Chapter 105: Pingyang County? Pingyang Prefecture?

The two sides of the long street are lined with buildings, and countless pavilions and towers cover the floating clouds, masking the horizon.

In the distance is the Dianyun Lake. If it were spring, summer, or autumn, there would be countless light boats passing by.

But in winter, only floor boats and merchant ships that can provide heating stoves remain on the river, and even so, there are dozens of large ships on the lake.

This is the prosperity unique to the imperial capital, with pavilions and towers connecting to the clouds, and gold everywhere.

But now, the entire imperial capital is being blown by the whistling cold wind.

Pedestrians looked back at the eastern sky and found that patches of dark clouds were pushing over, running toward home.

The cloud layer advanced extremely fast, covering half the sky with dark clouds, and the sound of striking the cloud board echoed from the high platform in the distance.

The Tiqi galloped with dragon-blood horses, leaping dozens of meters, but the dark clouds chased faster, and the air was wrapped in a thick water vapor.

Just as the dark clouds were about to catch up, the Tiqi finally verified their identities and entered the imperial city.

The heavy gate closed, as if isolating the dark clouds outside the gate.

The entire imperial capital was hazy in the mist, but the imperial city was not affected in the slightest, only the air became a bit humid.

An hour later, it would be evening. A maid holding a furnace of burning incense passed by the Qin Zheng Hall, as if hearing a roar, followed by a pause, and a deep, calm voice came from the hall.

"Summon the Grand Secretaries of the Zhongji Hall, Jianji Hall, Wuying Hall, Wenyuan Pavilion, and Dong Pavilion!"

A moment later, several old men in soap-blue official robes hurried over, entered the hall, flipped through the documents, and were shocked.

"Too numerous to record! The Water Bath Sect actually did such a thing that angered both heaven and man! Six thousand eight hundred people were blood-sacrificed, over ten thousand casualties, and over ten thousand displaced—exterminate! Must exterminate!"

"Academician Su calls the Ghost Mother Sect the Water Bath Sect, could it be that he is still thinking of the glory of the Great Qian?"

"You are spitting blood! I just read a lot of books and have a deep impression of the old name!"

"Not necessarily, right?"

"Shut up! The cloud eagle sent a message, the scouts took the dragon-blood horses and ran in relays for twenty days without rest, and they are still unconscious. Is it to wait for you to have a shouting match here?"

The five Grand Secretaries knelt on the ground, silent as cicadas in winter.

"Get up!"

An invisible force spread out, helping the Grand Secretaries up together.

"Let's talk, what are your thoughts."

The Grand Secretaries looked at each other.

"The Ghost Mother Sect is already a stubborn disease. The late emperor failed to achieve his goal, not because of war, but because of insufficient national strength. Now the country is rich and the people are strong, so we should sweep away the fallen leaves in the autumn wind and clear them out in one fell swoop!"

"Academician Xu speaks better than he sings. Now the Western Army and Northern Army are fighting against the Barbarian Country, building the Great Wall, and the expenses are very large. The three prefectures in the northwest are suffering from drought, and Lanzhou is going to dig a canal. Where is the silver to send troops to sweep your fallen leaves?"

The two academicians quarreled endlessly.

"Your Majesty, I have one thing I don't understand."

"What is it?"

"On the map, why is it that among several large counties, only the many towns and townships under Chaojiang County have not been disturbed in the slightest, as if they were surrounded?"

Another secret report was thrown in front of everyone.

"So that's it. Having an old general in the country is truly a fortunate thing! This matter should be heavily rewarded!"

"This name Liang Qu sounds a bit familiar?"

"Oh, it's just a small fisherman's son. Why does Academician Su feel familiar?"

Academician Su rolled his eyes, too lazy to ignore the attack, and turned around.

"I have a good friend who is a fellow Metropolitan Graduate with me. He has a good friend who serves as a mountain chief in a town, and they often communicate by letter. A few days ago, he sent me a letter, talking about a way to learn characters, invented by a fisherman in a small township, saying that it is very effective after learning.

After reading it, I found it interesting. It just so happened that my granddaughter was at the age to learn characters, so I taught her, and the effect was very good. In about a year, she could recognize most of the characters."

