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

Chapter 247 The dirty work will be assigned to Sima Qian; after all, he's writing history! [Seeking monthly votes]

This order surprised Huo Qubing:

"Your Majesty, the Prince of Zhao is your own elder brother. Is it really worth going to such lengths for Jiang Chong?"

Liu Che didn't speak. Instead, he took two bamboo scrolls from the bamboo scroll shelf next to him and tossed them to Huo Qubing. Then he sat cross-legged on the couch, his expression terribly gloomy.

Huo Qubing opened the bamboo slips and saw that they recorded some of the words and deeds of Zhao King Liu Pengzu, all of which were detrimental to the court.

Liu Pengzu was a cunning and sycophantic man. He seemed to be all smiles, but he was anything but honest behind the scenes.

For example, no matter how talented the prime minister sent by the imperial court to the Zhao state was, he could not serve for more than two years. Many of them were dismissed by Liu Pengzu for less than a year.

During the reign of Emperor Wu, although the princes owned the fiefdoms, the right to govern them belonged to the imperial court, which appointed a prime minister to govern them.

Therefore, when the princes rebelled, the first person to incite them was the prime minister. Without the prime minister's approval, the princes theoretically could not mobilize even a single soldier.

Liu Che already had some reservations about Liu Pengzu, and on top of that, the Crown Prince of Zhao, Liu Dan, was like a teddy bear, indulging in all sorts of mischief, including his sisters, cousins, and even his own daughter.

Originally, it was Liu Pengzu's own business. Although Liu Che found it disgusting, Chang'an was far from Handan, so he decided to ignore it. But since Jiang Chong was involved, he decided to take this opportunity to eliminate the Zhao state.

Yes, by changing the State of Zhao to Zhao Commandery, the imperial court gained another directly governed territory.

Huo Qubing picked up the second bamboo scroll and looked at it. It showed the date of Liu Dan's wedding. He had brought Jiang Chong's sister home last year, and now they were a family.

Since we're family, we shouldn't be so polite.

After reviewing the map, Huo Qubing opened it and began to plan carefully:

"Su Jianbu is stationed at Yanmen. If he takes a detour on his way back to Chang'an, he can go south from Youzhou and easily break through the defenses of Handan when he passes through Jizhou, capturing the Zhao King's family... But what reason should he use?"

Liu Che said in a deep voice:

“Arrange for the Xiongnu prince to write a letter to Zhao Dan.”

The Xiongnu prince that Huo Qubing captured is still imprisoned in the Dingxiang camp. If he can get him to write a letter, then the reason for the secret military expedition will be found.

Liu Che had calmed down by now and was interested in testing Huo Qubing:
"The Su family is too rigid; they wouldn't do something like this. What if they try to do something they'll only make things worse..."

Huo Qubing immediately said:
“I will secretly write a letter to Sima Qian, asking him to assist Su Jian. In this way, an upright general like Su Jian can make meritorious contributions, and the Sima family can also be used by the court.”

When officials from powerful families criticize the emperor, even a wise and benevolent ruler sitting on the throne will be driven to fury.

But if such a family were to be of one mind with the emperor and constantly find fault with the ministers, the emperor would be too comfortable... Besides, Sima Qian was a historian, so it was just right for him to do the dirty work.

He either exposes his own scandals or erases the matter altogether, so he won't include any self-serving praise of meritorious officials in historical records.

Liu Che asked:

Is Sima Qian reliable?

“He is reliable. The Immortal Master thinks he is a promising talent and has asked me to give him pointers many times. After I establish my own residence, I will appoint him as the Chief Secretary of the General’s Office.”

Upon hearing this, Liu Che did not object:

"Alright, you make the arrangements. As for Jiang Chong, find a reason to exterminate his entire clan... He's already manipulating my father and me like puppets. Exterminating his entire clan is already too lenient for him!"

Huo Qubing wrote it down and planned to make an electronic document, which he would then have a messenger take to the Dingxiang North Camp on a USB drive.

Wei Qing's side has solar panels and tablets. Although everyone is still unfamiliar with how to operate them, they can still plug in a USB flash drive to read files without any problem.

