Inheriting a Taoist temple, the story begins with Wu Zetian offering incense.

Chapter 170 Strike the Alien Race with Lightning, Merit Doubled! [Seeking Monthly Tickets]

Zhao Xin was originally a minor king of the Xiongnu, probably in charge of two or three thousand people. In 131 BC, he followed Chanyu Junchen south to plunder the Han Dynasty. After being defeated, he surrendered to the Han. Emperor Wu of Han bought horse bones for a thousand gold pieces, enfeoffed him as Marquis Xi, and gave him the name Zhao Xin.

During the Battle of Dingxiang North, Zhao Xin and Su Jian were surrounded. Yi Zhixie thought he was a highly skilled person who had studied in the Han Dynasty, so he offered him a high-ranking official position and a generous salary, and successfully persuaded Zhao Xin to surrender.

After returning to the Xiongnu's embrace, Zhao Xin was not only appointed as the Zici King, in charge of tens of thousands of people, but also married Ayimei, the elder sister of Yizhixie, showing him the utmost favor.

Yizhi asked him for advice, and Zhao Xin said that the Han army was too powerful, so they should withdraw the army back to the northern desert and gather the grain and fodder, and then wipe them out when the Han army came.

Yizhixie believed it to be true and withdrew his troops back to the northern desert, intending to let the Han army find nothing.

As a result, the Han Dynasty seized the opportunity to launch the Hexi Campaign. General Huo Qubing led his army to launch a fierce attack on Yanzhi Mountain and Qilian Mountain. In six days, they marched more than a thousand li, opening up four commanderies for the Han Dynasty and pointing their military might directly towards the Western Regions.

Yizhixie Chanyu, having fled far to the northern desert, wanted to send troops to help but was powerless to do so. He could only watch helplessly as the Hexi Corridor fell and countless Xiongnu people lost their homes.

It would have been better if Zhao Xin hadn't asked for advice; after he did, Yi Zhixie's strength actually decreased significantly.

To prove himself, Zhao Xin worked hard to build Zhao Xin City and stockpiled all the surplus grain and fodder from the Xiongnu there, hoping it would become a grain and fodder base like Dingxiang.

However, just as it was repaired, it was burned to the ground by Wei Qing, who launched the Battle of Mobei.

Zhao Xin's actions perfectly illustrate the saying, "A bad person's cunning is no match for a fool's quick thinking." He made great efforts to weaken the Xiongnu's strength, so after much deliberation, Wei Qing decided to let this fool return to the Xiongnu and offer advice to Yizhixie.

Unfortunately, all of this came to an abrupt end the moment Huo Qubing saw the telescope.

Letting this fool go back and cause trouble for the Xiongnu is fine, but the telescope he brought came from Hunyuan Palace, so we can't just leave him there.

At this moment, Zhao Xin still wanted to flaunt his status as the former general:
"Huo Qubing, what is your intention in blocking my path?"

He believed that the Han Dynasty was a country that valued hierarchy and order, and that as long as he displayed his official authority, he could subdue lower-ranking officials. However, he forgot that Huo Qubing was a favored son of Emperor Wu of Han, whom he had raised personally and was completely unrestrained by any rules of etiquette.

"I'll say it again, hand over the telescope my mentor gave me, and I might leave you with a whole corpse."

Huo Qubing raised the stainless steel token in his hand and issued an ultimatum.

It was already late, and the two sides were on the verge of war. Only a few soldiers on guard duty noticed that the stars in the sky had disappeared and dark clouds had appeared overhead.

Zhao Xin looked northeast. Seventy or eighty li ahead was the Xiongnu's camp, but at this moment he felt as if he were separated by thousands of mountains and rivers.

He drew his ring-pommel sword from his waist and charged at Huo Qubing:

"The gods bear witness for me!"

Before he could finish speaking, a bolt of lightning struck Zhao Xin from the dark clouds overhead. The surrendered Xiongnu general didn't even have time to say a word before his body was reduced to charcoal, along with his mount and the two guards behind him, all of whom perished instantly.

