Mortal Mage

Wangfu.

Wang Mingde returned home from the palace. As soon as he stepped into the study, the doorman came to report that someone had come from the palace.

He stood in the study, as if thinking about something.

He had just met with His Majesty and discussed the matter of the court setting up a sect of immortal cultivation. This matter has not been finalized yet. Even if an edict is drafted, it will take at least half an hour. What could be the matter of someone coming to the palace at this moment?

He stroked his beard, pondered for a while, and asked the servant, "Do you know if he is a eunuch from the inner court or the outer court?"

"There are people from both the inner court and the outer court, but the leader is Wang Shunchang, a subordinate of the inner court eunuch Liu."

Wang Shunchang, whom the servant mentioned, was the eunuch in charge of the Imperial Household Department and a direct subordinate of Eunuch Liu.

The eunuch in charge, except for being constrained by the East and West Factories, could be considered "second to two people and above ten thousand people" in the palace.

According to the "Palace Concubines Law", the Queen in the harem could not give him orders, and he only obeyed Zhang Mingxuan and Liu Zhong.

“But you need rice paper?”

Wang Mingde asked calmly.

"It doesn't look like rice paper, but it looks a bit festive."

The servant replied respectfully.

"Please come in, we are waiting for you in the guest hall."

After Wang Mingde finished speaking, he walked out of the study and went to the living room.

Living room.

Wang Mingde was sitting in the main seat.

Soon, two middle-aged eunuchs, four servants and a third-rank official came in with a rush of seven people.

These two middle-aged eunuchs, one is Wang Shunchang from the inner court, the other is Zhu Ruiguang from the outer court, both of them are supervisors.

And that third-rank official, if Wang Mingde remembered correctly, should be the official in the Ministry of Rites who was in charge of weddings and funerals in the Imperial Household Department.

Your Majesty is not dead, there will be no funeral, and you have no children, so there is no need to marry. So there is only one purpose left.

His Majesty's wedding.

Wang Mingde saw the intention at a glance.

This matter is under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Rites, the Imperial Household Department and the Palace Attendants' Bureau, but the situation in the court is different now.

Because there are two immortals and a fox demon in the harem, and the two immortals have long intended to compete for the position of the harem master, they, the mortals, cannot influence the harem and the political situation.

"Minister Wang, I don't think there is much more to say about our family."

Wang Shunchang spoke first.

"Your Majesty, when you get married, the queen should be chosen from us first. I have no objection, but I don't know whether this is the intention of the two immortals in the harem or your Majesty."

Wang Mingde is straightforward.

"This is what His Majesty wants us to do. His Majesty wants us to follow the 'Laws of Imperial Concubines', so..."

Wang Shunchang and Zhu Ruiguang looked at each other.

"Therefore, I hope that Minister Wang can explain the situation of his family members."

Zhu Ruiguang continued.

In fact, they all knew that this was just a formality. Whether or not to let their daughters marry into the palace was not a unilateral decision of the court or Wang Mingde.

If she doesn't want to get married, she can just find an excuse to decline. The palace will not make it difficult for her, but will continue to screen lower-level people.

The essential purpose of this law is to give high-ranking officials in the court the power of priority selection.

After Wang Mingde made some guesses, he called out to the door, "Jin'er, ask Wan'er if she is willing to enter the palace."

"Okay, sir."

Jin'er, who had been lying outside the door for a long time, responded happily and ran to the backyard.

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The next day.

Taihe Square, grand court meeting.

On both sides of the square, thousands of civil and military officials stood solemnly.

Zhang Mingxuan stood in front of the dragon throne.

Liu Zhong opened an imperial edict in his hand and began to read it in a hoarse voice;

"The Emperor, by the Will of Heaven, proclaims:

Within the empire's jurisdiction, the spiritual veins have been lost and the risk of interface collapse is imminent.

I am concerned about the world and have been working day and night, doing my best. Fortunately, with the blessings of heaven and earth, the spiritual energy is gradually recovering, the interface is stabilized, and all people can live in peace.

However, the policies of the previous dynasty suppressed the cultivation of the people too much, causing the people to be angry and hindering the path of cultivation. I have left my solitary lamp at night, and have rewarded mosquitoes with blood, in order to relieve the people's suffering, and issued this decree.

From now on, the Ministry of Revenue and the Ministry of War will take the lead in establishing a sect named "Taihe Sect". With the power of the court, they will guide cultivation and recruit talented people so that the way of cultivation can be promoted in the world, the people can benefit from it, and the country can become strong.

Officials of the two ministries must obey this order and must not violate it. Announce it to the whole country so that everyone will know it.

I hereby order you."

After Liu Zhongnian finished speaking, the square fell silent.

There is surprise, astonishment, delight, fear, and trepidation.

But no one responded.

Ever since two fairies and one demon came to the harem, there has been little discussion among the people about cultivating immortals.

Mortals are not allowed to become immortals, and animals are not allowed to become spirits. This is the policy of the imperial court.

