Reincarnation Girl Becomes Immortal

After saying this, she respectfully led the three of them into the pavilion, across the small pond and stone bridge, around a mahogany staircase and a covered corridor, past a screen, and into the spacious room on the top floor.

Several dancers and musicians were called to the stage to perform graceful dances. Xi Heng was not used to it, so he only ordered a plate of osmanthus cakes to enjoy with his tea.

Not long after they were seated, many maids came from the building and served them various delicacies.

During the performance, the three of them sang and danced on stage, which relaxed them and allowed them to rest.

During their casual conversation, to celebrate the upcoming Lantern Festival, Xi Heng composed a poem to suit the mood, which drew a few more glances from Zhao Chuxiao with a different expression.

Hongji stayed by her side, pouring her cherry wine from time to time.

Time passed slowly, and the delicious food and wine were enjoyed.

Tonight, Xi Heng didn't use his internal energy to stabilize his body and spirit, but after drinking three or four cups, he was already somewhat drunk.

In a hazy state, my gaze fell upon Hongji's exquisite face.

The other person also turned their gaze towards them, and all their thoughts flowed between them as their eyes met. They exchanged glances and smiled gently as they kept each other company.

The next moment, the junior sister leaned closer and whispered in her ear about the invitation tonight.

A sense of intoxication enveloped me, and my mind was at ease.

Everything around was harmonious and peaceful, a rare sight for Xi Heng.

The last time I was in a similar situation was when I was living with Sister Hongmiao in the Jiangning City courtyard.

The words were indistinct, not just due to intoxication or something else.

The girl opened her mouth slightly and whispered, "If only my senior sister were here too..."

……

Chapter 130, Investigating Things to Attain Knowledge

After ascending the throne, Xi Heng did not immediately implement various advanced measures to revitalize the new world. Instead, he focused on stabilizing the situation and paying attention to people's livelihood issues.

Since the late Emperor Chuxiao ascended the throne, the court has been working hard to alleviate the crisis affecting the people's livelihood.

However, because the Great Zhao was surrounded by foreign enemies, its territory was in turmoil, and there were treacherous factions causing trouble internally, a lot of time, energy, manpower, and financial resources were wasted on internal strife.

Those treacherous officials and villains are perhaps more hateful than foreign enemies—even when the country is on the verge of collapse, they will still scheme to suppress and exclude their fellow officials.

Amidst internal and external troubles, the crisis affecting people's livelihoods has not only failed to ease but has instead shown a trend of intensifying.

Despite Zhao Chuxiao's best efforts, he only managed to ease the situation somewhat and failed to solve the actual problem.

On the contrary, the Xuantian Sect, which occupied large areas in the southeast and south, made greater contributions to the people's livelihood of the Zhao people.

Under the rule of the Xuantian Sect, although some officials still managed to skim off the top like rats stealing oil, they at least dared not be as blatant as before.

As a result, the tax burden on ordinary people decreased to half of what it used to be.

Although it is still relatively heavy, it is much better now.

Before, even with all their hard work, they could only live or die. Now, although the hardship has lessened slightly, it is mostly enough to support their family.

Furthermore, whenever the Xuantian Sect had free time, its followers would send people to inspect the remaining officials and local powerful families in various places, inquiring whether the people under their jurisdiction were being subjected to strong oppression. If so, they would be punished.

Almost all of the followers had been oppressed and bullied by the government. Now that the sect is newly established, and everyone has not yet lost their own sense of loyalty to the people, as the first group of followers, they naturally and subconsciously stand on the same side as the common people to resist the oppression of officials.

Thus, before Xi Hengdu could actually take action, the livelihoods of people in several southern prefectures had already stabilized.

All she needs to do now is spread the governance experience of the Southern Xuantian Sect throughout the Tianzhao region.

Originally, the government offices of various prefectures and counties in the Great Zhao held both administrative and judicial powers.

Once the Xuantian Sect arrives, it will forcibly seize judicial power from the local government and integrate it into its own system.

Afterwards, members of the Xuantian Sect served as judges, adjudicating the crimes of officials and common people.

This requires a gradual expansion, starting with the areas surrounding the prefectures dominated by the Xuantian Sect, and then slowly radiating to all parts of the country.

Organize your experiences along the way to help with future work.

In the event of a serious case or a death sentence, the local branch of the Xuantian Sect will submit the case file to the main altar in the capital for review.

The capital city headquarters also established the "Heavenly Religion Supervisory Office," which served as the highest judicial organ in the country.

