Da Zaojun

Chapter 178 Chinese and Savages
After a day of rest, Song Wuji arranged for people to burn paper money for the memorial tablet for the fallen heroes.

Song Wuji had already asked. The straw paper made from stalks of rice straw, with the Kitchen God's decree copied on it, was enough. It was Kitchen God paper money, a kind of "meal ticket." It couldn't be used directly as money, but it could feed the ghosts.

Of course, one could also write the City God's Proclamation, but the City God would have to provide incense for him to eat. So, City God Tian simply had Song Wuji write the Kitchen God's Proclamation, at least ensuring he would have a meal. This would draw out the aroma of the people cooking in the city, creating "Kitchen God Incense," which would conjure up a meal in the netherworld, enough to satisfy his hunger.

Some women took scissors and cut out the shapes of clothes and trousers. Others specially hired people to make paper houses, paper farm tools, paper armor, and paper knives. In short, they were all made of rice straw and yellow paper, which were easy to manufacture.

However, doing these things does consume some of one's luck; it's not something that can be transformed out of thin air.

Fortunately, the city was peaceful and harmonious. In the mortal realm, Song Wuji enforced the laws to protect the people and the land, and in the underworld, the City God Tian protected the netherworld. This bit of good fortune was nothing to worry about.

After subduing the evil spirit of the forest master with a talisman, the head cat constable posted a recruitment notice at the entrance of the anti-theft yamen. Surprisingly, many people wanted to pet the cats and dogs without pay. The dignified anti-theft yamen had been reduced to a cat-petting place.

These are all small, interesting things, but they also add a touch of the city's character.

The forest lord was a sensible man. In accordance with Song Wuji's decree, in addition to not catching fish or turtles in March and not catching birds or beasts in April, he also stipulated that for every tree cut down, ten seeds should be sown, or three saplings should be replanted.

In short, the wild trees were domesticated and tamed into native trees. The deity in charge of this forest also had a memorial tablet, which was enshrined in the City God Temple, thus being incorporated into the local culture.

From now on, any similar evil spirits or demons can be dealt with in the same way. If they disobey orders or disobey the law, they should be beaten and killed.

Seven or eight days passed, and the entire city of Taichang was bustling with activity as it was time to transplant the blood rice seedlings.

Song Wuji lacked the power and virtue of water, and could only summon clouds and rain with the help of the local lord's token.

With the Five Elements Minister of Agriculture in charge, and the people's strength now being greater than before, plus some of the original wilderness, which was farmland before the great changes in the world, has been returned to the territory after three rounds of cultivation, so a total of 5,000 acres of land have been cultivated.

Five thousand acres are all paddy fields, but the water source is far from enough to irrigate them. Moreover, this blood rice requires the blood and flesh of toilet rats to grow in the granary.

Although the Five Elements Agriculture Master can plant Blood Rice outside the Secret Realm, he still needs to apply Blood Fertilizer to the fields.

The blood fertilizer, which is fertilizer made by fermenting the internal organs of demons, has accumulated to a great extent.

This fertilizer needs to be applied twice to maintain the growth of the blood rice.

While manure and wood ash fertilizer are necessary, without applying blood fertilizer, it wouldn't be called blood rice, as it wouldn't be able to increase its vital essence.

However, according to the prediction of the Five Elements Minister of Agriculture, the blood rice in Cangzhong is only grown by toilet rats. Their flesh and blood are very ordinary. In addition, the planting technology is also ordinary, so the yield is ordinary. One mu of land can only produce about four or five hundred jin of rice per year with two harvests.

Today, the blood rice in Taichang City is cultivated with meticulous care. The Five Elements Agriculture Department takes good care of it, and Song Wuji uses his token to perform the Rain-Making Divine Power, borrowing the True Dragon Water Virtue Dragon Scales to make the rainwater contain spiritual essence, plus the vibrant life force of heaven and earth that can nourish the wild demons.

