Chapter 25 - Mohist Debate and Mechanical Showdown.

"Mohist School, Mo Li. Greetings, Your Majesty." Just as Xu Xuan's gaze darted around, Mo Li on the side had already spoken first and bowed to the King. Xu Xuan, on the other hand, quickly followed suit and bowed with her. "Master Mo, I have heard of your fame for a long time, and I never expected to actually have the opportunity to meet you today." Looking at Mo Li, the King of Chu at the table showed a stiff smile, then his gaze turned to Xu Xuan, who was imitating Mo Li's bow: "This must be the swordsman Master Mo brought, right? I heard you are from the Sword Hall? Then the sword on your back must be the legendary number one sword in the world, the Chiyou Sword, correct? The divine weapon of the Sword Hall, I have longed for it for a long time." "Yes, this sword is indeed the Chiyou Sword," Xu Xuan replied, hearing the King of Chu's words. "How interesting, I would very much like to see this sword." Clearly, the King of Eastern Chu seemed quite interested in the Sword Hall's Chiyou Sword: "May I have a look? You should know, if it weren't for hearing that you carry the Chiyou Sword, you would certainly not be allowed to bring a sword into the palace today." "..." Hearing the King of Eastern Chu's words, Xu Xuan fell into a brief silence. He hadn't expected that the origin of the sword on his back and his identity as a Sword Hall disciple were already common knowledge. However, thinking of Liu Xian, the Novelist he had encountered in the city, Xu Xuan was not surprised: "Reporting to Your Majesty, this humble one's sword is already connected to my body. If Your Majesty wishes to see it, this humble one can step forward with the sword for Your Majesty to inspect." "Audacious! As a swordsman, do you not know that approaching the monarch with a sword is a serious crime?" Hearing Xu Xuan's words, Xiao Liu's voice rang out beside the King of Chu. However, his subsequent words were cut off by the King of Eastern Chu. "Never mind. In that case, after the court session, make some preparations, and then let him hand over the sword for me to examine." The King of Chu waved his hand, signaling Xiao Liu to be silent, and then spoke again to Mo Li on the side: "Master Mo, may I ask the purpose of your visit?" "This humble one has come only for the hundreds of thousands, even millions, of people of Chu and Song," Mo Li stated directly and frankly, looking at the King of Chu. "Oh? What do you mean by that?" "This humble one has heard that some people wish to discard their colorful carriage to steal someone else's broken carriage, to discard their luxurious robe to steal their neighbor's coarse linen clothes. Your Majesty, what kind of person do you think this is?" Seeing the King of Chu's feigned ignorance, Mo Li spoke neither humbly nor arrogantly. "I think this person must have a stealing癖," the King of Eastern Chu replied impatiently, hearing Mo Li's words. "Your Majesty, the State of Chu is vast, far larger than the State of Song, and its wealth far exceeds that of Song. Now that the Long Night is approaching, Your Majesty is not thinking about how to lead your people through the Long Night, but instead plans to attack the State of Song. Is this not just like that person with a stealing癖?" Mo Li said calmly, looking at the King of Chu: "Your Majesty, the common people are the foundation of the state. If you raise an army to attack, there will surely be a shortage of food domestically. Once the Long Night arrives, who knows how many people will starve to death." "The common people? They are merely weeds. What harm is there in some dying?" Hearing Mo Li's words, the King of Chu's face showed an expression of disdain: "I thought Master Mo would have some profound insight; you truly disappoint me. As long as I conquer the State of Song, I can simply eat their grain then." "But what if the Chu army cannot conquer the State of Song? What if the battle drags into the Long Night?" Hearing the King of Chu's words, Mo Li's face still maintained an expression of neither humility nor arrogance: "At that time, the army will be caught in the Long Night, only to be swallowed and destroyed by it. The following year, most of your Chu people will also starve to death. If enemies then come to invade, wouldn't that be discarding a colorful carriage for a broken one?" "Hmph, you say we can't conquer it, so we can't?" The King of Chu said disdainfully, hearing Mo Li's words: "You haven't even seen who I've invited to help. With the assistance of Mr. Gongshu's automaton techniques, I believe it won't be long before I can conquer the State of Song in one fell swoop." "Even with the Gongshu family's automaton techniques, you won't be able to break into the State of Song." Mo Li said calmly, looking at the disheveled man covered in wooden pieces: "Because if Your Majesty insists on this, my Mohist automatons will appear on the city walls of the State of Song. Your Majesty's ambition is destined to fail. Therefore, I advise Your Majesty to abandon the idea of raising an army." For a moment, a wave of oppressive aura from a high-ranking individual emanated from the King of Chu, enveloping Mo Li. After Mo Li finished speaking, the entire hall fell into an eerie silence, and Xu Xuan looked at the surrounding officials. But to Xu Xuan's surprise, these officials showed no reaction whatsoever to Mo Li's arrogant words. In fact, Xu Xuan had noticed from the beginning that all the ministers present were expressionless and silent. Not only that, but so far, apart from turning their heads towards them, their eyes seemed to show no change. They just stared blankly at them. This time, before the King of Chu could say anything, the man covered in wooden pieces