In the early days of the founding of the nation, the biggest task of the Xuantian Sect was to investigate and eliminate the many corrupt officials, treacherous ministers and parasites left behind by the former Great Zhao.

Among them, the imperial envoy possesses the Shangfang sword bestowed by the emperor. If he encounters a great villain or traitor, the imperial authority grants him special permission to execute him first and report later.

For a time, the Xuantian Sect and the Tianjiao Inspectorate became a source of great anxiety for local governments throughout the Tianzhao Kingdom, like a sword hanging over their heads.

In just six months, the massive purge affected nearly ten thousand corrupt officials, some of whom were demoted and exiled, while others were executed by having their crimes read aloud by members of the Xuantian Cult in the marketplace.

Such a fierce attack naturally met with strong resistance. Local powerful families and officials mobilized their connections to send numerous memorials to the court, and even local county officials rallied archers to fight against the Xuantian Sect members, resulting in many deaths and injuries.

However, Xi Heng's attitude was naturally to let the Xuan Tian Sect do as it pleased.

Unlike the prosecutors sent by the previous dynasty to various regions, the Xuantian Sect was not without real power. On the contrary, it was the biggest rebel before the founding of the country, with actual control over many states in the south, and even a religious army that could rival the Central Plains Army of the Great Zhao in terms of numbers.

While powerful civil officials might be able to defeat the eunuchs and the Ministry of Justice through factional struggles and connections, they were utterly powerless against such a massive religious force.

The large number of missing officials is of no concern.

The Great Zhao Kingdom left behind very little, except for a large number of idle officials and minor posts in the capital, where many scholars who had passed the imperial examinations were waiting for orders.

Thus, despite resistance and bloodshed, the overall situation remained relatively stable.

While purging corrupt officials within the country, Xi Heng also accompanied his younger sister, the emperor, to work together on matters of governing the country and managing the people.

For example, the Tian Zhao Kingdom established 'provinces' and changed the original administrative unit from Central Government-Road-Prefecture-State-Military Supervisor-County to Central Government-Province-Prefecture-State-County.

Each province was headed by three departments: administrative, military, and judicial. Major matters were discussed and decided by the three departments.

This would further refine and extend local administration, allowing the imperial court to focus solely on the provinces, with central authority as the primary means and local authority as a supplement.

Furthermore, the official system was streamlined, with assignments becoming the standard, and both official positions and honorary titles becoming mere honorary titles.

Salary payments will be based primarily on the highest rank among official positions, posts, and assignments, eliminating the practice of one official receiving multiple salaries, reducing salary expenditures, and correspondingly merging and reducing some subsidies.

Although it sounds like a significant pay cut, the salaries of high-ranking officials in the Zhao state were already quite high, and it was long overdue for such a reduction.

After Xi Heng came to power, he first caused a lot of trouble for local powerful clans and local governments. Then he ordered that taxes be reduced and levies be lightened to allow the people to recuperate and rebuild their lives in order to restore the economy as soon as possible.

Next, they gradually introduced some more advanced industrial and agricultural production tools, collected and disseminated high-yield crops, and sent hundreds of thousands of cattle and horses brought from Yan Meng to the south to support agriculture and commerce.

She planned to wait until agriculture was largely restructured before developing transportation networks, encouraging commercial exchange, promoting literacy rates, and innovating technologies, etc.

However, these are things that require a long period of time to develop gradually.

……

Six months after Xi Heng ascended the throne, it was late summer.

At dawn, several birds chirped crisply outside the window.

As the first rays of the rising sun appeared in the east, their white light shone through the painted window paper, projecting some blurry patterns onto the wooden floor covered with carpet inside.

The dim light inside was pushed aside, illuminating the pavilion room, which was draped with many red gauze curtains, creating an atmosphere reminiscent of a newlywed's bridal chamber.

Red gauze is either hung or placed on the walls and on the surfaces of many pieces of furniture.

The area most entangled was naturally around the large bed, which was filled with a rich, sweet fragrance.

The agarwood incense that was lit yesterday is still on the bedside table, with wisps of white smoke drifting downwards.

And it's not just this piece of agarwood that exudes a fragrant aroma.

The two girls embracing each other nearby may also be the source of the fragrance.

Their soft breaths accompanied each other, landing on each other's cheeks, yet they couldn't stir the few strands of hair that were completely stuck to their faces.

As they slept side by side, their long black and white hairs intertwined and tangled, their breaths and warmth being exchanged along with each other.

