Confucian and Taoist scholar

Chapter 179: Living for the People

"Is that Kaiyang County?"

Qing Wan lay in Lu Zheng's pocket, sticking out her little head, and looked curiously at the ancient city in front of her. She felt that it was no different from the Changchuan County she had seen before.

Lu Zheng looked at the county town not far away, smiled and whispered: "Yes, I'm finally back."

He was filled with emotion. He had been traveling for nearly two months. Although he had not visited all the lands of Kaiyang County, he had visited every village and town.

The duration of this study tour was much shorter than Lu Zheng had expected.

The main reason is that my realm has been improved, so I can move forward a lot faster.

In addition, the officials were dispatched everywhere because of the evil dragon case, which caused the monsters in the mountains to be either captured or escape and hide, which saved Lu Zheng some trouble.

When he left the county, Lu Zheng was still just a scholar with less than three feet of literary talent.

Now that he has returned, he has become a man of great talent, with a literary aura of nearly forty feet, and is about to enter the middle stage of the third level of Confucianism and Taoism.

But in just a few dozen days, things have changed.

……

At the county government office, Li Yuan was extremely busy dealing with a pile of official documents, all of which were related to recent cases, most of which were related to the evil dragon.

Li Yuan felt that he hadn't done as much in the past few years as he had in office in the past month or so...

Kaiyang County, which I thought was relatively stable, actually has so many troublesome things.

Now the county jail is almost overcrowded with demons and prisoners.

In order to make some room, Li Yuan also beheaded some monsters and death row prisoners in front of many people at the vegetable market in the city.

The people watching in the city couldn't help but applaud.

If a criminal is guilty of colluding with demons and ghosts and is a common citizen or warrior without any official title, there is no need to report to the higher authorities. As long as there is conclusive evidence, Li Yuan has the power to execute him immediately.

This time, Li Yuan started a big war. Even some wealthy families in the local area had their homes raided and their heads chopped off because they were involved in various cases, and a huge amount of gold and silver was seized.

Some families are even related to the big families in Hongzhou.

However, this time, no one came forward to protect them.

The case of the evil dragon was not spread, but some people still knew some of the inside story.

Even the governor has taken this matter to heart. It is said that there are other important figures above the governor who are paying attention to this matter. Who would dare to wade into this mess?
Those wealthy and powerful people are eager to distance themselves from the matter and do not want to be implicated in any way.

As a result, the search and beheading went smoothly, and Li Yuan felt very happy for a while.

And it was not just Kaiyang County, the government of several surrounding counties also took action, began to rectify the atmosphere, and arrested many typical cases.

The reason for all this is because of Lu Zheng's study tour.

After handling a few cases, Li Yuan took a break there and drank tea, rubbing his eyebrows with one hand to relax his mind.

"Oh, I haven't been this tired in a long time. It reminds me of the days when I studied hard in the academy. Time flies."

At this moment, a yamen runner came over and reported, "Sir, Master Lu Zheng Lu wants to see you."

Li Yuan was stunned for a moment, then stood up happily. Then he said unhappily, "You really don't have good judgment. Do you need to report to me when Lu Zheng comes? Why don't you just bring him here directly?"

Li Yuan hurried out of the county government office, "Where are the people? Take me there!"

The bailiff hurriedly led the way.

Soon, Li Yuan arrived at the gate and saw Lu Zheng standing outside.

"Oh my, my dear nephew, you're back! I heard yesterday that you showed up in a nearby village, so I knew you would be back in the next few days!"

Li Yuan stepped forward, took Lu Zheng in his arms, and led him into the yamen, his face full of joy and concern. "Hey, look, nephew, you've lost weight in the time we haven't seen you. Life must be tough out there!"

Lu Zheng thought to himself that he was obviously stronger and taller than before, so how could he have become thinner?

Li Yuan smiled and said, "Come on, come on, come inside and sit down. You look like you just came back, right?"

"I just arrived and haven't been home yet. I don't know how much dust has accumulated in my house." Lu Zheng said with a smile.

Li Yuan couldn't help but say, "Then I'll send someone to take good care of it for you. That yard is too small. There are some good yards available in the city lately. How about we try another place? I can pick one for free. They're all vacated during the house searches... Your deeds have spread throughout the city. You've worked so hard, and I heard you went to the literary gathering in Changchuan County and utterly defeated those Wu people."

Li Yuan pulled Lu Zheng into the house and sat down. He poured tea for him personally and sat beside Lu Zheng, chattering excitedly about many things. Even the fatigue from dealing with official documents just now was swept away.

"I heard from Dean Xiao that my nephew helped a lot when they went to kill the dragon?" Li Yuan asked curiously.

Li Yuan only knew that an evil dragon had done a lot of evil in order to transform into a dragon, but he did not know the details of the dragon's killing. Xiao Shan did not tell him in detail.

Lu Zheng smiled and said, "I just helped a little. I don't have the strength to fight a dragon."

"That's also amazing." Li Yuan couldn't help but say.

Lu Zheng looked at Li Yuan and it seemed that he didn't know that he had become a successful candidate.

He thought for a moment and whispered, "I've become a juren."

"What?" Li Yuan's eyes widened, thinking he had misheard. Lu Zheng said calmly, "Before I helped kill Jiaolong, I had already reached the Juren realm. Dean Xiao and the others knew about it."

