Qin Renhuang just became an immortal, and you told me this is the prehistoric time

Looking at the magical treasures that were happily "swallowing" in the void, Ying Xuan made a new judgment.

"Just 'throwing' them into the energy-rich void and letting them absorb energy on their own, slowly recover, and even evolve seems to be a faster and easier way to fuse them. After all, finding suitable and powerful enough masters for hundreds of thousands of magical artifacts is a huge undertaking in itself."

"In the future, these magical treasures will certainly still be distributed as rewards, but there is no need to rush or for me to spend too much effort on special arrangements. We can bestow them when their spirituality has recovered sufficiently, or when some of our subjects have made enough contributions. For now, let them serve as 'power banks' and 'energy regulators' in the void."

After arranging the matters concerning the magical artifacts and the wasteland, Ying Xuan's thoughts returned to the fundamental issues of the long-term development of the Qin world.

His divine sense was like an invisible network, covering the entire territory and sensing every subtle change in the world.

"As the Qin Dynasty continuously devours and digests the energy and matter of other worlds, the area of ​​its land has been steadily and slowly increasing. The boundaries of the world are expanding silently."

Ying Xuan clearly grasped this change.

"However, the territory that the Qin Empire actually occupied, developed, and ruled remained basically unchanged."

It's not that he doesn't want to expand, but rather that he's constrained by practical conditions.

"The current population is not even fully covered by the current territory. Many remote mountains, swamps, and newly formed plains are still in a wild state. Blindly expanding the territory will only disperse the already limited manpower, causing the cost of governance to soar, development efficiency to be low, and the gains to outweigh the losses."

"Therefore, increasing the population is an urgent national policy!"

A determined glint flashed in Ying Xuan's eyes.

He reviewed the operation of the Qin Dynasty during his year-long absence. As the Grand Secretary, the First Emperor, under his general strategy and occasional remote oversight, had indeed promoted and appointed a group of diligent, capable officials. Government-run schools had been established up to the village level, and a new generation of Qin people were receiving a relatively systematic basic education.

It is foreseeable that ten years from now, this new generation, who have grown up entirely under the new education system of the Great Qin, will become the mainstream of society, while the influence of the "outsiders" who migrated and integrated from various parts of the world in the early days will gradually fade. At that time, the cultural identity and national cohesion of the Great Qin will truly be as stable as Mount Tai.

"Over the past year, the number of casualties among the Imperial Guards has increased, but the court has only recruited and trained local soldiers and garrison troops in various places to maintain local security and develop remote areas, without making large-scale additions to the Imperial Guards."

Ying Xuan knew why.

"We are waiting for a new generation of educated people to grow up, from which we can select the best, most loyal, and most promising soldiers. The previous casualties in the Imperial Guard need to be filled with a sufficient number and quality of people." Population is not just a number, but also the "breadth" of the world and the "base of energy consumption/output".

Winsun's understanding of global growth is becoming increasingly clear.

"Strong individuals who have cultivated to a certain level can indeed control their own reproduction. After the knowledge of the Great Qin spread, strong individuals focused more on improving their own strength. However, a martial artist at the acquired level can provide ten times the energy of an ordinary person in their lifetime."
The difference between a cultivator at the Innate Realm and a Level One Life Form is a hundredfold; reaching Level One Life Form grants a lifetime's total energy far exceeding that of ordinary people. More importantly, the faith and willpower provided by an ordinary life form might only be equivalent to the energy consumed by a Nascent Soul cultivator in a single refining technique; while the faith and willpower provided by a Level One life form could be equivalent to a single strike from an Earth Immortal! The difference is astonishing!

"The growth of the Great Qin world requires both 'height'—top-tier powerhouses and perfected laws—and 'breadth'—a vast base population to support the world's energy cycle, faith convergence, and civilization development."

The current problem is that insufficient population means that much of the world's energy cannot be fully consumed, converted, and recycled, resulting in a degree of 'energy stagnation' and waste. Increasing both the quantity and quality of the population is the most direct and effective way to broaden the world's 'breadth'!

Besides population, another thing that urgently needs to be promoted is "technology".

"The 'Hundred Arts of Cultivation' accumulated over millions of years in the mortal cultivation world—alchemy, weapon crafting, talisman making, formations, spiritual plants, beast taming, puppetry, celestial secrets, mineral exploration, etc.—are all readily available and relatively complete treasure troves of knowledge!"

Winning propaganda has a clear strategy.

"These things don't need me to figure them out from scratch. I can just copy them and make slight modifications based on the actual situation of the Great Qin. The flesh and bones of the alien creatures that flooded in before, as well as the spiritual roots and herbs that are now scattered throughout the mountains, can serve as the initial materials and practice subjects for promoting these 'techniques'."

