Chapter 305

Just farm in peace?

Having received the instructions from "another self," Lin Liu couldn't help but nod secretly: this method is excellent, simple and practical!

As long as I don't make mistakes, I will always stay ahead of them by over thirty years, steadily developing, and the future victor will surely be me.

So I'm not in a hurry; naturally, someone else will be anxious...

Other fiefdoms fall behind step by step; they themselves probably know that if they purely compete in development, no other fiefdom can possibly surpass the Eight Banners.

Therefore, the more Lin Liu values harmony with them and focuses on farming, the less they can peacefully farm and develop.

The reasoning is simple: Lin Liu's momentum is already established; if they want to outcompete him in the future, the fiefdoms must leap and devise unexpected tactics! "However, no matter how they fire sideways cannons or use evil forces, I will remain unchanged to meet all changes."

Lin Liu revealed a confident smile; this is the confidence brought by his far‑ahead lead……

……

【You have been appointed Great Shun Dragon Tiger General, commanding the Eight Banners fiefdom, to suppress the Northeast for the court.】

From then on, you championed the policy of "build high walls, stockpile grain, delay proclaiming kingship", using constancy to meet all changes, and you steadily began farming in the Northeast.

While farming, you also actively responded to the imperial edict, loyally leading the Eight Banners' elite troops and other regional armies to suppress rebel forces everywhere.

Unlike the brutal pillaging of other regional armies, you always upheld military discipline first: on the battlefield, the Eight Banners show no mercy, but after battle they treat captives leniently, never violating military discipline.

Not only were captives treated leniently, you also tried not to disturb civilians along the way; such a disciplined army amazed the people: nowadays even government troops plunder the populace, who would have thought local regional forces would have military discipline…

Over time, your and the Eight Banners' righteous army's fame spread, and because you constantly promoted the teachings of the Western King Divine Teaching, new believers continually sprang up wherever your troops went.

Thus, driven by faith in the gods and the yearning for a better life, people from all over continually chose to follow the army to the Northeast: hearing that the Northeast had vast lands and few people, was good for farming, and that they would be allotted fields there… This was, of course, as good as it gets!

Before long, a spontaneous wave of migration to the Northeast arose among the populace, with countless people uprooting their families and rushing to the "Promised Land" bestowed by the gods…

Don't even mention the spiciness! The ingredients are complex, making it hard to digest!

However, no matter what you say, your career is steadily flourishing, and the more you flourish, the more others grow wary of you…

In the eyes of other regional powers, you are a freak, having started your layout thirty years early… By the time the heroes of the world finally step onto the grand stage, you have already become a colossus, and your troops are of extreme purity, each one a crystal powder!

Faced with such a huge gap, everyone couldn't help but shudder: if we don't achieve an overtake on a curve, then you have already won!

How can a bunch of public-test newbies compete with the veteran closed-test players in development?

Therefore, after careful thought, to win by surprise, everyone began to display their divine abilities…

When you were thirty-eight, several regional powers suddenly jointly memorialized the throne, claiming the Eight Banners intended to rebel, and asked the court to issue an edict to suppress the Eight Banners!

The emperor heard of this, though he didn't believe it, still summoned you to court for an audience.

You hesitated not at all, immediately went to the capital, and proclaimed your innocence before the emperor!

After confirming you truly harbored no rebellious intent, the emperor grew ever more trusting of you…

And the several regional powers that tried to frame you were also surprised, because in their view you certainly weren't a loyal minister—putting on one face publicly and another behind the scenes was perfectly normal to them.

They thought that as long as they investigated, they would find something! But they never expected you could actually withstand scrutiny…

And you are not one to be provoked; you turned around and filed a counter-report against them!

The emperor then issued an order for a thorough investigation, and the results immediately turned up real evidence… He therefore decisively suppressed them, and several unlucky souls soon met their end…

When this came to light, everyone was baffled, including the emperor: could you really be a loyal subject? How could there truly be a cultivator willing to be the court's dog in this world?

In fact, everyone understands that a normal cultivator regional power definitely couldn't withstand investigation; your spotless purity is, on the contrary, abnormal to the extreme!

But… there's nothing they can do, after all you are truly a loyal subject; the court couldn't brand you a rebel on a trumped‑up charge, at least before you actually rebel, your spotless persona is a get‑out‑of‑jail‑free card, and the court won't, nor can it, move against you proactively…

……

Year after year passed, and you remained engaged in farming and suppressing rebel armies, never harboring the slightest rebellious thought.

Attracted by you, more and more people moved with their families to your domain; you settled them well, allotting fields and houses, with favorable weather, so the livelihood of your territory improved day by day.

As the population grew, so did the incense offerings; the foundations of you and the Daoist cultivators such as the monkey deities deepened day by day, yet besides your cultivation you also expended considerable divine power to aid the development of your domain.

