Double penetration: This Three Kingdoms has dragon energy

Chapter 141 Assessing Strength and the World Order
Half a year has passed in the blink of an eye.

It is now the thirteenth day of the ninth month of the first year of Chuping.

At this point, nine months had passed since Ji Qiu left Taishan County and took over Qi County and Le'an County.

In just nine months, Ji Qiu's power base, both internally and externally, and even the entire world order underwent tremendous changes.

First, there's the internal situation within Ji Qiu's faction.

Let's start with Ji Qiu's personal abilities.

Ji Qiu's first secret technique, Bewitching Mind, has been cultivated to the peak of the sixth rank.

He cultivated the second secret technique, Dragon Transformation, to the advanced seventh rank.

At this point, he possessed a total of eleven dragons.

There are nine dragon species currently in use.

He is the CEO of Ji Qiu Group, who controls the three major political factions in the world of Dragon Qi Three Kingdoms (Jia Xu, Yuan Huan, Lü Bu, Liu Bei, and Yu Ji) and the modern world of Annam.

As the Modern Jiqiu Enterprise Group grew stronger, he found himself increasingly unable to keep up.

They neither have the strength nor the energy to control it.

Therefore, there is an urgent need for someone with an economic management background to help manage this large conglomerate, whose total size has exceeded 50 billion US dollars.

Finding such talent is not difficult; any CEO of a modern Fortune 500 company could handle it.

But the key issue is that if you want this person to really make a difference, you must let him/her be involved in the company's core projects.

But if someone gets access to a company's core projects, how can you guarantee they won't leak secrets?
The only way is to use dragons to control the other side.

Fortunately, he currently has a sufficient supply of dragons, so he doesn't mind using one on himself.

There are currently two idle dragon species.

The third secret technique is fanaticism, which has reached the advanced level of the seventh rank.

Currently, the total number of believers in Jiqiu has exceeded one million.

The ratio of the number of believers between two adjacent levels in the five levels of believers—superficial believer, full believer, true believer, fanatical believer, and saint—is approximately 30.

This is considered a very high percentage of believers.

Currently, the ratio of believers in Buddhism and Taoism in Kyushu is approximately 100!

In the Way of Peace established by Zhang Jiao, this proportion reached 50%.

In the Jiangdong Taiping Road established by Yu Ji, this proportion reached 80%.

In Zhang Lu's Five Pecks of Rice sect, this proportion reached 60%.

This indirectly shows that the modern ideological system chosen by Ji Qiu is far more likely to gain the genuine recognition of believers and has more vitality than the ideological system that Zhang Jiao and Yu Jina obtained from Huang Tian Daozun, the ideological systems of Buddhism and Taoism in the Nine Provinces, and the ideological system of the Five Pecks of Rice Sect.

Ji Qiu's fourth and fifth secret techniques, the Lightning Summoning Technique and the Yuan Replenishing Technique, have all reached the mid-level of the seventh rank.

The sixth and seventh secret techniques, the Misty and Flying Feather secret techniques, have all been cultivated to the advanced level of the eighth rank.

In terms of immortal arts, both the Nine Revolutions Profound Technique and the Supreme Thunder Technique have reached the first level of perfection.

Cultivating immortal arts requires a strong dependence on faith.

If you have enough faith, you can rapidly improve your magical abilities.

However, if one lacks faith, then one can only rely on asceticism, and the rate of progress is almost measured in centuries.

No wonder the gods and Buddhas of Heaven are spreading their faith among the human race.

No wonder the First Emperor's establishment of the Nine Provinces Barrier and his subsequent burning and burying of books within the Nine Provinces to eradicate all religious beliefs would have made them furious.

This has truly taken root in their hearts!
If we can consistently maintain the prohibition of the belief in gods and Buddhas within the Nine Provinces, we might actually be able to starve the gods and Buddhas to death.

Unfortunately, they later secretly planted spies within Kyushu to spread their faith.

Today, the faiths of Buddhism and Taoism are flourishing once again across the land of Kyushu.

