Family Cultivation: Evergreen of the Song Family

"Meet the clan leader."

"I've met the clan leader."

Song Changsheng wore a tall crown, a purple ceremonial robe that showed off the clan leader's majesty, and a jade seal of the clan leader on his waist. He slowly walked into the meeting hall.

All the elders and deacons in the hall stood up to greet him.

He nodded slightly to everyone, then walked to the main seat and sat down.

After he sat down, Song Xianming followed closely and sat down slightly lower beside him.

After the two of them were seated, the elders and deacons standing in the hall sat down in order of their status.

Today was supposed to be just an ordinary day, but it was unusual for the Song family. Even Song Changsheng, who had been in seclusion to refine the [Essence of Earth], came out early and even changed his clothes specially.

Song Xianming on the side was the same, looking very solemn.

Seeing the time had come, Song Luzhou, who was sitting at the first seat on the right, stood up and bowed solemnly to the top, saying: "Reporting to the clan leader, it is noon, and the twenty-five clan elders and five Class A deacons should arrive.

There were actually nineteen elders and three deacons present.

Among them, the punishment elder Song Qingxing of the Law Enforcement Hall has not arrived, the elder Song Qingxia has not arrived, the elder Song Lutong who guards Zhangye County has not arrived, the elder Song Qingdian who guards the secular world has not arrived, the elder Song Qingluo of the Wind Whisper Hall has not arrived, and the elder Song Changrong who guards Wangyue Market has not arrived.

Song Lutong, the deacon of the Equipment Refining Pavilion in Fangshi City, has not arrived yet, and Song Luhe, the deacon guarding the Wood Spirit Vein of Liuyun Mountain Range, has not arrived yet.

Please give me your instructions, Chief."

After the words fell, Song Yulong, who was sitting in the first seat on the left, also stood up and said, "Reporting to the clan leader, the Zhangye Song family, the head Song Yulong, the elders Song Yushi and Song Xinyi have all arrived. Please give your instructions, clan leader."

"The family's guest elders, Zhu Yiqun and Wang Xuande, are here. If you have anything to say, please tell me quickly." Zhu Yiqun said carelessly in an inconspicuous corner of the hall.

Song Changsheng glanced at the little fat man helplessly. In today's serious occasion, he was the only one who dared to speak like this. If it weren't for the strong recommendation of a group of guest elders, he would not want Zhu Yiqun to attend the meeting.

Apart from anything else, no one except him would dare to eat roast chicken in the council hall. Didn’t he see Wang Xuande sitting beside him with a solemn expression on his face?
Without paying much attention to him, he nodded slightly at Song Luzhou.

Song Luzhou understood, turned around and looked at everyone in the hall, and said loudly: "The time has come, the family's Jiazi clan meeting officially begins!"

At the same time, a powerful voice rang out from the foot of Cangmang Peak: "Seal the mountain gate!"

"Close the palace!"

A loud voice was also heard outside the meeting hall.

"boom--"

As soon as he finished speaking, the door of the meeting hall slammed shut and a barrier rose up around it, sealing off the entire hall.

In addition, twenty elite law enforcers were mobilized from the Law Enforcement Hall to guard various places in the hall.

The spies from the Wind Whisper Palace's dark hall also came out in full force, spread out throughout Cangmang Peak, monitoring any movement on the Peak.

Even the reserve secret guards of the Hidden Hall, who had never been active in the open, came out in full force, cooperating with the law enforcers of the Law Enforcement Hall, one in the open and one in the dark, to patrol Cangmang Peak together.

The reason for such a big fuss is that today is the day when the Song family's "Jia Zi Clan Meeting" is held.

"Jia Zi Clan Meeting", as the name suggests, is a super large family meeting held once every sixty years.

The participants included the elders of the clan, A-class deacons and a small number of guest officials. Except for those guarding important places, even those who were training outside had to return to the clan as long as they could within three months.

The reason why it is so important is that the content of this meeting will involve all aspects of the clan's future development strategy, personnel transfers, power adjustments, increasing revenue and reducing expenditure, salary increases and decreases, and increases and decreases in clan rules.

All matters, whether visible or not, will be made public, and this can be regarded as the highest-level meeting of the Song family.

The conference usually lasts for several days, and all participants need to take a vow to clear their inner demons first.

During this period, the Song family closed their doors and did not receive any visitors, not even those allowed to approach Cangmang Peak.

To the outside, if someone approaches, they must be persuaded to leave directly. If anyone refuses to listen to the advice or insists on breaking in, they can be captured and killed directly.

Internally, everyone had to practice behind closed doors. Anyone who walked around or made loud noises would be punished, and anyone who communicated with the outside world in a sneaky way would be arrested. It was extremely strict.

There was no other way. There were too many family secrets involved in the "Jia Zi Clan Meeting". If anything was revealed, the Song family might suffer huge losses. They had to be cautious...

