The skyscraper gave Wei Yuan a feeling even more intense than the supermarket had, but one thing was certain: conquering this high-rise would yield an immense harvest.
The areas he had swept previously were either residential neighborhoods or schools, with an occasional abandoned factory whose machinery had long since crumbled to ash, leaving only dilapidated shells of workshops still standing.
As one might expect, those areas possessed little technical value. The skyscraper before him was entirely different; if he could thoroughly decipher its structural design alone, Qingming's architectural technology would advance by leaps and bounds.
Sky Azure Hall also exceeded a hundred meters in height, but that was achieved entirely through cultivation methods. True Monarch Xuanyue had frequently intervened in person, refining raw brick slabs a zhang square into unified magical treasures, and in the end refining the entire Sky Azure complex once over. Thus, the hundred-zhang Sky Azure Hall was essentially a gigantic architectural magical treasure.
From the perspective of the otherworldly realm, such a method was crude and brutish, holding virtually no technical sophistication—scarcely different from a child stacking toy blocks. In terms of materials, many otherworldly substances fell far short of this world's natural materials, let alone refined spiritual materials.
For instance, a refined rod of spiritual wood was far harder and tougher than steel of identical dimensions, yet weighed less than twenty percent of steel. That mortals in the otherworldly realm could construct a hundred-zhang skyscraper out of ordinary, non-spiritual materials proved an uncanny, mind-boggling level of craftsmanship.
Furthermore, the remnant souls capable of residing in such a skyscraper were likely what the otherworldly realm called elite talents. Most had graduated from prestigious universities and possessed encyclopedic memories; they should remember much of what they had studied in school, unlike Xu Wenwu and that other academic failure, whose minds were utterly blank, having returned every shred of knowledge to their schools and teachers, leaving the books in their mental libraries mostly empty.
Yet the building was fraught with peril, so Wei Yuan was in no hurry to explore it. Instead, he continued paving roads. This time, overseeing the work personally, he laid a ring of light-roads completely around the skyscraper, breathing a sigh of relief only after the entire building zone was cordoned off.
Next, he built an even wider outer ring road for an extra layer of insurance. By the time the two concentric rings of light-roads were finished, three months had elapsed, but the skyscraper was finally sealed tight, yielding several more wisps of Dao profound qi in the process.
During those three months, Wei Yuan spent most of his time inside the world fragment, managing external affairs through his various avatars. Under Wei Yuan's unrelenting pressure, the three commanderies, including Xiangrong, suffered terribly, and banditry ran increasingly rampant within their borders. As Minister of Southern Military Affairs, Wei Yuan turned a blind eye to the bandits, leaving the noble clans with no recourse for appeal.
The mounted bandits were ruthlessly ferocious. Some wealthy households recruited cultivators overnight, bought armaments, and assembled household guard forces over a thousand strong, paying exorbitant sums to retain dharma idol cultivators to oversee their estates.
Even so, the bandits raided them as brazenly as ever. A mere two or three hundred horse bandits battered the thousand-man guards so thoroughly they could not tell north from south. A host of Dao Foundation cultivators, who usually strutted about like grandmasters, could not last three moves against the bandits; in the blink of an eye, they and their flying swords were severed in two.
When panic-stricken retainers rushed to seek the venerable dharma idol masters, they found rooms splattered with blood. The dharma idol experts had vanished, leaving behind only bloodstained garments. Judging by the gore across the rooms, they had surely met a grisly end.
In moments, the manor fell. The bandits uncovered the clan genealogy and conducted a roll call, seizing every member of the primary direct lineage to hold for ransom.
The gold, silver, and valuables in the compound were stripped clean, nor were young, beautiful women spared. Afterward, the bandits burned all the seized land deeds and estate titles in a roaring bonfire. Clan elders broke down in tears on the spot, some weeping until they fainted. Every one of the bandits' moves was striking at the very roots of their families!
It was the same for every wealthy household; none could withstand the mounted bandits' sudden assaults. The wealthiest magnate in the commandery even hired three dharma idol experts in one go. Yet before the bandits even showed up, two of the three suffered bizarre, violent deaths, their corpses apparently mauled by wild beasts. Terrified out of his wits, the third dharma idol abandoned his payment and fled into the night.
After several such battles, everyone sank into utter despair, knowing the government troops could not be counted on either.
As for the origin of these mounted bandits, everyone had guessed the truth with near certainty. After all, across the entire State of Jin, there was only one outfit capable of defeating superior numbers, routing well-trained guards with ease, and slaughtering dharma idol experts.
The noble clans had naturally pulled every string they had, appealing to their patrons in the capital. But at this moment, Zhao's offensive against Jin was at its fiercest; Western Jin's southern theater had disintegrated into a rout, retreating step by step. Amidst this, only Wei Yuan had memorialized a great victory, not only recovering the lost territory of two commanderies but also annihilating over a hundred thousand Zhao troops.
When this memorial reached the court, it shook the entire regime. Those who previously questioned Wei Yuan's military competence were finally struck dumb.
