He changed Tiwat

Yes, even Kuroda, the editor, hadn't read "The Record of Picking Up the Sword in Autumn".

As is customary, the nominations for the annual "This Light Novel is Amazing!" contest are made by the entire editorial department of Yaedo, and the final decision is made only after discussion and voting.

As is customary, this ranking will be highly controversial.

For example, the novel that Kuroda nominated as the first-place winner of the essay contest should be "The Senior Brother of the Guhua School". This novel was submitted by Chang, a novelist from Liyue, and it describes the romantic love story between the senior brother of the Guhua School in Liyue and his junior sister, Inazuma.

Kuroda judged that this novel, with its exotic flavor and local sentiment, should have a considerable market in Inazuma.

Other editors also gave different nominations—such as "Reincarnated as a Thunder General, and then invincible under heaven," or "Please, my fox spirit priest," "Reincarnated as a Hilichurl, I can keep getting stronger as long as I eat Sunset Fruit," "Living in the martial arts world, but only wanting to write novels properly," "About my chaotic youth romance story," and so on.

The book "Chen Qiu Shi Jian Lu" did not receive any editorial nominations at all, because it was submitted to the editorial department after the deadline for submissions. To be precise, it was submitted to the editorial department of "Ya Chong Tang" three days before the grand prize selection, so it was not eligible for the selection at all.

As for why "The Record of Finding the Sword in Autumn" won first place in the essay contest... to put it bluntly, it was simply forced upon us by the editor-in-chief a few days ago.

When Kuroda and the others heard that they were going to promote this award-winning work, their reaction was all "?".

In fact, the author of "The Record of Finding the Sword in Autumn" is Teacher Zhenyu from Liyue. His writing skills have been highly recognized by the editorial department. His other submission, "The Case Files of Wanwenji", has been nominated for the editorial department's Excellent Award.

If Kuroda's work, "The Record of Picking Up the Sword in Autumn," is of high enough quality, he could have skipped the writing contest and simply published it in the next quarter through the normal publishing model.

I don't know why the editor-in-chief was in such a hurry to publish this book...

I don't understand, but I still have to do the work the editor-in-chief gave me.

"Don't miss out! You can get a free preview copy from me!" Kuroda shouted as he waved the preview copy to passersby.

A woman in a kimono and a man who looked like a follower were passing by Hanamizaka when they stopped in front of Kuroda.

"Mr. Kuroda, could I have a copy to read? Oh, and another copy for Akagi."

“Of course, Miss Sumida.” Kuroda smiled and handed over two novels.

Ms. Sumida is a regular at "Yaedo" and she signs up for every "This Light Novel is Amazing!" contest—but unfortunately, she has never been able to finish her work before the deadline, so she has never been able to successfully participate in the competition.

If Ms. Sumida knew that this book suddenly appeared at number one after the deadline, I wonder if she would have any complaints?

Kuroda thought to himself, not without a hint of sarcasm.

Miss Sumida took the book and was immediately drawn to the editor's recommendation on the cover, written in a bold and elegant style. She read it aloud with some surprise:

"The waves surge in the abyss of the sea, and the shadows fly amidst the chaotic clouds beside the peaks; I stand alone in this turbid and muddy world, my righteous indignation burning and my blood surging!"

"The Record of Shen Qiu Picking Up the Sword," the first sword strike, slowly unleashed!

Chapter 158 The powerful and wealthy only know how to be arrogant about their family background; there are truly few among them who care about the country. [4k]

"Autumn is here, and the harvest season is approaching."

Han Fulai stood on the hilltop of Tasha, gazing at the Shenwu Tomb on the opposite bank.

September is almost here, the busiest time of year for farmers in Liyue, including Inazuma.

In previous years, the fields of Hiki Village would have been bustling with farmers working hard... but now, Hiki Village is nothing but a desolate wasteland.

The shrine maiden Hisaki Yuki, sent by Yae no Miko, arrived in Hiki Village a few days ago. She replaced the village's "guardian talisman" with a branch of the sacred cherry tree she carried with her and recast the barrier, temporarily suppressing the "evil spirit's" contamination.

Moreover, Hisaki Yuki brought with him a precious medicinal herb from Narukami Taisha Shrine—Narukami grass.

The villagers of Hiki Village who were lying in hospital beds have finally survived.

Although the "talisman" had been replaced, it wasn't taking effect as quickly as before, and the pollution in the ley lines of Hiki Village continued. To prevent secondary infection, Dr. Homoto and other survivors of the "Taishin" incident, including Kojiro, were taken to the Fujitomo Fortress camp by Uncle Todoroki, under the guise of the "Little Dog/Merchant Guild."