Everyone was slightly surprised.

Recognizing most characters in a year?

Children generally start learning basic knowledge such as character recognition, calligraphy, orientation, timing, and etiquette from the "Chun Nian" of about eight years old.

Then they usually have to wait until they are fifteen to start receiving systematic education in classics and history.

There are reasons why it is not all about character recognition, but even so, character recognition takes five or six years.

What method can have several times the efficiency improvement?

Everyone argued endlessly, that is work, but in specific matters, Su Yigeng absolutely did not dare to deceive the Holy One, which means this is true!

The General Manager Eunuch on the side said: "It is the same person. This method is called the Pinyin Method. A few days ago, the Sixth Prince was allowed to learn it, and it has been quite effective."

Su Yigeng was enlightened.

"This child has talent, or can be used."

Not only useful, but also has great use!

General Manager Kang looked at the five Grand Secretaries and thought to himself.

In the past few months, the Emperor has been thinking about tax reform, and the most difficult point is that imperial power does not go to the township, lacking officials to execute policies. That requires tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands of literate minor officials!

The cost of literacy has always been a big problem, but now it seems that there is a sign of solution?

"Not only that, look at this newspaper."

"Long Dragon Crossing Xu Jiangming?"

An extraordinary fate is a good thing, and it can even be used as capital to brag in advance to attract "investment".

Just like catching a son-in-law under the list of the imperial examination, although he is not yet an official, everyone knows that the most outstanding ones will have great prospects in the future.

Yang Dongxiong naturally understood this truth. When the Cloud Eagle Tiqi asked, he let it be written into the report, perhaps inadvertently, it could help his disciple win a future.

"Then it should be heavily used!"

Sure enough, after hearing this, the academicians changed their words one after another, from "or can be used" to "should be heavily used".

"Long Dragon Crossing Xu Jiangming, close to water, good at water, why not serve in the River Po Office?"

"There is no need to rush for rewards. The current priority is how to deal with the Ghost Mother Sect. If he comes and goes three or four times, it will damage our national destiny and increase his prestige!"

Academician Xu suddenly said: "General Manager Kang, do you know how many households there are in Pingyang Town?"

"Over sixteen thousand six hundred households."

"What about Chaojiang County?"

"Over fourteen thousand three hundred households."

An academician didn't understand: "Pingyang Town actually has so many people, more than the county town?"

A household, without plague, without war, without natural disaster, has at least six people in three generations!

General Manager Kang replied: "The second son of Martial Artist Yang died for the country, and after that, he retired to his hometown, leaving only one son in the Western Army. He has opened a martial arts hall for twenty years, and since then, the public security in Pingyang Town has been very good, and the population has slowly increased."

"What does Academician Xu mean by asking this?"

"Your Majesty, since we cannot spare our hands, and the Ghost Mother Sect is coming fiercely, why not withdraw Chaojiang County to a town, establish Pingyang Town as a county, and establish Yixing City as a town?

I look at the map, Pingyang Town's location is the center of all the counties where things happen, or it is the place closest to the Ghost Mother Sect.

There are many martial artists in the town, and Martial Artist Yang and his disciples are all extraordinary. It can be used as a hub, and a River Po Office and Demon Hunting Division can be set up here as a bridgehead for counterattack.

And after this matter, the counties under Huaiyin Prefecture will be severely damaged, and there will be many refugees. The Huaihe area has many wealthy places, so we can let the surrounding prefectures provide grain and money to help Pingyang County widely accept refugees. After the population is completely digested, it is not impossible to replace Huaiyin Prefecture and withdraw the county to establish a prefecture."

The Qin Zheng Hall fell into deep thought.

Academician Xu's words made sense.

Looking at the entire Huaiyin Prefecture, only Pingyang Town blocked this attack.

When we cannot spare our hands, setting up another high platform to fight the Ghost Mother Sect is the most appropriate approach.

The Huaihe area is a wealthy place, otherwise, under the one-whip law, it would not have left several prefectures in this area to pay grain and supply the imperial capital.

Not having to spend one's own money and being able to settle refugees can be described as killing many birds with one stone.

"Yes!" ===== CHAPTER 106 =====