"hiss……"

Li Yuan gasped in disbelief, "It's only been a short time, and my dear nephew, what's going on... Oh, I was wondering, when Dean Xiao mentioned you, even his address and tone changed."

Lu Zheng smiled and said, "Uncle Li, please keep this a secret for me. I don't want to be registered for the time being."

"But I'm not worthy of being called an elder. Young friend Lu, please don't call me that. I can't bear it!" Li Yuan quickly changed his words.

Lu Zheng became a Juren of Heaven and Earth in less than a month. After a few days, wouldn't he be even more powerful than Li Yuan? How could he dare to treat Lu Zheng as a junior?

"Elders are respected." Lu Zhengdao.

Li Yuan waved his hand and said, "We are not related by blood, so we don't need to pay attention to worldly ethics and seniority. Let's just talk about our own affairs."

"Oh, I never thought you'd be so promising... If you don't want to be registered, that's fine. I won't tell anyone else."

Many reclusive literati do not register, and it has no impact.

Li Yuan felt that Lu Zheng was protecting himself by not registering now. After all, at such an age, going from a scholar to a juren in just one month was too shocking and would inevitably cause trouble.

Lu Zhengdao asked, "Are Dean Xiao and Taoist Qingxuan still in the county?"

Li Yuan said, "That Taoist priest is gone, but Dean Xiao is still in the academy. I heard he's planning to take on some disciples soon, not just one, but the number doesn't matter. They'll need to go through an assessment... I'll let Zhao'er study at home. If he can become Dean Xiao's disciple, I'll be relieved."

"Come to think of it, Zhao'er has been following you for a few days and has become much more mature than before. I heard that he even helped you solve a major case."

Lu Zheng smiled and said, "Everyone contributed, it's not just my credit."

Li Yuancheng said earnestly, "My child is useless. Young friend Lu is of the same age as him. Please help me teach him a little in the future."

"If I have time, I will spend more time with Li Zhao." Lu Zheng said.

"Okay, okay, I feel at ease with you!" Li Yuan laughed.

Lu Zheng then said, "I came here to consult Uncle Li and Dean Xiao about something important. I wonder if Uncle Li is free now?"

Li Yuan said sternly, "What's the matter? Just tell me!"

"Let's go find Dean Xiao first!" Lu Zheng said.

"Okay, let's go!" Li Yuan was even more anxious than Lu Zhengdu, and ordered people to prepare the carriage.

He knew Lu Zheng's character well. If it wasn't something very important, Lu Zheng wouldn't look for both him and Xiao Shan at the same time.

Li Yuan took Lu Zheng in a carriage and went directly to Beishan Academy.

When Xiao Shan learned that Lu Zheng and the other man were coming, he ordered people to open the main gate to receive them, sprinkle water and burn incense, and greet them personally.

The servants had never seen Xiaoshan receive anyone like this before, and the visitor was an old acquaintance. Xiaoshan had never been so warm and polite before.

Even Li Yuan was a little confused and flattered when he saw this, knowing that he was getting Lu Zheng's favor.

After all, his official uniform meant nothing to Xiaoshan.

Regardless of other things, just talking about the officialdom, Li Yuan has to call Xiao Shan "senior".

Furthermore, in terms of Confucianism and Taoism, Xiao Shan is a whole realm higher than Li Yuan, and he probably won't be able to catch up in this lifetime.

"I'm sorry for not welcoming you, my distinguished guest!" Xiao Shan smiled broadly. He couldn't help but glance at Lu Zheng a few more times before inviting him in. "Please come in, both of you."

Lu Zheng and Li Yuan returned the gift and followed Xiao Shan to a living room where servants had already prepared spiritual tea.

Xiao Shan looked at Lu Zheng and smiled, "Little friend Lu is back. I haven't seen you for a while, and you look even more extraordinary."

He felt that he couldn't see through Lu Zheng before, and now he couldn't see through him even more.

Considering that Lu Zheng had been guided by the will of the saint, how could he see it?

"Thank you for the compliment, Dean." Lu Zhengdao.

Li Yuan took a sip of the spiritual tea. He had never tasted such good tea when he visited Dean Xiao in the past. What a difference.

Lu Zheng went straight to the point and took out two stacks of thick, simply bound booklets.

"I have traveled through Kaiyang County and visited various villages. This is what I have collected and compiled, including my observations and the local conditions."

Lu Zheng pointed to the thickest booklet and unfolded another. "I, Lu, wish to find a way for the people to live and work in peace. I have written some rough construction plans. I would like to ask the two seniors to review them and see if there is anything that needs improvement."

Xiao Shan and Li Yuan were shocked when they heard this. They both stood up and went closer to check the contents of the booklet.

What Lu Zhengshu wrote was not a treatise on governing the country, but a series of plans based on his previous life's insights and the actual situation in Kaiyang County.

These include but are not limited to agriculture, water conservancy, road construction, demon control, medical care... The text content is easy to understand and the planning is scientific.

As Confucian and Taoist scholars, Xiaoshan and his men had taken the imperial examinations and naturally had read many theories on governing the country.

Seeing Lu Zheng's detailed plan, they were stunned for a moment. Many of the ways to govern the world were solutions they had never thought of or seen before, but they were very feasible.

(End of this chapter)