Although the doors and windows were closed, the hall was still as bright as before. Everyone sat quietly, waiting for Song Changsheng to speak.

However, the "Jia Zi Clan Meeting" is held once every sixty years. Song Changsheng was not yet born when it was last held, so he had no experience in it. He could only turn his attention to Song Xianming standing aside and let him start first.

Song Xianming coughed lightly and said, "Let's follow the old rules, summarize first, then plan.

Lu Zhou, let's start with your General Affairs Hall."

"Reporting to the clan leader, the general affairs hall mainly has the following points."

"First, the target families set in the last meeting have now been exceeded. Not only have they produced two Purple Mansion cultivators, they have also occupied the entire Lingyang and Yang states, as well as a small part of Xiangzhou and Tuozhou."

“Second, population growth changes.

Over the years, although the family has experienced many fierce battles and many monks have died, fortunately the family strongly encourages childbirth, and overall the trend is still upward.

At present, the population of the mortal world has reached more than 1.423 million, with a relatively balanced ratio of men to women, most of whom are young and middle-aged people. They are scattered in fourteen mortal cities, seven of which were newly built in recent years.

There are a total of 989 cultivators in the family, approaching the 1,000-member mark, including 25 foundation-building cultivators and 964 Qi-cultivating cultivators.

Among them, there are 136 underage monks, 582 under the age of 60, and 67 over the age of 100.”

"third,……"

Song Luzhou talked to everyone with a flushed face. Compared with sixty years ago, the situation of the Song family was more than ten times better. Now thinking about it, the goal set at the beginning was a bit too petty.

After finishing his summary, Song Luzhou paused and said, "In recent years, the family has grown too fast, and the affairs have become more and more numerous. The current management system of the family is already a bit overwhelmed, and improving efficiency is imminent."

Song Changsheng raised his eyebrows when he heard this and asked, "What does Fifth Uncle plan to do?"

"Decentralization!"

As these two decisive words came out, Song Luzhou suddenly felt a lot of ambiguous looks on him, but he remained calm and didn't care at all.

He knew that doing so would cause dissatisfaction among some people, but he did it anyway.

In terms of the power he holds, who can compare to him except the patriarch?

To decentralize power, we must first dismember his power. If he can let it go, why should others hold on to it?
As long as the family is strong, even the slightest bit of power will be infinitely magnified.

On the contrary, if the Song family falls to the bottom, what does it matter even if you are given a patriarch?

"I wonder if Uncle Wu has any good suggestions?" "Reporting to the clan leader, the five most powerful palaces in the family are none other than the General Affairs Palace, the Foreign Affairs Palace, the Hundred Arts Palace, the Law Enforcement Palace, and the Wind Whisper Palace.

In the past, the family was short of manpower, and each hall had only one chief elder, one Class A deacon, and eight Class B deacons.

As a result, the elders in charge have too much power in their hands, and with no one to check and balance them, they almost have the final say.

Although doing so can concentrate power, it is not conducive to the development of the family in the long run.

In addition, if the head elder is absent, only the Class A deacon will take charge. This may be fine in the short term, but over a long period of time, problems may easily arise due to lack of prestige.

Just like the Law Enforcement Hall, the punishment elders were out for training, and the first year was fine, the law enforcement was strict, as always.

But in recent times, discipline has been relaxed, law enforcement has been lax, and favoritism and corruption have become commonplace. A month ago, there was even an incident where a law enforcement officer took advantage of his position to seize someone else's treasure!

Moreover, according to my investigation, this is definitely not the first case, let alone an isolated one!"

Unexpectedly, these words did not cause much commotion. Instead, the atmosphere was eerily quiet.

"What? This really happened?" Song Changsheng was shocked. He had just come out of seclusion and had no idea that such a bad thing had happened.

An old man stood up and apologized: "I failed to supervise and supervise my subordinates, and I failed to discipline them. I hope the clan leader will punish me."

"This matter is not entirely the fault of Uncle Lu Tao."

Although Song Changsheng was angry, he had not lost his mind. Does this incident have anything to do with Song Lutao?

Of course there are, but the main responsibility does not lie with him.

Although he was a Class A deacon whose status was second only to the chief elder, he was only a Qi-cultivating cultivator after all, and it was difficult for him to convince others.

In addition, he is old and his energy is not as good as before. It is already very difficult for him to survive for a year after Song Qingxing left.

However, although we understand it, the problem still needs to be solved. The Law Enforcement Hall has become like this in just a few years. How much better can the other halls be?

"We'll talk about the punishment later. Uncle Wu, do you have any idea to change it?"

“Of course there is. First, the clan leader will take the lead in reorganizing the Law Enforcement Hall.

