Cursed Mountains and Seas

Chapter 246 Punishing Evil and Promoting Good, First Meeting with Qi Hu (Seeking Votes)

Although Wang Cheng has not yet created the [Thunderfire Cardinal] that can absorb the power of heavenly lightning.

But relying solely on his innate Yin-Yang Hand technique, his ability to command lightning and hear thunder, and his Thirty-Six Paths Thunder God's Cloak and Mace, one or two bolts of lightning wouldn't be enough to kill him.

Instead, he was mistaken by the palace guards for their own prince and thus gained insight into the secrets of heaven, making further progress in the art of thunder magic.

"I wonder when His Highness will teach us this powerful technique for attracting heavenly lightning?"

"I wish we could be that good too, that would be so awesome!"

While Wang Cheng's evil spirit was still being struck by lightning, he unexpectedly received a dream from his elderly father during the day:

"Cheng'er, I have arranged a marriage for you. The girl comes from a good family, is wealthy, beautiful, and of high moral character. It would not be an exaggeration to say that she is one of a kind, hard to find anywhere else."

Our Wang family is really lucky to have married into such a prestigious family. If it weren't for your dad's influence, they wouldn't even give you a second glance. You should be secretly happy about this.

However, your father-in-law appreciates you quite a bit. He gave you the courtesy name Wang Yanqing early on, and he has already used this courtesy name to submit a memorial to the water official for justice. Now you can't run away even if you want to.

It just so happens that there will be a Dharma assembly at the Minzhou Songzi Temple on the first day of the seventh lunar month. Go to the assembly to meet your future wife, and we will immediately finalize the marriage.

Let's try to get married this year and have a baby next year.

Wang Cheng hadn't expected that even in his old age, his father would still arrange an arranged marriage for him, and he instinctively resisted.
"Huh? Isn't this too hasty?"

Before he could decline, saying he already had someone he loved and didn't need his father's help, the old man waved his hand dismissively:
"What do you mean 'huh'? Your father didn't forbid you from marrying other girls."

The believers in Pinghu Port have already reported to their father that you secretly found a beautiful princess with a mysterious background, who performed exceptionally well in both major battles.

That's right! Wasn't the reason I built such a large palace for my daughter-in-law and grandchildren so that one day it could be filled with them?

Whether or not to take a concubine is a question for others, but not for you.

"We can just marry another one later, you won't lose out anyway, it's settled then."

At the end, he sighed and shook his head:

"Although I don't know who Grandmother Jia, Lady Shi, and Granny Liu (Chapter 200) are, I can get a sense of them from their names."

I borrowed the authority of a fellow practitioner to divine your marriage prospects through your dreams, and discovered that you subconsciously regard these two people as the epitome of 'marrying a virtuous wife'.

Even considering his age, his tastes are perhaps a bit too heavy.

Son, I don't have high requirements for your concubines, there's only one thing—they haven't gone through menopause and can still have children!

Just take care of yourself! "

Wang Cheng watched as his father vanished into thin air, and immediately denied it.
"No, I didn't, don't talk nonsense!"

"Slander! You're slandering me! Old man, don't you even know what a figure of speech is called 'description'?"

In a moment of desperation, he exerted force and suddenly opened his eyes.

They found themselves still on the city wall of Zhenhaiwei, with dozens of warships drilling in the wide mouth of the Jiulong River in front of them.

The dream he just experienced was merely a moment of distraction; no one noticed anything unusual about him, as everyone was keeping a close eye on the boatman.

Although Zhenhaiwei, one of the four major guards, was under the jurisdiction of Minzhou Military Command, its status was extremely high due to its vital importance to the country's defense. Even the Ministry of War and the Five Military Commissions often bypassed their superiors to give it command.

It was said that "any urgent report from Fujian would reach the Emperor! Requests for provisions from Zhenhai would be approved by the Emperor!"

The full strength was 5300 people, while the Citong Guard at the same time had only 3100 people. It was equipped with 46 ships of various sizes, including Fujian ships and patrol boats, while ordinary coastal guards only had 10 to 20 ships.

They could also legally levy a 3%-5% "military pay tax" on merchant ships; they had their own shipyards that monopolized the maintenance of warships and also operated civilian ships for profit; in recent years, the government and military had been secretly colluding with maritime merchants, paying monthly tribute and also reaping considerable profits.

In essence, it had become a "semi-official maritime group" tacitly approved by the imperial court. Its financial resources far surpassed those of most of the capital's guards, and it would not starve even if the imperial court did not allocate funds to it.

Lu Yunchen is the eldest, and Wang Cheng is the second eldest; they are practically local tyrants ruling half of the coastal areas of Minzhou.

Lu Yunchen, the newly appointed commander of Zhenhai Guard, is completely different from Xing Baichuan, who is lazy and idle. Even when there is no war, he drags Wang Cheng to conduct a major drill every ten days and a minor drill every three days for his troops, without ever slacking off.

"Raise the flag, change formation!"

The flag officers on the city wall, each holding a red and a white flag, moved simultaneously. The red flag drew a semicircle from bottom to top and then suddenly pointed to the right rear, while the white flag was simultaneously and quickly crossed and waved twice above their heads.

The fleet on the sea quickly transformed into a formation resembling wild geese.

Standing before Wang Cheng, Lu Yunchen held "On Sea Power" in his hands, turned to the page describing "Command and Tactics of the Great Fleet" (General's Order), and sincerely exclaimed:
"I am no match for Prince Jinghai's talent, and I willingly relinquish the title of the number one genius. Cough cough cough."

