Chapter 568: Situation

Yan Liqiang exited the Yan Residence after bidding farewell to Yan Dechang. It was still cold, but it was no longer snowing today.

Yan Liqiang looked up at the sky, then patted Goldie, who had followed him out from home, on its head. He didn’t bring any escorts, only Goldie who was bouncing around in front of him among the snow while they made their way to the archery academy.

As usual, the archery academy stood in its stillness. Although it had been snowing for the past few days, the students had cleaned the plaza outside and the smaller paths every day. The path was lined with plum blossoms planted by Yan Liqiang and the students and they were in full bloom since two days ago. Beside the plaza was a forest of plum blossoms that emitted pleasant fragrances. The forest was so beautiful that it attracted many tourists who came for flower viewing.

The students lined up in two rows and stood straight on both sides of the archery academy’s entrance.

“HALT!” A student who was standing guard at the entrance stopped Yan Liqiang when he approached. After taking a look at Yan Liqiang and Goldie who was beside him, he spoke to him with a serious face. “Please go over there for flower viewing. Unauthorized personnel are prohibited from entering the archery academy!”

Yan Liqiang observed the students who were on guard duty. The new faces were around seventeen or eighteen years old, and they were brimming with energy. Without a doubt, these were students from the new intake. This year, the students that the archery academy was recruiting were no longer restricted to Pingxi Prefecture; they were also welcoming students from Gan Province and the northwestern region now. Since Yan Liqiang was trapped underground during this year’s recruitment, he had to let Shi Changfeng handle everything.

Yan Liqiang secretly nodded in approval at the students who were standing straight by the archery academy’s entrance. Just by looking at their physique and temperament, he could tell that they had been well trained over the past few months in the academy. Their discipline also suggested that they possessed the quality of an archery academy student.

“I wish to enter,” Yan Liqiang told them calmly.

“The archery academy does not accept tourists!” The young man firmly shook his head.

Yan Liqiang scratched his head. He was the one who set the rules here, but here he was, being stopped by a few people who had never seen him at the archery academy’s entrance. He was at a loss for words. He did have an identity pass to freely enter and exit the place, but he had left it in his room inside the archery academy when he was going to cause some disruption on Gulang Plains. When he left, he didn’t expect he would stay for half a year there. Now that he had returned, he ran into a bit of trouble.

Yan Liqiang thought for a moment, then told the young man, “I wish to meet Master Shi Changfeng. Please notify him at once!”

The students guarding at the entrance were shocked when they heard the young man who was about their age requesting to meet Master Shi of the archery academy as soon as he got there. ‘How bold of this person! Who does he think he is? Even if the Pingxi Prefectural Governor came to our archery academy, he wouldn’t be given any preferential treatment!’ they thought to themselves.

The few students exchanged glances with each other and communicated with their eyes.

“What’s your name? What business do you have with Master Shi?”

Yan Liqiang rubbed his nose, then smiled at the young men who were staring at him. “My name is Yan Liqiang. I’m here to find Shi Changfeng so that he can bring me inside as I’ve left my identity pass inside!”

“AH…?!” The new students instantly widened their eyes as they looked at the young man standing before them in disbelief. This boy who looked like them turned out to be the best archer in the northwestern region, the youngest Heavenly Master Craftsmith in the Great Han Empire’s history, the Baron of the First Rank and also the Archery Master to the Crown Prince…

They’d heard so much about Yan Liqiang. Now that he was standing before them in the flesh, they were stunned. They found it hard to believe that the smiling young man standing in front of them with a huge golden dog was actually a famous individual and their idol.

“Liqiang!” Just when the students on guard duty were in a daze, a surprised voice rang out from inside the door. The voice belonged to none other than Shi Changfeng.

Yan Liqiang immediately smiled when he saw Shi Changfeng.

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Shi Changfeng was riding on his rhinodrake steed, wearing a fur coat, and leading a team of guards with bows. It seemed like they were about to go out.

The guards who followed Shi Changfeng were seniors from the archery academy. When they saw Yan Liqiang, they immediately exclaimed happily, “Ah, the headmaster is back!”

Upon seeing Yan Liqiang at the entrance, Shi Changfeng and all the guards dismounted their steeds and flocked toward him.

“Greetings, Headmaster!”

After discovering Yan Liqiang’s identity, the students at the entrance hurriedly bowed to him with an embarrassed expression on their faces.