But it doesn't matter. Once Ji Qiu grows stronger, the first thing to do is to eliminate these Buddhist and Taoist sects and sever the tentacles and blood vessels of the Heavenly Court's gods and Buddhas!
Ji Qiu has a million followers, who are of high quality and have contributed more than ten million in faith to him.

Relying on the power of these beliefs, Ji Qiu's cultivation of the Nine Revolutions Profound Technique and the Supreme Thunder Technique progressed by leaps and bounds.

In just six months, they all reached the first level of Great Perfection.

However, the price was the depletion of millions of faith.

Therefore, it would be difficult for him to continue cultivating the Nine Revolutions Profound Technique and the Supreme Thunder Technique in such a bandit-like manner until the number of his followers increased significantly again.

Once the Supreme Thunder Technique reaches the first level of perfection, one can summon wind and thunder.

This is more than ten times more powerful than ordinary lightning.

This is equivalent to increasing the power of Ji Qiu's lightning summoning technique tenfold!
Reaching the first level of the Nine Revolutions Profound Technique at its peak boosted Ji Qiu's four-dimensional attributes by 2.3579 times.

This allows Ji Qiu to achieve a single-arm strength of 1500 kilograms.

The running speed reached 8.2 seconds per kilometer.

His mental capacity reached 3.2 times that of an average person.

Gain the ability to read ten lines at a glance and remember what you read.

When handling government affairs, I also feel that my thinking is clear and I have a feeling of mental stimulation.

His physical condition reached 4.7 times the peak of an average person.

Musculoskeletal strength is greatly increased, enabling it to withstand impacts of over 1000 kilograms.

His skin was smooth and tough, making it difficult for ordinary swords and other sharp weapons to pierce it.

Both resilience and endurance have been improved accordingly.

As for the first level of talent, Ji Qiu did not choose the double pupil talent required to cultivate the Overlord Secret Technique.

Even with the talent of double pupils, he still couldn't cultivate the Tyrannosaurus Rex Secret Technique because he didn't have the heart of a Tyrannosaurus Rex.

Therefore, it's better to choose other talents first, and save the double pupil talent for after obtaining the Tyrannosaurus Rex heart.

Anyway, if you cultivate the Nine Revolutions Profound Technique to its peak, you can obtain nine talents, and there will be plenty of opportunities in the future.

So he chose the talent of wisdom.

The Wisdom Talent allows one to cultivate two secret arts.

First, it's about cunning.

Secondly, it is the Heart Sword.

The secret art of "Mind's Eye" can detect the good and evil in people's hearts. Specifically, it means perceiving the good or evil emotions of others towards us within a certain range.

The detection range of a ninth-grade beginner is very small, only about ten meters around the body.

Each minor level increases by three meters, and each major level increases by six meters.

Reaching the pinnacle of the first rank allows one to detect good and evil emotions within a 145-meter radius.

In reality, it's still not very useful.

For Ji Qiu, the main thing is to be able to control the psychological trends of the high-ranking people around him.

However, Ji Qiu felt that this secret technique had great potential.

Since learning that the Dragon Qi system was established by three Venerables and two Saints, he felt that the peak of the first rank might not be the limit of the secret technique's power.

Instead, it is an artificially set upper limit to the power of secret techniques.

Why set such an upper limit?

It's definitely easier to control!

After all, the three Venerables and two Saints established the Dragon Qi system to better harvest the fortune of the human race, not to give the human race greater power!

Can the power of that secret technique break through this limit?
How can we break through this limit?
Ji Qiu doesn't know how to break through this limit, but he's certain that the secret technique can definitely break through it.

Because the examples are right in front of us.

The Nine Provinces Barrier established by the First Emperor was able to keep the Three Venerables, the Two Saints, and all the gods and Buddhas of the Heavenly Court outside the Nine Provinces.

This is undoubtedly an extremely powerful dragon energy secret technique, far exceeding the peak of the first rank!
Ji Qiu believes that as he continues to explore the secrets contained in the world of Dragon Qi Three Kingdoms, he will one day find a way to break through the limits of the power of Dragon Qi Secret Technique.

