Chapter 362

Chen Gongming's ships returned very quickly; they docked at Poyang and then came over on small boats.

They brought back a great deal of grain, spices, and some native officials from the Luzon Dao State, all of whom had come for organized study.

Chen Liuxian was among them; back then, he had been snatched away by bandits in a daze, then taken away by the hedgehog immortal Bai Popo in a daze, becoming a refugee reclaiming land at Poyang Lake, and subsequently emigrated overseas to treat illnesses and save lives in Luzon.

After this round of tempering, his "world had broadened"; he was originally a reincarnation of the Nine Palaces Immortal Rank, but he had been momentarily deluded, and that snake demon, which did not affect him, had been suppressed under the Relic Pagoda, and now he had managed to accomplish some things in a decent manner.

In his first life, he practiced on Longhu Mountain as a Xiao Tianshi; in his second life, he practiced on Ge Immortal Mountain as a Daoist Physician; in his third life, however, he only managed to be a small village doctor, getting entangled with a snake demon early on.

Xu Jia had tried to enlighten him twice to no avail, but now, without needing to be enlightened, he had already let go of much, developed a compassionate heart, received the Register, and had now entered into practice once again.

Although he had lost his virginity and was not someone who had practiced since childhood, this was of no consequence; there were those who began practicing in their forties or fifties, or who had given birth to three or four children, who still achieved Immortal status, let alone the fact that he still had the foundation of Immortal karma, so his practice could be considered advancing by leaps and bounds.

Chen Gongming brought him to see Xu Jia, but before they reached Xu Jia's place of quiet cultivation, they saw a child blocking their path; this child was sitting on the back of a giant old hen, and this old hen was as big as an ox, which was exactly what Fenglei Daoren had transformed into, and beside it were a sheep and a frog, all three being Lishan Sect disciples transformed by Xu Jia's Animal Transformation.

The three of them were now being kept by Xu Jian, the original Ancestor of Shanju Guan, as Protectors for their cultivation; Xu Jian's own practice was quite fast now, already at the Human Immortal Middle Stage, with a solid foundation.

"Chen Zhangsheng, you heartless man, where have you been these three years? The Junior Sister has been suppressed under the pagoda for three years, and you haven't even asked about her?"

Chen Zhangsheng looked at the three "monsters" in surprise and couldn't help but ask: "Who are you?"

"We are the sect elders of the Junior Sister Liu Ruyan; if you have any conscience, go and see Ruyan."

Chen Zhangsheng was silent for a moment: "I will go see her."

The old hen that Fenglei Daoren had transformed into was about to say something more, but Chen Gongming stepped forward: "You old hen, stop talking so much, or I'll stew you into chicken soup; the pheasant spirit from Qingfeng Pavilion back then wasn't any smaller than you, and wasn't it still stewed and eaten?"

"I was transformed from a human."

"Then you are a chicken now; humans turn into chickens, chickens practice to become humans—don't you find that strange?" Chen Gongming had the air of a trained military commander, and his cultivation was not bad either; with his foundation as a Martial Scholar, he was now at the Human Immortal Late Stage, and having often used shark oil to refine pearls for his practice overseas, his skin was now dark and shiny, shimmering with a bronze luster; in the martial Dao, he had achieved the "Water Fire Immortal Garment."

This kind of martial Human Immortal is fundamentally different from those Human Immortals who focus on longevity; it is just like how Taishang Laojun has a high rank, yet in Journey to the West, he was still pushed over by Sun Wukong; high Daoist Practice does not mean strong combat power; the physical body, Dharma Power, and Primordial Spirit each have their own corresponding systems, just like a top scientist who could still be stabbed to death by a thug.

When he flared up, Fenglei Daoren dared not say anything, even though her realm was higher and she was proficient in wind and thunder Daoism; although they had been transformed into an old hen, Xu Jia had established a Blessed Land during these days, and they had also received partial amnesty and recovered much of their strength. But if they were really caught and turned into Ginseng for a great tonic, that would be the end.

Chen Gongming led Chen Zhangsheng to Xu Jia's place and reported on the situation on the island.

"Master Xu, in the Luzon Dao State, we have now reclaimed one hundred thousand mu of paddy fields; in addition, there are several thousand mu of land for planting Sweet Potato; that thing grows as soon as you cut the vines and stick them in the ground, it's very easy to raise; now, about two mu of land can support one person, and if we continue to reclaim land on the island, supporting one hundred thousand people is no problem, and we can reclaim another one hundred thousand mu, and this time the time will definitely be shorter."

"In addition, those various tribes have also cultivated some land themselves, with the most having several thousand mu and the least having several hundred mu; in the future, they will all be incorporated and managed together."

