Chapter 219: That guy had a very stiff mouth, so I beat him to death

"Are you really that at ease leaving?"

Riding on the mount, the Holy Tiger, Mu Qingrou spoke up.

Li Chen was lying on her lap, resting comfortably.

Their group was currently on the road back to the May Tian Ce Dynasty.

Don't look at Wen Ting and Xu Qingning nearby, who usually cling to Li Chen and rub against him whenever they get the chance.

But in front of Mu Qingrou, the Palace Master, they were still very well-behaved; Mu Qingrou's temperament and prestige were absolutely enough to suppress them.

Mu Qingrou was currently helping Li Chen tidy his hair, that gentle expression fully revealed.

Even Shi Yingying nearby had never seen this; when had their own Palace Master ever been this gentle?

Perhaps only beside Li Chen could she display such a posture, or perhaps only Li Chen was worthy of letting her show her gentle side.

Mu Qingrou actually still cared a little about Pei Wanyu, the descendant of an old friend. In her view, if Pei Wanyu hadn't become the Empress, she could have cultivated in seclusion at the Purple Cloud Immortal Palace and inherited the position of Palace Master in the future.

During the time Pei Wanyu cultivated at the Purple Cloud Immortal Palace, Mu Qingrou had also grown to like her more and more.

Hearing Mu Qingrou say this, Li Chen rubbed against the soft lap pillow and murmured, "I have already taught her the way of governing a country, and I have also greeted Han Wu on that side; it shouldn't be a big problem."

It wasn't that Li Chen made Han Wu listen to Pei Wanyu—that truly didn't make sense—but as the saying goes, if Pei Wanyu spoke to Han Wu using the status of Li Chen's imperial consort, Han Wu would definitely listen, or at the very least, give some face.

At the time, Li Chen had already hinted at it.

"I'm also quite curious, what is your way of governing a country? Can you tell me? If not, then forget it."

When Mu Qingrou was young, she had come to the imperial capital of the May Tian Ce Dynasty; at that time, she had come to the capital to participate in some competitions.

The feeling the capital gave Mu Qingrou back then was one of gloom, as if everyone felt endangered.

But recently, Mu Qingrou had also stayed in the May Tian Ce capital for a period of time and felt that the capital was peaceful and prospering; she was very curious about how Li Chen achieved this.

Li Chen took a deep breath and replied, "You just need to achieve 'shared governance'."

This was also the method Li Chen taught Pei Wanyu.

Because some emperors, having ability themselves, think about doing everything on their own, concentrating all power in their own hands.

As time goes on, those court officials feel that, anyway, the emperor won't listen even if they offer opinions, and in the end, they still have to wait for the emperor to issue orders, so they simply wait for the emperor's commands.

Then, for many matters, the ministers are too lazy to report; if the emperor knows, he knows; if he doesn't, so be it.

This creates high-pressure rule brought about by political centralization.

Once various crises erupt within the country, the court officials don't seem to care; after all, in their view, the world belongs to your royal family, and it has nothing to do with us; if you have a headache, you solve it yourself.

Don't underestimate these court officials; those who can reach this level are all meritorious nobles and great clans, each with a certain amount of strength in their local areas. For example, the Zou family, where the Empress Dowager is from, has quite a few people among the court officials.

Although the Chancellor Zhao Wenyuan is low-key, his clan is actually also very vast.

These court officials come from the military, from scholarly families, and from noble clans.

Even if they are from humble origins, if they can reach the level of a court official, the clan they belong to will definitely rise and develop into a major force.

Li Chen's approach is to govern the country together with these court officials.

By letting the court officials all participate in governance, they all feel that the May Tian Ce Dynasty needs their own contribution, and that the May Tian Ce Dynasty was developed through their own hard work.

The May Tian Ce Dynasty belongs to everyone; once danger appears, there is no need for Li Chen to handle it; they will definitely think of ways to handle it. They want to protect Li Chen's ruling position, as this is also protecting themselves.

So, Li Chen has been attending morning court for so long, and every day there are court officials arguing; in Li Chen's view, these are all 'fixed programs'.

But not once has Li Chen made them shut up or stop arguing out of annoyance.

Li Chen lets them argue; as long as they are arguing because of major national affairs, it proves they are very diligently governing the country. The more red-faced they get from arguing, the more it proves they care about the country's affairs.

If they didn't care, they wouldn't argue at all; they would only think of ways to seek profit.

Li Chen can also judge their abilities from the court officials' arguments, judge the views of people with different statuses on this matter, and absorb a lot of experience from it.

In the end, what Li Chen, as the emperor, needs to do is listen to opinions and summarize these matters.

The ministers feel that Li Chen listens, which is why they actively offer advice.

Ministers who can reach this level are all experienced and have superb ability; there are few useless ones; it just depends on whether they want to work for you or not.

Even if Li Chen sometimes feels there are too many memorials in the Imperial Study, he complains a few times but still works earnestly.

The result is that, whether in internal affairs or military aspects, the ministers of the May Tian Ce Dynasty are very active.

When Li Chen became emperor, he understood that the world must be governed by the people of the world together; even if he had ability, the world is so big, if he did everything himself, wouldn't he be exhausted to death?

Take the sects, a force that has given emperors throughout the ages a headache; Li Chen knows that the existence of sects is definitely useful; they can guard the peace of a region.

They also want to maintain the stability and prosperity of the region they are in, so as long as you know their abilities and let them exert their own roles, that is enough.

High-intensity suppression of sects will only result in a backlash.

If even one heaven-defying child of destiny rises, they will overthrow high-pressure rule.

This is Li Chen's method of rule; it cannot be said to be completely correct, but at least he won't be too tired.

Just like now, he can steal a moment of leisure, and the ministers will still handle government affairs normally.

If Li Chen ran a one-man show, and the ministers waited for him to handle everything, his work would be very heavy.

Li Chen feels that Pei Wanyu has a tendency toward high-pressure power, because she is afraid the ministers won't listen, so she wants to hold power tightly in her hands.

When Pei Wanyu asked for advice a few days ago, he also taught her carefully.

Of course, this is just Li Chen imparting his own experience; Pei Wanyu needs to combine it with the Tianwu Dynasty to analyze it specifically.

Hearing Li Chen say these things, Mu Qingrou was a bit confused; she is just an extreme sword cultivator, and her way of thinking really hasn't reached Li Chen's level.

But she knows one thing: judging from the current situation of the May Tian Ce Dynasty, Li Chen's approach is basically not wrong; otherwise, it wouldn't be developing in a good direction.

Even she, a leader of a regional force, didn't feel that the imperial court brought too much pressure, which is also good proof.

On the way back, Shi Yingying nearby asked, "Then Your Majesty, what is the situation with the Sea Clan? Why are they invading the continent? Did you ask anything?"

She still remembered that Li Chen captured a Sage Realm powerhouse of the Sea Clan and participated in the interrogation; he should know something.

Even though the Purple Cloud Immortal Palace is in the central part of the May Tian Ce Dynasty, far from the sea.

But once the Sea Clan launches a large-scale attack, human cultivators must definitely abandon past grievances, enter a unified front, and jointly resist the Sea Clan.

This has also happened many times in the history of the continent.

Li Chen: "That guy had a very stiff mouth, so I beat him to death."

Everyone: "..."

It sounds like Li Chen beat him very casually, but there is a reason for this too.

The White Shark Clan powerhouse was at the Sage Realm; if Li Chen at this level couldn't ask anything, others definitely couldn't either.

And his clansmen would definitely come to save him; who knows, he might also erupt with special power. The royal family of the Tianwu Dynasty has no Sage Realm experts to hold the fort, making it hard to resist such danger, so Li Chen just beat him to death directly.

However, before beating him to death, Li Chen did hear him mention things like the Sea Emperor.

It is estimated that the deep sea has already been ruled by a powerful Sea Emperor and is expanding in all directions.

This also served as a reminder to Li Chen; he has always lived deep in the palace while cultivating, and his deep-sea combat is indeed not strong; he must practice when he has the chance. This time, the Sea Clan's army was repelled and also lost a Sage Realm expert; it is presumed they cannot assemble a large army to attack in the short term, and they will also re-evaluate the combat power of the human race.

These women around Li Chen are all sect members and are relatively concerned about this matter.

In the archives and classics of their sects, there are similar records.

Hearing this, Shi Yingying suggested, "In the future, when Your Majesty has time, you can come to the Purple Cloud Immortal Palace as a guest; I will take you to the library to have a look."

Other women also seconded the motion, and even Mu Qingrou looked at Li Chen with anticipation.

But they didn't know that Shi Yingying had other intentions.

"Alright, when I return from the Western battlefield, I will go to your place to take a look."

As he spoke, Li Chen fell into a deep sleep on Mu Qingrou's lap; after all, these past few days had been quite laborious, and he was indeed a bit tired.

When he woke up again, the Holy Tiger had already run to the outskirts of the imperial capital.

The power of the Holy Beast made even Mu Qingrou a bit envious; she had spent many days leading her team from the Purple Cloud Immortal Palace to the capital of the Tianwu Dynasty.

Mu Qingrou sighed, "Sigh, Holy Beasts are very convenient, but it's a pity that such pets are rare; it would be great if there were more."

!

Li Chen smiled slightly and indicated, "If there is a chance in the future, I will build you a high-speed rail; that thing is also fast, and it carries many people."

The novel term 'high-speed rail' made Mu Qingrou and the women nearby feel very curious, and they began to ask Li Chen one after another what kind of treasure a high-speed rail was.

Li Chen said, "You will know when you go to my bedchamber; I have a model there."

This made the women nearby feel a bit shy, especially Wen Ting and Xu Qingning, who had been tricked by Li Chen before; the two of them felt that Li Chen definitely wanted to trick the other sisters into his room.

Because there were quite a few women from the Purple Cloud Immortal Palace here, four of whom were Li Chen's women, while the others were not yet.

They felt that Li Chen was targeting these women.

The women of the Purple Cloud Immortal Palace were top-tier in both figure and appearance.

However, Wen Ting and the others didn't point it out and followed Li Chen into the palace with slightly red faces.

Looking at the sisters entering the palace together, Wen Ting and Xu Qingning felt that they would definitely experience the baptism of a storm later.

As it turned out, when they arrived at Li Chen's bedchamber, Li Chen really took them to see the high-speed rail model.

Li Chen's bedchamber was actually very large, with many rooms, and some rooms were 'not open to the public'.

Only Li Chen and Li Sining knew how to open them.

Wen Ting, Xu Qingning, and the others entered this room and saw a dazzling array of 'rare treasures'.

These rare treasures were basically made of special materials, and the craftsmanship was very exquisite.

Many were things that had never appeared in this world.

Mu Qingrou pointed to the things on these cabinets and said, "Your Majesty, did you make all of these?"

Li Chen nodded and replied, "That's right, I made some myself when I was idle and had nothing to do."

As he spoke, Li Chen took them to a spacious area where there was a train model and tracks that Li Chen had made.

Li Chen stood beside the train model, gave it a light push with his finger, and the exquisite train model started slowly on the tracks, emitting a slight "click-clack" sound.

He smiled at everyone and began to explain in detail the operating logic of the train and the construction principles of the tracks.

"The operation of the train relies on the laying of tracks; the tracks must be flat and sturdy to ensure the train can run smoothly."

Li Chen said while pointing to the tracks below the model, "The material of the tracks needs to be specially treated to withstand the weight of the train and long-term wear, and the power source of the train can be driven by steam, electricity, or even pulse energy."

Because this world has pulse arts, pulse arts can also be used as energy; Li Chen considered this point when designing.

He paused and continued, "With tracks, there is a road; with a road, the flow of materials and personnel will become more convenient. Whether it is grain, ore, or armies and commoners, they can all be transported quickly by train. In this way, the resources of remote areas can be developed, and the economy will also prosper accordingly."

Mu Qingrou listened intently, her eyes flashing with a shocking light.

She had never imagined that there could be such an ingenious concept in the world.

The May Tian Ce Dynasty's means of transport were horses, while the neighboring Sassan Dynasty had already developed to using demonic beasts.

After Mu Qingrou was lost in thought, she couldn't help but ask, "Your Majesty, can this train not only transport people but also goods?"

Li Chen nodded and smiled, "Of course, we can design specialized freight trains to transport bulk goods, such as grain, ore, timber, etc. In this way, resources from various places can be quickly allocated, and the economy will be more active."

