Wei School's Three Good Students

Chapter 103 Offspring and Settlement

Wu Fei personally made a trip to the southern border to clean up the mess caused by Wu Zhan Tie Nong.

Due to the urgency of the situation, Wu Fei rode a peacock at breakneck speed.

Upon learning of the situation, officers such as Wu Gangxing and Wu Shangsong, the retainers of the Wu family army, led their trembling retainers in a line to welcome Wu Fei.

When the peacock landed, the scene resembled a heavily armed helicopter descending from the sky, causing the jungle within a radius of hundreds of meters to sway; as for the Horned Man's servants, they steadied their ranks by holding onto their rifles.

Upon Wu Fei's arrival, he reviewed the seven hundred auxiliary soldiers of the Southern Army Corps.

As the supreme commander of the southern frontier, Wu Fei did not immediately accept Wu Gangxing's trembling attempts to greet him. Instead, he first inspected the auxiliary troops' ammunition, military bearing, and logistical supplies, and inquired about their thoughts.

At this time and place, Wu Fei did not neglect these people because they were auxiliary troops; he could be more lenient at the reclamation points in the four prefectures of Lingjiang because there were national armed forces there, but in this peripheral area, ninety percent of the fighting force came from these auxiliary troops.

Currently, the Wu family's military officers here are equivalent to Wang Xuance of the Tang Dynasty in the Western Regions, and Gao Xianzhi in Central Asia. The advantage of this organizational structure is that it allows them to maintain a considerable military force in distant frontiers, one that is obedient to the central command, with relatively little economic burden. Even if they are defeated, it won't be a major loss.

Gao Xianzhi's Battle of Talas appeared to have resulted in heavy losses, but most of the losses came from mercenaries; his core elite troops retreated. Historical records indicate that Gao Xianzhi still had the strength to fight again, but he abandoned his continued campaign due to the An Lushan Rebellion.

Returning to the topic, Wu Fei is still very cautious in assessing the situation of the auxiliary army.

If these auxiliary troops are unstable, he will happily promise them generous rewards to keep them in check; then he will ride back in a peacock at a speed no less than Liu Bang's escape from the Feast at Hongmen, and will not risk his precious body by staying in the southern border.

As for whether the auxiliary troops are stable, Wu Fei can tell, for example, by their military bearing and appearance.

Whether the soldiers were discouraged by the defeat, dissatisfied with the deductions, or resistant to their superiors' questions, these were all obvious signs.

After inspecting the auxiliary troops and finding no problems, Wu Fei began to reward them for their merits on the spot, promoting sixteen outstanding auxiliary troops to the same rank as the Wu family army. This made Wu Gangxing and Wu Shangsong pause slightly, feeling somewhat uneasy, but Wu Fei's subsequent arrangements made them quite aware of the need to accept these auxiliary troops as their commanders.

Wu Fei's reward to these servant army commanders was: "The whole family will be given Holy Ash Pills to enhance their bloodline; at the same time, they will be given a fief of a hundred households."

Regarding the granting of fiefs, those within the Wu family now understand: Wu Feiduan would not grant fiefs within the pass, but rather establish fiefs outside the pass. The fiefs of Fenxing City and the four prefectures of Lingjiang all belong to the Da Yao clan, who were exiled there. For non-Han peoples like the Horned People and the Clawed People, their fiefs could only be located on the outskirts.

So what's there for the samurai family to envy about blood money they don't need?
Therefore, after Wu Fei bestowed the positions of team commanders upon these sixteen horned men, Wu Gangxing and Wu Shangsong then brought up the matter of human relationships and offered their congratulations to these subordinates whom they had once deeply instilled their spirits in.

Compared to the position of "team commander", these auxiliary troops in southern Xinjiang preferred the title of "centurion" because they cared more about the clansmen they could "control".

When these horned people's centurions saw that the high-ranking officers of the Wu family army, who had previously cursed them, suddenly treated them well, they felt a surge of pride in their social standing. They held their heads high among the horned people, and naturally became more loyal after moving from the ruled group to the ruling circle.

