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

Chapter 294 Wang Feng: Calling you a terrible teammate is an insult to pigs! [Seeking monthly votes]

Like Zhao Kuangyin, Shi Shouxin was a member of the "Ten Brothers of the Righteous Society," who swore an oath of brotherhood by blood.

In 953 AD, ten low-ranking military officers of similar age from the Later Zhou Dynasty swore an oath of brotherhood by drinking blood, becoming sworn brothers for life.

At the time, it was just a burst of enthusiasm; no one expected that seven years later, the ten brothers of the Righteous Society would become the backbone of the uprising against the Zhou dynasty and the establishment of the Song dynasty.

However, when they swore brotherhood, they did not have Zhao Kuangyin as their leader, but rather Li Jixun, who was then the commander of the Palace Guard. He was the leader of the group.

After Guo Rong ascended to the throne, Zhao Kuangyin's official rank rose rapidly. Meanwhile, his elder brother Li Jixun neglected defense during the campaign against the Southern Tang, allowing the Southern Tang soldiers to launch a surprise attack that burned a lot of siege equipment. As a result, he was punished, and Zhao Kuangyin gradually surpassed him in rank, widening the gap between them.

Now, with the Northern Expedition against the Liao Kingdom under his command, Li Jixun has become Zhao Kuangyin's subordinate, serving as the Left Wing Commander.

As for Shi Shouxin, he served as Zhao Kuangyin's deputy for several consecutive years. Among the ten brothers of the Righteous Society, the two had the best relationship and were like brothers.

After escaping the camp, several members of the Khitan royal family seized warhorses, mounted them, and fled desperately towards Youzhou.

A group of Zhou cavalrymen pursued them closely. Shi Shouxin hid behind a large tree and observed the fleeing Khitan royals. He noticed that one of them was calm and showed no signs of tension. He immediately drew his powerful bow and shot the man dead with an arrow.

He then fired another arrow, which struck a member of the Khitan royal family in the buttocks. After the man fled, he picked up a walkie-talkie and reported to Zhao Kuangyin:

"Brother, the matter has been settled. May I go to see His Majesty?"

Zhao Kuangyin said:
"Go, His Majesty will reward you with great treasures. If you see the token in His Majesty's hand, remember to swear an oath to serve His Majesty. He said that the Immortal Master once praised you."

These words filled Shi Shouxin with confidence. He slung his powerful bow over his shoulder and rode his horse toward the central army camp.

After handing over his weapons, Shi Shouxin met Guo Rong in the main tent.

After bowing, he saw that Guo Rong was holding a token. Remembering Zhao Kuangyin's instructions, he swore to be loyal to the Great Zhou and to His Majesty. Guo Rong was very pleased and rewarded him with a pair of binoculars and a powerful flashlight.
"I intend to bypass Youzhou to attack Changping and take Juyong Pass. I need to send a cavalry force there. I wonder if Minister Shi is interested?"

Upon hearing this, Shi Shouxin immediately volunteered for battle:

"I am willing to go. If I fail to capture Changping, I am willing to offer my head as a reward!"

Most of the Khitans are currently gathered in Youzhou City, leaving the surrounding border defenses weak. If we can seize this opportunity to take Changping, it will be equivalent to firmly grasping the gateway to the west.

At that time, Youzhou, Shunzhou, Tanzhou, and Jizhou will become trapped like turtles in a jar. The Khitans will either retreat to the old forests outside the pass or stay and build roads and dig canals for the Great Zhou... Two choices, isn't that democratic enough?
Just as Shi Shouxin was about to leave, Guo Rong said again:

"I will send a grenadier squad to accompany you, and I will also give you two explosive charges... Remember, detonate them amidst the chaos to achieve a surprise victory."

The grenadiers will explain the use of explosives to Shi Shouxin; Guo Rong doesn't need to elaborate.

After Shi Shouxin left, Guo Rong looked through the roster of famous generals who helped found the Song Dynasty. He planned to bring each of these generals back to swear an oath to maximize their fighting power and recover the lost territories of China as soon as possible!

