Chapter 113: Twenty Years After Painted Skin

Now that he had made the decision, Zhang Zhiwei would not hesitate: "I will contact Zuo Rutong and Feng Yao, you will take over and guard the entrance to Guixu temporarily."

"No." Ding Hai unexpectedly rejected Zhang Zhiwei's arrangement: "I plan to create several clones, one of which will go to Guixu.

Another clone is going to prepare something that can bring about nuclear peace, so it will be difficult for me to concentrate on the entrance to Guixu."

"Dividing into two parts and going back to Guixu? Are you crazy?" Zhang Zhiwei couldn't understand.

With the strength of both of them, it might not be of any use if they go to Guixu in person. If they split into clones and go to Guixu, that would be a blatant act of sending themselves to hell.

“I’ve considered that with the old Heavenly Master and his group of people clearing the way, it won’t be too dangerous for me to split my body and go down to Guixu.

Besides, it's just a clone. If it were to die in Guixu, at most I would just lose a divine thought. I can afford it.

Also, our previous guesses are always just guesses. Without personal experience, they will never come true. "

Ding Hai thought seriously for a long time about whether to go to Guixu or not. If he went to Guixu in real life, he was afraid that he would never come back.

But if it were to be a clone going down to Guixu, there would be much less to worry about.

After seeing several facts, Zhang Zhiwei no longer objected.

As for sending a message to Zuo Rutong and Feng Yao, this can also be done by the clone created by Ding Hai. Zhang Zhiwei only needs to provide him with a token so that he can mobilize some of the secular forces of Longhu Mountain in a short period of time.

With the help of the light from the Earth Immortal Grandmaster, Ding Hai's angry poisonous clone went back to the abyss very smoothly. It was so smooth that he encountered almost no danger, and then he crashed into a small world hidden in the endless darkness.

The moment he invaded the small world, an unknown great force pressed down on Ding Kai.

If the spirit, energy and vitality in his body had not undergone multiple transformations, he would have been crushed by this great force in an instant.

After a dizzying moment, a memory like a slide quickly flooded into his sea of ​​consciousness, trying to replace his original memory.

But Ding Hai, with his strong consciousness, resisted the erosion of his memory and watched the memories that this small world had woven for him like watching a slide show.

To be honest, Ding Hai, who was under the incarnation of the poisonous incarnation, was still surprised by his current identity.

His current name is Wang Sheng, the guy whose heart was dug out by the Painted Skin Ghost in Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio.

After reading Wang Sheng's life story, Ding Hai immediately mobilized the consciousness in his sea of ​​consciousness and locked all the memories about Wang Sheng in a corner of his sea of ​​consciousness.

He also set up precautions to prevent this memory from replacing his original memory unknowingly in the future.

He had a feeling that this sudden memory was dangerous!

After taking precautions, Ding Hai began to adapt to his current identity. Wang Sheng in this world is a pitiful man.

In his early years, when he was still a juren, he was once dug out of his heart and lungs by a painted-skin ghost because of his greed for beauty.

If it weren't for his wife, who, with the help of a master, saved his life in exchange for another's, he would have died long ago.

But he survived, but his wife passed away, leaving behind her baby.

This is a case of losing one’s wife in middle age.

After experiencing the Painted Skin Ghost incident, Wang Sheng came to his senses and devoted himself to studying.

Finally, five years later during the Autumn Siege, he was selected by the imperial edict and was appointed as a Hanlin Academy Scholar by the Zhou court.

According to modern people's thinking, Wang Sheng, who got promoted, got rich, and his wife died, is a well-deserved winner in life.

But in Wang Sheng's own opinion, he was just an ordinary one among the countless scholars in the Great Zhou.

Because he was just over 30 years old when he passed the imperial examination, the court believed that he was smart and capable, so he was arranged to enter the Hanlin Academy, a noble place.

However, there were many talented people in the Hanlin Academy and the relationships were complicated. He worked hard for six years before he got a job as an editor.

Not long after he became an editor, he was transferred to the Ministry of Revenue with a document from the Ministry of Personnel, although his rank was promoted one level.

But the sudden change from theoretical to practical, the difference and tricks in between, almost caused him to lose his job and end up in jail, and he realized the value of a jailer.

