Chapter 158: Nezha: Who do I look like? Speaking of Xiqi...
Back in Xiqi, the arrival of Chonghouhu quickly brought the high morale brought by the series of victories to a freezing point.
The two generals before were far from being comparable to Chong Houhu in terms of fame or power.
They were merely ministers of Chaoge, a power known to all as weak and possessing little beyond the title of legitimacy. In this era, the word "legitimacy" held little value, and thus Xiqi felt no threat from Chaoge.
But Chonghouhu is different, he is Beibohou.
The arrival of Chonghouhu shows that Beibohou is still willing to be loyal to the Shang Dynasty. The pressure that Xiqi has to face is not only from the weak Chaoge and the various princes who are sitting on the fence, but also from the entire northern forces.
Although the Northern Marquis was not the most powerful of the four great vassal states, or even the second most powerful, the vassal states commanded many smaller vassal states, and their words were more effective than those of the common lord, Emperor Xin.
Therefore, for Ji Zhou, Beibo Hou, who is loyal to Chaoge, must die!
At this time, King Ji Chang of Xibo was in very poor health.
The feud between the Western Zhou Dynasty and Chaoge was long-standing. For a long time, both sides were in a state of strife, each afraid of the other. Chaoge did not want to force the Ji Zhou to rebel, and the Western Qi did not want to confront the Shang Dynasty head-on when they were not fully prepared.
During the reign of the previous king, Emperor Di Yi, he married his own sister to Ji Chang. Logically, when the sister of the common ruler married off, Ji Chang's wife should have resigned. However, Xiqi refused to do so and continued to honor Da Si as his principal wife. The legitimate princess of the Shang Dynasty, however, became a concubine.
Emperor Yi endured this humiliation, but the young and hot-tempered Emperor Xin always remembered it. When Emperor Xin came to power, he used the excuse of sacrifice to keep Ji Chang in Chaoge.
Fortunately, at that time Emperor Xin still wanted to emulate Wu Ding in restoring the country, and he knew that Ji Chang could not be killed, so he simply imprisoned him and prohibited him from contacting the outside world.
Later, Ji Chang's eldest son Ji Kao came to Chaoge. The Shang Dynasty and Ji Zhou had a tacit understanding and used Ji Kao as a sacrifice instead of Ji Chang, and released Ji Chang back, which saved the face of both sides.
Ji Chang was already old and had been imprisoned for many years. After returning to Xiqi, he held on to his last breath and taught his second son Ji Fa, hoping that Ji Fa would be able to stand on his own as soon as possible.
When Shen Gongbao and Jiang Ziya arrived and quickly demonstrated their talents, Ji Chang realized that with these two as his assistants, even if Ji Fa could not fulfill the long-cherished wish of his ancestors, he could still preserve the existing foundation of the Ji Zhou Dynasty.
As soon as he let out the breath he was holding in his heart, his body immediately collapsed.
Seriously speaking, Chonghouhu's arrival gave Ji Chang renewed confidence. In a sense, it was Ji Chang's life-saving medicine.
By the time Jiang Ziya led his troops to kill Chonghouhu, Ji Chang, who had been tormented several times, was completely exhausted.
Ji Faling ascended the throne and gave his father the posthumous title of "King Wen", completely breaking off relations with Chaoge and trampling on the last bit of dignity of the King of Shang.
But these had little to do with Nezha, as his main job now was to help Jiang Ziya train his troops. Occasionally, when the Shang Dynasty sent unusual men and women to attack, he would take up his position as "vanguard officer" and take his friend Huang Tianhua with him to the battlefield.
Most of the time, he is idle.
So, what does Nezha do in his spare time?
——Send a message to Fuli and video call with Fuli.
After doing this many times, Nezha discovered a pattern, a pattern that made him very unhappy.
——It was clearly the same rhetoric, the same tone. When they were video chatting, Fu Li would always feel sorry for him and give in every time. But when they were texting, the effect was greatly reduced.
At first he didn't believe it and tried it several times, but finally he had to admit that his face had a huge killing power on Fu Li.
So, who does he look like?
Nezha touched his face and fell into deep thought.
After an unknown amount of time, a hand suddenly reached out from behind and patted him on the shoulder. Someone laughed and said, "Nezha, what are you daydreaming about?"
Nezha turned around and saw that it was Huang Tianhua. He immediately said angrily, "I always bring you along for good things. How could you be so scary?"
"Hey, I'm just kidding!" Huang Tianhua didn't hesitate at all. He jumped up and sat next to him. He tilted his head and asked him, chin in his hand, "I'm asking you seriously, what kind of trouble have you encountered? Your eyes are staring blankly for a long time without moving. It's really scary."
Nezha pondered for a moment, then suddenly sat up straight and asked Huang Tianhua to stand in front of him. Although Huang Tianhua didn't understand why, he still did it to relieve Nezha's worries.
"Okay, I'm standing here. What are you doing? You sound weird."
Huang Tianhua is a straightforward person, and he doesn't like to beat around the bush. Especially with people he knows and is close to, he always speaks his mind.
He really felt that Nezha was weird and a little neurotic today.
Nezha asked seriously, "Do you think I'm good-looking?"
"Ah?" Huang Tianhua's eyes widened, and he quickly reached out to touch his forehead. "No, you don't have a fever. Are you really having a seizure?"
Nezha slapped his claw down with a "pa" sound and glared at him unhappily: "I knew it was unreliable to find you." Then he turned and left.
