Chapter 26: Officialdom Storm (Please read and recommend!)

The world of immortal cultivation in Jingzhou was in turmoil, and the secular officialdom in Jingzhou was also not at peace.

The governor of Jingzhou was named Huang Hua, who was born into a mortal family and was a subordinate of the Huang family, a cultivator family.

And today, he was dismissed!
The person who came to serve as the governor of Jingzhou was Wen Ming, who was also from Jingzhou.

Wen Ming was the first place winner in this year's imperial examination, and was also a talent secretly discovered and cultivated by the Black Evil Sect.

Wenming was from Qingniu Town, Tongquan County, Jingzhou. When Li Mufeng first arrived in Jingzhou, he immediately sent people to look for one of the seeds for the imperial examination.

Among them, Wen Ming stood out from these imperial examination candidates.

Wen Ming was born in the Wen family of Qingniu Town, but he did not inherit the bad habits and character of those children from aristocratic families. On the contrary, he recited classics, studied poetry and books, and admired and imitated those ancient sages since he was a child.

He is loyal and resolute, and has ideals and ambitions.

When Li Mufeng discovered it at the beginning, he was surprised and exclaimed that he had found a real talent, which was an unexpected surprise.

If the other party did not lack spiritual roots, it would be like having divine help for such a person to practice Confucian exercises!
Originally, Li Mufeng was planning to make some secret moves during the imperial examination after selecting the candidates, but after meeting Wen Ming, he gave up all those little tricks.

Just when Wen Ming had just won the first place in the imperial examination this year, an official from Jingzhou suddenly reported that the current Jingzhou governor was guilty of serious corruption and abuse of power for personal gain.

After all, that official also denounced in the above report that Huang Hua had done nothing during the seven years since he took office as Jingzhou governor, which had led to the serious problem of aristocratic families annexing land in Jingzhou and the displacement of the people.

It also led to a very serious bandit problem in Jingzhou, as the Jingzhou official said in the table above.

"One day, I went out of the city. After three miles, I encountered a thief. After five miles, I encountered a bandit. After ten miles, I encountered a bandit."

After receiving the report from the Jingzhou official, the King of Yue was immediately furious. He denounced the court's inspector in Jingzhou for his poor performance and quickly sent several officials to Jingzhou to investigate.

Of course, the Huang family also had its own powerful group in the central court. They immediately stood up and said that the people of Jingzhou were prosperous and peaceful, and that the thing mentioned in the above table had not happened at all.

After hearing this, the King of Yue expressed his doubts and didn't know who to believe. He immediately sent the official who excused Huang Hua as an inspector to Jingzhou to investigate.

As a result, as soon as this man and his entourage arrived in Jingzhou, before they reached the provincial capital Jingzhou City, they were chopped off the head by a group of bandits and their heads were hung on a tree!
A second-rank official of the imperial court was beheaded by bandits in broad daylight!
Those people could no longer conceal the truth, the imperial court lost face and the Emperor of Yue was furious!
The officials in the imperial court knew very well what the situation was in Jingzhou and dared not speak out.

The King of Yue then appointed several old ministers with outstanding reputations to serve as new inspectors of Jingzhou. As a result, those people immediately submitted their resignations, saying that they were too old and their eyes were dim to be reappointed.

The King of Yue was furious and dismissed those people and put them in jail. Since the old guys were useless, he directly appointed this year's new top scholar, Wen Ming, as the Inspector of Jingzhou.

After arriving in Jingzhou, once Huang Hua's crime was discovered, he was dismissed from his post on the spot. He was temporarily appointed as the governor of Jingzhou, and was also the commander-in-chief of all the military forces in Jingzhou, responsible for suppressing the bandits and keeping the imperial power.

In order to ensure Wen Ming's safety, the King of Yue also sent a team of royal guards to protect him.

When the court officials heard the King of Yue do this, they called him wise and enlightened, but in fact they were preparing to laugh at Wen Ming and the King of Yue.

There is no place in Jingzhou or the current territory of Yue State where he can make decisions.

The previous second-rank official was killed by bandits. Do you, a young man from an unknown small family, think you can escape?

Moreover, you, a scholar who has never even led a soldier, want to suppress bandits?
joke!

There has never been such a person in this world.

Wen Ming takes office in Jingzhou!

