Longzang

Chapter 310 It’s time to go to Beijing

Yuan Qingyan's face turned pale and then red, his eyes twitched, and he almost made a violent move to kill Wei Yuan on the spot!

Wei Yuan held his teacup, sitting upright and motionless, his eyes clear as stars, showing no fear whatsoever.

Yuan Qingyan clearly believed that killing Wei Yuan would be a piece of cake, but judging from Wei Yuan's expression, he seemed perfectly confident in withstanding her thunderous attack. Meanwhile, the younger generation, including Cui Yu, sitting opposite him, all appeared calm and composed, showing no intention of suddenly attacking to protect their master. It seemed that in their minds, no matter what attack Yuan Qingyan launched, Wei Yuan could easily withstand it.

Yuan Qingyan was somewhat skeptical. He was a high-level cultivator of the Dharma Aspect realm! And none of the people on the other side, including Wei Yuan, possessed the Dharma Aspect realm. If he went all out, and was only a zhang away, how could he not kill Wei Yuan?!
only……

After killing Wei Yuan, he had to abandon his post and flee.

Wei Yuan is now, after all, the newly appointed military governor by the Prince of Jin, a high-ranking official of the second rank. Even if Wei Yuan's crimes are heinous, without a joint trial by the Ministry of Justice and the Prince of Jin's approval, no one can kill him. Yuan Qingyan, on the other hand, murdered his superior without authorization, a crime deserving the execution of his entire clan; no one can protect him. Besides, this is a mad dog; who would be willing to protect him?
Being an official like a tyrannical mad dog, his biggest backer is actually the Prince of Jin; he's the Prince of Jin's dog, biting only those the Prince of Jin tells him to bite. Right now, Wei Yuan has been appointed military governor, clearly enjoying the Emperor's favor. If I were to bite him now, I'd be seen as a disobedient dog, and I'd probably be the first to be executed by the Prince of Jin.

Yuan Qingyan weighed the pros and cons, and hesitated for a moment. If she took this step, all her efforts in the first half of her life would be in vain.

Yuan Qingyan remained silent, as did Wei Yuan, who calmly held his teacup and gazed at him.

A minor official sitting below Yuan Qingyan chuckled dryly, wanting to say a few words to ease the atmosphere, but after being glanced at by Wei Yuan out of the corner of his eye, he immediately fell silent, no longer daring to show off his cleverness or add any more drama to his life.

Wei Yuan is very patient; he can wait until the end of time.

Yuan Qingyan's eyes finally twitched, and he said, "No need for Lord Wei to worry. Lord Wei, please speak your business. I am busy with official duties and I am afraid I cannot accompany you for long."

As soon as he spoke, the officials below breathed a sigh of relief, though several also subtly revealed their disappointment. Cui Yu and the other scions of prominent families, however, made no attempt to conceal their disdain.

They all still remember how arrogant Yuan Qingyan was back then, but today she has to obediently bow her head in front of Wei Yuan.

Once you lower your head, you can never raise it again.

For example, Wei Yuan always sat upright with his back straight, never bending over. But this was achieved through fighting the Witch Clan with the determination to die, through facing numerous Dharma Aspect Great Witches head-on, and through killing ten thousand Northern Frontier Iron Cavalrymen who shook the world. If he had lost even one battle, he would not have been able to sit so straight.

Many people want to stand up straight, but in the end, the vast majority end up with broken spines.

Wei Yuan slowly put down his teacup and said, "Being busy is a good thing, but you have to be busy with important things."

Yuan Qingyan said coldly, "Lord Wei's words were cryptic; I'm afraid I don't quite understand them."

Wei Yuan said, "Originally, I wanted to visit all my old acquaintances, but I am not familiar with one of the four prefects. The remaining two, Lord Chen Dao and Lord Li Weisheng, have already been assigned to other posts and are probably packing their bags at the moment. I don't want to disturb them, so I can only talk to Lord Yuan about this."

Yuan Qingyan's heart skipped a beat! Chen Dao and Li Weisheng were both being transferred? How come she hadn't heard anything about it, while Wei Yuan knew first?
The news itself is nothing special, but who knows it first and who knows it later is very important.

