The Only Scholar Awaiting Orders

As soon as it was light, Zhang Xuezhou and his men called for horse-drawn carts to load baskets of meat and millet onto them.

Rong Tianding and others purchased pottery containers and large cooking pots at the morning market.

These days, families with their own stoves for cooking are considered well-off. In most areas, people share large cooking pots and eat separately. This practice of separate eating is even more pronounced in some villages and clans.

Items such as clan cooking pots are fairly standard utensils and can be purchased at the market.

Entering the city is busy in the morning, but leaving the city is extremely convenient.

After the compradors were all in place, Zhang Xuezhou and the others boarded the carriage.

"I want to leave the city too!"

"Please don't go. My current network of connections is limited, and I really can't handle things related to this 'festival' in Chang'an City!"

Standing near the city gate, Lady Yourong could see Zhang Zhong's familiar yet aged face through the bustling crowd.

For many people in Zhang Household Village, they are just a group of villagers living deep in the mountains, and only during conscription season are people checking people along the road to enter.

No one provides them with a festival to record their identity. For many, it will be difficult to leave those mountains in their lifetime, so there is no need for a 'festival' to record their identity.

It wasn't until they entered the city that the lack of festivals brought about various inconveniences.

Lady Yourong wanted to leave the city, but once outside, she could only re-enter at the morning market, and most areas were inaccessible.

Without the carriages called by Zhang Xuezhou and others, Lady Yourong and Zhang Changgong would not be able to pass any inspection by patrolling soldiers.

"Ruoruo you're in the city too, let's see if we can find..."

"I want to go with my child's father!"

Rong Li tried to persuade Lady Yourong, but she couldn't stop her Lady Yourong reuniting with Zhang Zhong.

Lady Yourong grown accustomed to a life of hardship with Zhang Zhong, You Rong had no intention of coming to Chang'an City to enjoy a better life, nor did she care about the harsh living conditions outside the city.

"Then let's go!"

Seeing that it was difficult to dissuade Lady Yourong, Zhang Xuezhou did not stop them again. With Zhang Zhong and more than a hundred others, life outside the city was only a bit difficult and arduous, but there was no danger.

Zhang Changgong also waved continuously, his face filled with excitement. He was clearly unable to contain his excitement upon seeing Zhang Houtu and the others, and he too was determined to leave the city.

"They have no sense of propriety, making travel too inconvenient, and they can't accomplish anything in the city," Rong Tianding said in a low voice. "Going out isn't necessarily a bad thing. They'll gain experience in Chang'an City, and who knows, they might be able to help your village people learn more, so they won't be completely ignorant of Chang'an City future!"

"This is the only way!"

Zhang Xuezhou nodded.

The group pulled two carriages, and Zhang Xuezhou was dressed in the official robes of a scholar awaiting imperial orders.

His attire was less suitable for entering and exiting the imperial palace, but it was quite convenient for entering and exiting the city gates of Chang'an City.

After a brief check, Zhang Xuezhou and his group left the city with a large amount of food, where they met with more than ten people who had come excitedly to pick out food to take back to their gathering place in Zhang Household Village.

After driving the carriage for a while, Zhang Xuezhou and the others had no choice but to start carrying loads on their shoulders and step by step into this slum area outside the city.

Although the loads on their shoulders were covered with some things, they still attracted a lot of attention.

These gazes were not filled with envy, but rather with a primal desire to compete and seize.

Two skinny thugs licked their lips and approached, carrying half a broken iron knife.

Iron Knife shoved aside Zhang Zhong, who was leading the way, and the ruffians grabbed their hands inside.

"There's a reason why Young Master Wei is giving you a warning!"

Before Zhang Zhong could even hit someone with his carrying pole, Zhang Xuezhou had already pointed at him from more than ten meters away.

The two ruffians felt as if the pork they reached for had turned into a poisonous snake. When the snake coiled around them, they screamed in terror and rolled around on the ground.