As soon as he arrived in Jingzhou, he directly found out all the crimes reported by the official. Or it could be said that Huang Hua had no intention of hiding anything. He just walked there openly with an expression that said, "What can you do to me?"

Wen Ming didn't waste any time. Since Huang Hua had come to him on his own initiative, he didn't hesitate and sent him to jail directly.

Afterwards, Wen Ming took the post of governor of Jingzhou, commander-in-chief of all military affairs in Jingzhou, and made an envoy with special powers in accordance with the imperial edict.

Now, there is no one in the entire Jingzhou who has a higher official position than Wen Ming, so even if he wants to rebel, it would be easy.

However, Wen Ming did not have such thoughts. While investigating the Huang Hua incident, he simply could not believe what kind of life the people of Jingzhou were living.
There are aristocratic families everywhere, with tens of thousands of slaves in their homes, and even a large number of private armies. In addition, there are the martial arts sects and bandit forces in Jingzhou, which are so severe that they are almost impossible to control.

Before Wen Ming could take his next action, he received bad news that a group of thieves attacked the prison and rescued Huang Hua.

Wen Ming was completely disappointed by the behavior of these Jingzhou officials. He decided not to be lenient so as not to disappoint the emperor's trust in him. Moreover, Jingzhou was also his hometown, and he had the responsibility to make it a better place.

While Wen Ming wrote a letter to the court requesting that some new scholars who had emerged from the imperial examinations be sent to Jingzhou to serve as officials, he also visited wise men and looked for like-minded people.

No matter whether those people were from noble families or poor families, no matter whether they were legitimate sons or illegitimate sons of the family, as long as they had talents, Wen Ming would first gather them around him, let them temporarily hold official positions, and help him do things.

As Wen Ming searched everywhere, many wise men who had lived in seclusion and not taken office due to the darkness of the world were invited out from the mountains and swamps. The imperial court also responded quickly and sent thirty of this year's new scholars to Jingzhou.

After having these reserve officials in reserve, the first thing Wen Ming did was to thoroughly investigate the incident of Huang Hua's escape. He directly dismissed 23 officials and put them in jail for interrogation and accountability.

The twenty-three vacant official positions were all carefully selected by Wen Ming. Although the official titles were not high in rank, they were departments with real authority. After Wen Ming personally examined his reserve officials and confirmed that the individuals had the ability, he let them take the official positions temporarily, and he would apply to the court for the appointment letter later.

If it were anyone else, they would definitely take this opportunity to arrange their cronies to maintain their own power, but Wen Ming would not.

Wen Ming is dedicated to the public. He has only public duties in his mind and wants to make Jingzhou a better place.

This is true for low-level officials, not to mention high-level officials. Snakes and rats all run into each other. Wen Ming was not polite at all and directly used the simplest method to investigate corruption!

When the people of Jingzhou saw that the new official really seemed to want to speak up for the people of Jingzhou, they reported enthusiastically and actually produced a lot of real evidence.

Wen Ming had no intention of being polite. As long as he found out that the truth was true, he would immediately investigate the officials and then select suitable talents from among the Jinshi to fill the official positions.

Soon, many officials including Jingzhou Beijia and Changshi were directly dismissed by Wen Ming. Of course, Wen Ming also did not intend to let go of the officials who had nepotism relationships with these officials.

Afterwards, Wen Ming deleted and added to the existing laws in Jingzhou and formulated more reasonable laws so that officials could act in accordance with the laws instead of asking him for instructions on everything.

For a time, the governor's office was cleaned up. Although the number of people was reduced, the efficiency of work increased dozens of times, and they were all people who did practical work.

After rectifying the officialdom, Wen Ming turned his attention to the provincial army.

In response to the corrupt provincial army, Wen Ming decided to abolish it directly and train a new army.

Wen Ming must be said to be a great talent. He can govern the country when he is on duty and command the army when he is on duty.

Originally, he had a great reputation among the people because he supervised many important officials in Jingzhou. Now he posted a notice to recruit new soldiers, and the young and strong people signed up enthusiastically. Even many martial arts masters came to join the new army of the provincial government.

These people called on their friends and invited heroes and heroes, so that the new army of the provincial government, which was originally just a new army, quickly became powerful.

After the recruitment of the new army was completed, Wen Ming did not rush into battle immediately, but conducted training first. He simplified the principles in military books and translated them into plain language for the lower-level officers. He also conducted a large amount of technical training to make the various arms of the army cooperate more tacitly, and defeat the enemy with unity and military formations, rather than relying solely on recklessness and brute force.

