Chapter 520: What is Benevolence and Righteousness

After Bao Yun left, Wei Yuan thought for a long time but couldn't figure out how she knew about the conversation between the mole and the Shaman tribe last night. Could it be that she was hiding nearby at the time?

Wei Yuan recalled carefully and felt it was unlikely. Although Bao Yun's stealth ability was strong, it was far from reaching the level of merging with heaven and earth. Wei Yuan had searched the surroundings carefully at the time, and with the blessing of the Peerless Dao Domain, unless it was to the perverted level of Su Su Xuejing, it was absolutely impossible to escape Wei Yuan's eyes and ears.

After thinking for a long time, Wei Yuan had no leads, and knowing that Bao Yun would definitely not say, he had to let it go.

In Wei Yuan's current plan, in terms of importance, this mole actually ranked quite low.

He had already bought three million jin of Thunder Sand from the Desolate Ancestor tribe and had also purchased spiritual wood in large quantities from the surroundings, so the formula for the new gunpowder would sooner or later not be a secret; the real secret was the ratio of the formula. The workshop for mixing gunpowder was also strictly restricted, and under normal circumstances, she couldn't get in, so it wouldn't be that easy to trick the formula ratio out of them.

At present, the key to the war with the Shaman tribe did not lie in one or two moles, but in either crippling the Rain Kingdom on the battlefield until it had to stop, or killing or at least severely wounding Hong Ye, or constantly taking out other Ghost Shamans to make them completely terrified.

Now that he knew the mole's identity, she could no longer stir up any trouble. With a little arrangement, Wei Yuan could ensure she got nothing. As for how to deal with her, Wei Yuan felt it was better to talk to Zhang Sheng and Master Xuanyue first.

Wei Yuan checked the schedule and rushed to Yu Yu Zhizhuo's place. According to the schedule arranged by the earthly fireworks, Wei Yuan was now to discuss the production of city defense cannons with Yu Yu Zhizhuo, with an estimated discussion time of thirteen minutes.

Next, Wei Yuan was to use two minutes to rush to Sun Yu's place, first to check the treatment and recovery of the wounded soldiers; second, to discuss the training plan for the innate breathing Dao Foundation warriors and ask Sun Yu how many more people were needed; third, to check Sun Yu's own recovery. The three items totaled thirteen minutes.

Then, use one minute to rush to Xu Xu Henshui's place; the schedule had the following four items...

For the next two full hours, Wei Yuan flew back and forth throughout the domain, landing wherever he went to buzz for a while, then rushing to the next place.

Having flown several laps like this, he finally finished all matters by noon.

Among the many matters, the most important one recently was the city defense cannon. As the weapon that killed the second most Shaman tribe members, Yu Yu Zhizhuo believed that it could not be fundamentally improved in the short term; once the range approached ten li, the accuracy would drop significantly.

And if one wanted to improve range and accuracy, one would need to fundamentally improve the cannon barrel casting process. If it were only a few dozen, it could be hand-crafted bit by bit by skilled Dao Foundation warriors and finally corrected by Yu Yu Zhizhuo. But to manufacture on a large scale, that would be a complete upgrade of the manufacturing process, which could not be completed in a short time.

Therefore, Yu Yu Zhizhuo's plan was to add arrow-proof steel plates on the existing basis to block the Shaman tribe's divine archers. And once a Great Shaman-level archer was discovered, cannons couldn't hit them; the best way was to call for missiles. With one missile falling, even a Great Shaman would not escape severe injury, and two more would blow them to death.

Great Shaman-level divine archers were rare, and one less was one less. And after Azure Void obtained new Thunder Sand, the cost of gunpowder dropped significantly, and the price of corresponding missiles was halved. Trading three missiles for one Great Shaman was considered a huge profit. Therefore, this plan was approved by Wei Yuan.

Another long-term major event was the personnel disabled in the war; there were already more than fifty thousand such people. The disposal of this part of the people could only be put aside for now; elixirs for limb regeneration were simply too expensive, and Dao Foundation warriors from noble families couldn't afford them, let alone use them on mortals.

In the afternoon, Wei Yuan's plan was to continue inspecting several military camps that had reorganized refugees. Marquis Ping'an kept his word and had already sent two hundred and fifty thousand refugees, with forty thousand remaining on the way, which would arrive in a day or two.

