Longzang

Chapter 987 Freedom Project
Wei Yuan fought two opponents single-handedly, using various methods to kill the Duke of Zhongguo of the Great Zhao. Although the Duke of Zhongguo was only at the early stage of the Imperial Realm, with this stepping stone, Wei Yuan had officially entered the ranks of high cultivators through his killing prowess.

Thinking of Duke Zhongguo's fate, Wei Yuan sighed. The path to immortality is perilous; even a peerless immortal fell in an instant. Even the immortals couldn't have foreseen that Duke Zhongguo would die at their hands. Otherwise, Duke Zhongguo would never have dared to open up the World of Mind so readily.

Just as he was marveling at this, the scenery before Wei Yuan suddenly changed, and he found himself in the courtyard of Immortal Lord Yan Shi.

Immortal Lord Yan Shi gestured for Wei Yuan to sit down, then placed a cup of tea in front of him before asking, "What is planted in the lotus pond?"

Wei Yuan was taken aback: "Qinglian!"

That blue lotus was so obvious, how could the immortals not see it?

"What's planted in the lotus pond?" Yan Shi asked again, emphasizing his words.

Wei Yuan suddenly understood Yan Shi's meaning. The green lotus was just a manifestation; what Yan Shi wanted to ask was what kind of karma the little monk had planted.

This question stumped Wei Yuan. In Wei Yuan's view, it was just a blue lotus, extremely simple and straightforward, so where did the cause and effect come from? Besides, if even an immortal like you can't see it, how could I?

But Wei Yuan certainly didn't dare say that in front of Yan Shi. So he sat in the courtyard, entered the Pure Land Cave with his divine sense, stared at the green lotus for a long time, and sure enough, he couldn't see anything.

Yan Shi didn't receive an answer, which seemed to be expected, so he said, "Perhaps the time is not yet right, and the secrets of heaven have not yet been revealed. Just keep an eye on it. If you have any ideas, remember to tell me."

Just as Wei Yuan was about to take his leave, Immortal Lord Yan Shi handed him a tea box and said, "Here are a few tea leaves that I usually drink by myself. Take them. Next time you drink tea in front of others, you should drink some good tea, lest you embarrass my Tai Chu Palace."

Wei Yuan was overjoyed and accepted the box. As soon as he returned to his own realm, he opened it and saw seven pieces of immortal tea neatly arranged inside. Wei Yuan was stunned. Wasn't this only allowed to be drunk seven times in front of others? This number was a bit insufficient.

Wei Yuan's mind then wandered, and he summoned the Moon Laurel Fairy, asking her to issue a task in his own name among the mortals: how to drink tea in front of people without consuming any tea leaves, but also to let them know that the tea in the cup is celestial tea.

The moment the task was announced, a hush fell over the bustling world. Wei Yuan felt as if many eyes were watching him. But he immediately reassured himself, "This task was given by the Moon Laurel Immortal, what does it have to do with me?"
Hmm? The Laurel Fat Fairy?

However, with the military situation urgent, Wei Yuan was focused on the battlefield and had no time to study Yue Mu Gui's figure, so he returned to his own realm.

By this time, he had ordered dozens of elite warriors to each lead a small force to disperse in all directions to thoroughly survey and record the terrain. He also dispatched more than ten thousand-man squads from the army to separately attack and capture the remaining county towns of Yuyang County and drive out the government officials.

At this time, several newly built floating airships arrived, bringing with them a large amount of grain and specially made sand.

This sandy soil has been specially refined by experienced farmers. Just a few kilograms of it need to be evenly spread on an acre of land, and the entire plot will no longer be able to grow crops. It's even more effective than spreading salt.

However, it cannot grow grains, but it can grow a type of cotton called red-stemmed cotton. This cotton has a high yield, and its fibers are long and thick, making it much easier to process than traditional cotton, and its yield is twice that of traditional cotton. The coarse cloth woven from this cotton is not very comfortable, but its advantage lies in its large quantity and low price. It can also be used to make gunpowder instead of spirit wood fibers, and it is only slightly more expensive than fertilizer and explosives, but it is also more powerful.

It was winter, and the fields had long been harvested. Wei Yuan arranged for people to spread sand in the fields, while he dispatched over a thousand eloquent scholars, dressed in civilian clothes, to go deep into the fields and villages, spreading rumors: next year this place will suffer a natural disaster, leaving nothing but barren land. Those who stay will starve, but once they reach Qingming, they will have meat to eat!

The reason it is called a rumor is mainly because the disaster that struck this place was not a natural disaster, but a man-made one.

Yuyang County borders Qingming, and people there often heard about the idyllic life in Qingming, which they greatly envied. However, life in Zhao was relatively stable, and most mortals were illiterate, having only ever been to the county town in their entire lives. Therefore, as long as they had food to eat and land to cultivate, they wouldn't want to move.

Although they didn't want to move, Wei Yuan had his own way. One by one, the scholars eloquently described Qingming as something rare in the world, something absolutely unique on earth, and then said they could arrange for them to go to Qingming. Once in Qingming, every household would have land to cultivate.