It is also the fundamental policy of Taicang since its founding.

Although the imperial court said on the surface that it had relaxed controls, it was after all something that had been banned for more than two hundred years.

However, the changes in the government in the past two years have been too great. First, there has been continuous deepening of reforms, in-depth anti-corruption efforts, multi-dimensional and integrated creation of all-round industries, expansion of maritime trade, and so on.

No one can be sure whether there will be other policy changes tomorrow.

Therefore, many places actually still maintain a semi-blocked state towards the practice of cultivating immortals.

In fact, ordinary people don’t dare to discuss it too much.

Now, the imperial court is directly going to establish a sect for cultivating immortals.

This……

I'm afraid things are really going to change.

Once this is implemented, the news will surely spread quickly among the people, and it will be impossible to stop it and ban it again.

Although all the officials in the square had their own thoughts, they all felt a sense of uneasiness in their hearts.

I didn't come back to my senses.

"Cough cough."

Liu Zhong coughed heavily twice.

Naturally, he was mentally prepared for this imperial edict.

He was not worried that officials in the court would do something wrong. After all, there were two immortals guarding the harem, so who would dare to do anything?

Now, whatever Your Majesty says is what it is.

All the officials were startled awake by Liu Zhong's two coughs. With expressions of astonishment, they bowed and sang in unison: "Long live the emperor."

Liu Zhong swallowed his saliva. When Qi Yuanqinghe asked the Imperial Guards Bureau to draft this imperial edict, he was also terrified.

Afterwards, a young eunuch behind Liu Zhong handed another imperial edict to Liu Zhong.

Liu Zhong spread out the imperial edict and sang again at the top of his voice;

"The Emperor, by the Will of Heaven, proclaims:

The imperial examination system is based on this, and all kinds of skills and crafts are the pillars of the country. I intend to reform the imperial examination system, not only to govern the country with articles, but also to attach importance to the skills of craftsmen, and include them in the imperial examination system to recruit all kinds of talents.

From now on, the imperial examination will have specialized subjects such as agriculture, engineering, business, and medicine, and each will be selected according to their talents. Anyone with skills can take the exam to show the fairness of the country's talent training and the wisdom of the court in employing people.

All officials of prefectures and counties shall immediately follow the instructions without error. Announce the instructions to all directions so that everyone in the world will know about it.

I hereby order you."

Without waiting for the officials to react, Liu Zhong spread out the third imperial edict and sang;

"The Emperor, by the Will of Heaven, proclaims:

Officials are the pillars of the state, and their salaries are the means of maintaining their integrity. The salaries of the previous dynasty were meagre, and I felt very sorry for them. Now I have issued a special decree to increase the salaries of all officials to show the generosity of the court and to encourage the loyalty and diligence of the officials.

We will immediately implement a non-tax system, promote a pension system, and improve the medical system to comfort the hard-working people. We will implement a policy of high salaries to maintain integrity, take integrity as the basis, and govern the country with virtue.

All officials in various departments must be honest and dedicated to their duties, and serve the country for the public. I will personally inspect the behavior of officials and decide on promotions and demotions.

I hereby order you."

After Liu Zhong finished singing, he closed the imperial edict and added, "If you have something to say, please report it. If not, please leave the court."

All the officials reacted in shock for a long time. The second imperial edict seemed unimportant, but they all understood the third one.

The country has raised wages again.

This was the fifth salary increase in the two years since Zhang Mingxuan ascended the throne.

The previous four increases all started with important officials from the six ministries of the court and then gradually moved down.

Although no specific amount was mentioned in the announcement at the grand court meeting this time, they concluded that the increase this time would definitely be greater than the previous four times.

But where does the imperial court get so much money?

The year before last, before the battle of Tianze, the court made up for the various debts of the dynasty that had accumulated over decades, totaling 1.28 billion taels of silver.

Last year, there were four salary increases.

It doubles every time.

If salaries were to increase again this year, the court would be unable to make ends meet.

The court’s annual expenditure is now more than 20 million taels.

The fiscal revenue of various localities was only one million taels, and last year the government even issued a three-year tax exemption policy.

The tax silver that can be collected this year is probably less than one million taels.

However, in Zhang Mingxuan's eyes, the concerns of these officials were not a big deal at all.

Liu Zhong and Lingyu Guard alone seized nearly 100 million taels of silver and gold from property raids in the past six months.

He still has more than 90,000 medium-grade spirit stones in his hand.

A medium-grade spirit stone is worth tens of billions of taels of silver.

Of course, you can’t directly exchange middle-grade spirit stones for silver, as spirit stones are in short supply among the common people.

People who need spirit stones don't need silver.

Most people who use silver cannot use mid-grade spirit stones.

Those who need spirit stones are generally practitioners from officials and wealthy families. They have no sect and their spiritual roots are poor, but they are wealthy in the mortal world, so they need to use silver or gold to buy spirit stones.

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