In addition to these, Wen Ming also advocated a training atmosphere of mutual teaching and learning, formulated new military regulations with clear rewards and punishments, and developed new weapons and combat tools.

The formation of this new army was much faster than Wen Ming had imagined.

Three months later, after his observation, he determined that the new army was ready to go into battle.

Just at this time, a soldier in the Yuanzhou Prefecture Army informed the police that their leader, dissatisfied with the new governor Wen Ming's disbanding of the original prefectural army, was preparing to lead the original prefectural army in a rebellion.

After Wen Ming learned the news, he led the new army to attack decisively. With the cooperation of the insiders, he defeated the original provincial army in one fell swoop and captured the chief of the provincial army alive.

After interrogation, it was found that the military commander of Yuanzhou Prefecture had close connections with the surrounding bandits. He seemed to be the cousin of the leader of a gang called Wild Wolf in Jingzhou, and the two had even discussed selling military crossbows.

After finding out the information, Wen Ming immediately beheaded the leader according to the law.

Afterwards, he led the new army to sweep the surrounding bandit strongholds and wiped out all the bandits around Jingzhou City.

This made Wen Ming famous and his name spread throughout Jingzhou.

Afterwards, he led the new army to put down the rebellion secretly instigated by several aristocratic families, and confiscated a large amount of land and money from the aristocratic families.

After getting the land in his hands, Wen Ming had no intention of occupying it, nor did he plan to buy property for himself. Instead, he gathered a large number of refugees, and the government distributed farming tools and oxen to them. He called them to settle down and farm to resume production. In the first year, they handed over five levels of land, and the amount would decrease every year thereafter. In the sixth year, the land was transferred to the people.

He did not take a single cent of the money he received from the aristocratic families. Instead, he first increased the basic salary of the officials in Jingzhou, and also set up many subsidies such as salary for integrity and salary for political achievements, thereby improving the welfare benefits of the low-level clerks and basic officials in Jingzhou.

Then, Wen Ming distributed the remaining money to meritorious soldiers according to the military reward and punishment system. In addition, the prisoners from aristocratic families had a large number of concubines and maids in their homes.

Wen Ming also did not touch anyone, but instead organized a social gathering to distribute wives to the military and the low-level clerks and basic officials.

Although this series of actions allowed Wen Ming to win the hearts of the people and the willingness of low-level officials to work in a very short period of time, it also meant that the financial pressure on the Jingzhou Governor's Office would be very great. If it only relied on the taxes from the people, it would not be enough.

Moreover, these measures only provide people with a way to survive, but do not actually change their living standards.

At this time, some officials offered Wen Ming several solutions.

First of all, there is government income.

First, since the tax revenue is not enough, then increase it. However, since the common people in Jingzhou have no money, it is not necessary to increase taxes from them. Instead, taxes should be collected from the aristocratic families and the martial arts sects. In addition, the status of merchants should be improved, business should be encouraged, and business taxes should be collected. If these two points can be implemented, then the tax revenue of the entire Jingzhou will increase dozens of times, which will not only be enough to cover the newly added expenses, but also have a surplus!

The second is the order to store medicine!

It was similar to the Tuntian Order, except that what was planted was not food but herbs. Of course, it was not the ordinary herbs that were planted for one or two years, but the medicinal age fields were divided and specialized in planting herbs that were twenty, thirty, forty, fifty or even a hundred years old.

This is considered a long-term investment, because it means that there will be no returns for at least twenty years, but starting from the twenty-first year, the returns will be terrifyingly high.

For example, the herbs grown in the medicinal fields with a twenty-year medicinal age can be sold, and then replanted. In the second year, the second batch of medicinal fields with a twenty-year medicinal age will mature.

The same applies to medicinal fields that are thirty years old, forty years old, fifty years old, or even a hundred years old. As long as adequate planning is done, the government can generate profits from the twenty-first year.

This amount of money is certainly not as huge as the tax revenue, but it is definitely very considerable.

Because not all herbs need to be grown for twenty, thirty, or fifty years. This type of herb has very strict requirements for the growing environment, so the amount of land that can be used for planting is definitely limited.

As he spoke, the man also attached a volume of prices for medicinal herbs with high medicinal age.

Because some herbs can be used as raw materials for refining elixirs, their prices are very high.

