My name is Wei Qing, and I want to fight the Xiongnu.

Xiahou Ying made no comment; he would not interfere in whether the war with the Xiongnu barbarians was over or not.

It's not that Xiahou Ying was neutral or a fence-sitter, but rather that he was loyal to only one person: Liu Bang.

Since Liu Bang had entrusted the empire to Lü Zhi, he chose to fulfill his duties diligently until Liu Bang returned and Lü Zhi destroyed the Han Dynasty.

Ultimately, it boils down to this: in one's position, one should fulfill one's responsibilities.

After returning the cleaver to Wei Qing, Xiahou Ying examined the old sword in his hand for a moment, then sighed and asked Wei Qing, "Do you want to enter the Imperial Academy?"

"Yes."

Xiahou Ying said, "Okay, but I have a condition. If you agree, you can not only enter the Imperial Academy, but also have the best teachers to guide you and inexhaustible resources to squander. After you leave the Imperial Academy, you can choose to return to Pingyang County, stay in Chang'an, or guard the Great Wall to resist the Xiongnu barbarians."

Xiahou Ying's offer was far too generous, but Wei Qing had a feeling he would eventually refuse: "Please tell me clearly, Uncle Xiahou, but although I don't know what the conditions are, I'm afraid I still won't agree."

"It's alright. When Cao Can asked you to bring the sword to Chang'an, he must have told you that you could do whatever you wanted with it, even throw it away if you wanted."

Xiahou Ying paused for a few seconds before continuing, "My condition is quite simple: you leave this sword at the Marquis of Ruyin's residence. You can retrieve it from the Marquis of Ruyin's residence whenever you graduate from the Imperial Academy. Rest assured, no one will touch it during this time."

Wei Qing looked at the old, broken sword and was surprised that Xiahou Ying's so-called conditions were so simple.

The key point is that Xiahou Ying doesn't seem to want the sword; he just doesn't want to bring it into the Imperial Academy.

Wei Qing wanted to understand the reason. The conditions offered by Xiahou Ying were indeed very tempting. If it were someone else, they would probably have agreed immediately.

Even if this sword is a treasure, Xiahou Ying has no intention of keeping it. He'll retrieve it after graduating from the Imperial Academy.

You know, this sword has been kept in Cao Can's back box for who knows how many years. If it were left in the Marquis of Ruyin's mansion for a few more years, theoretically there shouldn't be any problem, right?

Moreover, before leaving Pingyang County, Cao Shen had said that this sword would bring a lot of trouble, and even lead to his death.

After a moment of silence, Wei Qing said, "Uncle Xiahou, can you tell me why? I heard from Uncle Cao that this is the sword of an old friend of Uncle Cao."

Liu Yangxin noticed and kept in mind that Wei Qing hadn't directly agreed.

Idiot, fool, moron!

What are you thinking? Of course you'll agree first!

Xiahou Ying held a very high position, and both the Liu imperial family and Empress Lü tried their best to win him over.

Xiahou Ying didn't even need to express his opinion; as long as he remained neutral, he could continue to be the Marquis of Ruyin without any worries.

Therefore, Xiahou Ying was not just making empty promises or drawing platitudes. As long as Wei Qing agreed, Xiahou Ying would definitely make proper arrangements for Wei Qing, and there would be no unexpected problems.

This is an opportunity that others would kill for. If you hesitate, you will fail!

Xiahou Ying, on the other hand, thought it was only natural. If Wei Qing would agree without even thinking, he would feel that he had misjudged him.

Cao Shen's willingness to entrust this sword to him clearly indicates that he had high hopes for him.

The reason for adding that sentence is that the choice between throwing it away or keeping it is up to the individual; ultimately, it's because they can't bear to part with it.

It's not that I'm reluctant to part with the sword, it's that I'm reluctant to let Wei Qing take that risk.

"The former owner of this sword... was not only an old friend of Cao Can, but also an old friend of mine, Xiahou Ying. I met him by chance back then and saved his life. Later, he did many things, but what he did is not important. What is important is that you only need to know that this person has three enemies, enemies with whom he has a life-and-death feud."

Wei Qing hurriedly asked, "What about those three?"

Ignoring the stares of others, Xiahou Ying calmly said, "The first one is Xiao He, the first meritorious official of the Han Dynasty, the first prime minister of the Han Dynasty, and the dean of the Imperial Academy."

Wei Qing took a deep breath. No wonder Uncle Cao said it might bring about murder. This is only the first one? Xiao Xiangguo is already ranked first in the Han Dynasty's siege rankings. How important must the next two be?

"And who's the second one?"

Xiahou Ying smiled: "Actually, you already have the answer in your heart, don't you?"

Wei Qing nodded, and after a long while, he revealed the two identities. They were not names, but identities, because he could not address them by their given names, as that would be a capital offense.

"The other two, could they be His Majesty and the Empress!?"

Updates and Follow-up Plans

Starting today, I will begin posting 6,000 words a day ahead of schedule.

I was mentally prepared for the book's poor initial performance; otherwise, I wouldn't have chosen a title that is completely out of character for Hedgehog Cat.

If all goes well, I'll be opening a treasure chest around 12:30 AM on Monday (I've already spent money, so if you're still awake, you can try to grab it). Then next week, I'll be auctioning off a boss push, or if I'm lucky, I'll get a potential recommendation item for free and put it on sale.

In short, this book will be available for purchase relatively quickly, but due to the increased update speed, it will likely be available around 15 words, which is a normal number for Hedgehog Cat's book releases.