But what would happen if the power of the Mind's Eye technique were to exceed its limit?

Could it become like in myths and legends, where any being in all the heavens and the myriad realms who chants his name or harbors good or evil feelings towards him can immediately be perceived by him—an omniscient and omnipotent authority?
Compared to the immense potential of Mind's Eye, the effect of Mind Sword is rather ordinary.

This can be considered a kind of spiritual magic.

It means to concentrate one's mental energy into a mental sword and then launch a mental attack on the enemy.

If you can shatter the opponent's spirit with a single sword strike, you can turn them into an idiot.

However, Ji Qiu wasn't too concerned about the offensive power of this secret technique; he valued its defensive capabilities more.

Because Ji Qiu possessed multiple mind control techniques, he was well aware of the power of mind control techniques.

However, at present, he does not have any secret techniques for mental defense.

So he had no choice but to learn some secret techniques to passively resist mind control.

This Heart Sword technique can condense spiritual power into an incomparably sharp heart sword, and this heart sword is naturally also incomparably sturdy, making it difficult for other spiritual powers to control it.

Ji Qiu possesses both the Mind's Eye and the Mind's Sword techniques, which are unusual secret techniques he obtained from the Thousand Gold Hall.

Both of these secret techniques require the same cultivation resource: the gallbladder of the Scaled Serpent.

This is a snake species unique to Tokyo University, extremely rare, and endangered.

It is distributed in Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi, Hainan, Hunan, Jiangxi and Zhejiang provinces.

Under sunlight, their scales reflect dazzling luster in metallic electric blue, emerald green, blood red, purplish red, and copper colors, hence they are also called "sunlight snake" or "rainbow snake".

It doesn't matter, even a small amount is enough to meet Ji Qiu's personal needs, and besides, Ji Qiu can also engage in artificial breeding.

Let's talk about the development of modern forces.

The development of modern forces is not just good, it's excellent.

The continuous trade between the two worlds during the autumn season benefits not only the Dragon Qi Three Kingdoms world.

While Dragon Kingdom is continuously exporting high-end Chinese herbal medicines to Annam, it is also continuously purchasing large quantities of food, clothing, fresh water, and military supplies from Annam.

This greatly stimulated Annam's military industry and people's economy.

It is remarkable that Annam is doing quite well in the current global economic downturn, where both of the world's superpowers are struggling.

As a result, the Jiqiu Group's status in Annam grew day by day, and its reach gradually extended into all walks of life in Annam.

Conservative estimates suggest that more than 20 million people in Annam have directly benefited from the autumn harvest.

At this time, Ji Qiu's control over Annan was no longer solely dependent on the leaders of the three political factions.

Next, let's talk about the development of the civil and military officials under Ji Qiu's command.

However, before recounting the growth of the veteran officials, we must first introduce a few newcomers.

These newcomers all came to Ji Qiu on their own initiative after he posted the recruitment notice.

First, Wang Xiu.

He was from Yingling County, Beihai Commandery, Qingzhou.

He possessed noble character from a young age and was known for his filial piety and brotherly love.

During the Chuping era, Kong Rong, the Chancellor of Beihai, summoned Wang Xiu to serve as his chief clerk and act as the magistrate of Gaomi.

He offered advice and strategies to Kong Rong on numerous occasions, demonstrating outstanding political and military talents.

Historically, after Kong Rong left Qingzhou, he joined Yuan Tan and offered advice and strategies on many occasions.

Unfortunately, Yuan Tan was not a wise ruler and could not heed his strategies, ultimately leading to his defeat and death at the hands of Cao Cao.

Then Wang Xiu went to Cao Cao's camp to collect Yuan Tan's body, demonstrating extreme loyalty.

After Cao Cao captured Ye City, he confiscated the mansions of Yuan Shao's civil and military officials, finding their wealth to be in the tens of thousands. Only Wang Xiu's family possessed less than ten bushels of grain and a few hundred volumes of books.

