Upon hearing this, Cao Song immediately said, "Give me a list of the materials you need, my dear nephew. After all, the more materials you have, the better right now. That way, it won't just be Jiangdong that can do this; other places can do it too!"
"Here it is..."
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Chapter Thirty-Three: The Unlucky Bandit Zhou Tai
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Zhou Tai was from Jiujiang. His family was poor when he was young, and his parents died early. So he and the older brother from the same village went to sea at a young age. Then, they started a business with no capital in the sea.
Two or three decades have passed, and the former leader has long since died in one of his risky ventures. Zhou Tai and Zhou Youping have become the leaders of this generation of river bandits.
However, Zhou Tai was quite shrewd when doing business, and he only robbed people without harming them during each robbery. In addition, he had a bit of luck, so he managed to make a decent living.
However, everything changed after the interdimensional invasion. Originally, interdimensional invasions were something far too distant for a bandit like Zhou Tai!
Therefore, in Zhou Tai's eyes, it was nothing more than witnessing a few astronomical wonders a few days ago. As for news about the resurgence of spiritual energy and changes in the Heavenly Court and the Underworld, he, a mere bandit, naturally knew nothing about it.
Zhou Tai still remembers it as a warm and comfortable afternoon, when the sky was clear and the sun was exceptionally bright.
Then, a large ship appeared before him. That large ship was built using the bones of a deep-sea dragon as its keel.
"By order of the Duke of Wu, now that foreign lands have invaded, all citizens of the Han Dynasty should do their part to protect their homeland. Therefore, this conscription order and amnesty order are hereby issued."
"All mountain bandits, river pirates, and criminals can join the army and use their military merits to offset their crimes. Ordinary river pirates only need one head to offset their crimes and become civilians. Minor leaders among the river pirates only need..."
"This decree shall take effect from the date of its issuance and shall remain in effect indefinitely until the end of this extraterritorial war. All heroes of the world are urged to come and pledge allegiance; do not say you were not warned!"
Upon hearing the imperial edict from the large ship, Zhou Tai began to curse.
"Heh, isn't this just sending us to our deaths? A general amnesty—no, a general amnesty for the river bandits, mountain bandits, and prisoners of Jiangdong—isn't it just to turn us into cannon fodder, to send us to the front lines on the battlefield, to be part of the suicide squad? I'm not going! Brothers, charge with me!"
In fact, this is the reason why there were so many general amnesties throughout history. Looking at the history of the Three Kingdoms, Sun Hao, the last ruler of Wu, granted general amnesties more than a hundred times during his short sixteen-year reign.
On average, they grant amnesty about ten times a year, sometimes just for some random reason. Why? Do they really think he's an idiot? It's just a way to find cannon fodder!
Therefore, Zhou Tai felt that Lin Yang was using them as cannon fodder, which wasn't entirely wrong. After all, the imperial court had always done this in the past!
Then, Zhou Tai led his men and charged towards the large ship. In his experience, naval warfare was essentially about boarding maneuvers. In the end, it all came down to manpower!
As they approached the large ship, hundreds of modified eight-ox crossbows suddenly appeared on board. Because they were mounted on the ship, these crossbows were incredibly powerful.
Draw the bow, nock the arrow, aim, adjust the angle, and fire!
And then, that was it.
Finally, Zhou Tai, with a bit of luck, dove into the sea and refused to surface. He then sank hundreds of meters into the ocean. There, he held his breath and escaped with the ocean currents!
With no way to make money without any initial investment, Zhou Tai had no choice but to seek refuge with his friend, Jiang Qin, one of the minor leaders of the Jiangdong chivalrous community.
Jiang Qin and Zhou Tai were both from Jiujiang, meaning they were fellow townsmen. They had a good relationship in the past, which is why Zhou Tai came to seek refuge with him.
"What? Busy right now? Busy with training, and you want me to take the train? What's this train thing? Uh, I can't hear you. What? We're about to be discovered? We'll talk later? Discover what?"
Before I could even hear what a train was, the light from the communication jade talisman went out. This meant something was wrong on the other end.
Shaking his head, he finally managed to get the train information from several older men. Why did it take so many people to ask Qing Chun'e? This brings us to Zhou Tai's appearance!
The main reason Zhou Tai went into business without capital when he was young was because of his appearance.
Other cultivators, if not exceptionally handsome, were at least not unattractive. But with Zhou Tai, everything changed. He was born with a appearance that was unworthy of the masses and his parents.
With a flat nose, a big mouth, big eyes, and a square face, you might mistake him for some middle-aged man from an anime!
Most importantly, the higher the cultivation level, the fiercer the appearance! Now, scaring children to tears is a piece of cake!
Then, following his father-in-law's directions, Zhou Tai arrived at the so-called train station. It was called a train station, but in reality, it only had two lines: Wu County to Wu State, and Wu County to Kuaiji.
After spending two qian of silver to buy a ticket, Zhou Tai boarded the train. It was only two qian of silver, much cheaper than using a teleportation array!
"Grandpa, what are you doing carrying all those pots and pans? Are you all moving? Where are you moving to?" Zhou Tai asked curiously as he helped carry a heavy package.
After a while, Zhou Tai sat down and rested for a bit. The old man carefully examined Zhou Tai and then said with a smile, "Young man, you must be a strongman who has just emerged from some mountain stronghold or river stronghold."
Upon hearing this, Zhou Tai almost jumped up in fright! He even accidentally dropped the teacup in his hand. Then, after looking around and finding that no one was paying attention to him, he breathed a sigh of relief.
When Zhou Tai boarded the train, he knew perfectly well that every train carried at least one fourth-level Human Immortal cultivator! If things really got out of hand, he probably wouldn't be able to escape!
"Why do you say that, sir?" Zhou Tai asked casually, picking up the broken pieces from the ground. He neither admitted nor denied it.
Upon hearing this, the old man laughed heartily and then said, "Hehe, this is my sixth time taking the train. I've met five young men like you before, and you make the sixth."
“Most of you are physically strong, possess cultivation, and are mostly young adults! Logically speaking, if you are from out of town, how could you not read the newspapers? If you are locals, it is even more impossible that you do not know about this matter.”
As he spoke, the old man stroked his beard with a smug air, appearing very confident and as if everything was under his control.
Seeing the old man's appearance, Zhou Tai wanted to lash out, but he suppressed his temper. After all, this was no longer the water village; there was law here!
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Chapter Thirty-Four: Secret Agents Spreading Throughout Jiangdong
Soon, during his conversation with the old man, Zhou Tai finally learned about the changes that had taken place in Jiangdong in the past few days.
At the same time, in exchange for ten taels of silver, he obtained from the old man all the newspapers from the entire Jiangdong region for the past five days.
Looking at the old man's smiling expression, his incredibly fast hand speed, and the newspapers that had been neatly arranged beforehand, Zhou Tai seriously suspected that this was definitely not the first time.