Chapter 12: The Straw Man Shows Its Might

Zhao Xing’s actions on the field fell into the eyes of the three examiners aboard the flying boat.

Primarily because he was among the first of the minor officials to react and begin crafting straw men, and both his speed and the quality of his work were quite extraordinary.

The straw men of others were wobbly, but Zhao Xing’s straw men could run and jump, appearing vivid and lifelike.

"Hmm? The Willow-Transmission Eighty-One Weaving Method. Is this lad an official under Magistrate Gao or Magistrate Tang?" Chen Shijie asked.

Gao Linong and Tang Wanchun looked at each other in dismay, for what they knew was far from complete; they hadn't even recognized the technique at first, let alone taught it—how could they teach what they didn't know themselves?

"He is not a minor official under my command."

"Nor mine."

"Oh? This lad’s straw man technique is quite exquisite, yet I wonder whose official he actually is."

Tang Wanchun pondered, "Aside from Magistrate Chen, I suspect only Senior Agricultural Official Xue would know the complete Willow-Transmission Eighty-One Weaving Method."

Chen Shijie nodded slightly; Xue Wenzhong had been an Agricultural Official for over sixty years, so it was normal for him to know more.

Prompted by this reminder, Tang and Gao also began to observe Zhao Xing.

Unexpectedly, they soon witnessed the scene where Zhao Xing fought over straw, threw stones at others, and forced his colleagues to retreat.

Gao Linong snorted, "Hmph, this person’s character is unruly. To attack colleagues over a mere stack of straw is truly disgraceful."

Tang Wanchun glanced at him without a word; he was watching Chen Shijie’s reaction. The superior had just praised this minor official, and for you, Old Gao, to sing a different tune now was perhaps a bit tactless.

Chen Shijie said indifferently, "An Agricultural Official must fight heaven and earth for food; having some edge is quite normal. Take Li Chengfeng under Magistrate Gao, for instance—I find him quite high-profile as well."

Gao Linong’s eyelids twitched; only then did he realize in his heart that he had spoken wrongly. Even if he thought so, he shouldn't have said it to their faces.

"Chen Shijie comes from the northern barren mountains and has endured many natural disasters; I fear this lad’s conduct actually suits his tastes," Gao Linong thought, immediately changing his tone.

"Magistrate Chen’s insight is profound; it was I who saw things too shallowly. Furthermore, he arrived at that stack of straw first, so he was in the right."

What does it mean to be crushed by a superior? This was it.

With a slight reprimand from Chen Shijie, Gao Linong had to immediately fall in line, for he was the subordinate and Chen Shijie was the superior.

Zhao Xing was completely unaware of the discussion among the three examiners on the flying boat. After exhausting the third stack of straw, he finally left the field.

By this time, the number of straw man puppets he had crafted had reached seventy-six!

With pressure mounting, he became even more focused. By the time he reached the sixtieth straw man,

the proficiency of [Resurrecting Straw Man] had broken through 1000, reaching the level of a 'First-Turn Spell.'

Consequently, the subsequent sixteen straw men were faster, more agile, and more powerful.

"That’s about enough."

Beside the assigned field, seventy-six straw men stepped into the paddy, standing with bamboo poles in hand like soldiers waiting in battle formation.

Zhao Xing checked his panel.

His Qi had dropped below 50.

"At this rate, the [Cloud-Walking] and [Thunder-Striking] spells won't last much longer. The consumption to maintain these two spells is far greater than that of the straw men."

Straw men, after all, were supported by materials; once crafted, they required no further Qi. Cloud-Walking and Thunder-Striking, however, consumed more.

Nevertheless, Zhao Xing decided to hold on until he could no longer sustain it.

Straw men were, after all, not as effective as Cloud-Walking and Thunder-Striking; there would inevitably be many errors and omissions.

…………

In the first quarter-hour of the Minor Heat assessment, [Cloud-Walking] and [Thunder-Striking] blocked almost all the 'Grain-Eating Birds.'

