Chapter 1265

"Fellow Daoist Zhang, Kongming."

It was half a month after the founding ceremony of the Taiping Dao that Su Fan finally found Zhang Jiao and Zhuge Liang.

The nation established by the Taiping Dao was named Da Qian. It was not an empire, but a republic, with a Premier who was meant to oversee the entire Da Qian realm.

Zhang Jiao served as the first Premier, with a term of fifty years.

Zhuge Liang served as the Vice Premier, assisting Zhang Jiao in managing the world; the two of them were the most powerful individuals in the Da Qian nation of the Jiuzhou.

When Su Fan found them, both were somewhat surprised.

"Senior."

Upon seeing Su Fan, both Zhang Jiao and Zhuge Liang hurriedly bowed to him.

"No need for such formalities. Both of you, Fellow Daoist Zhang and Kongming, will attain the Dao in the future. There is no need to call me Senior; just address me as Fellow Daoist Su."

Su Fan was not joking. Even though their cultivation levels were still quite low, as the Heavenly Dao tilted in their favor, the two of them—as the most powerful figures in the Jiuzhou—possessed terrifyingly dense luck. As the Da Qian of the Jiuzhou grew stronger, they would also become extremely powerful.

Reaching the Great Luo Golden Immortal realm was no longer a difficult challenge for Zhang Jiao and Zhuge Liang.

With the great trend of the Heavenly Dao descending upon the Jiuzhou, everything was completely different. Without external interference, the Jiuzhou might even give birth to a ninth Human Emperor.

Even if that didn't happen, once it reached the level of a Human King dynasty, it would be effortless for Zhang Jiao and Zhuge Liang to break through to the Great Luo Golden Immortal realm.

If even King Wen could reach the Great Luo Golden Immortal realm, why couldn't Zhang Jiao and Zhuge Liang?

"I have come to see you two today, firstly to offer my congratulations."

"That is all thanks to your previous help, Fellow Daoist Su, and the knowledge you imparted."

Zhang Jiao and Zhuge Liang spoke hurriedly. Neither dared to take the credit, as they both knew that unifying the world would have been extremely difficult without the knowledge provided by Su Fan.

Although it looked like they had easily swept across the world in just over a decade, both were very clear that this was the accumulated power of the Taiping Dao.

Without the weapons forged by that scientific knowledge, the army equipped with firearms played a significant role in the later stages of the war.

With tens of thousands of cannons firing, even those transcendent armies could not withstand much.

First, they would bombard with cannons; while it might not kill many transcendent troops, the blow to the enemy's morale was terrifying.

Then, they would charge with transcendent armies using cold weapons. Thus, wherever their military might reached, it was unrivaled; no matter which army they encountered, they were invincible.

Indeed, the transcendent troops were the Taiping Dao's ultimate trump card. Because resources were sufficient and the Taiping Dao was fair, the number of soldiers who stepped into the transcendent realm in the Taiping Dao's cold-weapon army was far greater than that of other warlords.

In cold-weapon warfare, for military commanders, military strategy and divine abilities were one aspect, but the quality of the soldiers was another.

If two armies both had 100,000 men, but one side had 30% transcendent soldiers while the other had only 10%, the mere condensation of military Qi would be different.

As long as the commanding general wasn't a fool, it was hard to lose. Naturally, the Taiping Dao's generals were no fools.

However, relying solely on a cold-weapon army could not sweep across the world. Although the Taiping Dao had more transcendent soldiers than many warlords, in terms of the total number of transcendent beings, they certainly couldn't compare to all the other warlords combined.

And clearly, the Taiping Dao's enemy was the entire world; in the later stages, it was almost the Taiping Dao against the coalition of all the warlords.

The reason the Taiping Dao swept across the world so quickly was precisely because those warlords united, which allowed the Taiping Dao to defeat them more quickly.

After all, if they had to defeat them one by one, it would probably take decades. By uniting them and dealing them several heavy blows, the warlords naturally had few troops left, and crushing them afterward was much simpler.

Among these, the firearms were even more effective, especially against non-elite armies; often, as soon as the cannons roared, those armies would collapse.

Firearms were simply the ultimate tools for bullying the weak.

It could be said that these firearms played a key role in their sweep across the world; relying solely on cold weapons, they could never have won the world.

The warlords of the world had the support of noble families, while the Taiping Dao had almost no noble families; in the later stages, there were only one or two out of ten, and most were small families. Few large families were willing to follow the Taiping Dao.

After all, the larger the noble family, the greater their interests, and the Taiping Dao's internal policies had a significant impact on them.

Many invisible privileges were gone.

The Taiping Dao's internal policy focused on law. Although the Liu Han dynasty was Confucian, it was "Confucian on the outside but Legalist on the inside." In reality, regarding the law, it followed the principle that "punishment does not extend to the noble officials," and the law was not fair; perhaps the law was only meant to deal with the common people.

But it was different in the Taiping Dao. The law was relatively fair; no matter who you were, you had to respect it. The respect for the law was no less than that of the Great Qin.

Although the Great Qin law was great, sometimes it could not be enforced, and the emperor could decide the success or failure of the law with a single word.

It was different in Da Qian. In Da Qian, even the Premier could not negate the law, unless the Premier and many ministers agreed by 70%. Especially in the Ministry of Justice, their consent was required to make changes.

Da Qian's laws were fairer and more just.

From high-ranking officials and nobles down to the common people, everyone was equal before the law. Although sometimes it might not be fully achieved—after all, people have selfish motives, and it is impossible for everyone to be the impartial Heavenly Dao.

It was just that they could achieve relative fairness and justice, so within Da Qian, the internal administration was clear, and the national strength grew stronger and stronger.

But this was of no benefit to those noble families. For the noble families, the law was previously complete nonsense.

If the law was in their favor, it was an imperial decree; if it was not, it was waste paper.

In Da Qian, they could no longer commit crimes as they did before, nor could they act as tyrants in the local areas. Who would be willing to accept that?

Having lost too many rights, they were naturally unwilling to see the Taiping Dao succeed.

Therefore, previously, the Taiping Dao almost fought against the entire world of Liu Han on its own, and later, the noble families even colluded with the alien tribes of the northern grasslands.

Unfortunately, it was still useless. Although the strength of the northern grassland tribes was not bad, those cavalrymen were quickly finished off when facing the unstoppable firearms, cannons, and missiles.

The resistance capability of the alien tribes was far inferior to that of some warlords.

The existence of firearms made the Taiping Dao's army versatile, and the logistics became incomparably smooth.

Cultivators could carry various supplies, but storage space—this thing, below the level of an Immortal, few possessed.

Refining storage space was not simple, at least not in the Nanzhan Buzhou.