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

Chapter 389 Li Bai Contemplates the Jade Capital! [Seeking Monthly Tickets]

Inside the Hunyuan Palace, Li Bai arrived at the rear hall of the Sanqing Hall and, upon meeting Zhou Yi, directly stated his purpose:
“Reporting to Master, our Tang army has arrived at the east bank of the Tao River in Minzhou. However, the mountain roads are difficult to traverse, and our army is advancing slowly. I wonder if you have any magical artifacts to solve the problem of the difficult journey.”

Zhou Yi opened the drawer next to the computer and took out Confucius's Confucian sage carving knife:

"Confucius took the Confucian scholar's pen and reworked it. This is his carving knife. Yang Xiong and Liu Xin have confirmed that it can be activated by righteous energy to modify mountains and rivers, but it is still uncertain whether merit can activate it. You can take it and try it. If it works, you can keep it with you for the time being."

Using merit to activate the carving knife may seem extravagant, but you can still earn merit after activating it.

Just like when Li Bai summoned the meteorite last time, he consumed two ounces of merit, but immediately gained back more than a pound. The return on investment was about one to ten, which can be described as making a huge profit.

Li Bai accepted the Confucian sage's carving knife with both hands and said with a smile:

"It seems that Yan Zhenqing is destined to use this carving knife in the future."

The great Confucian scholars before the Tang Dynasty could easily inspire it, but it's hard to say whether the great Confucian scholars of the Song and Ming Dynasties could inspire it, since the doctrines they spread had seriously violated Confucius's teachings.

The Book of Changes asks:

Have you arrived in Minzhou?

During the Tang Dynasty, Minzhou was located on a narrow plain at the bend of the Tao River, and it was the center of the entire Longyou region at that time.

To travel from Longxian to Taozhou, you cannot go directly west. Instead, you must first turn southwest to Minzhou, and then travel west along the valley of the Tao River, essentially drawing a V-shape on the map.

In addition to connecting Taozhou, Minzhou also connects Linzhou to the north, Qishan Road to the southeast, Dangzhou to the south, Diezhou to the southwest, and Wuzhou, Wenzhou, Fuzhou, and Songzhou south of Dangzhou, making it the throat of the Longyou region.

Xue Ne was able to lead his army to Minzhou, and the battle against the Tubo was already halfway complete... For the Tang soldiers, as long as they could reach the battlefield, they were basically guaranteed to win.

Battles like the one at Dafeichuan were purely accidental. No one in the Tang Dynasty expected that Tibet would mobilize its entire military force to fight Xue Rengui, essentially gambling with the fate of the nation.

Now that Xue Ne has the support of Hunyuan Palace, even if Tibet overdraws its entire national fortune for the next thousand years, it will be of no use.

Li Bai did not linger at Hunyuan Palace. He hurriedly left with several boxes of Erguotou liquor and the leaves of Emperor Gouchen, as he wanted to test whether the carving knife could be activated by merit.

After returning to the Kaiyuan World, Li Bai handed the wine to Cen Xun, then rode his horse to the rugged mountain road ahead. He took the Confucian sage's carving knife in his hand and lightly scratched the mountain road ahead. The originally rugged mountain road instantly became a smooth road three zhang wide. The surrounding soldiers were all stunned by this scene, and they all knelt on one knee, shouting "Long live the immortal!"

Li Bai was overjoyed and said to Xue Ne:

"This is Confucius's carving knife. After passing through my master's hands, it became the Confucian Sage's carving knife. This thing can be used to change the landscape... General Xue, I will lead the way, you lead the army and follow closely!"

Having witnessed the miracle firsthand, Xue Ne was so excited that his hair and beard stood on end:

"Such a miracle truly is a blessing from Heaven upon the Tang Dynasty!"

Li Bai rode forward and saw that the mountain road was rugged and steep, so he repaired it... He was worried that he would consume too much merit, so he did not dare to move the entire mountain directly. Instead, he opened up a road according to the terrain, trying to maintain the original appearance of the mountain.

This way, the natural defenses of the mountains and rivers are preserved, while also accelerating the army's march.

After arriving at the front lines, they will return to clear the road from Taozhou to Guanzhong, which will greatly benefit trade and the transportation of goods.

Upon arriving at the Tao River, the governor of Minzhou had already sent men to cut down several large trees and lay them across the river to serve as a bridge.

Li Bai walked over, raised his carving knife, and made a light stroke. Suddenly, the bottom of the Tao River in front of him rose, and the river went underground, only to reappear a few hundred meters away, continuing its ceaseless northward flow.

The clearing in front of them was raised further until it became flat ground, allowing the army to pass freely.

This scene left the governor of Minzhou on the other side dumbfounded. He rubbed his eyes repeatedly, feeling as if he hadn't woken up properly that morning and was still in a dream.

Hu Ziyang exclaimed in admiration:

"By turning the Tao River into an underground river, even if it's only a short section, we can transform a natural barrier into a thoroughfare. With this magic weapon, Tibet can be conquered!"

When they set off from Chang'an, everyone was thinking of defending and counterattacking to annihilate the Tibetan forces.

But now, with the powerful weapon of the Confucian Sage's Carving Knife, it is no longer a problem to penetrate into the heart of Tibet. In fact, there is no need to kill; simply increasing the altitude of the core Tibetan area will naturally eliminate the Tibetans' living space.

The army traversed the flat land on the Tao River and arrived in Minzhou. The journey thereafter was much easier. They could proceed directly northwest along the Tao River valley and encounter the main force of the Tubo army.

Inside the Hunyuan Palace, Zhou Yi finished searching for the materials he needed to print, opened the black notebook, and a series of notes immediately appeared:
[Li Bai used the Confucian sage's carving knife to transform the Tao River into an underground river, gaining +30 merit points.]