The blood rice grown outside the secret realm should be superior to that grown in the secret realm of China in both quality and yield.

However, nothing is absolute, so Song Wuji did not put all his eggs in one basket.

At this time, Chen Xiu had already built a garrison in Xishan, but Song Wuji no longer had any protective items and therefore did not set up a stove there. Meanwhile, he and Song Wuji were emerging from the secret realm of the subjugated Hu Fang Kingdom.

Similarly, there was Lü Han, who returned from the Soul-Calling Secret Realm.

The two of them were responsible for cleaning up these two secret realms afterwards.

"The Tiger Kingdom has completely submitted. Most of the nobles have been killed, leaving only tiger slaves and tiger beasts. When the tiger slaves heard that they could become free citizens, they were very eager to join the army. So I used the two tiger tallies to recruit the tiger slave who knew how to smelt bronze into an armory, which was then used to smelt weapons. The armory was run by a ninth-rank bronze craftsman. The bronze staff that was originally the high priest of the Tiger Kingdom was also given to him."

"Now that huge bronze furnace and the Bagua Yangsui Formation are still there, the output is quite sufficient, but there is a lot of hard labor needed for mining."

"The other tiger tally has fifty tiger slaves, who are specially trained to raise tigers. They are organized into hunting teams and hunt with tigers, led by the tigers that were previously subdued."

"The real soldiers are still here, but now they have a banner called Tiger Fang Army. There are two hundred of them, and they are fully armored, so they are considered heavy infantry."

"Now we can go to the secret realm of monks' almsgiving and raid the temples! We can also take over their rule while we're at it!"

Chen Xiu was full of fighting spirit. In ordinary times, how could a county magistrate like him manage two hundred heavily armored soldiers? If he had a mount, he could turn them into two hundred heavy cavalry. Even if they weren't considered the Iron Pagoda, they could still raze most of the demon lairs, and clearing out the secret realm would be a piece of cake.

Song Wuji asked, "How is the discipline of these soldiers now?"

Chen Xiu said, "They have already undergone sufficient training and have experienced the demon siege battle, so they are actually considered elite troops. Currently, there are two ninth-rank teams with dual rituals."

The dual-rank system, consisting of a ninth-rank squad leader and a ninth-rank demon hunter archer, boasts superior attributes and combat capabilities compared to a single ninth-rank system.

Song Wuji said softly, "There are many martial monks in the Zhaiseng Secret Realm. Although I have already dealt with that seventh-rank monk, there may be eighth-rank monks in other temples. So you still need to be careful. Confiscate the temples one by one. Needless to say, you must collect all the martial arts manuals. Also, those who practice martial arts all have unique pill formulas and medicine recipes, so don't let them go."

"As for other things, whether they are ritual implements or divine weapons, I don't need them. I only need the talismans and burial objects obtained from inside the Buddha statues to collect for me."

"After confiscating the temples, we must distribute food to the displaced people. Those martial monks who are not convinced can be killed, and those who are convinced can be recruited through the register of people."

Song Wuji then said to Lü Han, "I've been thinking about this for a while now, and it's inevitable that the population from the secret realms will flood our territory."

"But there are many hidden dangers inside. I didn't think of them before, but yesterday I suddenly remembered that you taught the scarecrow Xin Wuyai, causing him to switch sides and become your disciple from a wild demon. He didn't kill anyone, but he still gained intelligence and is constantly learning."

"So I need you to try to educate the people of the secret realm and see if you can convert them."

"Furthermore, I plan to emulate the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods by dividing the population into citizens and savages. People from the secret realms cannot enter the city for the time being. Instead, we will establish villages in the savage settlements. If they are capable of being educated, we will absorb them as citizens. What do you think?"

After some consideration, Lü Han said, "In fact, based on what I've seen, people from the outside world can be transformed into people from the secret realm, and people from the secret realm can also be transformed into people from the outside world. This method is worth a try."

(End of this chapter)