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

Chapter 282 The "Citizenship Declaration" Prepared for the Xiongnu! [Seeking Monthly Tickets]

As evening fell and the sun slowly sank behind the western mountains, Li Qingzhao excitedly exclaimed:

"Yay! Finally, I can go down the mountain and stroll through the food street!"

As the sun set, the statues in the Houtu Temple no longer needed to be worshipped. The girl ran back to her room, quickly changed into a pair of work pants, a fitted white T-shirt, and a pair of white canvas shoes. Then she tied her hair into a high ponytail and put on hair clips with Brown Bear and Sally Chicken on them. A cute and adorable young girl was born.

Zhou Yi put away the statue of Houtu in the temple, went back to his room to change into casual clothes, and said to Li Qingzhao:
"It's best not to wear white T-shirts when strolling through food streets, as they easily get stained with sauces and other substances that are difficult to wash off."

Li Qingzhao put on a pink helmet, took out her phone, and took a selfie:
"I know, but white is beautiful... Immortal Master, will other women come in the future?"

Zhou Yi pushed the motorcycle out from under the sunshade and said:

"Probably, but it's hard to say exactly who. Who would you like to recommend?"

Li Qingzhao locked all the doors to the rooms, closed the kitchen window, straddled the motorcycle, and tightly embraced Zhou Yi's waist with both hands:

"I would like you to bring Xie Daoyun here. She is a talented woman who has also killed several traitors with her sword. She is both a scholar and a warrior. Unfortunately, she married an unreliable man. Perhaps she should come here to cultivate immortality. I looked at the information this afternoon. Not long after she got married, Liu Yu, the powerful and ambitious emperor of the Jin Dynasty, was born... Immortal Master, would you like to experience the process of raising an emperor?"

This reminded Zhou Yi that he had always studied Liu Yu after he came of age, looking for a turning point to help this emperor.

It was only after Li Qingzhao reminded him that he realized he could start with Xie Daoyun. Before she got married, Xie Daoyun lived in Wuyi Lane in Nanjing. Liu Yu was born in Zhenjiang, which was very close. He could find her by sending someone to inquire.

However, this matter is not urgent for now. We'll discuss it with Meiniang when she returns... Wouldn't it be a waste not to use a brain of imperial caliber by our side?
Thinking of this, he started the motorcycle:
"Let's talk about it when your sister Meiniang arrives. Let's eat first, I'm a little hungry."

Speaking of food, Li Qingzhao also craved the grilled gluten, stinky tofu, fried skewers, grilled squid, and almond tea from the snack street. The two of them went down the mountain together and sped all the way to Xiuchuan County. They found a place to park their motorcycle and then started to eat and stroll around.

While they were strolling around, the two ran into Xu Wenhai and his family.

Xu Tian has now fully recovered. Xu Wenhai, finding him idle at home, set up a small stall selling ice jelly for him to pass the time. Surprisingly, the stall was clean and tidy, and business was quite good.

Upon meeting Zhou Yi, Xu Wenhai warmly invited him to try it and even instructed Xu Tian to add more sugar water.

Zhou Yi couldn't refuse, so he stopped with Li Qingzhao and tasted Xu Tian's cooking together... These things were all wholesale products, so they didn't require any particularly superb cooking skills.

Li Qingzhao took a bite of the icy and refreshing ice jelly and immediately fell in love with its texture.

Upon seeing this, Xu Wenhai asked Xu Tian to pack two more large portions.

Zhou Yi and Xu Wenhai started chatting casually:

"It's summer vacation now, you can relax a bit, right?"

Xu Wenhai shook his head:
"I'm busy recruiting students all day long. I'd almost fight with other schools to get students... I was planning to visit Hunyuan Palace during the summer vacation, but I haven't had the time yet."

Speaking of recruitment, Zhou Yi suddenly remembered Wu Zetian's intention to bring Li Mingda along, and he asked:

Can students without a household registration attend your school?

Xu Wenhai nodded:
“Sure, many children who can’t attend public schools go to our school. That’s what private schools are all about… Master Zhou, who are you planning to send to school? I’ll arrange it.”

The Book of Changes says:

“It’s an acquaintance’s child. I’m just asking around. If the child needs to go to school in the future, I’ll ask you to register him.”

"No problem, Master Zhou, I'll take care of everything."

After Xu Tian packed up the two large portions of ice jelly, Zhou Yi handed them to Li Qingzhao, then said goodbye to Xu Wenhai's family and continued to stroll around and eat until after nine o'clock before preparing to go back.

The temperature had dropped a bit by now, and it was a little chilly to ride a motorcycle, so Zhou Yi led Li Qingzhao to the Hongxing Erke store and bought two jackets.

After much deliberation, Li Qingzhao chose two matching jackets for couples.

After paying, she happily put the coat on, looked at herself in the mirror, and then bought three more identical women's coats: one for Gongsun Da Niang, one for Wu Meiniang, and one for Xi Shi.

Best friends should always wear new clothes together!

When Li Qingzhao returned with Zhou Yi by the waist, in the Jinghe River Valley of Anding County during the reign of Emperor Yuan of the Western Han Dynasty, Chen Tang was demonstrating the essentials of torture and forced confessions to the Imperial Guards.

This was supposed to be a training exercise after the field training ended, but unexpectedly, as soon as they entered the valley area, they used a drone to discover dozens of bandits who intended to rob them.

Among them were Xiongnu people, Qiang people, and various other non-Han peoples who served as servants.

Here, near the heart of Guanzhong, there were actually foreign tribes lurking around. Taking advantage of the last rays of the setting sun, Chen Tang launched a counter-encirclement, wiping out the entire band of rebels, from their leader to their grooms.

