured before, food shortages were a thing of the past. They had enough to last until the harvest from the 20,000 mu of newly cultivated farmland.

Among the survivors, nearly half had gone through the crucible of war, while the rest, having lived in the realm of Qingming for some time, had seen significant improvements in their physical condition.

Wei Yuan did not have enough troops at his disposal. That was why he had long exchanged several Body-tempering stage cultivation methods with the lowest barrier of entry from the Palace of Absolute Beginning and distributed them to everyone. Today, out of the 90,000 or so remaining people in the realm, 40,000 had recently entered the Body-tempering stage. Thus, Qingming possessed a total of 60,000 Body-tempering stage cultivators at the moment.

The vast majority of these so-called Body-tempering stage cultivators were on the same level as the late peasants of Flying Sand Village. However, they were progressing faster thanks to Qingming’s domain and access to ample food and warm clothing. They were expected to reach the pinnacle of the Body-tempering stage within a few months.

In truth, anyone who survived the many torments of the Shattered Realm naturally possessed robust physiques. The weaker ones had long perished and never even reached adulthood.

Upon returning to the realm, Wei Yuan carefully selected three thousand new initiates. He planned to take them out for some training—specifically, he wanted to give them a taste of the caliber of Western Jin’s local defenses.

Here in Qingming, businesses were usually carried out in a swift and decisive fashion. Wei Yuan had returned during the wee hours. By the time the sky was bright, he and the troops had already set out, heading east.

1. It’s phrased this way because there are more than one across history. ☜

2. AYYYY REFERENCE SUCCESSFULLY PLANTED! ☜