Chapter 281: The Dragon King Invites
After this great bridge was completed, the many officials of the Ministry of Works immediately flew up in all directions to inspect the riverbanks. Qin Mu saw many people holding steel rods, driving rods several truong long into the embankments along the riverbank, one planted every hundred truong.
Beside each rod stood a person, while someone in the middle of the river set up a great bronze bell. When a resounding *dong* rang out, the rods vibrated in response, and the people beside them leaned in to listen to the trembling tones traveling through the rods.
"What are they doing?" Qin Mu asked, puzzled.
Ling Yuxiu walked to his side and said, "You wouldn't know this. In the past, the Tu River frequently flooded, so the Imperial Preceptor ordered the Vice Minister of Works to come and manage it. The Vice Minister spent an incalculable amount of money, which made my father furious. He asked why so much money was spent and where it had gone. The Vice Minister said he had buried a wall of dark bronze on each bank of the Tu River—two inches thick, two thuoc tall, running along the embankments for ten thousand ly. The walls were covered with runic marks. To check whether the embankments had hidden cracks or had been thinned by water erosion, they could strike the bronze bell. The bell's sound would stimulate the runic marks on the walls, producing resonance, and using the sound waves they could judge hidden cracks and thickness."
Qin Mu looked at the Director of the Heavenly Works Hall, who was busy at work, and praised, "What a wonderful idea."
Si Yunxiang stepped forward and said, "The Emperor nearly had his head cut off for spending so much money."
Ling Yuxiu glanced at her and said, "The Vice Minister of Works spent too much. Over the years, he built flying tower-ships for the sky, painted pleasure boats for the water, land-going vessels and wheeled carts for the ground, smelting plants for the mines, military workshops and supervisory factories across the realm, renovations of city towers, sewers in the cities, road paving, siege cloud-chariots, border fortresses, and mechanical manufacturing. I wasn't born yet back then, but later I heard from my second brother that in those years, the Vice Minister's spending forced my father, the princes, the crown prince, the consorts, and the Empress Dowager to tighten their belts until their faces turned green with hunger. The national treasury was emptied in an instant, and even officials' salaries went unpaid for months."
Si Yunxiang smiled slightly. "And then?"
Ling Yuxiu sighed. "Then the smelting plants spread, and all kinds of tower-ships and pleasure boats were sold to merchants. The supervisory factories produced without end, and within two years the treasury was full again—so full they had to build several more treasuries to store the money. My father was grateful and said, 'Good thing I didn't kill him.' The Ministry of Works' biggest spenders, besides the Vice Minister, are the directors of the Water Bureau—building water conservancy and transport across the land, things like irrigation wheels, flood-discharge lakes, all kinds of dams and bridges, digging canals. Their spending was more than water flowing, but it also made the people prosperous."
Si Yunxiang blinked and said, "It seems like all the spending is done by the Vice Minister and the directors. What does the Minister of Works do? It seems all the work is done by Vice Minister Shan Youxin and his people, and the Minister hasn't done anything."
Ling Yuxiu blinked as well. "The Minister of Works supervises their spending."
Si Yunxiang smiled lightly. "I suspect the Minister of Works was sent by the Emperor to keep an eye on them, since the Vice Minister and these directors and assistant directors are all people of the Heavenly Sage Sect. The Emperor knows they are sect hall masters and incense masters, so he doesn't trust them."
Ling Yuxiu's gaze fell on her. "Sister Yunxiang seems very interested in the Heavenly Sage Sect."
Si Yunxiang smiled sweetly. "Your little sister is unworthy, but I am the Holy Maiden of the Heavenly Sage Sect, so naturally I take an interest. Sect Master Qin is our sect master and holy teacher, and he cares about such matters too. The questions I ask you, Princess, are also questions the sect master cares about."
The two young women stared at each other, eyes wide.