stepped forward. He came before Mo Li. "You think our Gongshu family's automaton techniques can't contend with your Mohist family's automaton techniques, do you?" The man said to Mo Li with an unfriendly expression, cupping his fists: "Gongshu family, Gongshu Ban. Today, I shall indeed experience Master Mo's Mohist automaton techniques." "Mohist School, Mo Li. Please enlighten me, Mr. Ban." Hearing Mo Li's words, Gongshu Ban directly sat cross-legged in front of Mo Li. Then, he pulled out a wooden piece from his body, and from behind it, a series of tiny, precise parts were seemingly drawn out of thin air. With a flick of Gongshu Ban's hand, these parts transformed into small soldiers and chariots. Seeing these soldier chess pieces that could move forward on their own, Xu Xuan's eyes finally lit up; this was what he wanted to see: a competition of automaton techniques. However, it was somewhat different from what he had imagined. He thought the two people in this world would directly deploy automatons for a fight, but he didn't expect it to be this miniature, intricate, almost like a board game. And seeing Gongshu Ban's setup, Mo Li took off her wooden belt. She placed the belt on the ground, and as the wooden pieces on the belt continuously deformed, it surprisingly transformed into a small city wall within the main hall. "Interesting, then let me show you this." Gongshu Ban said, taking out a few more wooden blocks. He shook out these blocks and the connected parts, then arranged them, and dozens of tank-like chariots appeared on the battlefield. Xu Xuan's eyelids couldn't help but twitch at this sight; these were clearly tanks! Except for the giant crossbow bolts fired from their cannons, most of their movement methods were similar to tanks. Mo Li didn't speak, but instead took out a small box. After switching to a round piece similar to crystal glass, Mo Li directly used a fire starter to light the candle inside the wooden box. As the candle lit, the transparent lens projected an image of mountains and rivers. The small box was like a projector, casting the scenery around the city, such as mountains, rivers, and forests, onto the floor of the main hall. 'Hey, hey, isn't this too much? My era didn't even have such advanced board games. By the way, what kind of principle is that fire-lighting projector based on? Holy crap! Mo Li wouldn't have also invented video recorders, cameras, and such, would she?' Looking at the scene before him, while others said nothing, Xu Xuan's eyelids kept twitching. His inner吐槽魂 was burning, but he didn't understand why the few people present showed no reaction. It was as if all of this was commonplace. Just as Xu Xuan was complaining internally, a siege battle had already begun. Although the King of Chu on the dais said nothing, he watched the two's confrontation with rapt attention. Large numbers of soldiers began to advance towards the city wall, accompanied by traditional siege weapons. At this moment, more than a dozen repeating crossbows rose on the city wall, firing five bolts at a time, continuously shooting down at the base of the wall. This made the soldiers' advance difficult. Then, a huge siege engine appeared at the front of the battlefield and began to move towards the city gate, enduring the arrows from the city wall. "Increase the intensity." Watching his pieces advance, Gongshu Ban placed some new wooden blocks onto the battlefield, and these wooden blocks also began to deform, eventually turning into large mechanical birds carrying people, flying across the sky. They occasionally dropped burning stones from above. "Such convenient technology, yet it can only be used to serve war and the powerful. What a pity," Mo Li said indifferently, looking at the mechanical birds circling the city walls. "That is technology I researched, it is the effort of my Gongshu family. How it is used is naturally decided by my Gongshu family. To fly into the sky, I lost my father and a brother. Why should outsiders gain benefits for free?" Gongshu Ban said coldly in response to Mo Li's words. "Indeed, but my Mohist School is willing. Before long, my Mohist School will also control the sky." Hearing Gongshu Ban's words, Mo Li said calmly. It was at this moment that countless Kongming Lanterns floated out from inside the city walls. After ascending into the sky, these Kongming Lanterns began to indiscriminately spray burning small needles in all directions. If translated into reality, it would be a rain of swords across the sky. With one wave of attack, Gongshu Ban's mechanical bird army was largely annihilated. However, at this time, the siege equipment, protected by Gongshu Ban's mechanical tanks, had also arrived at the city gate. But the next second, two wooden stakes bristling with weapons protruded from both sides of the city gate. The two wooden stakes forcefully pierced through the siege engine's defenses, and as for the soldiers inside, they were undoubtedly incapacitated. The siege engine stopped there, and at the same time, burning oil was poured down from the city wall. For a moment, the siege engine was engulfed in raging flames. The city gate area became an impassable point. "You don't think this can stop my attack, do you? I still have cloud ladders unused." Gongshu Ban said, once again placing several large wooden blocks on the ground. Instantly, these wooden blocks combined to form a castle. The castle was fully equipped with offensive and defensive facilities like crossbows and shields. The height of the castle clearly exceeded that of the city wall, and most terrifyingly, this castle was moving towards the city wall. A huge drawbridge extended towards the city wall at an incredible angle... 'Holy crap, is this a cloud ladder?'