The Villain's Counterattack

Chapter 189: China's New Policy, Shattering the Void

Zhang Wuji's new dynasty policies were welcomed by the general public, but angered many local gentry. Just when they were preparing to rebel, the Beggar Gang tipped off the rebels, and the rebels directly suppressed them all. Song Qingshu's Confucian disciples rushed forward and confiscated all their property and land, turning them into food supplies for the rebels and the hearts of the people at the bottom.

Song Qingshu personally visited Jinling City and led a group of Wudang disciples and old Taoist priests at the foot of Wudang Mountain to begin to coordinate the planning of the new capital. He established three provinces and six ministries, as well as the three-level local administrative agencies, supervisory agencies, and law enforcement agencies under them, basically realizing the separation of powers at the local level, and at the same time improving the petition mechanism and inspection mechanism.

Song Qingshu brought his long-prepared collection of martial arts manuals and classic texts from the Confucian, Taoist, Mohist, Agricultural, Diplomatic, Legalist, and Merchant schools to Jinling City. He established the Imperial University and recruited scholars from around the world to serve as teachers. He also established a hundred schools of thought, each with its own pavilion. To become the leader of a pavilion, a candidate had to surpass all others. Furthermore, in addition to talent, one also had to possess both high moral character and high moral character. Otherwise, no one could enter the pavilion.

Large-scale construction projects were carried out, roads were built, government orders were sent to the countryside, education was promoted, and storytelling was used to popularize common sense. At the same time, literacy education was promoted in the army, and it was planned that these people would serve as security personnel and local civil and military teachers after retirement. They were the backbone of the new dynasty.

The new policy was very persuasive, and a trend of welcoming the royal army swept across the northern Mongol Yuan territory. Zhang Wuji, Yang Xiao, Yin Tianzheng, Zhou Zhiyang, Chang Yuchun, Xu Da and others led a large army in three directions to besiege the Yuan capital from Shandong, Shanxi and Shaanxi.

Because the emperor was killed and the Mongol Yuan court was in chaos due to internal power struggles, it had almost no ability to resist. On the contrary, the traitors who defected to the Mongol Tartars had a slight delaying effect, but in the end they were still crushed.

Seeing this situation, Song Qingshu immediately composed "The List of Traitors", which mentioned some traitors who defected to the Mongols and Yuan Dynasty to make suggestions and suppress the Han people, and their actions, which made these so-called literati and scholars disgraced and even infamous for eternity. Suddenly, the power of resistance in the north was greatly weakened, and the three armies arrived in Yuan Dadu one after another.

When the Mongols saw that things were going badly, they quickly evacuated with a large amount of property. Before them, those with a keen sense of smell had already run far away. Seeing that the situation was hopeless, the ministers in Yuan Dadu immediately transformed themselves into righteous men who endured humiliation and took over the entire Yuan Dadu with the help of both inside and outside forces. However, most of the Mongol nobles ran away.

The rebel army pursued the victory and completely recovered the Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun, chasing them all the way to the edge of the Great Wall, where they set up a base and reorganized the newly acquired territory.

Before those so-called anti-righteous people were rewarded for their merits, they had to clear themselves of the charges first. In the end, there were basically few people who were clean, and there were even fewer talented people. Those who were determined to surrender to the Yuan Dynasty court were also sent to the grasslands, allowing them to continue to "guide" the Yuan Dynasty with Confucianism, which was considered a great merit.

Except for Song Yuanqiao who was stationed in Wudang Mountain, the other seven heroes of Wudang, including Zhang Cuishan, were also given tasks to patrol the entire Central Plains to prevent local riots and illegal activities. The Five Scattered People also received such power.

After Zhang Wuji conquered Yuan Dadu, under the leadership of Wei Yixiao, he dug out a large number of books buried underground and sent them all to the new capital of Jinling. He left Yang Xiao as the Grand Marshal of the Northern Army to stay in Yuan Dadu to guard against the counterattack of the Mongols and to provide some convenience for those who were interested in establishing a country abroad.

Within three months, Song Qingshu had trained a large number of Mingjiao disciples who were capable of writing and calculating, and who were basically qualified to serve as village-level cadres. These individuals were as young as fifteen or sixteen, and as old as twenty-five. Each of them had a kung fu skill. Most knew only a few words, but were quite sensitive to numbers. Their number reached a staggering five thousand, and Song Qingshu directly assigned them to oversee local land management.

With the support of the Mingjiao army, land reform proceeded smoothly. Even though the gentry wanted to resist, they were powerless and ultimately had to follow the crowd and obtain a small amount of land. However, they soon found themselves with no one to cultivate their land, as everyone owned their own and would no longer rent it. Meanwhile, the previously despised businesspeople became more popular. The imperial court recruited skilled individuals and invested heavily in large-scale construction projects, with these skilled individuals being the first to benefit.

