Chapter 520: Zhao Duan Supervises Grain

The backyard of the government office.

Zhao Duan left the "Combat Command Center" and arrived at the courtyard at the back to rest.

After sending the outsiders away, he did not enter the house, but sat in a small stone pavilion, slightly closed his eyes, calmed his mind, and called Pei Niannu in his heart:

"Senior, with my current cultivation level, if I give you my full strength to activate the Black Turtle Seal, how far can it cover at the same time? Well, if Ji Yue is added, can the two of us work together to summon a rainstorm that covers at least one county in a short period of time?"

Strands of red threads detached from his body and spread out.

On the empty seat opposite the stone pavilion, there appeared an ancient woman wearing a wedding dress and a dark gold mask, who was difficult for outsiders to see.

It was Pei Niannu in the Six Chapters Sutra. The latter looked at him coldly and shook his head:
“No…possible.”

She sneered: "How strong do you think the cultivators in the world are? Besides, your Qi, which has been transformed into magic power, has also been damaged..."

Zhao Duan felt a little disappointed, but not surprised.

During the battle at Baihua Village, Zhenbao was promoted to a celestial being, and was able to cause abnormal celestial phenomena within a radius of ten miles.

He had only gone less than halfway through the worldly realm, and was far from the state where heaven and earth could resonate with his every move.

When he fought with King Heng at the border of Qingzhou, both of them fought with all their strength, but the water and fire fields they created only covered a small area.

"What... do... you want to do?" Pei Niannu asked intermittently, showing moderate curiosity.

After Zhao Duan was promoted, Pei Niannu, the "ancient man" who was originally dead but somehow survived in the painting, became more vivid.

Zhao Duan shook his head and explained the enemy's plan to burn the city:

"I was thinking, if the worst comes to the worst, maybe with the power of the water god, I can summon rain to put out the fire."

"Save the world...save the people?" Pei Niannu's silver eyes wavered slightly behind his visor, and he suddenly said:

"There is a way..."

Zhao Duan raised his eyebrows, and then, from the sorceress's stuttering and slow narration, he learned a plan.

According to Pei Niannu, Zhao Duan's current cultivation level is not enough to support the movement of celestial phenomena, but if his magic power is sufficient and exceeds the scope of the "worldly" realm, he may be able to achieve it temporarily.

"Senior, are you saying that the gods of water and fire are both in the five elements, and they can both counteract each other and transform? And I happen to have the Red Flame Holy Armor, which can accumulate a large amount of mana in the armor through the formation.

As long as I use some methods, theoretically, I can use the armor as an 'external qi sea'? Is it equivalent to expanding the mana I can call upon? "

Zhao Duan was surprised by the proposal.

In simple terms, think of the Red Flame Holy Armor as a "power bank".

Use a magic circle to guide the magic power stored in the armor into Zhao Duan's qi sea, and combine it with his own strength to control the Black Turtle Seal.

"Is this possible? But even if my mana is full, it will only increase the time it takes to cast spells due to the limitations of my personal realm.

It doesn't make sense that just because my Qi Sea has expanded, I can break through the realm limit and use spells that I can't use at my current realm? After all, I have never successfully communicated with the heaven and earth... Wait!"

Zhao Duan was analyzing, and suddenly froze, staring at Pei Niannu opposite him!

It is true that he is only at the worldly realm, but the sorceress in front of him had reached the "celestial being" at her peak six hundred years ago!

In other words, Pei Niannu's understanding of spiritual practice, her theoretical realm has reached the realm of heaven and man!
It's just that now I have no body and have become a rootless duckweed, so I have become a person in the painting who can be driven.

But if Zhao Duan used the Red Flame Holy Armor to increase his body's magic power capacity, and then "lent" his body to Pei Niannu, theoretically speaking, he could break through the limitations of the worldly realm and reach the level of heaven!

Even if he is just a patchwork and extremely perfunctory "Half-step Heavenly Being", but he can briefly activate the Black Turtle Seal...it shouldn't be a problem.

