YA Ch73: The Curse
After a period of development, Hua Wenyuan had accumulated enough strength and was ready to expand his territory.
Currently, they only controlled Jiangzhou and a few counties. To expand, they naturally had to start with the neighboring prefectures of Jiangzhou. Hua Wenyuan’s finger traced the map, hesitating between Yuanzhou and Raozhou.
Raozhou was wealthy. If they took it first, they would have money and grain, making it easy to conquer Yuanzhou. But the Hua family was in Yuanzhou, and if they attacked Raozhou first, the Hua family would be in danger, and the emperor might get angry and order Hua’s father to be arrested.
Unlike previous excuses of “quelling rebellions” or “disaster relief,” this time, they were actively attacking to expand their territory. No matter where they attacked first, it would alert the imperial court.
While Hua Wenyuan was still indecisive, Shen Ying spoke up and made the decision for him: “In my humble opinion, we should attack Yuanzhou first. Although Raozhou has no stationed troops, its prefect, Lin Chongnian, is quite capable. He would surely gather local militias to fiercely resist, making it time-consuming to take. It would be better to take Yuanzhou first, then I could use a strategy to create discord among the influential families of Raozhou, who would impeach Lin Chongnian. By the time you conquer Yuanzhou, Raozhou would fall without a fight.”
Hua Wenyuan gave Shen Ying a long look and nodded, “Then we’ll go with your plan, sir.”
With the decision on where to strike first settled, the next step was to discuss the details.
They were currently occupying Jiangzhou Prefecture, and the prefect’s office had become Hua Wenyuan’s place of work and residence.
The Jiangzhou prefect was a coward without much backbone. The day Hua Wenyuan took Jiangzhou, he fled immediately. He had been appointed to the position from outside, with no family in the area, so he left behind an empty yamen and the nearly sixty-year-old vice prefect. He simply ran off, claiming he was going to seek help from the provincial governor.
However, half a year had passed, and there had been no word from the provincial governor’s side, leaving Hua Wenyuan to occupy the place freely.
The vice prefect was a local and too old to flee, so he had thrown in his lot with Hua Wenyuan. Now, in this council hall, aside from Shen Ying, the vice prefect was the highest-ranking official, while the rest were local scholars of Jiangzhou.
Hua Wenyuan had only occupied one prefecture, so the future was still unclear. At most, a few scholars who had repeatedly failed the imperial exams came to seek refuge, but the more successful degree holders did not deign to join the rebels.
Once Hua Wenyuan left, one of the scholars worriedly said, “Lord Shen, you shouldn’t have spoken like that. Such underhanded tactics could have been entrusted to us to communicate; there’s no need to risk causing the general’s suspicion.”
Shen Ying smiled, “No need to worry. The general is not one to harbor petty doubts.”
In truth, Hua Wenyuan hadn’t gone far. His hearing was exceptional, and he clearly heard the conversation inside the room. He shook his head in resignation. These scholars were still narrow-minded; he needed to find more capable people.
As he was pondering this, he spotted his second uncle, Lu Yu, practicing spear techniques in the garden.
A single move, the Turning Horse Spear, was performed skillfully. The more Hua Wenyuan watched, the more something felt off. Why was his second uncle repeatedly practicing the same move, Turning Horse Spear, over and over, without any variations?
Ming Yan sat bored at a stone table nearby, also watching, “Are you only practicing this one move?”
Lu Yu nodded, “Mm-hmm.” He pointed to his waist, indicating that he was working on strengthening his abs. With a candy in his mouth, he tried to speak less. After a couple more rounds, he excitedly ran over to Ming Yan to have her wipe his sweat.
“You’re not even sweating,” Ming Yan touched his forehead and pinched his cheek, “It feels hard to the touch, still quite realistic.”
The system was even able to detect the hard object in Lu Yu’s mouth and provide real-time feedback to his teammates when poked.
Lu Yu smacked his lips, “Maybe it even mimics the taste. Why don’t you try and see if it’s sweet?”
Ming Yan pushed him, “Don’t talk nonsense, Xiao Yuan is watching.”
Lu Yu turned around and saw Hua Wenyuan standing behind a rockery, waving for him to come over and have tea.
“Second Uncle, I plan to attack Yuanzhou first and take control of the Hua family’s territory.” Hua Wenyuan walked over and shared his decision.
Lu Yu responded absentmindedly, “Sounds good.”
He originally had a lot of nonsense to say.
Talking nonsense to Hua Wenyuan was a form of training, training his conversational responsiveness. It was akin to the kind of real-world dialogue training done by Lu Dongdong and Shen Baishui, but inside the simulator, it could accelerate Hua Wenyuan’s growth. By the time the entire novel livestream concluded, Hua Wenyuan’s intelligent brain would basically be fully developed. It wouldn’t take as long as Lu Dongdong, who had needed over a year of training to communicate smoothly.
But today, his throat hurt, so he didn’t speak much.
However, in Hua Wenyuan’s view, this behavior suggested a lack of concern. Seeing his second uncle so leisurely, Hua Wenyuan felt an inexplicable annoyance and said, “Second Uncle, why don’t you lead the attack on Yuanzhou? Father will surely be quite surprised.”
