Daqin Zhentiansi

Chapter 571 Without a hundred battles, there can be no army.
Cao Jiada walked nervously to the front of the road and looked at the people kneeling on the ground.

"you……"

He paused for a moment, then announced loudly, "The Marquis of Qingyang has ordered you to go to his carriage."

"If you have any grievances, you may report them."

He originally intended to ask these people if they were from Yushui County.

But before he could even utter a word, he was already on guard.

Even if these people were from Yushui County, or even if they were there to file a complaint against Cao Jiada, he couldn't stop them, he couldn't prevent them.

Rather than doing that, it would be better to be open and honest and let these people go directly to see Marquis Qingyang.

Fortunately, Cao Jiada governed Yushui for three years, during which he did not achieve any great feats, nor did he commit any evil deeds.

Compared to what he heard in the train carriage, Cao Jiada was actually a good official.

The porters and civilians who were lying on the ground looked at each other, threw down their carrying poles, and squeezed towards the army formation.

The five hundred black-clad riders, their armor gleaming coldly, appeared as if cast in iron in the cold rain.

More than thirty ragged people knelt before Zhang Yuan's carriage, their coarse linen below their knees soaked with mud and water.

Mud, mixed with bits of grass, splattered onto the black armor. The lame old man crawled three steps on his knees, his forehead slamming heavily into the muddy water: "Lord Qingyang, please uphold justice! Half a year ago, Muyai Village massacred my Yu Family Village, leaving only these old and weak among our three hundred people—"

He trembled as he lifted his tattered coat, revealing crisscrossing knife scars on his back: "Those damned bastards even chopped up the ancestral hall's offering table for firewood! The county government said the bandits were too difficult to suppress across borders, so this matter has been dragging on..."

The old man choked up as he collapsed into the muddy water.

Upon hearing this, Cao Jiada, who was standing to the side, trembled all over.

He knows about this.

Indeed, as the old man said, the county government was powerless to suppress the bandits.

A one-armed youth beside him trembled as he pulled out a broken arrow wrapped in burlap. The arrowhead clattered against the front of the cart: "This is the crossbow bolt that pierced my father's throat that night! They kill without any mercy..."

The young man was pale, as if recalling something terrible, and his hands and feet trembled involuntarily.

"My lord, my lord," the hunched old farmer prostrated himself and opened a paper package in his arms. The yellowed paper roll was wet with rain. "My lord, the Taoist priests from Xuanwei Temple have forcibly seized my ancestral land, saying they want to offer sacrifices to some 'Jade Emperor Immortal' from Qi who is refining elixirs..."

The gaunt woman collapsed to the ground, trembling as she cried out, "Your Excellency, on the third day of last month, the canal transport officials set fire to fishing boats on the Yuliu River, claiming they were acting on orders from the governor's office to clear the waterway. But it was clearly to make room for the newly purchased pleasure boat of the Cao Sima family..."

A thin scholar with whip marks all over his face squeezed out from the back of the crowd, holding up a torn account book and shouting: "The grain rations for Bailu County School have been replaced with moldy millet by the granary official, and the students who refused to accept it were whipped by the yamen runners!"

Bandits destroyed villages and slaughtered the people, yet no one came to quell the rebellion.

The underworld forces encroached on the people's land and controlled the trade routes, and the government did nothing to stop them.

When petty officials commit evil deeds, the people struggle to make a living.

The shouts echoed in the cold rain, filled with trembling and anticipation.

"The Marquis of Qingyang is a man of unparalleled righteousness and benevolence..."

"My lord, will you stand up for us...?"

……

In front of the carriage, the civilians who were crying out for justice were helped up by the soldiers and sent to the rear of the convoy for resettlement.

Inside the carriage, on the small table in front of Zhang Yuan, lay the yellowed land deed and half an arrowhead.

Zhang Yuan's expression was calm, but the atmosphere in the carriage was heavy, making Cao Jiada afraid to even breathe.

“My lord, this arrow shaft bears the wolf head mark of the Eastern Wei Zhen Dong Army.” Feng Cheng’s gaze fell on the arrow shaft as he spoke in a deep voice.

Cao Jiada stared at the dark patterns on the arrow shaft, his lips twitching violently—

Three months ago, the county magistrate's report on the suppression of bandits clearly stated that "the bandits used all homemade weapons."