In addition, I suggest that the Class A deacons of each hall be dismissed, and that under the Chief Elder, there be a Left Elder and a Right Elder and eight deacons to jointly manage the affairs on weekdays. When the Chief Elder is absent, the Left Elder will be in charge, and when both are absent, the Right Elder will be in charge.

Everyone knows the disadvantages of having only one elder in charge. Apart from anything else, who among the foundation-building cultivators doesn’t have time to go into seclusion?
Once people leave, there is no one to take the lead.

It was just that we were short of staff at that time, so we had no choice but to do it. Now that we have more staff, it’s time to make some changes.

"What Wu Bo said makes sense."

Song Changsheng nodded, and after a pause, he said, "As for the Law Enforcement Hall, Song Qingxing will continue to serve as the Punishment Elder, and Song Changxuan and Song Qingxia will be appointed as the Left and Right Elders of the Law Enforcement Hall.

After you take office, you need to reorganize the Law Enforcement Hall as soon as possible. The list of deacons will be finalized as soon as possible, but you need to select the eighty law enforcers yourself. It is better to have fewer than enough. "

Hearing this, Song Changxuan's mouth twitched. Since Song Qingxing and Song Qingxia were not here, wouldn't this matter fall entirely on his shoulders?
Song Changsheng ignored the despair on Song Changxuan's face and continued to announce the appointments of other palaces.

"Song Luzhou is the head of the General Affairs Hall, with Song Qingming and Song Qingqian as his assistants."

"Song Luyun is the head of the External Affairs Hall, with Song Changxiu and Song Qinghua as assistants."

"I will still be the head of the Wind Whisper Palace, with Song Qingshi and Song Qingluo assisting me."

“As for the Hundred Arts Hall, from today on, it will only be responsible for the cultivation of the Hundred Arts. The head elder will still be Xia Yunxue, with Song Changxue and Song Qingqing as assistants.

In addition, anyone who has reached the second level of cultivation skills or above must register in the Baiyi Hall, attend classes regularly, and complete tasks assigned by the family. "

The people present changed their expressions slightly when they heard the words, and they couldn't help but turn their eyes to Xia Yunxue.

The Baiyi Palace was originally the most powerful department besides the General Affairs Palace, but now Song Changsheng has directly cut the most important "finance", so it will have to be ranked last among the five palaces in the future.

After a slight hesitation, Song Luzhou frowned and said, "Patriarch, in this case, the family finances..."

"Don't worry, Uncle Wu. I am going to set up a family treasury to manage the family's cultivation resources, including all the family's shops and resource points."

Song Changsheng had thought about this matter for a long time, but he had not taken any action because he had always considered his mother's feelings. Now that Song Luzhou mentioned the issue of power decentralization, it would be inappropriate not to deal with the behemoth Baiyi Palace.

"I wonder who should be in charge of this inner...inner treasury?" someone asked.

"The inner treasury is different from the other palaces. Not only do you need to know how to spend money, you also need to know how to make money. There is no good candidate for the time being, so I will take on the responsibility first, and Yu Shi and Qing Hong will assist from the side."

"I?"

Song Yushi stood up with a look of surprise on her face. She thought she was just going through the motions, but she didn't expect...

When everyone in the hall heard Song Changsheng's appointment, they were all surprised and confused.

Although Song Changsheng is the main person in charge, just look at Fengyu Palace and you will know that Song Qingshi is basically in charge, and the same must be true for the inner treasury.

That is the financial power of the family, and it is just handed over to a cultivator from a branch?

This is a bit...

Song Changsheng naturally understood everyone's thoughts. He did this not because he was crazy, but because he had his own considerations.

First, although Song Yushi is a branch of the family, her father came from Cangmang Peak and is not an outsider.

Second, Song Yushi had a certain talent in this area. She had always been in charge of the finances of their branch. In the first year in Zhangye, they still needed support from the Song family, but in the second year, they had already achieved a balance between income and expenditure.

In the third year, there was even a surplus.

In the past few years, he even paid for two [Foundation Building Pills] at the Dingyuan City auction with his own money and trained a third foundation building cultivator.

All this is thanks to Song Yu's poems.

So, he chose Song Yu's poems.

Seeing that Song Yushi seemed a little hesitant, Song Changsheng couldn't help but laugh and said, "Let's not talk about the fact that we are originally a family. It is also very common for branch cultivators to take up positions in the main branch.

Since you have such ability, I am naturally willing to give you a bigger stage."

Having said that, Song Yu Shi naturally had no reason to refuse. She glanced at her brother, and after finding that he had no objection, she agreed decisively.

Seeing his sister's happy expression, Song Yulong smiled sincerely. It was indeed different here from over there. He was glad that he had made the original choice.

But soon, he discovered a very critical problem. With Song Yushi working here, what would happen to his family's financial power?
...(End of chapter)