If special circumstances arise, such as being lucky enough to get an extra recommendation, the book will be published with around 180,000 to 190,000 words.

The reason is simple: if you don't get recommendations during the new book period, there's no point in dragging it out any longer. The right thing to do is to update to a suitable word count and put it on sale as soon as possible.

This is a fast-paced, enjoyable novel. To make a fast-paced, enjoyable novel enjoyable, the update speed must be fast, as the saying goes, "a lot of content is enough to satisfy."

The only book I'm currently following updates 27,000 words a day. I can't do that; it would kill me.

Let's set a small goal first: after the book is published, I'll try to update 8,000 words a day, and strive for 9,000.

If you can't do half, try to reach one-third first.

I have a general idea of ​​how this book will perform. It definitely won't be very good in the early stages. Maybe it will improve when it reaches 500,000 words and gets a boss push, but in any case, the early results will be very poor.

This results in very few private posts. I myself don't read private posts, and sometimes I don't even read the comments.

For many readers who enjoy reading side stories, this is certainly quite frustrating, but there's no need to worry that the lack of side stories or book reviews will lead me to give up and abandon the book.

I promised to finish the book, and no matter how bad it was, I finished it. Even if the grades were really bad, I still finished it.

It's understandable that a book that isn't guaranteed to be complete might be abandoned before it's even released, right?

Aside from that, this book doesn't preach any grand principles; it's purely for enjoyment.

Perhaps due to the style, it wasn't quite suitable for the hedgehog cat, so what was supposed to be enjoyable turned into a downside. It was an experiment, I suppose.

Regardless of the outcome, one should always try, shouldn't one?

Before I started this book, I wrote a rather interesting opening idea.

Unfortunately, after writing about 10,000 words, I went astray. People develop their own style after writing for a long time.

I think it's best to focus on writing what you're good at first, and then expand your style.

So after much thought, I decided to give up that imaginative story and instead try this kind of lighthearted story that might not be suitable for Hedgehog Cat.

But how should I put it? I firmly believe that as long as the update speed is fast enough, the content isn't illogical, and with the occasional recommendation, there will always be readers.

Furthermore, the reason I broke my promise and chose to use this account to publish the book was because the account had 90,000 points, which might be enough to bid for three boss recommendations.

In addition, considering that one can apply for a book after 500,000 words, and my update speed after it's published, if I still fail even after all these recommendations, it can only mean one thing: it's not due to external factors, but purely because of my own lack of ability.

In any case, this book will definitely exceed one million words.

Unless... my grades are so bad that I can't even afford to pay my mortgage.

Actually, it's quite difficult when you think about it, although... although because my grades were pretty bad, I even lost my A-level visa.

But if you post 8,000 words a day, you can get over 900 a month with perfect attendance.

Including subscriptions, as long as things aren't too dire, it should be enough to live on.

I've said a bit too much, so let's leave it at that.

There will be no reward for listing it, partly because the sales performance is too poor.

On the other hand, even without a reward, does that mean I can stop updating frequently?

How am I supposed to survive if I don't update frequently?

I've rambled on a bit, but I still hope that if you like this book, you'll support it after it's published.

Chapter Thirty-Three: Let's give it a try, it might be worth a try.

In the Han Dynasty, Wei Qing could only think of these two people whose status was above that of Chancellor Xiao.

Xiahou Ying admitted, "That's right. The other two are His Majesty and the Empress. Now the Empress is in power, and the Imperial Academy is Prime Minister Xiao's territory. You brought this sword into the Imperial Academy. I don't need to say more about what will happen to you, do I?"

I'm advising you to keep this sword for your own good. The reason Cao Can told you the sword was that you could do whatever you wanted with it; he was worried you'd go down a dark path and ultimately ruin yourself. You call me "uncle," and I, for both reason and duty, hope you can graduate smoothly from the Imperial Academy. You have the opportunity to become Zhou Yafu's successor.

Xiahou Ying's assessment left everyone present, except for Wei Qing, speechless with astonishment.

Who will succeed Zhou Yafu?

Isn't that a bit too high a rating?

At this point, the nobles finally realized that the Han army they had seen on the battlefield was not Marquis Jiang, Zhou Yafu, but the young man before them!

Even so, it's still a long way from Zhou Yafu's level, isn't it?

And the old friend Xiahou Ying mentioned, could it be the man from the rumors?

It seems the rumors were indeed not unfounded.

Despite Xiahou Ying's earnest advice, Wei Qing still did not agree.

Xiahou Ying's offer was indeed very tempting, and the reasons he gave were enough to make him make a decision.

But if things were really that simple, why did Uncle Cao ask him to bring this sword to Chang'an?

Could it be that he's just trying to harm himself?

Would he rather die at the hands of Empress Lü and Prime Minister Xiao?

That doesn't make sense!

The longer Wei Qing pondered, the more anxious Liu Yangxin became. "What are you thinking about? Agree! Agree! Agree now!"

If it weren't for respect for Xiahou Ying, Liu Yangxin would have agreed on Wei Qing's behalf right now.

Wei Qing glanced around at the people around him, paused for a few seconds, and said, "I have a few questions for Uncle Xiahou, which may involve some private matters..."

Xiahou Ying said, "Everyone, get out. Don't spread a word about what happened today. If anyone tries to interrogate you, just push me out."

The crowd agreed.

He didn't need Xiahou Ying to threaten him; his words weren't imperial edicts, but sometimes they were more effective than any edict.

At least with the Liu family of the imperial family, imperial edicts were often not very effective.