The white-haired girl leaning against the bed heard the kingfisher chirping outside, and her originally steady breathing changed slightly, her light gray eyelashes trembling.

A few seconds later, consciousness returned from sleep to reality.

When I opened my eyes slightly, as always, the first thing I saw was Yan Hongji's sleeping face.

"I had another strange dream..." Xi Heng thought to himself as his consciousness gradually cleared.

"I guess after playing around, I would subconsciously close my eyes and fall asleep, and as my mind wandered, I would have the dreams I hoped for."

This time it felt like a continuation of a dream from long ago, holding hands with Hongji amidst modern skyscrapers, chatting and laughing with the crowds... It was quite a happy time.

But after waking up, those emotions gradually dissipated.

She let out a soft breath, bringing her thoughts back to the present moment.

"Are you still sleeping?" she asked, speaking in a voice so soft it sounded almost too faint to her own ears.

Hongji did not respond; her breathing remained even.

She was so exhausted last night that she didn't fall asleep until 2 a.m.

It's only been three or four hours since dawn broke.

It doesn't matter if Xi Heng sleeps for a little while. Even if he gets a little sleepy, he can just do some meditation during his lunch break.

However, Hongji was only at the Energizing stage, and his physical condition was not much different from that of a healthy person, so he naturally needed to rest more.

"I'm getting more and more carried away. When will my senior sister come to see me?"

"No, what am I thinking..."

Xi Heng rubbed his forehead, reminding himself that he couldn't get too caught up in this kind of thing.

Otherwise, it might eventually come to the point where "the emperor no longer holds morning court".

"Speaking of which, the morning court session is about to begin." She slowly withdrew her right hand from Hongji's waist.

As I got up, I felt a slight tug on my hair again, so I had to slowly untangle it so as not to disturb the other person's sleep.

The bare toes lightly tapped the wooden board, making a soft sound.

Xi Heng retreated into the room, hooked a clean white robe from the clothes rack, tied the belt around his waist, then took a red robe embroidered with phoenix patterns and put it on his shoulders, and put on brocade shoes.

Once everything was ready, I went to the balcony of the pavilion, stepped onto the railing, and naturally leaned forward.

Once at a certain angle, use the soft, yielding force to perform light footwork and head towards the imperial city.

Over the past six months, she has become familiar with this road.

Not long after, he returned to his residence in Fuqing Palace before attending court.

She called upon the master of ceremonies inside the palace to help her put on the imperial robes and various decorations, then prepared a vehicle to go to the Taixiao Palace to handle court affairs.

As the sun rose higher on the horizon, Xi Heng, surrounded by palace maids and servants, calmly made his way to the court.

Nowadays, there is no longer just one throne at the top of the court, but three seats that are different in appearance, material and size.

Their colors are purple-gold, gold-silver, and black-blue, arranged like a champion's podium.

Xi Heng naturally sat on the purple-gold dragon throne at the top, leaning against the wide backrest in a rather casual posture, with his elbows resting steadily on either side.

Before long, Chu Xiao and Chen Fenghuo also arrived in the hall and took their seats on either side.

The officials then filed in, bowing first:

"Long live the Emperor! Long live the Emperor! Long live the Emperor!"

"Everyone is safe."

……

Today, the remarks of the court officials are mostly routine reports.

After all, for a long time now, the entire Tianzhao Kingdom has only focused on maintaining stability and restoring people's livelihoods, without causing any trouble.

Within six months, the Ever Victorious Army had quelled the barbarian riots in the west, and after rebuilding the northern fortresses and granaries, it bypassed Yan Meng and attacked the Baekje Kingdom in the northeast, forcing it to surrender and offering many large ships as war reparations.

According to the reports from the court officials, while the situation in various parts of Tianzhao could not be described as booming, the granaries were full of grain and the flow of merchants was smooth.

This can also be seen in the previously painstaking population and economic statistics and surveys.

In terms of politics, Chu Xiao pursued progress while maintaining stability, making improvements and reforms little by little.

As for Xi Heng himself, he has been working on inventions for the past month, establishing medical academies, agricultural academies, military academies, artisan academies, business academies, and ordnance academies in the imperial city to support innovation and creation.

These royal academies have just been established and are currently in the talent recruitment phase; they have not yet achieved any notable results.

Xi Heng originally planned to develop slowly and eventually achieve something.

However, something unexpected happened today: a craftsman official from the Craftsmen's Institute came to the court assembly, and as the meeting was nearing its end, he stepped forward to pay his respects and then spoke: