Chapter 307: Great Love and the Heart of Killing

Xu Jia obtained the grain here and examined it carefully. These grains were far inferior in essence; eating them did not build strength. They were not as good as the grain here, which helped the farmers build strength. Xu Jia often saw laborers carrying bags of grain weighing a hundred or eighty catties to pay their grain taxes. Even Da Zhu, that servant of Hui Zhuo, could carry him on his back—weighing a hundred and seventy or eighty catties—and walk for over ten miles steadily, his breathing undisturbed.

They lacked a bit of "Spirit Machine," but that did not matter. This was refined grain; as long as it filled their bellies, who cared about the grain's Spirit Machine or whether it built strength? At the very least, it could save lives. It wasn't as if it were being used to refine essence to cultivate some Grain-Avoiding Pill. These disaster victims had likely never eaten such refined rice and flour in their entire lives; they had always eaten it mixed with chaff, which not only scratched the throat but also chafed the backside.

Xu Jia held the Raw Rice Bowl and used the Golden Flood Dragon Sword to tear open the Dharma Realm, arriving in the Poyang territory. He summoned the Shunji Xiao Longwang and gave all this rice and flour to him. There were about seven or eight hundred tons here—a ton being two thousand catties—totaling one million five hundred thousand catties. Even with one hundred thousand people, each could be allotted fifteen catties of refined grain. Mixed with coarse grain, it would be enough to last half a month. Though it could not solve the problem entirely, it bought them precious time to continue procuring grain.

"Shunji, this grain is for your use. Now, all the minor demons subdued in the Poyang Water Mansion are under your command. Many minor demons have gone out to open halls and make vows as well."

"This grain is for nothing else but the salvation of God Immortals. The people of the world are ignorant and need convenient ways to receive the Dharma. By borrowing the name of God Immortals and attaching it to Divine Ability, it facilitates stability and is enough to strengthen their faith. Only in this way can we keep them from causing trouble, transforming disaster victims and refugees into compliant people—not compliant in submission, but compliant with the Great Dao. Once this batch of grain is produced, it shall be used as public fields; five parts of the grain will be distributed, and five parts will be stored."

The Shunji Xiao Longwang saw the grain and was not surprised: "This grain lacks Spirit Machine. If stored in the Water Mansion for a time, it can replenish its Spirit Machine. There is currently no famine, and after the spring, the weather here will be favorable. Grain merchants have no reason to raise prices. Many want to transport grain elsewhere, but they have been threatened by the minor demons in their dreams. The waterways are all my troops, and the land routes are too expensive. Before the harsh winter returns, it is considered stable; after all, the previous years' stored grain has not yet been exhausted."

"It is just that the disaster victims crossing south from the north are gradually increasing. We must distribute porridge to provide relief. If this continues, I fear the land of Poyang cannot accommodate so many victims. After all, the lake must still store water; it is impossible to use so much land for cultivation. If there is no water, how can we distribute rain?"

"Then we go north." Xu Jia had long had a plan to build the Xiang-Gan-E region into a golden triangle: "Develop the Dongting Lake side as well. Since ancient times, many wild people have fled taxes and entered the Yunmeng Daze."

The Shunji Xiao Longwang said: "Yunmeng and Dongting have many Great Demons—there are the Xiang Yaowang, Xi Yaowang, E Yaowang, as well as Flood Dragons, Great Turtles... For those commoners to enter deep into those places is no different from returning to the era of the ancients, a kingdom of mountain and sea beasts."

Xu Jia thought about it: "Then I shall go personally to subdue them. If they are obedient, they stay; if they are not, I fight."

The Shunji Longwang sighed helplessly: "Actually, they are the precious species. They do not like to come out and only hole up inside to cultivate. Keeping them is also useful. Otherwise, to save people, one would exterminate their clans and species, causing them to disappear from this world forever. In the eyes of Heaven and Earth, that is truly not Merit."

