Taiping Inn

The 15th day of the seventh month of the first year of Taiping, the Zhongyuan Festival. Read М

There are three major festivals in Taoism. The 15th day of the first month is the Shangyuan Festival, the birthday of the Heavenly Official; the 15th day of the seventh month is the Zhongyuan Festival, the birthday of the Earth Official; the 15th day of the tenth month is the Xiayuan Festival, the birthday of the Water Official.

The 15th day of the seventh month last year was the day of the Jade Void Sword Fight. In just one year, the world has changed.

According to the rules of the Qingwei Sect, the Zhongyuan Festival is a day for worshipping the heaven. The hall master and the island master must fast and bathe, and then go to Fangzhang Island to worship the heaven under the leadership of the sect master.

However, the war was in full swing at that time, Qin Xiang was attacking Luzhou with all his strength, and Li Xuandu and Qin Qing were busy with the reform of the new policy and failed to return to Qingwei Sect, so Zhang Haishi worshipped the heaven on his behalf.

When the Luzhou war came to an end, it was already the end of July and the beginning of August.

Li Xuandu was temporarily free.

Regarding the matter of Tianxin Academy, he did not intend to take action himself, but mobilized nearly 20 great masters of the Heavenly Man Realm, including Zhang Luanshan, Wu Xian, Chen Mian, Nalanxu, and some of the Qi Wang's followers, to join the Qin Xiang army, waiting for a big battle to completely defeat the Confucianists who still resisted. There are so many great masters of the Heavenly Man Realm, including Wu Xian. Even if they meet someone who can live forever, they are not afraid at all, let alone some remnants of the defeated army.

Speaking of Qi Wang's followers, the fates of several people are not the same. Xu Qi is unwilling to serve as an official or enter the Taoist sect. He still stays in Jianxiu Mountain and becomes a mountain keeper. He will die here in this life. Li Xuandu respects his decision and does not intend to include Jianxiu Mountain in the Taoist sect's industry, but only as his own private residence.

Xu Jiu was willing to join the Taoist sect, but he had been used to doing all kinds of secret things in his life and was unwilling to be a real person in public. Li Xuandu did not force him and continued to let Xu Jiu follow him. He did not want to be a real person, but a high-level magician.

But no one in the Taoist sect dared to underestimate Xu Jiu. Since ancient times, there have been many people with low positions but great power, especially the confidants of the leaders. You can't just look at the size of the official position. In addition, real people are not the same. For example, Zhang Haishi was ranked first among the thirty-six real people by Li Xuandu, and Gu Yusheng, Lou Xinqing and others could not be compared with him.

As for Xu Da, Xu San, Xu Shisan and others, they were willing to join the Daxuan court. Qin Qing was happy to see it happen. Now that the new dynasty was just established, it was a time when there was a lack of manpower, so Xu Da was appointed as the military commander of Qizhou. He was the highest military officer in a state, with several generals under his jurisdiction, and was only controlled by the governor of Zhili.

According to Qin Qing's idea, after the abolition of Xijing's status as a secondary capital, there will be 19 states in the world, with 19 military commanders, 19 governors, 9 governors-general, and three navy commanders, a total of 50 people, these 50 people are real frontier officials, Xu Da, Li Rushi, Hu Liang, and Li Taiyi are among them.

Xu San returned to his old job and went to the Imperial Observatory. The Imperial Observatory has one supervisor and one deputy supervisor. One chief clerk is in charge of documents. Five officials of the Five Officials, one each for spring, summer, autumn, winter, and mid-term, are in charge of promoting the calendar and setting the four seasons. Four Lingtai Lang of the Five Officials observe the changes in astronomical phenomena. One Baozhang Zheng of the Five Officials records the changes in astronomical phenomena. There are also auxiliary officials such as the Five Officials Supervisor, the Five Officials Calendar, and the Five Officials Morning, who are responsible for timing, changing time, reporting, etc.