"Although prices will certainly fluctuate over the next twenty years, as long as the country is stable and there is no major upheaval, the price fluctuations of these herbs will not be too large."

"Of course, if we continue to grow and produce every year, the price of herbs will inevitably fall and eventually stabilize, and of course the government will still be able to earn income."

After the government was asked to solve the financial problem.

Regarding the issue of increasing people's income, the man also raised two points.

First, it takes a short time and has quick results. The government takes out money and calls on the people to complete government projects, such as repairing roads, building water conservancy projects, leveling fertile fields, maintaining mountains and forests, increasing jobs, and finding areas suitable for the growth of high-quality herbs.

The second is that it takes a long time, is easy but pays more. It is to issue a herb planting order together with the government's herb storage order. This needs to be coordinated with the herb storage order issued by the government above, and the government will purchase those herbs with high medicinal age.

Nowadays, the people of Jingzhou can hardly even live a normal life, let alone earn an annual income, because of the chaotic situation and the oppression from martial arts sects and aristocratic families.

After the situation stabilizes, the annual income of most ordinary people will be between 3 and 5 taels of silver, with 4 taels of silver being the median.

Twenty years is eighty taels of silver.

The purchase price of specific herbs varies, and people choose to grow those with high value.

A twenty-year-old herb is worth six taels of silver, a thirty-year-old herb is worth ten taels of silver, and a fifty-year-old herb can be worth up to fifty taels of silver.

If the people are lucky enough and the area where they live can grow some high-value spiritual medicine, the value will increase several times. It is possible to sell it for hundreds of taels of silver per plant, or even thousands of taels of silver per plant.

Of course, these are specific situations and cannot be regarded as universal situations.

The people only need to plant a certain amount of herbs, and they don't need to put in too much sweat and labor to take care of these herbs. It is enough to just take care of them from time to time.

Only when the medicinal materials are ready for sale, the people's annual income can easily increase dozens or even hundreds of times. After all, it is impossible for them to grow only one herb or elixir.

And there is no need to worry that people will give up agriculture and go into growing herbs after seeing the high profits from growing herbs. After all, the time cost is too long and they simply cannot afford it. Moreover, not all herbs are needed, and herbs cannot be grown in all places.

This is also more in line with the "state conditions" of Jingzhou, because there are many mountains and forests here, and it is difficult to do anything else.

It's far worse than growing herbs.

After reading these four suggestions, Wen Ming thought and calculated carefully and felt that there were no big problems. After all, they did not require any cost.

So we decided to carry it out.

Soon, the government posted a notice, saying that it needed to build water conservancy projects, level roads and fields, and recruit workers.

The second is the medicine storage order and the medicine planting order.

Wen Ming's series of actions directly stunned the aristocratic families who had been dismissed as officials by him. This guy is a human being, how could he be so fierce?
How come you know everything?

What is this for?!
He invented things, governed the people, reorganized the army and made laws, led troops to fight, resettled refugees, worked on farming, built water conservancy projects, and ran government businesses. He had noble morals, was not interested in money or women, was dedicated to the public, and did not use personal feelings to gain anything.

Can't stand it anymore!

Where are the corrupt officials in the court? Save them!

As Wen Ming moved in Jingzhou, batches of officials from aristocratic families fell from power. Among the new batch of officials, some were from aristocratic families, some were from merchants, and some were from humble backgrounds.
Officials from various backgrounds gathered under Wen Ming's command to build a new Jingzhou.

This made those former aristocratic families furious, and they hurriedly sent letters to the court.

At the imperial court, the memorials accusing Wen Ming of treason almost filled up a large hall, but the King of Yue ignored them completely.

Whatever you say, just one sentence.

"I believe in my new champion."

The officials of the imperial court were also very anxious, but they could not find any black material on Wen Ming. Even if they did, it was just hearsay and there was no actual evidence at all. The King of Yue did not believe it at all.

These officials had no choice but to write back and ask them to ask "higher-ups" to resolve the issue.

Before the letter from the court arrived, the officials in Jingzhou suffered another devastating blow.

The Jia family decided to assassinate Wen Ming directly.

As a result, the assassin showed great respect for Wen Ming's benevolent rule and his dedication to the people. He was even more impressed by Wen Ming's noble moral integrity of keeping himself clean, not pursuing women, and not keeping private wealth. The assassin turned against the Jia family on the spot and betrayed them, and also reported many negative stories about the Jia family in recent years.