Consequently, the King of Jin issued an imperial edict that merely reprimanded Wei Yuan for poor territorial administration and withheld half of his rewards, completely dropping the matter of the Southwestern Five Commanderies. Seeing this, the Right Prime Minister had no choice but to find a different husband for his granddaughter.
At this point, the clans across the three commanderies finally lost all hope. Banding together, they submitted a joint petition to Wei Yuan, begging him to suppress the bandit plague while offering people in place of taxes. They took the initiative to set the rate at two taels per head, all able-bodied young men and women, with children thrown in as a bonus.
Only then was Wei Yuan satisfied. A continuous stream of people began moving from the three commanderies into Qingming, bringing a million souls every month.
Having taken in so many people, Wei Yuan felt he ought to show a token of courtesy to the King of Jin. He selected five hundred beautiful women seized by the mounted bandits and sent them to the royal capital along with ten thousand full sets of cuirassier infantry equipment.
Since assuming office as Minister of Southern Military Affairs, this was the very first time Wei Yuan had offered anything in return, voluntarily remitting revenue to the imperial court—and in grand style, worth a million taels of immortal silver.
On the open market, a full set of cuirassier infantry gear cost well over a hundred taels of immortal silver: sixty taels for the armor, over forty for the fire gun and matching ammunition, plus another five taels for various accessories and small tools.
When these military supplies were escorted to the capital, the King of Jin was naturally overjoyed, giving Western Jin's state fortune a noticeable lift. It was hard to say whether what delighted the king more was the ten thousand sets of equipment or the five hundred beauties.
In the court of the State of Zhao, the King of Zhao flew into thundering rages time and again over the Sixth Princess's disastrous defeat. He gave the Sixth Princess a blistering scolding, and even the Crown Prince received a harsh tongue-lashing alongside her.
However, upon her return, Su Hongmei claimed she had fought tooth and nail to break through the encirclement and return to Zhao alone. As for the defeat, she pinned all the blame onto several veteran commanding generals, alleging they had defied orders, engaged the Qingming army without authorization, and then folded instantly upon contact, collapsing so swiftly that the entire army ended up trapped inside Hanyang Pass.
As for the generals she accused, they were all locked up in Wei Yuan's dungeons and unable to confront her.
Meanwhile, under the Qingming army's relentless pursuit and interception, Su Ruyu had miraculously led the bulk of his forces back into Zhao territory. His reputation soared, marking him as a rising commander of generational stature. Since both hailed from the Su clan, the King of Zhao raised his hand high only to let it fall lightly on Su Hongmei, merely stripping her generalship and ordering her to redeem herself through service.
Now that over a hundred thousand Zhao troops were in Wei Yuan's custody, Li Chengfeng advised that they must ransom these soldiers from Wei Yuan as soon as possible; otherwise, prolonged delays might invite unforeseen troubles, and the men might never return.
After some thought, the King of Zhao agreed with his reasoning and conferred with his ministers on terms to make Wei Yuan release the prisoners. Someone suggested opening border trade, arguing that Qing brocade was flooding into Zhao continuously regardless, and since border trade prohibitions could not be enforced anyway, they might as well lift the ban.
Yet this proposal met fierce opposition from Li Chengfeng, who argued that once the border restrictions were lifted, Qing brocade would become completely uncontrollable and entirely replace Zhao brocade; this floodgate must never be opened.
The ministers actually all knew why Li Chengfeng opposed it, but none spoke openly, watching the King of Zhao's expression instead. In the end, the King of Zhao pondered for a moment and surprisingly sided with Li Chengfeng, refusing to open border trade and dispatching Li Chengfeng with immortal silver to ransom the men in Qingming.
After the imperial audience that day, rumor had it that the Crown Prince flew into a violent rage in his manor, beating to death two serving maidservants who had made minor mistakes. Li Chengfeng, on the other hand, gathered the necessary immortal silver and departed immediately for Qingming to negotiate the return of the Zhao soldiers with Wei Yuan.
When Li Chengfeng arrived in Qingming, Wei Yuan naturally received him in person. After all, Wei Yuan always welcomed anyone who showed up with immortal silver with a beaming smile.
Once the two sat down, Li Chengfeng stated the purpose of his visit. Unexpectedly, Wei Yuan let out a long sigh and said, "I'm afraid Brother Li will be taking back far fewer men this time. Sigh, had you notified me earlier, I would have had you send someone else in your place."
Li Chengfeng was taken aback and hurriedly asked, "What happened?"
"You will understand once you see for yourself, Brother Li."
And so the two arrived at the military camp set up specifically for wounded Zhao soldiers, which housed a full fifty thousand casualties. Seeing it again, Li Chengfeng noticed the camp's facilities had improved, and the wounded soldiers' meals were vastly superior to before—every bowl had meat in it.
Throughout the camp, beautiful, aloof medical pavilion disciples could be seen inspecting the soldiers' wounds, but there were also many fair, lovely young maidens clad in white specifically tasked with nursing care.
Li Chengfeng's heart sank. Picking a Zhao soldier who seemed mostly recovered, he asked, "Judging by your wounds, you look almost completely healed. Why haven't you returned to Zhao?"
The Zhao soldier replied, "It is delightful here; I have no thought of Zhao."
Chapter 777