Ita Era

Chapter 136 Feudal Era

Old Ghost's shop does indeed have good stuff, starting with rare purple items. They have all kinds of weapons and props. The divine weapons are dazzlingly bright, far superior to anything you'd find at a street stall. The amount of good karma required to acquire them is also on a completely different level.

The most prized possessions of the Old Ghost Shop are the weapons or items for the seven professions.

Gan Jiang and Mo Xie, the number one divine sword set in the mortal realm. A special weapon for the True Qi Flying Sword type, requiring 30,000 Yin virtues.

The Peacock Feather is incredibly powerful, capable of devastating damage to any single target. It costs 10,000 Yin Virtue (merit points) and is a one-time use item; each replenishment requires 3,000 Yin Virtue. It is an exclusive weapon for the Internal Force Hidden Weapon category.

Pure Force Item: Full-body Mech. Similar to Iron Man's armor, powered by the Force, but the mech amplifies the Force across the board. Price: 10,000 Yin Virtue. It doesn't seem expensive, but it has an extra tag: 5,000 Yin Virtue per repair.

Ding Shi asked the old ghost, "I have bloodthirsty eagle feathers. What can I process them into? Something I'll use."

Old Ghost replied, "It can be processed into a hidden weapon that returns to your hand after each use." "After use" includes various situations such as hitting a target or stopping flight.

Ding asked, "What is the processing fee?"

The old ghost replied, "Three thousand acts of yin virtue."

Ding Shi bargained: "Three hundred, I'll go back and get the eagle feathers right away."

After pondering for a long time, the old man said, "The lowest is two thousand, and it can't be any lower."

Ding Shi continued to haggle, but the old ghost remained unmoved, insisting on demanding two thousand merits. Helpless, Ding Shi had no choice but to take his leave for the time being.

"Wait a minute." The old ghost walked to a counter, took out a box, opened it, and took out a jade seal, saying, "This is the Soul-Binding Seal. You should like it."

In some instances of the Ita world, ghosts and evil cultivators exist, such as Lady Wang and Wang Yi, who are considered evil cultivators. According to the old ghost's definition, evil cultivators refer to those who imprison and exploit souls, including some players who wield ghost power. The Soul-Binding Seal can forcibly extract the ghosts under the control of an evil cultivator when they are vulnerable, sealing them within the seal for salvation.

Three hours later, the soul that has been bound by the Soul-Binding Seal will be released, and one will gain merit.

The Soul-Binding Seal has a negative attribute: players must continuously input some kind of force, such as Origin Force or Inner Force, to maintain the binding array. If the player's recovery power for that force is insufficient, the soul will break free of control, and what happens depends on the circumstances and the soul's form at the time.

Souls should be unaware and unaware, but under the control of evil cultivators, some souls become vengeful ghosts, while others are skilled at bewitching, making it difficult for players to confront them head-on.

The old ghost said, "I only accept 50 units of Yin virtue."

Ding Shi readily bought the Soul-Binding Seal.

The two continued strolling through the streets, visiting Zhong Kui's shop, and having breakfast at the Hundred Ghosts Restaurant, settling their bill before 5:00 AM. At that time, they were teleported away from the ghost market.

Ding Shi said, "711."

711 immediately came over to serve: "Boss!"

Ding Shi said, "I'll sleep for a while. Wake me up at seven."

711: "Okay, boss."

Skill cards to carry: Three missing one, One hand cannot clap, Unaccustomed to water and soil.

Carrying items: Heavenly Book, Electric Bike, Splitting Palm Skill Book, Soul-Binding Seal.

……

Instance Preparation Room!
This instance has many tags: cutting-edge technology, deduction, folklore, and shared language, etc.

Common language and writing system: This means that the instance we visited used simplified Chinese characters, spoke Mandarin, and used a 24-hour clock.

Folklore: This concept is very broad, and you never know what kind of strange things might happen. It may not involve gods, ghosts, or demons.

