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

Chapter 175 Sima Qian: I hope that those who write history will make my name go down in history! [Seeking monthly votes]

The golden statue used for sacrificial rites was crudely made, yet it carried an indescribable sense of antiquity.

The appearance of the Jin people differs slightly from that of the Xiongnu. In the Xiongnu's description, the gods were the creators of the Xiongnu, but not the Xiongnu themselves, so their clothing and appearance were different.

Huo Qubing circled the bronze statue, which was taller than a person, twice, becoming more and more satisfied with it.

"Finally, I can openly ask my mentor for supplies. I hope he will like this gift."

By the time Wei Qing led his troops to arrive, it was already late at night. He took over command as soon as he arrived.

He first ordered Gongsun He and Su Jian to each lead 10,000 cavalry to pursue Yizhixie northward; then he ordered Gongsun Ao to lead his army eastward to search for and subjugate the herdsmen near Daqingshan, to establish authority and kill as needed, to prevent the area from becoming a foothold for the Xiongnu.

Li Ju led his men to search the surrounding area and captured all the remaining fugitives.

As for Huo Qubing's troops, they suffered considerable losses, and since they hadn't rested much since the night before last, they stayed here to guard the supplies and rest.

In addition, Huo Qubing's time to go to Hunyuan Palace is approaching, so he needs to stay in the camp. When the time comes, he will take the golden statue for the sacrificial ceremony with him.

Compared to military achievements, Wei Qing felt this matter was more important.

Although it was nominally a rest and recuperation period, there was still a lot of work to be done, such as preventing the fire from spreading, burying the bodies, and managing the prisoners.

After making the arrangements, Wei Qing rode his horse to the very center of the Xiongnu camp and carefully examined the Xiongnu's golden statue used for sacrificial rites.

"Take two photos, have the immortal print them out, and bring them here to have someone send them to Chang'an. National affairs are of utmost importance, including military and sacrificial rites. Logically, the golden statue used for sacrificial rites should be transported to Chang'an, but now that the immortal is here, we must prioritize Hunyuan Palace."

Since it was a gift to the gods, Wei Qing felt that the soldiers' achievements should be recognized. He summoned the stonemasons in the army and asked them to carve the names of the generals who fought this battle on the back of the stone where the Jin people stood.

Huo Qubing asked:
"Could it be engraved on the back of the golden statue? Master said that only with words on it is it considered valuable."

Wei Qing nodded, letting his nephew make the arrangements himself.

He went to see the Xiongnu's burned grain and said with some regret:

"What a pity. If we could have seized it, we could have fed countless people."

However, in this situation, burning the grain and fodder was the only solution; otherwise, Huo Qubing's thousand or so men would be no match for the Xiongnu.

At daybreak, all the prisoners were counted, totaling more than 12,000, of whom more than 3,000 were wounded.

After some deliberation, Wei Qing ordered someone to notify the prefects of nearby prefectures and counties to take these Xiongnu people away to repair the roads, widening and raising the existing roads to facilitate passage.

Sima Qian made himself a bowl of fried noodle soup, and while eating it, he remarked:
"Overnight, Yizhixie was defeated and our army won a great victory. I wonder who will write history. I hope that my name will be mentioned, so that I may also be remembered in history along with General Huo Biaoyao."

Zhao Ponu was drinking water when he heard this and almost spat it in Sima Qian's face:

"Don't tell jokes so early in the morning... The whole army has won a great victory, but I wonder how Li Guang is doing. It's really interesting to think about. He was the first to point out that the Xiongnu were at Huanggan River, but he missed the opportunity to fight because he got lost."

Zhang Qian asked:

"Zichang, if Li Guang goes back and impeaches you, what should you do?"

“Just tell the truth. I dare to swear to the gods before His Majesty. Does he dare? My father often mentioned Li Guang, saying that our two families are old friends. Who knew he was this kind of person? Once we return to Chang'an, anyone who praises Li Guang will be my enemy, Sima Qian!”

Zhao Ponu and Zhang Qian exchanged a glance, never expecting to witness the entire process of a fan turning into a hater. They marveled at how strange fate was; people who were originally on the same page had become enemies just because they worked together for a period of time.