Not long after, a scout came to report:
"Those members of the Khitan royal family did not enter Youzhou, but went to Yuhe County, which is west of Youzhou."

Guo Rong got up and looked at the map. Yuhe County was only a dozen miles away from Youzhou. It was a garrison town of Youzhou and had many Khitan military households.

The three members of the Khitan royal family did not go directly into Youzhou City, but instead went to Yuhe. This was clearly because they were worried that Xiao Siwen would kill them to silence them, so they wanted to lead some soldiers into Youzhou City.

To be fair, these Khitans did have some brains, but not many.

Since that's the case, let's wait for the two sides to fight it out. As the garrison commander of Nanjing, Xiao Siwen should have a lot of loyal troops under his command, especially the Bali clan, which has always been the core force of Youzhou's defense.

The Yelü family will probably have to put in a lot of effort to deal with them.

Inside Hunyuan Palace, Zhou Yi and Wu Meiniang came down from the roof. One went to Houtu Hall to change the incense, and the other went to the vegetable garden to pick green beans, preparing to make braised noodles with green beans and pork belly.

After changing her incense, Wu Meiniang rode her electric scooter down the mountain, bought Li Mingda several new outfits and snacks. When she passed the town's crossroads, Uncle Wu handed her some fried cakes and fried dough sticks.

"Let's take it up the mountain to eat. Hasn't that greedy girl been up the mountain lately? I haven't seen her come to buy food."

Wu Zetian said with a smile:

"I'm busy studying the Taoist scriptures and don't have time to go down the mountain. Thank you, Uncle Wu. I'll give you the money."

"No, no, it's a gift for you."

Because he often went down the mountain, almost everyone in the town knew that there was a beautiful female Taoist priest living on the mountain who was very close to Zhou Yi. The neighbors were very happy, thinking that Zhou Yi had found a kindred spirit.

Wu Meiniang thanked him and was about to leave when Zhao Wei pulled up in his Leopard 5 and said to Wu Meiniang and Uncle Wu:

"Come to my house for fish tonight, and invite Xiao Yi too... They say even gods can't catch fish in the morning, but I don't believe it. I just caught a grass carp weighing 16.7 pounds, and I can't even fit it in my landing net."

Wu Meiniang remembered that this guy said just a couple of days ago that even immortals couldn't catch fish in the afternoon. So, when you start catching fish, it's impossible for even immortals to catch them, huh?

She agreed and rode her electric scooter onto the mountain road. Zhao Wei handed Uncle Wu a purple cloud cigarette.
“Brother Aimin is engaged, shouldn’t we start arranging an engagement ceremony for Xiaoyi? I think this female Taoist priest is a good match for our Xiaoyi.”

Uncle Wu took the cigarette, tucked it behind his ear, and said to him:
"Don't meddle in the affairs of monks. There are several female Taoist priests on the mountain. Which one do you plan to have Xiao Yi get engaged to?"

Zhao Weicai realized this at that moment:
"Oh yeah, there's another one who can eat a lot. Last time he ate fish at my house, he ate three bowls of rice. My wife was stunned and kept praising Xiao Yi for being so lucky."

Wu Meiniang returned to the mountain, and the braised noodles were ready.

She mentioned that Zhao Wei had invited her to eat fish, and Zhou Yi opened her phone and scrolled through her WeChat Moments, only to find that Zhao Wei had just posted something:

How did you know I caught a 17-pound grass carp and fought it for half an hour?

Big Head Yang commented below:
"Just tell me how many dishes you're going to have for dinner. If it's less than four, I won't go. Just listening to you ramble on about the whole fishing trip isn't enough to compensate for my emotional distress."

Zhou Yi remembered that there was still some mutton frozen in the refrigerator, so he commented:
"Tonight I'll get a lamb rib and a lamb leg, and have a fish and lamb stew."

After finishing his comment, he put down his phone and started eating his braised noodles. Wu Meiniang tasted the fried cake with brown sugar filling and said with a smile:

"This is Gongsun's favorite, but unfortunately she's not here, so she can't enjoy it."

