Chapter 117: The Market (Part 1) [Requesting Monthly Tickets]
Shen Tang couldn't help but mutter to himself.
"No wonder..."
Qi Shan, with his sharp ears, asked, "What do you mean, 'no wonder'?"
Zhai Le also looked over upon hearing this. Shen Tang said, "You're saying that even a fifth-rank official can start preparing to build their own private retinue? No wonder it's no wonder that over a hundred countries have been divided up, leaving the world in ruins. As long as a martial artist has ambition, isn't it easy to cause trouble?"
Zhai Le couldn't help but defend the reputation of the valiant martial artist.
"The current situation really has little to do with martial artists."
Qi Shan also couldn't bear to look at it.
He chuckled, "Do you really think martial artists are so powerful? That they can seize power and rule a region just by raising a private retinue? It's not that easy! If it were, there wouldn't be a hundred kingdoms, but thousands, even tens of thousands, and every town and village could be a country. Besides, how easy is it to train a private retinue? Many martial artists can't even support themselves..."
Shen Tang: "...That bad?"
Qi Shan said, "Yes, it's terrible."
Shen Tang replied, "I don't believe it."
"Since Young Master Shen doesn't believe me, let me do the math for you."
A valiant warrior wants to carve out his own territory?
Shouldn't we start training our private army?
The first hurdle is the expense of practicing martial arts and tempering one's body. Not to mention lavish meals, meat is essential, and for those who want to be more extravagant, medicinal herbs are also necessary to maximize one's potential.
The second hurdle is the cost of feeding, drinking, and relieving oneself of hundreds of people. Training soldiers and practicing martial arts is extremely physically demanding. If there's no oil or meat in their bowls, how can they build up their strength? How can they win a war without strength?
Eating alone can bankrupt a person.
Did you think that was the end of it?
No, no, no, there are still many hurdles ahead.
The third hurdle is that the private troops must learn various military formations and be able to respond and adapt to the command of their commander. This cannot be learned in a day or two; it requires years of hard training and practice.
The fourth hurdle is the assistance of the spirit of words. This requires not only the general's martial spirit and military spirit of words, but also the assistance of the scholar's literary spirit of words.
Only by combining the two can we maximize strengths and minimize weaknesses.
Now that everything's settled, are we ready to go to the battlefield?
No, no, no, there's one last and most important dish.
Shen Tang listened attentively, and couldn't help but speak up: "Is there something even more important? Training the troops well isn't enough?"
"Naturally not enough."
"What's most important?"
"The Imperial Seal!"
The first few hurdles can be overcome with money, but the last one is truly baffling; no amount of spending money can solve it.
"The Imperial Seal...is it really that important?"
Shen Tang had heard Qi Shan mention the Imperial Seal more than once, but she had never been very interested in it and had never really looked into it. She decided to take this opportunity to find out more about it.
This time, Qi Shan didn't deliberately hide anything or avoid talking about it.
How important is the national seal to a power?
It was so important that if a general were to go to battle, either the general himself or the ruler he served possessed the imperial seal; otherwise, going to battle was tantamount to handing warmth to the enemy. It concerned not only the "way of the feudal lords," but also defending against foreign enemies and safeguarding the nation's destiny.
How to defend against external enemies?
Based on the national spirit and destiny, we will build a strong national border barrier.
The stronger a nation's fortunes, the stronger its border defenses.
If you can't even break through this, how can you expect to conquer cities and seize territory?
Go wash up and go to bed early.
How to safeguard the nation's destiny?
There's no concrete explanation for this; it falls into the realm of the mysterious and esoteric. For example, it could imperceptibly reduce the frequency of various natural disasters within the territory… Of course, this only applies to natural conditions.
They can control natural disasters but not man-made ones.
If the grandson of the person upstream deliberately cuts off the river before the rainy season, causing drought downstream, and then releases water to flood the downstream area when the rainy season arrives, even the strongest nation can't do anything about such manipulation.
Simply put, having the Imperial Seal grants you the most basic and complete buff. Without it, you lack this benefit, putting you far behind others. Going into battle naked, even a rank 20 Marquis would get utterly thrashed.
