Daily Intelligence: From Water Snake to Jinghe Dragon King

Chapter 214 The Waterway Master Controls River Demons, the Great Dragon God Controls Clouds and Rain

Liu Qing flew to the ground, estimated the time, and realized that a long time had passed, so he did not delay any longer, unfolded his fire wings, and flew to Chang'an City.

The humanitarian torrent above Chang'an City allowed Liu Qing to enter the city this time without needing any protection from his merits.

This torrent of humanity seems to possess a kind of spirituality.

Hovering above Chang'an, Liu Qing looked down and saw that all the rebel corpses in the city had been burned and buried, and the bloodstains had been washed away to prevent the spread of plague.

The buildings damaged in the war are slowly being restored thanks to the efforts of Li's army and the people of the city.

Those rebels who were lucky enough to survive were temporarily imprisoned. After it was determined whether they had committed any crimes, they would either be killed or released. The refugees who had been taken away from the city were also settled outside the city walls, and soup kitchens were set up to prevent them from starving to death. Li Xiuning was in charge of this matter.

Changsun Wujin was busy organizing the land and household registers of Chang'an City, counting the population, handling government affairs, and trying to appease the people inside and outside the city as soon as possible.

Li Shimin was busy winning over the hearts of wealthy households, noble families, and powerful figures in the city. Although he had used Sun Hua's rebel army to kill a number of them, there were still many who harbored rebellious intentions against the Sui Dynasty, and Li Shimin needed to win them over.

Li Xuanba and Luo Shixin dispersed and reorganized the Li family army, the surrendered Sui soldiers, and the surrendered rebel army of Sun Hua, forming the Li family army, which consisted of 5,000 men and was divided into five battalions.

Four battalions took turns guarding the city, while one battalion patrolled the city to prevent hooligans from harassing the people after the war. If any were found, they would be beheaded in the street.

Liu Qing was quite surprised. He never expected that Mule Shixin, that mule demon, would surrender to Li Shimin and be entrusted with an important task, taking control of a battalion of Li's army.

It is estimated that he surrendered to Li Shimin because he and Li Xuanba became friends after a fight and developed a mutual respect for each other.

The only question is whether the donkey's father and horse's mother would agree if they found out.

Just as she was wondering, she saw Li Shimin emerge from a noble family's residence, riding a magnificent warhorse. Liu Qing glanced at it and saw that it was a mare with glossy fur.

Beside him was a stable boy responsible for leading Li Shimin's horse. This stable boy had a donkey-like face and an unusually strong and demonic aura. Liu Qing sensed it and found that this stable boy had the same level of cultivation as the long-armed ape demon king, and was also at the Five Qi Realm.

Furthermore, the mare being led by the stable boy also possessed considerable cultivation, roughly at the late stage of the Dharma Realm.

A thought struck Liu Qing, and he quickly flapped his fire wings to land.

Li Shimin was overjoyed to see Liu Qing. After a heartfelt exchange of pleasantries, he introduced them: "Brother Liu, let me introduce you. These two are Luo Shixin's parents. They came here earlier and were persuaded by Luo Shixin to stay in the army to help me."

They really were Luo Shixin's parents.

When a male donkey and a female horse meet, it surpasses countless encounters in the demon realm. They are indeed happy, but they don't know how their son, Mule Shixin, will carry on the family line in the future.

A donkey and a horse mated and gave birth to a mule. The poor mule, though possessing divine strength, was physically flawed and unable to reproduce.

"I, Lu Shiheng, have met Brother Liu Qing."

"This humble servant is Sa Zilu, greetings to Brother Liu Qing."

The donkey and the horse, whose cultivation was superior to Liu Qing's, were the first to pay their respects. Liu Qing knew that these two demons had joined Li Shimin's cause, but they were newcomers. Although their cultivation was higher than his, their status in Li Shimin's army was far inferior to his. Perhaps they were doing this for the sake of their son.

He's quite clever and quick-witted. Although he belongs to the ancient demon lineage, he doesn't have the ferocity of the gibbon and is very adept at human relationships.

The other party took the initiative to humble himself, and Liu Qing was not arrogant. He immediately returned the enthusiasm, and after a few words, they found that they were compatible and became friends.

