Chapter 62: Xu Fengxing the Mohist!-Eu sou um tolo, que más intenções poderia ter?(Pena de ganso selvagem batata-doce)

After dark, Qin Santai felt his way back to the Prince's Residence in the pitch black.

Upon seeing Xue Yuan, he dropped to his knees and kowtowed without a word.

"Student Qin Santai expresses his gratitude for Your Highness's immense favor of promotion! I shall repay this kindness with my life!"

By the time he finished speaking, tears were already streaming down his face, and his voice was choked with sobs.

Remembering how this old codger had acted in the exact same manner when receiving the imperial decree, Xue Yuan instantly felt much less touched.

"Get up."

"Yes, Your Highness!" Qin Santai stood up and added, "Your Highness, this student has come in the dead of night to make one more impertinent request."

"Speak!"

"This student would like another thirty thousand taels of silver banknotes..."

"What the hell? Other officials get into office to make money, and you're coming to ask for funds on your very first day?"

Xue Yuan laughed and gave him a light kick, saying, "Didn't Su Ruowei already give you thirty thousand taels? Even if you gave ten thousand to that old eunuch, you still have twenty thousand left. Have you spent it all already?"

Qin Santai hurriedly replied, "I haven't spent it! The twenty thousand taels are still there, that's correct! But Prefect Chen has taken a fancy to a large courtyard by Beiyun Lake, which costs twenty-five thousand taels! As for the Vice Prefect of Ningzhou, he just had a concubine give birth yesterday. Since it's my first time interacting with him, he probably won't have a deep impression of me without five thousand taels. Furthermore, I heard that the position of a Courageous and Valiant Captain has opened up under General Ningyuan, who is stationed in Ningzhou. This captain is in charge of the three hundred garrison troops at the north gate of Ning'an City. I want to secure that post for a nephew of mine as a replacement, and to ensure it's a hundred percent foolproof, I need to spend at least ten thousand taels in bribes! As for all the other odds and ends, such as..."

Hearing this, Xue Yuan immediately interrupted, "Wait, is that nephew of yours reliable?"

Qin Santai said, "Your Highness, rest assured. This student watched my nephew Qin Xiaohu grow up. If I tell him to go east, he wouldn't dare to go west! Besides, he is somewhat skilled in martial arts, more than capable of serving as a Courageous and Valiant Captain!"

"My point is, can he keep those three hundred soldiers under control?"

Although three hundred soldiers weren't many, they were stationed right outside Ningzhou City and could be of immense help at a crucial moment!

Qin Santai nodded and said, "Your Highness can rest easy. He has been the leader of the children since he was little, and with my guidance, he will definitely be able to firmly control those three hundred men! How about I bring him to meet you another day?"

"Alright! Call him over when you have time, and this Prince will have a chat with him!"

Xue Yuan thought for a moment and added, "Besides, you must cultivate a good relationship with General Ningyuan and plant as many spies in his camp as possible. This concerns the bigger picture, and this Prince will support you wholeheartedly, regardless of the cost!"

If they could build a relationship and plant informants in General Ningyuan's camp, it would be immensely advantageous for taking over the Ningyuan Army in the future!

One must know that the Ningyuan Army was an elite force, boasting a regular establishment of as many as 17,000 men!

"This student understands!"

After acknowledging the command, Qin Santai continued, "Oh, and Your Highness, I plan to find a way to oust the old station master at the post station closest to our Ningzhou City and replace him with one of our own people. Do you have a suitable candidate in mind?"

"A station master?"

"The one in charge of the post station!"

Xue Yuan suddenly understood completely!

This was a vital department. Controlling the post station meant controlling the communication letters between Magistrate Qian Zhongxian—and all the officials within Ning'an City—and the Emperor!

When the time came, he could make the Emperor see whatever he wanted him to see, and ensure the people in the city received whatever instructions he desired!

Thus, he said, "This person needs to be extremely reliable. However, I can't think of anyone suitable on my end at the moment. What about you?"

"Well, this student has a nephew..."

"Enough, it looks like you're staking your entire clan on this Prince."