Deduction: This is quite complex, similar to the Civilization game. In each turn, you deploy your troops, assign farmers, workers, and scientists. At the end of the turn, a deduction process will begin.

Cutting-edge technology: Considering the poor transportation infrastructure, this provides players with a way to save time.

The Fire Seed Tribe currently has seven members: Yu Yuan, Chu Yu, Ding Shi, Wang Meng, Hong Yi, Su Su, and Herbalist Hua Shan.

Background: Yong'an County welcomes a new magistrate for a three-year term. The system will evaluate him based on various aspects, including political achievements, people's livelihood, finance, disaster prevention, public security, reputation, and law enforcement.

The preparation time for the simulation is 48 hours, and the county magistrate has 48 hours to handle government affairs, followed by a year-long simulation.

The position of county magistrate was naturally held by Yu Yuan, who held six identity tokens: Assistant Magistrate, Assistant County Magistrate, County Clerk, Clerk, Registrar, and Education Commissioner.

The magistrate's responsibilities were very broad, ranging from personnel appointments and dismissals to taxation and corvée labor; he was in charge of everything.

The assistant magistrate was appointed as the deputy county magistrate.

County Assistant: In charge of grain tax and household registration, which are the most important things, grain and population.

County Commander: In charge of public security, commanding the city gate guards and the "Quick Hands" (a type of armed force). This was the main armed force in the county seat.

Clerk: In charge of criminal justice and investigating cases.

Registrar: Assists the county magistrate in managing finances, grain, and corvée labor.

Educational Commissioner: In charge of the county-level examinations, which are the examinations for candidates for the lowest degree.

Chu Yu volunteered to be the Tongzhi, a position that would allow him to manage everything.

Hua Shan and Su Su volunteered for the position of school administrator.

Hongyi and Wang Meng volunteered for positions in Wei County.
After consultation, the final results are as follows: Chu Yu Tongzhi, Hua Shan County Assistant, Wang Meng County Magistrate, Ding Shi Dianshi, Zhubu Hongyi, and Su Su Xuezheng.

The next part, the lucky draw, can be skipped.

Two cards appear on the table: one representing auspicious omens, the other auspicious calamities. Drawing the auspicious card signifies favorable weather, national peace, and the absence of any natural disasters. Drawing the calamity card indicates an impending natural disaster.

Yu Yuan asked, "Skip?"

No one has any objections. Who knows what kind of natural disasters might occur? Meteorites, earthquakes, volcanoes, tsunamis—none of them are good things.

Final step: Job assignment.

There was a stack of documents on the table in front of each person, some more and some less.

Yu Yuan's official duties include dredging waterways, building river embankments, constructing trade routes, and presiding over at least three court hearings. He possesses power to embezzle money, engage in collusion with merchants, exploit the people, and abduct women. He has numerous responsibilities; building river embankments requires funds and the imposition of corvée labor, but excessive labor will damage his reputation. Large deficits will destabilize the treasury. Failure to complete the embankment construction will lower his performance rating.

After reading the briefing on government affairs, Yu Yuan and Chu Yu almost fainted from crying. Could so many things really be handled in 48 hours?
The good news is that there's advanced technology at work; all 21 villages in the three towns have free teleportation arrays, ensuring the people won't suspect anything. Hua Shan's job as county magistrate is relatively easy; she simply keeps accounts, compiling a unified register of taxes collected based on the population lists submitted by each village. Once that's done, she can relax and enjoy herself.

Wang Mengxian's main job is to suppress mountain bandits. He has the authority to recruit 100 soldiers and 20 quick-witted individuals. With advanced technology, he can obtain 500 potential candidates within two hours of posting a notice, which he can then choose from. However, it's important to note that some local wealthy landowners and gentry are colluding with the bandits and might cause trouble by planting their own trusted confidants among them. The bandits have also received intelligence and arranged for an inside agent to attend the interviews.

Wang Meng glared at Ding Shi, closed the document, and cursed inwardly: We still have to catch the mole?
Ding Shidian Shi only needs to be in charge of one case: the disappearance of Daya from Peach Blossom Village.

