Chapter 212: Stupid Donkeys
Jing Province has a total of thirteen cities: Jiangling, Jiangxia, Echeng, Huangzhou, Ancheng, Suicheng, Yicheng, Changcheng, Xiangcheng, Guangzhou, Shicheng, Qichun City, and Miancheng.
Among the thirteen cities, Ancheng is the center.
Because Ancheng has the Jing Province Merchant Association, which connects the thirteen cities. Especially since there are two True Realm martial artists within the Merchant Association.
Therefore, facing the aggressive Yangzhou, the Jing Province Merchant Association invited the City Lords of the other twelve cities to discuss how to deal with Yangzhou!
So, on this day of July 7th, the main hall of the Jing Province Merchant Association in Ancheng was filled with representatives from the thirteen cities of Jing Province.
The vast majority were True Realm martial artists.
It wasn’t that they were willing to come, but the pressure from Yangzhou was too great.
Seeing the dwindling population and decreasing wealth in their cities, who could sit still?
But Yangzhou was too strong; relying on the strength of a single city wouldn’t be enough to defeat them.
A few years ago, they thought Yangzhou was empty, a piece of fat meat, so they sent people to seize territory. As a result, their teeth were knocked out!
They even lost a True Realm martial artist from Jing Province!
Xu Jinglu sat bored at the end of the lower seats in the main hall, studying the patterns on the armrests of the chair. He looked at the True Realm martial artists haggling in the hall with confusion.
He was representing Miancheng.
It wasn’t that the Jing Province Merchant Association didn’t respect Miancheng, but because he was a Zhoutian martial artist.
There was a main seat at the top of the hall, occupied by the head of the Jing Province Merchant Association, Qian Kun Qian Jinyu. Behind him hung a huge plaque with the inscription “Harmony Brings Wealth.”
On both sides of the main seat were guest seats, six on each side. Xu Jinglu was sitting in the last seat on the right.
“Our thirteen cities should unite and form a Jing Province Alliance to attack Yangzhou together. This way, Yangzhou will be enough for us…”
“Who will be the Alliance Leader, who will be the vanguard, and who will be in charge of logistics?”
“The front lines are tight, and the rear eats well. I am willing to be in charge of logistics and serve everyone!”
“Ah! Indeed, the martial artists on the front lines only need to devote themselves to battle and fight the enemy with all their might, but the personnel in the rear have to consider many things!”
“The rear is important; I am willing to be the one who does a lot of thinking!”
A few True Realm martial artists, speaking sarcastically, rejected this proposal.
Everyone is a True Realm martial artist, so why should they listen to you!
If they can listen to you, they might as well listen to Yangzhou!
After all, martial artists rely on their fists to speak. If you don’t have the strength to crush others, how can you make them listen to you?
If someone had overwhelming strength, they would have unified Jing Province long ago. Why would the thirteen cities of Jing Province each govern themselves?
Besides, listening to others is not as comfortable as being a local emperor.
“So, I propose that we hold a martial arts competition to select the Alliance Leader.”
“Huh? A martial arts competition? Who goes first, who is responsible for drawing lots? Is that fair?”
“You just say anything! Our thirteen cities have a total of fourteen True Realm martial artists, and you want them to fight like monkeys in the arena, right?”
“Why are there fourteen? This is not right, this is not fair!”
“We, as True Realm martial artists, must pursue fairness!”
Several True Realm martial artists, under the guise of fairness, rejected this proposal again.
Thirteen cities, eleven True Realm martial artists present.
It was difficult for them to agree on one thing, but very easy to fail to agree on something.
“Ahem… I have a proposal.” Qian Kun Qian Jinyu, who held the power of money, cleared his throat.
After all, he was the initiator of this meeting and the local host, so everyone gave him some face.
Of course, if he didn’t speak human words, no one would give him face.
โฟโฟโฟ
“It is rare for all of you to come to Ancheng. Today, with everyone gathered here, it truly brings honor to the Jing Province Merchant Association. The reason you are willing to come is firstly because you are giving me face, and secondly because Yangzhou is aggressive, and I believe everyone has felt it.”
“Since you are all here, we must come up with a solution. Otherwise, with all of you busy with your daily affairs, if this trip fails and we are defeated by Yangzhou one by one, wouldn’t it make you all seem unwise?”
“Facing Yangzhou, the strength of one person is limited. Only by uniting can we possibly resist Yangzhou, or even counterattack. Yangzhou is vast and abundant, close to the sea, far surpassing our Jing Province.”
“We martial artists, after all, rely on strength to speak, but it would be beneath our dignity to fight personally!” His voice was mellow and kind.
He continued, “Everyone here has status, and people with status naturally need methods befitting their status. So, my proposal is that each of our thirteen cities sends out one Zhoutian martial artist to duel. The winner’s side will be the Alliance Leader of our Jing Province Alliance for the next year.”
“Next year, we will have another martial arts duel to decide the Alliance Leader for the following year!”
“This way, we don’t have to fight personally, which would be beneath our dignity, and we can still speak with martial arts, making everyone convinced.”
“Of course, if any fellow martial artist has the ability to overwhelm most of us, we will naturally be convinced and yield the position of Alliance Leader.”
He finished speaking and looked around.
Several True Realm martial artists frowned, considering the feasibility of this proposal.
The threat from Yangzhou was urgent; they knew they needed to unite, or they wouldn’t have come here.
Xu Jinglu remained expressionless on the surface, but sneered inwardly. So, you True Realm martial artists are afraid of losing face and getting injured, so you want us Zhoutian martial artists to fight in the arena.
Are we not human?
But in the Jianghu… compared to True Realm martial artists, they, the Zhoutian martial artists, really weren’t considered human!
“No, no! This seems feasible, but to have Zhoutian martial artists decide our fate, isn’t that a joke?” A True Realm martial artist said.
“Hmm… That’s reasonable! What is our status? What is the status of Zhoutian martial artists?”
“Isn’t that like ordinary people gambling on cockfights or dogfights?”
You’re the ones who are chickens and dogs! Xu Jinglu glanced at the speaker. It was Hu Yanxinglan, the Sect Leader of the Great River Sword School in Jing Province, known as the Star River Sword Saint!
“I propose that our thirteen cities establish a council. We will vote, the minority will obey the majority, that’s the fairest way!”
“Unfair, unfair! Forming cliques, creating factions, it all comes down to personal connections and backroom deals! Where’s the fairness in that?”
“Right, right, right! That’s not fair at all! Whoever has good connections, whoever is willing to sell their ass, their proposal will pass. Isn’t that nonsense? We martial artists still rely on our fists! I propose we have a private competition, whoever is stronger gets to call the shots!”
“That makes sense, I think that’s not a bad idea!”
“Have you considered that if one of us wins by chance, but they have a bad brain and can’t lead us to victory against Yangzhou, what then?”
“I say we should try to come up with a strategy to defeat Yangzhou. Whoever has the highest chance of winning, we listen to them?”
“Not good, not good…”
They want to put on airs, but they don’t want to suffer any losses.
To do great things but cherish one’s own safety, to see small profits and forget righteousness.
What kind of True Realm martial artists are these, they are just stupid donkey martial artists!
No wonder the City Lord of Miancheng would rather go fishing than attend this meeting!
Xu Jinglu complained in his heart.
Xu Jinglu and Hu Yanxinglan are names provided by book friends, not bad names.
