Unification by Force
Half a year may not be much for cultivators; a typical seclusion takes at least several years.
But for Yi Xuan, the past six months have left him with a feeling that things have changed.
That's right, half a year has passed since the Black Tortoise No. 2 experiment.
Over the past six months, many things under Yi Xuan's control have changed to varying degrees.
The biggest change is the Xia Kingdom, which is now under Zhuo Ning's control.
After being tricked into becoming emperor by Yi Xuan, Zhuo Ning, considering Yi Xuan's promise to give him the title of Black Tortoise, went to the Xia Kingdom to take up his post without delay.
However, the people of the Xia Kingdom paid no attention to the news that what was originally a single province had become a nation, or the arrival of the emperor.
Because the Xia Kingdom was previously a no-man's-land, various forces were mixed together within it.
For this reason, Zhuo Ning did not rush to reform the Xia Kingdom after taking office, but instead made sure to understand the situation of the Xia Kingdom and the various forces involved.
After learning that the Xia Kingdom had been taken over by someone else, the various forces that had long been unchecked all harbored their own agendas.
In their view, a high-ranking Sect Protector would never bother with the affairs of this one state.
Therefore, Zhuo Ning's arrival might just be a formality, but since Zhuo Ning is backed by the Azure Cloud Sect, he still needs to be given face.
This resulted in a rare period of relative calm in the Xia Kingdom, which had been in turmoil for hundreds of years, during the first few days after Zhuo Ning took office.
Unfortunately, this period of good fortune was short-lived. After Zhuo Ning investigated the situation thoroughly, various forces in the Xia Kingdom began to stir again.
The people, who had finally enjoyed two days of peace, were once again plunged into fear and anxiety.
At this point, Zhuo Ning finally gained some understanding of this once lawless area.
Evil cultivators, sect traitors, desperadoes, gangsters, local gangsters, these guys who were hiding outside seemed to have all come to Xia Kingdom to gather together. The chaotic environment of Xia Kingdom made them like a fish in water.
These people banded together, eventually forming various factions within the Xia Kingdom, dividing it into different territories under their jurisdiction.
As for the officialdom of the Xia Kingdom, it's a complicated matter. To put it simply, there were no officials, or rather, there were officials, but they were all just for show.
He should be the administrator of a city, with soldiers at his disposal, but he is unable to act due to the various forces within the Xia Kingdom.
There's nothing we can do; the helplessness of mortals when facing cultivators has nothing to do with power.
When social classes differ, power becomes nothing but a joke.
Despite the chaotic state of the Xia Kingdom, it wasn't entirely insurmountable for Zhuo Ning, a former prince of the Immortal Kingdom.
After understanding the situation in the Xia Kingdom, Zhuo Ning decisively contacted Yi Xuan and offered three strategies: superior, middle, and inferior. The superior strategy would allow him to control Xia Kingdom in just one year.
Yi Xuan was very satisfied with Zhuo Ning's description. It seemed that choosing Zhuo Ning to manage the Xia Kingdom was a very wise decision.
However, Yi Xuan had a different opinion on the strategy for controlling the Xia Kingdom.
Having learned that the strongest cultivators among the forces in the Xia Kingdom were only at the Mid-stage Golden Core, Yi Xuan directly suggested that Zhuo Ning use powerful force to suppress them, that is, to unify the military.
To be honest, although Yi Xuan's suggestion was somewhat direct, it worked surprisingly well.
With the completion of the railway between the Xia Kingdom and Azure Cloud Sect, Yi Xuan sent over nearly Nüwa combat robots, 500 Pangu, and the Black Tortoise No. 2 that he had promised Zhuo Ning.
Zhuo Ning was initially hesitant about Yi Xuan's suggestion, since such forceful suppression might backfire if the strength was insufficient.
However, upon seeing the Nüwa, carrying nearly 10,000 Barrett and Gatling guns, Zhuo Ning had no more worries.
After all, he had been following Yi Xuan for some time, and when it came to understanding the power of these two weapons, he was definitely among the top in the world, not to mention the arrival of Black Tortoise No. 2.
When Zhuo Ning first saw the Black Tortoise No. 2, he thought he was seeing things. You see, Zhuo Ning had fought against Yi Xuan's Black Tortoise at the Origin Return Sect before, but the Black Tortoise. 2 was only about three meters long.
The oppressive feeling from the over four-meter-tall behemoth before him intensified, and Zhuo Ning, unsure of the situation, had no choice but to contact Yi Xuan.
Unexpectedly, Yi Xuan nodded in the video, indicating that this was the Black Tortoise, and when introducing its power, he said one sentence:
"As long as you're not Nascent Soul Perfection cultivator at the peak or higher, you can act however you want!"
After that, Zhuo Ning was left alone, staring at Black Tortoise No. 2 with a shocked expression.
With Yi Xuan's weapon support, the various forces in the Xia Kingdom were like monkeys provoking a tiger. At first, a few dared to challenge Zhuo Ning, but they were quickly suppressed by the mechanical army.
Even the strongest person in the Xia Kingdom, that Evil Cultivator in the Mid-stage Golden Core, was pinned to the city wall of the Xia Kingdom's capital by Black Tortoise No. 2 with a long sword.
With his mechanical army, Zhuo Ning took control of the Xia Kingdom in less than a month.
All the larger forces were eliminated, and the smaller forces, fearing Zhuo Ning's power, hid in the shadows, afraid to show their faces; their demise was only a matter of time.
With the resistance forces gone, Zhuo Ning restarted the original Xia Kingdom political system, and the entire Xia Kingdom quickly became brand new.
After half a month of turmoil, the people discovered that the previously domineering cultivators and martial artists seemed to have disappeared overnight.
I don't know when it started, but the government offices in various cities have suddenly become very busy.
The officials, who were originally just mascots, actually began to direct the stationed troops and yamen runners to manage the city in an orderly manner.
Another half month passed before the people finally believed that the chaotic, lawless region that had existed for hundreds of years might truly be gone forever, and various forms of production and trade began to resume.
At this time, Fatty Lin's caravan also entered the Xia Kingdom in a grand procession.
As an extremely wealthy man, Fatty Lin's caravan acted like a shot in the arm for the Xia Kingdom's market, quickly revitalizing the Xia Kingdom's commerce.
On the other hand, Yi Xuan promised Fatty Lin that the oil industry was also being carried out in an orderly manner within the Xia Kingdom.
With Yi Xuan's mechanical army working day and night, all kinds of oil processing plants sprang up and various kinds of equipment were installed in an orderly manner.
A month after Fatty Lin's caravan arrived, the oil processing industry chain was finally established.
This world has always used Spirit Stone as its primary energy source, so its underground resources are incredibly abundant. The oil reserves within the Xia Kingdom alone are enough to make Fatty Lin a fortune.
So, with the first barrel of oil extracted, Fatty Lin's Donkey-Killer began its giveaway campaign within the Xia Kingdom.
Everything is developing in the direction Yi Xuan hoped for.