"Apart from grain, merchants have also become increasingly numerous; after we struck the pirates several times in succession, they knew that the Dragon King in the sea was on our side, so they moved further south and dared not harass the merchants doing business with us again."

"We earn customs duties, and by relying on charging for the docks, we have also made a lot of money; the shipyard has also started building new ships, and it is estimated that within a year or two, large ships built entirely by us will be at sea, and then the Nanyang islands can basically be said to be our territory; those native islanders, most of them are still using dugout canoes."

"As for the troops, apart from the Daoist acolytes, I have also organized five hundred militiamen, but they are not full-time; according to your instructions, they are responsible for patrols and public security, paid with monthly wages from the customs duties collected at the docks, and a series of fine rules have been established, for example, if someone is caught urinating in public, they are fined fifty..."

These five hundred people are basically maintaining public order, doing the comprehensive work of sanitation, urban management, traffic police, and police.

Xu Jia said softly: "You are not there, who is in charge now?"

"It is Senior Brother Hui Zhuo; he has become the Great Chief respected by more than a dozen tribes there, and even many chiefs are willing to marry their daughters to him as concubines for marriage alliances, but those women... are all hard to describe."

Although most Southeast Asian women have flat noses, small eyes, and skin that is not white, not quite conforming to the aesthetics of the Central Plains, they do have some exotic charm, and the chiefs' daughters are not too bad. Xu Jia found it a bit funny: "Is he enjoying it, or does he feel he is enduring humiliation for a greater cause? Or is he struggling between the two?"

"Most likely he is enjoying it," Chen Gongming said: "Master Xu, you haven't seen it; he has become the most popular person on the island."

Xu Jia could hear a bit of sourness; this Chen Gongming was originally a "seven-spotted ladybug" and had also had a fling with Hu Agui; presumably, she had suffered on the island, and these islanders did not conform to her aesthetics, or her excitement threshold had been raised too high by Hu Agui, so she felt these pleasures were ordinary, or perhaps practicing martial arts requires one to be free of desires.

"Do not speak of other things; since ancient times, those who can accomplish great things do not quibble over small details; you have this merit, and can be promoted to General, but the General Register was already bestowed upon you years ago, so this time I will allow you to recruit troops and organize the army."

"Recruit troops and organize the army?" Chen Gongming became excited, and his nostrils flared a bit.

He asked: "How many people need to be recruited? How to recruit them?"

"These landlords must have private slaves, all of whom are private soldiers they keep; I am currently taking action against them, and there is quite a bit of resistance; you first recruit two thousand, let the Daoist acolytes you brought back serve as squad leaders, feed them well, train them for two months, and they will be enough to be organized as new recruits; as for weapons and equipment, preparations have already been made."

"But you must not fire guns indiscriminately; unless it is a last resort, you must not see blood; at that time, those armed forces and private slaves will all be handed over to you to be reorganized; just the entire Yushan and Dexing, with a population of two hundred thousand, can fully support the logistics, which can support about five thousand troops; I allow you to fill the ranks, but apart from the core part of the weapons and equipment being complete, the rest will probably only be able to use old-fashioned weapons."

The weapons Xu Jia mentioned were the newly manufactured Flintlocks, while the old weapons were things like cold weapons.

"No problem, this is more than enough; after we take down the entire Raozhou City and Xinzhou Prefecture, we can supplement the rest." Chen Gongming was overjoyed: "We have finally reached this step." However, Chen Zhangsheng was already restless at this time and couldn't help but say: "Are you discussing rebellion?"

Xu Jia looked at him strangely: "Is this hard to understand?"

"Aren't you afraid of being beheaded?"

"I have become a God Immortal, so I am really not afraid; even if they kill me, it will only help me in my Soldier Dissolution."

Chen Gongming said: "What we have done on the island and what we have done in Poyang, hasn't it always been about rebellion? If we weren't rebelling, why would we win over the hearts of the people, why would we provide disaster relief? Should we tell them we were sent by the Emperor to do good deeds?"

Xu Jia said to him: "I gave you two chances before to take me as your master; now you have not taken me as your master, but you have learned my Dharma; have you made any vows or taken any oaths?"

"I don't know... this is your..."

"You didn't know at first, but don't you know now? Or do you feel that if I provide relief to the common people, you have to go against me, or do you just feel that others can do good deeds, but I cannot, which doesn't fit your stereotypes, after all, I separated your little couple and suppressed your wife under the pagoda."

Chen Zhangsheng didn't know what to say and remained silent.