Lu Yu shook his head, “No, no, you must be the one to lead the attack on Yuanzhou.”
Seeing that Hua Wenyuan remained unmoved, Second Uncle Lu was left with no choice but to launch into a long-winded speech.
“Think about it; Yuanzhou is full of people you know. When they see you full of vigor, ready to take their lives at any moment, those who offended you or looked down on you will be scared to death! Especially the Cheng family, who called off the engagement—they’ll surely kneel and beg for forgiveness,” Lu Yu struck a heroic pose with one hand on his waist, “Then you can say to them, ‘Thirty years on the east side of the river, thirty years on the west side—never underestimate a poor youth!’1Author’s Note: “Thirty years on the east side of the river, thirty years on the west side—never underestimate a poor youth.” From The Scholars (《儒林外史》) Cough, cough, cough…“
Getting carried away, Lu Yu talked too much and ended up choking on the candy.
Ming Yan came over to pat his back, laughing as she said, “Don’t listen to your second uncle’s nonsense. The general must maintain his image; saying such triumphant words would only make you a laughingstock.”
Hua Wenyuan smiled and nodded, “I understand, Uncle.”
As they joked and laughed, Shen Ying, having finished assigning tasks to the scholars, walked out, and Hua Wenyuan called out to him.
Today, Shen Ying was dressed in a new outfit gifted by the viewers, a light green, wide-sleeved spring robe, looking as delicate as the fresh willows of March. He turned and saluted Hua Wenyuan with proper etiquette, “General.”
For some reason, Hua Wenyuan paused for a moment before warmly saying, “I know, sir, that it’s for the sake of the Hua family that you advised me to attack Yuanzhou first.”
Shen Ying’s naturally charming eyes curved as he smiled and said, “What I said was not to comfort you, General. Lin Chongnian came from humble beginnings and is upright and incorruptible, often clashing with the powerful families of Raozhou. If we attack Yuanzhou, Lin Chongnian will surely rush to recruit militias to prepare for battle. With no surplus grain in the spring, he’ll have to borrow grain and money from the influential families, which will surely lead to serious conflicts.”
Hua Wenyuan nodded.
“However,” Shen Ying’s tone suddenly shifted, “even without these reasons, General, you should still attack Yuanzhou first to protect the Hua family. The homeland of emperors should be kept safe and secure. If you don’t even care for your own family, General, then why are you conquering the world? To practice archery?”
Hua Wenyuan burst out laughing, “So, sir, you do know how to joke.”
Shen Ying shook his light, wide sleeves, bowed to Ming Yan in the distance, and smiled, “I’ve already gotten used to being seventeen years old. The General should show a bit of youthful vigor too.”
Lu Yu listened to their conversation, and suddenly Soldier A leaned in and said, “The original text doesn’t have that line. Did you add a line for Shen Ying?”
“No,” Lu Yu immediately denied, “It’s just that Hua Wenyuan is talking more, so Shen Ying is talking more too.”
He wouldn’t tell his older brother that Shen Ying’s data had been activated. This was a carrot dangling from Hong Wuyang for their joint effort and couldn’t be revealed before his older brother had finished the grind. Indeed, this was also a case of learning and applying in real-time.
Soldier A understood: “Is it really that amazing? Can I say something to Shen Ying?”
“No,” Lu Yu cruelly refused, scaring him, “Shen Ying has a photographic memory. If he remembers you, if you die later, you won’t be able to come back to life.”
His older brother could only sulk and stay silent.
The audience in the live stream was stunned.
[The top supporter can still come back to life? This treatment is too good!]
[I hate rich people, sob sob.]
[Someone bring in a villain to kill the top supporter. It’s not that I hate the rich, I just want to see how he comes back to life.]
The army marched out, and after a fierce battle, they finally arrived at the gates of Yuanzhou.
Hong Wuyang, like Ming Yan, was a wealthy young master who had learned horse riding from a young age. He successfully became Soldier A, following Lu Yu and excitedly charging into battle without a scratch.
Yuanzhou had a small number of officials and soldiers, with the highest-ranking military officer being Old Master Hua. With his half-blind eyes, Old Master Hua donned his armor and stood on the city wall, trembling with anger: “Rebel! How dare you! Do you have any regard for the ancestors of the Hua family, or for the four uncles and two brothers who died in battle for the country?”
Lu Yu raised his hand and shouted: “I do! I agree!”
Old Master Hua, having been injured in the eyes, couldn’t see clearly: “Who are you?”
Lu Yu recited passionately, “I am your second brother, Hua Shengmi!”
“Nonsense!” Old Master Hua drew his bow and shot.
Lu Yu was startled and immediately ducked to avoid it. However, the half-blind Old Master Hua was inaccurate, and the arrow missed Lu Yu by a hair’s breadth. Perhaps due to the curse from the wealth-hating audience, with a “thunk,” it hit Soldier A, who was watching the excitement.
Hong Wuyang stared blankly at the arrow piercing through his chest: “No way.”
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