Chapter 191 Thorough Investigation of Corruption (1/2)
"It's just right that they haven't been sent out yet. All these ironwood puppets will be mobilized to the general Zhang Weiyu's command. Make more plows and let him speed up the transportation of the spoils." Feng Tianzong ordered.
"I obey your order." When Wang Mingyuan saw Feng Tianzong giving him an order, he knew that the matter was over. He had been under Feng Tianzong's command for these years, and he had some understanding of Feng Tianzong's character. The current situation should mean that Feng Tianzong will not continue to pursue it.
In Feng Tianzong's place, corruption should absolutely be banned. Even if it does not affect the people's livelihood for the time being, where did the money come from for those officials who gave gifts?
They can't take money out of their own salaries to give gifts to Wang Mingyuan, right? In the end, this money must be passed on to the people. The wool comes from the sheep. In Feng Tianzong's view, all the people in the northern border are under his command. These corrupt officials are fleecing the people, which means they are extorting money from themselves.
Wang Mingyuan's case is a crime that can be avoided by death, but he cannot escape the punishment of life. In fact, Feng Tianzong intends to confiscate Wang Mingyuan's property. Over the years, Wang Mingyuan has accumulated a huge fortune by using his power. Of course, this money is not all embezzled, but most of it is earned from monopoly business. Legally speaking, it is legal.
But in Feng Tian's view, the money earned from monopoly business is actually the same as the money embezzled, and it is also stolen money.
It's just that the northern border is now in a period of great development, and there is a shortage of people everywhere. If Wang Mingyuan is dealt with, should his followers be dealt with? Those who accept bribes are punished, so should those who accept bribes be dealt with?
If all these people are dealt with, at least one-third of the current officials in the northern border will fall. That will affect the development of the northern border.
Feng Tianzong thought for a while: "Forget it, for Wang Mingyuan's contribution over the years, I will give him a reward of wealth and honor for his whole life. Use it first, and when he dies, I will confiscate his property, and think of it as him saving money for me."
Even if Wang Mingyuan is not dealt with for the time being, the atmosphere in the officialdom of Northern Xinjiang must be corrected. For corrupt officials, a few of them still need to be caught to serve as a warning to others, so that these officials must have awe in their hearts.
As for who is a corrupt official and who is not, it may be very difficult for mortals to distinguish, but for cultivators, it is easy. Only a small spell that confuses the mind can make mortals answer questions and say whatever they are asked, without any secrets in their hearts.
However, this requires the power of spiritual consciousness, and Qi-refining cultivators cannot do this level, only foundation-building cultivators can do it. Feng Tianzong is ready to hand this matter over to the eldest brother.
It happened to be winter now, and there was no need to use the war to adjust the wind and rain. The eldest brother was relatively free during this period. He went to the mortal world to take a walk and see the sufferings of the world. It was also a way to experience the heart of the world.
It was absolutely wishful thinking for mortals to corrupt cultivators. Most cultivators would not look down on what mortals could bring out. It was as ridiculous as ants trying to bribe people with the corpses of insects.
In the eyes of ants, the corpses of insects certainly represent huge benefits and endless food. But in the eyes of people, it is something that is disgusting even if it is given for free.
After sending Wang Mingyuan away, Feng Tianzong went to the residence of the eldest brother.
The eldest brother Zhang Weize was a man of good talent, who could endure loneliness and practice hard. He was a seed of cultivation with superior talent in the entire Puppet Sect.
The reason why he could not enter the Golden Core Stage in thirty years like Tai Shi Mingzhen was that the fundamental methods practiced by the two sects were different.
The Five Elements Sect where Tai Shi Mingzhen is located is a magic cultivator. Magic cultivators are not only powerful in combat, but also have a relatively fast cultivation speed. Every time you cultivate a magical power, you can increase the speed of practicing the fundamental law. The more magical skills you know, the faster you can practice.
The eldest brother is a puppeteer of the Puppet Sect. He needs to focus on refining puppets and finding various materials for refining puppets. Moreover, after refining puppets, there is no bonus effect on cultivation. Compared with magic cultivators, the cultivation speed will inevitably appear much slower.