After discussing this matter, Liu Che inquired about the Song Dynasty:
"What was that emperor's name again? Zhao Xu, right?"

Huo Qubing nodded:
"Yes, his name is Zhao Xu. He is my third junior brother and the only iron-fisted emperor of the Song Dynasty."

Liu Che took a sip of the tea brewed by Huo Qubing and said:

"When we go to Hunyuan Palace this time, bring him a lot of stallions. We can't help with other things, but a few horses won't be a problem."

The entire Han Dynasty had over 300,000 registered horses, while the situation in the Song Dynasty was truly appalling.

Liu Che asked some other questions, which Huo Qubing answered one by one. Finally, this great emperor of all time sighed:
"If I can really achieve something in ten years, I'll shamelessly move to live with the immortal, chat with emperors from different eras, and laugh at those spineless cowards."

At the same time, inside the Hunyuan Palace, Gongsun Da Niang was teaching Xi Shi how to use a small drone.

Zhou Yi filled Xi Shi's gasoline stove with fuel and put some noodles and a packet of hot and sour soup seasoning in her baggage so that she could cook hot and sour soup or cook noodles directly in the hot and sour soup when she wanted to improve her taste.

In addition, Zhou Yi also made some minced meat sauce for the noodles, so that the number one beauty of China wouldn't go hungry.

In the restaurant, Li Qingzhao sat in front of her laptop, discussing the supplies she wanted to buy with Zhao Xu:
"They're mostly used for gunpowder. Why doesn't Your Majesty establish a Royal Academy of Sciences to gather talented individuals and pool our wisdom to improve the Song Dynasty's fighting strength?"

Upon hearing this, Zhao Xu was genuinely tempted:

"That's a good suggestion. I'll go back and think about it. If there are no problems, I'll gather some people to give it a try."

He didn't linger, gathering all the necessary information and some nutritional supplements for Consort Liu, who was about to give birth, before leaving Hunyuan Palace. After arranging the things Xi Shi needed, Zhou Yi drove to town and bought a bunch of supplies for Chen Tang.

Salt, pickles, snacks, desserts, candy, clothes, shoes and socks, solar panels, electric fans, electric lights, bedding, etc., it can be said to cover every aspect of life, which made Chen Tang extremely happy... The Great Han Left General transformed into a time-traveling reseller.

He took two sets of divine crossbows and other weapon samples, along with various supplies and the black dragon flag left by Zhou Yi last time, bid farewell to everyone, and returned to the world of Emperor Yuan of the Western Han Dynasty.

Gongsun Da Niang said:

"Given General Zigong's personality, those pastries, even a small piece, would cost a gold ingot. The nobles of the Han Dynasty would be spending a fortune."

Wu Zetian wasn't surprised at all:
"He wants to implement reforms, but that won't work without money."

When Chen Tang returns this time, he plans to hold a matchmaking event and also intends to reorganize the Imperial Guards, weeding out all the bad apples and good-for-nothings.

In cavalry warfare, it is better to have fewer but better troops. Three thousand rabble are not as effective as one thousand well-trained elite soldiers.

Once the Imperial Guards have been trained and developed their own military style, they can be expanded.

According to Chen Tang's prediction, after Zhizhi Chanyu's head was hung in Gaocheng, Huhanye, the leader of the Southern Xiongnu, would soon come to Chang'an to submit to Emperor Yuan and then repeatedly request to marry a palace maid to him for a peace treaty.

It was supposed to be a marriage alliance, but in reality, they just wanted to take the dowry from the Han dynasty.

The betrothal gifts they gave were mostly cattle and sheep, and not in large quantities.

Historically, in an effort to enhance his own prestige, Emperor Yuan used the taxes and grain from the entire Bingzhou region to support the Southern Xiongnu, allowing this crumbling and defeated army to recover its strength in a short period of time and slowly erode the territory of the Northern Xiongnu.

By the time Wang Mang usurped the Han throne, the Xiongnu had already regained their dominance over the grasslands. Unfortunately, their reign was short-lived, as they were soon replaced by a man named Dou Xian.

