Chapter 12: The Strawmen's Might
Zhao Xing's actions on the grassy field were observed by the three examiners aboard the flying boat.
He was the first minor official to react and begin crafting strawmen, and both his speed and quality were quite remarkable.
While others' strawmen wobbled unsteadily, Zhao Xing's could run, jump, and appeared lifelike.
"Hmm? The 81 variations of the Willow Transmission Method—could this kid be an official under Lord Gao or Lord Tang?" asked Chen Shijie.
Gao Linong and Tang Wanchun exchanged glances. They only knew bits of the technique, not enough to recognize it, let alone teach it—they didn’t even know how to fully perform it themselves.
"He’s not one of my subordinates."
"Nor mine."
"Oh? This kid’s strawman magic is quite intricate. I wonder whose official he is."
Tang Wanchun mused, "Aside from Lord Chen, only Elder Xue, the Agricultural Minister, likely knows the complete Willow Transmission Method."
Chen Shijie nodded slightly. Xue Wenzhong had been the Agricultural Minister for over sixty years, so it was natural for him to know more.
Prompted by this, both Tang and Gao began to focus on Zhao Xing.
Unexpectedly, they soon saw Zhao Xing fighting over straw, throwing stones at others, and forcing his colleagues to retreat.
Gao Linong snorted, "Hmph, this man has a bad temperament. To go so far as to attack his colleague for a pile of straw is truly disgraceful."
Tang Wanchun glanced over but said nothing, observing Chen Shijie’s reaction. After all, the chief examiner had just praised this minor official, and here was Gao contradicting him, which seemed a bit tactless.
Chen Shijie said lightly, "As agricultural officials, we compete with the heavens for sustenance. Some sharpness is normal. Even your subordinate Li Chengfeng is rather bold in his actions, isn't he?"
Gao Linong’s eyelid twitched, realizing he had misspoken. Even if he thought so, he shouldn’t have said it aloud.
"Chen Shijie comes from the northern wilderness, having faced many natural disasters. This kid’s behavior probably suits his taste," Gao Linong thought to himself as he immediately changed his tone.
"Lord Chen’s insight is profound. I was too narrow-minded. Besides, he was the first to reach that straw pile, so he had the right."
This was a classic example of how higher rank suppresses lower. Chen Shijie’s mild rebuke had forced Gao Linong to agree immediately, as Gao was his subordinate, while Chen was his superior.
Meanwhile, Zhao Xing was completely unaware of the discussions among the three examiners aboard the flying boat. After using up the third straw pile, he finally left the field.
By then, he had crafted a total of seventy-six strawman puppets!
Under the pressure, Zhao Xing became even more focused. By the time he crafted his sixtieth strawman, his proficiency in the Returning Strawman Puppet technique had surpassed 1000, reaching the level of a "First-Turn Spell."
As a result, the last sixteen strawmen were faster, more agile, and stronger.
"That should be enough."
At the edge of the duty fields, seventy-six strawmen marched into the fields, bamboo poles in hand, standing like soldiers ready for battle.
Zhao Xing checked his status panel.
His vitality had dropped below 50.
"At this rate, the Moving Clouds and Thunder Calling spells won’t last much longer. Maintaining these spells consumes far more energy than the strawmen."
Strawmen had the advantage of using physical materials, requiring no further vitality after being made, whereas Moving Clouds and Thunder Calling consumed much more energy.
Still, Zhao Xing decided to keep pushing, continuing until he could go no further.
After all, strawmen were not as effective as Moving Clouds or Thunder Calling, and there were bound to be many mistakes.
...
In the first quarter-hour of the Minor Heat exam, Moving Clouds and Thunder Calling thwarted nearly all the grain-eating birds.
In the second quarter-hour, the strawmen arrived and waited in the duty fields.
By the third quarter-hour, the thunder weakened, and some grain-eating birds broke through the clouds, but the strawmen fended them off.
In the fourth quarter-hour, Zhao Xing completely abandoned Thunder Calling, using only Moving Clouds to block the birds. About one-third of the birds broke through, and the strawmen worked at full force to drive them away.
By the fifth quarter-hour, many grain-eating birds were knocked down, but five strawmen were destroyed.
By the sixth quarter-hour, a third of the grain-eating birds flew away due to the delay in feeding, but more than half of Zhao Xing’s strawmen had also been destroyed.
By the seventh quarter-hour, the Moving Clouds spell shrunk under the intense heat. Zhao Xing’s vitality was waning. He used the strawmen to distract the grain-eating birds, as the strawmen’s material—stalks of Yuan rice—was something the birds loved to eat, leading to further losses of strawmen.
By the eighth quarter-hour, Moving Clouds shrank by half again, leaving half of the fields exposed. Zhao Xing directed all his remaining strawmen to act as sacrificial decoys, allowing the grain-eating birds to feast on them while the fields below began to suffer damage.
As the ninth quarter-hour arrived, a bell rang out from the sky. All the grain-eating birds flew away, disappearing into the white clouds.
"Huff... huff..."
Zhao Xing was parched and drenched in sweat.
But he didn’t have time to rest. He hurriedly checked the condition of the duty fields.
"The southern half-acre is the most damaged since it was exposed first. I used it as a decoy, drawing all the birds there."
"The other acres suffered only minor losses."
Zhao Xing circled the fields, feeling somewhat relieved.
When he looked at his strawmen, only eight remained, and they were all damaged. If they hadn’t reached the level of "First-Turn Spell" strength, they likely wouldn’t have lasted this long.
"It’s over. Time to rest." Zhao Xing waved his hand, and the remaining eight strawmen lost their light and collapsed by the field’s edge.
Exhausted from battling under the scorching heat for nearly an hour, Zhao Xing felt utterly drained, longing to collapse and sleep on the spot.
Around him, the wails of other officials echoed.
This exam was far more difficult than previous ones, and many of their duty fields had suffered heavy losses.
Most had lost over half their fields, and some had even been completely stripped bare.
"All our hard work for over a month, gone in an instant?"
"Curse those grain-eating birds! Damn it!"
"Sigh, it’s our own lack of skill. Who can we blame? We’ll just have to wait for the re-exam."
"A re-exam might get you a B-grade at best. Just enough to pass, but what a waste of effort. How will we handle the next exam?"
"It’s not easy to become a ninth-grade official. The Agricultural Bureau is better off; just over 500 people competing for three or five spots. But the Earl of Donghu's army, for one ninth-grade position, sees three or five thousand competitors!"
"Don’t even mention joining the army. The competition for craft officials in the Engineering School is also close to a thousand per position."
"Wish I weren’t a man. I hear the competition in the Weaving Workshop isn’t as fierce."
"Ugh, you have no ambition."
...
Just then, dark clouds suddenly covered the sky, and rain began to fall.
"Drip, drip..."
At first, the raindrops were sparse and light, but they quickly grew larger and more frequent.
The air temperature dropped sharply as well.
Zhao Xing plopped down on the field, letting the rain wash over him.
The rainstorm came quickly and left just as fast.
It was clearly artificial, giving the officials a brief quarter-hour break to recover. Then, just as suddenly, the sky cleared, the dark clouds turned white, and the weather returned to the usual Minor Heat conditions.
A flying boat descended from the clouds onto the field, with three figures standing at its bow: Chen Shijie, the chief officer of the Agricultural Bureau, and his two deputies, Gao Linong and Tang Wanchun.
"They’ve arrived. They must be here to announce the results of the Minor Heat exam." Zhao Xing perked up and approached the field.
Posts
Comments
Post a Comment