Want to seize a mountain and then raise a flag to become king?
dream!
After hearing the description, Shen Tang was speechless.
Only one thought remained in my mind—good heavens, this is some kind of "City Building Token" or "Guild Building Token" thing?!
All of the above fully illustrates the difficulty of martial arts factions establishing their own territories.
Zhai Le added, "The true strength of a martial artist lies on the battlefield, not in one-on-one combat. In one-on-one combat, they are essentially no different from wandering knights. At most, they are a little more capable than ordinary wandering knights, able to fight ten, a hundred, or even a thousand opponents..."
Sounds scary, right?
But since the descent of the thieving star, in over two hundred years, only three people have achieved the rank of Marquis of the twentieth grade! Those of the fifteenth grade or higher with known names number only a little over a thousand. Compared to the population of the mainland over these two hundred years, this number is merely a drop in the ocean; how could it possibly influence the overall situation?
If Qi Shan hadn't been there, he would have even considered shifting the blame—
In today's world, it is clear that the responsibilities of scholars and writers are even greater.
Shen Tang sighed, "That's still terrifying."
Low-level martial arts practitioners are alright; at most, they are martial artists with some fighting ability. Mid- to high-level martial arts practitioners, however, have strength that far exceeds that of ordinary people and are aiming for high-level martial arts.
It's really tough for ordinary people to survive.
Perhaps engrossed in their conversation, Qi Shan didn't notice the grunting and squealing in her ears until they were almost down the mountain. Her face darkened, and she looked down to see the brat still holding the two black pigs on a leash—
They actually led a black pig all the way down the mountain!!!
He glanced at Shen Tang, his smile forced and insincere.
"Young Master Shen?"
Are you really going to lead a big black pig to recruit people?
Shen Tang shook her head vigorously: "No! It's a hundred or two hundred pounds of meat, I absolutely won't abandon it!"
Qi Shan: "..."
He can't even control Shen Tang, so how could he possibly control Zhai Le?
Qi Shan had no choice but to swallow her anger and, with her two unruly children and two black-faced beasts, headed straight for the small town near Xiaocheng.
Although it's called a small town, it's actually made up of about twenty scattered, impoverished villages, totaling no more than a thousand households.
Today happens to be the monthly "big market".
Despite being called a "big market," it didn't sell many legitimate goods.
The most abundant commodity is people.
Along the simple, dusty mud road, under the low mud-walled houses, "goods" of varying ages stood, sat, or lay, with straw stuck in their hair. Some were brought in by brokers, some were selling themselves, and some were "family workshops."
The so-called "family workshops" are places where parents sell their children, husbands sell their wives and children, and children sell their parents... The full spectrum of human nature is vividly portrayed in this small place. However, not all of them are heartless and driven by greed for money when they sell their relatives.
Shen Tang then saw a mother who was so thin that her cheeks were sunken and her eyes were deeply sunken. She was holding her son tightly and begging passersby to buy him. She said she would do whatever she wanted to be beaten or scolded, as long as she could have some food to eat.
The child was dressed in rags, clearly emaciated from hunger, with his ribs clearly visible, his arms and legs so thin that the outline of his bones was discernible, yet his belly was as large as that of a woman six or seven months pregnant.
She couldn't bear to look away: "Yuanliang...he is..."
Qi Shan said, "The person is beyond saving."
Zhai Le couldn't bear it either, and sighed, "It must be because he ate too much dirt, which accumulated in his intestines and stomach, causing problems later on, and he just died..."
The three of them, Shen Tang and his companions, were dressed in a way that was completely out of place among the local people. The two fat and intimidating black-faced men attracted a lot of attention, and even passersby couldn't help but make way for them.
Constipation (or simply constipation) is a condition that is difficult to resolve afterward.
Thank you everyone for your monthly votes this month, I am very grateful.
Although it's a little disappointing that we didn't get first place, this ranking was achieved through everyone's hard work and votes. For Shiitake Mushroom, it's better than first place. Thank you everyone.
P.S.: Thank you to the new admin Liang Tutu, and thank you so much to all the readers who voted for me! Thanks (ω)
P.S.: I'll be working harder and updating more in October!
(End of this chapter)
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