Xu Jia heard that they were reclusive demons who did not wish to cause trouble, so he said: "Today, Heaven and Earth are filled with killing, and all things have turbid natures. How can they find peace? Even if I do not go to subdue them, they will eventually be unable to endure and come out. It is better that I go ahead of time to subdue them and settle their minds, so there will be no calamity. Why do you think my killing intent is so great that I want to exterminate their clans and species?"

The Shunji Xiao Longwang wore an expression of 'how can you even ask': "Before, you were still talking about finding genealogies and killing them clan by clan. Xu Xun Tianshi was the same. I have obtained the title of Shunji and can also possess Omniscience regarding past Cause and Effect. Although you achieve great wishes through great desire, your heart is too hasty. You may not necessarily have great love; instead, the more anxious you are, the more fierce and violent you become, viewing every obstacle as a thorn in your side to be removed quickly. Though you can kill for a moment, you cannot kill for a lifetime; instead, the more you kill, the more you lose your heart."

The Shunji Xiao Longwang was formed from Ao Jia's exhaled Qi and condensed blood, and he also had some knowledge of the Sejie Tian. He cultivated in the Immortal Pond and could occasionally hear the preaching. Though he might not be as powerful as the Inspiration King, he could cultivate the virtue of the great sea, which must feel that "tolerance is greatness"—this is the virtue of the immeasurable.

Xu Jia looked up at him and saw that he had no other motives; he was not taking sides or seeking justice for that wicked Flood Dragon or the black fish spirit. He was only discussing the problem of killing intent and nature.

"I am indeed very anxious. If I am slow and leisurely, how can I save all living beings? As for whether it is small love or great love, great desire or great wish, let future generations say. How can I define the meaning within? If I am slower, one hundred thousand people will starve to death this year, five hundred thousand next year, and one million or two million the year after. After five or six years of famine, a round of floods, a round of droughts, a round of ice and snow disasters, a round of plagues, a round of warfare—the sickle cuts down like grass, and they are just gone. Or the houses will be empty, and when the swallows return, they will have nowhere to land."

"Shunji, your love is great love, taking care of all living things. My love is also great love. No one's love is higher than another's. Love is not meant for comparison. Once the heart is set, the myriad thoughts do not die, the constant heart remains, and day by day one moves toward it; eventually, there will be a time of completion."

The Shunji Xiao Longwang listened and thought for a long time: "I will go to Dongting myself to persuade them. You are a True Cultivator of morality; I will listen to you."

Xu Jia nodded: "That is for the best."

He then went to check on the refugees in Poyang. Actually, they could no longer be called refugees. They had already done enough things here: building houses, reclaiming farmland, raising poultry... It was no different from the Peach Blossom Spring. At the very least, they did not go hungry, nor did they worry about the imperial taxes. They were happy, and many had even married.

Although some missed their hometowns, more people thought this place was better than their hometowns; it was a Blessed Land protected by God Immortals.

Green seedlings stretched out, reflecting the water and the sky. A few white egrets stood upon them, frogs croaked, and cicadas buzzed.

What was used here was the method of the "People's Commune." Currently, it looked unexpectedly good. Once the summer grain came out, Xu Jia estimated there would be a bumper harvest. One mu of land yielded two or three hundred catties; there were about twenty thousand mu of fields here, which could produce about four or five million catties. But this was still not enough. He had to continue reclaiming wasteland, or rather, not reclaim wasteland, but take existing land to plant!

The Golden Toad's low-price land annexation had already begun to encounter resistance. The great landlords were not willing to release the land they held.

Xu Jia was just in time to recruit a militia and train Dao soldiers.

How to improve the combat effectiveness of soldiers in this era was to distribute land to their families to farm.

Equal Field.

Or, land reform.

If Xu Jia did not want to go to the Dongting Yunmeng Marsh to reclaim wasteland and fight for territory with those reclusive Great Demons, this matter had to be completed.

(End of chapter)