The hooligans' actions immediately attracted more than a dozen young men carrying broken knives. The young men exchanged glances briefly before gathering around with hostile expressions.

"We'll be walking this road every day from now on. If we encounter any robbery or other difficulties, I'll come looking for you!"

Zhang Xuezhou has never liked to let things escalate before dealing with them. Before these young people could utter any threats or make any moves with knives, he had already pointed at them repeatedly.

Using the power of realm intimidation to suppress these ordinary people is like using a cannon to kill a mosquito, but if these people's petty thoughts are not stopped, Zhang Xuezhou and others will hardly have any peace on this path in the future.

Chang'an City is a place that values rules and regulations, but Chang'an City, might makes right. Even if Xu Yuan and his Human Sect people how to grow millet and other crops, those being taught will still compete with Xu Yuan and his group for water to irrigate their fields.

This is not entirely a problem of education, but rather a consequence of a lack of basic necessities. The poor have very limited possessions and lack so much that they are easily tempted and their evil side is amplified.

Perhaps it's just a couple of coins, or maybe just a wild animal; these simple things can spark disputes and even lead to death.

As for the area that Zhang Xuezhou and his group needed to pass through for a long time, he hoped that these people could behave themselves so that he wouldn't have to escort them with food every day.

With a series of pointed gestures, these people were so precisely intimidated that they all rolled around on the ground.

He escorted them, ensuring their safe passage.

So many patients?

After a long time, the new emperor and his entourage, who were on an inspection tour outside the city, passed through this place.

Seeing the young people groaning or weeping, the new emperor couldn't help but gasp.

These young people were not just one or two, but rather you could encounter them from time to time along the way, sometimes in groups of three or five, sometimes in groups of dozens, or sometimes two or three huddled together in a corner and weeping.

"Guard Mao, go and check on the situation!"

The new emperor pointed at the man, indicating that Li Guang behind him could dismount and inquire about the situation.

"My lord, these people have been suppressed by someone!"

Li Guang was incompetent at other tasks, but he was undoubtedly a master at assessing injuries.

He had already made a judgment after simply looking at a few people.

As long as the person doesn't die, the effects of deterrence mostly involve fear.

The symptoms of many young people are very consistent with those of people being suppressed.

What intrigued Li Guang was that these individuals affected by the deterrence were scattered about, sometimes in small groups of three or five, and sometimes in the middle of a crowd, making it extremely difficult to achieve individual deterrence.

If Li Guang were to choose a standard, he would say that these people perfectly fit the criteria for suppression by cultivators at the Sole Self Realm.

"You mean there are cultivators at the Solitary Realm who come to suppress ordinary people Chang'an City for their Sole Self Realm amusement?"

After some assessment and explanation, the new emperor had lost all hope in Li Guang's ability to make predictions on non-military matters.

"Gentlemen, what's wrong with them? Why are they lying on the ground howling in broad daylight?"

Instead of making pointless guesses, he chose to ask passersby who were unaffected.

"A caravan passed through here, and they said they'd deal with anyone who robbed them. Then some of our people fell down. Dozens of people who were causing trouble also ended up lying down, and now they're all at home crying!"

"A caravan? What caravan?"

"It looks like a caravan carrying a lot of meat and millet, and there's an official leading them!"

"What do officials look like?"

"He was fair-skinned and clean-cut; some people said he was a high-ranking official, a scholar-in-waiting!"

"A scholar awaiting imperial summons?"

The new emperor had to admit that if he were asked to guess other official positions, he would actually have a hard time guessing.

But when it comes to scholars awaiting imperial orders, there is currently only one such scholar in the court who has not been assigned a formal position.

"Could it be that Dongfang Shuo has entered the Divine Ability Realm?"

The new emperor painstakingly cultivated Wei Qing, but Wei Qing was the only martial artist at the Divine Ability Realm by his side.

He never expected that Zhang Xuezhou, who had been left to his own devices, would unknowingly develop Divine Ability, thus gaining the ability to intimidate and suppress others.