Chapter 81: Will definitely come from ten thousand miles away

The two dealt with their wounds and ate something; it was already late at night.

Fang Hetong was exhausted and went to sleep early. The fact that he could lead three hundred civilian soldiers to walk out with the momentum of a thousand elites today was all due to the blessing of the "Establishing Merit" essay. Blessing three hundred people consumed a huge amount, and in a short time, Fang Hetong had consumed most of his magic power. Fortunately, Li Zhi had the Qi-Nurturing Pills of the Four Sages Academy. The Four Sages Academy and the Bai Feng Academy were both Confucian scholars, and their pills were particularly easy to use. After taking one, Fang Hetong not only recovered his magic power but even his hidden injuries improved. Although Fang Hetong's magic power recovered, his primordial spirit was still exhausted, so he needed to rest.

The night was still long. Li Zhi sat in meditation to cultivate, while Wei Yuan read under the lamp, verifying the content of the book with today's battle.

As the saying goes, what is learned from books is always shallow. Only after today's bloody battle with the Northern Liao did Wei Yuan truly have some understanding of the Northern Liao and have new insights into the records about the Northern Liao in the book. At this moment, he wanted to take advantage of the fresh feeling to deepen his insights.

At dawn the next day, Li Zhi took the bodies of his personal guards and rushed back to Lin County to send the bodies back to Southern Qi. Li Zhi valued his subordinates highly and was even slashed by a knife to snatch these bodies. Only six bodies of the personal guards were snatched back, and the rest had to be left in the Liao domain. If the bodies were left in the Liao domain for more than a day, there was basically no need to look for them. Living things in the Liao domain were fierce, and if nothing else, Liao horses also ate meat.

Throughout the morning, Wei Yuan and Fang Hetong were building city defenses and digging more traps. Wei Yuan listened to Fang Hetong talk about the situation and the progress of the current war while working, feeling that he had gained a lot. Although Fang Hetong was down and out and hadn't even managed to get an official position at the age of nearly forty, he was proficient in farming, teaching, training soldiers, and organizing the army, and his analysis of the situation was also incisive, sharp, and unique.

It was just that while he could analyze the political situation and the officialdom clearly and understood all the principles, he could never manage to apply them to himself. Whenever he saw injustice, his blood would easily boil with passion, just like how he insisted on writing that letter even though he knew he couldn't topple Regional Commander Liao. It could only be said that it was a matter of his character, which made him ill-suited for officialdom.

For the past ten years, Wei Yuan had been cultivating in the Taichu Palace, and his understanding of the situation was limited to books. Only after a deep talk with Fang Hetong did he understand the origins of many people's suffering.

At noon, the aroma of food began to drift. When Li Zhi left, he left behind many arrows and weapons, and even left all the military rations. Now the men of Shayang Village not only had meat soup but also fine rice and flour cakes mixed with spiritual rice and spiritual vegetable powder. As long as they ate this kind of military ration for a month, the frail would definitely become burly men. It was just that when these men got their food, they would always hide a little bit, wanting to save it to send to their wives and daughters in the two villages behind. Wei Yuan said several times that the military rations were enough, but it was of no avail.

At lunch, Wei Yuan asked Fang Hetong if he was willing to serve in Southern Qi, which was actually following Li Zhi. Wei Yuan knew that Li Zhi had always liked to recruit talents, and if he could follow Li Zhi, Fang Hetong's learning could be considered to have a place to be used.

At Sun Chaoen's banquet, even Wei Yuan could see that Fang Hetong's character was not suitable for being an official. Perhaps finding a wise master to be a staff member was more suitable for him.

Fang Hetong hesitated and didn't speak, just buried his head in eating.

Wei Yuan persuaded again: "The sage said the three immortalities: establish virtue, establish merit, and establish words. Brother Fang, if you want to establish virtue, you must first have a position where you can show your talents. In this point, I think County Magistrate Sun is right. Since Brother Fang also has the heart to save the world and the people, what is the difference between seeking a livelihood for the people in Southern Qi and in Western Jin? When you have established more merit, you will naturally be praised by the world, and then establishing virtue will be a matter of course."

Fang Hetong said: "Doesn't the virtuous brother intend to come out and do a career? I heard that expanding territory is the tradition of the Taichu Palace. If the virtuous brother is also a Dao foundation, if you have this intention at that time, the foolish brother will definitely assist with all his strength!"

"Ah? Me?" Wei Yuan was taken aback and then shook his head: "I don't have any great ambitions; I just want to cultivate as soon as possible and earn more immortal silver. In the future, it is very likely that I will assist the elders of the sect when I come out to expand territory, and collect my own share of money."