This situation is extremely special, and it can be said that it was only by chance that this plan was put together.

After all, there are still some ways to temporarily expand one's strength in this world, but thinking of temporarily breaking through the boundary between heaven and man is pure wishful thinking.

"Ruzi... is teachable."

Pei Niannu nodded, his lips slightly curled up on his snow-white chin under the mask, as if he had finally regained his dignity as a teacher in front of this hateful junior.

Then, he poured cold water on her:

"However... this method involves the transformation of water and fire, which consumes a lot of energy... I don't have enough armor now."

Zhao Duan was stunned.

The mana stored in the Red Flame Sacred Armor was not enough to support it? Was the conversion rate compromised because his Qi Sea was used as a "transit station"?
Therefore, in order to achieve this plan, we must find a batch of tools related to cultivation and refine them.

However, the round of smelting before leaving Beijing had almost used up all of Zhao Duan's assets, leaving only a few items he was used to, which were too precious to be smelted.

Where could he find a bunch of insignificant treasures to melt into armor in such a short period of time?

"Is there no other way?" Zhao Duan frowned.

The dreamy wedding dress sorceress in front of him shook her head and slowly disappeared into the air.

No, if you can't answer, just run away. What use do I have for you... Zhao Duan felt suffocated and a little frustrated. He still didn't think the court had full confidence in regaining the lost territory.

If something unexpected happens, the rebels can start a fire at any time after three days. Once the cities and towns within a radius of dozens of miles catch fire, the situation will be unimaginably bad.

He couldn't help but consider the worst-case scenario.

Zhao Duan fell into deep thought, wondering if there was any other way besides this plan to increase the chances of winning.

"What are you doing here?"

After an unknown amount of time, Mochou suddenly walked into the small stone pavilion and sat opposite him.

Zhao Duan came back to his senses and did not explain:
"Why did you come out? What was the discussion like inside? Do you have any good ideas?"

Mo Chou shook his head solemnly:
"I have no idea yet. I know nothing about marching and fighting, so I don't quite understand what you are saying. But from what Lord Xue said, he has some battle plans, but none of them are satisfactory. It seems that the discussions there may not produce any results before tomorrow. I feel dizzy after listening to this, so I came out to get some fresh air."

After a pause, Mo Chou said as if to encourage herself:

"However, with Lord Xue's talent, he will surely be able to turn the tide and accomplish this feat."

Zhao Duan asked with a bit of amusement: "Why? You seem to be more confident than Xue Shence himself."

Mo Chou said as a matter of course:
"Because he is the 'God of War', and who else can we rely on here if we don't trust him?"

Zhao Duan smiled bitterly and said teasingly:
"When you were arguing with me, I didn't realize that you were still a blind believer in authority."

Mo Chou suddenly looked at him strangely and asked:

"Don't tell me that you are actually a hidden master of military strategy and are also good at leading troops in battle."

Over the past year or so, she had witnessed Zhao Duan giving people so many surprises that she began to feel a little paranoid and began to wonder if there was anything in this world that Zhao Duan couldn't do.

No, as for the art of war, I can copy a copy of "The Art of War" or "Thirty-Six Stratagems", or even talk nonsense about "On Protracted War" or something like that... But I'm not even as good as Zhao Kuo, and in this regard I'm not even as good as the online military fans who are keyboard warriors... Zhao Duan shook his head bitterly, he was very sure of his abilities.

Copying poems, playing chess, and talking about Confucianism, Buddhism, and Taoism can all be accomplished with just talking, but leading troops in battle is not something that can be learned without a teacher by memorizing some military tactics. This is why he took the initiative to "step down and let others take over" this time and did not get involved in the battle.

Zhao Duan shook his head and said:

"I really don't know how to do this, so don't expect me to give you any tactical plans."