Fortunately, his wife died early, so when he was an official in Beijing, he had the experience of personally supporting his family's livelihood. Therefore, he was not overwhelmed by the complicated work of the Ministry of Revenue and received an above-average rating in the Beijing inspection.

With an above-average rating, his career should have been much easier.

But when an official document arrived, he, a sixth-rank official in the capital, was suddenly transformed into a fifth-rank county magistrate.

His official title was promoted, and becoming a county chief before the age of forty was not a disgrace to him, but Wang Sheng still felt angry because he was in charge of Yanmen County.

Not to mention that Yanmen County is a cold and bitter place outside the Great Wall. The fact that nine out of the thirteen counties of Yanmen are not under the control of the Great Zhou is enough to show what the situation in Yanmen County is like.

Every year the prairie wolf soldiers would attack the pass, and the remaining four counties could not escape the fate of being raided.

Counting the previous eight governors of Yanmen County, none of them had a good end.

Wang Sheng knew very well why he had ended up in such a state, but he did not have the courage to refuse the position.

When he and many of his colleagues wrote a letter to oppose the National Master Pudu Cihang, he had already completely offended this Buddhist monk.

I heard that the evil monk Pudu Cihang has great influence in the world.

When he held the position of the prefect of Yanmen County, the evil monk Pudu Cihang might have been a little bit afraid and would not dare to harm him at will.

But if he lost this official uniform, not only he but also his entire family would have no chance of survival.

Therefore, even though he knew that going to Yanmen County would only be a temporary solution, he still gritted his teeth and held his head high to take up the post of Yanmen County commander.

Yanmen County was not a blessed place for a pure civil servant like him. In his first year in office, his only son, who had just married, died in Yanmen under unclear circumstances, leaving his daughter-in-law, who had just given birth, crying alone.

The daughter-in-law had already suffered from the effects of pregnancy and childbirth, and she fell ill upon hearing the news of her son's death. She didn't even make it to her grandson's one-year-old celebration before she died.

With his only descendant, Wang Sheng endured three years of hardship in Yanmen County. This year is the once-in-three-years major performance review meeting.

Although he did not achieve any great achievements in the past three years, he still maintained the sovereignty of the remaining four counties for the Great Zhou, and he repeatedly fortified the city and cleared the countryside, causing the grassland wolf soldiers who came to Yanmen County to raid the valley to return empty-handed.

According to official practice and the special circumstances of Yanmen County, although he could not get the best evaluation, it should not be difficult for him to get a middle-to-upper evaluation.

With such an above average evaluation, he cannot say that he will make further progress in the officialdom, but after doing some personnel work, it should not be difficult for him to be transferred to another place.

But no one knew whether the post of the prefect of Yanmen County was cursed or the evil monk Pudu Cihang was unwilling to let him go. Before the transfer order was issued after the great plan, the breath of death had already enveloped him.

Opening his eyes and looking at the antique furnishings in the room, Ding Hai accepted his current identity.

Wang Sheng, Wang Nanrong.

Compared to the frustrated middle-aged Wang Nanrong in memory, Ding Hai looks younger and more handsome at this moment.

But under the suppression of the world's will, no one has ever doubted his identity.

The next day after arriving in the world of Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio, Ding Hai sat in the main hall of the County Magistrate's Mansion, and felt a little sad as he looked at the little guy in front of him who greeted him.

I finally brought up Chizuru, but I didn’t expect that I would have to take care of a little brat again!

Fortunately, Ding Hai is not prepared to accept everything about Wang Sheng, and the reality of this world does not allow him to really regard himself as Wang Sheng.

"Master, Young Master Sun's wet nurse has been dealt with. Next, should we continue to recruit wet nurses for Young Master Sun in Yanmen, or should we think of other ways?"

The voice that sounded in his ears brought Ding Hai out of his thoughts. The speaker was Quanfu, the old butler who had followed Wang Sheng for half his life.

After Wang Sheng's wife passed away, Quanfu became the housekeeper in charge of all the trivial matters of the Wang family.

"Yu'er is already three years old, so let's wean him off. Except for our own people, no one else in this county city can be trusted.

Quanfu, did the six families in the city make any unusual moves yesterday? Where are the wolf soldiers outside the Great Wall now? "

After a night of preparation yesterday, Ding Hai has completely gotten into the state.