When Sima Qian first arrived, he clearly looked down on Wei Qing and Huo Qubing, but now he has become a staunch supporter, perfectly illustrating the complexity of human nature.

Inside the Hunyuan Palace, after getting up, Zhou Yi flipped through the black notebook and found that his merit points had finally stopped at exactly fourteen taels, just two taels short of a pound of merit points.

Huo Qubing's merits have already exceeded one jin (500 grams), and are now one jin, one liang (500 grams), and two qian (1.2 qian).

"The rewards are certainly not as good as those of frontline combat personnel. Fortunately, they have done a lot of walking in the human world, so they will have more opportunities to share in the merits in the future. There will still be opportunities."

With nothing else to do, Zhou Yi browsed Wu Meiniang's personal page again and discovered that her progress in exchanging household registration had changed again:
[35/330]

Staying longer can both increase the progress and shorten the total length of the progress bar.

Judging from this trend, she will be able to exchange her household registration in Yunwu Town by the end of the year at the latest, at which point she can go abroad to cut down mountains and destroy temples to try to be granted the title of an inauspicious place.

I'm still not sure what the process of exchanging household registration entails; hopefully it won't be too complicated.

As Zhou Yi brushed his teeth and washed his face to prepare breakfast, Wu Meiniang also got up. She was wearing a simple white T-shirt and casual pants, but because of her great figure, she always looked charming.

The Book of Changes says:

"At the current pace, you should be able to obtain your household registration in Yunwu Town by the end of the year."

Wu Meiniang was stunned by these words, and it took her a long time to react:

"So fast? What do I need to do? Do I need to pay money to become a citizen? I still have a hundred taels of gold in the Zhenguan world. If it's not enough, I can borrow some from Li Mingda."

Zhou Yi was immediately delighted:

"It's free, just think of it as... think of it as a reward from the gods, you don't have to spend a single penny."

After saying that, he turned and went to the kitchen to cook rice porridge. Wu Meiniang stood there, unable to suppress her smile, but as she smiled, two lines of tears slid down her cheeks. She thought it would take eight or ten years to obtain local residency, but she didn't expect it to happen at the end of the year. Her heart was filled with mixed emotions.

It expresses both anticipation for a new life in the future and gratitude for the I Ching.

As for the Tang Dynasty world, she will try her best to acquire some resources to repay what she owes the Tang Dynasty, and then she will never go back to it again, content to live as a modern person.

Thinking of this, she quickly washed her face and hurriedly went back to her room to study.

I'll be getting my household registration by the end of the year, and there's still so much I need to learn. I need to hurry and not slack off.

After breakfast, Wu Meiniang took her books and stationery to the Zhongtian Hall to study. The hall was not only cool, but she could also change the incense for the statues of gods.

Zhou Yi tidied up the kitchen, drove his Wuling van down the mountain, and prepared to buy some watermelons.

Tomorrow is the day for our team building activities after our journey through different worlds, so we need to prepare plenty of watermelons so everyone can enjoy them to their heart's content.

Upon arriving at the foot of the mountain, Zhou Yi saw Zhao Wei sitting at his front door scrolling through Douyin (TikTok), so he stopped the car and greeted him.
"Playing on your phone so early in the morning, don't you have any work to do today?"

Zhao Wei pointed to the courtyard and said:
"Yes, my mom and my wife cooked a lot of soybeans to make watermelon soybean paste. Do you want some? If so, we'll make you a jar."

Upon hearing this, Zhou Yi became genuinely interested. He parked the car, opened the door, and got out.

"Speaking of watermelon bean paste, I really like it, but I'm not good at making it. Could you make me some more? I'll pay whatever it costs, so you don't work for nothing."

Zhao Wei said:

"I'll have my mom cook another twenty catties of soybeans later. Forget about the money. If you want to pay me, I guarantee you won't get a single bite."

The two started chatting right at the gate.

Zhao Wei, holding his phone, leaned close to Zhou Yi and asked:

"I just watched more than a dozen videos of Li Weigang. He kept getting scammed, and it made me so angry. Is there any way to make him not lose money? Or make the people who scammed him suffer a loss? Watching these short videos made my blood pressure soar, it's more infuriating than losing a 30-pound fish."