“No worries, all of you are just doing your job. I am very happy to see that all of you are doing a good job!” Yan Liqiang gave some words of encouragement to the students on guard duty, then turned to look at Shi Changfeng. “I was just about to send them to notify you. Are you going out?”

Shi Changfeng seemed relieved. “You’ve just returned. Let us go in and talk!”

Yan Liqiang nodded. “Alright, let’s go in!”

Seeing Yan Liqiang’s return, Shi Changfeng naturally canceled his plans of going out and went back inside the archery academy with Yan Liqiang.

…

“What? The imperial court is about to wage a war on the Gulang Plains?!” Yan Liqiang stood up in shock with a cup of hot tea in his hands.

Shi Changfeng set down the teapot as the expression on his face grew serious. “Ever since the Dark Razor Tribe started the war with the Dark Wood Tribe, there had been such talk in the Imperial Capital. Rumor has it that it was a letter from the Dark Razor Tribe that made Lin Qingtian deploy soldiers to the Gulang Plains on his own accord to aid them in suppressing the Dark Wood Tribe’s rebellion. I’m sure you’ve heard of this already!”

“Indeed, I did.” Yan Liqiang nodded.

“But too many people opposed it. His Majesty refused to aid them. No one from the northwestern region is willing to be Shatu’s cat’s paw either. However, the situation is different now. The Dark Wood Tribe is trying to drive away the wolves with tigers for the sake of self-defense by luring the Dark Ram Tribe people to Gulang Plains. This has changed the nature of conflict between Dark Wood and Dark Razor Tribes. This is no longer an internal strife among the Shatu Seven Tribes as the Dark Ram Tribe got involved and is trying to get their hands on the Gulang Plains too.

“The Gulang Plains is still nominally part of the Great Han Empire’s territories. The Shatu Seven Tribes is also nominally a subject of the Great Han Empire. With the appearance of the Dark Ram Tribe, the northwestern region and Imperial Capital no longer had any reason to refuse sending armies to the Gulang Plains. Some time ago, Lin Qingtian passed a resolution in the imperial court, calling for the deployment of troops to the Gulang Plains. He also appointed Anxi General to lead the troops. The official document from the Ministry of War had reached Pingxi Prefecture yesterday. The Prefectural Governor had sent a letter to the archery academy, requesting for my presence in Pingxi Prefecture for a discussion…”

Yan Liqiang’s knitted his brows together. It was no surprise that Shi Changfeng’s information would be more detailed than Yu Qing’s. “Other than waging a war on the Gulang Plains, what other plans does Lin Qingtian have?”

“A large troop will be mobilized, and army provisions will be prioritized. After all, deploying troops to Gulang Plains will require money. The Ministry of Revenue and the Ministry of War are short on funds and are struggling to cope with the army’s expenses, so Lin Qingtian passed a resolution in the imperial court to start increasing tax for every province for ‘defensive tax’. Not only that, but he is also going to select a few provinces to start forming militias as backups for the Great Han Empire’s army as safety measures!”

Yan Liqiang was stunned as soon as he heard that. Goddammit, Lin Qingtian was really going to implement a defensive tax in the end.

Yan Liqiang had changed history to a certain extent. The Great Han Empire’s Southeastern Navy General Zheng Huaian’s life was spared, and naturally the pirates never appeared along the southeastern coast. Lin Qingtian’s plans for the southeastern coast were completely foiled by Yan Liqiang through Zheng Huaian. For the past one year, the defensive tax that should have been implemented in the Great Han Empire and the militias that should have been formed in the provinces along the southeastern coast never happened.

Yet, Yan Liqiang didn’t expect the wheels of history to be this powerful. It brought back Lin Qingtian’s plans for defensive taxes again through the chaos in the Gulang Plains after delaying it for more than a year. Not only that, but he still had a valid reason for imposing it. Anyone who dared to oppose it would be dubbed as a criminal who wished for the Great Han Empire to be invaded by outsiders. There was no need to wonder what the collected defensive taxes would be spent on and where the militias would be formed. Given Lin Qingtian’s schemes and deep foresight, the defensive taxes would ultimately go to the Great Han Empire’s southeastern provinces like Hai, Tu, Hong and Yu Provinces, which were under his jurisdiction.

Although the Heavenly Tribulation wasn’t here yet, signs of the Great Han Empire falling apart were starting to show. However, at this moment in time, no one could see through Lin Qingtian’s plans yet…

The most ironic part was that Lin Qiangtian was actually doing all this under the disguise of a virtuous cause for the nation and its people.