Family Cultivation: Rise of the Wilderness

Chapter 22 Planning
The fact that the Li family is short of members is nothing new; even when Li Huinan continued the Li family line, there were only about ten members.

Now, more than a hundred years have passed, and two hundred blood relatives with spiritual roots have been born, which is not slow at all.

However, for the 200-mile-long Danggui Mountain, the Li family still had too few people.

Even Li Qianxiong himself felt deeply worried about it.

Twenty people were assigned to the police station alone.

Even so, Li Xiangren still wrote a note requesting an increase in manpower to guard against heretical practitioners, but was severely scolded by Li Qianxiong.

"The family is short of people, mainly because Dangui Mountain is too big and too new, and the affairs are complicated. I have already asked the clansmen over the age of fifteen to take up official positions, but it still cannot be relieved. We can't just drag all the children out, can we?"

Li Qianxiong frowned. Fifteen years old was already the bottom line. In order to persuade the clan elders, he also promised to keep adjusting the age back to the previous twenty years.

Moreover, even if the clan elders were willing to send out another batch of thirteen- or fourteen-year-old children, he wouldn't really want to use them. Taking on miscellaneous tasks too early would damage these children's potential for cultivation.

A family still needs some geniuses to support it.

"If you want to alleviate the labor shortage in the family, you can't just focus on the Li family."

Li Xiangming said slowly.

"You mean to use outsiders? That probably won't work. Those old guys will never agree to outsiders entering Tailai Peak."

Li Qianxiong shook his head.

Tailai Peak is the core of the spiritual vein, and the clan elders value it more than their own lives.

"If Tailai Peak doesn't work, how about Danggui Mountain?"

Li Xiangming took out a paper map showing the entire Danggui Mountain, and each member of the police station received a copy.

"Tailai Peak is just one of the peaks in Dangui Mountain. There are countless hills, valleys, and dense forests around it. If we choose one of these places to open to the public and hire poor, independent cultivators to plant spiritual herbs and harvest spiritual rice for the Li family, wouldn't that save a lot of manpower?"

The Li family's biggest expenditure on manpower is the spiritual fields.

Spirit fields are the foundation of a family. Planting spirit herbs and spirit rice is beneficial, whether for personal use or for sale in the market.

However, spiritual plants are very precious and must be cared for at all times. Moreover, they cannot be handled by ordinary people. Once they are tainted by worldly influences, they are prone to disease and poor growth, resulting in a harvest of less than 20% to 30% of the usual yield.

Moreover, some spiritual plants are quite cunning, like the Qingxian rice that the Li family often grows. It has a spirit and knows how to protect itself when it matures. If mortals try to harvest this rice, they can easily be injured by the awns.

Only large sects with a limited number of disciples and a vast amount of spiritual fields under their command would use mortals to cultivate low-level spiritual plants. They are no longer concerned with efficiency, but simply do not want to waste the land, since quantitative change leads to qualitative change.

The Li family, being a small and humble household, was very concerned about the output of the spirit fields, so naturally they did not use ordinary people.

In the past two years, the Li family has cultivated sixty acres of spiritual fields, which has cost the most manpower. Since then, the cultivation of spiritual plants has also required the most manpower.

Those clansmen with mediocre talent and shallow cultivation mostly cultivate the spirit fields.

“Your idea is good, but there aren’t that many independent cultivators around Dangui Mountain that we can hire.”

Li Qianxiong shook his head. He randomly picked someone to take a stroll outside, and found that they wouldn't see a single living person for dozens of miles, but there were countless monsters. This was Pu County.

"Back then, the Wuliang Sword Sect sealed off Shun'an Prefecture for thirty years, not even allowing birds to enter. Now, the other three counties of Shun'an Prefecture have been opened up, and even Pu County, which is closest to the Nanbin Demon Clan, has been allowed to carry travel documents."

"I believe that in a few years, Puxian will open up sooner or later, and a large number of independent cultivators will come to Puxian to seek opportunities."

What opportunities might Puxian County have?
Li Qianxiong chuckled, but then he thought about how this place had been the site of war and countless cultivators had died.

Rumor has it that many people bury their inheritance in nameless places before they die, which may really attract a group of people. Moreover, Pu County is full of monsters, which is also very attractive to independent cultivators.

After thinking for a moment, Li Qianxiong asked, "The rogue cultivators are a mixed bag; how do we manage them?"