As for the whereabouts of Choji's parents, those in the know tacitly kept it a secret from the boy, only saying they would continue to help him search for them. Uncle Todoroki is now especially protective of Choji, fearing that one day he might secretly seek out those pirates to smuggle himself to Sumeru…

Xingqiu stood next to Han Fulai, also looking in the same direction.

"Brother Han, are we getting ready to 'harvest'?" she asked.

“Yes, ‘harvesting rice is also a war,’” Han Fulai replied with a smile.

Xingqiu smiled knowingly.

The two sentences Han Fulai just said were both from her book "The Record of Chen Qiu Picking Up the Sword," and they were remarkably fitting for the scene before them.

Moreover, the fact that Brother Han can memorize the lines from the book so well shows that he really cares about his novel, right?

The sea in Inazuma is not as pleasant as the sea in Liyue. There is always a fishy smell in the wind, and it is damp and sticky, so standing here is not comfortable... But Xingqiu likes this feeling of standing side by side with him.

...But before, we were brothers standing side by side; what are we now?

Xingqiu sometimes thinks that if only his skin were as thick as a walnut's, he could say many things easily instead of overthinking like he does now...

As she thought this, she unconsciously moved a little closer to Brother Han. Just then, Staff Officer Su, who was completely oblivious to the atmosphere, trotted over.

"Deputy Chief Han, the General Staff's plan for conquering Kannazuka has been drafted. Please take a look."

He also brought a stack of maps and plans.

Xingqiu, the "secretary's assistant," reluctantly accepted the materials.

Han Fulai glanced at it briefly and nodded. "Yes, we'll carry out the operation at dawn tomorrow. It's time for 'Kami no Tsukasa' to witness a 'miracle'."

In the Inatsume language, "Kami no Tsuka" means "a hill where the gods are not present".

Five hundred years ago, Sky Island issued an order to the "Seven Rulers of the Mortal World" to conquer Kanria. Inazuma's predecessor, Raiden Shin, answered the call and led the elite of the shogunate army to Kanria. Famous samurai families of that time, such as the "Nagaji Kitain," all followed him.

Later, in order to rescue his sister, Lei also took away a large number of troops, almost wiping out Inazuma's standing army.

It was at this time that Inazuma, whose forces were depleted, was struck by a "dark calamity".

Without the protection of the gods, Inazuma suffered repeated defeats in the "Dark Calamity." At that time, Mikoto Chiyo, the chief of the samurai, led the oni clan to form a defensive line in the area of ​​Futsuna, but the line collapsed due to Mikoto Chiyo's betrayal in battle. Although it was later proven that Mikoto Chiyo had lost her mind due to being corrupted by the abyss, for Inazuma at that time, the betrayal of the military commander was undoubtedly a huge blow.

Without divine protection, the Inatsume people, under the leadership of Kujo Shigeyori, the lord of the heavenly realm, built a human settlement on the northernmost deserted island of Hachiyū Island overnight—this is the origin of "Kujo Jinya" and "Kami no Ichiyō Castle".

The terrain of Kannazuka is precipitous, with high cliffs, and the location of the Nine-Tails Array House is the highest point of Kannazuka.

The fortifications built by Kujo Shigeyori, taking advantage of the terrain, once blocked the invasion of monsters five hundred years ago. After five hundred years of continuous reinforcement, it has become a veritable "fortress".

The Kujo clan's fortified position is surrounded by sheer cliffs on all sides, with only two narrow and steep ramps connecting the east and west ends. As long as the Kujo clan holds these two passes with their "island collapse cannons," the position is invincible.

Moreover, these two passes were paths that people gradually opened up over the past five hundred years, mainly for the convenience of logistics and transportation. Originally, the deserted island of Kannazuka had no roads at all.

It is hard for people today to imagine how Kujo Shigeyori managed to build a castle overnight on such a deserted island five hundred years ago.

The Kujo family has always kept their castle-building techniques a military secret, never revealing them to outsiders, and the reason for this remains unknown to the world.

—But Han Fulai knew.

In fact, he already knew this after hearing about Coral Palace Shinkai's "flying across the narrow gap of the blade of no thought". Shinkai's battle plan was probably inspired by the "Kami no Ichijo Castle" from back then.

To put it bluntly, it's nothing to mention—it's likely that Kujo Shigeyori five hundred years ago got help from the Tengu clan of Kageshiroyama.

For humans and flightless magical beasts, the terrain of Kannazuka is an insurmountable barrier, but for flying tengu, it poses no obstacle at all.

With the help of the Tengu to transport timber and soldiers, Kujo Shigeyori was able to build the castle walls on the cliff. The fact that the Kujo family was able to connect with the proud Tengu clan was probably due to a connection that had been built up over five hundred years.

For propaganda purposes, the shogunate deliberately concealed the details of the castle's construction, so the credit fell entirely on Kujo Shigeyori, the "hero of mankind." The tengu, who did not care about worldly affairs, would not come out to steal the glory of these mortals.

Of course, at that time, Inazuma faced the immense threat of a divine expedition and the betrayal of its military commander, so it was indeed necessary to create a hero to inspire people. Kujo Shigeyori's ability to persevere in resisting the "Dark Calamity" under such circumstances, and his united efforts, made him worthy of the title of hero.

Unfortunately... his descendants are not worthy of this title.

In the battle plan that Han Fulai had originally discussed with Su Ding and the others, he had even carefully considered the possibility of Ying Xiang Tengu joining the battle—the Kujo Jinya was built with the help of the Tengu clan, and Kujo Sara was the heir of the Tengu clan, so it was normal for Ying Xiangshan to send reinforcements.

However, now that his psychological manipulation of Kujo Sara had worked, the threat from the air was eliminated.

Whether or not Kujo Sara goes to "purge the court of treacherous officials" after returning to Narukami Island, the Tengu clan will certainly be too preoccupied to care about anything else.

Taking advantage of this opportunity, Han Fulai planned to take over Kannazuka in the most "publicity-worthy" way.

On August 30th, Liyue Calendar 37xx, at night, a huge flame rose in front of the "Thousand-Armed and Hundred-Eyed Statue," the newly established landmark of Inazuma City.

A thunderous explosion followed.

The guards of the nearby Tianling Bureau were alerted, and after a while, a large number of soldiers carrying various tools poured out of the Tianling Bureau's residence.

They are part-time members of the "firefighting team".

Since the Yae-no-gami of Narukami Shrine changed the "Fire Suppression Committee" into a "Light Novel Writing Contest," the funding for the "Fire Suppression Corps," which was under the jurisdiction of the Tenryō magistrate, has been reduced again and again. The regular "Fire Suppression Corps" members have either been dismissed or scattered and incorporated into the shogunate army.

These people carrying tools are all comrades-in-arms in the Tenryo Magistrate's Office. When there is a need to put out a fire, they also work as firefighters, essentially doing two jobs for one salary... This group of people were originally soldiers on duty guarding the Tenryo Magistrate's Office today. Now that a fire has broken out, they were yelled at by their superior, Ōkawara Goemon, to go out and put out the fire.

Several soldiers carrying white flags stood at the key intersection of the upper and lower city areas, loudly rebuking nearby residents for making room for the "fire extinguishing team" that Tianling followed—they were "entanglers" responsible for clearing the road and driving away idlers.

The white banners they held were the "military flags" of the "firefighting team." White is the most conspicuous color even at night, so that people would keep their distance if they saw it.

A line of soldiers carrying large fans, pitchforks, shovels, and ladders hurried past. Long after them, pairs of soldiers carrying waterwheels and buckets passed by, but the number of waterwheels and buckets was significantly small, disproportionate to the number of soldiers carrying shovels in front.

Unlike fire brigades in other countries, the main responsibility of the "fire extinguishing team" in Inazuma is not to put out fires, but to "demolish houses".

The houses in Inazuma Castle are all made of wood and are often connected in clusters. If one house catches fire, the entire city will often be engulfed in flames. Relying solely on water to extinguish the fire is simply not enough to keep up with the speed at which the fire spreads. Therefore, the "firefighting team" usually demolishes the houses around the point of origin of the fire before it spreads further.

As for the houses that catch fire, they basically just watch them burn to the ground. Often, the fire extinguishing team is too lazy to even bring a water truck... This time, they brought a water truck because the fire seems to have started near the "Thousand-Handed and Hundred-Eyed Statue," and they can't let the symbol of the "Eye Hunt Order" be burned.

On the rooftop of a nearby house, the signboard girl of "Naganohara Fireworks Shop," Naganohara Yomi-no-miya, confirmed that the large group was heading to the "Thousand-Handed Hundred-Eyed Statue." She turned around and gave a "yeah" gesture to Ying-mei and the others waiting below, indicating that the operation had succeeded.

Yingmei and the others, dressed as ronin, returned the gesture and began their infiltration operation under the leadership of Xiaozhaoyou.

This infiltration plan was originally named "Gentleman's Daytime Intrusion" by Ying; given her personality, she would have simply stormed into the Kujo residence and been done with it...