Qin Mu paid no attention to the two girls. He looked into the distance and saw officials from the Water Bureau and the Land Reclamation Bureau inspecting farmland irrigation, while the Forestry Bureau checked fruit trees and vegetables. He walked over.
"Sect Master, when the crops are between green and yellow, there will likely be a plague of insects."
The assistant director of the Forestry Bureau was an incense master of the Agriculture Hall. He dug through the soil, examined it, picked out some insect eggs, and said to Qin Mu, "The winter snow disaster was very cold, but these pest eggs won't freeze to death. In another three to five days, when the weather warms, the eggs will hatch into insects. During winter, the people cut down and burned all the vegetation, so the insects will have nothing to eat but the crops. We must prepare early and prevent the insect plague, killing the insects as soon as they are born."
Qin Mu asked, "Incense Master, how do we prevent an insect plague?"
"Station sword experts in the fields, or have spell experts cast needle techniques, or send experts in raising gu insects to release their insects to eat the pests."
The assistant director of the Forestry Bureau stood up, clapped his hands—his body and hands covered in mud—and said, "Disciples of the Sword Hall, Spell Hall, and Gu Hall can all come out for some practical training."
Qin Mu nodded and called Fan Yunxiao over. "Brother Fan, pass on my order: have the Sword Hall, Spell Hall, and Gu Hall each send a dozen or so disciples here."
Fan Yunxiao summoned a bandit and ordered him to deliver the message.
The Water Bureau was reorganizing the water conservancy, dredging the silt from the waterways and re-planning the water routes to make irrigation easier.
On the other side, the Land Reclamation Bureau officials were measuring land, taking out measuring rulers one by one. With primal energy infused, the folded rulers unfolded, growing longer and longer, with measurement scales appearing on them. Beside them, students of the Grand Academy recorded the numbers, their primal energy forming different-shaped abacuses that clicked and clacked as they calculated.
Meanwhile, the Vice Minister of Works led the Ministry's staff flying into the air, hovering above to survey the road conditions across Jiazhou, noting damaged roads before descending to repair them.
"Shan Youxin is a capable man!"
Qin Mu was truly impressed. The officials of the Ministry of Works of Yankang handled matters methodically—truly beneficial to the state and the people.
At the city lord's mansion, the prefect of Jiazhou reported on the situation within the province. Ling Yushu listened all night, then summoned the chief clerk to check various records, busy until dawn without sleep.
By the next day, both Ling Yushu and the prefect were exhausted. Just as they stepped out of the city lord's mansion, the Minister of Works, the Vice Minister of Works, Qin Mu, and the others had already arrived outside. Vice Minister Shan Youxin presented several scrolls of documents and said, "Your Highness, the issues with water conservancy, transport, and fruit and vegetables in Jiazhou have been handled. Only the matters of the Land Reclamation Bureau require Your Highness's attention."
Ling Yushu was startled. "So fast?" he exclaimed.
Shan Youxin said, "After Your Highness finishes reading, you can prepare to execute people."
Ling Yushu's expression turned grave. "Is land annexation really that severe?"
Shan Youxin nodded.
Ling Yushu summoned the prefect of Jiazhou, placed the documents in his hands, and said with a dark expression, "Don't go to sleep yet. I won't sleep either. You will read with me! Read and arrest, arrest and execute—those who should be arrested, arrest; those who should be killed, kill! In extraordinary times, we must use harsh laws!"
The prefect's face turned ashen.
Qin Mu called Shen Wanyun and the others over. "Your work has arrived. In a moment, you will go with the officials to make arrests."
Shen Wanyun stammered, "Sect Master, didn't you say there was no danger? Those who annex land in chaotic times are all local tyrants—the great clans and powerful families of the region are extremely strong!"
Qin Mu laughed. "You are experts of the Grand Academy—the elite of the nation. Are you afraid of local tyrants?"
Wei Yong, Yue Qinghong, and the others were eager to go.
