Chapter 751: Why So Diligent?

Wei Yuan did not explain the second step of the plan in detail to Xu Yi. The plan was still somewhat vague, and many details needed to be perfected, but the core was still for the sake of human Dao Qi luck.

Wei Yuan discovered that the amount of Qi luck did not just depend on how well mortals lived in Qingming, but also on how poorly they had lived before. The more turbulent the five commanderies were, the hungrier people were, and the easier it was for them to contribute Qi luck when they picked up their first bowl of thick porridge from the Qingming porridge station.

At this time, in the camp prison, dozens of Wei Yuan's incarnations were interrogating those who had just been captured. Those being interrogated ranged from masters and mistresses of the house to leaders of retainers and concubines who could entertain guests—all sorts of people.

The content of the interrogation also made these people very confused; they were all asked about trivial details of daily life, such as when they ate, when they were paid, how much they were paid, and so on.

As the interrogation progressed, all the data was aggregated in the Human Renjian Yanhuo, and Wei Yuan gradually reached a conclusion: at least in this Xiang Rong Commandery, the mortals attached to large families were quite loyal to the family. Their first portion of Qi luck had likely already been contributed to the family.

It had to be said that these pure stream officials were very good at managing families. Needless to say, the house-born servants were all loyal. Even the farmers on the farms had many generations working on the same piece of land, never having moved, and had long regarded the farm as their home.

But for Wei Yuan, those who had already contributed Qi luck to others were of much lower value. For them to produce a second portion of Qi luck, either their personal cultivation had to advance to another level, or they needed to wait for a considerable amount of time, and this time often had to be counted in decades.

So in the eyes of outsiders, the house-born servants of wealthy families were all excellent talents, but in Wei Yuan's eyes, they were all sugarcane dregs that had already been squeezed once.

The Human Renjian Yanhuo continuously analyzed the data collected from the five commanderies, and many conclusions became clearer and clearer.

These families entrenched themselves here, having formed self-sufficient small kingdoms, impenetrable and immovable. If they encountered natural or man-made disasters, the family would come forward to protect the mortals. In return, the silver, grain, and taxes on the family land were collected by them, and the first portion of Qi luck, which was easiest to obtain, was also collected by them.

No matter who ruled this place—the Prince of Jin, the Tang Emperor, or someone planting a Zhao flag—it was all the same. They couldn't collect anything here; what they could get was only a little that these families were willing to give for the sake of face. These families relied on various means and almost didn't need to pay taxes.

Xiang Rong Commandery had a population of nearly ten million, but the tax silver was only one million taels. Although it was stronger than the Xu family's territory, compared to the average tax revenue of over ten million taels in the commanderies directly under the royal family and the three core commanderies of the Lu family, even a fool could see the difference.

Only then did Wei Yuan discover that there were truly experts among the pure stream. Or rather, the source of the pure stream was the experts.

Whether Jin occupied this place or the Zhao state came, they had to employ pure stream scholars. People like Zhuang Zhong were just changing their official uniforms, still serving as their officials.

This entire system design utilized the loopholes of the Tang Law to the extreme, truly achieving: let your royal flags change, the family will not fall for a thousand years.

How to break the situation?

Wei Yuan flew into the sky, standing still at a height of a thousand feet, looking down at the earth below, thinking quietly.

According to Wei Yuan's habit, the best way to solve a problem was not to solve the problem itself, but to solve the person who created the problem. If this person no longer existed, the problem would no longer exist.

In the present, that meant killing all the pure stream officials, and naturally, there would be no pure stream families. The so-called wealthy and powerful families in the locality, if they had no background of capital officials, were just piggy banks; when money was needed, just break a few.

Wei Yuan continued to think: why didn't the king kill the pure stream officials? Besides the fact that the pure stream was powerful and controlled the actual power from top to bottom, and that it was easy for the king himself to die suddenly if he wanted to kill the pure stream, Wei Yuan thought carefully about historical cases, and the biggest reason was that kings all wanted a good reputation after death. The more incompetent the emperor, the more he wanted to leave a name in history. And the pure stream officials often used this point to deceive those above and below, cleverly achieving their own goals.

Then why did the king want to leave a name in history? Naturally, it was because he had read the biographies of the sages and kings of the past, felt blood boiling, and then was instigated by the pure stream officials to have the idea of wanting to leave a name in history. Every king liked this.

Who wrote the history books? The pure stream.

At this point, it formed a cycle.

Wei Yuan once again admired the founder of the pure stream to the point of prostration. The things they did were more ruthless than his own, but their reputation was much better than his. Comparing the two, Wei Yuan felt he wasn't even worthy of carrying their shoes. Of course, perhaps the original intention of the pure stream was good, but today, it had completely changed into something else. Partisanship was already the most basic requirement.