However, puppeteers have the advantages of puppeteers, that is, they have strong combat power, and they don’t have to do it themselves, and can effectively guarantee their own survival. And as more puppets are refined, the actual combat power will be stronger.
It can’t be said that puppeteers are worse than magic cultivators, but it can be said that each has its own advantages. It’s just that magic cultivators are now the mainstream cultivation method in the world of immortal cultivation. And the resources required for cultivation are the least compared to other kinds of cultivators.
Among the ten major sects in the world of immortal cultivation, three of them are for the cultivation of the law. It can be seen that the power of the cultivation of the law is almost one-third.
"Big Brother, I'm here to see you." Feng Tianzong slowly came to the gate of the courtyard of Big Brother Zhang Weize and shouted in a deep voice.
Even in the mortal world, Big Brother Zhang Weize still maintained the habit of hard cultivation. Except for the days when he just came, he experienced the days of being a slave for a few days, but soon realized that this wine, sex, money and anger would wear away his firm will to seek the truth. So he soon sent all the maids around him back to Weiyang Palace.
And he moved to this small courtyard to live, maintaining the posture of a hard cultivator. Every day, in addition to controlling the formation to suppress the various gangsters in Liaoyuan City, he spent the rest of his time practicing.
"Junior brother, you are here. If there is anything else you need me to do, just tell me directly." Big Brother Zhang Weize said with a smile.
"Brother, look at what you said, can't I come to see you?" Feng Tianzong said politely.
"We have been studying together for more than 20 years, and I still don't know what kind of character you have. If you have free time, you would have gone to the palace to enjoy the beautiful women singing and dancing. You came to me because there must be something I need to do." Senior Brother Zhang Weize said bluntly.
"Hehe, you are still clear-headed. Junior brother came here because there is indeed something that needs your help. Our Liaoyuan City has now unified the Northern Frontier. Because of the rapid takeover of the entire Northern Frontier, there is a shortage of officials, and many people are promoted directly by three levels.
Because the official position was promoted too quickly, many officials became a little arrogant and had long forgotten their experience of being poor in their early years. Now that they have become officials, they have begun to embezzle and pervert the law.
This time I came to call you, senior brother, just to let you take a trip to the Northern Frontier and be Meet the officials of each city and ask them how much they have embezzled. If there are more embezzlers, then order people to confiscate their homes and demote their families to pariahs.
If those who are less embezzling and not too excessive, leave them alone for the time being. After all, there are too many officials to be dealt with, and there are not enough officials.
Although there are many talents, it is not easy to get started directly. There is always a process of adaptation and running-in. If the development of the northern border is delayed, won’t this great development opportunity be missed? "Feng Tianzong explained for the eldest brother.
The eldest brother Zhang Wei waved his hand and said, "Junior brother, there is no need to tell me too much. Just do what you say. What you said is not what I, a cultivator, should consider.
The cultivation of Taoism emphasizes a pure mind, transparency, and no worries, so that the speed of cultivation will be fast.
This time down the mountain, I am just to help you, junior brother. If you have something to do, just tell me directly. There is no need to tell me in detail, and I don’t want to know. "The eldest brother Zhang Wei said with a smile.
"Okay, thank you, senior brother." Feng Tianzong really respected this senior brother Zhang Wei. He was able to practice Taoism with peace of mind in the midst of wealth and prosperity, and was not moved by external things. He was indeed a good seed of Taoism. If it weren't for helping him this time, he might not have come down the mountain to participate in the dragon fight.
"You and I don't have to be so polite, so I'll start with Liaoyuan City." The senior brother asked.
"No, senior brother, I have already cleaned up Liaoyuan City and the three cities within a radius of 300 miles. It was the newly included cities that were corrupt because of the chaotic management.
So senior brother, you can go to the other newly included cities to check. It shouldn't take much time to complete the investigation, after all, there are not many middle and upper-level officials.
Those lower-level officials and clerks don't need you to waste too much energy, just hand them over to the local assistant nephew." Feng Tianzong explained.
"Okay, then I'll go out for a walk. I'll also take a look to see if there are any good kids with talent in our northern border. I'll also take two disciples and teach them by my side in the future." The eldest brother said.