“Yujiagou is only thirty miles east of your Yushui County, and the Chiyan Sect’s stronghold in Duanhun Gorge has even occupied the entire trade route into the county,” Zhang Yuan threw the crossbow bolt in front of Cao Jiada. “Magistrate Cao, shouldn’t you give me an explanation?”

"Is it because you've failed in your duties, or have you been bribed by these bandits?"

Cao Jiada knelt in the carriage, his mud-soaked official robe clinging to his legs, causing him to stumble and nearly fall. Clutching the broken arrow, Cao Jiada repeatedly kowtowed, pleading, "My lord, spare my life! My lord, spare my life..."

Zhang Yuan narrowed his eyes, tapped his finger on the hilt of the Autumn Frost Blade, and the faint sound made Cao Jiada's face twitch.

He knew that if he didn't provide a sufficient explanation, he might really lose his head.

The Marquis of Qingyang's blade has killed at least eight or ten officials of the fifth rank or above.

“My lord, the most important thing for us local officials is to stabilize the powerful families and safeguard the foundation of the Qin martial arts. We cannot and need not concern ourselves with the common people,” Cao Jiada quickly said, looking up at Zhang Yuan.

"Lord Marquis, you come from the Imperial Guard, so you should know that the martial arts tradition of the Great Qin Dynasty has never been broken. The military, aristocratic families, and Jianghu forces are the foundation."

"Take Donghan County for example, is His Majesty truly powerless to suppress it?"

He had already gone all out; if he didn't speak his mind now, he feared he would never have another chance to speak.

Zhang Yuan pressed his palm on the hilt of the knife and quietly looked at Cao Jiada.

Inside the carriage, Young Master Tao smiled and chuckled as he looked at Cao Jiada.

A hint of surprise flashed in Lu Changwu's eyes.

Cao Jiada is merely the magistrate of Yushui County, yet he dares to utter such words.

"The Great Qin Dynasty was founded on military strength, with scholars being poor and warriors being rich. Where would ordinary people have the opportunity to cultivate martial arts practitioners?" After catching his breath, Cao Jiada clenched his fist, straightened his neck, and shouted.

"Whether they were martial artists from the Jianghu or from aristocratic families, most of them were eventually absorbed into the military, either fighting for the country and dying on the border, or being conscripted to the northern border and buried on the Great Wall."

"The more chaotic the Eastern Territory, the more martial arts practitioners there are."

"Of the thirty-six prefectures of the Great Qin Dynasty, where else is there such a prefecture as Donghan Prefecture, where the influence of Jianghu forces is so widespread?"

"Over the past century, the Eastern Territory has conscripted at least ten million warriors to the Great Wall in the Northern Territory, of whom three million came from the Eastern Han County."

To raise an army.

To raise an army through chaos.

To cultivate military strength through chaos.

The cheapest soldiers are all conscripted from this chaos.

“I, Cao Jiada, also studied at the Imperial Academy and have seen the grandeur of the Imperial City and the majesty of the Zhen Tian Si.”

"I do not believe that the Qin Dynasty is incapable of destroying four kingdoms and three regions."

"Keeping them here is merely for training Qin's troops."

"An army cannot be formed without a hundred battles."

Cao Jiada clenched his fists tightly and breathed heavily.

He didn't know if saying these words would lead him to face the blade of the Marquis of Qingyang the next moment.

In the eyes of the imperial court, the truly valuable scions of noble families are martial artists from the Jianghu (江湖, the martial arts world) and martial arts practitioners who can form armies.

Ordinary people are nothing more than ants, their existence is dispensable.

This is the root cause of the unrest in the East.

These are things you can think, but you can't say.

The carriage was completely silent.

Zhang Yuan suddenly stood up, his black armor shattering the carriage curtain as the wind and rain poured down: "Cao Xuan!"

"The general is here!"

"Order the vanguard to change course to Luoyingjian." The blade sliced ​​through the rain, pointing northeast. "I want to see with my own eyes how these demons and monsters wreak havoc in my Donghan County!"

Five hundred black riders responded with a thunderous roar, their bloodthirstiness scattering the dark clouds that stretched for miles.

(End of this chapter)