Purchasing weapons, raising private armies, and occupying land
After Wen Ming learned about it, he wiped out the Jia family with lightning speed.

When other families saw what happened to the Jia family, those who had the same plan immediately gave up.

Then the Huang family came up with a good idea. Since it was inconvenient for them to go, they could let someone else go.

So he asked all the family members to bring a large amount of money to lobby the Qixuan Sect and the Beggars' Gang, hoping that the other party could lead people to break through Jingzhou City and capture and kill Wen Ming, or directly send peerless masters to assassinate Wen Ming. They could act as internal response to the actions of the Beggars' Gang or the Qixuan Sect.

The Qixuan Sect and the Beggars' Sect accepted the money and agreed to it, and the Huang family members returned home happily.

As a result, not long after, the Qixuan Sect and the Beggars' Gang handed over the evidence and money that the Huang family found against them to the provincial government.

They also issued a stern statement: Although they are people of the underworld, they can distinguish right from wrong. They gathered gang members and disciples only as a necessary measure for self-protection due to the darkness of the world. Now that a good official has really come to Jingzhou, they are also willing to obey the orders of the government, follow the laws, and do things according to the rules.

Become a hero who serves the country and the people.

In order to show their support for Wen Ming, the Qixuan Sect and the Beggars' Sect paid an additional tax of millions to the state capital.

When Wen Ming saw the clear attitude of the Beggars' Sect and the Seven Profound Sect, he was stunned for a moment. With his intelligence, he quickly guessed that someone was helping him behind the scenes.

At this moment he also understood. No wonder he always felt that everything in Jingzhou was done so smoothly and naturally.

Wen Ming did not dwell too much on this. No matter what the other party's purpose was, it was indeed beneficial to the development of Jingzhou and was consistent with his interests.

Wen Ming deposited the one million taels into the government treasury as funds to start subsequent government projects and to build academies, clinics and many other projects.

According to his original plan, these projects might have to wait five years before the first batch of funds could be raised and the first construction plan could be started.

I didn't expect that the person behind the scenes would actually deliver the money directly to my door.

On the other hand, the Huang family did not receive the news of Wen Ming's death. Instead, Wen Ming led the provincial army to surround the Huang family.

The head of the Huang family immediately took drastic measures and sent some scapegoats away for conviction. In accordance with the law, he handed over all the family property and money to the state government.

As things have developed to this point, ordinary families may still think that Wen Ming is too lucky, but more families like the Huang family with a cultivator background have realized the truth of the matter.

Apart from the fact that Wen Ming himself is a talented person, there is someone behind him!

Otherwise, how could everything be so coincidental!
It is impossible for them to defeat Wen Ming with their strength alone, as there is someone behind him!
So several major families quickly wrote to the monastic family behind them to ask for help.

The monk families originally looked down on these mortal families who remained in the secular world, and now it is even more impossible for them to help them.

Because a shocking super event has happened in the Jingzhou cultivation world now. More than 200 cultivators from the coalition forces of Huang, Jia and Yu were wiped out!
This is not an alliance composed of those rubbish independent cultivators with low cultivation and weak combat power, but a coalition of family cultivators whose cultivation is above the seventh level of Qi Refining and who are equipped with magic weapons and talismans.

They were actually wiped out by a guild of independent cultivators that appeared out of nowhere!
It is said that this coalition of cultivators had not even reached Xinshan, the headquarters of the Loose Cultivators' Union, when they were ambushed by the Loose Cultivators' Union using a super large formation. They were wiped out before they even saw anyone!
With so many family cultivators dying, the Foundation Establishment stage elders behind the Huang, Jia, and Yu families could no longer sit still.

The loss this time was something they simply could not afford. A large number of the backbone members of the family were lost. Although they were cultivators in the Foundation Establishment Stage, they would soon pass away. By then, only those cultivators at the fifth or sixth level of Qi Refining would be left in their family.

Although they still have foundation-building cultivators, once they enter the sect, it is simply impossible for them to take care of the family regularly.

The decline of the family was a foreseeable outcome.

There is only one way to avoid the decline of the family.

That is to take back all the spiritual medicines in the Loose Cultivator's Guild!
With this batch of pills, the younger generations in the family will be able to rapidly grow in strength and become the new elite backbone of the family, thus making up for this loss.

(End of this chapter)