At the beginning, the position of Elder Long in the Imperial Observatory was the Director of the Five Organs, and Xu San was the Director of the Five Organs. The two were colleagues of the same rank, but their duties were slightly different. Now that Xu San has returned to the Imperial Observatory, he naturally serves as the Director, and Qin Qing has conferred him the title of Junior Tutor, a first-rank official.

Xu Shisan serves as the Deputy Director of the Imperial Observatory, Xu San's deputy, and Qin Qing has conferred him the title of Prince Taifu, a second-rank official.

Qin Qing arranged the two in the Imperial Observatory for a reason. He planned to let the Imperial Observatory train a group of experts who are good at finding dragons and looking for qi, travel around the world, and specialize in matters related to the three major dragon veins.

On the tenth day of August, Li Xuandu left Yuying Temple and returned to the Li family's ancestral home in Beihai Prefecture, Qizhou, to stay for a few days. He planned to return to Qingwei Sect after the fifteenth day of August. At this time, Xu Wu, the last of the Qi Wang's retainers, finally ended his years-long voyage and returned to the Central Plains from the Anxi Qin State. He landed in Qizhou and contacted Xu Da in a unique way among Qi Wang's retainers. Then, under Xu Da's guidance, he came to the Li family mansion to meet the new owner.

It was the first time that Li Xuandu met this most mysterious Qi Wang retainer.

Xu San and Xu Qi both looked like short old men, but one looked like an old scholar and the other looked like an old farmer. Xu Da and Xu Jiu both looked like middle-aged men, one was a scholar and the other was a warrior. Xu Shisan simply looked like a teenager. Xu Wu was different from the others. He looked to be in his thirties, not much different from Wei Zhen, but his actual age should be more than twice that of Wei Zhen. His face was quite weathered, which made him look a bit older.

He had already learned from Xu Da that the old master had ascended to heaven and the new master had taken over Jianxiu Mountain. When he met Li Xuandu, he told the truth: "I went out to sea this time to find some gifts for the old master. Since the old master is no longer in the world, I have to present them to the new master."

Li Xuandu was a little curious about what Xu Wu brought back from the Anxi Great Qin Kingdom in the far west.

Xu Wu first took out a scroll from the Xumi treasure, motioned Xu Da to hold one end of the scroll, and he held the other end, and slowly unfolded it in front of Li Xuandu.

The whole scroll was about six feet long, and Li Xuan looked at it intently, and was shocked. It turned out to be a chart. Among them, the land islands and ocean currents are marked very detailedly. Many places are places that Li Xuandu has never heard of. Although there are many sea charts hidden in the Qingwei Sect, most of them are limited to a few fixed routes. The world is unclear. Unexpectedly, Xu Wu actually drew such a detailed chart.

Xu Wu said respectfully: "Xu Wu was ordered by the old master to travel far and sail. All the scenery and geography he saw were painted on the pictures. Please accept it."

Li Xuan couldn't help but stroking his hands and said, "Okay, okay, just with this chart, you are a person who has made great contributions to the country."

After saying that, Li Xuandu looked at himself carefully and said, "This is Fenglin Prefecture... This is Posa Prefecture. I didn't expect that there was the Rakshasa Kingdom on the other side of the North Sea, and the Rakshasa Kingdom and the Golden Tent. The Western Regions are bordered by a vast snowfield, and most ordinary people can cross it... After passing this hundred thousand miles of snowfield, there are so many small countries, and the people living here should be Semi people..."

For a time, even Li Xuan had already entered the realm of immortality, and he felt very moved that the nineteen states in the Central Plains, plus the Golden Tent and the Western Regions, would be bigger, but compared with the entire world, it was still a little smaller.

Then Xu Wu took out the second gift, which was a long wooden box and presented it with both hands.

Li Xuandu took the wooden box and opened it and saw an extremely exquisite musket placed in it.

Then I heard Xu Wu say, "The Great Qin Kingdom in Anxi has been in name only. Many small countries in the extreme west are fighting endlessly, fighting every month, fighting every year, and even for decades or hundreds of years. Therefore, the firearms are updated very quickly. , it is far better than our Central Plains. This musket is a small rear-mounted flintlock machine single-roof long gun, which adds a fire cap and is not afraid of rain. Its range and accuracy are improved compared to smooth-bore muskets."

