Chapter 10

Shi Dakai had never been so shocked in his life, not even when he broke through the walls of Tianjing City. The few thin pages in his hands now felt like a heavy burden, so heavy that he could barely lift them.

He never expected it, truly never expected it. The book Xiao Letian wanted to write was... so... straightforward, so plain that Shi Dakai couldn't bear to look at it directly.

"In the sixteenth year of the Yongle era, in a small country in southwestern Europe called Portugal, a prince named Prince Henry dispatched a fleet on its first voyage, and in the same year, they discovered the island of Santos in the Madeira archipelago. The following year, they discovered Madeira Island. Subsequently, the fleets he sent out discovered the various islands of the Azores, thus initiating the Age of Exploration in Europe..."

The article written by Xiao Letian had already surpassed Shi Dakai's imagination. There was no classical Chinese, no poetry, no neat couplets, only straightforwardness, as if a burly man at the port was telling you a legend from overseas.

But Shi Dakai knew that what he saw was not a legend but real history. The military advisor, Xiao Letian, had repeatedly assured him that while some data might be inaccurate, everything was true.

More importantly, why was it so hard to put down such a straightforward article? He had to finish it in one breath to feel satisfied.

The article began with the exploration activities of Prince Henry in the sixteenth year of the Yongle era, vividly depicting the Europeans' desire for Eastern porcelain, spices, and silk.

The article was structured like a chaptered novel, introducing the Chinese to a completely different Western world. Europe before the Age of Exploration was a terrifying Middle Ages, with impoverished people, backward countries, and extremely low education levels. At that time, China was seen as the land of gold by the Europeans.

Following Xiao Letian's pen, Shi Dakai felt as if he had taken a journey through time and space. He knew that while Prince Henry was desperately exploring the west coast of Africa, the Ming Dynasty's fleet was already heading towards the east coast of Africa. At that time, China's navigation technology was far superior to the West.

When the Portuguese maritime industry reached its peak, the Spanish began to rise. In the fifth year of the Hongzhi era of the Ming Dynasty, which corresponds to 1492 in the Western calendar, the Italian Christopher Columbus, with the support of the Spanish, began his exploration of the western Atlantic and ultimately discovered the New World, which is now the United States.

After that, it was Magellan's global adventure, which began in the fourteenth year of the Zhengde era of the Ming Dynasty. It was through Magellan's efforts that the Europeans finally understood that the earth was indeed a sphere and that the ocean's area was much larger than the land.

In these stories, Xiao Letian did not just preach. He also interspersed many entanglements between European countries and even some wild historical anecdotes, providing a detailed introduction to the politics, economy, and culture of Europe at the time.

Each chapter was three thousand characters long, composed of several stories, and at the end of each chapter, Xiao Letian would leave a cliffhanger, refusing to resolve it until the next chapter. Several times, Shi Dakai, seeing the words "To know what happens next, please listen to the next episode," was so frustrated that he slammed the table and glared, wishing he could pry open Xiao Letian's head to read the next story in advance.

But every time he saw Xiao Letian writing diligently by the window, he couldn't say a word.

What Western countries were there? What were their origins, development, and current fates? All this knowledge was recorded in Xiao Letian's book. Which European countries were powerful, which were weak, the reasons for their strength, and the conditions of the weak, Xiao Letian explained clearly and logically.

Sometimes Shi Dakai even wanted to write for Xiao Letian. He felt that such a groundbreaking book should be written in noble classical Chinese, and not doing so would be a crime. But Xiao Letian's one sentence silenced him.

"Your Highness, are there more literate scholars or illiterate people in this world? Since there are more illiterate people, it proves that the greatest power lies among the people. To make China strong, we must awaken the lowest levels of the people. Knowledge should not be confined to the studies of scholars..."

After hearing Xiao Letian's words, Shi Dakai was moved to tears. What a compassionate heart! The military advisor's broad-mindedness was truly remarkable. He could think of the countless illiterate people, and just for this, he was already superior to others.

Shi Dakai didn't know that Xiao Letian didn't understand classical Chinese at all. Apart from reciting a few poems like "Beside my bed, the bright moonlight, on the ground, two pairs of shoes," he couldn't even write well with a brush pen, looking like a child just starting to learn.

Shi Dakai now firmly believed that Xiao Letian was a solitary traveler from overseas. To make it easier for Xiao Letian to write, the Prince of Yi even used his secret agents in the capital to buy steel pens, ink, and even pocket watches, toothbrushes, and glass mirrors from the foreign stores in Dongjiaomin Alley, all for the military advisor. That small package of foreign goods cost a full ten taels of gold.

When Xiao Letian saw the package of foreign goods, he was in such a good mood that he actually started telling stories to the soldiers in the camp, the content being the stories he had written. Unexpectedly, the first session received a full house of applause. The soldiers, listening to stories from overseas, were as excited as if they were celebrating the New Year.

