Chapter 342: Observations 4

"That's all. Follow me, Envoy. We are going to see Lord Meng," Meng Qingshan said.

Tan Laosi continued walking forward and soon entered the inner city. All the commoners he saw along the way were busy at work.

The commoners at the bottom of other cities had already become numb and listless, but the commoners of Luolong County appeared full of vigor, with heartfelt smiles on their faces, as if they were full of hope for a good life in the future.

Walking through Luolong City, Tan Laosi felt as if he had arrived in a foreign land, which made him feel quite uncomfortable.

"b, p, m, f, d, t, n, l..." Suddenly, Tan Laosi walked near a school and heard the students in the classroom reciting some very strange syllables in unison. He looked inside and discovered that the classroom was filled with school-age children.

On the podium, a teacher wearing a Confucian robe had filled the blackboard with strange symbols and was leading the students to recite those odd syllables together.

"Brother Meng, what are the students learning?" Tan Laosi asked.

"This is the Hanyu Pinyin invented by our Lord Meng. As long as one masters the 23 initials and 37 finals, one can quickly master the pronunciation of all characters," Meng Qingshan said proudly.

"Hanyu Pinyin." Tan Laosi firmly memorized these four words. He was also a household servant of the Tan family and had followed Tan Qingyang to read and write since he was young, so he could be considered a well-educated man.

Tan Laosi listened outside the school for a while and soon discovered that Hanyu Pinyin was truly infinitely wonderful for beginners, greatly reducing the difficulty of learning characters.

"Wonderful! Hanyu Pinyin is truly infinitely marvelous." Tan Laosi praised it endlessly.

Tan Laosi walked into the school and took a tour. He discovered that this school was very large, with fifty classrooms, each having nearly sixty students; that is to say, there were over three thousand students in the school learning to read and write.

This shocked Tan Laosi greatly. Luolong County only had a population of thirty or forty thousand, and this school alone had over three thousand students. Did this not mean that basically all the school-age children in Luolong County were studying in this school? This was something impossible to see in other cities.

Because only the children of wealthy families were qualified to read and write, and ordinary commoners could not even get enough to eat, where would they have money to pay tuition? Tan Laosi asked the doubt in his heart.

"This is the Xiwang Xuexiao run by our Lord Meng. Every school-age child in Luolong County can enroll for free, and they are even provided with a meal at noon. Those who rank at the top in exams even receive work-point rewards, earning more than an adult laborer. That is why the children of Luolong County basically all enroll to read and write," Meng Qingshan said.

It happened to be mealtime. As a teacher struck a bronze bell, all three thousand-plus students in the school, organized by class, lined up in an orderly fashion, walked out of the classrooms, and headed toward the cafeteria.

Tan Laosi was dumbfounded. He discovered that these students' formations were straight and square, like a single entity; this was even more orderly than the formations of the elite troops of Dongzhou City.

"One, two, one; one, two, one..." The students marched in step under the leadership of their Squad Leader, then arrived at the open space outside the cafeteria and marched in place. The students' synchronized stomping resonated, making the ground thud.

"Halt!" Following a loud shout from a tall student, all the students puffed out their chests, looked straight ahead, and stood perfectly still.

Three thousand students formed a neat square formation. No matter from which angle Tan Laosi looked, they were a straight line.

"Is this damn thing a group of students learning to read and write? This is clearly a well-trained troop," Tan Laosi was shocked beyond measure.

Although these students lacked strength, if they were all equipped with lethal weapons like the AK47, these three thousand-plus students would be a combat-hardened elite force.

Liu Dengke, dressed in a Confucian robe, stood on a high platform outside the cafeteria. He channeled the Vast Noble Qi in his chest and said loudly, "Who teaches you knowledge for free?"

"Lord Meng," the students shouted in unison.

"Who gives you food to eat?" Liu Dengke asked again.

"Lord Meng," the students shouted in unison again.

"How shall we repay Lord Meng?"

"Swear loyalty to Lord Meng until death!"

"Swear loyalty to Lord Meng until death!"

"Swear loyalty to Lord Meng until death!"

The students roared with fanatical eyes.

"Eat!" Following Liu Dengke's order, the students walked into the cafeteria in an orderly manner and began to eat.

Tan Laosi felt as if he had been struck by lightning and stood frozen on the spot. Watching these hot-blooded youths, Tan Laosi knew that they had all been brainwashed and would truly, just as they shouted, swear loyalty to Meng Yifan until death.

"Wolfish ambition! A hero of his generation!" Tan Laosi's evaluation of Meng Yifan was very high.

Everything he saw and heard along the way made Tan Laosi realize that Meng Yifan was different from ordinary rebels; he had great ambitions and truly wanted to overthrow the dynasty.

Although Meng Yifan's current strength was still very weak compared to the entire Great Wu Heavenly Dynasty, Meng Yifan's rise was very fast. If given more time, his power would surely snowball, develop and grow rapidly, and eventually grow into a behemoth capable of overturning the Great Wu Heavenly Dynasty.

It is said that Meng Yifan is a reincarnation of a great power. Could it be that his past life was a great emperor? Otherwise, how could he be so good at buying people's hearts? Tan Laosi's heart was full of confusion and disbelief.

The food in the school cafeteria was very sumptuous. Every student had a large bowl of rice, a piece of Monster Cured Meat, a section of sausage, a serving of cold-dressed Sweet Potato leaves, and a bowl of egg drop soup.

Tan Laosi also went to get a serving. It made his mouth oily, and he praised it endlessly. No wonder the students were so devotedly loyal to Meng Yifan.

In other cities, a large number of commoners starved to death every day, while these students could eat meat for free every day.

The contrast was too great. Just for the sake of this good food, the students would be grateful to Meng Yifan.

After eating and drinking his fill, Tan Laosi followed Meng Qingshan to the Luolong County government office and finally met Meng Yifan.

Meng Yifan looked only eleven years old, yet the True Qi and Spirit Power on his body radiated a powerful pressure, making Tan Laosi's heart jump with fear; he dared not look directly at Meng Yifan.

"He really is a reincarnation of a great power. Otherwise, even if he started cultivating from his mother's womb, it would be impossible for him to be a dual cultivator of Dao and martial arts at eleven or twelve years old, and both at the fifth-grade realm."

Tan Laosi's thoughts raced. He then bowed and respectfully handed over a letter, saying, "Lord Meng, this is a personal letter from the Inspector. Please take a look."

Meng Yifan took the letter and opened it to read. It contained a lot of nonsense, but the most important points were that Meng Yifan's crime of killing officials and rebelling could be wiped clean, he could make any demands he wanted, and Tan Qingyang would try his best to satisfy Meng Yifan's requests.

With the country in danger, Tan Qingyang hoped that Meng Yifan would prioritize the big picture, accept the imperial court's amnesty, and lead his elite troops to Dongzhou City to fight a decisive battle against the Demon Race army.

Meng Yifan put the letter aside and said, "There is no need for amnesty, but we can cooperate. After all, the Demon Race is the common enemy of us humans."