I don’t know whether it was a deliberate arrangement by the instinctive will of this small world, or if there was some other reason. At this moment, Wang Sheng’s situation could not be described with just one word: he was troubled by internal and external troubles.

Internally, Pu Du Ci Hang, who stole the position of the imperial teacher, became more and more powerful due to the unconditional favor of the emperor, and he was even able to interfere in the replacement of the six ministers.

There are countless men of letters and scholars who want to flatter this national teacher, and countless people want to exchange Wang Sheng's head for the favor of this national teacher.

I don’t know if these scholars will feel ashamed of having been evil demons after they learn of Pu Du Ci Hang’s true identity in the future.
However, thinking about the nature of the literati in Wang Sheng's memory, Ding Hai felt that those literati should not take responsibility or take the blame for their past mistakes.

That’s right. After all, even the number one gentleman in Donglin can complain that the water is too cold. Isn’t it normal for these small fry to turn against the monster?
Wait, considering that Pu Du Ci Hang almost drained the blood and flesh of all the officials of the entire dynasty in the future, perhaps those literati and poets who flattered him will have the same fate in the future.

At this moment, in Yanmen County under Ding Hai's rule, there were six forces ready to flatter Pu Du Ci Hang and take off Wang Sheng's head to curry favor with it.

These six forces include officials, military leaders in the county, and wealthy merchants.

After they united, they almost marginalized Wang Sheng.

Now, as soon as autumn comes and the scapegoat grassland wolf soldiers come south to take the blame for them, they will prepare to launch an offensive to take off Wang Sheng’s head and send it to the capital Luoyang.

After talking about internal threats, let’s talk about Wang Sheng’s external threats.

The Xiongnu Wolf Cavalry, who had not been able to attack Cao Valley in Yanmen County for three consecutive years, could no longer bear it.

According to the spy report, this autumn, the Xiongnu Youguli King led 30,000 wolf riders to the south, preparing to seize Yanmen Pass. Facing these 30,000 wolf riders, the remaining four counties of Yanmen County had no chance to fight back. Apart from the destruction of the city and the death of people, Ding Hai could not imagine what the remaining four counties would end up like.

Ding Hai is also troubled by the dilemma that Wang Sheng is currently facing.

As he had just arrived, he actually wanted to stay for a while and see how the situation developed.

"Master, the six families have already sent people to the Shangdang County seat to visit the Right Imperial Envoy Fu Qingzhu.

The wolf riders outside the Great Wall have already begun to gather towards the tent of the Xiongnu Youguli King, and it is expected that they will seize the pass in a month. "

After hearing Quanfu's reply, Ding Hai recalled who Fu Qingzhu was: "Right Censor Fu Qingzhu, this person who came from the Master's side is my senior brother, and the six families cannot be unaware of this news.

They must have paid a heavy price to persuade my natural ally to ignore me and watch me trapped here!

I just wonder if they will regret going against me, Wang, when they lose their wives and their troops in the future!
Quanfu, are the retainers in your mansion reliable at the moment? If they are, how many of them can take up arms and serve me?

How many people are currently available to us in the Xiliu Camp outside the city? If so, how many troops can be deployed for my use?"

Wang Sheng, who knew that he was likely to be in danger when he came to Yanmen County, was a relatively smart scholar, so how could he not leave a way out for himself?

According to Ding Hai's memory, after three years of operation, and taking advantage of his position as the top military and political leader in Yanmen County, Wang Sheng had accumulated some trump cards.

He had fifty personal soldiers in his mansion, and he also had two groups of soldiers under his command in the Xiuli Camp outside the city.

As a border defense force, Xiuliying had a total of six groups of soldiers totaling 3,000 people.

However, before Wang Sheng took office, the Xiuli Camp was always understaffed. After Wang Sheng took office, he took advantage of the death of his only son and recruited two groups of soldiers in Bingzhou.

These young and strong men, over a thousand in number, are the basis for Wang Sheng to survive in Yanmen County.

"In reply to the master, the family generals and soldiers in the mansion were all recruited from our hometown and Luoyang.

People are despised when they leave their hometown, and they have some complaints because they have not been allowed to go home to visit their families for three years.