And Cui Cui Shutong seemed to feel the threat, fearing that Wei Yuan would no longer buy refugees, so he also accelerated the pace of sending people. Now, twenty thousand Zhao Kingdom refugees were already training and being reorganized in several camps, and there were ten thousand refugees with nowhere to go. Wei Yuan had to urgently open four more camps, which was barely enough.

But just as Wei Yuan stepped out of the room, he saw a scholar in the courtyard, who said with a cold face, "Domain Lord Wei, it's really not easy to see you now!"

The person who came was Cai Cai Shizhi. In the previous great battle, when he lured the Ghost Shamans into the trap with his own body, he also suffered hidden injuries. During the last great battle, Wei Yuan did not let him fight. One was that his hidden injuries had not recovered, and the other was that after luring the Ghost Shamans to their deaths, Wei Yuan feared the Shaman tribe would retaliate and kill Cai Cai Shizhi in the chaos.

This Cai Mou's real role was not on the battlefield. His Dharma Form had its own power of enlightenment when teaching students, which could significantly improve students' comprehension and greatly increase learning progress.

One could judge a person by their Dharma Form; Cai Cai Shizhi was indeed single-mindedly wanting to have students all over the world, so Wei Yuan had always respected him.

But at this moment, Cai Cai Shizhi came in anger, and Wei Yuan didn't know why, so he hurriedly said, "The great battle has just ended, and there are many things to deal with. Ding'an City has been destroyed, and the defense line must be reorganized, otherwise, if the Shaman tribe breaks through the defense line from there next time, they will be able to drive straight in."

Cai Cai Shizhi snorted and said coldly, "Although I have some insights into military affairs, Domain Lord Wei is a master of military strategy, so I won't show off. But I want to ask the Domain Lord, who are the thirty thousand new recruits training in the nine camps? What were the identities of those who died in the previous battles? Where are the first batch of one hundred thousand Zhao Kingdom refugees who came to Azure Void?"

Wei Yuan frowned slightly. These things had long been seen by many generals. Although they only saw a corner of it and didn't see the whole picture, they could roughly guess some of it. Everyone chose to remain silent, and only Cai Cai Shizhi stood up.

Facing Cai Cai Shizhi's questioning, Wei Yuan said, "Since Cai Mou has this question, naturally you already know the answer, so why ask again?"

Cai Cai Shizhi said, "Then I will ask the Domain Lord one more thing: if you don't do this, can the domain not be defended?"

"That's right, it cannot be defended." Wei Yuan said frankly.

"But Azure Void still has one hundred and fifty thousand elite troops, and thirty thousand heavy-armored soldiers who can be called the elite of the world! In three great battles, these two troops were almost unscathed! With them here, why is it necessary to take innocent commoners to die on the front line?" Wei Yuan sighed: "Cai Mou, the one hundred and fifty thousand elite troops you mentioned actually only have one hundred thousand left; fifty thousand were supplemented later. Two thousand died in the last battle, and now only five thousand can be supplemented. These two troops must be placed in the rear; even if they don't appear in the entire battle, as long as they are still there, the war situation will not collapse."

"Yesterday Ding'an City was destroyed; if it weren't for the Long Xiang Army blocking the gap in the first time, the Shaman tribe would have broken through our defense line long ago. At such a time, if there are no elites in hand, no matter how many mortal troops are thrown in, they won't be able to block the Shaman tribe!"

Cai Cai Shizhi said coldly, "I don't care about military strategy. But right now, you clearly have heavy-armored elites and fierce, tiger-like soldiers in your hands that you aren't using, yet you want to send mortals who lack the strength to truss a chicken to the front lines to die! This is treating human life like grass; this is a massacre! It is contrary to reason, and even more indefensible in terms of righteousness! How is what you are doing any different from the Shaman tribes who take people as sacrifices to heaven? How is it any different from those muddled and tyrannical rulers in history?"

Wei Yuan was also helpless and said slowly, "Cai Mou, Azure Void has sentient beings in an instant; those mortals can instantly transform into Body Forging soldiers, not dying in vain..."

"Then let me ask you, before you sent them to the battlefield, did you say how many people could return alive? Of those mortals you sent to the front line, how many returned alive? You are just tricking them into dying!"