On Mount Wudang, Yin Susu was busy training several future daughters-in-law. Yin Li, Han Xiaozhao, and Yang Buhui had to receive training in many aspects every day. Etiquette was secondary. The most troublesome thing was all kinds of knowledge that could help Zhang Wuji. The members of the harem were different from the chivalrous women in the martial arts world. They had too many things to learn.

When she wasn't paying attention, Zhao Min found Zhou Zhiruo.

"Sister, you lied to me again. You kept saying that Brother Bufan would snatch Zhang Wuji's opportunity and have a feud with Zhao Min. What was the result? I was fooled around by Brother Bufan and finally became his captive. I couldn't become his confidante, but you almost married him. I should have insisted on choosing Zhou Zhiruo." Zhao Min looked at Zhou Zhiruo with resentment on her face.

Zhou Zhiruo pinched her nose and said, "You can't blame me for this. Brother Bufan did steal Zhang Wuji's 'Nine Yang Magic Skills,' 'Great Shift of the Universe,' and 'Holy Fire Token Magic Skills,' but in the end, he didn't become the leader of the Ming Cult because of his status. And my dear sister, the reason you were played around by Brother Bufan wasn't Zhao Min's fault, but yours. You little fool, your brains are no match for Brother Bufan's. You can act according to the script, but once you go beyond it, your true colors will be revealed, and you'll become a little fool."

Zhao Min snorted and knocked Zhou Zhiruo's hand away, shaking her fist and saying, "I don't care. My failure this time is all my fault, sister. Next time, I must make my own choice. Sister, you can't continue to seduce and mislead me. No matter how much you say, I won't believe you anymore. I must make Brother Bufan the first one to fall in love with me and be willing to marry me."

"Then you have to keep working hard. Brother Bufan doesn't know a lot of things, and we have no way to tell him. We can only wait for him to realize it. Before that, we sisters will suffer. This fool, I have clearly made several hints, but he always diverted my attention. Humph, it's really infuriating, this big blockhead." Zhou Zhiruo was also quite depressed. The most important thing was that her lover had always been thinking about her sisters and would not accept other people, even if they were fake characters. But this happened to be the role played by her sisters.

On an auspicious day, Zhang Wuji ascended the throne as emperor under the watchful eyes of the masses, naming his country Ming. At that moment, Song Qingshu suddenly glowed with multicolored light, and slowly ascended into the air, as if he were an immortal. "A warrior's limit is to shatter the void. Today, my merits are complete, and my inner and outer qualities are one. It's time for me to depart. Wuji, you should be so dedicated to governing the world that you shouldn't neglect your martial arts. Grand Master, I'll be waiting for you up there. Let nature take its course. With your cultivation, we'll surely meet again."

As soon as Song Qingshu finished speaking, he turned into a stream of light and quickly flew into the sky and disappeared in broad daylight, leaving everyone stunned. "Broken void, what the master said is actually true?" Zhou Zhiyang's muttering attracted the attention of many people, and the whole world was in an uproar. From then on, martial arts flourished, and Song Qingshu was also canonized as the True Lord of Divine Martial Arts, and a temple was built to enjoy incense and offerings.

In the world of The Heaven Sword and Dragon Saber, two figures appeared silently in the starry sky, and a small hand as white as jade gently pointed out, and landed on Wudang, Shaolin, Huashan, Kongtong, Emei, Kunlun, Guangmingding, Zhuwu Lianhuanzhuang, Butterfly Valley, Wa Island, Lingshe Island, Yuan Dadu and other places. Suddenly, these places appeared with streams of light and slowly turned into small balls flying into the sky.

"In the name of the Lord of Dreams, I exercise the power of the Lord of Creation. The dream world appears!" Under her control, numerous small balls spun rapidly in the air, disrupting the night sky and forming a dreamlike image. The starry sky seemed to be torn apart, slowly forming a whole new world.

This brand new world of The Heaven Sword and Dragon Saber has been integrated into the already existing world of The Smiling, Proud Wanderer, making the illusory world even larger and more real. Darkness strikes again, and a crisp voice says, "In the name of the Lord of Moonlight, darkness, retreat!" The darkness is forcibly repelled, the worlds become one, the power of merit pours down, and the two figures quietly retreat.

"Complete the second page of the Dream Book, eliminate 100,000 resentments, and gain an additional 3,000 Dream Power. Please choose one of the following rewards: 1. Reduce one Life and Death Talisman; 2. Increase your cultivation aptitude by one level in the next world; 3. Receive three feet of portable space."

Lin Bufan thought about it and finally chose the third option. The third page of the dream book slowly opened, and five big words appeared in front of him: The Legend of the Condor Heroes, and two small words below: Yang Kang.

In Jinling City, during the Ming Dynasty of China, a slender figure stroked his beard and smiled. "It's truly fascinating to see the lackeys of gods and demons hunting down the pawns of immortals. However, we can't just let the lackeys of gods and demons cheat. This three-foot space is my gift to you. I hope you can make me happier. Hehe, just by looking at your actions, I know you're a man of integrity. So, I'll let you acknowledge the thief as your father. Let's see what you choose."