Chapter 525
Our Discord Server: https://discord.gg/PazjBDkTmW
You can buy coins here to unlock advanced chapters: https://gravitytales.com/coins-purchase-page/
Chapter 525: Spring and Autumn?
Lin Jiang followed Mo Zhai back to their village Shihao Village. As soon as they entered the village, Lin Jiang heard cries coming from all over the village, it was as if the whole village was in tears.
The mournful and helpless cries touched Lin Jiang, even though he had a heart as tough as iron forged through disasters. It softened him a little.
Lin Jiang quickly learned why they were crying. Some cried because their young men had been forcefully taken away, their fate uncertain and future bleak. Others cried because news had come back that their young men who were taken away previously had died in battle. Now, Shihao Village was left with only the elderly, weak, women, and children.
Mo Zhai brought Lin Jiang to his home, where he also saw his mother and young sister crying in distress. They had witnessed Mo Zhai’s father being taken away forcefully yesterday.
"Mother, Mother, I’m back."
"This is…"
"Mother, this is the big brother we met in the mountains. He treated us to meat. Big brother had nowhere to go, so I brought him home with us."
"Turns out our guest is above, Zhai’er. Mother, go cook to entertain the guest."
Mo Zhai’s mother saw Lin Jiang’s distinguished manner and thought he was an important guest. She hurried to cook, but when she got to the kitchen, she saw that there was only a bit of rice left in the jar, making it difficult to even make a watery porridge.
"Auntie, don’t trouble yourself too much. We already ate when we came back. It’s rude of me to visit empty-handed. Please wait a moment, Auntie. Let me go back to the mountains to bring you a gift."
Lin Jiang, understanding the difficult situation in Mo Zhai’s home, quickly turned and left after speaking, and Mo Zhai couldn’t stop him.
Leaving the village, Lin Jiang immediately used his light skill to enter the mountains again. After searching for an hour, Lin Jiang found a deer, easily captured it. But the deer was not large. Lin Jiang thought for a moment, then directly bled the deer, intentionally exposing the fresh blood to the sun. Before long, the foul odor attracted many wild animals.
When Lin Jiang returned, he held a deer drained of blood in his left hand, carried a wild boar on his shoulder, and had a fox, weasel, and other wild animals hanging from his waist. It was a big harvest indeed.
Dressed like this, Lin Jiang entered the village, and when Mo Zhai and the others saw him, they were stunned. The wild boar on Lin Jiang’s shoulder probably weighed two to three hundred pounds.
"Auntie, this is the gift I brought for Shihao Village. Let everyone share the meat."
"Ah"
"Mo Zhai, go call for help"
Lin Jiang said, and Mo Zhai didn’t hesitate. He immediately called the people outside to come and started to share the meat, including the two boys from before.
Lin Jiang hid in the crowd, watching the people from Shihao Village sharing the meat. Among the dozens of households, except for some old men who seemed almost too old to walk, Mo Zhai and his two friends were surprisingly the oldest men there, with only women and children left.
When the smell of the meat filled Shihao Village, something bad happened. A group of dozens of soldiers surrounded the village.
"Such a tasty meat!"
An officer walked into Mo Zhai’s house and saw the meat in the pot. He was overjoyed, thinking about catching some strong men and enjoying a good meal.
The officer reached out to grab the meat from the pot, but suddenly a chopstick flew and pierced through his hand, making him yell in pain.
The officer’s scream attracted the other soldiers, who quickly gathered at Mo Zhai’s doorstep. Lin Jiang appeared at this moment and slowly forced the officer out of Mo Zhai’s house.
"Who are you, dare to hurt our school’s captain?"
"It’s been a long time since I fought someone. Today, I’ll treat you like a punching bag, come on!"
Lin Jiang casually grabbed a wooden stick from Mo Zhai’s house and said to the captain.
"Kill him for me."
The captain roared, and the two soldiers behind him with bows shot arrows first. Lin Jiang easily deflected the arrows, then charged into the group of soldiers.
Lin Jiang didn’t use lethal force, just fiercely beat them with the stick. Almost every soldier got hit more than ten times, leading to broken bones. Soon, the soldiers started treating the ground as a cozy bed, happily chatting and singing.
The villagers on the side were once again stunned, watching this scene with wide eyes and open mouths.