It is evident that he is consistent in word and deed, and is honest and dedicated to public service!
Of course, Wang Xiu has not yet pledged allegiance to Yuan Tan.

He was still Kong Rong's chief clerk, but seeing that Kong Rong's defeat was inevitable, he decided to come and seek refuge with Ji Qiu in order to protect Kong Rong for the long term.

Ji Qiu was overjoyed. He had never really intended to do anything to Kong Rong, after all, he was the head of the Kong family and still of great use to him.

He immediately agreed to Wang Xiu's request to spare Kong Rong's life and took Wang Xiu as his retainer.

Secondly, he was favored by many.

A member of the Man family of Changyi, Shanyang, born into a poor family, and a disciple of the Legalist school.

In the third year of the Chuping era in history, he was recruited by Cao Cao and later served as the magistrate of Xu County, in charge of the judiciary, and was known for his strict law enforcement.

He was transferred to the position of Prefect of Runan and began to participate in military affairs, having followed the southern expedition to Jingzhou.

When Guan Yu besieged Fancheng, Man Chong assisted Cao Ren in defending the city, dissuading him from abandoning it and fleeing, and successfully held out until reinforcements arrived.

During Cao Pi's reign, Man Chong was granted the authority to act as General of the Vanguard.

During Cao Rui's reign, he was enfeoffed as the Marquis of Changyi and appointed as the Governor of Yuzhou.

During the Battle of Shiting, he followed Jia Kui to rescue Cao Xiu.

After Cao Xiu's death, he was transferred to Yangzhou and appointed General Who Conquers the East, in charge of the war against Wu in Yangzhou, where he made many meritorious contributions.

Later, due to old age, he was transferred back to the central government by the imperial court to serve as Grand Commandant.

He died in the third year of the Zhengshi era and was posthumously honored as Marquis Jing.

A very talented person from a poor family, a famous figure in history, came to seek refuge with Ji Qiu because he thought highly of him.

Thirdly, Lü Qian.

He was a member of the Lü family of Rencheng, and came from a poor family.

Historically, when Cao Cao was in Yanzhou, he appointed him as an aide, leading his personal guards to garrison Hulu.

He was later promoted to Prefect of Mount Tai, where he and Xiahou Yuan jointly suppressed the Yellow Turban Rebellion in Jinan and other places.

He was recommended as a scholar and appointed as a cavalry captain, still in charge of Taishan County.

After Cao Pi succeeded as King of Wei, he appointed Lü Qian as a lieutenant general and enfeoffed him as Marquis of Yishou.

He was then promoted to Governor of Xuzhou and given the additional title of General Weilu.

He appointed Wang Xiang as his deputy and entrusted him with all civil affairs, which was praised by the people.

After Cao Rui succeeded to the throne, he was granted the title of Marquis of Wannian.

After Lü Qian's death, his son Lü Fan inherited the title of Marquis of Wannian.

This is a general with both courage and wisdom, who came to join Ji Qiu because he thought highly of him.

The three men came to Ji Qiu's aid not only because they thought highly of him, but also because they all came from humble backgrounds.

As mentioned earlier, Ji Qiu still holds a significant place in the hearts of children from impoverished families.

After Ji Qiu posted a recruitment notice that did not consider background but only ability, those from humble backgrounds who were willing to come and join him certainly did not know these three people.

However, due to time and distance issues, many places outside Qingzhou and Taishan County are still unaware of this matter.

That's why they didn't flock to it!

Ji Qiu happily accepted the three new talents.

Then the order of civil and military officials under his command was rearranged.

Xu Rong remains in first place.

His rank as a scholar remained unchanged, still at the middle level of the third rank.

However, he has recently mastered several new acquired secret techniques, which has improved his overall strength.

Second is Lü Bu, who has leveled up a small rank and reached the initial stage of the third rank!

Although it was only a small upgrade, it had a tremendous impact on Lu Bu's overall strength.

This increased Lu Bu's combat power by nearly three times!
Then at Hulao Pass, they defeated the warlords of Guandong who had lost Liu Bei, Guan Yu, and Zhang Fei, leaving them in dire straits.