Li Xuandu stared for a moment and said softly: "This thing is of no use to masters in the upper three realms, but fighting on the battlefield is of great use. Very good, very good."

Xu Wu said regretfully: "Actually, Anxi's artillery is also excellent, but unfortunately it is too bulky and difficult to carry."

Li Xuandu said: "During the time when you were away, a rifled cannon was developed in the Yin-Yang Sect. I wonder which one is better than the Anxi cannon?"

When Xu Wuwen heard this, his eyes lit up and he said, "I don't know this. I will have to see it before I can know it."

There were also a few gifts, but Xu Wujin presented them to the two wives and ladies, all of which were gems, perfume, clothing, mirrors, and ornaments. Li Xuan was not interested and had no intention of winning over what he liked. Mrs. Leng and Shangguan Wan are both good to talk about. She is close to her and she is sent directly. Mrs. Luo is far away in the golden tent. However, recently, a team of envoys were ordered by Qin Qing to go to the golden tent to negotiate the Tonggong trade. Regarding matters, Li Xuandu sent someone to hand over Mrs. Luo's share to the envoy and let them bring it to Mrs. Luo.

After talking about the gift, Li Xuan asked about what Xu Wu had seen and felt in Anxi for many years.

Xu Wu said: "If you talk about what you see and hear, it is that the country of Anxi, no matter how big or small, attaches great importance to maritime trade. It uses swords to do business, and usually serves as merchants, travels around the world, but the ships are strong and cannons are powerful. If you have a chance, you will turn into a robber and kill people. The barbarians not only did not feel ashamed, but were proud. The government even participated in this matter personally, and they always made a big fuss and were proud, and the people also supported it wholeheartedly."

"About the reign of Emperor Xiaozong of Wei, an Anxi seaguard discovered a piece of land at the end of the sea. Even the "Shan Hai Jing" did not mention it. Those Anxi people defeated the indigenous people here with their sharp firearms and discovered that they also found that There is a lot of gold and silver here, so the indigenous people are enslaved to mine gold and silver, and then return with a full load of ships. The indigenous people are suffering a lot, and countless casualties are killed or injured. However, several Anxi countries rely on these unjust wealth to the forefront. "

"In the early years of Wei Dynasty, the imperial court's tax on a year was only a few million taels of silver, but now it is tens of millions of taels of silver a year, because the large amount of silver from Anxi countries flowed into the Central Plains."

Li Xuan couldn't help but sigh, "It's true that such a thing is happening, no wonder the Earth Master wanted to go to the extreme west in person."

When Xu Wu heard the word "district master", he moved his heart and couldn't help but ask, "Dare you ask the master, after the old master ascends, the position of the divine master..."

Before Li Xuan could speak, Xu Da had already said, "The master integrated the Taoist sect and defeated the Confucian sect. Now he is the world-recognized Taoist sect master, just waiting to pay homage to heaven and earth. As for the achievements, he is still in the old master and the great sword. The Immortal, the Old Master and others. As for the position of the Earth Master, it was inherited by Miss Shangguan. "

Xu Wu showed a look of surprise on his face and couldn't speak for a moment.

Li Xuandu asked with the opportunity: "You have made great contributions to bringing these two things back. I wonder what you plan to do in the future? Will you enter the Taoist sect? Or become an official?"

Xu Wu was stunned at first, then pondered for a long time, and slowly said, "We were originally the disciples of the King of Qi, and we were half of the imperial court at the time. We followed the old master and thought about making achievements..."

Li Xuan nodded and said no more.

After the Mid-Autumn Festival on August 15th, Xu Wu bid farewell to Li Xuandu and went to the imperial capital to meet the emperor and empress.

Qin Qing and Bai Xiushang talked with Xu Wushen for a long time, and finally decided to appoint him as the general of the Nanhai Navy Division and also serve as the Jiangnan Maritime Control Command.