Yuan Qingyan asked, "What are your orders, Lord Wei?"

His tone unconsciously softened at this moment.

Wei Yuan said, "There is indeed a small matter. Recently, I heard that many merchant caravans have encountered bandits in Lord Yuan's territory, among which the Zhan Tian Gang is particularly rampant. I am very curious, why do the bandits only operate in Lord Yuan's territory and not elsewhere? Many scoundrels have slandered me, saying that the Zhan Tian Gang's stronghold is in Lord Yuan's territory, and that they must be colluding with you."

I don't believe that.

Yuan Qingyan almost lost his temper again and was about to stand up and start cursing. Everyone in the Western Regions knew where the Zhan Tian Gang came from; it was just that everyone dared not speak out against it.

"This is a matter within my jurisdiction, and I have no authority over Lord Wei. There's no need for Lord Wei to concern himself with this."

Wei Yuan laughed and said, "Then please, Lord Yuan, clear out the bandits within our territory so as not to affect the merchant caravans that want to come here. Otherwise, we might end up having a subordinate relationship."

Having said that, Wei Yuan didn't say goodbye and got up to leave.

Cui Yu, Xu Yi, and the other generals rose abruptly, and without even saying goodbye to Yuan Qingyan, they escorted Wei Yuan away. Their steps were like the wind and fire, their arrogant and domineering gait causing the courtyard to tremble and the pillars to shake.

Inside the reception room, Yuan Qingyan remained motionless for a long time, the white hair at his temples suddenly becoming particularly striking. The officials in the hall dared not move, dared not utter a sound, and dared not even breathe loudly.

Suddenly, Yuan Qingyan grabbed the teacup and raised it high!

But the officials did not hear the expected "snap." Yuan Qingyan remained motionless, holding his teacup. The cold tea seeped out, dripping onto his head and running down his cheeks, but he was completely unaware.

Bianning County, the prefectural governor's office.

The newly built prefectural government office was in disarray, with many servants busily carrying neatly bundled boxes onto wagons. The wagons loaded with luggage stretched as far as the eye could see.

Several strong servants worked together to lift a box, chanting as they moved step by step toward a clearly high-class truck.

Li Weisheng stood in the corridor, watching the small box being loaded onto the truck and the door being closed before turning his gaze away and sighing, "I didn't expect that this prefect would have to be moved again after only a few months in office."

Sun Chaoen, who was standing nearby, said, "Lord Li has been promoted two ranks in less than half a year. This is quite a remarkable story in officialdom!"

Li Weisheng said, "I was really lucky. I thought I would stay here for two or three years, but I didn't expect that person to rise so quickly! Now, the meaning of our establishment of a prefecture and county is lost by more than half, and we have no choice but to leave." Sun Chaoen laughed and said, "Didn't you also get promoted again because of this? This step into the inner circle is something that many people can only dream of in their entire lives."

Li Weisheng smiled and said, "Although I stayed for a short time, I gained a lot, and I have to thank Lord Sun for that."

Sun Chaoen bowed deeply: "Without Lord Li as my protector, no matter how clever I am, it would be useless."

Li Weisheng patted Sun Chaoen's arm and said, "There will be times when we serve as ministers in the same court again. We have this bond, and we will help each other in the future."

Sun Chaoen bowed deeply once more: "I only hope this will be of some use to Lord Li, helping him to reach even greater heights."

Li Weisheng laughed heartily and said, "Between you and me, there's no need for further words!"

He looked westward and said, "I heard that the military governor recently visited Lord Yuan?"

"I had already visited twice before being appointed as the military governor, but I did not meet Lord Yuan. I heard a few days ago that I met him and we chatted for a bit, talking about the bandits."

Li Weisheng asked, "Oh? Lord Yuan, have you removed all those checkpoints?"

"Some left on their own, while others disappeared without a trace."

Li Weisheng chuckled, and after a moment said, "Really, why bother? Lord Yuan is actually quite talented and intelligent, it's a pity."

Sun Chaoen continued, "He's good at everything, except he's just unlucky."

