Chapter 2020 - 2018: Night Battle in the Pine Forest (Swimming, Rolling, Washing Paws, Eating Tails)

Ji Yanran’s words sparked Fang Zheng’s interest in playing with civilizations, but determining when to start was truly a conundrum for Fang Zheng.

From the current historical perspective, Fang Zheng could either rise during the Warring States and learn from Qin Shi Huang to sweep through the Six Kingdoms and unify the world, or emulate Liu Bang by taking action during the peasant uprising at the end of the Qin Dynasty to establish a new Han Dynasty.

If seeking excitement, naturally the former would be more exhilarating. However, upon careful thought, Fang Zheng considered the latter to be better.

Although the title of Qin Shi Huang as the immortal emperor is indeed captivating, he paid a significant price for it. The actions of Qin Shi Huang laid the foundation for the political landscape of future Huaxia, but they also brought many troubles. For example, unifying the script, standardizing the axle widths, and burning books and burying scholars—all were necessary measures for unification. If Fang Zheng were to replace Qin Shi Huang, he might have been even more absolute rather than lenient.

As for the large-scale construction, except for the slightly excessive Epang Palace, building roads and the Great Wall were matters beneficial to the nation and the people. The story of Meng Jiangnu crying at the Great Wall has been passed down for generations, but without the Great Wall, Meng Jiangnu wouldn’t even have had the chance to cry; she might have long been captured by some Hun and taken as spoils of war.

Emperor Yang of Sui, Yang Guang, was similar; constructing the Grand Canal of Beijing-Hangzhou strengthened north-south transportation, benefiting the nation and the people, yet it led to the fall of the Sui.

In short, what they did was fundamentally correct, which is unquestionable. However, given the technological constraints of their time, they could only accomplish it this way. Whether it was the Great Wall or the Grand Canal, many lives were lost, but truly no undead could build them. In fact, involving civil engineering of this magnitude, even in modern times with various advanced technologies, fatalities might occur; needless to say, the dangers were even greater in that era.

Of course, historians in later generations might be able to fairly evaluate Qin Shi Huang and Emperor Yang of Sui, but the people of their time certainly despised these two tyrants.

However, no matter how bad they were, they were still better than the Egyptian pharaohs. Look at them building those useless pyramids; apart from serving as a tomb, what’s the use?

At most, they could earn a bit of money through tourism.

Recalling the lesson "The Last Class" from elementary school textbooks, one could infer that the literati of the Six Kingdoms probably viewed Qin Shi Huang no better than that French teacher viewed the German Empire.

Therefore, in Fang Zheng’s view, it was better to let Qin Shi Huang attract the hatred of everyone according to history and then emulate Liu Bang to save the people... After all, if he were to become emperor, he would want to reign for a thousand years, and he couldn’t just suppress uprisings every year without doing anything else.

From a certain perspective, the downfall of the Qin Dynasty was destined, given that Qin Shi Huang attracted so much enmity, creating a state of public resentment, and once he passed away, all the issues erupted at once. The peasant uprising at the end of the Qin Dynasty ignited the accumulated powder keg, and after everyone overthrew the Qin to avenge their grievances, they returned to their normal activities...

Thereafter, it continued as usual...

As time passed day by day, Fang Zheng silently sat in the Carefree Palace, observing the major events of the world while playing his game of chess. During this, Fang Zheng also devoted considerable effort. For instance, improvements and manufacturing techniques for fundamental technologies like the papermaking technique, iron smelting, and porcelain making spread from the Carefree Palace.

These technologies were either explained by Fang Zheng himself and taught to others in the Carefree Palace, or Fang Zheng proposed a direction and let the scholars in the Carefree Palace research it themselves. Since these scholars regarded Fang Zheng as a Celestial Being reincarnated, Fang Zheng didn’t face significant challenges in imparting knowledge.

As the sun and moon alternated, the scholars in the Carefree Palace gradually grew up, and many began to yearn for the flourishing life outside, choosing to leave. Since the Carefree Palace was located at the Qin-Zhao border, most opted to join the Qin State. In its phase of reform, Qin State was eager for this kind of "technical talent" and readily absorbed them. Consequently, the strength of Qin State improved rapidly, even achieving substantial advancements within just a few years.

Incidentally, Fang Zheng was once curious about Xiang Shaolong’s views on these things, only to find that his sole reaction to the appearance of the papermaking technique was "Wow, the papermaking technique actually appeared in the Qin State!"

This clearly showed that he hadn’t learned history well.

Indeed, if Xiang Shaolong were good at history, he should have exhibited some knowledge in this area. Most transmigrators, upon returning to the past, either made glass or paper...

There were peculiar cases like Meiyin who started off with shampoo businesses.

Thus, time progressed, another year passed, and in the blink of an eye, it was winter.

Fang Zheng rode a White Deer, silently watching the camp below, marked with banners, without saying a word.

