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

Chapter 324 Targeting high-ranking officials is understandable, but robbing them is outrageous! [Seeking monthly votes]

Liu An was completely dejected; although he was alive, he was like a walking corpse.

His proudest achievement in life was cultivating immortality. He summarized various experiences and methods for this, and even pioneered the Dao of Alchemy, with the motto "Once a golden pill is swallowed, my fate is in my own hands, not in the hands of heaven."

It was only after witnessing Huo Qubing's lightning strike technique that he realized his path to immortality was wrong, and ridiculously wrong at that.

Especially hearing that it has such power after only two months of learning... This, this is true magic! What is this about turning beans into soldiers? Nothing beats lightning.

As for Liu Che learning it in a month, it shattered Liu An's pride.

He had always looked down on Liu Che, believing that Liu Che had risen to power through women and had no real ability... Now, the person he despised actually knew how to use lightning-strike magic.

Liu An's entire family was arrested, but his eldest son, Liu Buhai, was spared because he was always disliked and had no access to the family's core secrets, including the rebellion.

Liu Buhai was an illegitimate son. Liu An was worried that he would compete with his legitimate son Liu Qian for the throne, so he expelled Liu Buhai from the core of the family. The Queen of Huainan, who was Liu Qian's mother, did not recognize this son, and Liu Qian treated Liu Buhai as a servant.

They tried to use this method to tell Liu Buhai the difference between legitimate and illegitimate children, but unexpectedly, the one who reported them for treason was Liu Buhai's son, Liu Jian.

Liu Jian had had enough of living like a servant, so he asked a friend to report Liu An and his family for plotting a rebellion in Chang'an.

It's quite interesting that Liu An's plot to rebel was reported by a wave of people, including his confidant Lei, his grandson Liu Jian, and officials in Huainan. It was a veritable saturation of reports.

Looking at the compiled data, Huo Qubing felt he had so much to complain about but no words to express it.

You might think Liu An and his family are just playing house, but they've prepared for things more thoroughly than the new emperor's ascension to the throne in Chang'an, and they're even constantly on guard against his illegitimate son seizing the throne.

If it wasn't just playing house, the whole process was a complete farce.

Overall, only Liu Buhai benefited... He finally no longer had to live like a servant.

Huo Qubing ordered Liu An and his family to be imprisoned separately. The Chancellor of Huainan did not collude with him and continued to control the affairs of Huainan... Of course, this place will soon be renamed Jiujiang County, and Huainan will soon become history.

After arranging these things, Huo Qubing entered a study, where half the room was neatly filled with bamboo slips, all of which contained the contents of the "Huainanzi".

However, this set of classics was not called "Huainanzi" at the time, but "Huainan Honglie" or "Honglie". It was not until after Liu An's death that this work was officially renamed "Huainanzi".

The Huainanzi consists of 21 chapters of the Inner Chapters, 33 chapters of the Outer Chapters, and 2 chapters of the Daoist Instructions, totaling over 20 characters. Its content covers fields such as political science, philosophy, ethics, history, literature, economics, physics, chemistry, astronomy, geography, agriculture and water conservancy, and medicine and health preservation.

It can be said that this is a very important classic in the process of Chinese civilization, a cultural treasure. Unfortunately, most of its contents have been lost in history, and only the "Inner Chapters" have been passed down to later generations.

Now, Huo Qubing plans to organize all these scrolls together and bring them to Hunyuan Palace to present to his master, so as to prevent them from being lost again.

An Guo Shao Ji walked in and reported to Huo Qubing:
"Liu An intends to go on a hunger strike, refusing to eat or drink. What should we do?"

Huo Qubing said:
"Don't worry about him for now. Once he's unconscious, just force-feed him soup and rice... You take your troops to the mountain outside Shouchun City and capture all the retainers there. Don't let a single one escape."

Upon hearing this, An Guo Shao Ji gripped the Han sword at his waist even tighter:

"Kill them all?"

Huo Qubing shook his head:
"No, take them to Chang'an later and let them study physics and chemistry, improve various technologies, and incidentally make real explosives... They are clearly a group of top talents, but they insist on studying elixirs, what a waste of their talents."

Liu An recruited a large group of talented people, and at that time, some of them proposed the "Hun Tian Theory" that the earth is round, comparing the universe to an egg and the earth to the yolk inside the egg.

Although the statements are somewhat inaccurate, this shows that the ancients did not simply believe that the sky was round and the earth was square.

Many people mistake the ignorance and folly of the Qing Dynasty for the ignorance and folly of the entire Chinese history. This is a serious error. Throughout history, Chinese civilization has been far ahead of the Western world. It only began to decline after the Manchus entered the Central Plains.

In terms of astronomy, the Western Han Dynasty book "Huainanzi" recorded the theory of the celestial sphere. Zhang Heng of the Eastern Han Dynasty created the armillary sphere. By the Tang Dynasty, Li Chunfeng had created a sophisticated version of the armillary sphere with revolution and rotation, which showed the size and trajectory of the planets in the solar system. These theories were many years earlier than those in the West.

More importantly, the people who proposed these theories were not questioned, nor were they burned alive on firewood, and the people did not avoid them like monsters... This fully demonstrates the inclusiveness and openness of Chinese civilization.

While Huo Qubing was gathering talent here, the construction of the Yiyuan Pavilion entered the preliminary survey stage in the world of Emperor Yuan of the Western Han Dynasty.

As soon as Liu Shi made the announcement in the court, various families tried their best to donate money and goods. Chen Xian, who was in charge of the project funds, was not afraid of anyone and accepted donations from all sides. If some families did not give enough, he would even bargain and ask General Wei to speak up for him.