Sima Qian stared blankly at this scene:
"The immortal's divine lightning is truly terrifying?"

Zhao Xin's dozens of followers immediately tumbled off their horses, kowtowing repeatedly and begging for their lives.

Huo Qubing's men were overjoyed and immersed in the happiness of divine intervention. They were now ready to charge the main force of the Xiongnu without hesitation.

Zhao Ponu spurred his horse forward and ordered his men to tie up all of Zhao Xin's followers. Then, they rummaged through Zhao Xin's ashes for quite some time before finally finding the telescope.

Compared to before, the strap of this telescope was charred, and there were burn marks on the surface. Zhao Ponu shone a flashlight on it, and the lens was fine. He could wipe it clean and it would still work.

Sima Qian followed, cupped his hands, and asked:
"Zhao Sima, would you mind giving me this item? I'm willing to buy it for 50,000 coins, or exchange it for a thousand acres of fertile land in Guanzhong."

Upon hearing this, Zhao Ponu raised his hand and tossed the telescope to Sima Qian:

“We are brothers who have lived and died together. Just say what you want. Don’t use money to spoil our friendship.”

After saying this, he spat on Zhao Xin's remains and asked Huo Qubing:

"The General's plans have been disrupted by us. What should we do next?"

Wei Qing hoped that Zhao Xin would return to the Xiongnu camp and lead all the Xiongnu people to march, but now that Zhao Xin is dead, the plan seems to be in vain.

Huo Qubing said:
"If I'm not mistaken, the Xiongnu are currently breaking camp... Although Yizhixie is a villain, he is still vigilant. He may not trust Zhao Xin, and after making contact with Zhao Xin's entourage, he may have already begun breaking camp."

After saying this, he led his army north. Zhao Ponu sent some men to escort Zhao Xin's men to the central army camp to report the matter of Zhao Xin being struck dead by divine lightning.

Since arriving on the northern grasslands of Dingxiang, Zhao Ponu or Zhang Qian have been in charge of all such minor matters. Huo Qubing only takes care of the major issues and never gets involved in the small things.

The fact that Zhao Ponu eventually became a general in charge of his own affairs was also related to Huo Qubing's delegation of power.

The army marched north under the cover of night. Sima Qian put on a headlamp, removed the gold thread from his jade pendant, threaded it onto his binoculars, and then hung the battle-damaged binoculars around his neck, revealing a smug smile reminiscent of Wang Yousheng.

Not far away, Huo Qubing took out his phone, opened the notes app, and wrote down a passage:

On the tenth day of the third month of the sixth year of Yuanshuo, divine thunder was summoned to annihilate the traitor Zhao Xin, and the telescope given to him by his master was thus preserved.

At the same time, inside the Hunyuan Palace, Zhou Yi was holding a black notebook and checking his merits:

"Oh, Huo Qubing has summoned divine thunder too!" Wu Zetian asked in surprise.

"What does it say? Qu Bing is in danger?"

Zhou Yi shook his head:

"It only says that Huo Qubing summoned divine thunder to kill the Xiongnu traitor Zhao Xin. Originally, the reward was only two coins of merit, but because Zhao Xin was a Xiongnu, the reward was doubled."

A single Zhao Xin brings Zhou Yi four coins of merit; it would be a lie to say he's not happy.

Zhou Yi even imagined Huo Qubing charging into the Xiongnu camp with his token, ambushing everyone. The sheer amount of merit he would accumulate would be far more exciting than playing a game where one strikes a dragon.

After reading the notes, Zhou Yi pointed the black notebook at Wu Meiniang:

"Can't you see any of the words on it?"

Wu Zetian stared intently for a while, then gently shook her head:

"All I see is a blank page, no words at all... This celestial book is a secret of the immortals, are you really going to let me see it so openly?"

She initially wanted to mention her past record of usurping the throne, but then she realized that this record hadn't even begun in the Zhenguan era timeline.

