Martial Cultivator

As the news continuously returned from the north, coupled with the imperial court’s recent conscription efforts and all sorts of other actions within the heartland of the nation, the common people of Great Liang, no matter how indifferent they were to outside affairs, should by now all have become aware of one extremely grave matter.

That was that another great war between the demon race and Great Liang had already entered its countdown.

Moreover, the rumors spreading among the common folk were even more accurate, saying that this time the demon race was unprecedentedly serious, intending to gather the strength of the entire race and break through the south in one stroke. For this reason, the court had been making intensive preparations, with conscription and grain requisitioning proceeding in an orderly fashion.

Conscription was still manageable. Across the nine prefectures of Great Liang, there were millions upon millions of able-bodied men. In addition, ever since the early years of the Tianjian era, the imperial court had repeatedly increased the compensation for those killed in battle. The common people were therefore not particularly resistant to becoming soldiers. Furthermore, over the past decade or so, life had steadily improved, something the people could clearly see and genuinely feel. Thus, as soon as the conscription notices were posted, many able-bodied men directly enlisted.

However, if these newly recruited soldiers were simply dragged onto the battlefield immediately, it would be no different from sending them to their deaths. Therefore, during these days, the imperial court had established dedicated training grounds throughout every prefecture and province to drill these new soldiers.

As for grain requisitioning, things were not nearly as smooth. Although most of Great Liang’s tax revenue over the years had been spent on the Northern Frontier, the imperial court had not excessively squeezed the other common people within the nation, and taxes had always remained fairly low. This time, even with the additional levy, the court had no intention of wringing anything out of the ordinary people, merely increasing taxes by half a portion more. The real targets were actually the wealthy merchants and local gentry.

Their family fortunes were immense, so collecting more from them at this moment would not truly damage their foundations. But these wealthy merchants had always valued their wealth even more than their own sons, so this matter was not easy to handle.

Still, since orders from above had been issued with absolute firmness, officials at every level had no choice but to carry them out, even if it caused chaos everywhere.

Fortunately, there were also some wealthy merchants who were reasonable, and some even donated the majority of their fortunes outright, preventing the Ministry of Revenue from reaching the point of having no rice left to cook.

But under the current circumstances, the abacuses in the Ministry of Revenue were clattering nonstop, while they continued urging the various provinces and commanderies to collect the taxes as quickly as possible.

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On the official road of Yellow Dragon Prefecture, the court’s grain transport wagons traveled without pause. These supplies were transported from all over Great Liang to the Divine Capital. After being inventoried there, they would be sent onward to the Northern Frontier.

There was almost never any delay.

A caravan of about seven or eight wagons was also traveling along the road. The amount of goods was neither too much nor too little. They had purchased some tea in the south and were now transporting it to the Divine Capital for sale. The leader of the caravan was a valiant-looking woman, a little over thirty years old. She could not really be called beautiful, but she was extremely capable and efficient. With just a single glance, one would feel that she possessed heroic bearing.

The woman came from the Lu Family of the Divine Capital, and her name was Lu Qingling. Although she was not from the main branch, merely a descendant of a side lineage, the reputation of the Lu Family of the Divine Capital alone was enough to make her proud. After all, Great Liang had always had an old saying: when it came to overwhelming political power, the Wei and Xie Family were difficult to distinguish in superiority, but when it came to commerce, even the Wei and Xie Families combined could not compare to the Lu Family.

Of course, the Wei Clan had long since become a thing of the past, so the Lu Family’s achievements in commerce could now be said to stand on equal footing with the Xie Family’s position in Great Liang.

When they encountered that imperial court convoy on the road, Lu Qingling took the initiative to stop by the side of the official road and had her caravan give way, allowing the court convoy to pass first.

A deputy general responsible for escorting the grain glanced at the woman and merely nodded slightly as he passed, without saying anything more.

Lu Qingling also did not attempt any conversation that might delay them. Instead, she guided her horse down the official road and stopped in front of a tea stall not far away, saying, ”Rest for an hour.”

As soon as Lu Qingling spoke, the several martial artists responsible for escorting the goods all nodded. Riding their horses over to the tea stall, they then dismounted.

Their cultivation was not high, and their numbers were not large. If they had been tasked with escorting especially valuable goods, it would have been somewhat difficult for them. But these seven or eight wagons of tea were not worth all that much, so the few of them were actually just enough for the task.

The leader among the martial artists was a sturdily built man. He was not that old, probably only a little over forty, and had a full beard covering his face. Yet he did not look fierce, only honest. Because his cultivation realm was the highest, and coupled with his rather old-fashioned appearance, the other martial artists affectionately called him Old Zhao.

After sitting down, Old Zhao hesitated for a moment, then carried a large pot of tea toward the last wagon. There lay a pale-faced young man who looked sickly, as though he might die at any moment.

They had encountered him a few days earlier. He had been walking alone on the official road. Lu Qingling originally had no intention of bothering with him. After all, when traveling all over the world, the principle was always that fewer troubles meant better. But when she rode past the young man and took a glance at him, she felt that if nobody cared about him, he would probably die by the roadside before long. Only then did she ask if he wanted to travel together with them. Although the wagons were meant for cargo, if they squeezed together a bit, they could still make room for him to lie down somewhere. The young man thought about it and did not refuse. However, he quickly took out a shriveled money pouch and poured out two skygold coins, saying that was all the wealth he had, and it could count as travel expenses.

After thinking for a moment, Lu Qingling did not refuse either, though she only took one skygold coin and left the other for him. The young man did not put on airs about it, merely grinning as he said that with two skygold coins, he had originally been planning to eat a little better, though saving one coin was fine too.

At the time, Lu Qingling had only laughed it off, merely finding the young man somewhat interesting. After taking him in, he practically spent every day sleeping. At first, the others in the caravan were rather worried that the young man might quietly die on the road. Old Zhao in particular worried himself sick over it, almost coming to check on him every few hours. Every morning after opening his eyes, the first thing he did was check whether this fellow was still alive.

As things went back and forth like this, among everyone in the caravan, only Old Zhao and the young man ended up with the best relationship and the greatest familiarity.

Carrying the teapot over, Old Zhao nudged the young man lying among the goods with his arm. The latter opened his eyes and greeted him with a grin, ”Elder Brother Zhao.”

Old Zhao tossed the tea bowl in his hand to the young man, then plopped himself down beside him and joked, ”Not bad. You survived another day. Pretty good, earned yourself another day.”

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