Red Mansion Taoist

Chapter 346 Influence
The next morning, until all the court officials arrived at the Golden Palace, their discussions did not stop.

The news that Daqian destroyed Wa and named it Penglai had spread from the cabinet.

Although the time was short, all the court officials knew about it.

"The emperor has arrived!" With Jin Dong's announcement, Li Qiang sat on the throne.

The voices of the ministers below all disappeared, and all the ministers bowed deeply to Li Qiang and shouted "Long live the emperor".

When the daily government affairs of the court were finished, the Minister of Revenue stood out from the queue.

"I have something to report!" said the Minister of Revenue, bowing.

"Tell me!" Li Qiang said.

"I heard that Daqian has newly established Penglai. I wonder what level Penglai is and how many people and lands it has?" The Minister of Revenue asked loudly.

When the Minister of Revenue heard that Japan had been destroyed, he became very anxious.

Daqian added a large amount of territory, which meant more population and land, and all of this was the Ministry of Revenue's business.

"Penglai is preparing to set up a prefecture. The former Jinling prefect Jia Yucun will be transferred to Penglai as the prefect. The rest of the officials will be arranged by the Ministry of Personnel. As for the population, all the Japanese will not be counted as part of the population of Daqian. They will all be slaves.

Penglai's output within five years will be collected by Datong Bank and transferred after five years!" Li Qiang replied in a deep voice.

"Your Majesty, why should Datong Money House collect five years' output?" The Minister of Revenue was unwilling, so he asked again.

"This time, the Japanese were annihilated and Daqian gained a huge territory. Daqian did not spend a single ounce of silver. All of it was paid by Datong Money House. Did Datong Money House work in vain?" Li Qiang asked calmly.

The Minister of Revenue looked at the Minister of War, and seeing that the Minister of War did not say anything, he reluctantly retreated back to the queue.

The Minister of War, Mr. Bao, was an official who was extremely close to Li Qiang. In fact, if Minister Bao was not close to Li Qiang, the consequence would be that he would not be able to continue his position as the Minister of War.

Because the entire Daqian army will first obey Li Qiang's orders, and then obey the orders of the Ministry of War.

Therefore, even though the Minister of War knew that Li Qiang had transferred 50,000 soldiers, he did not come out to explain it.

"After one or two years, when the situation in Penglai stabilizes, we can move some of our people to Penglai. The Ministry of Households will make preparations for this matter. My plan is to move 100,000 households!" Li Qiang continued.

Scholar Tian looked coldly at the officials in the court. He found that the officials did not stand up to oppose as he had imagined.

In the final analysis, the addition of Penglai to Daqian was like an unexpected gain, and the officials have yet to react.

The officials were not yet accustomed to a war, Daqian did not transfer any silver and food, and the entire war ended without any impact on the people's livelihood in Daqian. It was a war of annihilation.

"Call Jia Yucun into the hall!" Li Qiang ordered Jin Dong.

"Summon Jia Yucun to the palace to meet the emperor!" Jin Dong announced loudly.

The eunuch standing outside the hall then repeated loudly that Jia Yucun was standing at the outer door, and after several messages were passed on, he walked towards the Golden Palace.

When Jia Yucun walked into the Golden Palace, his body was trembling. It was not because of fear, but because of excitement.

As an official, it was his dream to be able to stand on the throne.

"Your Majesty, I, Jia Yucun, kowtow to you!" Jia Yucun lowered his head, walked to the front from among the officials, knelt on the ground and said loudly.

"Stand up!" Li Qiang waved his hand.

Jia Yucun stood up and bowed his body. This was not the time to show his integrity, not to mention that he had no integrity at all in front of Li Qiang.

"Announce the decree!" Li Qiang ordered lightly.

Only after Jin Dong took the imperial edict did Jia Yucun stand up, then knelt down again. Jin Dong read the imperial edict aloud.

Jia Yucun knew the content of the imperial edict, but he did not mention the details of Li Qiang's instructions, such as controlling the number of slaves within 500,000.

Such a thing could not possibly appear in the imperial edict, and even if it were to be known to others, Jia Yucun would be blamed.

There are many such things in history. Anyway, if others knew about it, it would not affect the emperor, so the matter could be settled by simply killing the officials involved.

After the imperial edict was read, Jin Dong handed it to Jia Yucun.

"Jia Yucun, I will give you the 'Sword to Suppress Bandits' again, and you can do as you please in Penglai!" Li Qiang made Jia Yucun take the responsibility, but also offered compensation.

All the officials present were familiar with the "Pingkou Sword". This sword originally belonged to the retired emperor and was a precious sword used during the retired emperor's period.