…A dividing line for prevention…

What if one day, the Horned People also rebel against the Wu Family on the frontier, just like Wu Fei is doing to Da Yao now?

Xuan Chong thought to himself: I can't rule out that possibility. That's why I insist on taking the nation as the core, insist on spreading the Great Yao civilization system, and ensure that the science and technology carried by the cultural heritage are always within the national system.

The vocabulary of the indigenous languages ​​used for communication among the frontier barbarians was very simple, limited to things like cattle, horses, livestock, and fruits; for higher organizational hierarchies, they could only borrow vocabulary from the Da Yao region.

This is because once an advanced mainstream culture forms in a region, its resource system has already been seized by a more advanced cultural center, and the subordinate civilization is unable to evolve towards higher productivity on its own.

Historical summary: Cultural evolution that matches high productivity requires resources! For example, the transition from slash-and-burn agriculture to agricultural dynasties in primitive civilizations involved not only a few key agricultural technologies but also a series of complex elements; such as customs that matched the farming seasons, and proverbs about livestock sheds and human dwellings; these required occupying the plains, controlling the land's resources, and waiting for the wheat to ripen thousands of times before forming an "enduring" agricultural culture.

The same applies to industrial culture. Various safety regulations and the reflexive emphasis people place on specific technical job requirements during professional exchanges are all manifestations of an "industrial culture" formed over decades or even centuries of manufacturing. A mature industrial civilization will absorb all the regional markets it can reach, leaving no opportunity for other regions to develop their own "industrial culture."

In particular, in Xuan Chong's previous life, he lived near an industrial Cthulhu. For small countries surrounding industrial monsters, it was more practical to simply buy their products than to sociologically understand how to organize production.

Although the tribes in southern Xinjiang have been forcibly dragged onto the development path of "feudal agriculture" by Xuan Chong, the related culture has been grafted onto them.

The Southern Barbarians were at a cultural disadvantage compared to the Later Jin; all their agricultural and animal husbandry-related writings were in the script of the Later Jin. For them to establish a complete "agrarian feudal narrative" in their cultural system, they would have to be able to migrate to another planet, seize resources, and start anew.

After the Southern Xinjiang barbarian culture successfully connected with Da Yao, even if Da Yao declines one day, the region will not be able to achieve cultural independence because the local culture of the Southern Xinjiang tribes no longer had the resources to develop independently when it connected with Da Yao; it was sealed off.

Xuan Chong: Just as later generations of Russians admired Europe, because the spiritual world of the elites was completely subjugated into the narrative of the German and French civilization system.

…returning to military conquest…

After Wu Fei finished inspecting the troops, he immediately led his men toward the Lizardmen's target location.

When Wu Zhantie was attacked, Wu Fei's attitude was that he had to protect his own: "You bit off a piece of my subordinate's flesh, so you have to pay for it with your own flesh."

Wu Fei: "We send out a general to fight, and the general gets bitten by a woman, and the army is forced to retreat? I can't afford to lose face like that."

As the green light shimmered on the peacock's tail feathers, the jungle parted to make way for the more than seven hundred men in gleaming armor, who swiftly advanced through the gaps between the trees, on a path covered with roots.

Upon arriving at the lizardmen's base, Wu Fei surveyed the village. It was a fortified structure built of stacked square stones. Although not a city, its defenses were extremely strong. Gaps were left in the stacked stone walls, through which the lizardmen's heads peered, like snakes hiding in the crevices of rocks.

Faced with this city built of "piled-up stones," Wu Fei pondered how to attack. After much thought, he decided to use smoke.

Of course, just as the army was deploying and Wu Fei was thinking, the lizardmen inside surrendered.

Monati was brought out bound, her face ashen.

Monati hated herself for being naive a month ago, when she was tricked into revealing the local treasure by a stranger. To atone for her sins, she feigned compliance, swallowed the transformative pill that caused her excruciating pain, and then used her body to take revenge on the stranger. However, this brought disaster to her hometown, and she was forced to step in to save it.