Zheng, a woman from Peach Blossom Village, had a baby. Early that morning, she sent her 15-year-old daughter, Daya, to her parents' home in Peach Tree Village, about 20 li away, with tiger-head shoes and baby clothes. Daya didn't return that night, and Zheng mistakenly assumed she had stayed at her parents' home. Daya still hadn't returned the next day. On the third day, Zheng returned to her parents' home and learned that Daya hadn't come. Accompanied by her brother, she reported the incident to the authorities.

The registrar in red had the easiest job: taking stock of the stored money and grain. Then, he would provide the magistrate with whatever amount of grain he needed, requiring only that there be receipts for all transactions.

Su Su was in charge of the county examinations, and she was fully responsible for everything from setting the questions to arranging the examination venues.

……

Location: Yong'an County. Season: Late Autumn. Sunrise at 6:30 AM, sunset at 17:45 PM, no rain.

Yong'an County is a small county located in the central part of the Great Shrimp Kingdom. It is nestled against the mountains and by the water, with three towns and twenty-one villages, and a total population of about 140,000. As for the exact number, that is the business of the county magistrate.

At 8:00 AM, everyone was teleported directly to the entrance of the Yong'an County Government Office. They went to their respective work posts to take stock and agreed to hold the first Fire Seed Tribe Yong'an County Meeting at 11:00 AM in the restaurant next to the county government office.

Among them, Yu Yuan and Chu Yu were the busiest. On one hand, they had to check the accounts and inventory; on the other hand, they had to receive visiting gentry and deal with visiting cards from local dignitaries. The NPC advisor reminded them that it would be best for the new officials to pay a visit to Princess Yong'an within the first two days of taking office.

Princess Yong'an is the current emperor's cousin. Yong'an Town in Yong'an County is Princess Yong'an's fief, and all taxes collected in Yong'an Town belong to Princess Yong'an and do not need to be handed over to the imperial court. The princess has no administrative or personnel authority.

The princess and the emperor grew up together in the palace, making her a relatively influential noblewoman. Interestingly, in addition to the seven overt assessments of political achievements, people's livelihood, finance, disaster prevention, public security, reputation, and law, there is also a covert assessment of the princess's favorability.

To put it bluntly, if the princess thinks you're outstanding, even if you oppress the people, she can simply tell the emperor, and you'll be considered outstanding; the seven major assessments are meaningless. Conversely, even if you're universally loved, if the princess reports you to the emperor for disrespecting the royal family, you'll be imprisoned.

This is feudal society: the emperor is the most powerful person, and if he's unhappy, nobody else can be happy.

The degree of favorability shown to the princess directly affects Yu Yuan's future.

Ding Shi's office, under the jurisdiction of the Clerk, oversees the prison and has 20 ordinary yamen runners. Besides assisting in arrests, they are responsible for guarding the prison and carrying out punishments. There are two head constables, named Zhang San and Li Si, who are the Clerk's assistants. They can work separately, but they are only responsible for collecting clues and not for solving cases.

The magistrate is in charge of criminal cases. Civil cases, such as land disputes, fall under the jurisdiction of the county magistrate.

The Fire Seed Tribe came prepared this time, having purchased a batch of modern equipment with Ding Shi's help. This included items such as laptops, solar chargers, crossbows, electric vehicles, metal basins, and walkie-talkies.

After several busy hours, everyone went to a private room at Tingfenglou Restaurant. The manager personally greeted the new magistrate, instructed the staff to take special care of him, and said that the meal was on him.

Six dishes, a soup, and a bucket of rice were served. Everyone served themselves rice, the door to the private room was closed, and the first meeting of Yong'an County began.

Yu Yuan first looked at Su Su: "Su Su, could you help me squeeze in three more people?"

Su Su didn't understand.

Yu Yuan said, "Steward Wang, Manager Liu, and the steward of the Princess's Mansion all spoke with me this morning. The Wang family is one of the largest landlords in Yong'an County and has a lot of prestige in the area. If they can help us with the allocation of corvée labor, we can reduce the number of households from one out of four to one out of two."