But Quanfu dares to guarantee that when the critical moment comes, each of them will dare to take up a knife and fight for the master.

The two groups of soldiers outside the city were formed by you, sir. In the past two years, they have been paid adequate salaries.

As long as they don’t face off against the Xiongnu wolf riders on the grasslands outside the pass, these two groups of soldiers will not betray us easily.”

Recalling the memories in Wang Sheng's mind, Ding Hai found that Quan Fu was not wrong.

It seems that although the instinctive will of this world is quite powerful, it cannot be omniscient and omnipotent.

Judging from the current situation, even if Ding Hai did not expose his strength, Wang Sheng might not be defeated in Yanmen County.

After understanding the cards he currently holds in his hand, Ding Kai, knowing that there is a high possibility that he will not be able to survive, has the mentality of turning the table over.

This clone was originally used to explore the situation in this world, so it doesn't matter if it really dies here.

"Quanfu, pass on my order. From now on, no money or grain will be allowed to flow out of the treasury and granary of Yanmen except by my order. Anyone who violates this order will be killed without mercy.

In addition, the three shifts of yamen runners in the county city and the soldiers in Xiuli Camp who do not obey my command will be rewarded with one month's silver, and the two groups of soldiers outside the city who obey my orders will all be rewarded with three months' salary.

In addition to paying each of our family soldiers half a year's salary, we also provide a salary supplement for each of our family's personal soldiers.

Tell them that after they get through this year, I can let them go home to visit their families in the spring of next year."

After a moment, Ding Hai made arrangements with the cards in his hand. He planned to test the waters with the six families in the county first to see the power level of this world.

Since he has decided to eliminate all six families standing opposite him, Ding Hai will naturally not be stingy with the gun in his hand.

After receiving Ding Hai's instructions, Quanfu, who had been assisting him in handling these matters, immediately nodded in agreement.

"Master, the private soldiers raised by the six rebel families will surely collapse like chickens and dogs in front of the two soldiers from the Xiliu Camp.

But how should we deal with the warriors recruited by the six rebels? Those third-rate warriors are easy to deal with, they can't cause any trouble under the strong bows and crossbows.

But if we don't find a way to contain the third-grade warriors they recruit, sir, I'm afraid that even if we win, it will only be a miserable victory.

If we cannot leave Yanmen before the Xiongnu wolf soldiers arrive, we will be at the mercy of others.”

Ding Hai had learned the information and meaning of the lower third-rate warriors and middle third-grade warriors mentioned by Quanfu from Wang Sheng’s memory.

The world of Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio is a world where demons and monsters are rampant, but correspondingly, in the context of rampant demons and monsters, humans naturally have ways to control them.

From the perspective of the imperial court, the royal family of the Great Zhou Dynasty is protected by the dragon energy of national destiny that is the condensed will of all the people in the world, while the civil and military officials who are loyal to the royal family of the Great Zhou Dynasty share the national destiny and, depending on their official titles, have different levels of official energy to protect them.

In addition to dragon energy and official energy, humans also have Confucianism, Buddhism, and Taoism to provide systematic paths of practice.

Because Confucianism relied on the dynasty, it had four major academies as its foundation during the heyday of the Zhou Dynasty.

The four major academies are: Yingtian Academy, Yuelu Academy, Bailu Academy, and Songyang Academy.

At that time, with the combined power of the Great Zhou court, these four academies suppressed Buddhism and Taoism so much that they dared not show up, and demons and monsters trembled in fear.

However, it is difficult to achieve immortality through practicing Confucianism and Taoism, and without the suppression of the Great Zhou Dynasty's national destiny, the power of Confucianism and Taoism cannot be exerted on ordinary people.

Therefore, as the Great Zhou entered its final years of war, the four major Confucian academies gradually declined under the influence of various forces.

Today, the power of the four major Confucian academies has declined to the point where they have closed their doors.

If those demons and monsters had not feared the great power contained in the authentic works of the great Confucian scholars handed down in the four great academies, I am afraid that these four great Confucian academies would have been destroyed for various reasons long ago.

The four great Confucian academies were once glorious, and the native Taoism of this world is naturally not to be outdone.

The three Taoist sects are the mainstays in today's fight against demons and monsters.

