Conflict

"Li Shaojun?"

"Gongsun Hong?"

As a connecting link, Zhang Xuezhou eventually arranged for Li Shaojun and Gongsun Hong to meet.

The two exchanged a glance, clearly surprised by the meeting.

Li Shaojun is known for his elusive nature, while Gongsun Hong is well-known within the Confucian School community but remains largely unknown to the outside world.

I've heard so much about you!

"Nice to meet you!"

The two met with extreme politeness, constantly sizing each other up and trying to guess each other's strength and methods.

Those who spend their lives in the seas are bound to be skilled in water magic, but they are certainly not as good as aquatic creatures.

Those who appear and disappear unpredictably must lack direct strength, which is why they hide.

After some investigation and based on what they knew from the rumors, the two quickly located each other.

"There's a saying in the Mohists school about weary birds returning to their nests, so your mechanical bird might have a chance of being useful," Gongsun Hong said, frowning. "But it's hard to say whether your mechanical bird belongs to the weary bird type."

"It's always better to have a chance than no chance," Li Shaojun said, narrowing his eyes slightly. "You're only good at swimming and familiar with the surrounding sea area. Without other guidance, you'll never find the Mechanized City in your lifetime."

"If you can't rule out the areas I've already explored, you'll have to repeat my more than ten years of investigation," Gongsun Hong said bluntly. "Moreover, you certainly won't know which islands in the sea can be used for resupply, making long-distance voyages difficult!"

Gongsun Hong was clearly somewhat dissatisfied with the role Li Shaojun played, and the sudden insertion of someone into the team would also add instability.

Li Shaojun was unhappy with Gongsun Hong's belittling of the mechanical bird's role. The other party had an aggressive attitude and verbally suppressed him from the very first meeting. Even if he joined the team, he would definitely belong to the third tier, which would be completely different from his cooperation with Zhang Xuezhou.

"Brother, why don't we do it together?" Li Shaojun said in a low voice. "It's just some islands. We can just bring a few old fishermen and we'll be fine."

"Although the Mohists has disappeared, there are still quite a few people who possess Mohists secrets!"

Seeing Li Shaojun pulling people in front of him, Gongsun Hong couldn't help but whisper a reminder to Zhang Xuezhou.

Li Shaojun wasn't sure what Zhang Xuezhou's abilities were in the Mohists's Mechanical City, but he had collaborated with Zhang Xuezhou many times and knew that this guy was someone who wouldn't suffer a loss.

Compared to Gongsun Hong's role, Li Shaojun felt that Zhang Xuezhou was more effective.

Gongsun Hong felt the same way. Even if Zhang Xuezhou went to the Mohists's Mechanical City lying down, as long as Zhang Xuezhou had met the Four Dragon Kings and had some relationship with Ao Li, their risk of encountering high-level aquatic creatures in the sea would be greatly reduced, and they might even be able to get information from the aquatic creatures.

Although Gongsun Hong felt that this was somewhat like taking a chance, searching for the Mohists's Mechanical City was indeed a matter of taking a chance.

Even if he couldn't find the Mohists's mechanical city, Gongsun Hong thought it would be good to find some agarwood for Zhang Xuezhou. Discussing the "Resonance Between Heaven and Humanity" and "Haoran Zhengqi" with Zhang Xuezhou and others would also be a gain.

Having explored the East China Sea region many times, he didn't mind returning empty-handed once again.

However, Gongsun Hong was unhappy that Li Shaojun was taking away the person he had chosen.

"You two, stop arguing! The important thing is for us to work together to excavate the Mohists's Mechanical City!"

Seeing that the two had a conflict after such a short time together, Zhang Xuezhou felt great.

Although Zhang Xuezhou had no expectations for the Mohists Mohists City and didn't know what was inside, he was willing to go and see if there were any bargains.

He wasn't afraid of conflicts among his teammates; what he feared was that the absence of conflict between two people would prevent the team from keeping each other in check, thus preventing someone like him, who was physically weak and sickly, from participating properly in the operation, let alone sharing the spoils.

"Let's stick to our old ways and split it in half. This kind of distribution is better than some hypocritical people who seem to want to hoard it all," Li Shaojun chuckled coldly.

"Young Master Li, what do you mean by that?" Gongsun Hong asked, frowning slightly.