In the second quarter-hour, the straw men arrived below the assigned field to wait.

In the third quarter-hour, the frequency of thunder weakened, and some Grain-Eating Birds began to break through the clouds to peck at the Yuan rice, but they were stopped by the straw men.

In the fourth quarter-hour, Zhao Xing had completely abandoned Thunder-Striking, using only Cloud-Walking to block the birds. One-third of the flock rushed down, and the straw men began to drive them away with all their might.

In the fifth quarter-hour, many Grain-Eating Birds were struck down by the straw men, but five straw men were destroyed.

In the sixth quarter-hour, one-third of the birds, unable to eat, flew away, but the number of destroyed straw men reached twenty-five.

In the seventh quarter-hour, the clouds shrank. Under the scorching heat, Zhao Xing’s Qi gradually failed. He used the straw men to lure the birds away, as the straw men were made of Yuan rice stalks—the birds' favorite part—but this resulted in the loss of over half the straw men.

In the eighth quarter-hour, the clouds shrank by another half, exposing half the field. Zhao Xing let all the remaining straw men act as 'sacrifices,' allowing the remaining birds to feed while the field below began to suffer damage.

When the ninth quarter-hour arrived, a bell rang in the sky. All the Grain-Eating Birds above the public fields flew away, disappearing into the white clouds.

"Hoo~ hoo~"

Zhao Xing’s mouth was dry, and he was drenched in sweat.

But he couldn't care about that; he hurried to check the condition of the assigned field.

"The half-acre on the south side suffered the most damage because it was exposed the earliest, and I used it as a sacrifice, luring them all there."

"The other few acres suffered only minor losses."

Zhao Xing walked around to take a look, his heart relaxing slightly.

Looking at the straw men again, only eight remained, all of them damaged. If these eight hadn't reached 'First-Turn' strength, they would have collapsed long ago.

"It’s over; time to rest." Zhao Xing waved his hand, and the remaining eight straw men lost their luster and collapsed at the edge of the field.

The heat was unbearable, and after an hour of fierce fighting, Zhao Xing felt physically and mentally exhausted, wishing he could fall asleep immediately.

All around were the wails of other officials.

Because this assessment was much harder than previous ones, many people’s assigned fields had suffered heavy losses.

The vast majority had lost more than half, and some had been picked clean.

"A month of hard work, just gone like that?"

"Damn those Grain-Eating Birds, how hateful!"

"Sigh, my skills are not refined enough; who can I blame? Just wait honestly for the make-up exam."

"A make-up exam at best gets you a C-plus, which is just a pass. It’s a waste of energy. How will I handle the next assessment?"

"Is it really that easy to become a Ninth-Rank official? The Agricultural Office calculated it well; over five hundred people fighting for three or five spots. Little do they know, a Ninth-Rank Assistant Regional Commander in the East Lake Army has three to five thousand people fighting for a single spot!"

"And don't even mention joining the army; the artisan officials of the Heavenly Crafts Workshop have nearly a thousand people competing."

"I hate that I wasn't born a girl; I hear the competition in the Weaving Workshop isn't nearly as fierce."

"Ugh~ you have no ambition at all."

"……"

Just then, the sky suddenly filled with dark clouds, and rain began to fall.

"Pitter-patter~"

The raindrops were sparse and small at first, but soon became large and dense.

The temperature in the air plummeted accordingly.

Zhao Xing sat down on the field, letting the rain wash over him.

The shower came quickly and left quickly.

Clearly, this was artificially controlled.

It gave the officials a quarter-hour of rest to recover. The sky suddenly cleared, the dark clouds turned into white clouds, and the weather returned to the normal Minor Heat solar term.

A flying boat descended from the clouds to the field, with three people standing at the bow: the head of the Agricultural Office, Chen Shijie, and his two deputies, Gao Linong and Tang Wanchun.

"They’re here; they’re going to announce the results of the Minor Heat assessment." Zhao Xing gathered his spirits and approached the field.