Zhou Yi also frequently watches Li Peiguang's videos and said with a smile:

“Li Weigang often helps the poor and has accumulated merit. Those who cheat those who have done good deeds will surely suffer retribution in the future. They may experience bad luck, fall seriously ill, or even have their children suffer the consequences.”

Soon, Zhao Wei's soybeans were cooked. Zhou Yi pinched two and tasted them. He felt that the taste was very good. He planned to buy some pig skin and a few pounds of dried soybeans from Da Tou Yang to make some soybean jelly on the mountain.

After agreeing on the quantity of watermelon and soybean paste needed with Zhao Wei's mother, Zhou Yi drove off and bought 200 jin of watermelon, along with some pork rinds, dried tofu, and other ingredients.

Back on the mountain, he immediately got to work.

Meanwhile, in the world of Emperor Zhezong of the Northern Song Dynasty, Zhang Shuye led a group of entourage and, together with officials from the Ministry of Rites, left Bianliang by carriage, heading north.

At this time, Hebei was suffering from floods, making it difficult to travel to the Liao Dynasty. However, Zhang Shuye was not in a hurry and planned to take this opportunity to properly plan the official road leading to the Liao Dynasty.

The current emperor has the ambition to recover the Sixteen Prefectures of Yan and Yun. As his subjects, we must plan ahead and do a good job in surveying the official roads and other related work.

As the carriage swayed and rattled out of Fengqiu Gate, directly north of Bianliang, several officials in the imperial court were still impeaching Zhang Shuye, arguing that it was against etiquette for an eighth-rank official to be sent as an envoy to a friendly nation.

Normally, Zhao Xu would have easily brushed it off, but today, his highly anticipated mission hadn't even begun before he was impeached, greatly displeasing this iron-fisted emperor.

“When Zhang Qian was sent on a mission to the Western Regions, he was merely a court official. Did he disgrace the Han Dynasty? Respect is earned through one's own efforts. Even if you are given a first-rank official position, if you are servile to other countries, you will not gain any respect.”

Several officials wanted to impeach him, but Li Gefei, who usually slacked off or dozed off in court, suddenly stood up and impeached those officials for accepting gifts and invitations and for forming cliques and suppressing dissent.

His impeachment immediately turned the entire court into a boiling pot of oil, because several of the officials who made the accusations were members of the old party, and Li Gefei, as a disciple of Su Shi, was a key figure in the old party.

The sudden infighting within the old party immediately put the entire court at a loss.

Fearing that these officials would target Li Gefei, Zhao Xu immediately pulled out his Hunyuan Palace token and slammed it onto the imperial desk with a clang.
"You spend your days impeaching others, but dare you swear that you are wholeheartedly devoted to the Song Dynasty, without a single selfish motive? If you dare, I will recall Zhang Shuye and punish him for his disrespect; if you dare not..."

Those officials who had been jumping up and down in protest were all speechless upon hearing this.

They had long heard of the power of the divine token and dared not swear an oath, for fear that it might actually attract divine lightning and turn them into charred remains like Liang Shicheng.

When Cai Jing, the Minister of Personnel, saw that several officials had fallen silent, he glanced at his cousin-in-law Li Gefei with suspicion, then stepped forward and took the opportunity to impeach the officials for disrespecting the Song Dynasty, the Emperor, and the gods.

This impeachment implicated the entire old party, even including Su Dongpo, who was far away on Hainan Island grilling oysters and eating geoduck.

Zhao Xu listened patiently, tapped the high-strength brass token with his finger, and looked at Cai Jing, asking:

"Scholar Cai, they dare not swear an oath, do you?"

Cai Jing straightened his official hat and replied righteously:

"Your subject dares!"

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Chapter 77 included a reference to Li Weigang in the book, and I only recently discovered that the screenshot has gone viral online. There are countless indexes for "Li Weigang being mocked in a novel". Here, I'll use the I Ching to give Li Weigang a little boost, hoping it hasn't caused him any trouble.

(End of this chapter)