Without much thought, Lin Jiang dragged the captain to Mo Zhai’s house, asking Mo Zhai to watch the door and not let anyone disturb them.
Without using any coercion, the captain was already scared witless. He answered whatever Lin Jiang asked, through which Lin Jiang roughly understood the current situation.
The Xia Kingdom still exists, but some say it doesn’t because it has lost its power. The tribes that used to be part of the Xia Kingdom have become separate kingdoms, and now they are fighting each other to take over. Right now, there are more than ten separate kingdoms, and the one where Shihao Village is located is called the Zheng Kingdom, which has been around for over two hundred years.
The Zheng Kingdom is not very strong, and it was attacked by the powerful Qi Kingdom last year. Despite their efforts to defend themselves, the Zheng Kingdom kept losing. Now, the Zheng Kingdom is trying to capture young men across the whole country to resist the attacks from the Qi Kingdom. The group of soldiers responsible for capturing young men and enslaving them in Shihao Village.
Of course, this captain is also a lower-ranking officer, so he doesn’t know much about the history of the Xia Kingdom or the current situation. The information he has is also outdated.
"The Xia Kingdom’s power has declined, the separate kingdoms are rising, and they are fighting each other. Doesn’t this remind you of the Spring and Autumn Period?"
Lin Jiang muttered to himself that there was too much missing information. But looking at it now, the present Xia Kingdom isn’t much different from the historical Spring and Autumn Period.
"If a person from Shihao Village dies, I will kill a hundred officials from the Zheng Kingdom. Remember my words."
Lin Jiang left these words behind and slowly rose up in front of everyone’s eyes, walking forward step by step as if stepping on thin air.
"Martial Saint…"
The captain and his soldiers looked stunned, watching Lin Jiang’s figure in disbelief. How could there be a Martial Saint in the Zheng Kingdom? If there was a Martial Saint, why would they be bullied by the Qi Kingdom?
·······
In Zheng Kingdom’s capital city, tired Shizheng returned home from the royal palace. His servants had prepared ink and paper for him to write about today’s events in court – which was his daily task.
Shizheng was feeling very upset today. Qi Kingdom had attacked and Zheng Kingdom had lost. The war faction in court was losing power, while the surrender faction was gaining influence. Today, the surrender faction proposed giving land to Qi Kingdom in exchange for Qi Kingdom withdrawing its troops. The King of Zheng Kingdom was tempted to agree.
"After more than two hundred years, Zheng Kingdom’s prosperity may come to an end. Oh…"
Shizheng sighed deeply. Even as a humble historian, he knew that Zheng Kingdom was in trouble. With its small territory, giving away land meant little chance of recovery. Perhaps, the next time Qi Kingdom attacked, Zheng Kingdom would be wiped out for good.
After finishing his daily record, Shizheng looked up to find his servant had fainted and a stranger standing before him.
"Who are you, and do you know where we are?"
"I know. I came here to talk to you."
"Hmph, Shizheng doesn’t negotiate with thieves."
"How can you call me a thief when nothing is missing from your house?"
"This is my home, you entered without permission, are you a thief?"
"Haha, as the historian said, I’ll just come back again."
Lin Jiang smiled, then vanished in front of Stell, leaving him stunned.
"Sir, there’s someone outside seeking an audience."
Before long, a servant came to report, leaving Stell puzzled, then had the visitor escorted in.
"Sir Stell, this time you invited me in, so I’m not a thief, right?"
"Who are you, sir?"
"Just a man from the countryside."
"What brings you to me?"
"After staying in the mountains for a long time, I am not aware of the latest news in the world. You are the historian of Zheng Kingdom, so I specially came to seek your advice."
"Then you should look for the Prime Minister of Zheng Kingdom, he knows about the major events in the world."
"I also want to learn about the history of Xia Kingdom, so I must come to you, right?"
"You’ve found the right person."
Shi Zheng nodded, he looked Lin Jiang up and down, noticing his young face, as if he was still a boy, and not like some virtuous hermit living in the mountains.
"Your Excellency, please tell me about the history of Xia Kingdom, starting from Emperor Xia."
Lin Jiang said, then bowed to Sir Zheng. Sir Zheng was someone Lin Jiang greatly admired, even as a villain, he was always polite.