Holding the token of Hunyuan Palace, how could Old Gan speak the truth? Chen Xian's frantic demands for money were so outrageous that even the Prime Minister Wang Shang couldn't stand it anymore and pulled him aside to ask:
"Isn't the money for repairing the One Yuan Pavilion already enough? Why are you still asking for more? Master Zi said that the Immortal Master detests corruption the most. Be careful not to go too far, or the Immortal Master will punish you with a bolt of lightning!"

Chen Xian said with a grin:

"Prime Minister, you are mistaken. I plan to build a bridge over the Wei River in the name of Immortal Yiyuan after I finish repairing the Yiyuan Pavilion. There is plenty of timber in Nanshan, so we can transport some over. What do you think, Prime Minister?"

Wang Shang was speechless. Chen Xian seized the opportunity and shouted:
"What? Prime Minister, you want to donate one hundred gold coins? I can hardly believe it! Your generosity will surely be praised by Immortal Master Yiyuan!"

Wang Shang wanted to slap himself twice. Why did he have to provoke this scoundrel?

Based on the principle that one shouldn't suffer losses alone, Wang Shang, seeing that Grand Marshal and General of Chariots and Cavalry Xu Jia was about to leave, stopped him and said:

"Grand Master Chen Zikang is distributing gifts. Hurry up and get yours, or they'll be gone."

Xu Jia, unaware of the situation, excitedly went to find Chen Xian and also "voluntarily" donated one hundred gold coins.

Xu Jia tried to deceive Wang Feng, but Old Wang didn't fall for it at all and kept his distance... Last time, Chen Xian confidently claimed to have evidence from the pedantic scholars, but in the end, it was all for nothing.

Now that they're talking about distributing gifts, Wang Feng felt it couldn't be anything good, so she stayed far away, perfectly missing out on the "fate" of building the One Yuan Bridge.

At noon, Chen Xian went to Gan Yanshou's house to deliver the good news. As soon as he entered the house, he heard the sound of reading aloud coming from the backyard. He gave Old Gan a thumbs up:

"General Wei is still vigorous despite his advanced age. When did you add a new member to your family?"

Gan Yanshou said with a smile:
"My two nieces came, and I was worried they would be naughty at home, so I had someone teach them to read and write... I heard that you forced donations today, is that true?"

Chen Xian immediately confessed:

"We had a shortfall in our bridge repair budget, so we let several high-ranking officials in the court take on the task on a voluntary basis... They are all very wealthy, and a hundred gold coins are not much for them. If we followed General Zigong's proposal of equal land distribution, all these officials would have to go begging on the streets."

Although Gan Yanshou didn't quite approve of this method, cutting off the flesh of the nobles did give him a satisfying feeling of plundering the wealthy:
"This is a one-time exception. With Master Zi not here, we mustn't give anyone a handle to use against us... Zikang hasn't eaten yet, has he? My family is making noodles with soybean paste today, would you like to try some?"

Chen Xian rubbed his hands excitedly, saying "No, no, no" as he walked towards the restaurant in General Wei's mansion, even more eager than Lao Gan.

When we arrived at the restaurant, the food was already prepared.

The diced meat fried in soybean paste, paired with chewy hand-pulled noodles and vegetable toppings such as shredded cucumber, made Chen Xian's mouth water. Without waiting for a call, he picked up the bowl and started serving himself noodles.

The cucumbers were grown by Lao Gan himself. He planted them as soon as he arrived in Chang'an. Today's harvest is the first batch, and they are full of fresh fragrance, perfectly balancing the greasiness of the fried sauce.

Chen Xian ate five bowls of noodles in one go before reluctantly putting down his chopsticks.

"Since General Zigong is not at home, I cannot go to mooch a meal. I did not expect that General Wei's place also has delicious food... This is the first time in my life that I have eaten such delicious soup noodles."

In ancient times, all kinds of wheat-based foods were called "bing" (饼). Noodles were called "tangbing" (汤饼), steamed buns were called "cuibing" (炊饼), and baked flatbreads were called "hubing" (胡饼).

While Chen Xian was rubbing his stomach in the front yard to help digest his food, Zhao Yan and Zhao Rui, the sisters in the back yard, were so full from eating noodles with soybean paste that they couldn't speak. Gan Yanshou's wife could only wipe away tears as she watched.

"They even fight over the soup noodles; they must have suffered so much injustice."

Zhao Rui mimicked her father Zhao Lin's tone and said:
"Girls are all a waste of money. What are they supposed to eat? Go learn to dance. If they perform well, they can be sold to a good family. That'll be your contribution to the family..."

Now that she's finally free from her misery, and doesn't have to learn to dance anymore, and eats her fill every day, Zhao Rui is very happy.

Zhao Yan was more melancholy. She couldn't understand why, though both were children of the same father, she was hungry and cold, while her younger brother had several sets of clothes and even fed the ants the leftover wheat cakes.

Meanwhile, on the misty mountain, Li Qingzhao made herself a bowl of noodles, along with various snacks and a cup of rice wine—that was her lunch for the day.

Before eating, this girl took a selfie with her phone and posted it on her WeChat Moments:

"Be brave and take a look. Don't be afraid of being alone. Even if the immortal isn't here, make sure you eat well!"

Zhou Yi, who was having dinner in a private room at the Lushan County Crane Equipment Factory restaurant, saw this, gave the talented woman a thumbs up, then put down his phone and looked at Zhang Yuqiang, asking:
"I have a question about building materials that I'd like to ask you... Can your factory supply the steel cables used for bridge construction?"

(End of this chapter)