Although Dou Xian had many shortcomings, his achievement of inscribing the Yanran Mountain was undeniable, and it dealt a significant blow to the Xiongnu.

After the inscription on Yanran Mountain was erected, the Northern Xiongnu fled westward, and the Xianbei people gradually occupied the Khangai Mountains area... The empire's frontier was once again teeming with new foreign tribes.

In the evening, Li Bai woke up, ate two large bowls of rice with dry pot fish slices, and then returned to the Kaiyuan World with Gongsun Da Niang.

The religious reforms were in full swing over there, and the two dared not leave for too long, for fear of missing out on the good deeds.

Next, Xi Shi was about to leave, so Zhou Yi bought her about ten catties of fried dough sticks and fried cakes from the foot of the mountain, asking her to give them as a reward to the Wu soldiers who were escorting her.

Li Qingzhao rode her pink electric scooter around the town, and when she returned, she said happily:
"I'm not afraid of dogs anymore. When I see one, I don't want to hide; in fact, I want to pet its head... Master, what should I do if I encounter a wolf? How can I tell the difference between a wolf and a dog?"

Zhou Yi, recalling an online meme, laughed and said:

"Look at their expression: if they're angry and clenching their teeth, they're a wolf; if they're angry and panting, they're a dog. Look at their tail: if it wags too slowly, it's a wolf; if it wags too fast, it's a dog; if it's curved, it's a wolf; if it's straight, it's a dog. Look at the leftover food: if it's thick with chaff, it's a wolf; if it's thin with

Before Zhou Yi could finish explaining, Li Qingzhao was laughing so hard she couldn't stand up straight:

"Immortal Master, you're so cute! I only realized you were subtly cursing when I heard the second verse. What's the full text? I'm going to copy it down and pass it down as a nursery rhyme. No matter if there are any more Tartars invading the pass in the future, I'll curse them as a sign of respect!"

Just as Zhou Yi was about to praise her, Ding Zhenhua called:
"Master Zhou, my relative has recovered. Can we invite a deity statue now?"

This is a question that the I Ching really can't answer:
"Tell me your price range first, so I can arrange for the manufacturer to make it."

Zhang Yuqiang had just narrowly escaped death and immediately decided to acquire a Guan Gong statue worth 99,000 yuan, but was dissuaded by Zhou Yi:
"You don't need such a big one. How about this, I'll choose a suitable size based on your family's situation, and the rest of the money can be used to make peace amulets for your family members. They can be hung on their bodies or in their cars."

Zhang Yuqiang immediately agreed and even asked Ding Zhenhua to send Zhou Yi the birthdays of the whole family as soon as possible, for fear of delaying it.

After hanging up the phone, Zhou Yi contacted Uncle Ming and ordered a pure bronze statue of Guan Yu. Then he began arranging the peace amulet.

The statue of Guan Yu will take two days to arrive, while the statues of Huo Qubing and Xin Qiji will arrive at Hunyuan Palace the day after tomorrow.

Zhou Yi glanced at the itinerary and said to Wu Meiniang and Li Qingzhao:

"We're free tomorrow, how about we drive to Mangshan and see if it's teeming with wandering ghosts... It's terrifying that a tomb raider can control six or seven of them."

Thinking back to her previous experience of bestowing titles upon the Earth God and the Water Dragon King, Wu Zetian asked with a smile:

"Does the immortal intend to bestow titles upon the mountain god?"

The Book of Changes does not offer a definitive answer:

"Let's go take a look first. If the situation is bad, we'll randomly select one of the famous people buried in Mangshan and bestow upon him the title of mountain god... The place where the twenty-four emperors lived can't be suppressed by ordinary famous people. We'll have to search it carefully."

Wu Zetian suggested:

“Immortal Master, I do have someone here. His posthumous title is Wenzhong. After his death, he was posthumously honored as an immortal by Taoism. There is a suspected tomb in Mangshan. He should be able to suppress the spirits of the dead in Mangshan.”

Zhou Yi became interested:

"Who?"

"Yan Zhenqing, Left Judge of the Arctic Exorcism Bureau!"

(End of this chapter)