Wang Cheng felt uneasy listening to this, suspecting that the "ghostly jealousy" was actually happening in Versailles. He had never read the meticulously detailed military treatise he had written, nor had he witnessed his own actual combat. He had only read the general theories in "On Sea Power" and yet he had comprehended the military treatise "General's Command" on his own!
The effect is about 80% of the original version. This is already a genius in the art of war, right?
The key point is that he was not only a master of military strategy.

Meanwhile, three fellow practitioners also quietly broke through to the fifth rank without making a sound.

The rituals of both the Heavenly Class [Shenxiao Taoist] and the Earthly Class [Swordsman] are "punishing evil and promoting good".

Adding a water-based "Water-Dividing General" ritual would simply turn it into "punishing evil and promoting good at sea".

As the turmoil of the Warring States period on Yingzhou Island gradually intensified, more and more samurai lost their land and salaries and went to sea to become Japanese pirates. The story of Jiufan Island is just the tip of the iceberg.

In an effort to prevent the people of Dazhao, who were "bewitched" by the theory of sea power, from going to sea, the fake Japanese under the command of the gentry of Guishan Book Society became increasingly active, committing all kinds of atrocities, including burning, killing, looting and plundering.

After a series of battles, Lu Yunchen naturally made rapid progress.

What's most amazing is that he even took the time out of his busy schedule to teach Han Shushu, who was a complete math idiot, trigonometric functions. It's simply inhuman!

Wang Cheng comforted him:
"Brother Lu, there's no need to belittle yourself. Even if the author, Prince Jinghai, were here, he would have to praise your talent."

Then he turned around and gave extra training to those good-for-nothing students he had personally taught, to let them know that there are always people more capable than themselves, and that there is always something beyond their understanding.

When the two were chatting.

A figure in the city behind them watched their retreating figures, a chilling malice flashing in his eyes.

It was Xing Yulang, a member of a hereditary official family who should have inherited the position of commander of Zhenhai Guard.

Back then, he and the Rejuvenating Immortal were brutally beaten by the imperial power's dimensional reduction attack, losing their positions as commanders with real power, and now he has become a "paid but unpaid official".

They only receive a salary and do no work, so naturally they have no power whatsoever, and they can't share the burdens of their master or the child immortal.

Although in theory one can inherit the position, in reality one can only wait for a vacancy to become available, and it is possible that one might not be able to get one even if one waits until death.

"All my plans have come to naught, but another deal personally overseen by the master is thriving."

If I don't find an opportunity to reclaim the commander's throne, not only will I be unable to marry the daughter of Yuegang Zhisui Tangguan to help my career, but I won't even be able to afford to marry a lowly woman like the courtesan Mudan, who made vows of eternal love to me.

She was even forced to obediently work odd jobs at the Rouge Pavilion, helping Peony attract customers, pouring her foot bath water, and even spitting on her buttocks. How could this be tolerated?

Xing Yulang, whose face turned pale and then red, suddenly heard a smacking sound beside him.

Turning his head, he saw Qianhu, the big dog, squatting beside him, chewing on something. His mood worsened, and he angrily scolded:
"You old dog, are you eating shit again? Get out of here and don't eat next to me!"

Dog Commander wasn't angry; he sighed lazily:
"Prejudice in people's hearts is a mountain. What I'm eating is 'Chocolate,' a specialty food brought back from the New World by the Franks. You should try it if you don't believe me."

It can improve your mood and make you feel happy. Would you like to give it a try?
We're all buddies, would I lie to you?

They pulled out a square-shaped object from somewhere and shoved it into his hand.

Xing Yulang had little contact with Dog Commander, so upon hearing that it could bring happiness, he tentatively took the "Chocolate" and smelled it, then immediately flew into a rage:
"Ptooey, damn it, that old dog tricked me, this is shit! Ugh~~"

Dog Qianhu, who had long since run far away, laughed so hard he almost fell over:

"You don't even have a penis, yet you believe what they say? You really don't know how wicked a dog can be."

Besides, how could a dog eat chocolate? Ignorance is truly terrifying, hahaha.

If it weren't for Gou Qianhu's incorrigible bad habits, he probably wouldn't have been executed by the late emperor back then.

Xing Yulang wanted to pursue and kill Dog Commander, but Lu Yunchen blocked his way.
"Commander Gou is getting old. It was just a joke, Brother Xing, why take it so seriously?"

During this time, Lu Yunchen was pleasantly surprised to find that no matter what Xing Yulang did, as long as he undermined him, he would receive the feedback of "punishing evil and promoting good" from the scientific instrument.

He didn't know what was going on, but could only conclude that the other party seemed to have done something that angered both heaven and man, and even their breathing was wrong.

He's like a walking encyclopedia of experience.

How could he not know Xing Yulang's deep resentment? He was just trying to fleece him a few more times before finally killing him!
"This future trouble is beyond Lu Yunchen's grasp."

Wang Cheng stopped paying attention to these clowns, said goodbye to Lu Yunchen, and set off for Fuzhou.

It's already the end of June, and before going on a blind date as arranged by his father, Wang Cheng has something more important to do—to subdue his own [Five Peaks Banner].

However, just as they reached the sea outside the General's Office, they heard someone shout:

"Madam Wang is chasing after Deputy Commander Qi again!"

(End of this chapter)