These three Taoist sects are: Xuanxin Sect, Laoshan Longmen Sect, and Kunlun Sect far away in the border area.

Among them, Xuanxin Orthodox Sect is the current state religion of the Great Zhou Dynasty.

However, the Xuanxin Sect's position as the state religion is not stable.

After all, the national teacher has become the evil monk Pudu Cihang. One can imagine how embarrassed the Xuanxin Sect is now.

Although the Laoshan Longmen Sect and the Kunlun Sect have disciples and successors traveling around the world, their influence is limited to one place.

Compared to the three Taoist sects whose power has slightly declined, the six Buddhist sects have gradually prospered in this chaotic world.

The ancestral home of Zen Buddhism is Northern Shaolin, the White Horse Temple outside Luoyang City, the Pure Land Sect at the foot of Emperor Peak, the Daxiangguo Temple in Kaifeng City, the Dalun Temple on the Daxue Mountain, and the Vajra Sect outside the Western Regions.

Legend has it that each of these six sects has one or two living Mingwangs who are equivalent to the Taoist Zhenjun realm.

In recent years, countless demons and monsters have been converted by these living Ming Kings, and have laid down their butcher knives and become Buddhas instantly.

According to rumors, there were even demon kings and ghost kings who were suppressed and institutionalized by these wise kings.

In comparison, although the martial arts in this world have begun to rise, they have not yet formed their own unique system.

Based on the realm system passed down by Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism, a martial arts master in the previous dynasty listed a nine-level system for martial artists: body forging, foundation building, martial artist, acquired, innate, martial arts master, martial arts honor, martial arts saint, and martial arts emperor.

Among them, those who build bodies, build foundations, and martial artists are called the lower third-rate warriors.

As the names suggest, body building and foundation building are just about strengthening the body. Some warriors in the army, even if they have no inheritance, can complete these two steps by relying on some simple breathing methods handed down in the army.

If there is a person with extraordinary talent, who has trained his own strength to the highest level of martial artist among the lower three rates, when fighting with bare hands, ten brave soldiers in the army will form a battle formation to barely resist.

Of course, if they were armed and armored, the situation would be reversed.

The soldiers of the two camps of Xiuli under Ding Hai's command were iron-blooded men who were used to fighting in the north. In the past two years, with Wang Shengzhong embezzling all his resources and leaning on them, everyone wore armor.

With such power in hand, the followers of the six rebel families and the low-rate warriors among their private soldiers are nothing to worry about.

But once warriors reach the acquired realm, ordinary soldiers in the army will no longer be a fatal threat to them.

According to Wang Sheng's memory, in his hometown of Luoyang, there was once a martial artist in the post-natal realm who killed an official for personal vengeance. The dozen or so third-shift yamen runners and dozens of hangers-on of the Luoyang County government could not stop the martial artist for a moment.

In order to kill this post-natal realm warrior who challenged the official system of the Great Zhou, the then governor learned of his hiding place and mobilized a group of government soldiers to encircle and suppress him with an official document.

Afterwards, it was said that only one in ten of the palace soldiers who had surrounded and suppressed this post-natal realm warrior survived.

Of course, considering that Luoyang is one of the most prosperous places in the world, it is a big question whether the Qufu soldiers are fully staffed and whether the quality of individual soldiers can reach half of that of Xiuliying?
But Ding Crab was certain of one thing, that even if the two Qu Xiliu Camp soldiers in his hands were all wearing armor and had strong bows and crossbows, they would definitely suffer a great loss if they encountered a large number of acquired warriors.

After all, if he wanted to eradicate the power of the six rebel families, he would have to divide his forces and attack them from their homes. Although the six rebel families had not been so arrogant as to build Wu Castle outside the city, the six garrisons located in the county city were all wealthy and powerful families with high walls and deep courtyards.

The mansions of such wealthy families are not the best battlefields for organized soldiers.

On the contrary, the terrain of such places is more suitable for those warriors who come from independent backgrounds.

This dilemma was also the main reason why Wang Sheng knew that there was something wrong with the death of his only son, but he did not dare to take action.

However, such trouble is a big problem for Wang Sheng, but it is not worth mentioning at all for Ding Hai.

(End of this chapter)