She looked up at the "deity" from southern Xinjiang sitting on the enormous peacock in front of her and began to pray in despair.

Just when she thought no one would answer her prayers.

A lazy voice came from the peacock: "Why are the people who kidnapped us so impolite?" — The lizardman elders who came to surrender immediately kowtowed.

In a daze, Monati was untied and someone draped clothes over her; the deity who had answered her prayers seemed to be saying something, but like recalling a dream after waking up, she quickly forgot it.

Wu Fei looked at the lizardman. It was humanoid, with scales covering its back and claws on its fingers; its face was like a cartoon character, with exaggeratedly large eyes. No wonder Wu Zhantie could eat it.

After Monati was released, Wu Fei had no intention of letting the people here go. Wu Fei demanded that all the men, women, and children of the local lizardman tribe come out and accept the conqueror's indoctrination.

The lizardman elder finally led the able-bodied men out and stood guard in a line.

Once Wu Fei confirmed that everyone present was there, he announced his punishment: "The tribute I have set for you is forty taels of gold per year! This year, because your side invaded our border, you must compensate my army with three thousand taels of gold."

When Wu Fei arrived, he was already planning how to clean up the mess that Wu Zhantie had made, making it look respectable. In the end, he figured that he couldn't just rob him directly; he had to ask for "compensation" in a civilized way.

Over here, the accountants brought by Wu Fei began to use large scales to calculate the compensation owed to the lizardman elder. The lizardmen brought out gold from who-knows-where in the city and piled it up in the square.

Amidst this decadent extravagance, Wu Fei remained utterly indifferent. After the Wu family disciples weighed the gold on a large scale, the red tail feathers of the peacock beneath him unleashed magic, melting the gold and pouring it into a mold to forge a golden phoenix tree. He then entrusted it to the lizardman elder to take back to their so-called sacred land. Wu Fei: This golden phoenix tree will be my final resting place.

Wu Fei calculated: If they had taken the tribe by force, all that gold would have been a reward for the tribesmen. But now, they were forcing the tribe to surrender without any losses, which was too easy on these vassal armies.

Wu Fei restrained his and his army's greed for gold, and instead recast the gold into its original shape and placed it back on the lizard's territory.

Wu Fei said to the subjugated residents, "This golden phoenix tree is a sacred object that I placed here. You must worship it well!" The lizard people immediately knelt down and promised to worship these sacred objects well.

Wu Fei (Xuan Chong)'s historical perspective patch: In this world, besides blood money, "blood hatred" can also earn the blood of others. If one group invades another group's homeland, causing immense blood hatred, generations later, if a hero emerges from the descendants of the massacred and raises a call to action, the surviving local people will seek revenge even without blood money. Therefore, in the process of conquest, it is essential to minimize "blood hatred."

Wu Fei is now using the gold he stole to buy their offerings to him!

After the Golden Phoenix Tree was successfully forged, Wu Fei took great interest in dealing with the "culprit" who had launched the attack.

Amidst the kneeling worship of numerous lizardmen, Wu Fei beckoned Mona, who had already changed her clothes, over, fed her an Enlightenment Pill, and said: "Your child will be the local commander."

Monati clutched her stomach, bewildered, and asked, "My child?"

Wu Fei stared at her: "You must have had sex before you bit that bastard, right? You're lucky to have a child of the Wu family. This is your blessing."

While the lizard woman was bewildered, Wu Fei hung a precious jade around her neck, forcibly tying the knot for Wu Zhantie's wife. Regardless of whether Wu Zhantie would formally designate her as a concubine or something else, the position of commander of a thousand households here would definitely belong to her offspring. Even if she were a woman, she would still be a commander. At worst, twenty years later, they could marry this young female commander to a powerful man.

…Ten days later…

In southern Lingjiang, Wu Fei saw Wu Zhantie's report. The man was dissatisfied with his treatment, believing the three-year garrison was too painful. Wu Fei immediately issued an instruction: "You caused this mess; deal with it properly before you return."