Xu Jia said: "You are also a healer, perhaps you understand great love; now, all in all, I have suppressed her for three years; come to think of it, she hasn't done anything that makes me particularly disgusted, she just deluded you and made you indulge in small love, which is no big deal; there were fox demons who opened brothels to sell sex before, and that was no big deal either; it's just that her sect elders offended me, and as you just saw, I demoted them to animals to experience the hardships of the animal path, which is also to smooth out their high and mighty state of mind."

"Now, you should have figured it out; take this handwritten decree of mine, go to Jinshan Temple, find the abbot, and let her take you to the Relic Pagoda to release your wife with my handwritten decree."

"Ah?"

So easy?

He couldn't believe it; he had originally wanted to see Xu Jia this time to say a few words, but now he was speechless.

"Go, go; as for whether to stay or leave, whether to go home and live a small life or accomplish a great career, you choose for yourself."

Chen Zhangsheng took the handwritten decree and opened his mouth slightly: "I understand." Then he left without looking back.

Chen Gongming clicked his tongue: "This kid, I actually thought highly of him, thinking he performed well, made quite a few contributions on the island, compiled a health manual, tasted the hundred herbs on the island, wrote the Luzon Hundred Herbs Classic, and saved the islanders and immigrants from the trouble of difficult medical treatment and the difficulty of buying herbs; he just left like this? Without saying a word of thanks."

Xu Jia said: "Let him make his own decision; people always have times when they are jerks; I have already let it go, what can't you let go of? This time, recruit more talented seedlings for martial arts and warfare."

"Seedlings for martial arts are one thing, but seedlings for warfare are hard to say; warfare isn't something you know just by reading military books; if you haven't fought a war, how do you know you can fight? After fighting, surviving, and making contributions, you have experience; then reading military books becomes useful."

"But it's different now; the equipment is different; as long as the hearts are not scattered, there is no war that cannot be won; we fight for the common people, for the distribution of land; let alone fighting, find someone with a loud voice, shout a few times, tell them to stop fighting, come back quickly to divide the land, and if they are late, it will be gone, and they won't fight anymore, and they will happily follow us."

Xu Jia naturally knew this; in history, teams that dared to implement Equal Field had particularly high combat effectiveness; patriotism and loyalty to the monarch were all empty; the most important thing was why they fought—for the distribution of land, for their wives and children to have food to eat, for their mothers not to starve to death, for being able to wear new clothes for the New Year...

"So we need to be even more vigilant; what if there are those who don't buy this? What if others also buy this? Great clans, whenever there is chaos, they always invite people's hearts, doing exactly the same as us, but is the essence the same? Do you think it's the same? But the common people think it's the same; as long as their rule is maintained, their own interests are maintained; our land distribution might not necessarily move many people."

"Be prepared to win battles, and also be prepared to lose battles; losing is not terrible, as long as the hearts of the people are not scattered, as long as we distinguish the difference between us and them, and wholeheartedly do this one thing well—from the masses, to the masses—this is the true treasure."

"If you are to fight in the future, you must firmly remember this point; now that you are recruiting troops, you are not recruiting a number, but a living person, who is the son of the elders and fellow villagers; how can you betray their trust, and how can you make them cry?"

"Sigh." Chen Gongming only felt much heavier; the excitement from just a moment ago had mostly vanished, and he recalled this matter as well.

"I will think through how to do it. Before building the army, first build the system, establish rules and regulations; when the time comes, everything will follow these rules."

"Rules are dead and cold, while people are alive and warm; you must cherish them more."

"I will."

"I hope you can do it. Go. For finances, find the Golden Toad; for equipment, go to the Salt and Iron Bureau. Now that we have minted our new currency, just use these new coins to pay the military salaries."

"By the way, has Ryukyu been taken?" Xu Jia asked.

"Not yet. Ryukyu originally paid tribute to the Great Ning Dynasty; as long as the Great Ning does not fall, they will not act recklessly. Later, it was parasitized by the Longevity Sect, which established the Longevity Dao Kingdom. The Dao Kingdom has not been eradicated by us either; many fled to the Wonu Country and have regrouped there. Now they have twenty thousand warriors guarding it. Our ships and weapons are more advanced, but beach landings would still result in heavy casualties, so we have temporarily abandoned the idea of capturing Ryukyu."

"Then wait until Min is taken before speaking of it. Since ancient times, Ryukyu and Bao Island have both belonged to Min; we shall recover them together when the time comes."

Xu Jia chatted with him about much more, ordering him to post notices when recruiting soldiers, stating that joining the army would grant two mu of land and a set of new clothes, and to specify the benefits. He also spoke of how to deal with anyone in the army who committed Greed... most of these were based on the experience of predecessors, and it was imperative to govern the army strictly and not infringe upon a single hair of the common people.

(End of this chapter)