Before long, the Crown Prince and the prefect issued orders for arrests. Wei Yong and the others immediately went with the soldiers, returning only at noon, covered in blood—clearly they had fought several fierce battles.
Ling Yushu spent two days handling the affairs of Jiazhou, then continued eastward, managing the Tu River along the way. One day they arrived at Hezhou. Hezhou bordered the sea to the east, far from the capital, with well-developed waterways and a great harbor. Merchant ships from here connected not only to ports across the nation but also traded with other countries, and even had dealings with overseas nations.
By now everyone was familiar with the routine. Upon arriving in Hezhou, they each went to investigate on their own without needing instructions from the Vice Minister of Works. After handling Hezhou's affairs, Ling Yushu saw how exhausted everyone was and said, "You have all worked hard. Why not rest a few days in Hezhou before we set out again?"
Everyone cheered.
Qin Mu was dragged off by Ling Yuxiu to go shopping. "Hezhou has thriving trade and many strange and novel foreign trinkets. Let's go browse the market!"
"I'm coming too!"
Si Yunxiang followed along. Ling Yuxiu glanced at her, thinking, "Fox spirit!"
"Little flirt..." Si Yunxiang thought with a smile on her face.
The two girls averted their gazes from each other. Qin Mu seemed oblivious. The market in Hezhou indeed had many strange and wonderful items, but what attracted his attention wasn't the bizarre merchandise—it was the foreigners.
He saw many foreigners in exotic clothing, different in appearance from Yankang people. Some were one-eyed, not with two symmetrical eyes like others, but with a single vertical eye in the middle of their foreheads.
There were also four-armed people and two-faced people.
He even saw several girls of the sea clans, dressed in gaudy finery, but with eight octopus-like legs, moving swiftly. Looking closely, they had gills by their ears.
"They came up from the sea."
Si Yunxiang leaned close to Qin Mu's ear and whispered, "They are merchants of the sea clans. I've heard they built cities and nations on the ocean floor."
Qin Mu was astonished. The sea clans sold strange things too. He stopped before a blue coral tree. The coral tree automatically emitted water vapor, forming a water sphere that enveloped itself. Inside the vapor, a three-inch-tall girl rode a seahorse, swimming back and forth, singing a song of unintelligible meaning.
Then several more girls on seahorses came down from the tree, along with some men, all dancing and singing around the coral tree in the water.
This coral tree actually housed a small tribe.
Si Yunxiang and Ling Yuxiu were also captivated. Just then, a tall girl in a dark green dress approached, looking at the blue coral tree and exclaiming in admiration, "What a strange creature! Little Red, don't you think?"
Qin Mu turned his head. The girl had red jade earrings hanging from her creamy-white earlobes. Suddenly, one of the earrings stretched—it was a small red snake, opening its mouth and hissing, flicking its forked tongue at Qin Mu.
"Long Jiaonan!"
Qin Mu's heart jolted. He was about to draw his sword when Long Jiaonan laughed and said, "Sect Master Qin, you'd better not move. My Little Red here is at the Seven Stars stage—one gulp and she can swallow all three of you. Sect Master, my father wants to see you."
Qin Mu's scalp tingled. He said in a low voice, "The old Dragon King has come as well?"
Long Jiaonan giggled. "My father is called the Dragon King. How could he have no power in Hezhou? But thanks to you, Sect Master, my Dragon Taming Gate was wiped out, forcing my father and me to hide in the Eastern Sea!"
Si Yunxiang blinked and said happily, "Congratulations, Sister Long, on capturing the Demon Heaven Sect Master and the Sixth Princess of Yankang! There's nothing for me here, so I'll be going now!"
Long Jiaonan sneered. The little red snake suddenly slithered onto Si Yunxiang's neck, flicking its tongue against her skin. "Young Miss Si of the Si family, Holy Maiden of the Demon Heaven Sect—your value is no less than the Sixth Princess of Yankang. Did you think I hadn't investigated you?"