In the southern vassal army camp, Wu Zhantie looked at Monati's pitiful appearance, feeling both angry and helpless.

He knew he had run into Wu Fei's line of fire. Although Wu Fei wouldn't execute people indiscriminately, he was ruthless in exiling them. Coincidentally, the Wu family needed to plant spies in the south, so he had just stumbled upon this opportunity. A year ago, he was still a carefree playboy in the clan; a few months ago, he had just arrived in the southern border region, like a husky let loose from its leash.

Wu Fei said seriously: Well, calling Wu Zhantie a husky is a compliment, praising his fearless "exploratory spirit"; however, for Wu Zhantie: before he could fully unleash his lawless robbery and indulgence, he was bitten in the groin by a barbarian woman from this tribe, and now he is forced to stay here and become the person in charge.

What made Wu Zhantie even more miserable was that no one comforted him. Even his family members advised him to stay because there was a gold mine in the lizardmen's territory!

Wu Fei appointed Wu Zhantie to be stationed here as the governor of the mining area. It was such a lucrative post, but after some deliberation, the clan advised Wu Zhantie to stay and stay for another four or five years.

Even Wu Zhantie's uncles and elders wrote to him, advising him: "Suffering is a blessing, stay put. (Sacrificing yourself brings happiness to the whole family! Your brother's chance to find a good wife depends on you.)"
Wu Zhantie deeply regretted this. If he could choose again, he would definitely control his lower body.

Of course, he was just saying that. A year later, he applied for more and more "Holy Ash Pills", and a whole bunch of eligible girls from the lizard tribe were ruined while he was stationed there.

…the dividing line of ethnic integration…

Early 34 years ago, in southern Xinjiang. Wu Fei had almost finished dealing with a whole host of tedious matters, including the amount of tribute to be paid from various places, as well as the schedule of the duty shifts and holidays for the troops stationed where the Wu family members were stationed this year.

The major hexagram signifies filial piety and brotherly love, so every three years, the sons stationed on the frontier should be given three months' leave to return home, and to ensure that the money they have earned while stationed far away has truly reached their elderly parents.

This time, those sent back to visit their families did not include the promoted members. A group of new members from collateral branches of the Wu family were sent here. As senior members of the Wu family, those who had been promoted had to teach the newcomers a lesson.

Of course, those who made mistakes couldn't go back, like Wu Zhantie. He just sent a letter home.

Only after his child in the south has grown up can he take the child back to the ancestral hall. As for his bizarre work injury, Wu Fei did him a favor by helping him dispel the rumor that he fell from a tree.

…and the matter gradually came to an end…

In early 34 years ago, in Fenxing City, the heavily pregnant Third Aunt stared blankly into space, muttering something. If one listened carefully, one could hear words like "Respected Daoist Master Duoling, your disciple" and so on.

At this moment, she felt no trace of her "power of change." The original instruction from the Path of Myriad Changes was that she had given birth to a holy child. But whether he was "holy or not" was not up to him to decide.

That is, the absolute order force in her womb not only stabilized the entire umbilical cord, but also the entire amnion.

Under the constant tug-of-war between the "sacred power" and the "golden sacred root" drawn by the Third Aunt's cultivation, the fetus in the amniotic fluid developed very slowly. This was because each time the "sacred power" bestowed upon the fetus, its astonishing talent was erased, returning it to normalcy.

In the past, on other planets, the "holy children" blessed by holy power were like echinoderms before being born in the womb. Their organs changed completely and they were not human. Their appearance also went through seventy-two transformations, from starfish to octopus to giraffe. Before the final birth, they were forcibly twisted back into the appearance of human infants.

As a believer in "transformation," the Third Aunt, after seizing Wu Fei's essence and spirit, believed that the child in her womb, who had received "Taoist favor," was extraordinary.