Third is Liu Bei, Guan Yu, and Zhang Fei.

Despite their small size, these three individuals are of high rank among scholars.

All of them were at the peak of the fourth rank.

Fourth is Xi Zhong, whose innate secret technique, Star Luo Deduction, has advanced by one level, reaching the peak of the fifth rank.

Fifth on the list are Zhang Zhongjing, Yuan Huan, Zhuge Gui, Zao Zhi, Ren Hongchang, and Wang Xiu, all of whom have been promoted to the rank of fifth-grade high-ranking scholar.

The sixth group consists of Li Dangzhi, Zhao Yun, Huang Zhong, Zhang Ning, Dian Wei, and Yu Jin, all of whom are junior scholars of the fifth rank.

Seventh on the list are Jia Xu, Zhao Lei, Wei Yan, Gao Shun, Gan Ning, Man Chong, and Lü Qian, all of whom were promoted to the peak of the seventh rank.

Eighth on the list are Guo Jia, Fa Zheng, and Ma Jun, all of whom are mid-ranking scholars of the seventh grade!

Finally, let's talk about the situation of the army and the people.

Military aspect:

The main force, consisting of the seven battalions of Imperial Guard, Wei Wu, Trapped Army, Mountain Cavalry, Flying Feather, Wolf Cavalry, Iron Cavalry, and Artillery, was supplemented by a naval battalion specializing in the secret techniques of the Jin Fan pirates.

The naval battalion had a quota of 20,000 men, and the commander was Gan Ning.

At the same time, the Imperial Guard Battalion was expanded to five thousand men.

The four battalions of Wei Wu, Xianzhen, Shandi, and Feiyu were expanded to a total of 20,000.

The Wolf Cavalry and Iron Cavalry battalions were expanded to a total of 10,000 men.

Thus, the total number of main forces has been expanded to 12.5!
The police and military police forces that were originally part of the training camp were separated.

The police force was limited to 40,000 men and was under the leadership of the Ministry of Political Affairs, with Man Chong as its commander.

The military and police forces were under the dual leadership of the Ministry of Political Affairs and the Ministry of Military Affairs, with Lü Qian as their commander.

The training camp has a quota of 300,000, and Yu Jin will still serve as the commander-in-chief, mainly responsible for training new recruits and providing reserve personnel for various units.

From the perspective of ordinary people:

Currently, the total number of registered citizens under Ji Qiu's command is 1087 million!
Most of them came from Luoyang and the surrounding Sanfu region.

It's probably over eight million.

A small portion came from Qi County and Le'an County, numbering approximately one million.

The remaining nearly one million consisted of the original inhabitants of Taishan County and the residents of the two cities who had moved from Fufeng County.

Nearly ten million people were settled in the small Taishan County, but they did not feel crowded at all. On the contrary, all industries were thriving and everything was in good order.

This is because all twelve new cities in Taesan County have been completed.

These cities were designed from the outset to accommodate a million people, so all their plans were extremely rational.

In particular, the fact that Ji Qiu brought a large amount of building materials such as steel bars and cement from the modern world made things even simpler.

In modern times, a city that can accommodate a million people is hardly considered a large city.

It's just a third- or fourth-tier city at best.

Having discussed the internal changes within the power structure, let's now talk about the external changes within Qingzhou.

The combination of Liu Bei, Guan Yu, Zhang Fei, and Fa Zheng has basically taken over Pingyuan County.

Despite the Hua family's fierce resistance, Hua Xin was simply powerless against the historical Shu Han regime.

Now, their only remaining power in Plains County is the last stronghold of Hua's Castle.

According to the military report that Liu Bei sent to Ji Qiu, he would be able to break through Hua Shi Wu Fort and completely eliminate the Hua clan of Pingyuan in at most two months!
Within Jinan Prefecture, Zheng's attitude was somewhat strange.

They neither actively sought to ally with Ji Qiu nor made any preparations for war, as if Ji Qiu did not exist.

They ignored Ji Qiu, and Ji Qiu ignored them in return.