[Li Bai used the Confucian sage's carving knife to turn Daliang Bay into a smooth road, merit +5]

[Li Bai used the Confucian sage's carving knife to turn Repulse Bay into a smooth road, merit +5]

【…】

Each note adds at least half a pound of merit to the I Ching, but what's with turning the Tao River into an underground river?
When Zhou Yi turned to the page about Li Bai, he saw more detailed notes and also the merits consumed each time he used the Confucian Sage's carving knife.

Adding a 300-meter-long underground river to the Tao River actually consumed a whole jin of merit, but the gains were also gratifying. Li Bai benefited the region, so he gained two jin of merit.

At this point, Zhou Yi has already discovered that whether it's a Confucian scholar's pen or a Confucian sage's carving knife, as long as it's used for the people's livelihood and the nation, it's basically a sure thing. In other words, as long as it benefits the people, the people won't let you suffer losses.

Thinking of this, Zhou Yi said to Granny Gongsun, who was playing shuttlecock outside:

"Go back and tell Li Longji to select a few great Confucian scholars to go to the front line in Longyou. If they can get the carving knife working, let these scholars experience the joy of military merit."

Gongsun Da Niang put away the shuttlecock and went into the room, plopping down on Zhou Yi's bed:
"What if it can't be induced?"

"This shows that this great Confucian scholar is a fraud and should be despised... Only two kinds of people can generate merit: great Confucian scholars and people with merit. Tell Li Longji, and he will naturally understand."

Gongsun Da Niang nodded:

"Okay, I'll explain it to my grandson when I get back... I wonder how worn out the carving knife is. If possible, I'd like to clean up the silt in the Wei River."

Upon hearing the words "dredging," Li Qingzhao, who was outside, came in:

"The canal in Bianliang is currently being dredged. May I take the carving knife with me to try it out?"

The Kaifeng Canal uses water from the Yellow River, and it needs to be dredged every year to avoid affecting navigation. Once the new city of Luoyang is built, the canal will switch to using water from the Luo River. At that time, as long as the rainfall in the upstream area is increased, the entire canal can be revitalized, and there will be no need to worry about siltation. The sediment content of the Luo River is much lower than that of the Yellow River, and can be almost ignored.

The Book of Changes says:

"Once Li Bai and the others arrive at the front lines, you can take the dredging materials with you."

Li Qingzhao's eyes lit up as she listened, and she thought of her grand ambition to control the Yellow River:

"Can I dredge the Yellow River?"

Zhou Yi shook his head:

"Let's leave that for now. I estimate that the carving knife won't work unless we accumulate more than a ton of merit. After all, there's just too much silt in the Yellow River. If we cleaned it all out, it would at least add up to the size of a prefecture... We'll need to find a place to dispose of the silt then; we can't just leave it piled up in the Bohai Sea."

Furthermore, the key to managing the Yellow River lies not in dredging, but in preventing soil erosion in the Shaanxi, Gansu, and Ningxia regions. This is a massive undertaking, and the Song Dynasty is not yet qualified to undertake this task.

As soon as Li Bai arrived in the evening, he quickly asked how much merit he had left.

For the first time since birth, the little guy has been meticulously calculating his expenses, afraid of overdrawing his good karma.

Zhou Yi opened the black notebook, looked at it, and said:

"Your merit is almost five jin, and it has increased by nearly three jin today. If this continues, you will soon become the number one person on the Hunyuan Palace Merit List."

Li Bai exclaimed "Ah!"
"There's a profit to be made? I always thought it would only result in losses."

Zhou Yi handed him a box of fried chicken and said:
“It is true that the carving knife will wear out, but the changes you make to the landscape will benefit people’s livelihoods and you will also receive rewards, so there is no conflict between them.”

With this in mind, Li Bai returned the leaves of the Gouchen Emperor to the Book of Changes, and hurriedly returned home without having dinner, intending to use the Confucian sage's carving knife to do something great that would benefit the country and its people.

Upon returning to the Kaiyuan World, he saw a group of captains kneeling outside the camp, requesting to fight. Hu Ziyang and the others were also filled with righteous indignation, clearly showing signs of anger.

Li Bai asked:

"what happened?"

Wang Zhihuan pointed to the mountains in the west and said:
"There are hundreds of Tibetan soldiers shouting and cursing on the mountain, and they're throwing stones down. We can't get up here; we need to go around to the back of the mountain, which is a long way. By the time we get there, they'll have vanished..."

Upon leaving the camp, they saw that there were indeed many Tibetan soldiers on the nearby mountains. They were waving large flags, saying provocative things, and acting arrogantly.

Cen Xun, holding a loudspeaker drone, was about to exchange insults with the Tibetans, but Li Bai stopped him:

"If a person is bitten by a dog, just kill the dog; there's no need to bite back."

Yuan Danqiu asked:
How to kill it?

Li Bai took a deep breath, raised the Confucian carving knife tucked into his bosom, aimed it at the mountains, closed his eyes, and softly recited his own poem:

"The Jade Palace in the heavens, with its twelve towers and five cities, a celestial being touched my head, granting me eternal life..."

As he chanted, a sudden downpour of snowflakes began to fall on the opposite mountain range, the temperature plummeted, and the bare mountains quickly turned into a silvery white. Before the provocative Tibetans could even descend the mountain, they were frozen into ice sculptures by the sudden cold wave.

When Li Bai opened his eyes, a layer of snow had already covered the mountaintop, and the figures of the Tibetans could still be vaguely discerned; they were forever left on the mountain.

Cen Xun launched the drone and circled around the mountaintop, discovering that all the Tibetan soldiers on the summit had frozen to death; none had escaped.

See, this is what happens when you're foul-mouthed!

(End of this chapter)