Dragon Canon

Lai City, located in the heartland of Western Jin, had always been renowned for its prosperity. If even Lai was like this, then there was no need to check out the other cities. Thus, Wei Yuan stopped lingering any longer and quickened the pace of the march. The cavalry force covered several thousand li per day and reached Hanyang Pass in just over ten days.

Unlike the time he entered Western Jin, Wei Yuan chose to pass straight through the city on his return. Xu Zhongxing, the garrison commander of Hanyang Pass, turned a blind eye to this, and Wei Yuan hadn’t sent a formal notice either. Thus, the two sides simply passed each other by and avoided any encounter.

Although Wei Yuan was now a military commissioner of Western Jin, the Xu Clan’s ancestor and the Palace of Absolute Beginning’s Immortal Lord were still duking it out in the Beyond. As an official of Western Jin, he had to give the royal court some face no matter what. That was why he had chosen to avoid a confrontation with Wei Yuan. He also stopped enforcing the border closure as strictly as before, preventing all merchant caravans from traveling westward.

In truth, there was little point in sealing the pass now. Ever since the trade route through the State of Zhao had been opened, some caravans had already begun to chart a course through it. Blocking the trade route through the State of Zhao should have been the responsibility of Yuan Qingyan, Commandery Administrator of Ningxi, but unfortunately, all the checkpoints he had set up had been completely swept away. Even if he wanted to establish new ones, no general was willing to accept the task.

Hanyang Pass was far livelier than when Wei Yuan first arrived. There were at least tens of thousands of refugees in the city.

When Wei Yuan exited the pass, he saw large crowds of refugees lining both sides of the road, queuing to wait for the gate guards to let them through. Seemingly used to this sight and knowing that these people carried nothing but filth, the gate guards did not make trouble for them. They simply performed a quick pat-down to ensure that they weren’t carrying any concealed weapon or item before letting them through.

The efficiency of the screening process was also remarkably high. At a minimum, several thousand people were allowed into the western regions each day. It could have been even more, but many refugees were too exhausted by the time they reached Hanyang Pass. They needed to rest inside the pass, beg for food, or sell their labor to earn some rations before they could resume their one-way journey westward.

After leaving Hanyang Pass, Wei Yuan ordered, “Go ask the refugees why they’ve come to the western regions.”

Several riders rode off and returned a short while later, reporting, “They heard that things are far from peaceful in the western regions[1], so they came in hopes of finding an unclaimed land to farm or an army to join. In any case, they can barely survive in their old hometowns anymore.”

Wei Yuan ordered the main body of his cavalry to return to the realm of Qingming first, while he himself stayed behind with only a few dozen riders. He then traveled to Bianning Commandery to meet Sun Chao’en.

Wei Yuan had already fully regained his strength after returning to the western regions. He no longer needed a personal guard.

By this time, Commandery Administrator Lee Weisheng had long since stepped down from his post, and all affairs of the commandery had been delegated to his vice administrator, Sun Chao’en. According to regulations, Sun Chao’en might yet receive a decree formally appointing him to the position.

When he saw Sun Chao’en, Wei Yuan offered his congratulations. “Congratulations on your imminent promotion, Lord Sun! To be promoted two ranks in less than a year—that is quite the rare feat.”

However, Sun Chao’en shook his head solemnly and said, “That may not necessarily be the case.”

Wei Yuan asked, “Why’s that? Now that Lee Weisheng has been transferred, shouldn’t you be the one to fill his position?”

“The post of a commandery administrator is a substantive one. It is the most crucial step in one’s official career and represents true governance over a region. Even with Lord Lee’s background, he had had to come all the way to this middle-of-nowhere called Ningxi to fill this vacancy. You can imagine what that means.

“I’ve only recently been promoted to vice administrator. Even if Lord Lee were to put in a good word for me, I’m afraid I still wouldn’t be qualified for the post. Besides, I haven’t yet become an Avatar. Ultimately, I lack the necessary bargaining chip to clinch the deal.”

Wei Yuan asked, “If the position of commandery administrator is so coveted, why hasn’t anyone come forward to replace Yuan Qingyan?”

Sun Chao’en chuckled. “His commandery is basically a shell with zero population, and it’s under your domain’s influence. Who in their right mind would willingly get themselves into such a mess?”