Beside the surging Jing River, dozens of wooden stakes stood in neat rows, each with a foreign bandit tied to it, looking extremely disheveled in the light of the campfire.

Holding a pair of pliers, Chen Tang said to the Imperial Guard officers who had gathered around him: "Those who have just been captured are very ambitious, and some even have the illusion that they can escape by stealing a horse. So, once we capture them, we must immediately dampen their spirits and shatter their unwarranted fantasies."

After saying that, he used his pliers to pinch the soft flesh under the armpit of a Hun man, squeezed it tightly, and then twisted it half a turn.

The Hun was in so much pain that he trembled all over and struggled desperately, but he couldn't get rid of it and instead felt even more intense pain.

Instructor Chen explained:

"The nerves under the armpit are quite developed, but there aren't many muscles that can withstand pain, making it an ideal place for execution. Usually, when you encounter someone who is stubborn, you just start there, or you can simply stab them twice to quickly break their will... Hmm, is this guy really that tough?"

Chen Tang was somewhat surprised. When he looked up, he realized that the Hun's mouth was gagged... No wonder there was no howling as expected; it was muted.

He ripped the rag out of the Xiongnu man's mouth, and the man immediately screamed in agony. The sound echoed through the valley, scaring several Xiongnu men around him so much that they wet themselves. Before they could even be asked any questions, they began to confess their crimes and even revealed the activity range and strongholds of other gangs.

Chen Tang was somewhat disappointed. He had intended to teach the officers a lesson, but the prisoners had no backbone at all, rendering his planned interrogation and torture session a mere formality.

Frustrated, Chen Tang changed the script:
"They're lying. Now it's one officer against one prisoner. We have to do everything we can to get them to tell the truth. There can't be any concealment. Let's begin!"

Soon, screams like pigs being slaughtered rang out one after another.

Refusing to confess would be stubbornness that required a lot of effort, but once they confessed, the officers were even more enraged by the various atrocities committed by the Xiongnu against the Han people.

Chen Tang sat by the campfire and asked Wang Zhang beside him:

"Zhongqing, would you like to give it a try?"

Wang Zhang had little interest in torture and forced confessions; instead, he said with concern:

"The foreign tribes have all fled to the heart of Guanzhong, while the court officials are still busy scheming against each other. If this continues, our great Han Dynasty will surely perish."

Chen Tang nodded:

"So the Immortal Master took me to the Hunyuan Palace and ordered me to turn the tide. Unfortunately, I am weak and alone. Zhongqing, would you be willing to help me to revive the Han Dynasty?"

Wang Zhang bowed deeply:
"It's what you wish for!"

The wailing of the Xiongnu lasted for more than an hour before it stopped. It wasn't that the pain had subsided, but rather that several officers, finding the noise too disruptive to their sleep, had all of them beheaded.

Early the next morning, the Imperial Guards set off along the valley towards Xiaoguan. Chen Tang began teaching the officers how to use binoculars, walkie-talkies, and drones to increase their combat effectiveness.

On the other side, in the world of Emperor Wu of the Western Han Dynasty.

In less than ten days, more than a dozen Xiongnu mounds appeared on the northern grasslands of Dingxiang. The Xiongnu herders who had submitted to the Han Dynasty completely severed ties with the Xiongnu, began to believe in Heaven and Earth, changed their names to Han names, learned Han language and practiced Han etiquette, and tried their best to become qualified Han citizens.

Wei Qing did not interfere much with this change. The Jingguan (a mound of human remains) on the grassland was still being built, but the Xiongnu people, who were loyal to the Han Dynasty, continued to march south, kneeling outside the Han army camp, begging for a chance to live.

In the morning, Zhang Qian entered the camp to report:
"General, the number of Xiongnu outside the camp gate has exceeded one thousand in the past few days. If this continues, it will inevitably affect the daily operation of the camp."

Upon hearing this, Wei Qing took out the black iron token that Huo Qubing had sent him:
"I heard that the road construction site is short of some management personnel. Let's go and select a group of loyal and reliable Xiongnu people to be in charge of managing the Xiongnu prisoners who are working on the road."

If the Han people were to continue to govern, it would exacerbate the hatred. If the Xiongnu were in charge, it would become a dogfight between the two sides, and the Han people would become the object of both sides' vying to please.

Upon arriving at the camp gate, they found a large group of Xiongnu people outside who had come to surrender. They had voluntarily surrendered their weapons and horses, only asking the general to take them in.

Wei Qing said to Zhang Qian:
"Let them gather together. Today, I will dare to borrow the power of the gods."

Upon hearing this, Zhang Qian took a small megaphone and, in the Xiongnu language, ordered them to line up neatly and kneel at the entrance of the camp. He said their lives depended on today.

Soon, the group of Huns knelt down in a flurry, displaying the utmost piety.

Wei Qing wrote a declaration based on the principles of never harming Han people, remaining loyal to the Han Dynasty and never betraying it, and adding some standards related to faith and culture.

He wrote it down on paper and had Zhang Qian hold up a megaphone and lead the people in reciting it.

If you pass the oath, you can be used like a Han Chinese, promoted and rewarded as appropriate, without discrimination... But if you fail, it's like adding to the achievements of the Thunder Gods.

Soon, thunderbolts struck from the sky, turning some of the Huns who were taking advantage of the chaos into charred remains, while others fled in terror. But most of the Huns remained, their heads pressed to the ground, their attitude becoming increasingly devout.

After the oath-taking ceremony, there were still about eight hundred Xiongnu people left. Wei Qing said:
"You have passed the test of the gods and have officially become Han Chinese... Ziwen Gong, take them to register, collect their personal equipment, and head to the road construction site to manage the Xiongnu prisoners!"

And so, the mighty Han Dynasty acquired its own "pacification army" against the Xiongnu.

(End of this chapter)