Chapter 445

After locking Liu Fei down, Little Wei Yuan summoned all the Grand Void Palace cultivators to the council hall, including Cui Yu who had rushed back.

The matter of compensation itself was not considered big, but Little Wei Yuan had detected a real crisis from it.

After the cultivators arrived, Little Wei Yuan said, "This time I want to hear your views. Before that, let me talk about why granting land is not feasible."

At this time, Little Wei Yuan had already roughly organized his thoughts and said slowly, "Since the establishment of the Azure Void, there have been constant great battles, and I have always used wartime strategies to gather the power of the entire realm. Those who joined the Azure Void initially were people from the Western Regions; if the Azure Void was broken, their families would be destroyed and their tribes would perish, so everyone was of one mind, resisting the enemy to the death, which was the only way to keep internal and external enemies outside the realm boundary.

In those initial years, everything was waiting to be done, it was extremely difficult, and we were almost trapped to death by the enemy in the imperial court with a strategy of cutting off food, and we even had to dig pits to save food by faking death. At the most critical moment, there was only three days of food left, and we had to rob the military ramparts to get through the difficulty. Nowadays, the Azure Void has more than enough food, but the scene of people starving to death back then is still vivid in my mind."

Many cultivators of the Grand Void Palace had followed from the beginning, so they naturally knew the history of that period.

Little Wei Yuan continued, "Looking at ten thousand years of history books, food is always the first priority. The root of food is farmland. The foundation of the rise of aristocratic families lies in two points: high cultivation and farmland. Someone wants to divide land by taking advantage of this great battle compensation, with ulterior motives; they just want to dig an opening for dividing land. Granting land for compensation is the first step, the next step is granting land for military merit, and the next step is whether granting land for titles and official positions should also be granted?"

Xu Henshui frowned and said, "This matter doesn't seem that big, right?"

Little Wei Yuan said, "Everyone heard what I said to Liu Fei just now; this is someone starting to test me. The Azure Void now takes food as its foundation; with enough food, it can conversely control the various counties in Ningxi. Taking food as the foundation is taking land as the foundation. Throughout history, granting land has always led to the end where there is no land to grant, and when soldiers make contributions, there is nothing to reward them with, leaving only the path to destruction.

And if the land is divided, it will inevitably be annexed, eventually returning to the hands of large households, and then the large households will annex again, and new aristocratic families will appear."

Cui Yu said, "The appearance of aristocratic families is inevitable; besides, if the Azure Void produces aristocratic families, shouldn't they be surnamed Wei? Other aristocratic families can only share a cup of soup here. And after taking the benefits, they naturally have to pay something."

Little Wei Yuan weighed his words, thinking about how to convince Cui Yu. What Cui Yu said was the most common situation nowadays, and it was also what everyone thought was reasonable.

At this time, Bao Yun suddenly said, "This matter should have started because the Realm Lord gave me the Xincheng. Oh, the Xincheng was actually given to the Bao family. Someone must have seen that a precedent was set, so they had ideas. But there is one thing everyone might not know; from the moment the status was set, a lot of Qi luck was added to me. And these Qi lucks should have been the Junior Brother's."

Cui Yu was instantly enlightened. Although what Bao Yun said was just one angle, this angle alone was enough to make people unacceptable.

Cui Yu had been cultivating in "Human Realm Fireworks" these days, so he naturally knew how important Qi luck was to Little Wei Yuan. And in the many great battles in the past, if it weren't for Little Wei Yuan's superb combat power, the Azure Void would have been destroyed long ago.

Shaking Qi luck was shaking Little Wei Yuan's foundation; others might not care, but Cui Yu would be the first not to agree. After the other Grand Void Palace cultivators knew the severity of this, they naturally stood on Little Wei Yuan's side.

Reaching a consensus with the Grand Void Palace cultivators not to grant land, Little Wei Yuan suddenly felt much more relaxed.

At this time, Xu Henshui said to Little Wei Yuan, "Junior Nephew Cui said one sentence very correctly; if the Azure Void has aristocratic families, they must be surnamed Wei. Our families should naturally pay first at the current stage, and wait until the overall situation is set in the future before discussing rewards."