With a thought, he used the power of the He Shi Bi jade to issue a ban on all major mountain ranges in the Qin world.

All unauthorized beings are prohibited from entering the core areas where the Heaven-Covering Elixir has been transplanted.

This is to protect these precious "seeds" and to prepare for their planned mining and research in the future.

"By popularizing the basics of cultivation arts and skills, raising the 'basic productivity' and 'resource utilization rate' of the Qin world to a higher level, and combining this with the 'high-level knowledge' and 'scarce resources' I brought from other worlds to open up new horizons, the combination of the two can most effectively promote the growth of the world."

Yingxuan's plans for himself became increasingly clear.

"The Qin Dynasty is currently in the 'early stage' of global development, which is the easiest stage to lay a solid foundation and achieve rapid growth. With my ability to travel through time, I can obtain key resources and technologies from other worlds, which could very well help the Qin Dynasty get through this initial stage, which requires a long period of accumulation, in a relatively short time."

Having made up his mind, Ying Xuan no longer hesitated.

He flashed back to the Xianyang Imperial Palace.

He didn't disturb too many people; he simply communicated with Chu Yi, the head of the close attendants who stayed behind in the cabinet and was responsible for conveying imperial decrees, through his thoughts.

Soon, an imperial edict, spoken by Ying Xuan himself, recorded and polished by Chu Yi, and stamped with the emperor's seal, was issued from the cabinet and transmitted to all parts of the Great Qin at the fastest speed through the official road post station system that covered all counties and prefectures and the cultivator's communication talisman.

The core message is clear and impactful.

"From this day forward, all registered citizens of the Great Qin who are able to give birth to and raise ten or more offspring will be exempt from all taxes for one year for each additional child born, starting from the eleventh child! This policy will remain in effect until further notice!"

The decree also included some supporting measures to encourage childbirth, such as giving priority to families with many children in areas such as school enrollment and medical care, and requiring local officials to give appropriate care to families with many children.

When this decree was delivered to several core ministers who were on duty in the cabinet, the three most senior and steady old ministers looked at the words on the silk scroll and their faces showed undisguised doubt and confusion.

One of the senior officials, who was in charge of civil affairs and was most familiar with the nation's finances and household registration, couldn't help but stroke his beard, his brows furrowed, and whispered to his two colleagues.

"Your Majesty... what is the meaning of this decree? Our Great Qin has only enjoyed a few years of peace, and the powerful enemy on the desolate plains remains unpaced. We are engaged in constant bloodshed, expending enormous resources. This is precisely the time to recuperate and rebuild our national strength. Why suddenly... so urgently encourage people to have more children? Taxes... are the foundation of the nation! If a large number of people are exempted from taxes due to childbirth, wouldn't the national treasury's revenue...?"

Another senior official in charge of law and oversight nodded slightly, his eyes also filled with doubt.

“Indeed. Population growth is certainly a long-term strategy. However, such a sudden and significant incentive may lead people to have more children in order to avoid taxes. If these children are not properly cared for, it may result in poverty and even social unrest. Your Majesty has always been far-sighted, so this move is... truly perplexing.”

The third senior official, who had once been in charge of military logistics, was extremely sensitive to numbers, he pondered.

"According to this decree, if a household has fifteen children, they can be exempt from taxes for five years! If they have twenty children, they can be exempt from taxes for ten years! If this continues, the court's annual revenue... What exactly does Your Majesty intend to do? Has our Great Qin reached the point where it urgently needs a large number of people to fill its population? Although our territory is vast and there is much undeveloped land, if the existing population is well organized, it can be developed gradually enough to support us..."

The three veteran ministers looked at each other, each seeing deep confusion in the other's eyes.

They were loyal to Ying Xuan and believed that His Majesty's wisdom far surpassed their own, but the deeper intentions behind this decree and its potential far-reaching impact were difficult for these old ministers, who were used to following the established procedures and taking steady steps, to fully comprehend.

On the wasteland, the bloody battle has temporarily come to an end.

The goblin's sharp screech, the murmur of the murmur, and the pigman's muffled roar all turned into chaotic howls and the sound of fleeing hooves.

In the sky, the Tianxing Sect cultivators, riding various magical treasures, continued to swoop down and attack like hunting eagles. Each time the light of a magical treasure fell, it cleared a small blank space in the fleeing monster tide, bringing up puffs of blood mist.