At the beginning, Li Qiang made great contributions by wearing the "Sword to Pingkou". Now Li Qiang gave the "Sword to Pingkou" to Jia Yucun, which shows how much he values ​​Jia Yucun.

Some officials who thought that Jia Yucun was demoted to Penglai were now doubting their own judgment.

"Thank you, Your Majesty!" Jia Yucun knelt down to express his gratitude.

Jin Dong took the "Sword to Suppress Bandits" and placed it on Jia Yucun's raised hands.

Jia Yucun felt relieved. With the "Sword to Suppress Bandits", even if the Ministry of Revenue assigned subordinates to him, no matter what the background of the subordinates was, he could use the "Sword to Suppress Bandits" to make them obedient, thus saving a lot of trouble.

Li Qiang said to do it in an expedient way, this is a huge power.

Jia Yucun has the power of life and death in Penglai, and with this power, he can devote himself to his work in Penglai.

"You will set off for Penglai in ten days. Penglai needs you!" Li Qiang said finally.

Jia Yucun left the Golden Palace with the "Sword to Suppress Bandits" and the imperial edict. Ten days of preparation time was not long.

Different from the atmosphere in the court, Japan was destroyed and Daqian's territory was increased and named Penglai, which made the people of Daqian tell others.

The one that feared the most was Annan after the destruction of Japan.

Annan cooperated with Japan and wanted to fight against Daqian together.

But who knew that before the cooperation really began, Japan was destroyed.

Annan had always evaded Daqian's accusations before.

However, after receiving the news of the destruction of Japan, Annan quickly detained the Japanese envoys and all the Japanese in the territory. At the same time, it prepared a generous gift and had Annan's Minister of Foreign Affairs personally send the Japanese and the gift to the capital of Daqian.

Other countries near Daqian were abnormally quiet.

If Daqian defeats Japan and causes it to suffer heavy losses, then neighboring countries may condemn Daqian for sending troops.

But Japan did not even have the power to resist and was destroyed in a very short period of time. This made the neighboring countries dare not speak out for fear of being targeted by Daqian.

In addition, these countries did not dare to stop the trade of Daqian Datong Money House.

Datong Money House not only sells cloth, but also other supplies.

For example, there is table salt that has been purified many times, white sugar obtained through multiple filtrations, and porcelain and tea that were already available in the Daqian period.

Of course, the most important thing is books, the Confucian books of Daqian. The steam printing press was manufactured a year ago, which made the printing of books enter the era of mass production, and the cost of books was compressed to an extremely low level.

Through the Confucian books of Daqian, neighboring countries were able to accept Daqian culture, which was a slow transformation.

Li Qiang's set of books on the study of things are prohibited from being circulated.

Anyone who dares to take Li Qiang's books out of Daqian will be charged with treason.

After nearly a month, Jia Yucun finally arrived in Penglai.

He brought with him thirty officials, which was the number of officials that the Ministry of Revenue and the Ministry of Personnel could arrange as quickly as possible.

When the officials who stayed in the capital waiting for official positions heard that people would be arranged to go to Penglai, they ran faster than rabbits. The Ministry of Personnel acted quickly enough, using threats and promises to gather the thirty officials.

Jia Yucun stepped onto the land, holding the official seal in his hand, and saw the scene in front of him, which made him feel a little cold in his heart.

The port in front of us, except for the well-preserved estuary, has almost no intact houses on the shore.

"It seems that we have to start our work from scratch!" he said to his subordinates.

The officials looked helpless, knowing that the days ahead would be difficult.

Jia Yucun didn't know that when he entered Penglai with the official seal in his hand, Penglai and Daqian were connected in destiny.

Originally, due to the destruction of Japan, Japan's luck was scattered. At this time, the dragon of Daqian's luck rushed into Penglai and swallowed up the remaining luck of Japan in one gulp.

Li Qiang, who was in the Daming Palace, only felt a dragon's roar above his head.

As the dragon's roar sounded, the dragon of luck belonging to Daqian rushed into his body from the top of his head. The strengthened dragon of luck allowed his body to expand again.

He had not yet cultivated to the limit of his body, and now the Dragon of Luck has once again expanded his body's limit, greatly increasing his potential.

"I didn't expect there would be this benefit!" Li Qiang said in his heart.

This is still the influence of the mundane world. In the void above Penglai is the Penglai fairyland.

The people living in Penglai Fairyland are not immortals from Japan, but immortals from Daqian. It’s just that Penglai and Daqian used to belong to two different countries, which makes Penglai Fairyland a place of seclusion overseas for the immortals from Daqian.

But as Jia Yucun brought the official seal into Penglai, Penglai and Daqian became one, and the Penglai fairyland truly belonged to the Daqian fairyland.

