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

Chapter 388 Giving Confucius Some Steel Weapons! [Seeking Monthly Tickets]

At 2 PM, Zhou Yi had just returned to Hunyuan Palace when he hurriedly went to Sanqing Hall, took out the Bagua abacus, and then took out the purple talisman that sealed the child's soul, placing it on the Taiji diagram in the center of the abacus.

Soon, the abacus started moving automatically, forming a hexagram. The I Ching interpreted the hexagram, yielding eight characters:

Before the full moon, fallen leaves return to their roots.

The full moon generally refers to the period around the 15th day of the lunar calendar, when the moon is at its fullest.

Zhou Yi glanced at the calendar again. It was the beginning of the ninth lunar month, about two weeks before the middle of the month. That meant the shaman would enter Zhengzhou within two weeks, and they had to be prepared to intercept him.

As he plotted his ambush, Xi Shi and Gongsun Da Niang arrived at the back hall carrying large and small bags of food, which they distributed to Wu Meiniang, Li Qingzhao, and the Zhao sisters, Zhao Yan and Zhao Rui.

On their return journey, when they passed through Yuzhou, it was lunchtime. Zhou Yi got off the highway and took Xi Shi and Gongsun Da Niang to sample the local delicacies. They also strolled around a nearby supermarket, buying a lot of snacks, fruit juices, and drinks, mostly things that girls would like.

At this moment, Fairy Zhao Rui of the Bright Moon was holding a box of fried chicken covered with country-style sauce, enjoying it immensely.

Zhao Yan opened a box of yogurt soup, scooped some out with a spoon and tasted it. She thought it tasted good, so she scooped out a big spoonful and fed it to Zhao Rui. Zhao Rui also fed her sister a piece of fried chicken.

Li Qingzhao took a bite of the mung bean cake and asked Gongsun Da Niang:
Is the provincial capital bustling? Is it as fun as Yiyang?

Grandma Gongsun shrugged:

"I didn't even get to look around. The Taoist priest is a man who hates evil, so he took that pitiful soul and rushed back... I actually wanted to try the feast that Boss Tang arranged. With such a wealthy boss, the food must be extraordinary."

Wu Zetian said:
"When wild merits appear, we should naturally focus on merits and not let them slip away for the sake of our appetites. After we finish dealing with this matter, we can go there together again. It's not far."

Xi Shi didn't join the conversation. Instead, she drove her electric tricycle to the pile of weapons Guo Rong had brought, filled the tricycle to the brim, and transported them to the Xiao Penglai courtyard.

The old master and his companions were about to embark on a long journey, with bandits and outlaws roaming the area. When they reached Yunwu Mountain, they would have to clear the land, and they needed weapons for self-defense.

During the Spring and Autumn Period, there were many foreign tribes in the mountains south of Luoyang, such as the Yangju, Quangao, and Yiluo Rong, who frequently raided the capital of the Zhou Dynasty.

During this development of Yunwu Mountain, the Rong tribe might launch an attack, so we need to prepare weapons in advance and let everyone get used to steel weapons.

During the Spring and Autumn Period, weapons were mainly made of bronze. It was not until the Warring States Period that iron weapons began to emerge in warfare.

The weapons Guo Rong brought were all made of steel, and their sharpness and strength were far superior to those of the Spring and Autumn Period.

Xi Shi transported several cartloads of weapons, along with some armor plates and ropes for binding armor. After bidding farewell to everyone, she arrived in the Spring and Autumn Period, immediately delighting Confucius.

"We were just worrying about what to do if we encountered villains on the road, but the fairy sent us precious armor and weapons, relieving our worries!"

When Confucius traveled around the states, he always put etiquette first. Even when he was harassed, imprisoned, or besieged, he remained calm and composed, using his eloquence to reason with the other party.

Now that his thinking has changed, he has actually developed a fear of insufficient firepower... This is indeed a traditional virtue of China.

Xi Shi unpacked the nail tips and demonstrated the steps for stringing them together:
"Take your time, everyone. There's no need to rush. If anyone tries to stop me, I'll strike them down with divine lightning. You won't need to lift a finger."

Zilu, wielding a large two-handed cleaver, chopped a thick toon tree in the courtyard in two with a snap, and couldn't help but exclaim in admiration:

"What a fine blade! With this blade, even if the enemy charges in with chariots, I can shatter their chariots!"

This formidable man, whose strength rivaled that of Confucius, was not only the senior disciple of the group but also responsible for supervising Confucius's words and actions, sometimes even scolding Confucius himself.

For example, when Confucius first came to the State of Wei, he was warmly received by Queen Nanzi. When Zilu heard about this, he immediately criticized Confucius severely, believing that he should not have met with the queen alone, and made Confucius swear a solemn oath that he had no private relationship with Nanzi... This is no disciple, he is simply a disciplinary official of a traveling squad.

With binoculars around my neck and a broadsword on my shoulder, I volunteered to follow Zixia as scouts and explore the area ahead of time.

Confucius, concerned for the safety of his disciples, rejected the proposal.

"Let's set off together. We'll scout ahead twenty miles ahead. If we encounter any obstacles, the old man and the fairy will have the tokens, so you must not act rashly."

Xi Shi then recounted how other worlds had donated horses and provisions, which deeply moved Confucius.

"Once we reach Cloud Mist Mountain, I will personally write a letter of thanks. I also request that you collect the Confucian classics of later generations. I plan to study them along the way so that I can make targeted revisions to the classics of later generations."

He did not shy away from the mistakes of Confucianism, but actively corrected them. As for the descendants of Confucius, he will settle accounts with them later.