In the camp below was no other than Xiang Shaolong. Throughout the year, Xiang Shaolong, as in the original work, disguised himself and went to the Zhao Kingdom, captured Zhao Mu alive and returned, gaining the favor of King Xiang of Zhuang, who sent him as an envoy to the Six Kingdoms. However, this was actually Luu Buwei’s plot, intending to exploit the internal opposition in Qin and enemy forces to completely eliminate Xiang Shaolong and his group. Although Xiang Shaolong narrowly escaped, the Third Princess of Zhao and her four maids were tragically killed in this battle.

This could be considered a lingering resentment for Fang Zheng from his previous life, knowing that Record of Seeking Qin was the first transmigrator harem novel he read. Although Xiang Shaolong had lost women before, like the Pure Woman and Shu’er, those women had only a fleeting romantic connection with Xiang Shaolong, and the Pure Woman didn’t even have intimate contact with him before committing suicide. They were merely named supporting characters, and their deaths were regrettable but not particularly significant.

However, Zhao Qian was different; this Third Princess was practically a main character along with Ji Yanran in the early stages. Yet she was shot dead with one arrow, and her four maidservants were brutally killed on the spot. The depiction of this scene deeply scarred young Fang Zheng’s heart, not unlike seeing Little Dragon Girl being seized by Zhao Zhijing in The Return of the Condor Heroes.

Jin Yong’s Little Dragon Girl, Huang Yi’s Zhao Qian, and Gu Long’s Lin Shion were all childhood shadows.

Luckily, these three weren’t web fiction writers, or the readers would definitely have climbed the network cables to strangle them.

"Xiang Shaolong, you should show some backbone..."

Watching the envoy corps dismantle their tents under the cover of darkness and divide into two groups to distract the enemy, Fang Zheng shook his head. Xiang Shaolong only thought of the enemy country, completely forgetting Luu Buwei’s intent to betray him, which was simply disgraceful for a transmigrator. Anyone with a little knowledge of history knows what kind of person Luu Buwei is. How could you expect a good outcome by calling him brother?

Soon, the enemy soldiers on the opposite side were lured away by the Qin soldiers, and only then did Xiang Shaolong’s group emerge from the other side, heading towards the Red Pine Forest.

However, at this moment, a bright fire suddenly flared up in the previously pitch-black Red Pine Forest, surrounding them from all directions. Xiang Shaolong and his group were taken by surprise, quickly retreating. Unfortunately, it was too late. The opposing force boasted a number of five thousand, well-prepared, whereas Xiang Shaolong’s divided team only had a hundred people. Although they were elite warriors, they couldn’t fend off the assault, suffering heavy defeats in the sudden attack.

"If this were a modern web novel, readers would definitely curse it as toxic."

Watching Xiang Shaolong and his group fight and retreat, nearly in disarray, Fang Zheng shook his head helplessly. He then extended his hand, gently brushing the strings of the guqin before him.

The sound of killing shook the sky, as did the cries of men and horses.

"Retreat quickly, follow me!"

Xiang Shaolong swung his longsword desperately, cutting down the enemy before him, but the enemies kept coming, seemingly unstoppable. Meanwhile, other retainers protected the group as they retreated, with no one knowing where to go—only that escape was the only hope for survival!

"Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!!"

Just then, another volley of arrows rained down on Xiang Shaolong and his group. Witnessing this, Xiang Shaolong’s eyes widened with uncertainty and panic.

Yet at that moment, a deep rumble suddenly arose.

"Dong, dong, dong, dong!!"

As four deep notes played, the air around them began to howl, turning into a turbulent wind. Arrows scattered and dropped to the ground.

"Dong, dong, dong, dong———!!"

Another four resounding notes, as if signaling the arrival of an army, caused the enemy troops, who were already overwhelmed by the deafening sound of killing, to halt. They held up their torches and longswords, looking around in confusion. Meanwhile, the sound of the guqin resounded again, transforming into a fluid and beautiful melody that echoed through the Red Pine Forest.

"It’s Young Master Fang!!"

Upon hearing this guqin music, Zhao Qian’s face lit up with excitement, and Xiang Shaolong also breathed a sigh of relief. In contrast, the others appeared perplexed, not knowing the full situation.

But they didn’t need to know.

The melody grew more powerful and majestic. The enemy soldiers’ expressions changed dramatically; as the music roared, their eyes bulged, and their faces turned pale, clutching their chests as if they couldn’t breathe. At that moment, the melody flowed like a mighty river.

"Thud!!"

The bandits surrounding Xiang Shaolong could no longer stand firm; swaying twice, they suddenly fell to the ground, becoming lifeless corpses.

Seeing this, everyone around was shocked and terrified, except for a few who had accompanied Xiang Shaolong on his mission to the Wei Kingdom, who showed relief and joy. Xiang Shaolong quickly raised his hand, bowing towards the Pine Forest.

"Many thanks to Young Master Fang for saving our lives!"

"Sigh........."

The response to Xiang Shaolong was a sigh, and the next moment, they saw Fang Zheng riding a White Deer, leisurely emerging from deep within the Pine Forest. He continued to strum the guqin as he helplessly gazed at Xiang Shaolong.

"I say, Officer Xiang, as a transmigrator, you’ve really embarrassed yourself..."