"Ever since this student helped Your Highness tamper with the memorial, I have already staked my entire clan. There is no turning back for me!"

Hearing this, Xue Yuan was slightly startled.

Indeed, altering imperial memorials without authorization was a capital crime punishable by the extermination of one's nine agnatic kin. From the moment Qin Santai proposed this idea, he had already placed his life in Xue Yuan's hands!

And besides Qin Santai, wasn't the same true for Jian Qi, the Su family, and the others?

Suddenly, he felt the burden on his shoulders grow immensely heavy!

"You corrupt official, you're making this Prince feel so much pressure!"

Xue Yuan smiled, but quickly patted him on the shoulder again and said, "Don't worry, this Prince will win!"

Qin Santai nodded and said solemnly, "Since this student has chosen this path, I have no regrets regardless of the outcome. As the saying goes, a fine bird chooses its tree to nest in, and a wise minister chooses his lord to serve. Although this student is dull and sometimes cowardly, I dare say my judgment of people is never wrong! Your Highness, you are a true dragon walking the mortal realm. This student firmly believes in this!"

Xue Yuan cursed with a smile, "Damn it, isn't that flattery laying it on a bit too thick? Alright, go to the accounting room and draw fifty thousand taels first! Now that you're a county magistrate, you shouldn't look destitute when socializing with your peers!"

After all, he knew that this old fox was networking everywhere precisely to help him clear a path through the official circles of Ningzhou.

"This student thanks Your Highness!"

"In addition, go find Steward Su and ask him if he can hand over a portion of the late Li Yuanwang's properties to you. That way, you'll at least have a steady source of revenue and won't need to extort the common people. Listen to me, you rascal: you can strike at anyone, but you must never strike at the common people!"

...

Watching Qin Santai's retreating figure, Xue Yuan had a strong feeling: he was desperately short of manpower.

Indeed, he now held the position of county magistrate, the branch leader of the Association of Elderly Loyalists, and the hall masters under his command. It could be said that his framework had been initially established.

However, once expanded, every link in the chain required personnel, yet the people he could use and trust were terribly few.

It wasn't that he hadn't searched the residence; on the other hand, he had already checked the attribute tags of almost everyone in the mansion, yet not a single tag like "Repays Kindness Without Fail," "Unmatched Loyalty and Righteousness," or "Heart as Loyal as Gold and Iron" had appeared!

In this day and age, people with that kind of unwavering conviction were hard to find!

Without such tags, Xue Yuan couldn't rest assured entrusting crucial positions to them, so for now, he could only let Qin Santai's relatives fill the gaps temporarily.

"Talent is hard to find!"

Xue Yuan picked up a grape, tossed it into his mouth, and reclined comfortably on the wooden couch, thinking about whether Su Ruowei's eldest brother might be someone worth summoning for a chat.

At that moment, Wang Yu'er walked in, her expression looking rather grave.

"Sister Yu'er, what's wrong?"

Wang Yu'er bowed and said, "Your Highness, news has just come in. The brothers we sent to track that man from Northern Yan have been killed! Two of them were murdered back-to-back, and their corpses... their clothes were stripped, and they were hung from Antai Bridge!"

Hearing this, veins throbbed violently on Xue Yuan's forehead, and he sprang up from the wooden couch in a fury!

"Damn it! He's hanging them there to show me! A Northern Yan dog not only dares to kill with impunity in my Ningzhou, but he even dares to provoke me like this? Does he think Ningzhou has no men left? Fuck!"

Upon hearing this, Jian Qi put down his book and asked Wang Yu'er, "Where is he staying? I'll go meet him."

Wang Yu'er shook her hand and said, "He can no longer be found. After the murders, he seemed to vanish into thin air and hasn't appeared since!"

Xue Yuan took a deep breath, struggling to calm his boiling emotions.

Then he instructed Wang Yu'er, "Two things! First, mobilize everyone in the Ning'an Hall and keep searching for me. I believe he is still within the city! Second, give the two fallen brothers a lavish burial, and distribute three hundred taels of severance pay to each of their families. Make sure everyone knows that working for me never means getting the short end of the stick!"

