141: Chapter 141 Fan Zeng's Reflections: What is the New Era's Opportunity?

Zhao Fusu extended his hand toward the honor guard phalanx, returning their salute.

A large number of seats were arranged on both sides of the rostrum; besides the members of the National Assembly, the Nobles of the Six Lands were also seated there.

The Young Lord of Han Land was also among those invited.

“All flash and no substance!”

His face was full of disdain.

If one could conquer the world just by marching in formation, then he could train a phalanx that was even more orderly.

The other Nobles of the Six Lands shared his view.

They didn't find this intimidating at all.

They even wished the Qin Army would focus all their attention on marching; that way, once they returned to their ancestral lands and raised their own armies, they could see if these Qin troops could defeat them just by marching.

Just as they were thinking this, an infantry phalanx appeared immediately following the honor guard.

These infantrymen were each clad in black-lacquered buren armor, their entire bodies encased in steel. Their helmets protected their faces and necks, leaving only a pair of deep, murderous eyes visible.

Atop the helmets were plumes a full meter long, which visually heightened the infantrymen's stature, making them appear more uniform and exceptionally majestic.

Their left hands were pressed firmly against the scabbards of the steel sabers at their waists, ready to draw their blades at any moment.

“Eyes right!”

“One, two!”

The leader and the soldiers of the infantry phalanx looked toward them in unison.

Their right hands gripped the hilts of their steel sabers.

“Clang!”

The sound of drawing blades rang out in perfect unison as they unsheathed their sabers, raised them toward the stands, and then swung them down forcefully.

Under the sunlight, the brilliant flash of the blades dazzled the Young Lord of Han Land and the other Nobles of the Six Lands so much they could hardly keep their eyes open.

Stared down by the murderous gaze of an entire phalanx of soldiers in buren armor, their expressions turned to utter horror.

It was the first time they had seen armor of such a design.

Compared to the leather armor they were used to, this steel armor had the cold luster of metal, and the steel plates were coated in thick black lacquer, making each soldier look like a Black Warrior, radiating an intimidating aura.

“What a set of impeccable armor!”

He Zhi was aghast.

“This buren armor has no visible weaknesses; fighting soldiers armed to the teeth like this, one could slash them ten times and they still wouldn't die!”

“That rebellious son, Fusu, actually upgraded the armor!”

The First Emperor had a very keen eye; he saw at a glance that this buren armor was an upgrade based on leather armor.

“What majestic battle armor!”

Xiang Yu stared at the buren armor with burning eyes.

To him, this suit of armor was more attractive than any beautiful woman.

A man cannot be without battle armor, just as a woman cannot go without buying bags!

Xiang Liang, for once, agreed with Xiang Yu.

One could tell just by looking that this armor was much sturdier than leather armor.

Encountering such an invulnerable armored soldier, the difficulty of killing him would be far too high.

The opponent could take ten slashes and be fine, but if they took a single hit from the opponent, they’d have to start preparing their funeral.

Xiang Liang couldn't help but feel like retreating.

In fact, he felt that the current situation seemed... well, it actually wasn't that bad, right?

Xiang Liang's heart was filled with hesitation.

He wanted to rebel, but he was also somewhat afraid of the price of rebelling.

In the three months since Zhao Fusu returned to Xianyang, he had abolished corvée labor, vigorously promoted anti-war rhetoric, and even changed the grain tax.

Previously, the Great Qin grain tax was two-thirds, which allowed them to unite the common people at the bottom.

But now, Great Qin only collected one-tenth as grain tax.

When the level of exploitation is similar, it makes no difference to the common people who the exploiter is.

Now, this exploiter, Great Qin, had even canceled corvée labor; if the commandery governors wanted to repair city defenses, they had to pay to hire laborers.

The difficulty of inciting the common people to rebel had increased significantly.

With their lives being better than before, the people's war-weariness had reached its peak, and they had no desire to fight anymore.

Not only was Xiang Liang struggling, but Fan Zeng was also frowning.

The smarter a person is, the more they understand the importance of catching the right trend.

He had taken the initiative to persuade Xiang Liang to rebel because he saw that Great Qin was like a falling whale, from which all things would grow.

By standing at the trend of this era and following the Xiang family, he, Fan Zeng, would surely become the founding Prime Minister.

But Zhao Fusu's appearance caused this dying giant whale of Great Qin to explode with powerful vitality once again.

It was like an eagle that plucks out its own feathers, claws, and beak to be reborn.

This forced a wise man like Fan Zeng to go back into silence and observe patiently; he wanted to find out once more which way the true trend was blowing.

He was not the kind of fool who would join the Shang Dynasty when it was on the verge of collapse.

Only by finding the right trend of the era can one enjoy the dividends it brings.

Zhao Fusu looked at the oncoming infantry phalanx; these soldiers in black buren armor were indeed majestic and powerful.

He extended his right hand forward, reviewing his armed forces.

After the infantry phalanx passed, the Iron Pagoda phalanx marched toward the rostrum.

This was a heavy cavalry phalanx.

Both the riders' armor and the horses' barding were coated in black lacquer.

They looked like the Black Armor Army led by Li Shimin; under the riders' superb horsemanship, the hoofbeats of all three hundred and sixty-two horses remained in perfect unison.

“Eyes right!”

“One, two!”

Everyone's gaze fell upon the weapons held by these heavy cavalrymen.

Not just the First Emperor and He Zhi, but everyone in the National Assembly, including the Nobles of the Six Lands, had never seen such strange weapons.

It looked like a large pipe fitted over a smaller pipe.

The Nobles of the Six Lands looked at each other; if it weren't for the public setting and the surrounding Qin Army, they would have burst out laughing.

Are these Qin soldiers fools? They're actually using water pipes as weapons.

This was truly hilarious to them!

Is this for bludgeoning people?

If you want to bludgeon someone, don't you think it's too short and awkward to hold?

“Brother Fan, do you know what those weapons the cavalrymen are holding are?”

As the Chief of the School of Military Strategy, Xiang Liang was well-versed in military texts and knew all sorts of obscure weapons, but he had truly never seen a weapon that looked like a water pipe.

Even if it were a blowgun where you use your mouth to blow a dart out of the tube, this tube is far too thick; could a dart even be blown out?

“Brother Xiang...”

Fan Zeng did not answer the question immediately but instead posed another question to him. “Do you know that Fusu killed thirty assassins single-handedly at Daiding Temple?”

“Is there a problem with that?”

Xiang Yu, standing beside them, asked in confusion, “Killing thirty assassins—isn't that something anyone could do?”

Xiang Liang: “...”

Fan Zeng: [Exasperated expression]