Longzang

Chapter 960 God helps me
Wei Yuan read the edict denouncing the rebels several times, then laughed loudly three times, exclaiming that Heaven was on his side.

At present, the Western Jin Dynasty is practically one of our own. The business of the Zhao state is growing bigger and bigger, and the King of Zhao is obsessed with issuing currency. It is said that he plans to issue a second type of currency, named the Immovable Coin, which means "unmovable as a mountain".

With no suitable military operations in the surrounding areas, no refugees were coming to settle in, significantly reducing the country's fortune. Furthermore, the corruption of the Ji state's government was arguably the worst among the nine states, even surpassing the Western Jin Dynasty. Just how corrupt was the Ji state? It is said that even the Cui family of Ji Zhao withdrew from one of its prefectures a few years ago, abandoning their territory.

Wei Yuan had little interest in suppressing the rebellion, let alone intending to restore order to the Ji Kingdom's court. History had long since clearly stated that the root of most instances of political corruption lay with the emperor. While there were loyal and treacherous officials, their abilities were roughly equal. Even the most treacherous ministers were quite capable, perhaps even more so than many loyal ones.

Wei Yuan's plan was to use the pretext of suppressing the rebellion to march into the State of Ji, then spread the banner of Qingming and take in a large number of displaced people. This time, he would at least occupy two or three prefectures, and then leave no one alive in his path, relocating everyone back to Qingming.

Whether they can capture more counties depends on the rebels' fighting ability.

Wei Yuan excitedly opened the map, only to discover that at the southernmost edge of the map was still the State of Zhao…

Wei Yuan's heart skipped a beat. He hurriedly searched for maps, but the furthest map in his inventory only extended to the vicinity of Qingming, about 20,000 li. Wei Yuan immediately rushed to the Hall of Merit and Merit, and sure enough, there were detailed maps of the entire world available for exchange, and he could exchange for them all with his current authority.

At some point, Wei Yuan's authority had become equivalent to that of a Palace Master, granting him access to the entire sect's treasury. However, the maps were unexpectedly expensive; exchanging them all would cost over three thousand Heavenly Merit Points!
Fortunately, Wei Yuan currently has more Heavenly Merit Points than he can use, and this is even without counting the Heavenly Merit Points gained from killing the Flame Demon in the Desolate Realm. Otherwise, his Heavenly Merit Points would probably be over six figures.

After the exchange, the Hall of Merit and Merit began operating at full capacity, with bundles of jade paper being transmitted over in such a short time that it was impossible to receive them all.

Wei Yuan immediately felt uneasy. He opened an atlas and glanced at it. Each page of the map, covering only the territory of a county, was recorded in extreme detail. It not only showed the terrain's undulations but also the direction of the earth's spiritual energy. Even the location of a small forest on the surface was clearly marked. If they were going to go any further, they would have marked the spot where a thousand-year-old tree was.

Upon seeing these maps, Wei Yuan had a strange thought. In a normal family, simply possessing a few maps would be a capital offense. If they didn't have ulterior motives, why would they keep such detailed records?
The three thousand Heavenly Merits yielded over three hundred thousand maps, making it a worthwhile investment.

Most people probably wouldn't have a good way to handle so many maps, but Wei Yuan had the Human World skill. He immediately manifested hundreds of basic warriors to look at the maps together, inputting them one by one into the Human World skill, and then piecing them together again.

Gradually, a massive, outrageously detailed map emerged, encompassing the entire territory of the Great Tang and numerous surrounding areas inhabited by other tribes. In some places, it even extended over 300,000 li into the territory of the other tribes.

If it weren't for this exchange, Wei Yuan would never have imagined that the Taichu Palace actually contained a map of the entire territory of the Great Tang Dynasty. Even the maps stored in the Tang Dynasty's national treasury were probably no more impressive.

After examining them more closely, Wei Yuan noticed something amiss. These maps were likely created by generations of immortals from the Taichu Palace using their divine senses as they traveled the world, with blank areas later filled in by Yujing Zhenjun through on-site surveys. It was a massive undertaking, and he wondered why they were being done.

It took a full three days from the time the exchange was completed until the complete map of the Great Tang territory was formed.

After the complete map was completed, Wei Yuan set up a separate hall in the Creation of Heaven and Earth Research Institute. Inside the hall was the complete map of the Great Tang territory, which could be zoomed in and out at will. Apart from immortal plants, no mortals were allowed to enter this hall, lest they discover the differences between the Mind Realm and the real world.

From the complete map of the Great Tang territory, Wei Yuan finally found the location of the rebellion in the State of Ji. Then he reached out and started from Qingming, winding his way south along the mountains and rivers, feeling increasingly disheartened with each stroke.

The straight-line distance from Qingming to the border between Yongzhou and Jiaozhou, where Liu Heihu of Ji State rebelled, is 190,000 li. But this is the straight-line distance.

Because they had to bypass the border of the Zhao state, and there were no well-established roads in the border region, the route was winding and meandering, and the total marching distance was 350,000 li.

Land marches were out of the question; the only option was to transport troops over long distances by airship. But traveling hundreds of thousands of miles by airship would be incredibly costly, meaning the battle was already largely lost before it even began.

Wei Yuan spent half a day looking at it and tried countless methods, but in the end he could only give up.

Wei Yuan turned his gaze to the southwest, preparing to open a breakthrough here and launch a strong attack on the mountain people. However, this route of advance was bordered by the State of Zhao to the left and Zhenshan Territory and Song Cui's Mujia Territory to the right. He would have to advance more than 15,000 li before he would have ample space to maneuver his troops.

At this time, Qingming was building two more fortresses in the northwest direction facing the Wu tribe, in preparation for possible retaliation from the Ancestral Wu.

