Chapter 2271: The Secret of Gaining Popular Support in Governance

Well, never mind those thoughts. Since Qixia Sect is emerging from seclusion to engage the world, I must strive to secure resources for the sect.

This land and these people have been taken by Cangyan; for Qixia Sect to prosper, we must wrest something back from its grasp.

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Zhu Xiuer entered the imperial study, and the guards on both sides bowed to her.

"Madam, you have worked hard." He Lingchuan personally took out a jug of fine wine, "This is brewed from the delicate blossoms of the old osmanthus tree in the Golden Hall, combined with jade rice. Well, jade rice is a new spirit-rice variety successfully trial-planted five months ago."

"Oh?" Zhu Xiuer took it, unceremoniously breaking the clay seal and inhaling lightly a few times.

The Spider Queen sisters all love drinking wine.

"To be frank, it's not as good as last time's fruit wine." Madam always speaks her mind, never playing games of favor and connection.

"Madam Yao prefers peach blossom wine more." He Lingchuan laughed, "Very well, I'll send more fruit wine to your residence. Remember, this time do not hang the wine-bearing palace attendants upside down again."

Last time, when palace attendants brought wine to Zhu Xiuer, they took a wrong turn upon exiting the cave, and as a result were bound by the small spiders guarding the cave.

"Rest assured, it won't happen again." Zhu Xiuer replied cheerfully, "The heavenly centipede that robbed the profound crystal warehouse has already been captured and brought to justice by me, though it does not fully confess."

"Not fully?" He Lingchuan understood, "It only admits to part of the crimes?"

"Yes. It insists it only robbed five profound crystal warehouses, stealing less than fifteen hundred catties of profound crystal. The remaining losses, it claims, have nothing to do with it."

"Is that credible?"

Zhu Xiuer twitched her forepaws: "Demons who can lie under my claws are truly few."

The Soul-Capturing Mirror exclaimed: "If this is true, where did the two stolen warehouses and two thousand catties of profound crystal go?"

"If not for other thieves, then someone is supervising while stealing, embezzling the profound crystal stock, and framing the heavenly centipede." He Lingchuan tapped his fingertips lightly twice on the table, "Years have passed, and it's inevitable that worms breed in the warehouses. I will send people down to investigate thoroughly."

Uttering these words meant someone would lose their head.

Cangyan has been established for several years, and though the Dragon God enforces strict rules, corruption occasionally rears its head—using the Ming Canon's strict laws to oppose human nature is inherently difficult.

He turned his head to look at the sand table.

To others, it appears as Cangyan's full territorial map—mountains, rivers, lakes, seas, cities, all quite detailed.

But in He Lingchuan's eyes, the sand table is covered with star points, most of them glowing brightly, with a few occasionally appearing somewhat dim.

"Of the seven reported profound crystal warehouse thefts, only five were committed by the heavenly centipede." He pointed at two of the dim star points, "Well then, let's start the investigation from these two places!"

Zhu Xiuer wondered: "Why these two?"

He Lingchuan yawned: "The residents of these two places have some grievances; I've long wanted to investigate them."

These star points on the sand table represent vows, visible only to the owner of the Resonant Dragon Battle Armor.

Dim star points indicate that the local populace's faith in the Dragon God has waned. And after years of practice, He Lingchuan has found this mostly correlates with local governance standards—officials corrupt, officials and merchants colluding, people's lives difficult, or local officials simply incompetent... In short, once there is injustice and resentment, the vow power transmitted to the Dragon God naturally diminishes.

The vow star points of these two places being dim precisely overlaps with the stolen profound crystal warehouses; He Lingchuan naturally prioritizes investigating these two places first, to see if local officials are up to mischief.

For any empire, "hearing from above" is no easy feat; the larger the nation, the longer its history, the more absurd this difficulty becomes. Emperors high in the hall find it hard to perceive the distant livelihoods of the common people in the rivers and lakes.

This accumulated mismatch of top and bottom, over time, becomes a chronic ailment. Though the people clearly suffer dire hardship, rulers still believe the realm is peaceful and the people dwell in contentment—until swords and spears one day shatter the court's beautiful dream, and they see the truth too late.

He Lingchuan possesses this vow star map, enabling him to intuitively gauge nationwide public opinion on the governmental system and local livelihoods—conduct investigations where needed, execute where deserved, transfer where appropriate, timely arrange personnel appointments and removals, to safeguard livelihoods and quell popular resentment.

If one inquiry yields nothing? Then inquire again! Every order from the Cangyan court strikes true; the Flash Gold people naturally applaud and cheer, praising the divine martial sagacity of the Great Emperor.

Yet the governmental system keeps everyone vigilant, as if eyes and ears of the court surround them, with a sword hanging overhead, not knowing when it might fall.

Though Cangyan's founding days are far shorter than those of Beijia and Mouguo, and its soil remains relatively pure, He Lingchuan, upon discovering an issue, strikes hard to set an example, so the administration of Cangyan remains generally clear, and its vital energy level grows ever stronger.

Zhu Xiuer naturally does not know of the existence of the vow star map, nor does she know that vow power is related to vital energy.

Even if she knew, she would not care; she only concerns herself with her immediate affairs:

"It also confessed that it is the mountain-guarding spirit beast of Qixia Sect. This immortal sect has been in seclusion for over a hundred years, its profound crystal stores scant, so it sent this creature out to plunder some, to make up the shortfall."

"Qixia Sect?" He Lingchuan frowned slightly, "It sounds familiar, as if I've heard of it somewhere."

"Liu Qingdao said it is an ancient immortal sect, seemingly with some specialties; he is currently reviewing materials." Zhu Xiuer complained, "These newly emerged sects and great demons are always like they've had water in their brains, unaware that the world outside has been turned upside down, still thinking that once they leave the mountains they can do as they please."

"Even if they knew, they wouldn't care. For the past several thousand years, they never needed to concern themselves with mortals." As the saying goes, immortals and demons look down on mortals—what difference could there be between regarding mortals and regarding ants? "Moreover, the laws of vital energy have only undergone drastic change in recent years; before, on the Flash Gold Plains, they never needed to avoid human states. Why say this? Empiricism kills people."

He then asked: "Has Qixia Sect opened its mountain gate?"

Opening the mountain gate means they must publicly establish the sect and also register here in Cangyan.

"Not yet."

"Where is their secluded location?"

"The heavenly centipede said it is at Guye Mountain west of Weian City. Not far; I'll capture it these few days and have it guide me!" Zhu Xiuer added, "And this heavenly centipede—how do you wish to handle it? It is quite aware of the times, willing to submit to Cangyan."

"Very well, then let Madam Zhu temporarily oversee it; no need to send it to Dong Rui." Such forced submission of great demons always involves a detention observation period; those who fail it meet an unpleasant end.

Zhu Xiuer laughed: "If Dong Rui knew, he'd surely be annoyed again. He's had his eye on this heavenly centipede for a long time."

Dong Rui has lately been dissatisfied, shouting that he lacks suitable experimental subjects.

He Lingchuan replied testily: "It should be me who's annoyed. The flower ants just reported that the black spot disease of the man-eating flowers has worsened again."