Yu Yuan said, "Manager Liu is the steward of the Liu family, the wealthiest family in Yong'an County. He's willing to provide funds to assist us in managing the river. For every 10 taels of silver we invest, they will donate 5 taels. Currently, the government office has 50,000 taels of silver in its account, but only 10,000 taels are specifically for river management. I'm very short of money." The silver can be directly converted into Ita coins and deposited into the account at an exchange rate of 100:1. 100 taels of silver can be exchanged for 1 Ita coin.

Ita encouraged corruption; he was full of wicked intentions.

Yu Yuan: "Not to mention the steward of the Princess's mansion, right? If we offend the Princess's mansion, no matter how hard we try, we'll be wiped out in one round."

Su Su didn't understand: "What do you want me to do?"

Yu Yuan said, "Record the names of three students who have passed the preliminary examinations."

Su Su was shocked: "You want me to cheat?"

Yu Yuan quickly gestured: "Shh!"

Su Su lowered her voice and said, "Cheating in the imperial examinations will result in the execution of the entire family and the extermination of nine generations of relatives."

Yu Yuan said, "You're just a junior student, you haven't even had your names erased yet. What you need to do is very simple, just leak the exam questions."

Su Su flatly refused, saying, "Although I work in the government office, I am under the jurisdiction of the Yongkang Circuit Education Bureau, and you are not my superior. Besides, how can we cheat? The imperial examination is almost the only way for the poor to cross social classes. We are giving resources to the powerful and wealthy. Doesn't your conscience hurt?"

Yu Yuan could only turn to Kan Chuyu for help.

Chu Yu said, "Su Su, if we don't agree, it will be difficult for us to carry out our work. We need justice, but we also need to be tactful, right?"

Su Su shook her head.

Chu Yu continued, "This is just a game."

Su Su said, "No, if a county magistrate is unqualified, he will be reprimanded or even imprisoned. I will really be beheaded. My identity states that I must take that beheading and die completely before I can leave the instance. In addition, if any of us are exiled to the army, we must reach our destination before we can leave the instance. If the entire family is executed, I will be beheaded 9 times. If nine generations of relatives are implicated, I will be beheaded 81 times. The punishment is real."

Yu Yuan said, "It shouldn't be that bad. As long as we do it properly, no one will find out."

Su Su insisted, "People who do bad things think they won't be discovered."

Yu Yuan decided to wait and talk about it later. He looked at Wang Meng, the county magistrate, took out a piece of paper and handed it to him: "Wang Meng, there are ten people here. Please make arrangements for them."

"Arranged?" Wang Meng was also confused.

"These are the princess's guards. Should there be 100 soldiers, 10 captains, and 20 deputy captains? Assign them to these positions. They are all locals and can help you wipe out the mountain bandits."

Wang Meng refused: "It can't be arranged. I went out for a walk this morning and heard that the princess supports the third prince, secretly raises a private army, and is colluding with bandits. The princess's guards are limited to 50 men, but in the past three years, they have enough weapons to arm 500 men. I checked and found that every time the guards participate in the suppression of bandits, a number of them die and a number of weapons are lost. The princess's mansion should recruit new guards, the prefecture should replenish weapons, and the imperial court should provide compensation."

Wang Meng said, "If you want to wipe out the mountain bandits, it's best not to have any connection with the Princess's Mansion."

Yu Yuan said, "I know my request is strange, but without the help of the Princess's Mansion and the local bigwigs, it will be very difficult to become an official. After all, this is a feudal society."

The woman in red said, "This won't work. Before we've even started, the profits and resources will be divided up by the local bullies, and we'll be left to take the blame."

Yu Yuan asked, "What do you think we should do?"

The woman in red shook her head; she didn't know.

Wang Meng looked at Ding Shi, who was intently reviewing the case file, and said, "Hey, say something." After six years of brotherhood, Wang Meng knew that Ding Shi was good at breaking through difficult situations.

(End of this chapter)