Exploiting the Ninth-Rank Noble Families

"These damned bastards, why are they getting up again? We should have killed them all back then!"

"And that damned Tian Dao Yi, even the dead can't rest in peace!"

"And that damned Yang Sheng, that damned agreement, that damned contract!"

When news of the Eastern Victory Uprising reached Taiheng, Qu Heng slammed his fist on the table and smashed it.

What is all this nonsense? We've only had a short time of peace, and now things are escalating again!

Qu Heng never considered that this might be his own problem.

After Tian Dao Yi left, the promotion and selection system he had left in the Tai Heng Army to improve combat effectiveness was completely abolished. Their superiors were replaced by scions of Tai Heng Noble Families, and how could these scions of the Aristocratic Clan possibly distribute military pay obediently?

Wouldn't it be better to use that money to buy gacha pulls in the game?

With no way to get promoted and no military rank being issued, his wife might end up sleeping with someone else, and his children might not even be his own.

If that were all, it wouldn't be so bad. Taiheng is too big a ship; no one is willing to disembark from it.

But only a few hundred Tai Heng Army defected, so how come our millions of the Tai Heng Army have all been labeled as rebels?

If we don't betray them now, what are we waiting for?

As for why the people of Eastern Victory rebelled, that goes without saying.

Some of them came from the Spirit Realm, and their main task was to rebel.

Another group had their cultivation Cultivation Method passed down to them by the people of the Spirit Realm.

Before the Taiheng people came, they were still able to cultivate.

But now that Taiheng has arrived, all the places rich in Spiritual Qi, such as mountains and rivers, have been allocated to the people of Taiheng. If you want to enter to cultivate, you have to pay a high fee.

If it were just about charging fees, that would be one thing, but the people of Taiheng rule without any regard for the law. They kill people whenever they want, and they rob women whenever they want. The lives, cultivation, and even the lives of lower-level cultivators are not guaranteed.

What are we waiting for if we don't rebel?

Another part was driven by the Tai Heng Noble Families. They wanted something, someone's treasure, or a woman. The best way was not to do it themselves, because if they encountered a thorn, they would only hurt themselves.

What should we do then?

Let's label him a rebel!

As for any embezzlement, corruption, or receiving salaries without working, just pin it all on the rebels; there's no need to even out the accounts!

Qu Heng knew nothing about any of this.

He was a cultivator at the fifth Spiritual Law Realm. If he wanted to, with his speed and Divine Sense, he could travel all over Eastern Victory in a month and gain an in-depth understanding of these things.

Even if he doesn't want to visit the sites, he can change his IP address to Eastern Victory and watch local videos for a month to get a pretty good idea of what's going on.

But Qu Heng didn't have the time or the inclination to understand these things. Why should I, a dignified cultivator of the Spiritual Law Realm, care about the thoughts and opinions of ordinary mortals?

All he knows is that if you dare to rebel, then you're in the wrong!

Even if Tian Dao Yi is gone, there's still Qu Liang. Since we won last time, let's try again.

Qu Liang's approach was the same old trick: using luck to counteract the negative effects.

Therefore, he doesn't need elite troops; anyone who has cultivated the Great Destiny Technique will suffice.

Furthermore, since the Tai Heng Army comes from Ninth-Rank Noble Families, shouldn't your ninth -Ninth-Rank Noble Families shed some blood if your descendants rebel?

You should be responsible for providing the main force and supplies for this bandit suppression operation!

The Ninth-Rank Noble Families were powerless to resist, but fortunately they were not short of manpower. Last time, Qu Heng directly conscripted 300 million people when he went to war!

This time, Qu Liang mobilized 50 million soldiers. The power of destiny that 50 million people can draw upon is far greater than that of the 3 million people he mobilized back then!

Then Qu Liang realized that this trick wasn't working anymore!

The reason why Western Splendor was able to succeed in Northern Plains was because the local rebels were organized forces and had even established their own kingdoms.

But this time, the rebel army in Eastern Victory did not establish a state!

Moreover, the key is not to destroy the destiny, but to inflict casualties on the righteous army's fighting force after the destiny collapses.

If you only disrupt their luck without killing anyone, their luck will recover once the rebels regain their senses and regroup!

This is the situation we encountered during this bandit suppression campaign.

They could indeed disrupt the rebels' momentum, but the rebels would also retreat to a range of thirty miles outside the Great Wall.

Qu Liang, bound by the contract between the sect leader and the Great Xia, could not launch an attack against them and could only watch them recover!

Moreover, this rebel army not only includes people from the Spirit Realm, but also people from Taiheng who have cultivated the Great Destiny Technique, and they know how to counter the clash of fortunes.

One of the simplest solutions is to change your name!

For example, if I used to be called the Red Turban Army, and you destroyed the Red Turban Army's fortune, that's okay. The original team can immediately abandon the name Red Turban Army and change it to the Yellow Turban Army.

In this way, the Yellow Turban Army's fortunes were restored!

This method may seem like a rogue tactic, but it actually works quite well.

The concept of luck is somewhat similar to modern corporate reputation.

Some companies, when they had a good reputation, borrowed a lot of money from banks, but one day their luck ran out and they failed to manage their businesses well.

If you can't repay your loan, you'll have no choice but to go bankrupt.

If you go bankrupt, you naturally don't have to repay the bank's money.

Then the original team started a new company and continued to seek bank loans.

Of course, banks aren't stupid; they won't let you play like that unless you have connections so strong that the bank has no choice but to lend you money.