Mo Chou looked at him suspiciously for a long time, and only after confirming that his tone was sincere did she breathe a sigh of relief:
"In that case, you and I should just do our duty as military supervisors. Well, since you have stronger cultivation, you can also cooperate with Xue Shence to carry out some tasks. As for whether we can recapture the lost territory and how to do it, we will leave it to Xue Shence and the others."

Zhao Duan suddenly asked, "What if Su Dan's anger really ignites?"

Mo Chou fell silent. She slowly stood up and walked towards the house:
"At most, I will take the responsibility and the blame. I'm tired, I'm going to take a nap."

At this moment, the thin and frail figure of the loyal female official beside the empress actually had a bit of the responsibility of a "female prime minister". However, Mo Chou, who walked into the room, did not hear Zhao, who was sitting in the pavilion behind her, muttering:
"Little girl, learn to take responsibility. There is no reason in this world for a man to lose a battle and ask a woman to take the blame. Xue Shence is shameless, but I want more."

……

After watching Mochou leave, Zhao Duan dusted off his robe, stood up and walked towards the villa.

He remembered that the people he brought here were temporarily settled here.

"Sir." Song Jinxi was guarding the gate of the villa. When he saw him coming, he immediately stepped forward.

Zhao Duan said "yes", put his hands behind his back and asked, "How is everyone settling in?"

Song Jinxi said:

"The two priests, Yuxiu and Jinjian, are practicing in seclusion in the house. Jiyue, as you instructed, has arranged for them to share a room with Mo Zhaorong so that they can provide close protection.

As for us, there is no room for us to stay in the government office. I was just about to ask you, sir, should we go to the military camp or the post house? "

After all, the government office is a place for office work, and there are not many guest rooms to accommodate such a large group of people.

"Let's go to the military camp. Since the two top disciples from the Tianshi Mansion are not coming back, we will deploy them. But you masters, don't think of wasting time hiding behind. Go report to Xue Shence to deal with the rebels."

Zhao Duan waved his hand and then remembered something:
"By the way, how is the white falcon doing?"

He was referring to the female shadow guard who he had accidentally rescued before.

Song Jinxi pointed to the room:

"She is resting in that room for the time being. Medicine has been used on her injuries, but she still needs to recuperate for a while. Mo Zhaorong asked us to keep an eye on her, but we didn't find anything unusual."

Zhao Duan nodded, thought for a moment, and said:
"Contact the Golden Shadow Guards Shusheng and Hongye of Linfeng Dao through your channels and verify the situation of this 'White Falcon'."

The eunuch who was good at assassination was stunned:
"My Lord, you are suspicious... Do you want to detain him and let me interrogate him?"

"No, I just feel a little uneasy. Let's do this. There is no need to restrict their movements. Treat them as wounded. But you should keep an eye on them." Zhao Duan said earnestly:

"During war, we must be cautious in everything, no matter how cautious we are, but we must not let our own people down."

"I understand." Song Jinxi nodded.

With his assassination and stealth skills, he can achieve perfect surveillance without being noticed by Bai Falcon:
"However, the scholar and Hongye are not in Taicang right now, but on the eastern front. Even if we use an eagle to deliver the letter, it will probably take several days to get a reply."

Isn't the person in charge here? Zhao Duan was slightly surprised and nodded:

"It's okay, let's make contact first."

Suddenly, the two heard some noise coming from the side hall in front of the government office.

Zhao Duan signaled Song Jinxi to stay and he walked over.

Passing through the hanging flower gate, I could see in the shadows a man in his thirties or forties wearing a gray clerk's robe standing outside the yard with his head down, lingering and unwilling to leave.

A clerk from the government office who seemed to have had an argument with him came over, was startled when he saw Zhao Duan, and said respectfully:
"Meet the Governor."

Zhao Duan was not familiar with this clerk, but vaguely remembered that he was with Prefect Sun, so he asked casually:
"What happened to that guy?"

The clerk hesitated and sighed, "It was a grain supervisor under us..."

In a few words, I explain the reason:

Since the war began, supplies and money have become increasingly scarce. Also, because they have to defend the city, the soldiers under Xue Shence's command have consumed a lot of food and horses.

