Chapter 519 — Sharing the Cooked Dragon Fish, a Guest Comes on a Starry Night
The Herdsman of the Wasteland · Page 1 of 5
"A revolution in the art of war is imminent!
" the Duke of Wei suddenly exclaimed.
Hearing this, the Heavenly Strategist General and the others nodded one after another. Shen Mu, together with the countless scholars and the adepts of the Daoist and Buddhist sects and the Little Jade Capital, had been messing about with this so-called Primordial Spirit Council. The adepts laughed and frolicked, taking it for great fun, but the shock it dealt to these generals who commanded armies was beyond compare. Since ancient times, the battlefield changed in an instant, and maintaining contact between an army in the field and the reinforcements, provisions, and the emperor behind it had always been a great problem.
In the past, the Imperial Preceptor of Jingping had built flying vessels, causing tower ships to fly through the air, and had created land-going boats and laid down roads, allowing the various regions to travel back and forth swiftly. Apart from benefits to the people's livelihood, the purpose was to transmit messages. It was precisely by virtue of this geographic advantage and superiority in the air that Jingping's dominions had grown ever larger. Yet as Jingping's borders widened and its lands grew ever more vast, the time needed to transmit messages grew ever longer, and the time required for armies to reach the frontiers grew longer as well.
Shen Mu had improved the alchemical furnace of the tower ships, which could increase their speed, but every message sent devoured a formidable quantity of alchemical ingredients in the furnace. If a tower ship set out from the capital for the True Heaven Palace in the Western Lands, the journey would take several days, and the alchemical ingredients consumed would probably be enough to fight a small campaign.
To move troops on a large scale, one still had to rely on exotic beasts for transport, supplemented by infantry on foot; moving troops by tower ship cost far too much. But with the Primordial Spirit Council method of Shen Mu and the others, one only needed the primordial spirits to fly together and gather, and messages could be conveyed, allowing one to grasp events a hundred thousand or two hundred thousand li away. For war, this method could almost decide the fate of a campaign!
"Your Majesty, Chancellor Shen's use of the word 'conference' betrays a mind bent on rebellion! " An old minister fell to his knees with a thud and cried aloud: "'Conference' means the court assembly; a court conference is when all the civil and military officials of the court come before Your Majesty.
Chancellor Shen presumes to use the word 'conference'—this shows his wolfish ambition! May Your Majesty execute him!
" Emperor Yanfeng was speechless. The other generals indignantly berated the old minister, who knocked his head on the ground, thumping loudly and playing the loyal subject.
After a moment, Emperor Yanfeng waved his hand and said calmly, "The word 'conference' is not the sole preserve of the court. Grand Secretary Yu, you have read too few books.
When attending court, one does naturally speak of a court conference, but the word may also be used elsewhere.
In the past, when Heavenly Blade wrote the ci 'One Line Sky', he said in the preface that he 'conferenced with friends at the Wei River.
' Heavenly Blade was a giant of the literary world, a hundred times more learned than you, and his broad and majestic writings have been passed down and praised to this day. He was not an emperor, and no one accused him of rebellion for using the word 'conference. ' An old word used today.
" The emperor helped Grand Secretary Yu to his feet and said amiably, "Grand Secretary Yu, you are old. I shall not have your head cut off.