In any case, after Pingyuan County was acquired, Jinan County was surrounded by Ji Qiu's forces.

At that point, it won't matter what they're thinking.

Back in Beihai, Kong Rong continued to engage in lively discussions with renowned scholars and intellectuals every day.

Little did they know that, apart from Beihai City, the entire Beihai Kingdom had been silently swallowed up by Guan Hai.

This was a great attempt by Ji Qiu, with the Propaganda Department as the main body and the Yellow Turbans of Qingzhou as the auxiliary force, to direct believers to develop their faith in the Beihai Kingdom.

The effect was excellent; they gained control of the common people of the North Sea Kingdom almost without bloodshed.

To Ji Qiu, the Northern Sea Kingdom is now like a ripe peach; he only needs to touch it lightly and it will fall off!
As for Dongnae County, it was the county that showed the most friendliness towards Jiqiu.

The Wang family of Donglai had long ago sent envoys to establish friendly relations with Jiqiu.

But this was limited to maintaining good relations, and no further action was taken.

Several advisors analyzed that the Wang family probably wanted to wait for a higher price to sell.

If Ji Qiu can take over the other counties in Qingzhou, they will surrender directly.

If Ji Qiu cannot capture the other counties, they will not surrender voluntarily.

Ji Qiu agreed with their assessment, so she cooperated with Wang Shi to maintain this distant yet close relationship.

We await further developments in the situation.

Finally, let's talk about the changes in the entire world outside of Qingzhou.

The once-powerful anti-Dong Chuan alliance is now defunct in name only.

The anti-Dong Zhuo alliance fought against Dong Zhuo at Hulao Pass for half a year, but the battle remained deadlocked.

But Dong Zhuo discovered that, at some point and for some unknown reason, the Sanfu region surrounding Luoyang had become a barren wasteland devoid of life.

Abandoned villages are everywhere, but you can often walk hundreds of miles without seeing a single person.

Vast fields of farmland, planted with crops, were simply left there, abandoned and neglected!
Dong Zhuo didn't know why, but he knew that his plan to recruit soldiers and supplies from the surrounding areas of Luoyang, train 200,000 Liangzhou cavalry, and sweep away the Guandong coalition was definitely going to fall through.

Given the current state of the Three Auxiliary Regions, it's impossible to train even 20,000 Liangzhou Iron Cavalry, let alone 200,000!

In despair, Dong Zhuo ultimately chose to withdraw the garrison at Hulao Pass, burn Luoyang to the ground, and then move the capital to Chang'an.

The Kwantung Allied Forces, which were on the verge of collapse due to their inability to conquer Hulao Pass, dared not advance further west after taking it in this way.

They stationed their troops at Hulao Pass and watched helplessly as Dong Zhuo withdrew from Chang'an, held a victory banquet, and then went home to their respective families.

Subsequently, Yuan Shao occupied Bohai Commandery and prepared to seize Ji Province.

Gongsun Zan has occupied Yuyang Commandery and is plotting to seize Youzhou.

Yuan Shu occupied Nanyang Commandery and planned to annex Yu Province.

Cao Cao occupied Dongjun and planned to turn Yanzhou into his own territory.

Dong Zhuo closed off Guanzhong and had lost his ambition to expand eastward.

Liu Yan, a powerful figure in Yizhou, was poised to make a move.

Liu Biao has taken Jingzhou by single cavalry and is currently reorganizing the internal affairs.

After consolidating Xuzhou, Tao Qian began to consider matters concerning his legacy.

Chen Wen, the governor of Yangzhou, had no real power and spent his days figuring out how to deal with the six powerful prefects under his command.

Zhu Fu, the governor of Jiaozhou, is levying exorbitant taxes every day and is not far from death.

Gongsun Du, the governor of Liaodong, declared himself Marquis of Liaodong and Governor of Pingzhou. He divided Liaodong Commandery into Liaoxi and Zhongliao Commanderies, establishing himself as a powerful warlord.

A new chapter has begun across the entire Nine Provinces, with warlords vying for power!

(End of this chapter)