With Liu Qing's return and the smooth return of Chang'an to the capital, and with the support of powerful clans, Li Shimin was overjoyed and decided to celebrate that night.

In the evening, the former residence of the Prefect of Chang'an was brightly lit, and several banquets were held. At the victory banquet, Li Shimin ranked Liu Qing first in merit and offered him three bushels of wine.

When Li Shimin offered a toast, his other subordinates also raised their glasses in gratitude. Liu Qing took the opportunity to chat with them and learned about the many talented individuals under Li Shimin's command.

The eldest grandson of the Changsun family, Shunde, was well-versed in military formations, skilled with a bow, and adept at riding and archery. Other members included Liu Hongji of the Liu family, Chai Shao of the Chai family, Gongsun Wuda, Zhang Shigui, Zhang Gongjin, Yin Kaishan, and Hou Junji.

These are all talented individuals who have sought refuge with powerful and influential families. In addition, there are some monsters who have also sought refuge, such as Mule Shixin, Donkey Shiheng, and Sa Zilu.

In the beginning, not many demons sought refuge with Li Shimin, but as Li Shimin's reputation grew and his fortune increased, many demons and deities would likely come to seek refuge with him.

After the banquet, now that Li Shimin had established his own government, he needed to appoint his generals to specific duties, but let's leave aside the details of what happened on earth.

As the River God, Liu Qing was appointed by Li Shimin as the Chief Waterway Manager, in charge of the river monsters and water soldiers, and also held the position of the Great Dragon God who brought clouds and rain.

The title of "Great Dragon God Who Controls Clouds and Rain" is not an official title, but merely a designation. Moreover, even if it were an official title, Li Shimin had only recently risen to power and had not yet become the ruler, so he did not have the authority to bestow such a title upon a powerful demon like Liu Qing.

Perhaps at this time, Li Shimin could bestow titles upon some low-level demons, but the divine positions he would bestow would not be too high, at most a ninth-rank minor deity.

However, Li Shimin would not bestow official titles at this time. The reason was simple: Li Shimin had just risen to power, and his fortune, after capturing Chang'an, had barely evolved from a carp to a python. Bestowing titles at this point would consume his fortune, which would be detrimental to his future development. Generally speaking, following the precedent of the Shang and Zhou dynasties' investiture of gods, official titles were only bestowed during the stages of becoming king or emperor.

The former can become king, possessing at least one-ninth of the world's fortune and ruling over one of the nine provinces. At this time, the conferment of an imperial edict is a stage-specific reward.

When the latter became emperor and bestowed imperial edicts, he had already gathered all the fortune of the human world. With the aura of an emperor upon him, his fortune was limitless, and all the deities he bestowed imperial edicts upon him could be of high rank.

Demon kings like Lü Shiheng, who are at the Fifth Qi Realm, sought the high-ranking divine title conferred upon them by Li Shimin after he became emperor.

After the banquet, Li Shimin spoke privately with Liu Qing and explained his subsequent plans to her.

"Brother Liu, please give me your opinion. I plan to not rush to expand my territory for a while. Instead, I will focus on taking over the surrounding counties of Chang'an, pacifying the people, encouraging agriculture and sericulture, promoting childbirth, accumulating money, grain, and weapons, training the army, and recruiting talent."

"Once we have fully digested the results of the battle and everything is ready, we will then march out of Chang'an. What do you think of this plan, Brother Liu?"

Liu Qing pondered for a moment: "Yes, this is a prudent plan."

Li Shimin was overjoyed to gain Liu Qing's approval. During a nap when he was tired, his ancestor Li Hu appeared to him in a dream, instructing him to consult with Liu Qing on everything. This led to his decision to seek advice from Liu Qing.

Afterwards, Liu Qing bid farewell to Li Shimin and went to Dawan Lake.

Upon returning to Da Wan Lake, they immediately went to the quiet room in the basement of Yangxin Garden, lit three incense sticks, and just as they left Yangxin Garden, Hong Gu, Bai She'er, Shui'er, and Xiao Ya rushed over upon hearing the news.