Basic education, moving mountains and filling the seas, stimulating crop growth… and so on, these things you have never forgotten, and you have always maintained them.

Because you are not a warlord and do not wish to found a new dynasty, you desire a brand‑new prosperous age under heaven; thus, while others see these basic infrastructure projects as useless, you have persisted in them!

However, the more you do this, the more others grow uneasy…

You are too steady; as steady as an old dog, as long as you don't make a mistake, others will surely never win, and after a while, how could they not go mad? Thus, as their fledgling wings grew, they finally stopped hiding their ambitions, planning to annex others to counter the mysterious force in the Northeast…

When you were forty‑five, two southeastern regional powers launched a great war, each bringing in allies, and the scale of the conflict grew ever larger, gradually becoming uncontrollable!

The court issued an edict to stop them, but the regional powers ignored the order and kept fighting. The court flew into a rage and ordered other regional powers to send troops to suppress them!

Unexpectedly, others not only disregarded the edict but imitated each other, launching wars of annexation… The recently revitalized Great Shun court was instantly beaten back to its bare bones, and the realm fell into great chaos…

After losing control over the regional powers, the Great Shun court became, in effect, the "Holy Great Shun Empire"; the emperor turned into a mere figurehead like a puppet Zhou Tianzi, and no one could command him.

Thus, at this point, the emperor, sensing that Great Shun might truly be doomed, placed all his hopes on you, regardless of whether you were actually loyal, wishing you would step forward and shoulder the burden of the Great Shun dynasty!

Thus, a plea for help edict was quickly sent to the Northeastern Eight Banners…

Upon receiving the edict, you immediately cursed all the regional powers as villains, and then mobilized the Eight Banners' eighty thousand elite troops.

Eight Banners, enter the pass!

You went straight to the capital, expressed your loyalty that could be mirrored by sun and moon, then without pause ordered the Eight Banners to advance on multiple routes, attacking those regional powers that were annexing each other.

Thus, from this moment you formally launched the long‑awaited war of unification!

Everyone knows that, whether you are loyal or treacherous, after this war you will inevitably seize absolute control of the court, overturn the dynasty, and change the regime—a foregone conclusion…

……

Word spread that the Northeastern army had entered the pass and quelled the rebellion; the regional powers across the realm were shocked, and the factions that had been fighting hastily ceased hostilities and swiftly allied to resist the Eight Banners that had entered the pass!

Your appearance drove them toward union.

But… that was of no avail; overwhelming force crushes all…

In June of that year, the Eight Banners shattered the eastern regional alliance, capturing and killing over five hundred thousand of its troops, and each regional lord was seized by the Eight Banners' commanders!

You unsparingly sent them to the capital; upon receiving these cultivator lords, the emperor likewise had each one executed by lingchi and had their heads displayed in all directions…

The following May, the Eight Banners crushed the southeastern alliance, capturing and killing over four hundred thousand!

Again, in the third month of the following year, the Eight Banners defeated the Southwestern Allied Army, capturing and killing over six hundred thousand!

Again, the following year...

When you attack the regional militias, it's like an adult bullying a child; there's really nothing to say—it's just total defeat, then another defeat, then another defeat.

Starting from the northeast, you won all the way to the southeast, then to the southwest, northwest...

After you had pacified over a hundred regional militias across the world, it took only two or three years, and most of that time was spent on the road—showing just how smooth your irresistible advance was.

In your forty‑ninth year, you pacified the Southern Jambudvipa, rescuing the wind‑tossed Great Shun Dynasty from the brink of death!

And while you were wiping out the regional militias, in order to maintain stability everywhere, you 'had to' station the Eight Banners here… Besides stabilizing the region, the troops vigorously promoted the "Western King Divine Sect", so your followers began to surge rapidly…

Everyone's eyes throughout the world involuntarily turned to you: the world is settled, the myriad peoples' hearts are drawn… Having come to this point, you can't possibly keep acting, can you?

Everyone is waiting for you to seize the throne, accept the abdication from the emperor, and establish a brand‑new dynasty!

Including the emperor himself…

In the first month, the Son of Heaven of the Great Shun issued an edict, citing the Great Shun's loss of virtue before Heaven, and actively presented you with an abdication edict!

However, you refused.

The Son of Heaven was not surprised, and thus issued another edict!

But you refused again.

Now the Son of Heaven was a little surprised, but still issued another edict: "He doesn't believe you are a true loyal subject!"

But you refused once more…

Just as the Son of Heaven was about to continue issuing edicts, you had already returned to the Eight Banners garrison in the northeast and personally presented a memorial to him.

In the memorial, you solemnly urged the Son of Heaven not to abdicate, indicating that you had never harbored any ambition to seize the throne.

"Even if the Mandate if the Mandate of Heaven were upon me, I would only be willing to hold the post of Grand General Who Pacifies the Barbarians!"

……

(End of chapter)