Wei Yuan felt that he must break this situation. As for why he wanted to break it, Wei Yuan couldn't say; he just instinctively felt an indescribable disgust for this system from the bottom of his heart.

There must be a reason for this whim, but Wei Yuan couldn't think of it for a moment, so he knew that either the time was not ripe, or his cultivation was not enough.

As for how to break the current situation, Wei Yuan suddenly had an epiphany. He actually already had a supreme wonderful method in his hands, called 'Bandits', which could solve all kinds of suffering in the world...

Wei Yuan was suddenly startled. How could he think like this?! The idea didn't matter; the main thing was that the wording was wrong!

He looked left and right and shouted: "Come out! I see you!"

"Donor Wei, always telling lies is easy to get struck by lightning." The Kong Que Buddha Mother walked out of the darkness, followed by the little monk Red Lotus.

After not seeing them for many days, both the Kong Que Buddha Mother and the little monk had become more beautiful. Not to mention the Kong Que Buddha Mother was glowing, the little monk was covered in faint precious light all over his body, and he had actually achieved perfection in his cultivation, ready to break through to the Dharma Form at any time. Judging by his age, the little monk's cultivation progress was also quite remarkable.

Wei Yuan frowned, staring at the Kong Que Buddha Mother, and said: "Why did you appear again? Haven't you entered Nirvana yet?"

Ever since he learned from Qing Tong that he was getting closer to the Great Joyous Wang Fu again, Wei Yuan now had a very heavy guard against the Great Precious Flower Pure Land, and felt annoyed when he saw monks.

Kong Que put her palms together and said: "This poor monk has heavy sins and still has to suffer for another ten thousand or eight thousand years in this sea of suffering of reincarnation. I trouble the donor for your concern."

Wei Yuan snorted and said unpleasantly: "Master is so capable of living, you will definitely achieve the right fruit. Even if you don't become a peacock before Buddha, being a stepping-stone turtle is also quite good."

The little monk Red Lotus said angrily: "We helped you fight the Shaman tribe for so long, and you don't even thank us properly, why are you still scolding us?"

Wei Yuan pointed at Kong Que and said: "You ask him, what exactly did he do behind the scenes? How did I get closer to the Great Joyous Wang Fu again?"

Kong Que suddenly realized and said: "So it was this matter! The donor indeed has a deep affinity with Buddha. During this period of time, you have been diligent and have already faintly obtained a few true meanings of the Wang Fu. Without reading scriptures, without seeing the Dharma body, you can realize the true meaning by your own heart. If the donor says he is second in affinity with Buddha, then there is no first in the world."

Wei Yuan stretched out his large hand, grabbed Kong Que, pulled him over, and said angrily: "Wait a minute, you tell me clearly, how am I diligent?!"

Kong Que said sincerely: "The donor is now full of precious light and is about to take another step forward to understand the true meaning of the Wang Fu. If this is not diligent, what else can be considered diligent?"

"I am asking you, what exactly did I do to be considered diligent?" This was the question Wei Yuan cared about most. He had thought about it repeatedly, including using Human Renjian Yanhuo to test it, but he didn't find that he had done anything to lean toward Buddha.

Kong Que smiled mysteriously and kept silent. No matter how Wei Yuan tempted or threatened him, he wouldn't say a word.

With no results from his questioning, Wei Yuan had to give up helplessly. He couldn't really use force. Just the fact that Kong Que and Red Lotus fought bloody battles for months and killed countless enemies when the Rain Country attacked was enough for Wei Yuan to treat them with courtesy for the rest of his life.

"What are you two doing here?"

Kong Que Buddha Mother said: "The donor now controls the power of the five commanderies. We once had a good relationship with the donor, so we came to ask for a convenience. The five commanderies are about to be turbulent, and I want to build some temples in the five commanderies."

Building temples was not just as simple as building a few large halls; it also involved Feng Shui and ley lines, and also buying surrounding farmland as temple property. Sometimes multiple temples occupying different ley line nodes could also change the Feng Shui luck.

Wei Yuan asked: "Which Buddhas are worshipped in the temples?"

"The Wang Fu does not need incense, so there are more Vairocana Buddhas."

"Okay." Wei Yuan nodded. As long as they didn't buy or sell by force, building a few temples wasn't a big deal. Furthermore, with Kong Que's ability, the other party would definitely be willing to offer the land she wanted to buy.

Wei Yuan had no ideas about the land in the five commanderies at the moment, so even if there were any problems in these temples, it would be a headache for those who came later.

Having obtained Wei Yuan's promise, Kong Que and Red Lotus turned and left without saying anything else.

Wei Yuan frowned slightly. Kong Que's sudden appearance here shouldn't just be for a few temples. Was she trying to remind him of something, or was there another plan?

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 752 =====