The road to Jianghu started from the martial arts hall

November is coming to an end and the weather is getting colder day by day.

Amid the howling cold wind, the Iron-winged Cloud Eagle and the Wooden Kite finally landed at the palace in Jianye City.

Fang Xun had been away for a long time, and the feeling of being home again was indescribably refreshing.

"Boy, it's only been half a year since we last met, I almost didn't recognize you."

Old Man Mo jumped off the back of Cloud Eagle, took a look at Fang Xun, and couldn't help but sigh again.

More than half a year ago, Fang Xun was still a Yin God, but now his strength has reached the peak of Yang God. People outside are speculating when he will break through to Zhenwu.

Although Old Man Mo felt that he had been practicing diligently for the past six months and had naturally entered the third step of Zhenwu Dan Conceiving, his progress was also remarkable.

But compared with Fang Xun, it's really depressing.
Fang Xun just smiled and said, "It's just a matter of accumulation. Don't believe the rumors that I'm about to break through to the Zhenwu level. Compared to those seniors, I still lack some experience and haven't even touched the threshold yet."

Old Man Mo hissed immediately: "Do you think I believe it?"

"Everyone knows that this guy likes to hide his abilities. No one believes his ranking on the Tianfeng Building list anymore."

Yu Jiaolong on the side also rolled his eyes. Bai Qingmeng followed him quietly. A smile flashed in his gentle eyes. He also spoke a rare word.

"Fang Xun, I wouldn't be surprised even if you break through to Zhenwu in the next moment."

The words of the three people made Fang Xun speechless. These days, no one believes the truth.

Shaking his head, he didn't want to continue this topic, so he turned around and told Yu Jiaolong something else.

“In about three months, the first batch of children in the fiefdom’s primary school will graduate. Among them, there are about 70,000 people over the age of 14, who are all beginning to learn to read and write.

With this large number of people, I think it is time to start checking the population of the fiefdoms.”

They can also enter grassroots townships for internship, and become formal officials after two years.

Checking the registered population and measuring the land is no small matter and affects all aspects.

Throughout the dynasties, local gentry have often concealed the population and land area. At least 50% are not recorded, and it is not impossible that the number is even twice as much!
Throughout history, there have been emperors who wanted to conduct a thorough census of the population, measure the land, and ensure that all officials and gentry paid taxes together, but it was too difficult.

Because the quotas and channels of local officials are controlled by local landlords and gentry.

Minor officials such as the village head, village head, tax collector, and yamen runner were all passed down from generation to generation in the family, from father to son, and from son to grandson.

Although they were not of high rank and could only be clerks, which was far inferior to officials, the government's control over the local areas almost entirely depended on them.

This led to collusion among local governments, control of upward channels, and concealment of population and land, which became commonplace.

During these three years, the Palace of the Prince of Yue launched the policy of "recruiting martial artists as officials", recruiting martial artists from the lower levels of the underworld as officials, which directly broke the monopoly of local gentry on the upward channels.

However, it was just a policy that Fang Xun and Yu Jiaolong used temporarily.

These gangsters are used to being unrestrained, and their values ​​and ideas are already mature. It will not be easy to reform them in a short period of time.

Now perhaps many people have been lured away by local gentry and have joined the table as members of the rentier group. This situation definitely exists.

What Fang Xun really values ​​are those students who have graduated from professional schools in the kindergarten, primary school and university education systems.

These children, who have been trained since childhood, have no Confucian system and are only loyal to the Yue Palace. They are the most suitable grassroots executors for Fang Xun and Yu Jiaolong to control the local areas. And the first batch of children will be enrolled in three months, and it will be three years. After training them for three years, it is impossible to let them go home to farm.

Young children still need to continue going to school, but those teenagers can be used to supplement the grassroots staff. The sufficient manpower is enough for the Prince of Yue's Palace to conduct a population census and land measurement in the fiefdom.

After all, it's just the territory of Dongting Prefecture, so it's easy. Of course, if they are willing to continue to study at Shaoxue, that's also fine. It all depends on the choices of these young men.

But after hearing this, Old Man Mo asked in a serious tone: "Why are you in such a hurry? Why don't you wait a few years?
It won’t be too late to start after the first batch of young students graduate.”

Yu Jiaolong also frowned, as if she was in some difficulty.

Fang Xun sighed when he saw their expressions: "Are you worried about the elder families in the fiefdom?

In fact, there is no need to do so, although the ancestors of this group of people have made countless contributions to the development of the Yue Palace.

But now, everyone has thousands of acres of fertile land, fine clothes and delicious food. After being blood-sucking parasites for so many years, no matter how great their contributions are, they should be offset!
If we can't even have absolute control over the territory of Dongting Prefecture, how can we control Jiangnan and look to the rest of the world?"

The ancestors of these veteran families in the fiefdoms had once been confidants of a certain generation of King Yue. Some of them even followed the first King of Yue to the south of the Yangtze River and worked hard along the way.

At that time they had all made great contributions, but now if the Yue Palace wants to develop and make major reforms to the existing system, it will inevitably have to dig up the roots of these veteran families.

Among them, there are many people like Li Muzhi, who immediately drew a clear line with other families and changed his position after being promoted by Yu Jiaolong.

But most of them are obstacles and stumbling blocks to Fang Xun.

In terms of strength, these aristocratic families in Dongting Prefecture were not taken seriously by Yu Jiaolong and Old Man Mo. However, there was still some affection between them, which made them both hesitate.

After hearing what Fang Xun said, Yu Jiaolong sighed and said, "Husband, let's kill fewer people this time. After all, I used to call some of them uncles when I was a child."

Fang Xun nodded and said, "Then give them a chance. The imperial court is heading north for an expedition. If they are interested, let your uncles and their families go north, and we will help them find a good place to settle down in Beiyuan.

If you know what's best for you, then we can part ways amicably. If you don't, don't blame us for not giving you a chance!"

Yu Jiaolong and Old Man Mo sighed again after hearing this, but they also agreed with Fang Xun's words.

In any case, the fiefdom needs to be reformed, and it would be best if there is no bloodshed. But if they insist on continuing to lie on the book of merit and act like parasites sucking blood, then we can't blame them for being callous!

During the conversation, the four of them walked into a quiet courtyard.

Inside the courtyard, there was a wide square with a jade altar in the center.

After entering the courtyard, the four of them stopped talking. Yu Jiaolong and Old Man Mo stopped and stood quietly aside.

Fang Xun and Bai Qingmeng walked to the altar, looked at each other and nodded. Bai Qingmeng took out the blood-colored jade tablet and placed it on the altar.

They planned to deduce and calculate the sword intent contained in this jade tablet to see if they could deduce something.

Fang Xun was curious that Xue Linlang came to Jiangnan in person for the sake of this jade tablet, regardless of her own strength being not fully recovered.

But Bai Qingmeng was seen standing behind Fang Xun, his eyes empty, his aura locked on Fang Xun, ready to lend a helping hand at any time.

Fang Xun waved his hand casually, and suddenly a strong wind blew, white mist filled the air, and the yard became damp and cold in an instant.

Suddenly, the jade tablet emitted a dazzling light, and then a graceful figure condensed. (End of this chapter)