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

Chapter 196 Asking Confucius to Repair the Confucian Scholar's Pen! [Seeking Monthly Tickets]

"Oh dear, all the clothes I hung out to dry are wet! Daoist Master, did it just rain?"

Grandma Gongsun didn't like drinking sweet white wine, so she went to the refrigerator to get a bottle of chilled cola. But as soon as she stepped out of the restaurant, she was startled by the "vast ocean" in the courtyard.

Water was everywhere, and the drainage ditches on both sides of the yard were simply not enough to keep up with the flow.

Zhou Yi stood in the vegetable garden, his Taoist robe soaked through, completely unprepared for the dramatic use of the Confucian scholar's brush:
"I just tried out the new magical artifact, but I couldn't operate it properly."

He wiped the water off his face, stumbled out of the vegetable garden, went back to his room to change into shorts and a vest, then picked up a shovel and dug a ditch to drain the water from the yard.

Wu Zetian, Li Qingzhao, and Li Bai stood under the corridor watching this scene, witnessing magical arts for the first time.

Gongsun Da Niang, on the other hand, seemed to have seen a lot:

"When I joined forces with the Taoist priest to slay the evil dragon, that was truly perilous. Today's rain-making technique is nothing more than a drizzle."

Actually, this girl didn't know what kind of magic Zhou Yi had just used, but fortunately, the other three didn't know either, so she could make up whatever she wanted.

After Zhou Yi finished his work, he said to the group:

"Today, Senior Han gave me a calligraphy brush, saying that it was somewhat compatible with Li Bai's destiny. However, he didn't know how to use it, and I wasn't quite sure either. I just tried it out, and I didn't expect it to actually trigger something."

Li Bai asked:

"Master, is that pen used for drawing talismans?"

This question really stumped Zhou Yi. If one can write words in the void, then one should also be able to draw talismans in the void. If that's possible, then that would be cultivating both Taoism and Confucianism.

Using Confucian ritual implements to draw Taoist talismans is exciting to think about.

He said to Li Bai:

"It's hard to say whether it will work or not yet. I need to try it first... You guys continue eating, I'll go back to my room and study it some more."

At this point, none of them were in the mood for food; they were all eager to witness the magic, so they swarmed into Zhou Yi's room. Gongsun Da Niang even sat on Zhou Yi's bed to test it out.
"Such a soft mattress, Master, you really know how to enjoy life!"

Zhou Yi handed the brush to Wu Meiniang, then opened the black notebook and discovered that his merits were one coin short.

He looked down and quickly saw two notes:

Using the Confucian scholar's pen, merit -1.

[Using merit to activate the Scholar's Brush consumes merit proportional to the scale of the spell; please use it with caution.]

These two notes explain the use of the Confucian Scholar's Pen, and also imply that there are other ways to activate its power... There is no limit to the merit it can generate, but it is unknown what these other methods of activation consume.

Wu Meiniang held the writing brush, looking at it from left to right, and asked curiously:

Does this magical artifact have a name?

The Book of Changes says:

"It's called the Scholar's Brush. It's currently in a flawed stage. It'll probably be complete once the brush tip is repaired."

After Wu Zetian finished reading it, she handed it to Li Qingzhao. The girl started scribbling and drawing on the back of her hand, then complained:

"The pen tip is so badly damaged that it can't even be used to write small characters."

Li Bai took it, drew a talisman on the back of his hand, but there was no reaction.

Finally, there was Granny Gongsun. This girl was not good at any of the traditional arts, only at singing and dancing. When she got her hands on a calligraphy brush, she started playing around with it with a chuckle.

"The drizzling rain, come pouring down!"

As she sang, she wrote the character for "rain" in the air, intending to project an image of a cultured person. Unexpectedly, the character for "rain" actually appeared in the air.

When Zhou Yi saw this, fearing a localized downpour might occur in the room, he quickly pushed the character out. Sure enough, the character for "rain" floated out the window and into the courtyard. In less than a minute, a light drizzle began to fall.

The group exchanged bewildered glances, even Gongsun Da Niang, who was joking around, was stunned:
"No way, such a simple usage, and that blind old man actually spent several days figuring it out?"

She found it unbelievable. Zhou Yi took the brush and put it into the bamboo box, saying:
Do you think everyone cultivates merit like you?

After saying that, he opened his notebook, turned to the page of Granny Gongsun, and looked at the notes. She had also had one coin of merit deducted. Fortunately, she had earned some before, otherwise Hunyuan Palace would have a fairy with negative merit.

Zhou Yi wanted to try drawing talismans, but worried about the negative consequences, so he simply took a brush, an umbrella, and led his eldest disciple and three beautiful women to the Wenxuan King's Hall. He opened the box, placed it in the center of the offering table, and respectfully offered incense to the old master. Just as he placed the incense sticks in the burner, Zhou Yi felt the brush handle seem brighter, and the worn-out brush tip seemed to have grown a little longer…

He decided to offer incense every morning and evening for the first forty-nine days.

The rain outside lasted for an hour before stopping, but the area affected was not large, only covering a few dozen acres of Hunyuan Palace. The horses in the backyard continued to graze and were completely unaffected.

In the distance, at the project site, the blind man stood in the courtyard, did some calculations, and a relieved smile appeared on his face:

“A prodigy indeed. No wonder Zhou Banxian left so peacefully. This child is truly a genius… Consider this pen my investment. I hope that when my calamity comes in the future, you can lend a helping hand.”

After saying that, he turned and went into the consultant's lounge of the project department, planning to stay there for the night and return to Yiyang City early the next morning... There are still a few evil spirits left, it's time to clean them out and bring in new ones!
Meanwhile, in the world of Emperor Wu of the Western Han Dynasty, after Huo Qubing returned, the battlefield had been cleaned up, the corpses that needed to be buried had been properly buried, and all kinds of arrows, armor, and weapons had been collected.