Shi Yingying also couldn't help but interject, "Your Majesty, wouldn't the construction of these tracks and trains require a massive amount of manpower and material resources?"

In her view, this was just a model; to put it into practice, and to connect such a vast territory, how much engineering work would that require?

Li Chen smiled slightly and replied, "It indeed requires investing a massive amount of resources, but this is a long-term investment. Once the track network is built, the entire country's economy, military, and culture will be greatly improved."

"Even for cultivators, there are certain benefits. For example, in certain seasons, the demonic beasts in some areas breed relatively quickly, easily triggering beast tides to attack cities; then cultivators nearby or even far away can take the train to kill the demonic beasts and obtain the cultivation resources they want."

Mu Qingrou took a deep breath and sighed, "Your Majesty is truly a talent that shocks the world! Such a concept is something I couldn't even imagine in my dreams."

Li Chen waved his hand and said modestly, "These are just some thoughts I had in my spare time. Actually, after unifying the Northern Royal Court, I have been considering this problem."

"The northern region is vast and rich in resources, but transportation is inconvenient, leading to many resources being unable to be effectively utilized. If tracks can be laid to establish a transportation network connecting the north and south, then the northern economy will be greatly developed, and the country's unification and stability will also be more solid."

Wen Ting, Xu Qingning, and the others listened, dumbfounded. Although they had heard of Li Chen's talent long ago, seeing these exquisite models with their own eyes and hearing such grand concepts, a feeling of indescribable admiration couldn't help but well up in their hearts.

A flash of inexplicable light passed through Mu Qingrou's eyes. She looked at Li Chen and said solemnly, "Your Majesty, if you need the power of the Purple Cloud Immortal Palace to assist in the track construction, we will definitely go all out."

She is the Palace Master of the Purple Cloud Immortal Palace and knows that once such a project is achieved, it will bring endless wealth.

If the Purple Cloud Immortal Mansion could be built for construction, just taking the profits in the later stages would be enough to make one's hands go soft from counting.

To put it bluntly, building a rail line at the entrance of the Purple Cloud Immortal Mansion would greatly facilitate the activities of the cultivators of the Purple Cloud Immortal Mansion, and would also allow passing passengers to admire the magnificence and grandeur of the Purple Cloud Immortal Mansion, and the reputation of the Purple Cloud Immortal Mansion would also grow higher and higher.

Mu Qingrou could even guess that once the rail train envisioned by Li Chen started operating, many job positions would appear, and the Purple Cloud Immortal Mansion also wanted a share of the pie.

This made Li Chen somewhat surprised; he didn't expect Mu Qingrou to actually understand this.

But thinking about it, it makes sense; although Mu Qingrou is a sword fanatic, she is also the head of a sect.

The leader of a major force must certainly have an understanding of the future landscape and the current situation.

There aren't many fools among those who can cultivate to this level.

Li Chen could hear that while Mu Qingrou wanted to help, she also wanted to gain benefits from it.

Since Mu Qingrou is interested, other sect leaders would likely be interested too; these are all people with a sense of the big picture.

Li Chen nodded and said, "With your support, the speed of rail construction will certainly be greatly accelerated, but this is not a cause that you or I can accomplish alone; it is a common cause for the entire Heavenly Strategy Dynasty, and even the entire human race."

Hearing Li Chen say this, the women nodded one after another, their eyes filled with expectation and longing, with images already forming in their minds.

They knew that Li Chen's vision was not just a dream, but a grand blueprint that was about to change the world.

Just then, Li Chen suddenly clapped his hands and smiled, "Alright, the explanation of the train ends here. Next, I will take you to see other interesting things."

As he spoke, he led everyone to the other side of the room, where more wonderful models and devices were placed.

Wen Ting and Xu Qingning looked at each other, the shock in their hearts actually greater than that of the other women.

Because the two of them thought Li Chen had tricked them into the bedroom because he was lusting after their bodies, but who could have imagined that Li Chen would explain things so professionally.

It gave them the feeling of, 'We both took off our pants, and you just show us this.'

Your perspective is set so high that it makes our thoughts seem a bit vulgar!

However, they didn't say anything, just silently followed Li Chen, watching him explain these models.

In their eyes, Li Chen was not just an emperor, but a god capable of changing the world!

(End of chapter)