Immortality: Starting with a grave, I'm invincible when burying corpses.

It's not a big problem. If there's a mistake, just correct it. Anyway, those uneducated people who just copy others won't realize the problem!

Those roughnecks only need to follow instructions, but Wang Le, the Grand Strategist, has a lot more to consider!

Mu An didn't notice the strange ideas, but he did notice that his generals were always secretly studying some booklets.

But he didn't think much of it, assuming that his generals had finally realized the importance of learning and had started to study hard.

This is great news, fantastic news!

It's not enough to just fight and kill. Even if Mu An is a righteous person and doesn't forget the brothers who followed him from the beginning, he still wants to help everyone get promoted and make a fortune.

But these people have to prove themselves. If they keep being ignorant and making no progress, they'll run into problems sooner or later.

Mu An waved his hand and pointed at the skulls that he found utterly repulsive.

"Since someone likes it, then this matter is entrusted to you. Whoever wants it can have it."

Having decided on the ownership of the skull, Mu An casually grabbed a document from the messy pile of official documents, pushed it forward, and handed it to Wang Le.

"Rebellions every year! Inability to suppress them every year! This was said ten years ago, and it's still said ten years later!"

Those two old bastards, Marquis of Zhennan and Duke of Zhenbei, have no shame whatsoever.

These two old bastards, who control an army of over a million, claim every year that their territory is in rebellion, and they also have people play the victim in court from time to time, thus siphoning off a lot of military funds from the imperial court.

What about our Qishan Road? Up to now, our army only numbers a few hundred thousand. We have to rely on ourselves for everything. Is that right?

Why do they have things that we don't? They are loyal subjects of the Great Qi, and so can we!

They can recoup most of the taxes they pay, so we should too!

Wang Le, do you think there's any way to get Lin Ping to cry a bit in court and get some military funds back for us? Ideally, we could get all the annual taxes waived!

More and more refugees are coming to us from different places. We have to build houses and support the refugees. Although it is a work-for-relief program for the long-term development of Qishan Road, we still have no money.

"The common people already have a hard life, why should they have to pay money to the Qi Dynasty?"

As soon as Mu An finished speaking, Wang Le immediately understood what his boss meant.

He took small steps forward, walked to Mu An's side, and lowered his voice.

"The southern border has millions of mountains, where barbarians roam freely, and the northern border has boundless snowfields, where wild men live everywhere. But everyone knows that these are all things of the past."

Whether it was the barbarians of the millions of mountains or the savages of the boundless snowfields, after fighting for hundreds of years, these two forces had long been subdued by the two feudal lords, the Marquis of Zhennan and the Duke of Zhenbei.

In fact, these two forces had long been incorporated into the forces of the two warlords and had become part of their own power base.

Those of some standing knew about this matter, but since the imperial court was still willing to pay for the military expenses, it meant that in the eyes of the imperial court, a little money was nothing.

As long as the Marquis of Zhennan and the Duke of Zhenbei maintain nominal submission, they are willing to spend a little money to maintain stability in the southern and northern border regions.

"In that case, having one more Qishan bandit from Qishan Road is naturally not a problem."

"Excellent! Draw up a plan for this matter, and put on a show. Say that the Qishan bandits attacked the town, and the people of Qishan suffered heavy losses. Regardless of whether the court allocates military funds or not, this year's taxes will not be paid!"

"Your subject obeys!"

……

In the fourth year of the Tianshun reign, the usually stable Qishan Road was "attacked" by mountain bandits, resulting in the loss of countless gold and silver treasures.

The Qishan Circuit Commander's Office publicly declared that the mountain bandits were fierce and they were unable to suppress them, urgently needing the imperial court to allocate military funds to suppress them.

Due to a bandit attack, all the taxes and tributes paid to the imperial court by the Qishan Road in the third year of the Tianshun reign were lost.

Lin Ping, the special envoy of Qishan Road stationed in Qi'an City, broke down in tears in the imperial court, lamenting the ferocity of the mountain bandits and the unbearable hardship of the people of Qishan Road.

The officials were either emotionally agitated or had twitching lips and strange expressions, but not one of them uttered a word of rebuttal.

The disappearance of Koike Village is truly frightening. It was just a small amount of money; they gave it away anyway, since it wasn't their money.

If you dare to speak recklessly at this time and anger that killing god of Qishan Road, you might lose your life. Only a fool would be the first to stick his neck out!

January of the fourth year of the Tianshun reign.

Jun Cheng'an issued an edict to appease the people of Qishan Road for their losses, exempting Qishan Road from taxes for three years and allocating an additional three million taels of silver as military pay.

The following month, the Dark Feather Guard established a new branch in Qishan Road, renovated the original Dark Feather Guard stationed in Qing'an County, and promoted Wang Shanming, the Dark Feather Guard Silver Commander who had been stationed in Qing'an County for many years, to Gold Commander.

P.S.: (Appears in Chapter 43)

The Qishan Road branch of the Dark Feather Guard is independent of the Ten Heavenly Stems and is headed by the newly promoted Dark Feather Guard Jin Ling Wang Shanming, who is fully responsible for supervising all matters in Qishan Road.

In the third month of the fourth year of the Tianshun reign.

Inside the newly renovated Dark Feather Guard Qishan Road garrison, Wang Shanming respectfully poured wine for Wang Le, his lips almost curling into a wide grin.

"Strategist Wang, let me toast you. From now on, you're my elder brother. I'll do whatever you say!"

Wang Le clinked glasses with Wang Shanming without any politeness. He sat in the main seat and spoke in a meaningful tone.

"Brother, you are mistaken. The Dark Feather Guard is a department directly under the imperial court. How could it serve any individual? This matter should still be reported and spoken out."

After all, our Qishan Daoist sect is upright and honest, there's nothing to hide, don't you think?

Hearing Wang Le's words, Wang Shanming felt a chill run down his spine, fearing that if Wang Le smashed the cup, hundreds of masked axemen would rush into the room and chop him up.

He shuddered, and his attitude became even more respectful.

"Brother, you flatter me. I have lived in Qing'an County for many years, studying Lord Mu's wisdom day and night. Every day when I go out, I can hear the people praising Lord Mu's benevolence."

Within this radius of a hundred miles, who doesn't know the title of our Great Commander Mu, the Great Benevolent Man? Look, this book you compiled, "The Sayings of Lord Mu," I have studied it day and night, fearing that I might not be able to understand Lord Mu's true meaning...

Wang Le, who was eating with his eyes half-closed, glanced at Wang Shanming and spoke in a teasing tone.

"It is a blessing for the people of Qishan Dao that you have such awareness, brother. It's just that the book of quotations you have is the seventh edition, and it's a bit outdated."

Wang Shanming was startled and rubbed his hands together as he moved closer to Wang Le.

"Please give me your guidance, elder brother."

"Go back to my residence and fetch a copy of the latest collection of quotations. In the future, if there are any important matters that need to be reported to the court..."

Wang Le only said half of what he meant, but Wang Shanming immediately understood and added the rest on his own.

"Don't worry, brother. I'll definitely report anything to you first. Just tell me what to report, and I'll report it."

"good."