Fang Hetong was not disappointed but said: "I used to be like you, just wanting to read more books, farm in my spare time, take care of my wife and children, and live a plain life. But when the Liao barbarians attacked a few years ago, I realized that wanting to live a stable life in troubled times is also an extravagant hope. So I often think, why do we scholars read so many principles, and why do we cultivate every day to achieve great power?"

Hearing this, Wei Yuan suddenly remembered the sentence the Daoist said when he first entered the Taichu Palace and told the story of the founder and the origin of the Taichu Palace: "Our Taichu Palace cultivators cultivate supernatural powers and magic, just to expand territory, evolve heaven and earth, and fight for more land for our human race to multiply and live!"

This sentence was resounding, and it gave Wei Yuan's small heart a not-so-small impact at the time, but after ten years of hard cultivation, he gradually forgot it a little. Hearing Fang Hetong's words at this moment, Wei Yuan couldn't help but recall the state of mind at that time.

Fang Hetong looked up at the sky and said slowly: "The sages have said: establish a heart for heaven and earth, establish a life for the people, continue the lost learning for the past sages, and open peace for all generations! This is the meaning of reading, and the 'Four Sages' in the name of the Immortal Sect's Four Sages Academy also come from this. However, the virtuous brother is right; if you want to establish virtue, you must first have a position. After repelling the Liao barbarians, if General Li has the heart to recruit, I will go to serve."

"That's good!" Wei Yuan was genuinely happy. Fang Hetong's talent could not be buried in the small Quyang County for a lifetime.

Fang Hetong looked at Wei Yuan and said again: "The day the virtuous brother thinks it through and prepares to expand territory, then no matter what position I hold, I will definitely come from ten thousand miles away!"

"Ah? Is Li Zhi's place not good? Before he left, he told me that if you went, you would be the head of the staff." Wei Yuan didn't understand.

"General Li has a prominent background, majestic luck, and the heart of a human king. Although he is young now, he has already revealed his edge, and he will definitely become a great weapon in the future."

Wei Yuan didn't expect Fang Hetong to have such a high evaluation of Li Zhi, and he was even more puzzled: "If Brother Li can achieve the career of a human king, wouldn't that be better? At that time, Brother Fang, you will be a minister who follows the dragon."

Fang Hetong shook his head: "General Li is still young now, still gentle and humble, willing to recruit talents, and can listen to unpleasant advice. It will be different when he achieves hegemony in the future. The heart of a human king is not necessarily a good thing for ministers, and it may not be good for the people. If I encounter something I can't look at in the future, with my character, I will mostly give loyal advice. General Li can tolerate me now, but it may not be certain then."

Speaking of this, perhaps realizing that the topic was a bit heavy, Fang Hetong smiled and said: "Besides, what if one day I, Fang, have merit that shakes the master? General Li may not necessarily let me retire to my hometown."

Wei Yuan also smiled: "Then you still want to defect to me? Li Zhi can't tolerate you, can I tolerate you? To tell you the truth, when I, Wei, swing my butcher knife, heads will roll!"

Fang Hetong snorted, but didn't believe it: "With your temperament, even if I point at your nose and scold you in the court, you will at most beat me up for the sake of past friendship. I still have the third essay; I may not be afraid of you in a fight!"

Wei Yuan didn't like to hear this: "Don't talk about the third essay; even if you have thirty essays, I can suppress you! Let me tell you this, if my Dao foundation is only heaven-rank in the future, I won't be able to forgive myself!"

Fang Hetong laughed loudly, just thinking that Wei Yuan was bragging. After a round of bragging, the relationship between the two became closer.

However, Wei Yuan's last sentence was really not bragging. He was carrying tens of millions of huge debts now. If his Dao foundation only reached heaven-rank, he would have no hope of paying off his debts in this life. Even if Wei Yuan didn't forgive himself, Zhang Sheng would take action to clean up the sect.

The two joked for a while, and the haze was swept away a lot. A formation disk in Wei Yuan's arms suddenly became hot and vibrated. Wei Yuan stood up and immediately took out the formation disk.

"What's going on?" Fang Hetong asked.

Wei Yuan said in a deep voice: "Someone is calling for help!"

A light spot on the formation disk kept flickering. Wei Yuan scanned it with his spiritual sense and read the information inside: Strong enemy attacking, hold fast and wait for reinforcements! Yu Fei of the Taichu Palace in Pinghe County.

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 82 =====