Xi Shi wrote it down, intending to go back and start collecting various Confucian classics, especially those from the Song Dynasty onwards, so that the old master could see how Confucian doctrines had been distorted.

Yan Hui bowed to Xi Shi and inquired about the Legalist school: "Recently, I read some materials that indicate that Your Majesty practices a policy of outward Confucianism and inward Legalism. May I ask, Fairy, what is meant by outward Confucianism and inward Legalism?"

Xi Shi said:

"The Legalists helped the Qin state unify the world, but their harsh laws caused immense suffering to the people. Emperor Wu of Han promoted Confucianism to unify thought, outwardly advocating benevolence and righteousness, but inwardly still implementing the harsh Legalist system. All lawbreakers were severely punished..."

Xi Shi didn't know much about this either, and could only express her own understanding, but it already gave Yan Hui considerable inspiration:

"If possible, I would also appreciate it if you could help me gather some information on Legalism... Confucianism cannot simply emphasize benevolence; it also needs to incorporate some Legalist ideas."

Hearing this, Xi Shi secretly clicked her tongue in amazement. Yan Hui truly lived up to his reputation as Confucius's most beloved disciple; he had actually started to covet Legalism... If he absorbed the essence of Legalism, and combined it with the theories of unification and military strategy, it would definitely become the guiding ideology for China's expansion.

If the Jews could forcibly establish a nation based on the records in the Bible, then the Chinese dynasties in the Spring and Autumn period could also use the Analects to expand their territory.

The world's four major black soil regions, eight major alluvial plains, and so on, all belong to China.

Zigong was the first to come into contact with modern technology and became fascinated by ingenious objects:
"Fairy, could you give me some of the Mohist classics? If my Confucianism wants to develop, it must learn from the strengths of all schools of thought. Even a slight deviation will have a profound impact on China."

As soon as he finished speaking, Ziyou and the others came over and told him what they wanted.

Xi Shi wrote down everyone's requests, then bid farewell to them, returned to Hunyuan Palace, went into Zhouyi's room, sat down at the computer, began searching for information, and selected to print.

Zhou Yi had reserved a statue of the True Martial Emperor with Uncle Ming, and after taking a stroll around the construction site, he returned to his room to find Xi Shi researching. Curious, he asked:
"Is the old master asking for information from later generations again?"

Xi Shi said as she worked:

“Almost all of Confucius’ disciples made a request: they planned to study all the schools of thought from the Hundred Schools of Thought and then add the useful theories to Confucianism… Unfortunately, if they did that, there might not be any other schools of thought from the Hundred Schools of Thought.”

The Book of Changes says:

"By the Han Dynasty, most of the various schools of thought had been merged into Confucianism. It can be said that they were all passed down under the guise of Confucianism. Now it's just that they're doing it ahead of time, which is a good thing. I believe that the expansion speed of your world's territory will be far higher than that of other worlds."

During the Spring and Autumn Period, the West was still in the stage of eating raw meat and drinking blood, and China had no rivals when it expanded.

As for later dynasties, the more they developed, the smaller the gap between them and the West became. By the time of the Ming Dynasty, they needed to import cannons from Spain.

Seeing that Xi Shi was not very familiar with using the computer, Zhou Yi offered to sit down and help her.
"I'm here to find some documents to print. Please organize them and staple them together so they don't get messed up."

Xi Shi cupped the man's face and kissed him:
"Thank you. May I go with you when you kill the shaman?"

Zhou Yi, still unsure when the other party would arrive, said while holding the beautiful woman:
"Let's talk about it after the date is confirmed. I need to invite the blind man over in the next couple of days so he can use his abacus to calculate the exact date."

Although he had mastered how to use the Bagua abacus, his proficiency was not as good as that of the blind man. This kind of merit-making activity should be done by the blind man, so that he could share in some of the merit.

While the two were busy, in the Kaiyuan era of the Tang Dynasty, the western expeditionary army finally arrived at the Tao River and came into contact with the Tibetan troops that had broken into the Tang territory.

Before Xue Ne could even deploy his troops, his own Tibetan converts, brandishing their swords, charged forward on horseback and wiped out the scattered Tibetan soldiers.

This act of proactively defending the country won the praise of the people. Wang Zhihuan specially obtained several bottles of Erguotou (a type of Chinese liquor) as a reward for the five Tibetan converts who killed the most enemies.

The group was overjoyed. Not only was the immortal wine priceless, but even the pale green bottle that held the wine was valuable enough to buy a large house in the prefecture.

Under this incentive mechanism, the Tibetan converts became even more fanatical... The reward for killing more enemies was a large mansion in the prefecture. Who wouldn't be excited about that?
However, the mountains near the Tao River are rugged and the army moves slowly. At this pace, it would take ten days to reach the front line and make contact with the main force of the Tubo.

Li Bai used the drone to survey the road ahead and said to Xue Ne:

"Please, General, order the army to halt and rest. I will go to my mentor's place to see if he has any magical artifacts for clearing the way. If so, I will lend the army a hand!"

Xue Ne hesitated for a moment:

"To trouble the immortal with such a trivial matter would make us seem too useless, wouldn't it?"

Li Bai disagreed:
“The sooner we arrive, the sooner the people of Taozhou will be rescued. Our mentor cares most about the people. If he knew our situation, he would surely find a way to deal with it.”

After saying this, Li Bai vanished from the spot, leaving Xue Ne deeply impressed.

"If all the officials of our Great Tang Dynasty were like the Immortal Master, always considering the people's needs, how wonderful that would be!"

(End of this chapter)