The Book of Changes says:

"She won't suffer any injustice over there. The first time this girl went back, she dared to use the guise of a deity to freeload. Now she's surrounded by a bunch of royal relatives, and she's even more lawless."

While the two were enjoying their braised noodles together, Wang Feng, from the world of Emperor Yuan of the Western Han Dynasty, was already extremely anxious.

His original intention in going out of the city to hunt was to avoid Zhai Fangjin and his group, and to watch these pedantic scholars fight each other with Chen Tang, thus sitting on the sidelines and observing the tigers fight.

Unexpectedly, before the battle between the two sides even began, a major disaster struck their own side.

The Wang family's nephews and nieces are all good-for-nothings. The more they are forbidden to do something, the more they want to do it, showing extreme rebellion. Now, because of a flashlight, the entire Wang family is about to fall apart.

In the Chang'an County government office, Wang Mang knelt on the couch, remaining silent. His lawyer, Liu Xin, however, was jumping around, confronting the Wang family members in a heated debate, much like a scholar arguing with a group of Confucian scholars.

“The items that my master bestowed upon my virtuous brother Wang Mang were gifts from the gods, yet you allow these unruly children to snatch them at will.”

"If even divine items are treated this way, I can't even imagine how you would defile the items bestowed by His Majesty. I'm afraid they would have already been thrown into the latrine."

"Several hours have passed since my brother cried out for justice, and there is still no sign of the flashlight, nor has the land deed for my brother's family been returned. Your family is clearly a bunch of scoundrels who are greedy for profit, blinded by money, and who disregard the laws of the Han Dynasty!"

"They seized land, stole divine artifacts, and now they brazenly turn around and bite back? Do they think there are no chivalrous knights in Chang'an?"

The Han Dynasty was a time when chivalrous wanderers were very popular. Their pursuit was to right wrongs and uphold justice. Many famous figures were chivalrous in their youth, a characteristic of the era. Liu Xin's public pronouncement can be seen as a friendly reminder to the chivalrous wanderers of Chang'an:

The Wang family is related to the imperial family; you must not assassinate them!

When Wang Feng came in, that was what he heard. He quickly softened his stance and took out the flashlight wrapped in silk cloth, the land deeds of Wang Man's family, and the land deeds of two houses in Chang'an.

Now that things have come to this, there's no point in saying anything more. Wang Tan's son, Wang Ren, is now seriously injured, and the Wang family can never go back to the days when they were a happy and harmonious family.

Since that's the case, let Mang'er live a good life. Wang Feng even paid out of his own pocket to help out a lot of money, hoping that the child would remember the kindness of his family when he grows up.

As soon as he entered, Wang Mang tearfully called out "Uncle," which intensified Wang Feng's sense of guilt.

"I'm sorry, child. I shouldn't have gone out. It's all my fault. I made you suffer."

These words immediately displeased Wang Tan:
"He's been wronged? What about my son? My son's life is still hanging in the balance. Who can I complain to? That brat from Liu Xiang's family has been stirring things up the whole time. Brother, are you siding with outsiders too?"

Wang Feng felt dizzy again. Bringing up these things in front of outsiders and calling you a useless teammate was almost an insult to pigs.

Liu Xiang was the Grand Master of the Liu Clan, and when it came to matters concerning the imperial clan, even His Majesty had to show him deference.

Now you're calling his son a brat, which has offended the entire Liu imperial family and even His Majesty... How could I have such a stupid brother like you?

Wang Feng sighed, too lazy to say anything more:
"I'll give you your land deed too. I'm moving out of the palace today. Whatever you want to do is none of my business."

As the eldest son in his family, Wang Feng always considered his family's needs, yet it was also his family who hurt him the most.

In an instant, weariness washed over him... He decided to separate from the family immediately, live his own life in peace, and never get involved in these messy and dirty affairs again.

Tired, destroy it...

(End of this chapter)