Wei Yuan tapped the table lightly, pondered for a moment, and said, “Back when Lee Weisheng agreed to become the commandery administrator, he could not have expected Qingming to rise as quickly as it did. Had he known this earlier, he most likely wouldn’t have gotten himself into this mess either. Now that he’s gone, if anyone sets their sights on this position, it must be because they believe I’ve already pledged my allegiance to the court. With me holding off the Shamans in the west, this region essentially becomes a land of peace and stability.”

“That is most likely the case.”

“So all we have to do is to turn this position into a hot potato, right?”

Sun Chao’en said, “I’ve considered this idea, but I don’t have a good solution at the moment. As for the rampant horse bandits, everyone knows that the Heaven Fighting Gang is your people at this point, so the tactic isn’t going to work anymore. It’s not like you can actually kidnap the commandery administrator.”

Suddenly, Wei Yuan had a flash of inspiration. “There’s one more option: refugees! I’ve seen quite a lot of refugees on my way back. Anyone who’s made it this far are all strong and able-bodied people, and I know for a fact that they have long run out of options. At the moment, there are at least tens of thousands of them within Hanyang Pass alone. If we distribute free porridge and relief supplies in Bianning Commandery, I’m certain that a good amount of them will come here.”

Sun Chao’en frowned. “The plan is good, but there is almost no surplus grain left in the commandery right now. Although I can guarantee that we’ll open the granaries, it won’t last long, and without grain, gathering so many refugees in one place is just asking for trouble! An unrest at the scale you’re imagining is going to cost many lives; I can’t possibly endanger so many people just for the sake of a fifth-rank position, can I?”

Wei Yuan grinned. “You may not have the grain, but I do! First, bring the refugees over and let them stay with you for a while. Once you’ve taken care of your business, I’ll take them all in. If you really can’t make up for this shortfall, then when the new commandery administrator arrives, we’ll prepare a refugee uprising as a welcome gift for him. As long as our people are the ones who are instigating it, we can keep the unrest under our control and the casualties to a minimum.”

Sun Chao’en pondered for a moment before asking, “How many refugees can you take in?”

“As many as there are.”

Sun Chao’en’s expression turned resolute as he said, “This is a chance for survival for the refugees as well. Let’s proceed as you’ve suggested!”

Upon leaving the commandery administrator’s residence, Wei Yuan took a stroll through the city. At the moment, the commandery seat was fairly busy. Although much remained to be rebuilt, makeshift huts had sprung up everywhere, and numerous shops had already opened for business in several designated commercial districts. Several grand estates were under simultaneous construction in the prime locations along the river as well.

Wei Yuan inquired about the owners of the estate. As expected, most of them were from the Xu and Lü Clans.

Upon returning to the realm of Qingming, Wei Yuan felt a surge of energy and sensed Qingming’s joy and excitement. The moment he stepped into the domain, a light drizzle began to fall from the sky, and the raindrops were imbued with traces of spirit qi. It caused all the spirit plants to grow even faster than they already were.

Rain was also falling within the Great Realm, though this one carried the thick stench of decay and ruin. Strangely, the spirit plants sprouting within his Dao Foundation seemed to thrive on this ruinous rain and grew more spirited.

With the real and the illusory mirroring one another, for a moment, it was impossible to say whether reality had arisen from the illusion, or the illusion had transformed into reality.

In any case, with the national fortune of Western Jin now in his possession, Wei Yuan’s cultivation speed had increased slightly—roughly 20% or more.

The first thing Wei Yuan did upon returning was to stop by the merit hall. This time, he intended to exchange for a batch of scriptures regarding fortune.

He had just reached the gates of the merit hall when he saw Fei Yutong, his junior sister from the Water Moon Hall, hurrying toward him. She handed the cultivator guarding the entrance a slip of paper.

The cultivator took the slip, recorded something on the register, and said after a brief calculation, “You may come to exchange them in four days. This is already the earliest batch available.”

“Thank you, Senior Brother.” Fei Yutong bowed and hurried away right after that.

The two cultivators guarding the merit hall came from the Skyblue Hall and the Water Moon Hall respectively. They were both acquaintances of Wei Yuan. He walked over and asked, “What were you recording?”