Naturally, as a price, the villagers needed to pay a toll for the journey. The amount wasn't too much, but it was just enough for a few households to pool together, since individuals couldn't afford it. The toll was collected by village, and after paying, they waited for the people to be transported—the same amount for a hundred people, or a thousand. So, once a village paid, the entire village had to get on the truck. When the villagers saw the large trucks arriving to transport them, their doubts were dispelled, and the elderly, children, the sick, and the disabled all boarded.

The village chief and headman, initially worried about insufficient transport capacity, had already persuaded the village's elderly residents over fifty to stay and await their deaths. However, when some elderly people insisted on boarding, those responsible for transporting them did not object. As a result, the elderly people's families were moved to tears of gratitude, while the village chief and headman were extremely nervous, wondering if they were being transported to some furnace to be refined into the legendary "living pills."

Some village chiefs were puzzled and secretly discussed among themselves, wondering why Qingming wanted these elderly people who were almost unable to walk. These elderly people were almost unable to work in the fields, and their existence was just a waste of food. In some mountain villages where the land was barren, elderly people who could no longer work were often sent to the deep mountains to die.

So these people thought it over and over, but they still couldn't understand what Wei Yuan wanted to do.

In fact, when Wei Yuan conceived the whole plan, collecting tolls was a core part of it in order to relocate as many people as possible. These uneducated villagers, once they were coaxed into paying the money, would do anything to get on the truck and move, so as not to waste the money they had spent.

Collecting money by village is another aspect. In each village, some people want to leave, and some don't. Once a small number of people have raised enough money for the village, the rest will want to go with them to avoid being left behind. There will also be a few shameless individuals who will stubbornly insist on getting on the bus, since they haven't paid anything, they might as well take the bus.

As for the elderly, Qingming doesn't lack food; Wei Yuan's order was to take away all those who could move. Besides, it's not like they're being raised in vain; the elderly can contribute some Qingqi, more or less.

With such a simple move, within a few days, nine out of ten houses in Yuyang County were empty. Of the county's total population of 11 million, 10.5 million were on their way to Qingming.

While plundering Yuyang, Wei Yuan's army was not idle either. They quickly broke out of Yuyang and split into three routes. One main force headed straight for the capital of Zhao, while the other two routes spread out to the left and right, making a large detour, each preparing to bring in two or three counties.

Meanwhile, floating boats and airships kept coming and going, bringing large quantities of canned meat. Wherever the army went, they had to cook and eat the meat in front of the local people, while introducing the "Azure Sky Free Residency Plan" to them.

Simply put, the plan is that anyone who arrives in Qingming can stay, have meat to eat, and land to cultivate.

However, during implementation, the soldiers on the front lines felt that the name was too literary and that the common people couldn't understand it, so they changed it to "Qingming Freedom to Eat Meat and Farm Plan," which everyone could understand immediately.

There was a little incident during the process: the soldiers on the front lines complained that they were eating too much meat and that it was too greasy, and they all asked for more fruits and vegetables.

Some soldiers, unable to eat any more, casually shared their rations with the Zhao people around them. The people were incredibly grateful, and as a result, Wei Yuan would occasionally receive small amounts of luck, eight hundred or a thousand at a time. Although not much, it was a steady stream that allowed him to further clarify his Dao heart.

At this time, Wei Yuan's status was different, and the focus of the war was also different from the past. Therefore, he did not go to the front line, but stayed in Yuyang County City, sitting in Cui Shutong's study. He picked up a top-quality wolf hair brush that Cui Shutong usually used, ground half a piece of ambergris pine soot ink that Cui Shutong was reluctant to use, spread out the copper plate jade paper specially made for the King of Zhao, and began to work on the problem, continuing to study Chapter 8 of "First Exploration of the Wilderness".

"A First Exploration of the Desolate Realm" has been available in the Azure Netherworld for some time now, and thanks to Wei Yuan's deliberate design, tens of thousands of mortals have read it. However, so far, no one has been able to get past Chapter Eight, including Han Li and Jun Weizhi.

This made Wei Yuan secretly pleased, but he also realized that in the field of mathematics, having many people is useless.

Ronglong only studied for half a month and then pondered for another month before writing "A First Exploration of the Wilderness". Then Wei Yuan, along with tens of thousands of people from the entire human world, spent a long time trying to finish even the eighth chapter.

Wei Yuan was scribbling on the paper when he suddenly felt something. He slowly looked up and saw a young cultivator sitting in the room. He had sword-like eyebrows and bright eyes. It was hard to say what was particularly handsome about him, but he was handsome from every angle. From top to bottom and from the inside out, he was handsome without any bad angles. Every angle of him could be used as a template for Pan An and Song Yu.

The monk sat calmly, holding neither a folding fan nor a teacup, his hands casually resting on his lap, smooth and jade-like. There were no jade bracelets or thumb rings on his wrists; any adornment would have diminished the elegance of his hands.

The cultivator's voice was clear and cool yet calm and gentle, like a stream flowing down a melting snow-capped mountain: "I am different from the Six Wonders of Ji Kingdom. He doesn't need people, but I do. You've now abducted nearly twenty million people and emptied two prefectures. Isn't it time to take some back?"

(End of this chapter)