"Hey, hey, where are you going?" Huang Tianhua jumped up and followed, insisting on walking side by side with Nezha. Although Nezha looked disgusted, he didn't seriously try to get rid of him.
Huang Tianhua followed Nezha for a while, but when he saw that he was just walking without saying where he was going, he became impatient and asked repeatedly, "Where are you going? Can't you use a magic trick? If you just walk on your own two feet, how long will it take you to get there?"
Nezha suddenly stopped, Huang Tianhua braked suddenly, took a few steps, and then took big steps back, waiting for Nezha to give him an answer.
"I didn't plan to go anywhere. I was just feeling upset, so I just wanted to take a walk."
Huang Tianhua: "...Are you still annoyed now? Shall we leave?"
After repeated actions, Nezha lost his temper and said jokingly, "I'm upset, not you. I'm just going about my business, why are you getting involved?"
Huang Tianhua said confidently: "We are good brothers. If you are unhappy, of course I have to accompany you. What if something happens to you?"
Nezha said stubbornly, "What can happen to me?" But he was deeply moved.
There was a clean stream not far away, so the two of them simply walked over and sat on a large rock on the west side. Nezha stared blankly at the fish swimming in the stream, while Huang Tianhua talked to himself nearby.
Among his topics, the one he mentioned most was his master, followed by his parents whom he had not seen for many years.
"A few years ago, my parents wrote to me, saying that I had a new brother. If I calculate carefully, my third brother is already seven or eight years old this year. I don't know what he looks like."
At that moment, a phone notification sounded. Almost simultaneously, they both pulled out their phones, opened the message screen, and searched for the person they had set the notification sound for.
But Nezha was disappointed, Fu Li did not send him any message.
Huang Tianhua stood up with a bang and said to Nezha happily, "Nezha, Nezha, my master has accepted a new disciple for me. I'll go back and see him when I'm free. We won't be needed for the next two days anyway, so why don't you accompany me to take a look?"
"Go back and take a look?" Nezha was stunned, then suddenly it became clear, "Yes, she doesn't want to see me, I can go back and see her!"
Thinking about the entanglement of these days, he suddenly felt that he was quite ridiculous.
What's so good about being stuck in a rut? Why did I suddenly get stuck in a rut?
"Good brother, thank you so much!" He patted Huang Tianhua's shoulder vigorously, stepped on the wind and fire wheels and flew towards the camp.
"Eh?" Huang Tianhua said, "Where are you going?"
Nezha's voice came from afar: "Ask Junior Brother Jiang for leave to take care of some personal matters."
Huang Tianhua finally realized what was going on and slapped his forehead, "That's right, we're in the military, we can't come and go as we please, we have to ask Brother Jiang for leave."
Jiang Ziya was writing a battle plan. They killed Chonghouhu, and the next person to come from Chaoge would most likely be Wen Taishi.
In addition, the death of a Fangbo also made the Shang generals mourn and likely to feel a sense of solidarity against the enemy. This is also something that needs to be paid attention to and prepared in advance.
The first to come was naturally Nezha, who told Jiang Ziya that he needed two days off to take care of some personal matters. Jiang Ziya agreed, but only told him to keep an eye on his phone for messages. If Wen Zhong arrived early, his vacation would also end early.
"Of course, don't worry, Junior Brother Jiang." Nezha readily agreed. Before leaving, he suddenly asked, "Who do I look like?"
Jiang Ziya looked at him suspiciously. Seeing his stubborn expression, as if he was determined to get an answer, he hesitated and said, "Does he look like your father? Or more like your mother? I've never seen your two brothers, so I don't know if he looks like them."
Nezha didn't know whether he reacted too quickly or really knew nothing, so he just smiled and said, "I think my two brothers will be here soon." After that, he walked out of the tent.
Jiang Ziya watched him leave, then immediately took out his cell phone to send a message to Fu Li, reporting Nezha's unusual words and actions.
Fu Li on the other end hesitated for a long time before replying to him: You don’t have to worry about this matter, I know what’s going on.
Hearing her say this, Jiang Ziya felt relieved.
Now King Wen has passed away, and Ji Fa has succeeded to the throne, calling himself King Wu.
This was an ambitious title. Shang Tang, who overthrew the Xia Dynasty and laid the foundation for the Shang Dynasty, was also honored with the title of King Wu.
The transition between the old and new generations of monarchs is accompanied not only by the transfer of supreme power, but often also by a reshuffle of officials at all levels.
King Wu certainly had to rely on the important ministers left by King Wen, but he might not necessarily like to use them.
Ever since his elder brother Ji was admitted to Chaoge, Ji Fa knew that Ji Zhou's great cause would fall on his shoulders in the future, and he has also initially established his own team in the past few years.
How could those who had followed Jifa from the beginning be willing to remain subordinate to the old ministers? Jifa, of course, would prefer his confidants to occupy important positions.
At this time, the person who had to endure the greatest test was Shen Gongbao, the head of the civil service. He had to balance the power of both sides, twist all the forces into one rope, and work together with one mind and one strength.
Fortunately, the uncle and nephew arrived relatively late, and although they were talents discovered by King Wen, they were not considered King Wen's confidants.
When King Wen was alive, their position was somewhat awkward. Now that King Wen is dead, they have become a ready-made glue, as they have something to do with both sides.
Jiang Ziya watched secretly, and seeing that Shen Gongbao was doing a good job, he did not interfere in political affairs and concentrated on dealing with the upcoming war.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