The four women were overjoyed to see Liu Qing return. After a few short, carefree days, Liu Qing settled down, summoned Shrimp Merchant, Little Alligator Dragon, and Eel Master, and began to get down to business.

On the way back to Dawan Lake from Chang'an, Liu Qing saw that Li Shimin's army had marched out of Chang'an and captured several counties attached to Chang'an, such as Lantian, Wannian, Sanyuan, Gaoling, Fuping, Weinan, and Xianyang.

By this time, Li Shimin had come to control the entire territory within a radius of several hundred miles around Chang'an.

After Li Shimin took control of these territories, it was Liu Qing's turn to step forward. One of Liu Qing's duties as the "Great Dragon God of Clouds and Rain" was to bring rain to nourish the people and manage the rear.

Liu Qing agreed to the task of "Great Dragon God Who Controls Clouds and Rain" not only for the sake of this mission, but also for the sake of human merit.

In addition, after bringing rain, one can also spread the belief in the river god and receive incense money, which can help promote the god's way.

Currently, Liu Qing's first clone is already a seventh-grade river god, while the others are all ninth-grade. If he wants to advance to a higher-grade river god again, from seventh to sixth grade, he will need a million incense silver.

This is only because Liu Qing has an external advantage. Without it, it would take tens of millions of incense silver to go from the seventh rank to the sixth rank.

Although Li Hu, the civil judge, gave away a batch of gifts in order to win over the City God, he later seized another batch after killing the City God Yang Zhen.

Liu Qing currently has over a million incense silver coins, enough to allow his first clone to advance to the sixth-rank River God. However, since he has many clones, they all need incense silver coins to advance. In addition, he needs to convert the incense silver coins into authority gold coins to advance the authority and divine position of his main body. So, in this way, the incense silver coins are far from enough.

Therefore, after a short rest, Liu Qing summoned his river demons to prepare for another round of rainfall.

At this time of spring drought, rain would bring both good karma and offerings of incense; how could we not do such a good deed?

On that day, Liu Qing held a banquet to entertain his river demons. In the earlier battle to seize Chang'an, his river demons had contributed greatly. They not only conquered all four rivers and five lakes under the Jing River system, but also handed over all the river treasures they had captured to Liu Qing, allowing Liu Qing to leap from the Refining Void and Merging Dao realm to the Divine Power realm.

Now that the battle is over, it is only natural to hold a banquet to reward those who have contributed.

During the banquet, Liu Qing rewarded each person with ten drops of Monkey Spirit Wine, and also gave out Water Essence Pills and Soul Nourishing Pills.

The river demons were overjoyed and knelt down to thank the Lord of the Palace for his kindness.

After the banquet, Liu Qing informed his avatar that rain would fall, and the believers thanked the River God for his mercy.

Although the people of other newly incorporated counties did not receive the divine intervention and directly learn of the rain, they also learned through word of mouth that the River God was going to bring rain to alleviate the spring drought. Immediately, their hearts, which had been uneasy because of their new incorporation, were finally at ease.

I am also amazed that the withered rice seedlings in the field have finally survived. With the rain in spring, the seedlings will naturally have a harvest in summer. This year, we will not have to worry about food or dying of hunger and cold.

In no time, both the original believers and the newly converted people burned incense and kowtowed in gratitude, and the power of the incense was greatly enhanced. Before it even started, Liu Qing had already received a lot of incense money.

On the second night, as before, Liu Qing himself, along with his twelve incarnations of the River God and the Old Crocodile Dragon, the River God of the Chaotic Rock Pool, used the Cloud and Rain Technique together.

River monsters such as Shrimp Traveler, Little Alligator Dragon, and Eel Grandpa are still responsible for stealing water from the Jing River and Wei River to supply the water source for rainfall.

"At the request of believers, this God will send rain tonight at midnight, a total of one foot and three inches, to alleviate the spring drought! —"

With a command from Liu Qing himself, the twelve clones and the old crocodile dragon cast a cloud and rain spell together. First, they summoned the Jing and Wei Rivers, which had been transported by the shrimp merchants, into the night sky, turning them into rain clouds. Then, with a flick of their finger, countless raindrops instantly fell from the night sky.

(End of this chapter)