Wei Yuan frowned slightly, and his voice raised a bit: "Since Cai Mou is so righteous, then I will ask you, what high opinion do you have that can block the three million Shaman tribe army?"

Cai Cai Shizhi said loudly, "Soldiers in armor, dying in a hundred battles on the battlefield, returning with horse leather wrapping their corpses, it should be like this! Therefore, we should use elite troops and well-trained armies to give the Shaman tribe a head-on blow; at worst, we sacrifice our lives for righteousness, and our reputation behind us can also be passed down through the ages and be admired by future generations! This is the army of benevolence and righteousness!"

"Domain Lord Wei, rein in the horse at the edge of the cliff, it is not too late! If the Domain Lord is willing to repent and change, then I, Cai, although untalented, am willing to be a small vanguard soldier and fight to the death with the Shaman tribe!"

Wei Yuan's voice raised a bit more, saying, "If I put the elites in the front, I'm afraid I won't be able to hold on in the next battle! Even if I can survive the fourth battle, the elites will be exhausted in the fifth battle, and then it will be a certain defeat! These mortals can only hold one place; as long as they move, they will be a pile of loose sand and will only become targets for the Shaman tribe to slaughter."

"According to your method, Azure Void will surely perish! Is the so-called righteousness in your mouth more important than the lives of these million inhabitants?"

Please... you... collect 6... 9... books... okay...!

Who knew Cai Cai Shizhi would say loudly, "Righteousness is where the great integrity lies; let alone comparing it to the lives of a million people, even ten million, or a hundred million, it can be compared! The way of the sage lies in utmost sincerity and benevolence, in great righteousness. Even if Azure Void is lost for a while, our righteous name will surely be passed down through the ages, and the sage's teachings will spread for ten thousand generations; this is the achievement of ten thousand generations! How can it be compared to the gains and losses of one time and one place?"

Wei Yuan said coldly, "The benevolence and righteousness you speak of are too heavy; I am afraid I cannot afford to bear them. I don't care what method I use, I must keep Azure Void and drive the Shaman tribe back. As long as I can win against the Shaman tribe, even if I have to use children to hold shells and rush forward, I will do it."

Cai Cai Shizhi was trembling with anger, pointing at Wei Yuan and cursing, "You unbenevolent and unrighteous person, no, you are simply insane! Even if you win by luck, so what? With such dirty means, even if you win, you will surely leave a bad name for ten thousand years! How unfortunate and innocent the common people are to fall into your hands!"

"Cai Mou is tired, go back and rest."

Cai Cai Shizhi's face was livid, and he said angrily, "You evil person, I was truly blind to be with you! I will pack my luggage and leave now; if you want to kill me, just do it!"

Wei Yuan sighed, "In your heart, Cai Mou, is it okay for the domain to perish for the sake of so-called righteousness? With my method, there is at least a glimmer of hope for victory, at least several hundred thousand or even a million people can survive."

Cai Cai Shizhi said grimly, "I don't object to you driving the common people to the battlefield. But you cannot let them go to the battlefield without knowing anything; at least let them know the cause and effect, and if they agree, you can drive them; this is public opinion! The people are like water; water can carry a boat, but it can also capsize it. You are acting perversely and will surely end up like those tyrannical monarchs in history!"

Having said this, Wei Yuan said, "Those who have different paths do not conspire together; since you are determined to leave, Cai Mou, I will not stop you."

Cai Cai Shizhi said coldly, "I am not just leaving. After I leave, I will surely write articles to announce your unbenevolent and unrighteous deeds to the world! If you kill me now, it's still not too late."

Wei Yuan sighed, "Cai Mou has great achievements in Azure Void; even if our views are different, how can there be righteousness in harming you? If you want to leave, Cai Mou, just leave on your own; do not do anything to shake the morale of the army, otherwise, it will not look good for everyone."

Cai Cai Shizhi was silent for a moment, then said, "Farewell."

Watching his silhouette go away, Wei Yuan suddenly remembered the question asked by Tinghai Xianjun Tinghai when he met him that day.

The question of great righteousness was that the flying boat was about to tilt, and half of the people must be thrown off; who should die, and who should live?

When he discovered that the Rain Kingdom was attacking with all its might that day, Wei Yuan finally understood that the important thing was not who should die or who should live, but to throw half of the people off before the flying boat tilted.

And the person who made the decision was destined to bear the infamy.

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 521 =====