Xiao Letian spoke for three days and couldn't bear the soldiers' enthusiasm. Every evening after dinner, they would bring stools and gather outside Xiao Letian's wooden house, looking at him with extremely eager eyes. At that moment, Xiao Letian felt that not telling two chapters would be a crime.

From that day on, Xiao Letian became a part-time storyteller in the camp, greatly contributing to the cultural life of the bandits on Taibai Peak.

It wasn't until more than half a month later, when the spies from the foot of the mountain brought the latest intelligence to Xiao Letian, that he was forced to stop his daily storytelling, leaving it unfinished.

"Your Highness, I must go down the mountain immediately. Now Mr. Fan, the merchant, is in trouble, and I cannot stand by and do nothing," Xiao Letian said anxiously.

"Don't worry, don't worry. I know what the military advisor is talking about. Isn't it just a problem of 110,000 silver taels? The Fan family doesn't care. As the leading family of the Shanxi merchants, if they can't afford 110,000 silver taels, that would be truly embarrassing..." Shi Dakai, unaware of Xiao Letian's plan, was still drinking tea leisurely.

"Oh, my lord, Mr. Fan is a crucial part of my plan. Without his help, none of my strategies can be implemented. Now is the time to show him our kindness. Whether we can control the old merchant depends on this," Xiao Letian paced around the room in anger.

Originally, Xiao Letian didn't know about the old merchant's crisis. He just took some time to write two private letters, one to Mr. Fan and the other in pure English to Reverend Lewis.

When the Taiping Army spy in Yixian County gave the letter to Lewis, it didn't even take an hour before the foreigner, who was taking photos everywhere, left without even saying goodbye to Mr. Fan, riding a fast horse with Simon straight to Beijing. It seemed that the content of the letter was extremely urgent.

After the messenger delivered the letter to the Americans, he went to the Fan family's Guangde cargo station to find the old merchant. But when he arrived at Guangde, he found that the old merchant had fallen ill with a cold in the mountains and was bedridden. When Mr. Fan read Xiao Letian's private letter, the old man struggled to get up, but was finally persuaded to stay in bed by Hu Niu.

"I learned the whole story from Miss Fan. Now Mr. Fan is almost being driven to death by his brother, the head of the Fan family. Miss Fan is at a loss and asked me to bring a message to the military advisor, saying that your great kindness to them may never be repaid in this life... only in the next life..."

Damn, Xiao Letian was furious. The first woman he had fallen for after crossing over was in danger? This was a matter of life and death? If I don't step in, am I even a man?

"Your Highness, whether you agree or not, I must go down the mountain. Either you kill me, or you send someone to protect me. There is no other way..."

Shi Dakai, seeing the indignant Xiao Letian, suddenly became very angry. He slammed the table and stood up, "Mr. Xiao, what are you saying? Since you are our military advisor, you have all the freedom. How can I stop you? What kind of people do you think we are? Do you think we are lowly bandits?"

Xiao Letian, hearing this, blushed, but Shi Dakai didn't say anything else. "If Mr. Xiao wants to go down the mountain, everything must be arranged properly. How will you enter the city? How will you infiltrate Guangde? How will you avoid alarming the authorities? All these need to be prepared in advance. Don't worry, I will arrange everything for you by tonight..."

Shi Dakai's sincere gaze won Xiao Letian's trust. After a sleepless night, the next morning, when Xiao Letian opened the door, he found more than twenty silver chests in the courtyard, with soldiers loading them onto horses, and General Liu Lang, the gray-bearded man, helping.

"General, what are you doing?" Xiao Letian asked in confusion.

"Your Highness said that since Mr. Fan is important to your plan, we can't be stingy. We should show kindness. Isn't it just 110,000 silver taels? We can give up the camp and send it back to them..." The gray-bearded man, who was initially a bit不服气 (unconvinced) of Xiao Letian, was now thoroughly convinced after listening to his several storytelling sessions and reading a few original manuscripts.

Xiao Letian smiled bitterly. "Oh, my lord, silver is a good thing. How can you give it away? Not only should we not give it away, but we should collect it for the camp. Stop, don't load it, put it down..." With that, Xiao Letian went directly to find Shi Dakai.

"Your Highness, open the treasury. We can send gold, jade, pearls, and jadeite, but not silver. The future of the camp depends on this pile of silver..."

Shi Dakai stared at Xiao Letian in confusion, but when he saw the serious expression on his face, he knew this was no joke. It seemed the military advisor had a detailed plan in mind.

"Mr. Xiao, can you give me a hint?"

"Let's go to the treasury first. The military advisor can choose whatever he needs..."

The page turns, and the advertisement begins.

The page turns, and the advertisement ends.