Eternal Sword

Chapter 172: The Benevolent Emperor
Misty Village.

Chen Tang and his three companions have been here for nearly ten days.

Chen Tang would persist in practicing every day and never slack off.

After several battles before and now with more practice, his cultivation has improved extremely fast and he has made another breakthrough, reaching the upper seventh level!

Continuous actual combat, experiencing life and death, and bloody fights do have a very obvious improvement in one's cultivation.

Especially in the first four realms, every battle consumes a great deal of mental and physical strength, and then recovery and recuperation are repeated over and over again to maximize one's potential.

Apart from Chen Tang, the most diligent and self-disciplined person is Chang Sun Ming.

He gets up on time and goes to bed on time every day, without wasting a moment.

When he got up in the morning, he would practice standing with a spear in his hand until the sun reached its highest point. He would sweat profusely and his whole body would be steaming hot before he stopped and rested.

Lu Qing laughed at the two of them at first.

But after a few days, she was infected by the two and began to practice with them in the woods outside the village.

Mrs. Lu was greatly relieved to see the changes in Lu Qing.

Her daughter has a bad temper and doesn't like to practice cultivation.

Unexpectedly, making these two friends had some positive effects on her.

Yuwen Heigou was still the same, still looking lazy, lacking interest in anything and not practicing much.

After lunch, Chang Sun Ming would take Chen Tang and others to the village entrance to listen to the old man telling stories.

Yuwen Heigou was not interested in this. He was just pulled over by Changsun Ming and took a rest aside.

Chen Tang was quite curious about the old man's stories about the previous dynasty.

Moreover, there was something he wanted to find an opportunity to ask the old man.

Chang Sun Ming called him and he just agreed.

On this day, the old man talked about the changes in the capital of the Qin Dynasty.

Among them, the Qin Dynasty’s first god of war, Yan Daoming, was mentioned again.

Chang Sun Ming could tell that the Yan Daoming the old man was referring to was the former number one war god of the Wu Dynasty, Murong Daoye!
The first person of the Wu Dynasty was naturally Emperor Wu.

Under Emperor Wu, the one who was known as the number one god of war and the number one master of the Wu Dynasty was the head of the Murong family, Murong Daoye!

In the past few days, the old man mentioned Yan Daoming many times in the stories he told.

When talking about the change in the capital today, he said bluntly: "Yan Daoming was highly valued and trusted by King Qin, and was appointed as Jingzhao Yin and a general. However, during the change in the capital, he abandoned King Qin and left."

"In fact, Yan Daoming had already had second thoughts and wanted to establish himself as king. If Yan Daoming had stayed by King Qin's side at that time, the Qin Dynasty might not have collapsed."

After hearing this, Chang Sun Ming couldn't stand it anymore and stood up and couldn't help but refute: "What nonsense!"

"The fall of the Qin Dynasty was caused by the Emperor Qin himself. He was cruel by nature and unpopular. He insisted on marching south and was ultimately defeated. His country was destroyed and his people died. What does this have to do with Master... ahem, God of War Yan Daoming?"

“You know, after the defeat in the Fushui battle, if it weren’t for the God of War Yan Daoming escorting him all the way, King Qin would not have been able to return to the capital alive!”

The old man nodded and said, "Yan Daoming did have the merit of escorting them back then, so I didn't say that he betrayed his former master, I just said that he later abandoned his master and left. Moreover, this is what he deserves."

"Back in the court, King Qin's advisers saw that he had two minds and would become a great threat to the Qin Dynasty in the future, so they repeatedly advised King Qin to get rid of him, but King Qin refused."

"Later, when this strategist's advice failed, he set up a scheme to borrow Yan Daoming's golden sword and trick his son into rebelling..."

The old man recounted the entire Golden Sword Plan in detail, and everyone present, including Chang Sun Ming, broke out in cold sweats.

This vicious plot is really unsolvable. If it had never happened, could this old man really come up with such a perfect plot?
Chang Sun Ming believed the old man's words and asked, "What happened next?"

The old man said: "This plan still failed. King Qin had no doubts about Yan Daoming. Instead, he comforted him and treated him as before. Isn't this trust worthy of Yan Daoming's swearing to follow him until death?"

Chang Sun Ming was stunned.

If he were King Qin, even if he didn't kill the God of War Yan Daoming, he would still be wary and suspicious of him. How could he entrust him with such an important task?

Could a person with such a broad mind be a cruel person by nature?

Chang Sunming was still somewhat reluctant to believe it. After all, this was very different from what he had known before.
"Where did you hear all this? It sounds so real. Does Emperor Wu really have such a broad mind?"

Although he said this, Chang Sun Ming's tone had become much weaker.

Moreover, he didn't even notice that he unconsciously said Emperor Wu.

The old man was not annoyed, but asked in return: "You said that Emperor Wu was cruel and unpopular. Where did you hear that?"

The old man also continued speaking along with Emperor Wu.

"Naturally..."

Chang Sun Ming hesitated and said, "Everyone says so."

The old man said calmly: "This is natural. Whoever controls the world controls the past."

Chen Tang and the others were shocked when they heard this.

The old man continued, "At that time, the north was in chaos for years, with foreign races invading, many heroes rising up, and countless arrogant and brave generals. Whenever they captured a city, they would massacre the city, allowing their soldiers to plunder everywhere and vent their animal desires."

Chang Sun Ming nodded.

He had also heard about this.

Not only massacres, but even cannibalism occurred occasionally.

At that time, massacre did have some benefits for the army.

On the one hand, they could eliminate any worries by slaughtering the able-bodied soldiers in the city and leaving only women and children, who would then have no power to resist.

On the other hand, a lot of food can be saved, wealth can be plundered, and war can be used to support war.

The soldiers in the army will naturally be more loyal if they gain rich rewards and benefits.

However, if you were a citizen in the city, this would be an unimaginable disaster!
The old man said, "I will just say one thing. When Emperor Wu unified Northern Shenzhou, he fought countless battles. His troops were strictly disciplined and never killed surrendered soldiers or generals. He never massacred a city or a pond. Even when dealing with foreign enemies, as long as they surrendered, he would entrust them with important tasks."

"I have never killed any surrendered soldiers or generals, and I have never massacred any city or pond!"

These two sentences echoed in Chang Sun Ming's mind, deafening.

He was stunned. It was really hard for him to imagine that in that chaotic era, there was a monarch who could do this and eventually achieve great success!

Chen Tang felt a sense of sadness.

In such a chaotic world where humanity was destroyed and animal desires were rampant, massacres, famine, killing, cannibalism... were common, yet a benevolent emperor like Emperor Wu was born.

The old man said: "Whether it is Murong Daoye or Yuwen Mao, they are all surrendered generals of foreign races, but they are all trusted and valued by Emperor Wu. It's a pity that Emperor Wu trusted the wrong people after all."

"Murong Daoye simply abandoned the Emperor, and Yuwen Mao, as the leader of the Longxiong Army, chose to betray the Emperor after the Battle of Snow Ridge, when the Emperor was at his weakest, and killed him with his own hands!"

"Yuwen Mao's current wealth and status were gained by murdering his former master!"

　Today I have updated three chapters with 6000 words. I feel that it is easier to write 2000 words per chapter. After all, I have been writing for many years...

　　
　
(End of this chapter)