The same applies to fortune; this method seems simple to operate, but in reality, it is very difficult to achieve.

Firstly, once the nation's fortunes are shattered, its remaining forces will naturally be wiped out; enemies generally won't let a tiger return to the mountains.

Secondly, a collapse in fortune signifies that everyone in the group has lost faith in the company. How can they possibly come together to start a business again?

But the Eastern Victory Army was an exception.

Tai Heng Army knew this was merely a method to counteract the clash of fortunes, so even if their fortunes dissipated, they could calmly change their names.

Needless to say, the Spirit Realm side has the bond of the Spirit Realm. They have the courage to rise again even if they are defeated a hundred times, let alone once or twice.

In this world, there are entrepreneurial teams that are indestructible, unbreakable, unbreakable, and unyielding. Give them a spark, and they can reignite!

After using his Qi to counteract the attack four or five times, Qu Liang finally realized that this move didn't seem to work very well.

He wasn't stupid; if one trick didn't work, he'd try another.

Scorched earth, block off access to the mountains, and strictly prohibit even a centimeter or a piece of meat from entering Mountain God Sui Shan.

But behind Mountain God Sui Shan lies the Great Xia Dynasty!

With the current productivity of the Great Xia Dynasty, let alone a mere few million troops, it could support even ten times that number!

Moreover, these rebels aren't exactly stingy; they robbed Eastern Victory before, and later they robbed the gods assigned by Taiheng, so they're quite well-off!

The Tai Heng Army also had money. In their previous battle, Tian Dao Yi had given them a lot of military pay. Later, their wives and children came to support them, bringing all their belongings with them.

The Great Xia Dynasty didn't engage in any price gouging; with their wealth, they could easily hold out for several hundred years.

Qu Liang besieged Mountain God Sui Shan for over a year, and the rebel army not only suffered minimal losses, but the soldiers actually gained weight!

He finally realized this wouldn't work, so he quickly called Qu Heng and asked him to find a way to cut off the support from Da Xia, or to simply breach the contract and attack Da Xia as well.

Qu Heng would never allow Qu Liang to attack Da Xia along with him, after all, Da Xia had hydrogen bombs.

But we really can't let Great Xia continue to support the rebel army like this.

So Qu Heng called Yang Sheng to ask how to resolve the matter.

"I know what you're afraid of. We promise we will absolutely not invade Great Xia, how about that?" Qu Heng asked. "Or can we sign a contract?"

"But you've already signed our defense law, and now you want to go back on your word?" Yang Sheng retorted. "The contract doesn't seem to have any binding force with you!"

Qu Heng was speechless and said, "Then what can we do? Otherwise, won't your Great Xia merchants sell goods to the rebel army?"

"Uh, you shouldn't be asking me this!" Yang Sheng said, "Which Lineage hold shares in these businessmen?"

There was no need to spell it out; Qu Heng understood.

By the way, behind many of the merchants of the Great Xia Dynasty are the powerful Aristocratic Clan of Taiheng!

Even the Qu Family was involved!

Why wouldn't you do something that can make money?

What do you call this? My Taiheng aristocratic Aristocratic Clan supporting the rebel army to attack my Taiheng?

If you think about it that way...

To maintain a large army, Qu Liang had to allocate a significant amount of funds for military pay.

This portion of the military pay could be directly transferred into the pockets of the Qu Family.

The military supplies for this expedition were provided by Ninth-Rank Noble Families, since the rebellious Tai Heng Army originated from Ninth-Rank Noble Families.

The Qu Family can embezzle a portion of these military funds because they are Qu Family who are in charge of the military.

War requires the consumption of resources; food and drink are not cheap, not to mention that these days, wars are no longer fought with cold weapons, but with guns and cannons.

These things are ridiculously expensive.

The Qu Family invested in an arms factory within the Great Xia territory, and the firearms they produced were sold to both Taiheng and the rebel army, generating another large income.

So, it seems the Qu Family didn't lose money in this war; in fact, they seemed to be making a profit?

How is that possible? How can you make money while fighting a war?

Qu Heng analyzed it carefully and found no problem at all. The Qu Family was indeed making money, and making an extremely large amount of money!

Moreover, it wasn't just the Qu Family that made money; Lineage with shares in the Great Xia Armory, Military Supplies, and Machining Factories also profited!

It's impossible for everyone to be making money while no one is losing money.

Qu Heng did some further research and found the people who had suffered losses.

Ninth-Rank Noble Families.

On the one hand, they had to provide money, supplies, and manpower for the war; on the other hand, because some Lineage had rebelled, Qu Heng reduced their welfare and used the funds for military expenses under the pretext of "reasonableness."

This is tantamount to exploiting 45 million ninth-rank Aristocratic Clan while enriching these high-rank Aristocratic Clan!

"So this is what war is all about?" Qu Heng suddenly realized.

Since the war was not only not a loss, but was actually profitable, Qu Heng was not in a hurry to win. Instead, he told Qu Liang to fight slowly and not to be too accurate. He advised that guns should be fired into the air if possible, and cannonballs should be aimed at trees rather than people.

In any case, the cost of every single cannonball came from the Ninth-Rank Noble Families.

As for these Ninth-Rank Noble Families, with so many losses, how difficult is it for them?

The idea that Ninth-Rank Noble Families are difficult is absurd. Ninth-Rank Noble Families privileged!

Our Taiheng clan doesn't need any of the Aristocratic Clan to do anything; in fact, we give them a large monthly stipend to support their spiritual practice.

A world where only Ninth-Rank Noble Families are injured has been born!