"Incentivize them with benefits, and regulate them with systems. The family should establish a special institution, let's call it the 'Service Institute,' to manage the hired rogue cultivators, and even ordinary people." "To enter the Service Institute, a clean family background is sufficient, but a certain 'deposit' is required to receive the tasks we issue. Initially, we'll issue some simple tasks to gain the rogue cultivators' trust, and then gradually increase the quantity or difficulty of the tasks. Rogue cultivators are greedy, and to avoid having their deposits swallowed up, they will inevitably do their best."

Upon hearing this, Li Qianxiong suddenly asked, "Can members of our Li family enter the Logistics Department?"

Li Xiangming paused for a moment, then nodded and said, "Of course."

This is what he's about to say: by concentrating manpower and allocating tasks centrally, efficiency can be effectively improved.

Upon hearing this, Li Qianxiong seemed to be deep in thought.

Currently, apart from organizations like the police station, all members of the Li family are on standby in their respective branches.

In the past, the head of the family would relay orders to each branch of the family. For example, if he wanted to refine a magical artifact, he would tell the eldest branch of the family, who had an artifact refiner; if he wanted to refine a bottle of pills, he would tell the second branch of the family, who had an alchemist.

For more complex tasks, the head of the family and the elders would discuss them together. The elders knew very well what their family members were good at, and they could finalize the task in just a few words.

But as a result, power naturally slipped into the hands of the clan elders.

Who can guarantee that the people appointed by the clan elders are not self-serving?
If the Li family settles some of their clansmen in the Qinwuyuan and appoints them without going through the four direct branches, wouldn't the power return to their own hands?

Li Qianxiong was immediately delighted, because the establishment of the Service Bureau did not face as much resistance as the Police Department.

The police chief had his own selfish motives, especially after disbanding the Demon Extermination Hall, which earned him a lot of criticism from the clan elders.

The evil cultivators were lurking in Dangui Mountain, but he didn't even tell the clan elders, for fear that the elders would disturb his sleep. This was also the reason why Li Xiangren was able to keep his position, and of course, it was also because no serious consequences occurred.

The Ministry of Personnel is different. Putting aside the issue of hiring outsiders, the reason of optimizing manpower allocation is enough. If any clan elder dares to disagree, he dares to send that person to farm.

Li Qianxiong's excitement surprised Li Xiangming. He scratched his head and continued, "The Logistics Department is only one aspect and can only provide temporary relief. To fundamentally solve this problem, we need real people."

“When I returned to my family, I saw our cultivators outside Changtai Township. Protecting the mortals under our jurisdiction is our duty, but why should the cultivators toil day and night?”

Li Xiangming thought of Li Qianbai, who, as the person in charge of the outer garrison of Changtai Township, basically lived outside the area year after year.

"This system was in place two years ago. At that time, the monsters in Dangui Mountain were not yet pacified, and arranging for cultivators was just a precaution."

Of course, Li Qianxiong didn't say the second half of his statement, which was also aimed at suppressing the branch.

The spiritual energy outside the mountains is naturally not as abundant as that of Tailai Peak.

"The Demon Exorcism Hall has been disbanded; why not recall them to the family?"

Li Xiangming looked up and saw that Li Qianxiong hesitated slightly. He immediately said, "Have Uncle Qianbai and others train an armed force for Changtai Township to garrison the fort, and then recall them."

Li Qianxiong thought for a moment and nodded.

If they were summoned back all at once, the clan elders would object. Instead, they would stage an accident in Changtai Township first, and then strengthen the defenses of Changtai Township. This would make Li Qianbai and the others unnecessary.

"I will bring this up with the clan elders. Qianbai and the others have also worked hard."

"Furthermore, the family should establish a dedicated organization under the Foreign Affairs Hall to manage the mortals under its jurisdiction, and encourage members of the Li clan in Changtai Township to intermarry with other clans. Those who have more than two children will be rewarded, and those who have more than four children will have their reward doubled."

The Li family has always adopted a laissez-faire approach to governing the common people under their rule.

This attitude might have been acceptable in the past, but it is clearly inappropriate in today's context of extreme manpower shortage.

Only when the population increases will there be more spiritual root seeds, and only then will the number of cultivators in the Li family increase.

Even if the Li family cannot afford to support so many cultivators, selecting the best to train is not necessarily a bad thing.

(End of this chapter)