Chapter 745: The People

Xiang Little Wei Yuan dispatched his incarnations to apprehend corrupt officials and ruffians across the realm, while simultaneously deploying countless related tasks within the human world for research.

Unexpectedly, many resisted during arrests: some officials drew swords outright; others ordered desperate ruffians to cause chaos, hoping to muddy the waters.

Xiang Little Wei Yuan was deeply surprised—his incarnations acted under the Order Lord's commands, yet still some dared resist? And many of those resisting weren't even Foundation Establishment cultivators. Their resistance varied wildly: some threw tantrums and rolled on the ground; some claimed their father was Li Gang; others incited women to strip naked and fling themselves onto the officers, screaming "Assault!"

Xiang Little Wei Yuan's response was blunt and brutal: anyone who openly resisted had their punishment increased threefold—most were now eligible for beheading. The entire families of resisting officials were reduced to criminal commoners, forced to start from the lowest rung. Those who claimed their father was Li Gang were arrested along with Li Gang himself.

Minor ruffians were demoted to criminal commoners and given a chance to reform; severe cases were expelled from Qingming, turning them once more into refugees. With war raging around Qingming's borders, their fate as refugees was obvious. The worst offenders—those who assaulted women or caused grievous injury—were executed without exception.

This thunderous crackdown finally made the common folk understand what an Order Lord truly was.

Within days, Xiang Little Wei Yuan executed over three hundred, expelled one thousand, and demoted four thousand to fifth-class criminal commoners. Throughout the process, he ignored all pleas and defenses, directly retrieving data from the Zhou Tian Xing Dou Array and analyzing it through the Human Fire system.

When facts were clear and evidence thorough, guilt was immediately confirmed and punishment carried out. Cases lacking clarity were sent back to lower officials for review.

Indeed, once the blade fell, public sentiment soared, and tens of thousands of blue qi surged in within moments. Yet after speaking with Zhang Sheng, Xiang Little Wei Yuan knew this was merely treating symptoms, not the root cause—he continued deploying tasks within the Human Fire system and gathering suggestions.

To reform, one must first have sufficient data; otherwise, actions are blind. Historical records were full of such examples, and Xiang Little Wei Yuan understood this well.

In terms of data accumulation, thanks to the Zhou Tian Xing Dou Array, the Human Fire system, and the data architecture derived from the small world, Qingming may already rank among the top in Da Tang, surpassed only by the celestial realms where Immortals' spiritual senses monitored everything.

The Zhou Tian Xing Dou Array monitored heaven and earth on a vast scale; originally built by Xiang Little Wei Yuan to detect Witch Clan spies and root out traitors, it was now to be upgraded with massive investments of immortal silver to provide a foundation for upcoming reforms.

Throughout dynasties, the decline of empires was marked by land consolidation, widespread suffering, powerful clans monopolizing regions, and zero grain or tax revenue reaching the imperial treasury—leading to empty coffers and eventual collapse. A major reason was incomplete data: vast fields went unrecorded; in a county with a hundred thousand households, official registers listed barely ten thousand.

Now, with the Zhou Tian Xing Dou Array monitoring heaven and earth, no one could deceive him. Combined with the Human Fire system's data-processing power, nothing escaped his grasp.

With data, the basis for "inequality" emerged. Xiang Little Wei Yuan now sought to artificially create inequality—specifically among ordinary commoners with no hope of cultivation.

Under the current system, the gap between cultivators and commoners was immense: once one reached Peak Body Tempering, their family's status improved dramatically. All current incentive systems—exchange of Minor Cultivation Pills, Foundation Establishment slots, Body Tempering technique transmissions—were designed around cultivators. Those without cultivation potential were treated nearly identically.

Food, clothing, shelter, and transport were the fundamentals of life—"the people's livelihood rests on food." Xiang Little Wei Yuan began with food.

Qingming currently held one billion jin of grain. Despite massive exports to Zhao and Jin, total reserves continued to rise. The average Qingming resident consumed three to five hundred jin per year—roughly one jin per day.

According to Human Fire calculations, the absolute minimum to survive was one hundred eighty jin; to avoid illness and maintain baseline labor capacity, one needed at least two hundred forty jin. Body Tempering cultivators consumed six hundred to one thousand jin, depending on their cultivation level and innate constitution—the higher the realm, the more they ate.

Body Tempering cultivators began consuming some spiritual rice; for ease of comparison, Human Fire converted all spiritual rice into ordinary rice.

Previously, Xiang Little Wei Yuan had opened limited land grants for military merit, but these were few; most new farmland was newly opened. Overall, Qingming residents still primarily received grain rations.

Xiang Little Wei Yuan planned to revise the ration distribution: military merit land grants remained unchanged, cultivator ration standards remained unchanged, and all others received a baseline ration of two hundred fifty jin per year.

This baseline ration guaranteed just enough to avoid starvation, but never enough to eat well. It was slightly reduced from before, lowered by thirty jin annually.

Xiang Little Wei Yuan left one loophole: every child, regardless of age—even newborn infants—could claim a full adult ration. Pregnant women received double rations. As a result, many families would inevitably have more children to claim extra grain.

Under the new system, the Zhou Tian Xing Dou Array directly monitored labor, while Human Fire instantly analyzed each individual's output. Even within the same field, a lazy man who swung his hoe a few times and a diligent worker who labored all day would earn vastly different merit points.

Labor merit could be exchanged for grain. According to Xiang Little Wei Yuan's preliminary design, a diligent worker could farm up to ten mu and earn an additional seven hundred fifty jin of grain.

A five-person household, if one member worked tirelessly all year, could average four hundred jin per person—already a good standard. If a second member worked diligently, each could receive five hundred jin—quite comfortable.

Thus, the diligent would eat until full, the lazy would not starve—under such stark contrast, most would naturally know how to choose. As Order Lord, Xiang Little Wei Yuan's role was to ensure everyone had the chance to eat until full.

Implementing the new system required massive groundwork: printing announcements, selecting personnel, and official rollout. The Zhou Tian Xing Dou Array was still not precise enough and needed upgrading; the upgrade alone would take months and cost three million taels of immortal silver.

Yet Xiang Little Wei Yuan felt the silver well spent, for its future utility would be immense—not merely for immediate gains.

Under the new system, every Qingming resident would receive: baseline grain rations, access to education and literacy, and cultivation opportunities.

Beyond grain, Xiang Little Wei Yuan also planned another measure: housing allocation.

(End of Chapter)