Hearing what the eldest brother said, Feng Tianzong suddenly remembered that he couldn't just train martial arts masters. He should also do a census of the whole people. It would be best if he could find all the children with talent in the entire northern border and hand them over to the sect for training.
Now he lacks a large number of Qi Refining disciples. In Feng Tianzong's opinion, although these Qi Refining disciples' skills are a little worse, they are also top talents when put on the assembly line in the puppet workshop.
In Feng Tianzong's opinion, these Qi Refining monks are all excellent laborers. Not only are they needed by the two puppet workshops, but also in the ironwood forests on the two hills outside the city, there are many people needed to take care of them.
Not only the cultivation of ironwood, but also the cultivation of monsters is also a headache. Now because of the small number, Feng Tianzong can still hand it over to several senior brothers to handle.
But seeing that the scale of monsters is about to expand, it will not be possible to let the two senior brothers take care of them all in the future. There will always be some helpers for miscellaneous tasks.
These things cannot be done by mortals, so they can only be done by cultivators.
Feng Tianzong thought about it and felt that the work of checking qualifications for all people should also be put on the agenda.
Even if the cultivation of the Qi-refining cultivators he cultivated was not high, at least their loyalty should be guaranteed. Then the development of the northern border will enter the fast lane.
However, there is no need to let the eldest brother, a master of the foundation-building period, handle the matter of checking qualifications. Just let the Qi-refining cultivators stationed in various places do it directly.
"For the expansion and development of the sect, our Puppet Sect needs to recruit disciples on a large scale. Please check the qualifications of all the eligible young people and children in the city.
Any qualified boy or girl found will be rewarded by me. The more qualified boys and girls you find, the more generous my reward will be.
The more qualified children you find, the more rewards you will get, including the bone puppets at the peak of Qi Refining, or even the bone spirit puppets at the Foundation Establishment stage." After Feng Tianzong returned to Weiyang Palace that day, he issued orders to the sect disciples stationed in various cities.
"Thank you, Uncle Feng. This matter is related to the development of the sect. We will definitely do our best to find all the qualified boys and girls and make a contribution to the development of the sect." Soon, he received responses from the disciples stationed in various places.
-----------------
At the beginning of the attack in the northern border, because it was a sudden attack, the Hu tribes in various places had difficulty in communicating with each other due to the heavy snow. They were caught off guard by General Zhang Weiyu, which allowed Zhang Weiyu to gain a lot of benefits.
Grain, cattle, sheep, livestock, and various gold and silver utensils were all harvested in large quantities. Zhang Weiyu did not dare to delay and directly packed these properties and transported them back.
As the person in charge of the military in the northern border, he knew very well how poor the northern border was now. The government spent money like water every day, but all the newly included cities could not collect taxes.
As the army went deeper into the grassland, the spoils they seized became more and more abundant. At the same time, there were naturally a large number of people. Not only the population of the Hu people, but also many tribes, there were many original northern border people. These people were captured and brought back as slaves when the Hu people went south.
There were also second-generation mixed-bloods born with Hu people after being captured. These second-generation mixed-bloods were also not valued by the Hu people, and their status was not much better than that of slaves.
The people of the northern border and the second-generation mixed-bloods were also the most supportive of the army. Zhang Weiyu simply let these people cooperate with a small number of troops to escort the captives of the Hu people to the northern border.
Because of the heavy snow, there were many old, weak, women and children, which made the travel speed very slow. It was not until the iron and wooden puppets and sleds allocated by Feng Tianzong arrived that the transportation speed was greatly accelerated.
Among these Hu tribes, there are more or less wizards who can use the power of monsters, but all these cultivators were cleared by the second brother Lu Yongjin.
After all, most of the tribes near the northern border are small tribes. But as the army went deeper into the grassland, they gradually encountered the large tribes of the Hu people.
The second brother Lu Yongjin also encountered opponents. Two Hu wizards in the foundation-building period. Normally, although the second brother was just a cultivator who had just been promoted to the foundation-building stage, he had the puppet gold stone of the middle stage of the golden elixir lent to him by Feng Tianzong. Defeating two Hu wizards in the Foundation Establishment Stage should have been an easy task, but something went wrong and he was defeated.