As a lord, I was forced to farm

Chapter 961 Reform of the Official System
Jiang Ran's gaze swept over the tombstone.

Thanks to a dictionary of ancient characters obtained from the Qi family, Jiang Ran learned to recognize several ancient characters.

With the help of the system's shop, she was surprised to find that the inscription on the tombstone was not "the tomb of so-and-so," but rather resembled a few lines of martial arts mantra.

On the other side, Lin Sha had already taken out paper and pen and copied the ancient characters on the tombstone.

Jiang Ran looked at it and said, "Lin Qing's handwriting is quite good."

Lin Sha, being quick-witted, immediately offered his work, saying, "It is my honor to have Your Highness's appreciation. If Your Highness does not mind, I am willing to present this humble work to Your Highness."

Jiang Ran's voice indicated that she didn't want to transcribe it herself, so I naturally accepted it gladly.

This caused others to beat their chests in frustration, lamenting that their calligraphy was not up to par and they had lost the opportunity to impress His Highness.

……

Time flies, it's already been a month since I explored the six secret realms.

Within a month, Jiang Ran had figured out the inscription on the tombstone.

The above roughly states:

"It's so chaotic."

"The stars form the foundation."

"*Received from the Mysterious Bone".

"The breath naturally encompasses the vast ocean."

"..."

"The place where Yin and Yang rotate."

"Heavenly Secrets Hidden Plague"

Some of the above texts are incomplete due to damage to the stone tablet, or cannot be identified because they cannot be found.

Moreover, the sixteen-character text cannot be arranged in the correct order. Although it is known that this may be an ancient technique passed down through generations—especially one specially engraved on a tombstone, it is intriguing and must be extraordinary.

However, due to its incompleteness, it is still unable to cultivate itself.

"Master, are you interested in things from ancient times?"

Bai Mei looked at the Xuan paper on the table with ancient characters written on it and asked curiously.

"Well, after all, there are very few things passed down from ancient times. Anything that has been passed down from ancient times, such as powerful weapons, or the god-level magic weapon with growth potential in Qi Yu's hands, is much more powerful."

Judging from the magical artifacts, techniques, and relics, although it is from ancient times, it is superior to the present in every aspect...

Jiang Ran glanced at Fei Xuan, who was also looking at her with quiet curiosity.

"Feixuan was born from a fossil in the secret realm, and it is undoubtedly an ancient magical beast."

Then he looked at Mo Sheng, who was resting with his eyes closed, but was actually absorbing spiritual energy as the King of Scrolls. "Mo Sheng is the same. He is a descendant of the ancient magical beast, the Candle Prison Wolf. If you want to help you become stronger, perhaps understanding your background is a very important thing."

Recently, Jiang Ran has been studying these ancient characters to the point of neglecting to eat and sleep, but she never expected that it was all for them.

Feixuan said with some heartache, "I don't care about the past, I don't care about my background, what I care about is that I can stay by Master's side forever."

Mo Sheng opened his eyes, a sharp glint flashing in his wild, wolf-like gaze. "I will forge my own path, even without the experience of predecessors." "Ambition!"

Jiang Ran smiled and continued, "Not only that, there is another important reason. In the Cloud Tomb Secret Realm, the other few corpses that were not taken away by the Great Tibetan actually correspond to this half of the Tiger Tally."

As she spoke, she took out a half of a tiger tally that exuded a strong sense of antiquity.

This is the tiger tally that Qi Yu gave her, which was also obtained from a secret jade map realm.

Isn't it strange that things from two different secret realms can resonate with each other?

Jiang Ran even had a vague premonition that if she could piece those bones together and use her spiritual power to activate the tiger talisman, she might be able to control them...

“Those scattered Jade Map Secret Realms… perhaps, were originally one whole?” Jiang Ran’s eyes grew brighter and brighter. “And they are related to the ancient times. This world is far more interesting than I imagined.”

……

As winter arrives, trees are draped in silver and jade-like garments, the babbling lakes and springs are covered with a hard shell, and the evergreen mountains are dressed in white.

In the cold winter, people's livelihood is always a major issue.

In particular, Da Su annexed two prefectures, adding many new residents. The former prefects of these two prefectures were incompetent, seizing all the wealth in the land and causing widespread suffering. Eighty percent of the ordinary people did not even have a decent piece of clothing, let alone enough to keep warm in winter.

After turning these two plots of land into her own territory, Jiang Ran first returned the land to the people of Chaolian and Tianchen, then reduced taxes, recruited workers, and actively established granaries, built houses and roads, built schools and workshops... But the policy had only been in effect for three months.

To help the people get through the winter snow, Dasu issued interest-free "grain loans," allowing people to borrow grain during the winter and spring seasons and repay it in the autumn.

They distributed money for firewood and coal, as well as cash, grain, and clothing to the poor.

Fortunately, they received a considerable amount of ransom from Da Ce and Da Zang, and Da Su's population was not large, so it was not difficult to settle these poor people for the winter.

The 29th year of the Great Constellation.

Spring arrives with the gentle patter of melting snow. Sunlight, like washed silk, softly spills across the earth, bringing vegetation back to life, and streams come alive as they tread upon the remnants of icicles.

Jiang Ran is twenty-three years old.

During the major battles last year, Jiang Ran rewarded those who had made contributions, but she did not change their official positions.

On the other hand, after the imperial examination, all those who were on the list were sent to various places in Dasu to serve as officials.

In that year, Da Su suddenly underwent a major reform, implementing new official positions.

In the imperial court, all the officials stood solemnly and respectfully.

Lin Sha, who was closest to the Prince's throne, loudly proclaimed the contents of the new official system: "Starting from March of the 29th year of the Great Su reign, the new official system will be officially implemented..."

The new official positions of the Grand Ministers were actually based on the original Grand Ministers system, retaining the framework of the Six Ministries, and adding "Heaven" to their names, such as the Ministry of Personnel and the Ministry of Households. The head of the Six Ministries was the Minister of Heavenly Officials, a third-rank official, with the Minister of Heavenly Palace as his deputy.

The Heavenly Six Departments are divided into twenty-four Mysterious Offices, and the heads of each department are called Mysterious Attendants, whose ranks range from the fifth to the sixth grade.

Above the Six Ministries of Heaven is the Shanghua Hall (with the Wanhua Commander and Left and Right Ministers). It is responsible for managing all affairs of the territory, including personnel, finance, etiquette, and military matters, and exercises executive power.

The Zhongzhao Hall was established (with two Zhongzhao Ling (Imperial Edicts) and two Yuzhao Shilang (Imperial Edict Attendants) primarily responsible for drafting imperial edicts, military decrees, and managing officials. It exercised decision-making power.

The Gate and Wall Hall was established (with a Gate and Wall Supervisor and a Gate and Wall Attendant), granting them the power to review and approve matters.

……

[Regarding the official titles, just take a look. The prototype is the Three Departments and Six Ministries, but it's a fantasy-style modified version. Many things were cut and many were added. The main change was to standardize the titles of the main officials in the Grand Palace; otherwise, everyone is addressed as "Your Excellency," which is quite strange. If there's anything illogical, just treat it as a joke, please don't scold me. After writing this paragraph, the Grand Palace quickly leveled up.]