Li Weisheng pondered these words carefully, and suddenly felt a chill run down his spine, breaking out in a cold sweat. He said, "Indeed, I was unlucky. If I had been placed in Ningxi County, my fate probably wouldn't have been much better. Now everyone knows that Wei Yuan is a dragon that no one can subdue, but who knew that back then?"

He summoned his steward and instructed him, "Take out the gifts that Lord Yuan sent and return them to him, saying that I appreciate his kindness."

The butler took the order and left.

Li Weisheng then said to Sun Chaoen, "It's best not to get too involved with people who have such bad luck."

Sun Chaoen nodded: "That's how it should be. Besides, his gift wasn't worth much money."

Li Weisheng chuckled and said repeatedly, "Lord Sun, you're being too harsh!"

Sun Chaoen said, "There's nothing I can do, I just hold grudges like that!"

Autumn is fast approaching, and the autumn wind is sharp as a knife.

The Broken Realm is close to the Witch Realm. There are basically no four seasons here. It is hot all the time. There is only a short period of time in the year when the rain is slightly less, which can be roughly divided into rainy and dry seasons.

More than 200,000 mu of farmland in the region gradually ripened, causing quite a commotion among the people, before they managed to harvest and store all the grain before the heavy rain arrived.

The earliest fields have already been harvested twice, with slightly higher yields. The newly cultivated 200,000 mu are harvesting for the first time, with slightly lower yields. However, the yields are still much higher than those of the newly cultivated fields in other areas.

In the past, when the human race opened up the witch realm, planting 20 catties of seeds per mu would often only yield a little over 100 catties. But Qingming has Jiamu Shengxuan, which not only matures much faster, but also doubles the yield, making it comparable to the cultivated fields that the human race has cultivated for many years.

This batch of grain totaled over 40 million jin. For the past month or so, the entire region has been frantically building not houses for people to live in, but granaries.

The ripening of the grain fields allowed Wei Yuan to harvest a large amount of spiritual energy, advancing his cultivation level slightly. Through this change, Wei Yuan roughly understood the progress he needed for this advancement.

Overall, the Rebirth Realm requires twice the spiritual energy of the previous realm, and there is also the major hurdle of nurturing the spiritual foundation of one's cultivation. Inspired by Xu Wenwu's information, Wei Yuan divided his cultivation progress into one hundred smaller segments, which allowed for a more precise assessment of his progress.

With the spiritual energy provided daily by the living beings and plants within the realm, four small squares can be filled each year, meaning it takes twenty-five years to advance to the next realm. This speed is actually several times faster than the Foundation Establishment stage, mainly due to the acquisition of the two immortal plants, the Red Lotus Bodhi and the Impure Earth Pure Lotus. These two immortal plants contribute more than two squares of spiritual energy each year, while all other spiritual plants combined contribute less than two squares.

However, when crops like Spirit Rice and Ordinary Rice mature, they can provide several times more spiritual energy. If calculated this way, it would only take fifteen or sixteen years to advance to the next level.

But Qingming is still expanding, the fields will continue to increase, and Wei Yuan's cultivation will also become faster and faster.

With tens of millions of kilograms of grain in the granary, Wei Yuan felt much more at ease and his confidence grew. At this time, the trade routes had been opened, and more than a dozen caravans were traveling between Zhao and the border region, bringing everything the border region needed, and emptying Wei Yuan's armory.

But the caravans' appetites grew, with some even using entire wagons loaded with silver to buy armor.

Unable to obtain the goods immediately, they placed orders for the next batch. Wei Yuan, unaware of the situation, did not limit the quantity, resulting in a mountain of orders piling up within a day. By the time Wei Yuan realized it, he already owed 100,000 sets of breastplates, and the warehouse had over 500,000 taels of silver in deposits.

At this time, the Western Jin Dynasty was already covered with yellow leaves, and the autumn atmosphere was thick.

Wei Yuan squandered a million taels of silver, exchanging it for a vast army of armored soldiers and banners that filled the fields. Now, autumn was in full bloom, the grass was lush, and the men and horses were strong and fat—perfect for a journey to the capital.

(End of this chapter)