Little Wei Yuan shook his head and said, "I don't have such great ambition; I just want to build a paradise where people can live, and let more mortals live here."

At this time, most of the Grand Void Palace cultivators felt that this was just a small matter, and Little Wei Yuan was just using this opportunity to get their support, and it was enough to be able to continue the wartime strategy.

Afterwards, the cultivators dispersed, but Bao Yun stayed behind and also stopped Cui Yu.

Bao Yun said to Little Wei Yuan, "The strategy of military control cannot last long; now the Azure Void is growing day by day and gradually becoming prosperous, and people's hearts will also think of fullness and wealth. So the strategy for the future must be thought of in advance."

Cui Yu said, "Actually, every country has ready-made strategies; wouldn't it be fine to imitate the ancestral system of the Great Tang for thousands of years? And then on this basis, see what good methods the world beyond the heavens has, and we can take them and use them."

Bao Yun said, "Didn't you see that the Junior Brother doesn't like aristocratic families?"

Cui Yu sighed, "I naturally know this. But to become an aristocratic family, one must first have an immortal to start the family. People have immortals, and mortal cultivators cannot resist, so they must give enough resources and territory to support the immortals and their families, otherwise, the immortals will take it themselves. This is the origin of aristocratic families; they cannot be stopped, they can only be guided according to the situation and followed. After the Azure Void becomes prosperous, there will definitely be aristocratic families wanting to intervene, and this cannot be stopped either.

To oppose an aristocratic family, one must have another aristocratic family standing behind them. To oppose two, one must have two by one's side. The Junior Brother rose from humble beginnings, and there must be external help on the way to rise; relying only on the Grand Void Palace is not enough. The Grand Void Palace rose too fast, the stall is too big, there are many halls inside, and each hall has its own disciples and juniors to take care of; if they can tilt one-tenth of their resources to the Junior Brother in the future, it would already be unprecedented and unimaginable.

I naturally support the Junior Brother unconditionally, but my right to speak in the family is not as good as an ordinary elder, and what I say is of no use. It still has to be done by giving the Bao family the Xincheng to get the real support of the aristocratic family."

Bao Yun also felt that it made sense and was thoughtful.

Little Wei Yuan said, "Aristocratic families are a matter for the future. But I have another concern right now. Firearms have contributed significantly to the Azure Void's ability to win so many battles. But now the Prince of Jin has secretly formed an army using imitation firearms. In the future, more and more people will start using firearms. So we must plan ahead and think carefully about how to defeat opponents who have learned from us."

This matter could not be solved overnight, and Little Wei Yuan could only take it one step at a time. The world beyond the heavens must have similar experiences, but unfortunately, Xu Wenwu didn't know.

Cui Yu and Bao Yun were both leading troops, and at this time they both felt it was very tricky, preparing to think carefully about countermeasures after returning.

Cui Yu left with Bao Yun, and on the way, Cui Yu asked, "Sister Bao, to what extent have you and the Junior Brother progressed? Why do I feel that your relationship is strange?" Bao Yun sighed and said, "It is indeed very complicated. If it were just the two of us, then everything would be easy to say. But now the Qiongshan Immortal Island and the Da Bao Hua Pure Land are all involved, so it is absolutely impossible for the family to sell me cheaply. As for me and the Junior Brother, we each have our own persistence, so we will take it one step at a time. What about you, shouldn't marriage also be put on the agenda?"

Cui Yu gave a self-deprecating laugh and said, "I am not an immortal foundation, so the pressure is not as great as yours. Those aristocratic young ladies of equal status don't look down on my root bone talent, and my family is not reconciled to those who are also heaven foundations, so it's just dragging on like this. I plan to talk about it after achieving the Dharma Form; without achieving the Dharma Form, I am ultimately an ant."

"Have you found the opportunity for the Dharma Form?"

"Hmm, cultivating in the Junior Brother's Dharma Form at night can significantly improve spirituality, and I have learned an unprecedented way of operating spiritual sense, which can handle multiple things at the same time. And how to decompose tasks, how to make task requirements reasonable, how to distribute, how to supervise task progress, and finally how to summarize and extract conclusions, every step has strict... oh, that's called an algorithm. How to improve the algorithm is also a great study, which can be studied for a lifetime."

