I Don't Agree to the Terms
Chapter 510 - 281: The Butterfly Effect, A Major Omen of Disaster for Jiang Lu!

Chapter 510: Chapter 281: The Butterfly Effect, A Major Omen of Disaster for Jiang Lu!

Li Yu’s daughter’s marriage was a low-key affair, as it was wartime, so it had to be kept simple.

Gu Shanhai also went along, and all he needed to do was sit in the main seat and wait for the newlyweds to serve tea.

Even Li Yu was seated after Gu Shanhai, taking the place that would typically be the grandfather of the bride and groom, and indeed, the position was that of a master.

The proceedings went smoothly, without any incidents of marriage robbery or assassination.

Since the battle at the city gate, everyone had come to know of the once inconspicuous presence of Gu Shanhai—his Heart Demon Dao Soldiers were extremely fearsome and omnipresent.

The son-in-law who was recruited seemed a bit reserved. Everyone attending the wedding banquet was an important figure, and he was just a son of a hunter who could read a bit. However, he was not the eldest son but the second, with younger brothers and sisters below him. So being recruited as a son-in-law, he did not have too many thoughts about it.

His appearance was that of a good foundation, but years of exposure to wind and sun had left his complexion somewhat coarse, though he had a robust physique.

Unlike Zhan Yan, who could be put to work right after being captured, the new son-in-law needed some time to develop his potential. First, Li Hui would enlighten him, and then after a year or two of further study with Gu Shanhai, all his potential could be stimulated, making him an existence not inferior to Zhan Yan.

This person was, of course, someone whom Gu Shanhai had snatched away at the last moment. Otherwise, where could he have summoned such a talent from thin air?

It wasn’t without cost—he had spent a thousand years of his lifespan. Gu Shanhai was unclear about who he had snatched the talent from, but he could be certain that the ability was not bad.

The reason Zhan Yan was a bargain was that he had died early. If it weren’t for Gu Shanhai’s intervention, he would have died last year due to a brain tumor issue.

So when Gu Shanhai found Zhan Yan, he only had a few short years of life left, with no prospects of living longer. Otherwise, why would he have been able to be sold to Gu Shanhai for ten years?

After that came Zhang He and Zhan Yan’s smooth conquest of the whole Min State, thanks to Gu Shanhai’s warning which helped them avoid the originally entangling nodes.

Then Zhang He once again led his troops to attack Xiang Province. This time, Zhan Yan did not go with him; he stayed in Min State. Conquering such a vast power was not the end of it; digesting it was the real challenge.

"Not enough manpower, it’s a headache..." Gu Shanhai felt somewhat helpless.

Since Min State was taken, Liang State had sent quite a few people there.

It wasn’t that they didn’t use the talents from Min State, but those so-called talents were far less efficient compared to those trained by Liang State.

Thus, they needed a group of people to go there for professional training, establish corresponding systems and institutions, and so on, to further consolidate their hold.

Fortunately, Zhang He and others had been ruthless in their executions, deliberately weakening the influence of the noble families, which made these tasks smoother. However, the noble families were also cooperative; after all, Zhang He and co. were outsiders. If you dare play tricks against them, Zhang He would dare use his knife on you, to see whether your head was harder or his knife sharper.

Noble families were greedy, but not foolish.

If they wanted to maintain their ruling status, they would be all too eager for someone to be made an example of.

So they endured what they had to. Once the other side had firmly established their power, they would certainly come back to curry favor. How to be a qualified opportunist was a lesson the noble families had mastered; otherwise, how could they persist through generations without being destroyed.

"We still don’t have enough development time; we are far behind in terms of talent reserves." After looking at the data, Gu Shanhai... stopped caring.

What else could he do? This required time, something Gu Shanhai could not provide—he couldn’t speed up time or mass-produce talents. He could only lament and then pass the pressure to Jiang Lu and Zhan Yan. If that proved impossible, then Jiang Lu’s three sworn brothers could share the burden.

As long as it wasn’t him bearing the pressure, anyone else could take it on.

"However, speaking of which, why is the alliance army stuck at Taihe Pass again this time? Is Taihe Pass somehow uniquely effective against the alliance?" Gu Shanhai looked at the latest intelligence from Jiang Lu and couldn’t help but comment.

It had been over a month, and once again, the alliance army had gathered. Over the more than three years, the landscape of power had changed repeatedly, with many old lords being overthrown and new ones rising.

So there were quite a few new faces.

But still, they ended up stuck at the gate of Taihe Pass.

This time it wasn’t about shoddy work due to lack of effort; it seemed they were genuinely stopped at Taihe Pass.

This time behind the scenes, a mastermind was able to crush the alliance army, using strategies such as creating internal strife. So not long after the alliance arrived, there were already signs of discontent and disunity.

Therefore, Jiang Lu was not optimistic about the alliance army and was already thinking about escaping.

"Another damn mess. If only Liang State bordered the wilderness, I would not play with this bunch of warlords; I’d go straight into the frontiers." Gu Shanhai felt helpless.

The main issue was that Jiang Lu’s power base was in Cansang Village. It wasn’t as if you could just move somewhere else and start over.

Without the initial militia from Cansang Village, he wouldn’t have had any soldiers. In a place where no one knew him, who would listen to his call to gather militia to resist the rebels?

Thus, the beginning was quite limited. Once established, the position of the prefect was determined from above, and it was good enough to be able to operate it; there was no room to be choosy.

"Mr. Gu, an urgent report!"

"What now..." Gu Shanhai covered his forehead, feeling that something was up again.

Ordinary intelligence or affairs wouldn’t reach him.

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