But now, the domineering and uncompromising Holy Root has forcibly decided that "prenatal education" should not be so fancy. After repeatedly erasing the power of change, this golden power of order seems to have become impatient and has begun to gradually expand. The power of change in Auntie's body, this "new era woman," is like being unreasonable, and is being thoroughly subdued by the "power of order."

This indiscriminate beating resembled domestic violence; it wasn't killing, but rather a lesson. As a result, Third Aunt's entire "Taoist cultivation" and "spiritual power" were completely sealed off, and now she can't sense the "Holy Moon's" Daoist aura at all.

At this moment, on the evil moon in space, the area that was originally blue was also filled with gold, just like the purple area.

Unlike the small pool in the purple area where a giant rhomboid pillar reached to the sky was inserted, the blue area was a golden whirlwind that jumped from one eyeball to another, absorbing the "wisdom" from each eyeball, leaving behind only bewildered, dumbfounded eyes. Even with all its wisdom, the blue eyeball couldn't understand the meaning of this "golden whirlwind."

……

In March, Wu Fei passed through Fenxing City on his way back north and received good news. The doctor in Fenxing City said, "The lady's pulse is stable, and she will give birth in the next two months."

Wu Fei was slightly taken aback, first surprised, then muttered, "This pregnancy is like a 'thunder download,' the progress bar jumps around." Based on the original progress, Wu Fei estimated using a "proportional time extension" method that it would take more than two years, but after the last pulse diagnosis, the pregnancy should have returned to normal. This surprised Wu Fei somewhat, as he had originally planned to linger in Southern Xinjiang a little longer.

Wu Fei glanced at the "Heir Online" progress bar in the system. It had reached the bottom, so he hurried home. Finally, Wu Fei arrived at his third aunt's room and showered her with concern. As a first-time father, Wu Fei felt he should show great joy at having a son. He had already chosen a name for his son: Yan'er as his nickname and Wu Lu as his formal name.

Third Aunt looked at Wu Fei and asked a thought-provoking question: "Didn't you ever doubt me, didn't you ever doubt this child?"

Wu Fei was slightly taken aback, and quickly pulled out the system to ask a question.

After confirming that everything was correct, Wu Fei reflected, "I think I was too trusting. If the system hadn't indicated that this was the species obtained from my own somatic cell nucleus, I probably would have repeatedly doubted it."

But right now, Wu Fei's emotional intelligence prevailed, and he said to his aunt, "I believe you. If this child wasn't mine, with your pride, you wouldn't tolerate a stranger laying a hand on you."

The moon is exceptionally bright today because it's been illuminated by the sun...

On the fourth day of the fifth month of the 34th year of the Tianli calendar, a boy was born, just as the army returned to Fenxing City. Wu Fei relayed the order that the soldiers who had just left the pass should rest for a day in the camp, slaughter ninety-nine pigs and ninety-nine sheep, and have an extra meal for the entire army.

The idea of ​​halting the entire army because of a child sounds absurd at first glance, but it is not a time of military emergency. There are no large enemy forces in the middle and upper reaches of the Lingjiang River. This march is more of a political mission.

Wu Fei announced to various departments, including the military, that he had an heir. This was a political declaration and the most important political event in southern Xinjiang at present.

The concept of "the world belongs to the family" is so deeply ingrained that Wu Fei's "family" in the conquered territory of Southern Xinjiang now has someone to carry on the legacy.

The specific role of parliament and emperor in relation to the various interest groups in the country is that the middle class needs a "legal entity" to keep accounts and acknowledge responsibility. The difference between emperor and parliament is that the former is a system of individual responsibility, while the latter is a system of collective responsibility.

At different historical stages, the assessment of the success of the imperial responsibility system or the parliamentary responsibility system is often related to whether the responsibility system is unlimited.

A limited liability system that allows individuals to renege on their responsibilities and run away when things go wrong will not earn a good reputation in Eastern historical records, whether it's an emperor or a political party.

Wu Fei's responsibility for maintaining the balance of power among the various forces in the southern border region is unlimited. The highest authority is accompanied by the broadest obligations. Before this unavoidable move north, he must complete the arrangements for all the meritorious officials.