The Book of Changes says:

“I have never been on guard against you, nor do I feel the need to pretend to be a god or add a lot of titles and buffs to myself. Especially when I discovered that there are supernatural abilities in this world and that one can also accumulate merit, I have to be careful with my words and actions. I can’t act recklessly or carelessly.”

Wu Zetian smiled gently:
"But the more you act like this, the more we start to overthink things and feel that you are unfathomable."

Mr. Zhou coughed lightly:
"This is a good habit, keep it up. You'll have to rely on your imagination to maintain my authority."

After chatting for a while, Wu Meiniang got up and went back to her room to study, while Zhou Yi also began to look through the Taoist scriptures.

The next morning, the two went to Zhongtian Temple to offer incense to the statue of the god. They rode their motorcycles down the mountain, each ordered a bowl of mutton soup, and Zhou Yi also ordered five yuan worth of fried dough and two fried cakes. They had breakfast with Wu Meiniang.

As Zhou Yi was preparing to leave, Wang Shuangqing, who sold pots and pans, came over for breakfast. Upon seeing Zhou Yi, he loudly asked:

"Xiao Yi, do you have any talismans that can curse people? I'm planning to buy two to curse those suppliers who provide me with goods to death."

Zhou Yi asked with a smile:

"What happened? Did you get ripped off in business?"

Wang Shuangqing nodded:
"These past two years have been filled with trade war, and I had a batch of Western-style soup buckets that I was exporting, but the foreigner canceled the order. The supplier is pressuring me to sell them at a low price, otherwise they won't settle the payment with me... Damn it, who in our country uses those kinds of soup buckets? Even if they were given away for free, nobody would want them."

As soon as he finished speaking, Zhou Yi had an idea:
"How many do you have? Why don't you give them to me? I'll lower the price. We're from the same village, so consider it a favor."

Wang Shuangqing asked in confusion:

"What do you want this for?"

Zhou Yi casually made up a story:
"Didn't the pressure cooker qigong craze happen in the 1980s? I've done some calculations and I think the soup bucket qigong craze will happen in the future, so I plan to stock up on some."

Wang Shuangqing naturally didn't believe such unreliable claims.

"Xiao Yi, last time you bought so many pots saying you were going to refine pills, and this time you're going to do some kind of qigong... I know a feng shui master, why don't you ask him to read your fortune?"

The Book of Changes: ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
Good heavens, are fortune tellers coming to Cloud Mist Town to steal our business?

Just as he was about to ask who it was, Wang Shuangqing resumed the business discussion:
"I won't make any money off those pots, just add shipping costs, and I'll give you as many as you want."

The Book of Changes says:

"Just transport as much as you need to the mountain. There's some money in the Hunyuan Palace account recently, and I don't know what to do with it. I might as well buy some pots and use them to do good deeds."

He was only half telling the truth; he did do good deeds, but not in this world.

However, Wang Shuangqing was able to solve his biggest problem and didn't care about these things at all. Instead, he planned to give all the pots and pans that were piling up in the warehouse to Zhou Yi.

Since you're doing good deeds, I'll do my part in return. This is the most basic moral concept of the Chinese people.

Zhou Yi paid the bill, got on his motorcycle, and took Wu Meiniang, who was wearing a white T-shirt and jeans, to Da Tou Yang's shop to buy a few yuan's worth of jelly. Then they returned to Yunwu Mountain.

It's been so hot lately that I haven't been cooking. I just made some cold mung bean jelly for lunch, it was so refreshing!

Meanwhile, in the Kaiyuan era of the Tang Dynasty, Wang Maozhong, who was unemployed at home, was still thinking about making a comeback. He asked people to send gifts everywhere. Hearing that Xue Chong, the only son of Princess Taiping who had been pardoned, was going to Japan for an inspection, he mistakenly thought that this was Li Longji's assassination plan.

After all, the journey from Chang'an to Japan was long and the sea was rough, making it easy for accidents to happen.

After much deliberation, Wang Maozhong decided to bring this unexpected event forward by leading his servants to ambush Xue Chongjian outside Chang'an City, thus demonstrating his loyalty to Li Longji...

(End of this chapter)