Wang Yu'er nodded, "Understood! I'll see to it right away! Also, it seems that person's martial arts are exceptionally formidable; Your Highness, please be extremely careful."

After Wang Yu'er left, Xue Yuan rubbed his throbbing temples.

A shortage of personnel—he was truly short of manpower!

If he had even one more martial arts expert tailing the target, the pursuer wouldn't have been discovered and killed!

Xue Yuan's original plan was to use that Northern Yan operative to figure out their general plans before the arrival of the Northern Yan merchant delegation, allowing him to respond in a targeted manner and handle the situation with ease!

But now? He had startled the snake in the grass, and the target was nowhere to be found!

Just as he was burning with frustration, Zhao Huanchun's head poked in from outside the door.

"Your Highness?"

With an expression of cheap, ingratiating smiles, he asked, "Are you often troubled by not being able to find your enemies? Are you distressed once more by your subordinates being exposed and suffering casualties while tailing targets?"

Xue Yuan narrowed his eyes slightly and asked speechlessly, "What, are you here to sell me some miracle longevity pills?"

"Not at all, not at all!"

Zhao Huanchun flashed into the room and said, "It's just that this old man indeed has a way to help Your Highness!"

Xue Yuan immediately stood up, pulled Zhao Huanchun to the table, personally poured him a cup of tea, and said, "Please sit, Senior Zhao, take the seat of honor! Have some tea, have some good tea!"

Zhao Huanchun chuckled and said, "Your Highness needn't be so polite! Come, come, let's settle the accounts first!"

"What accounts?"

Zhao Huanchun took a thick account book from his robe and said, "Over the past ten days, this old man has treated a total of 553 patients, with consultation fees totaling 16,500 taels! In addition, 111 patients who could not afford the cost of medicine filled their prescriptions at the Kangren Hall Pharmacy, and all their medicine expenses have been put on Your Highness's tab, totaling 3,572 taels and 38 cash! Adding the two items together and rounding up, you can just give me thirty thousand taels!"

Upon hearing this, Xue Yuan almost flipped the table over!

"Why don't you go rob a bank instead? You've only been open for ten days, and the consultation fees alone come to over 16,000 taels? That averages out to thirty taels per patient, and damn it, that's just the registration fee, not including anything else!"

Hearing this, Zhao Huanchun became furious as well!

"Kid, this old man is a revered Sage of Medicine, the only one in the entire Great Qian! Is charging thirty taels for a consultation expensive?"

"My foot! Sage of Medicine my ass, you're a Sage of Embezzlement!"

"My foot! And you call yourself a prince—you can't even cough up that little bit of money, what kind of damn prince are you?!"

"My foot! Do you think Laozi's money grows on trees? You open your mouth and ask for thirty thousand taels... Wait a minute! Sixteen thousand plus three thousand five—how the hell do you round that up to thirty thousand taels?!"

"My foot! Are you deaf? It's sixteen thousand five plus over three thousand five, which is a little over twenty thousand and less than thirty thousand. What's wrong with rounding it to thirty thousand?!"

"What the hell! Did you learn your mathematics in the womb? I'm a prince, not a sucker! Besides, why does an old man like you need so much money when you don't even have a wife?"

"You're driving me up the wall with rage! This old man needs the money to research and formulate new prescriptions. Without money, how the hell am I supposed to research anything?"

Hearing this explanation, Xue Yuan suddenly found it much easier to accept.

After all, researching new medical formulas was also for the benefit of the common people!

So he said, "Alright, I can't be bothered to argue with you! Thirty thousand taels it is. Hurry up and tell me how you plan to help me!"

Zhao Huanchun then smiled with satisfaction and said, "This old man will introduce someone to you! This person possesses peerless tracking techniques and mechanism arts that no one can match!"

Hearing this, Xue Yuan immediately grew interested and asked eagerly, "Who is it?"

"His name is Xu Fengxing, arguably the most genius Mohist artisan in this world!"

"A Mohist artisan? Meaning a disciple of the School of Mohism?"