Most of the immortals in Penglai Fairyland are immortals who escaped from Daqian. They felt the fusion of Penglai and Daqian, and the tremendous changes in heaven and earth, and were all shocked.

However, to the surprise of the Penglai immortal, the immortal from Daqian did not come to check.

There is also competition for resources among immortals. The output of each fairyland is fixed, so the number of immortals that can be supported is also fixed.

So under normal circumstances, once a fairyland is discovered, people will fight for it with all their might.

Although the Penglai fairyland has an owner, according to what the Penglai immortals know, the Daqian immortals are not good people, and they have the advantage in numbers, so they should come and take a look.

No matter whether it is peace talks or a fight, there must be an explanation in the end. It won't be like this time, when the Daqian Immortal doesn't even show up.

The Penglai fairyland is worried about the Daqian immortals, so the Penglai immortals stay in the fairyland and do not go out. On the other hand, the immortals of Daqian will not leave their respective fairylands due to the existence of Li Qiang, the immortal-killing emperor. This maintains a strange peace among the immortals.

Li Qiang didn't know anything about the affairs among the immortals. The events of Penglai fulfilled his dream from his previous life.

After finishing the matter in hand, he disappeared into the main hall in a flash.

"You guys clean up!" Jin Dong helplessly commanded the other three eunuchs.

He ran towards the bedroom, as he knew that Li Qiang must have returned to the bedroom by now.

Although he was not allowed to enter the bedroom without any reason and could only stand outside the bedroom waiting, he still had to go. It would be troublesome if Li Qiang couldn't find him for some reason.

"Don't run too fast, or you'll bump into the baby in your belly!" Li Qiang appeared in the bedroom and heard Lin Daiyu's scolding.

After being scolded, Li Heng stood still obediently. Then he saw his father. He was already used to his father's sudden appearance.

"Greetings, father!" He stopped and saluted.

Li Qiang walked over and touched Li Heng's head.

The babies in Lin Daiyu's belly were Yunfei, Zhujun and Feicui's. The three of them became pregnant one after another after Li Qian was born.

It can be predicted that Li Qiang will have a lot of descendants.

"There's news from Nanxun Palace that the person won't live much longer!" Lin Daiyu asked the others to look after the child. She pulled Li Qiang to sit aside and spoke softly.

Emperor Jingwen's health was already extremely poor, and coupled with the damage he suffered during the time he lost the throne and was sent to the cold palace, his body was almost at its limit.

If Li Qiang had not brought Qin Keqing with him, giving Emperor Jingwen a reason to survive, perhaps he would have collapsed a few years later.

Li Qiang was not surprised to hear that Emperor Jingwen would not live long.

If he wanted to keep Emperor Jingwen alive, it would be very easy. He only needed to cast the 'Healing Spell [Advanced]' to ensure that Emperor Jingwen would not die.

But he would only use the 'Healing Technique [Advanced]' on his own people. Regardless of whether he forgave Emperor Jingwen or not, Emperor Jingwen wanted to kill him back then. Not killing Emperor Jingwen was already a way of repaying the emperor's kindness.

"It's just birth, old age, sickness and death!" Li Qiang said calmly.

"But once this man dies, Miss Qin will have to observe mourning again. When will she be able to enter the harem?" Lin Daiyu shook her head and said.

Lin Daiyu knows Li Qiang's character very well. Even though Li Qiang has so many concubines, it is obvious that each of these concubines knew each other when they were young and were tied together for some reason.

After Li Qiang became emperor, there were ministers who wanted him to take a concubine, but he never agreed.

In the eyes of court officials, among all Li Qiang's women, only Lin Daiyu was qualified, and the other women were of poor quality.

Even though Miaoyu, Yingchun, Tanchun and Xichun were born in official families, something bad happened in their families and they were all blamed on the guilty officials.

As for the others, Yinglian and Xing Xiuyun were beautiful girls from ordinary families, Yunfei and Zhujun were famous prostitutes, and Feicui was even a maid.

Therefore, the court officials wanted Li Qiang to marry a more normal concubine, so that the harem could at least look better.

Lin Daiyu saw all of this. She understood that Li Qiang was concerned about their old relationship, so the only woman who was not taken into the harem was Qin Keqing.

Although Li Qiang always seemed to have various concerns about Qin Keqing, it can be seen from the fact that Li Qiang did not drive Qin Keqing away that Li Qiang still cared about Qin Keqing.

"Go see Miss Keqing and tell her about Jingwen. Everything will be decided by her!" Li Qiang shook his head and said.

During these years, he did not find anything wrong with Qin Keqing, which made him less guarded against her.

Only Li Qiang and Lin Daiyu knew the relationship between Qin Keqing and Emperor Jingwen, and Li Qiang never concealed this matter from Lin Daiyu.

(End of this chapter)