Bao Yun asked for some details, then had a strange expression and asked, "Do you really think you are cultivating, rather than working for him?"

Cui Yu thought carefully, and his face gradually became strange.

Bao Yun suddenly asked, "Are there many fox spirits in his Dharma Form?"

Cui Yu recalled, then said, "Every time I enter, I am taken to cultivate, and afterwards I focus on cultivation, so I didn't pay much attention to the surroundings."

"Deliberately covering up, it seems there must be a big secret inside." Bao Yun muttered to herself.

At this time, Little Wei Yuan walked into the small building specially for handling government affairs, summoned several cultivators, handed them a list, and said, "Take everyone on the list and interrogate them separately."

Several cultivators hurried away, and Little Wei Yuan ordered people to summon Xu Yi and Xu Waner, handed them a list of questions respectively, and said, "In a while, a batch of people will be sent to the dungeon; you two are responsible for the interrogation and ask the questions on the list clearly."

!.

Both women glared at Little Wei Yuan fiercely before leaving.

Little Wei Yuan had innate divine ability; his spiritual sense was everywhere in the Azure Void, and it was easy to check the whereabouts of some low-level cultivators. Coupled with the fact that he remembered all the personnel information in the army clearly, it didn't take long for him to circle the people who might have had contact with Liu Fei.

Most of the Third Battalion led by Liu Fei were early surrendered Xu family private soldiers and Western Jin government troops. At that time, Little Wei Yuan had not yet served as a military governor, and the status system had not yet been implemented.

So these people were initially civilians, and some were about to become official government soldiers. And the Azure Void's earliest and most difficult battles, they did not participate in.

And these people were not like those who joined the Azure Void initially, treating the realm boundary as their final place of refuge. Many of them actually had family members on the Xu family side, but they were small households and could never afford the ransom required by the Azure Void, so they were separated like this.

Little Wei Yuan discovered at this time that he had ignored a problem, which was that Liu Fei and the surrendered Xu family private soldiers had known each other from the beginning, and after being incorporated into the army, they had always been together. Later, some new soldiers were incorporated to expand into a battalion, but the skeleton was still that initial batch of surrendered Xu family soldiers.

This matter could be big or small, and Little Wei Yuan began to ponder the pros and cons of various disposal plans.

At this time, in a barracks of the Left Army, several officers were gathered in one place; most were commanders, and one was a colonel leading two battalions.

"I heard Liu Fei has already been imprisoned; he won't talk nonsense, will he?" A commander was worried.

Another commander glared and said, "Even if he talks, it's no big deal; we just have such a wish, we didn't do anything! Right, General Feng?"

The colonel nodded: "We didn't want things for ourselves either, we just wanted some compensation for the brothers who died in battle, so that their families could live in peace. If even this is not allowed, then there is no point in staying in this Azure Void!"

"General Feng, the Realm Lord has boundless magic power; we are considered forcing the palace, right? Can we leave, and where can we go?"

The colonel smiled mysteriously and said, "Even if we don't take the soldiers with us, with our Dao Foundation cultivation, where can't we make a living? What's more, there are people who are thirsty for talent now; as long as you follow me, I have a place where we can get glory and wealth! It's better than fighting here every day without any benefits."

Before the words fell, the door was suddenly kicked open, and then the windows were smashed, and more than a dozen cultivators rushed in. The leading cultivator swept over the list, looked at the people in the barracks, and shouted: "All on the list, take them all!"

The officers were shocked and furious, shouting repeatedly: "What are you doing? We just made a great contribution!"

The leading cultivator said coldly: "I am acting on the orders of the Realm Lord to take people; those who resist will die! If you have anything to say, go tell the Realm Lord!"

Besides this place, officers in several other barracks were also arrested.

Just after midnight, Little Wei Yuan received the interrogation records and frowned slightly. The interrogation results showed that these officers were secretly instigated and recruited by the manager of a merchant caravan, and this merchant caravan came from the Zhao State.

(End of chapter)