However, as an expert, the ninja Hayato insisted on the principle of operating at night, so the helpless Ying had to compromise—using fireworks to illuminate the Tenryo Magistrate's office as brightly as daytime, which could also be considered "a gentleman's daytime incursion."

The illusion of a "fire" that was created just now was the "extra-large fireworks" that Xiaogong had been tinkering with these past few days. Their characteristics were that they were "loud, bright, and burned for a long time." If Han Fulai had seen them, he would probably have called them homemade "flares."

Suddenly, a bunch of "fireballs" hit the statue. The guards of the statue had never seen anything like this before. They panicked and had to call the fire department even if there was no fire. This successfully drew out a large number of guards from the Fengxing Mansion.

Taking advantage of the chaos, Ying and the others concealed themselves and followed Zayu to a low wall—this section connected to the residences of other shogunate nobles, so the wall was the lowest and the defenses were the weakest. On the other side of the wall was the garden of the magistrate's office, the most suitable place to hide.

As expected of a ninja, Zaoyou's ninjutsu of invisibility was superb. She leaped over the low wall and into the treetop, instantly blending into the environment. If you didn't look closely, you couldn't tell her where she was.

Ying and Wan Ye were both skilled in light footwork and entered the mansion smoothly.

But Goro encountered a problem—it was a matter of innate talent; a cornered dog might jump over a wall, but it wouldn't climb a tree…

So after Goro jumped over the courtyard wall, he failed to climb to the treetop and instead slid to the ground.

Fortunately, the guards had already been drawn away, so this mistake shouldn't have caused any major problems... but problems still occurred.

The moment Goro landed, a long sword silently pressed against the back of his neck.

Fortunately, although Goro's lightness skill was not good, his sense of danger was extremely sharp. When the long sword was about to hit him, he rolled forward and avoided death.

But the knife still managed to slice off his straw hat.

A pair of dog ears were immediately exposed.

"Dog ears... I heard that the general of the Sangoku Palace's army is a 'dog,' so the rumors are true. Hahaha, defeated by a dog, Prince Masahito of the Kujo family and General Sara are really too incompetent, aren't they?"

The person who drew the knife revealed himself with a loud laugh.

This person has a samurai-style spiky hairstyle and wears a haori short jacket, typical of a town magistrate, and his appearance is very similar to that of Kanoin Heizo.

A small squad of officers from the nearby Magistrate's Office also appeared and surrounded Goro.

“The two of you in the tree don’t need to hide anymore, come down. This feint was too simple. I saw through it at a glance and knew the thieves would sneak in from the weakest point in the defense.” The man looked up at the tree canopy where Ying and Wanye were hiding.

Wan Ye whispered, "He didn't notice Zao You."

Yingmei understood and jumped down from the tree in a carefree manner, with Wanye following closely behind.

If the attempt to use fireworks to create a diversion fails, then the three of them can simply act as bait again to cover Zaoyou's mission.

The main infiltrator was Zaoyou, and their discovery did not affect the mission.

While they were distracting others, Zaoyou had already disappeared.

Who are you?

Ying drew his bladeless sword and pointed it at the official who had seen through their scheme.

The man proudly raised his chin: "Heavenly Commander and Power, the noble heir of the Imperial Carriage Bloodline, Mikoto Uemon-suke Genjiro."

Wan Ye, who was behind her, suddenly laughed out loud: "Ah Yuan, instead of helping your brother watch the shop, you've become the Kujo family's watchdog?"

Chapter 159 Powerful clans only know how to boast of their accumulated wealth; what do they care about the fate of the nation? [4k]

The term "A-Yuan" was clearly a way of addressing someone you know well. The man who called himself "Miyuki Uemon-suke Genjiro" looked surprised and suspicious: "And who are you!?"

"What, don't you recognize me? You wouldn't have spoken like this before... much less like now, pretending to be a high-ranking official when you're just guarding a noble mansion." Wan Ye shook his head and removed his straw hat.

The "usurpation of the official position of the palace attendant" he mentioned refers to the "Right Guardian Assistant" in the other party's title.

This man, Yukichi of the Tenryo Magistrate's Office, was originally named Mikoto Genjiro. He was a descendant of the Mikoto family, one of the three great demon clans of Inazuma.

The tradition of Inatsumi people introducing themselves is to announce their family name in the following order: surname, title, and given name. People with official positions usually add their title in the middle of their name to indicate their status.

"Miyuki Uemon-suke Genjiro" is such a title; to put it bluntly, it's just a way to show off one's status and put on airs.