There is currently no war around Qingming, nor can it find any opponents. There is still a large buffer zone for Qingming to slowly expand.

The surrounding forces have already obtained accurate intelligence and know that the limit of Qingming's expansion is 10,000 li. Therefore, apart from the Azure Water Realm, which is unable to move, the other forces have long since ceded their territory within this range, insisting on not giving Qingming any excuse.

Back when Wei Yuan was still alive, people didn't regard Qingming as such a monstrous threat. But ever since he was exiled and Zhang Sheng took power, Qingming has become like a swarm of wasps that have been disturbed, flying around everywhere and fighting battles whenever they have an excuse.

Unfortunately, the Qingming Army had a strange system, and their fighting power was fierce and they were as swift as the wind. The people could neither fight them nor escape them. They were captured and released, then captured again. After the Zhantian Gang captured them, the Mietian Gang captured them, and after the Mietian Gang captured them, the Toutian Gang captured them. It was truly a miserable situation.

Everyone breathed a sigh of relief after Wei Yuan returned.

Now, Wei Yuan felt all he could do was focus on construction, but the million-strong army was already restless. It was rumored that some young generals were secretly plotting to make Wei Yuan a kind of outer robe. As the saying goes, misfortunes never come singly. Wei Yuan's peaceful days were short-lived; two things happened in quick succession, one internal and one external. One was that another suspected inner demon had been captured, this time mixed in with a dozen or so mortals. Even the immortals couldn't distinguish the true inner demon and could only wait for the Creator Immortal to handle it.

Wei Yuan couldn't quite remember whether this was the seventeenth or eighteenth inner demon.

Another incident involved a prisoner named Hulegaoen who suddenly went berserk, demanding to see Wei Yuan or he would starve himself to death. This guy had been quiet and unassuming all along, and everyone had almost forgotten he existed. Now, with this outburst, the guards remembered that he was still in the late-stage of the Dharma Aspect realm, and that a self-destruction would be disastrous. So they rushed to report to Wei Yuan.

The matter of inner demons wasn't urgent; Wei Yuan had become interested in this prisoner. He reviewed the file and found serious gaps in the records, only noting that this guy had once fought with Zhang Sheng, who wasn't yet a Dharma Aspect cultivator, and was subsequently riddled with flying swords. Beyond that, there was little else recorded; the only line about his identity was: Nickname: Whip of the North.

Wei Yuan was greatly surprised. He had calculated at the northern mountain gate that his opportunity lay with this man called the Whip of the Northern Border. However, even after he had tricked the Left Wise King, he still hadn't seen the Whip of the Northern Border.

But speaking of opportunities, what opportunity could be greater than seizing the core of the cave and capturing the Mirage Demon Clan? Therefore, after the battle that day, Wei Yuan didn't pay much attention to this matter and hurriedly returned to Qingming.

I never expected this guy to run off to Qingming on his own and be locked up silently for so many days. Could it be that when I was fishing that day, he was the one I caught?
But Wei Yuan thought about it and felt something was off. He had paid such a high price to fish, and all he caught was a shrimp? Although it was said that nine out of ten fishermen in the world were actually feeding the fish, Wei Yuan always felt that he should be the special one.

So Wei Yuan moved to the dungeon and interrogated the whip of the northern border.

Previously, the Whip of the Northern Border had already recounted all the secret realms he had experienced, the treasures he had handled, and the special techniques he had used in his life. After reading them, Zhang Sheng found nothing special about them, so he tossed them aside and completely forgot about the person.

A moment later, the Whip of the Northern Border was brought into the interrogation room and stood before Wei Yuan. Wei Yuan looked the Whip of the Northern Border up and down. By Liao standards, he was rather short and had an unusual appearance.

Wei Yuan spoke first: "So you are the Whip of the Northern Border? What business do you have with me?"

Instead of answering, the Whip of the North asked, "What's the date today?"

"The 17th day of the ninth month of the first year of the Hongjing era corresponds to the first day of the fourth month of the rainy season according to the Liao calendar..."

Upon hearing the date, the Whip of the North's expression changed. He said, "Damn it, I forgot the date! I intend to exchange a secret for my freedom. If this secret is particularly important to you, I'll have to give you additional compensation!"

Wei Yuan had never seen this kind of negotiation before, and immediately said, "Okay, tell me, what's the secret?"

The Whip of the North said, "First, swear an oath!"

Wei Yuan then ordered his men, "Take him away and lock him up for several decades first."

The Whip of the North was shocked: "You don't want my secret anymore?"

Wei Yuan was in a hurry to capture his inner demon, so he didn't have time to waste on him. He immediately waved his hand impatiently: "Take him away!"

"Wait!" the Whip of the Northern Frontier shouted, then stared at Wei Yuan and said, "Can I trust you?"

Wei Yuan sneered: "You have no choice."

The Whip of the North sighed and slowly said, "You're very capable; you know I have no other choice. If we delay any longer, it will truly be too late. My real name is Hulegaoen, also known as the Iron-Cutting Blade. I am not entirely of the Liao ethnicity..."

"Get to the point." Wei Yuan was very impatient, eager to interrogate the inner demon.

The Whip of the North smiled wryly and said, "The key point is that I discovered a secret realm not far from here. Within this realm lies a hidden passage leading deep into the mountain people's land, a place teeming with mineral deposits. Although they're mostly common gold, the veins are large enough to contain rare ores. Is that secret big enough?"

Wei Yuan immediately produced a map and asked Hulegaon, "Where is the secret realm, and where is the exit?"

Hulegaon pointed to two places. Wei Yuan's heart skipped a beat!

The mineral resources are one thing, but the main problem is that although the export location is within the territory of the mountain people, it is only about 10,000 miles away from the border of the Ji Kingdom.

(End of this chapter)