The two cultivators stood up and replied, “This is an instruction from Senior Uncle Zhang: all Palace of Absolute Beginning cultivators who wish to exchange their merits must first register them in a ledger. Once a full batch has been accumulated, the exchanges will be processed all at once.”

Wei Yuan understood the procedure immediately. It was a good approach that made full use of the Bay Laurel Tree fruits.

Although the mystic treasure-grade subsidiary hall had undergone some upgrades thanks to Wei Yuan’s extensive sacrifices, the number of cultivators from the Palace of Absolute Beginning had also been growing steadily. Moreover, everyone had plenty of merits to spare after fighting several major battles, so the demand for exchanges had naturally skyrocketed.

Seeing that Wei Yuan was about to enter the merit hall, the two cultivators hurried to move everyone’s exchange request back by a spot. Seeing this, Wei Yuan said, “There’s no need to change everything. I’ll use a sacrifice, so it won’t take up any of the current spots.”

Wei Yuan checked out the items everyone else was exchanging and was surprised to find that the most common items weren’t elixirs, but various scriptures. He couldn’t help but chuckle and wonder if this was because he had set a bad example by constantly exchanging a pile of books for no particular reason.

That said, the Palace’s texts were practical, plentiful, and inexpensive. He felt that spending his merit points on them was completely worth it.

How each person chose to spend their merit points was their business, so Wei Yuan didn’t interfere with it. He walked straight into the merit hall, skillfully offered up a batch of nether soil as sacrifice, and then exchanged it for a batch of scriptures on national fortune, as well as several arrays for refining said fortune.

After completing the exchange, the merit hall suddenly underwent a slight change. It was then he received a message informing him that the exchange value for nether soil had actually increased. He didn’t know what had happened, but it seemed that the Palace of Absolute Beginning was currently in urgent need of nether soil.

Wei Yuan made a mental note of this and planned to ask his Big Senior Senior about it as soon as she returned from the Palace. If the Palace truly had massive demand for nether soil, then he was prepared to contribute a batch.

Upon returning to his headquarters, Wei Yuan reviewed the recent developments in the realm. Everything was running smoothly at this point, and the overall situation hadn’t changed much since he’d left. However, because he had gone to the capital to pay his respects to the King of Jin, the promotion of the Cui Clan’s clansmen to the Dao Foundation stage had been temporarily postponed. During this time, they had been performing hard labor in Qingming under the pretext of “strengthening their foundations.”

The good news was that his fellow disciples from the Skyblue Hall and Water Moon Hall had all integrated into Qingming nicely and found their own occupations. Wei Yuan had always felt a natural affinity for his own sect; had Ren Suxing not jumped in to boss him around the moment he arrived, Wei Yuan would not have sidelined them in the first place.

Wei Yuan took the scriptures back to his quarters and began reading them carefully, pausing occasionally to reflect on the current political situation of the entire Western Jin. His conversation with Wang Duan also echoed in his mind from time to time.

Xiao Yu, Bao Yun, and Cui Yu—the classmates who had rushed over to his rescue at the very beginning—were all core clansmen of the Seven Surnames and Thirteen Honored. Among the 16 scions Cui Yu had brought to the realm of Qingming, Wang Yu and Hsu Yi were rising higher and higher in status, while everyone else were gradually securing important positions in the middle ranks as well.

Although Wei Yuan didn’t care about background and judged his fellow human solely based on their abilities—and it was a fact that those who had distinguished themselves after all the bloody battles they had fought were, without exception, outstanding individuals—this did not change the reality that the scions of the noble clans were gradually gaining comprehensive control and power. Who could say the current state of the city of Lai wasn’t a reflection of the future of the realm of Qingming?

How could one collect taxes from the powerful noble clans?

As his thoughts deepened, Wei Yuan began reflecting on the realities within the domain and suddenly realized that Qingming currently had no taxes at all. More accurately, all production had been confiscated and then redistributed on the spot.

Recalling how he had been criticizing Lai City’s governance, Wei Yuan felt a horrible pang of guilt and quickly repeated to himself, “It’s just a temporary measure, a temporary measure[2].”

1. Not a mistake btw. They’re purposely going to where there is war. ☜

2. If you don’t get it, Lai City’s tax rate is 90%, but Qingming’s is 100% at the moment. XD But of course, every single coin in Qingming was used to improve everyone’s lives, while in Lai City only the rich get richer. ☜