Wu Fei's subjects are now spread throughout the entire southern border region, including soldiers who have won titles, village chiefs of various reclamation sites, workshop owners of Fenxing City, distributors in various districts, and even foreign subjects among many chieftains and mercenaries.

These ministers of Wu Fei were all living off the emperor's salary. Now, all of them were wondering if their salaries would disappear with Wu Fei's death. Everyone was starting to worry about whether their salaries would last. — Now, Wu Fei's greatest salary had a successor. The entire army was overjoyed.

...Third Aunt was already packing Wu Fei's bags...

Gong Qian breathed a sigh of relief upon seeing the joyous atmosphere throughout the southern border region and receiving confirmation that Wu Fei was willing to go north.

The deputy envoy, Qian Zheng, frowned and said, "He's just a son of a concubine, yet he's made us waste so much time here. How utterly rude!"

Wu Fei delayed his return north for a full year, which could be considered blatant disregard for the imperial decree, but at least he was eventually willing to come back. This made Gong Qian and his entourage somewhat worried about the Emperor's wrath.

Gong Qian: "This is no illegitimate son; he's putting pressure on the court!"

Amidst the crowd's confusion, Gong Qian explained: "His Majesty intended for the princess to marry into the family to control the Wu clan, and the offspring would naturally inherit the Wu family's wealth. — But now, this wealth has an heir."

If the court detains Wu Fei for too long, even if he is Wu Fei's legitimate son, as certified by the Grand Dao, he may not be able to compete with the illegitimate son who was born in the southern border region after reaching adulthood.

Therefore, should the future emperor keep Wu Fei in the capital as a hostage for a long time? He needs to consider the interests involved more carefully now.

At Yongji Pass, Wu Fei summoned Zhao Xianzhong and Wu Qing back and kept them by Yao Sangu's side. He gave each of them a box (a brocade pouch) and told them to open it whenever they were in doubt.

In the southern frontier expansion area, Wu Fei liberated the military power of the Wu family members who were stationed there.

In this way, even after his departure, he would leave behind a stable group in the southern borderlands, similar to the Shu Han state after Liu Bei's death. This would ensure that upon his son's birth, he would immediately have a clan power centered around him. —Throughout Chinese dynasties, preventing a young ruler from being controlled by powerful ministers inevitably relied on clan members with military power. At the same time, an overly powerful clan could usurp its own power, so loyal ministers were needed to protect it.

…a loyal journey north…

Wu Fei's aura in southern Xinjiang faded rapidly after crossing Yongji Pass.

The monster carriage was immediately replaced with a properly sized horse-drawn carriage, and upon returning to the pass, it became a well-behaved child who did not overstep its bounds.

Gu Gongqian observed the following situation: In the southern border region, everyone respectfully bowed to Wu Fei, but at Yongji Pass, the respect was somewhat weaker, with pedestrians and merchants on the road simply giving way to Wu Fei.

Gong Qian stared at all of this in silence. In the nearly two years that had passed, he had come to know that the Wu family was actually divided into two factions.

The southern route is managed by local Wu family members, centered around Wu Fei, while the northern route is a powerful force of heroes who are eager to make their move and are lying dormant in the Great Yao World, since Wu Hengyu is accumulating a large number of retainers.

Looking back at the war that spanned Zhenzhou and affected Yongzhou 32 years ago, Wu Fei suddenly appeared in the perspective of the emperor and his ministers.

The ministers of Da Yao believed that "the Wu family is now a triangle formed by Wu Hengyu, Wu Fei, and Wu Hanluan," and that their combined strength was too great. Recalling Wu Fei would reduce any potential disloyal thoughts within the Wu family.

But is this really the right thing to do? Gong Qian: Could it be that Wu Fei is the only truly loyal member of the Wu family, and removing him might lead to even worse consequences?

Gong Qian shook off these doubts; his immediate priority was to return to Yaodu with Wu Fei to report back to the king.

(End of this chapter)