The invasion of the abyss begins with the Laughing at the Ming Dynasty

Chapter 319 Today's Outer Pass

"Hold the origin and return to the unity, and sink the qi into the Dantian."

Looking at the stone whose body was expanding like a balloon, Shen Yuanliang's loud voice lingered in his ears.

Shitou sat cross-legged as if by reflex, reciting a mantra silently, and trying his best to circulate the surging energy in his body. The energy of the peaches flowed through the eight extraordinary meridians throughout his body.

His skin, flesh, bones, and tendons were glowing with golden light. The surging energy and blood rushed up into the sky. The thousand-foot-high energy and blood smoke caused the temperature to rise sharply.

A breeze blew by, and a burnt smell came straight to people's noses. However, everyone present stared at the stone without blinking, and then looked at the peaches in the jade plate. An extreme desire surged in their hearts.

"Crack!"

The chewing sounds were particularly harsh in the quiet Jinshen Hall. The white and rosy peaches were eaten by everyone in a few bites, leaving only the clean peach pits.

Waves of momentum spread out, the azure sky was changing, boundless auspicious clouds spread to Qingdi City, golden drizzles fell, and boundless good fortune descended.

"Qingdi City is becoming more and more powerful, and martial arts masters at the realm of immortality are emerging one after another. It is worthy of being the number one city in the world."

In Shanhai Garden, Lu Xiaofeng leaned against the windowsill, the mellow wine in his hand reflected his disbelieving eyes, and his heart could not calm down for a long time.

The immortality of the gods is not a piece of cake, you can have as much as you want. However, when I saw it today, I was overwhelmed by dozens of auras, just like a lone boat in the waves.

"Could it be that the Green Emperor has obtained some rare treasures? Or has he refined a magical elixir that can help people break through?"

The casual Sikong Zhaixing crossed his legs, rested his head on his hands, and lay on his back on the golden glazed roof, his eyes rolling around.

As if he thought of something, Sikong Zhaixing, who had just come up with a little idea, became like a deflated ball. He instantly wilted and looked listless, like an eggplant hit by frost.

"I plan to take on more tasks in the near future."

Ximen Chuxue, wearing white clothes and holding a black-sheathed sword, frowned slightly and said coldly.

With the help of the Hunter's Guild and the resources of Qingdi City, Ximen Chuxue's accumulation in one year is comparable to that of the previous decades. His swordsmanship has advanced by leaps and bounds, and he has already reached the peak of the immortals on earth.

But compared to Qingdi City, he, who had never been inferior to others in his life, thought that it was still a little slow, and a sense of urgency surged up in him.

……

The last ray of afterglow faded away, and the towering palace was brightly lit. Whale oil lamps were burning on the three-meter-high bronze sacred tree, and the entire Jinshen Hall was clearly visible.

"My Lord, after nearly a year of work-for-relief, the entire area outside the Great Wall has been cleared up."

Vice Minister Gongsun Shaojun stood up, clasped his hands, and then presented a three-inch-thick memorial, saying, "Here are the details. Please preview it, my lord."

The war had an all-round impact on society, with displaced people, barren fields, out-of-control order, and so on. It was a mess. Fortunately, Shen Yuanliang was wealthy and chose to use work as a relief.

After a year of hard work by officials of the Political Affairs Hall represented by Gongsun Shaojun, 72 main cities have been completed and nearly 100 million people have been resettled.

"Crash."

Flipping through the memorial in his hand, Shen Yuanliang read ten lines at a glance, and a series of numbers flooded into his mind. After a moment, he had a general understanding of the current land outside the Great Wall. Under the swaying light, his white fingers tapped on the mahogany table again and again, and the sound of "dong dong" struck people's hearts. After a little thought, Shen Yuanliang said, "Use the 72 main cities as state capitals and divide them into 72 states."

"The candidates for the provincial governors will be selected based on their merits and qualifications. You should draw up a list as soon as possible."

In Shen Yuanliang's conception, the entire area outside the Great Wall, except Qingdi City, would be divided into seventy-two states, each with eight to ten counties, and each county would have towns under it.

Abolish the rule of imperial power not extending to the countryside, and implement vertical management, reaching directly to every Jia and every Fang, in order to restrict as much as possible the emergence of aristocratic families.

"I will obey your order."

Gongsun Shaojun, a thin man wearing a tall hat and a wide belt, accepted the task on behalf of the Council of Government.

Later, he said with an embarrassed look on his face, "There is an extreme shortage of officials nowadays. It is common for one person to hold multiple positions and be extremely busy. I hope that the Lord will hold an imperial examination to select virtuous people."

After the officials were sorted out, everything became orderly. It became impossible for someone to hold multiple positions at the same time, and the already scarce number of officials became even more scarce.

At the same time, because of the dispute between civil and military officials, the power of military officers expanded rapidly. Although the power of civil officials was also growing rapidly, it was no match for the military officials, and the civil officials became anxious.

"My Lord, we don't necessarily have to select civil officials to govern the local areas. How can we convince people that they are powerless?"

Seeing this, the military representative Shitou stood up and muttered, "The soldiers in the army are extremely loyal to the lord, so it's okay to dismount and herd the people."

It's a dispute over interests. Under Shen Yuanliang's arrangement, the former retired soldiers entered key departments and replaced the previous juren and scholars. Today's Qingdi City can be described as a classical militarism.

If we really hold an imperial examination to recruit scholars, where will the retired soldiers be arranged?

For a moment, there was chaos in the Jinshen Hall. Civil and military officials rolled up their sleeves and started fighting. Fortunately, they knew their limits and did not use their qi and blood. Even so, many people suffered bruises and swollen faces.

With a "bang", Shen Yuanliang slammed the table, and it took a while for them to quiet down. However, they were unwilling to give in to each other, as if to say, "What are you looking at me for? What do you think of me looking at you?"

"In an era of great contention, talent is the most important thing, and the imperial examination is inevitable."

Rubbing the jade ring in his hand, Shen Yuanliang looked at the disheveled crowd and said, "Of course, the contributions of the soldiers to Qingdi City's current status are obvious to all."

"The arrangement of retired soldiers and the talent of imperial examination candidates are equally important, and both sides are equally important."

This decision clearly favored the military, but Shen Yuanliang made the final decision, and civil servants such as Gongsun Shaojun were helpless. With all the power in their hands, they lacked confidence.

Unless one day Confucianism and Taoism, which are exclusively for literati, appear in the world!
Turning to look at Shitou, Shen Yuanliang thought of the standing army that had been trained for nearly a year, and asked, "Shitou, how is the eight million standing army?"

There will be great order after great chaos. The standing army guarding one side is the maintainer of order and the foundation for Shen Yuanliang to rule over hundreds of millions of people. It is extremely important.

"According to the Lord's order, all standing troops will be relocated to the 72 main cities, and will be given two hectares of permanent farmland and one hectare of forest as the foundation for their survival."

Scratching his head, Shitou, whose face was slightly bruised, said in a muffled voice: "All the fields have been divided up, and they are all prime irrigated land."

The eight million standing troops were the spark ignited by Shen Yuanliang. They were distributed throughout the area outside the Great Wall, in towns and villages, in order to assimilate other people and change their servile nature.

(End of this chapter)