Su Jian and Gongsun He led their army back first, and there were still many corpses to be collected along the way, and the battlefield also needed to be cleaned up.

As for the Xiongnu, after this battle, Yizhixie's direct forces suffered a huge blow and should be temporarily unable to move south. After withdrawing to Dingxiang, the army may return to Chang'an.

This battle came quickly and ended quickly, lasting less than a month, and resulted in the killing of more than 30,000 enemy soldiers.

On the way back, Huo Qubing's army was responsible for bringing up the rear. They moved along, stopping frequently, taking photos and making records at each place they visited. Zhang Qian also carefully drew a topographical map.

These maps are not only useful now, but will also be very useful in the future, especially for generals leading troops, for whom detailed maps are invaluable.

Upon hearing about the exchange of warhorses for infantry armor, Zhao Ponu asked in confusion:

What is a foot soldier (步人甲)?

Huo Qubing showed him the pictures he had saved on his phone:

"Heavy infantry is the pinnacle of infantry, the nemesis of all other troop types. Apart from its slow movement speed, it has no other weaknesses."

Upon seeing Bu Renjia's photo, Zhao Ponu was immediately tempted:
"If a thousand soldiers were selected to wear infantry armor to reinforce the enemy lines, the Xiongnu cavalry would never return! You're a business genius to exchange three warhorses for such a valuable set of armor!"

Huo Qubing was a little embarrassed by these words, because according to the price of warhorses in the Song Dynasty, they should have been more expensive than infantry armor.

It doesn't matter anyway, since these warhorses were all purchased from the Xiongnu for free, so even at half price there's still a considerable profit.

Once we've exchanged all the warhorses we have, we can simply start the Hexi Campaign ahead of schedule. The entire Hexi Campaign has captured over 100,000 warhorses, which can be exchanged for a massive amount of supplies from the Song Dynasty.

Besides infantry armor, broadswords, crossbows, arrows, and other such items were also in short supply for the Han Dynasty.

On the other side, in the world of Emperor Zhezong of the Northern Song Dynasty.

Cai Jing's son, Cai You, has been detained for several days. Many relatives are very anxious, but Cai Jing remains indifferent. He goes out early and returns late every day, leading a group of his men and a team of selected imperial guards, carrying the imperial sword, to search the manors outside the city one by one.

At first, everyone thought he was just putting on an act, but when the newly built villa of Zeng Bu's brother-in-law, the head of the Privy Council, was raided, everyone was shocked. Zeng Bu was so angry that he jumped up and down in the court and cursed Cai Jing.

Both men are members of the New Party and had a close relationship in the past. Zeng Bu never expected that Cai Jing would target his own brother-in-law. Wouldn't this make the Old Party laugh at him?
But Cai Jing was now focused on being a loyal minister and didn't care about the conflict between the new and old parties. He directly took out the infantry and various weapons that had been confiscated from the manor. Zeng Bu was speechless and immediately said that he was not familiar with his brother-in-law and hoped that Grand Secretary Cai would enforce the law impartially and not have too many concerns.

Zeng Bu then apologized to Zhao Xu, putting on a show of upholding justice even at the cost of family ties, and ultimately ended the matter by fining him a year's salary.

As for Zeng Bu's brother-in-law, his entire family was executed... He was caught red-handed by the Minister of Personnel for illegally possessing armor and weapons, and no one could save him.

Even the head of the Privy Council gave in, and only then did the other court officials realize that Cai Jing was serious. That very night, people flocked to Cai's residence to deliver visiting cards.

Unfortunately, these visiting cards appeared untouched in the court the next day. Li Gefei even cheekily opened them and commented on the calligraphy and rhetoric. Cai Jing had completely offended the court officials, and memorials impeaching him poured in.

In fact, Li Gefei had offended quite a few people, but since this guy had a daughter who was favored by the gods, no one dared to provoke him. They could only bully Cai Jing to death. Even Cai You, who was temporarily detained, was transferred to a larger prison with worse conditions.

It is said that on the night he was transferred in, Cai You, with his fair skin and fragrant body, howled for half the night, his past arrogance completely shattered.

The next day, this guy started jumping around and accusing all the officials, revealing everything he knew and heard. He even brought up the fact that the son of the prefect of Kaifeng, who was in charge of the case, had syphilis. This made a group of yamen runners want to laugh but dare not, and the scene was very comical.

The Cai family father and son caused a great uproar in the city, leaving all the court officials helpless. Regardless of whether they were from the New Party or the Old Party, they all lamented their bad luck.

While Cai Jing drew the court's attention, Li Gefei took the opportunity to interrogate the envoy from Western Xia. The complete guide to torture brought by Zhao Xu opened the door to a new world for him. The various novel methods terrified the Western Xia envoy so much that he even confessed to peeping at his aunt while she was bathing when he was a child.

Li Gefei quickly obtained the list of gifts sent by the Western Xia envoys, with each household listed clearly and the gifts provided in detail.

When the list was handed to Zhao Xu, Li Gefei asked:
"Your Majesty, the war at the front is critical. Should we double the amount of the bribes?"

Zhao Xu thought for a moment and said:
"Add ten times the amount to each household, and imply to them that if they make up the difference within ten days, the matter can be downplayed; otherwise, they will be severely punished... After this matter is investigated, I will appoint you as the Vice Minister of the Ministry of Justice. Next, begin investigating the smuggling of weapons to Western Xia and root out all the corrupt officials in the court!"

(End of this chapter)