According to convention, the government office and the military office jointly issued an order to temporarily appoint a group of "grain supervisors" to purchase and collect military rations from the people in the city in order to support the war consumption.

Nowadays, most of the people who hoard grain are powerful and wealthy families. It is okay to ask for grain the first few times, but as the number of times they are asked to pay increases, they are bound to run into obstacles.

"Look, that man is one of the grain supervisors. His job is to go to the Lu family's house in the city to ask for grain, but Lu refused to give it to him. After several setbacks, he returned in disgrace and wanted to see the prefect to explain the whole story.

But how many things are going on in the city now? The prefect only sleeps for an hour every day and never touches the ground, so how can he have time to see him? I asked him to go back and wait for news, but he refused to leave, so we had some arguments. "

The clerk explained in a soft voice.

Zhao Duan raised his eyebrows:
"The Lu family? The Taicang Lu family, which ranks first in the power of the Taicang family? Do they dare not pay the grain?"

He had a slight impression of this Lu family. When he came to handle the case last year, the old man of the Lu family sat at the very edge of the banquet.

The clerk said angrily:

“Before the governor came, there were not enough soldiers in the city. If we wanted to defend the city, we had to rely on these wealthy families to mobilize the people to help defend the city. Moreover, we had to appease them to prevent them from turning to the rebel king. Therefore, the prefect had a softer attitude.

Even though the Lu family raised the price of grain a lot, the prefect accepted it for the sake of maintaining stability. The grain of the Lu family was bought by our government office and fed to the soldiers. "

After a pause, as if realizing that he had strayed from the topic, he carefully brought it back to the subject:

"Of course, the Lu family is still willing to sell grain, but they are just deliberately dragging their feet. A small grain inspector cannot persuade the Lu family. As long as the prefect goes there in person, they will definitely be able to get the grain..."

Zhao Duan sneered:

"What a wealthy family! They are so bold that they are controlling the imperial court. You said that the Lu family raised the grain price? They are not the only family that is demanding grain payment?"

The clerk's heart skipped a beat, and he stammered, "Of course...many families are like this..."

Zhao Duan suddenly asked for no reason:

"These wealthy families in the city have accumulated wealth over many years, right? Do they also like to collect some rare items? Especially those related to spiritual practice?"

The clerk was stunned for a moment, then nodded subconsciously:
"Of course there are many, especially rare and precious items related to warlocks are particularly sought after... Eh? Where are you going, sir?"

……

Outside the side courtyard of the government office, at the foot of the tall bluestone steps.

The grain inspector named Zhao Shande was distraught and standing alone in a corner. Although he was called "grain inspector" and seemed to be very impressive, he actually had no real power except for the name.

As a middle-aged clerk in a low-income government office under Taicang Prefecture, Zhao Shande was a typical "day-taker".

After working in the government office for ten years, he finally saved enough money to buy a house in the provincial capital, and moved into the inner city with his wife and children.

I thought I would work peacefully until retirement, then save some money to bribe my superiors and pass this small position on to my descendants.

Unexpectedly, a war broke out and he was drafted as a "conscripted man" to serve as a grain supervisor. At first, he was secretly excited, thinking that there was some money to be made.

But later he understood that no one else dared to bring bad luck to the Lu Mansion, so they simply arrested this petty official with no background to take the blame.

Zhao Shande stood at the gate of the government office with his head down. He knew that the prefect was busy with affairs and had no time to see him, and that the clerk would not bother the prefect with such a small matter on his behalf.

But all he could do was wait here.

Just wait for the chance, just in case... you might run into the prefect returning to the yamen?

"Your name is Zhao Shande? The grain supervisor of the Lu family?"

Suddenly, a young man's voice sounded.

Zhao Shande raised his head and saw a handsome stranger walking towards him with a smile.

Zhao Duan came over, patted his shoulder and said with a smile:

"Let's go. The prefect has sent me to go with you to get food."

(End of this chapter)

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