"It doesn't mean anything special," Li Shaojun said. "We'll each go our own way. Dongfang Shuo and I went out to sea to find the Mechanized City. If we found it, we'll each take half. If we didn't find it, it won't hurt our friendship!"

Li Shaojun only cared about winning over Zhang Xuezhou, and even brought up the issue of profit sharing. His approach gave Gongsun Hong a huge headache.

Zhang Xuezhou, on the other hand, looked at Li Shaojun with great interest.

It seems that Li Shaojun is constantly encouraging Zhang Xuezhou to leave the team, but this is just a way to turn a passive situation into an active one, not because Li Shaojun looks down on Gongsun Hong.

If the partnership between Gongsun Hong and Zhang Xuezhou is disbanded, Gongsun Hong's early advantage in leading the team will be completely wasted. Once the team is rebuilt, Gongsun Hong may even have to seek to join.

This was a minor point of conflict between the two, which inevitably led to Gongsun Hong relinquishing his dominant position.

Gongsun Hong's refusal to withdraw was also to maintain his dominant position from being challenged, which is why Li Shaojun faced questioning and suppression as soon as he entered the fray.

To be honest, Zhang Xuezhou still doesn't quite understand the real reason why Gongsun Hong asked him to explore the Mechanized City.

Going out to sea to search is not child's play; even Dong Zhongshu, who had a good relationship with Zhang Xuezhou, would not take Zhang Xuezhou on a risk unless absolutely necessary.

With Li Shaojun's involvement, Zhang Xuezhou will eventually be able to figure out the relevant reasons and won't be used as a scapegoat.

After his attempts to persuade him, Li Shaojun and Gongsun Hong not only failed to accept each other, but their conflict seemed to escalate further.

"Dongfang Shuo and I are friends and have collaborated many times without ever having a conflict," Li Shaojun sneered. "He'd definitely enjoy playing along with me!"

"What a coincidence. Dongfang Shuo and I are also friends, and we've collaborated before. Moreover, we're from the same school. It's not something an outsider like you can interfere with," Gongsun Hong said, shaking his head.

"You are the outsider now," Li Shaojun said. "Dongfang Shuo is here to offer me amnesty with His Majesty's decree. There's no way there can be any rift between us!"

"That's quite a coincidence," Gongsun Hong said. "Dongfang Shuo and I just formed an alliance a few days ago. He needs me in Chang'an City too!"

"You're wearing a scholar's cap, clearly not an official, so you can't help Dongfang Shuo," Li Shaojun pointed out. "Besides, I heard someone say that a man surnamed Gongsun was dismissed and sent back by the court for failing to perform his duties properly—a truly disgraceful act!"

"What do you know? The court's political landscape is unpredictable; only those who survive can have the last laugh," Gongsun Hong said dismissively. "Even if someone like you were recruited by the court, you'd just be a tool, used and discarded. You wouldn't last two or three years in the court!"

"Cut!"

Gongsun Hong's words really hit Li Shaojun's sore spot, making him hesitate for a moment when he wanted to find the Pill Cauldron in the Mohists's Mechanized City.

If one is not familiar with the rules of the imperial court in Chang'an City, trying to gain an advantage over the court could easily cost one their head. Only seasoned veterans like Gongsun Hong know when to advance and when to retreat.

Even after Li Shaojun directly exposed his shortcomings, Gongsun Hong was still able to respond with a serious and sarcastic tone, clearly demonstrating that the other party's temperament could not be suppressed with just a few words.

However, Li Shaojun also keenly noticed that Gongsun Hong seemed to be dependent on Zhang Xuezhou and did not want to break away from Zhang Xuezhou in exploring the Mohists's mechanical city.

Zhang Xuezhou hadn't figured out his own advantages, and Li Shaojun clearly hadn't either, completely unaware of why Zhang Xuezhou had become an indispensable member of the group.

But if Gongsun Hong could do it, Li Shaojun felt he could do it too. Even if he didn't go to the imperial court in Chang'an City, he wouldn't lose out if he found the Mohists's Mechanical City and made a profit. If he didn't find it, it would just be a waste of time.

This led him to repeatedly try to recruit Zhang Xuezhou to start their own independent team. Meanwhile, Gongsun Hong realized for the first time that the team was becoming uncontrollable. A disruptive force was entering their team, throwing off the previously established order and necessitating a restructuring of cooperation and profit distribution.