The cultivators occasionally let out hearty, even unrestrained laughter, a stark contrast to their previous aloof and indifferent demeanor as they drew blood. It seemed that this act of personally slaughtering large numbers of people and returning all the spoils to heaven and earth gave them a unique sense of "achievement."

A massive pillar of blood, hundreds of miles in diameter and dark red to almost black, shot into the sky from the center of the wasteland battlefield, piercing through the clouds and continuously bombarding the barrier between heaven and earth in the Qin world.

Ever since Ying Xuan issued a strict order forbidding the unauthorized interception of vital energy for alchemy, this pillar of light, symbolizing the dissipation and transformation of massive amounts of life energy, has never disappeared, becoming the most conspicuous symbol on the wasteland battlefield.

Below, the generals of the Qin Imperial Guard waved their command flags, directing their soldiers to form tight formations and take turns advancing, using their spears to stab and kill the scattered monsters that had no time to escape or attempt to fight back.

Although the number of alien monsters that surged in each battle far exceeded that of the soldiers, putting them under immense pressure, at this moment, thanks to the powerful intervention of the Tianxing Sect cultivators and the collapse of the monster army's morale, they were no longer forced to desperately defend themselves, but were able to seize opportunities, steadily advance, and expand their gains.

"kill!"

"For the Great Qin!"

The Imperial Guards roared with fury, brandishing their weapons as they pursued the fleeing enemy. In over a year of bloody fighting, moments like today, where victory was relatively easy and even the remnants of the enemy could be pursued, were few and far between. Although everyone was covered in blood and their armor was tattered, their faces radiated a long-lost, weary excitement.

Once the last significant resistance near the Heavenly Gate was crushed, and the remaining monsters retreated back into the distorted spatial portal like a receding tide, the wasteland temporarily returned to a brief period of "calm"—if not for the still towering pillar of blood and the lingering stench of blood.

"Clean up the battlefield! Quickly!"

The shouts of officers at all levels echoed across the battlefield.

The soldiers began to skillfully divide the work and cooperate.

Some remained on guard, wary of monsters possibly surging out of Tianmen again; the majority began collecting relatively intact metal armor and weapons scattered across the battlefield, piling up the monster corpses in preparation for disposal.

This is the second "comprehensive cleanup" of the wasteland battlefield in recent days. Many soldiers couldn't help but smile and chat with each other in hushed tones while working.

"Have you heard? His Majesty's new decree!"

An old soldier with a full beard, dragging a pigman corpse, spoke to his young companion who was tearing at a goblin's leather armor.

"They say that if an ordinary family can have ten children, for every additional child they have, the whole family will be exempt from taxes for a year! Goodness, if they have fifteen or sixteen children, they won't have to pay grain or taxes for ten years or so!"

The young soldier paused for a moment, then shook his head with a wry smile.

"Ten? Brother Hu, you really dare to dream. With our heads hanging by a thread, it's uncertain whether we'll even make it back. Even if we do... sigh, as long as these monsters in the wasteland aren't wiped out, I won't dare stray too far from the Great Wall."

You wouldn't believe it, but I heard from the brothers who went back on their days off that there are probably hundreds of millions of monsters pouring out of that Heavenly Gate every day! If it weren't for this Great Wall allowing us to take turns resting, and if we had to rely on our own strength, we would have been flooded countless times already. If we really let these beasts break out of the wasteland and run into our homes..."

As he spoke, a look of lingering fear crossed his face.

"That's when absolutely no one can survive!"

Another soldier, who was prying open the fishman's scales with a short knife, chimed in.

"Who says otherwise? If you ask me, it would be great if those Celestial Star Sect immortal masters could send more people to kill even more ruthlessly! Their cultivation techniques seem to be immune to killing aura, which is truly enviable. Even though the imperial palace shares the burden, we still feel a bit uneasy after killing so many. It's a pity that we don't have the qualifications to join the Celestial Star Sect."

"The Celestial Star Sect?"

Another voice rang out, carrying obvious estrangement and even a hint of disgust.

"We don't have that 'spiritual root' they're talking about."

They come from another world, and are never meant to be like us. If it weren't for His Majesty's intervention, they would have been floating in the sky every day, extracting 'spiritual blood,' not even sparing the last bit of blood and vital essence from our fallen brothers! Is it really worth relying on them? It's far more reliable to rely on the swords and spears in our hands and the brothers behind us!"

These words resonated with many soldiers around them, who nodded silently. The Heavenly Star Sect's previous actions of intercepting vital energy for alchemy and disregarding the lives of the Imperial Guards had already left a very poor impression on the army. Even now, though they were ordered to assist in the battle, it would be difficult to immediately reverse this deep-seated distrust. (End of Chapter)