Xue Yuan was thrilled. After all, back on his home planet, the School of Mohism was also immensely famous; who hadn't heard of the Mohists, Mohist defense, and Mohist mechanisms?

"He is a Mohist artisan, but he was formerly of the same sect as me! Our late master was known as the Old Man of Profound Mystery. You certainly haven't heard of him, but that doesn't matter. You just need to know that my late master was a divine being who knew everything and understood everything!"

Xue Yuan was even more delighted. Wasn't this just another high-level disciple from Wind Thunder Valley?

However, seeing that Zhao Huanchun didn't mention the three words "Wind Thunder Valley," he guessed there might be hidden circumstances, so he proactively avoided probing and said, "Ah, so he is your fellow sect brother. Then he must surely be a tremendous talent!"

Zhao Huanchun said, "Indeed. Although he is an expelled disciple of our sect, his relationship with me is no less than that of a blood brother!"

"An expelled disciple?"

"Correct. The reason for his expulsion is a long story, so I won't go into it. Your Highness just needs to know that he is a Mohist genius, and his moral character is beyond reproach."

Xue Yuan immediately nodded and said, "No matter, I have no prejudice against expelled disciples! I once heard of an expelled disciple from the Azure Cloud Sect who was extremely formidable!"

Pausing for a moment, he asked, "Then when will you bring him over?"

Zhao Huanchun laughed heartily, then called out loudly, "Junior brother, come out and chat with the foolish Prince!"

As his voice fell, a man wearing tattered black clothes, straw sandals, and carrying a heavy black box on his back appeared at the doorway.

It turned out he had been waiting outside the door all along.

Upon entering, he gave Xue Yuan a slight bow and said indifferently, "Mohist artisan Xu Fengxing, greets Your Highness!"

Xue Yuan hurriedly cupped his fists in return and said, "Brother Xu, I've heard much about you!"

As he spoke, he took a careful look at the attribute tags floating above the man's head.

Xue Yuan's gaze involuntarily lingered on the last two items first.

Slept with the junior sister, no regrets being expelled from the sect?

Suddenly remembering something, he glanced back at the attribute tags above Zhao Huanchun's head.

One of them read: The junior sister has been married three times, and the groom is still not me...

Ah, this—it all lined up?

So, Xu Fengxing had slept with Zhao Huanchun's beloved, and as a result, had been expelled from the sect... Which meant Zhao Huanchun definitely knew about this, yet still treated him like a sworn brother?

Well, well, well, things were getting interesting! Though who knows the exact details... cough, that wasn't important!

In short, aside from these gossipy scandals, this fellow was an impeccable Mohist artisan. He practiced Mohist ideology and possessed the Mohist quality of willingly facing death for the sake of a promise. Most importantly, he was the number one genius of the Mohism!

Such talent had to be kept!

At this moment, Xu Fengxing spoke up, "Whatever Your Highness wishes to see—mechanisms, Mohist swordsmanship, or defense techniques—this subordinate can demonstrate them all."

Hearing him say this, even Jian Qi became curious. He promptly put down his book and looked at Xu Fengxing.

Xue Yuan, however, waved his hand generously and smiled, "No need! Senior Zhao is both my mentor and friend, and since he says you are the number one Mohist genius of the present era, this Prince believes you are the number one Mohist genius of the present era! Furthermore, Senior Xu's Mohist arts are meant for accomplishing great things. Making you demonstrate them on the spot would be like those mediocre applicants auditioning for a minor post—how could that be the proper way to treat true talent?"

There was a tag of "aloof and arrogant" among Xu Fengxing's attributes, so Xue Yuan gave him plenty of face. Besides, having read the tags, he already knew the man's caliber.

Sure enough, a trace of surprise flashed in Xu Fengxing's eyes, followed by a growing sense of appreciation.

He possessed the ambition to pacify the realm, but he didn't pledge his allegiance to just anyone.

Nodding, Xu Fengxing said, "Since that is the case, this subordinate will state my conditions. I wonder if Your Highness can meet them?"

"Ah, so it's a test for this Prince!" Xue Yuan smiled and said, "Senior Xu, please go ahead. This Prince is listening!"