Seeking Truth with a Sword-Chapter 504 - 455 Beidou

Chapter 504: Chapter 455 Beidou
The common people shouted loudly to each other, but the train showed no sign of slowing down and continued to race towards them, indifferent to their plight.
The talisman lamps on the locomotive, basking in the glow of the sunset, displayed a clear amber color mixed with purple and red, resembling the pupils of a demon beast.
The crowd finally began to panic, with some jumping off the tracks, attempting to climb onto the platform. However, the height of the platform was too great, and unless one had extraordinary physical strength, it would be very difficult to climb up on their own. Shouts, cries, and pleas for help all converged above the railway tracks.
As the vehicle was about to speed past the platform, potentially causing countless injuries and deaths, two white-robed Cultivators suddenly appeared at the front of the train. They stood on top of the vehicle, hands joined, then separated. An invisible, powerful Telekinesis instantly acted upon the people of Shuo Province in front of them. Everyone was lifted into the air, some landing on the edge of the platform, others pressed against the stone walls on either side of the tracks, unable to move.
CLANG, CLANG.
The Spiritual Energy Locomotive raced past, like sailing through a sea that had been parted. Not a single person was run over; not a single casualty was incurred. Twenty carriages, like a long dragon bringing rain through the clouds, spouted billowing steam and swiftly passed through Shuo State Station.
Many passengers in the carriages pressed their faces against the windows, looking down upon the scene below, their eyes filled with sympathy, confusion, or disgust.
"Is this the plague-stricken Shuo Province?" asked a young man in the first-class carriage. He was dressed in luxurious clothes, with a Taiyuan Wang Family Jade Pendant (engraved with the name Wang Jie on the back) hanging at his waist. He withdrew his indifferent gaze from outside the window and shook his head. "Such bad luck. These common people even thought of blocking the tracks and forcing the train to stop. I wonder who gave them the courage."
Another beautiful young woman in the carriage, wearing a Qinghe Cui Family Jade Pendant (engraved with the name Cui Yan on the back), nodded. "Luckily, on this trip to Yunzhou, representing both the Wang and Cui Families to manage the fur business, we brought Tributes with us. We could use Telekinesis to drive them away. Otherwise, we would really have been entangled by these common people."
As they spoke, the two white-robed Cultivators who had dispersed the people of Shuo Province returned to the carriage and nodded to the two nobles. Then they sat back down in their seats and continued drinking tea and reading their newspapers, as if nothing had happened at all. The Tributes of the Thousand-year-old Noble Families were mostly like this: silent and reticent, not speaking when they shouldn’t, not looking when they shouldn’t.
"Indeed, luckily," Wang Jie nodded and said. "The governor of Shuo Province doesn’t know what he’s been doing, to have failed to control the epidemic. Even Yunzhou has had similar cases appear recently and has been forced to lock down. Fortunately, our family names are influential enough; we seized the last opportunity before the lockdown to get a pass."
"Yes, HEHE," Cui Yan just smiled, but deep down, she felt some disdain.
The fool before her actually thought that, with the Taiyuan Wang Family’s influence, he could do anything he wanted in Hedong Road. Were it not for her own family elders, who were old friends with the Yunzhou governor, how could they possibly have caught this full train departing from the Northern Territory of Hedong Road?
"Speaking of which, the war with the Zhou Kingdom seems unavoidable," Wang Jie continued, seemingly unaware of the contempt hidden in the woman’s eyes. "But this is also to the benefit of our Noble Families. War always requires money, and when the court spends money, it means merchants make money. Armor, Crossbows, arrows, grain and grass, tea and wine, clothes, bedding... The court’s official workshops can’t possibly take on the production of all these supplies; they will ultimately have to purchase from private merchants.
"If the war goes on for ten days, we could make 100,000 strings of coins.
"If it lasts for a hundred days, we could make 1,000,000 strings of coins.
"If the war continues indefinitely, we will be able to continuously earn gold and silver mountains.
"In my opinion, the old ways of the Thousand-year-old Noble Families, buying land and nurturing scholars, are really outdated.
"Even if they manage to amass countless Great Scholars, and the State Mansion’s common people only know the Noble Family and not the Yu Country, the emperor, if he wishes, could still easily suppress the Noble Families, just like with the ’Clan Chronicles’ and the ’Genealogy.’
"Now, in the Yu Country, with the advent of Spiritual Energy Locomotives, talisman plates, and workshops using Spiritual Energy Machines, we can say there is a revolutionary change every day.
"What era are we in that we’re still playing with traditional Noble Families?
"We should have changed our thinking long ago, casting aside the veiled curtains, and started to do business and amass wealth.
"As long as we have enough money and a wide enough net of shared financial interests, the Noble Families, the Prime Minister, Ministers, and Imperial Family members will all be interlinked. It will be hard to tell one from the other. Why then worry about the court and the Academic Palace suppressing us? Wouldn’t we all enjoy prospering together?"
Wang Jie grew more excited as he spoke, while Cui Yan maintained a smile, occasionally nodding in agreement, although the disdain in her eyes became increasingly thick.
Suddenly, Wang Jie coughed violently, subconsciously covering his chest and doubling over.
Cui Yan’s face changed dramatically. She stood up abruptly and, disregarding noble etiquette, retreated several steps.
The two Tributes in the corner of the carriage frowned, approached, and closely examined the saliva Wang Jie had sprayed on the table in the middle.
One of the Cui Family’s Tributes shook their head and whispered, "It shouldn’t be the plague. In the recent cases in Yunzhou, when they cough, they spit up frothy blood or bright red sputum."
"That’s good." Cui Yan’s brow smoothed, and she resumed the posture of a Noble Family’s daughter, gently saying, "Are you alright, Wang Liulang?"
"It’s nothing. COUGH, COUGH." Perhaps feeling embarrassed to be coughing in front of the woman he admired, Wang Jie took out a handkerchief, wiped his mouth, and said apologetically, "I may have overindulged in drinking with friends in Yunzhou a few days ago and hurt my throat. HEHE. As the legitimate eldest son of the Taiyuan Wang Family’s main branch, I’ve been eating various spiritual medicine and immortal grass since I was young. I hardly ever get sick. Besides, it is said that a household that accumulates good deeds will enjoy abundant happiness, and nobility and officialdom are all in the bloodline. The plague only strikes those poor common people who are always unkempt and don’t pay attention to hygiene. It wouldn’t infect me."
"I see." Cui Yan’s eyes flickered, and she said softly, "I just remembered that there are still some account books for the Cui Family’s business in Yunzhou that I haven’t checked."
Wang Jie immediately stood up. "I’ll accompany you."
"There’s no need; it’s just tedious work with books. I won’t trouble Liulang." Cui Yan smiled charmingly and took her leave from the first-class carriage.
Wang Jie watched her leave, smacked his lips, and while savoring the lingering scent in the carriage, reflected on his own grand speech, confidently smiling to himself, believing he, the legitimate eldest son of the Taiyuan Wang Family’s main branch, had utterly captivated Cui Yan.
HEHE. Wang Jie stroked his chin and smiled, but then he began to cough again. "COUGH, COUGH—"
On the same Spiritual Energy Locomotive, coughs like Wang Jie’s echoed; in almost every carriage, someone was covering their mouth and coughing.
The vehicle traveled on the wilderness railway, taking advantage of the night, rushing toward the heart of Hedong Road—Beidu Taiyuan.