Confucian and Taoist scholar

Chapter 298: Waste of Money and Energy
Seeing Lu Zheng speechless, Mi Gu smiled and said, "I heard that your Anguo's literary sage hasn't appeared before the public for some years. You are considered the only scholar who has received the sage's gift in recent years. If it weren't for the things you did that attracted the sage's attention, how could the sage's grace be bestowed upon the world?"

Lu Zheng couldn't help but say: "I need the approval of some people, otherwise I won't be able to do anything."

Mi Gu laughed heartily, "Speaking of which, if An Guo confers a title on a god, you will definitely receive a lot of incense..."

Mi Gu felt a little emotional. Lu Zheng could give up the position that others wanted but couldn't get.

Anguo is not without canonized gods, but the number of gods is extremely small, and they are only symbolic. They are mostly used to prolong the life of certain people and are not given much power.

Lu Zheng smiled and said, "I don't have that ability yet. I heard that there is no literary saint in the State of Chu. I wonder if it is true?"

Mi Gu smiled upon hearing this and said, "Confucianism is not popular in Chu State, and there are indeed no literary saints. This cannot be concealed."

The fluctuations caused by breaking through to become a Saint Realm expert can be easily sensed by other experts and are difficult to hide.

When the State of Chu was founded, there were no Confucian or Taoist saints, and even now there is still no literary saint. At most, there are a few great Confucian scholars.

However, those great scholars are still far from being semi-saints, and they probably have no hope of entering the saint realm in this lifetime.

As for the court of Chu, it did not pay much attention to cultivating great Confucian scholars.

After all, if a country where Confucianism and Taoism are not popular suddenly has a Confucian or Taoist semi-saint, it will cause quite a stir and may even change the situation.

And that kind of change is not what some people want to see.

Mi Gu paused, then continued, "But even among our Chu Kingdom's royal family, we have martial saints, great gods, and even immortals who practice Taoism... Without some foundation, how can we gain a foothold in the world? None of the nine kingdoms in the world can be underestimated."

"Big figures like those in the Holy Realm rarely show up, and even if they do appear, it's still very rare."

The nine countries in the world have been able to prosper for hundreds of years because they have a strong foundation. Without enough strong people to suppress the world, how can the country last long?

There are still some neutral cultivation forces within the nine countries, and there are also many powerful people among them, otherwise they would have been swallowed up long ago.

For example, the Yunmeng Lake in the Chu State has many immortal sects with unfathomable strength. It is rumored that there are also immortals who have attained enlightenment. As a result, half of the Yunmeng Lake belongs to those immortal sects, and the Chu State has no jurisdiction over it.

As for the remote and untamed lands outside the Nine Kingdoms, there may also be hidden dragons and crouching tigers, and there may be masters who are not well-known.

"If you want to know more about those important figures, I can talk to you slowly when we get to Yongzhou City..."

When talking about his family background, Mi Gu couldn't help but show a complacent look on his face.

Lu Zheng nodded and said, "I will definitely go when I have time."

Mi Gu thought about going back to prepare for Lu Zheng's suggestion, so he said, "Let's stop here. I can't hold this thought for long, so I'm leaving."

Mi Gu couldn't wait any longer, and in a blink of an eye, the golden light flashed and he returned to the scroll.

When Zhao Ming saw it, he quickly picked up the scroll, bowed to Lu Zheng, turned around and quickly left.

Inside the scroll, Mi Gu spoke slowly, "Did you write down everything I just said?"

Zhao Mingfei, high in the sky, said, "My Lord, not a single word is wrong."

"Very good." Mi Gu said lightly.

Zhao Ming hesitated to speak, but finally couldn't help but said, "Sir, do you really want to do as Lu Zheng said?"

Mi Gu heard this and said, "Is there any problem?"

Zhao Ming whispered, "This is indeed beneficial to the people, but in the long run, if the gods of Chu rush to follow suit, it will inevitably cause trouble. Moreover, collecting the people's incense and worship may not be as easy as Lu Zheng said..."

Compared to benefiting the local people, Zhao Ming considered more. He always felt that Lu Zheng's proposal had both advantages and disadvantages. It was not a very good suggestion and might be detrimental to the Chu State's Shinto.

Mi Gu was silent for a moment, then said quietly, "What Judge Zhao said is not without reason. Didn't Lu Zheng just say that... There's no such thing as a perfect plan in this world. Let's get the benefits first!"

Mi Gu didn't care what happened, he just wanted to take his share of the benefits first.

As for whether other gods will follow suit and cause any chaos, what does it have to do with him?

When that time really comes, the court will naturally step in to manage it, and it will not be his turn to worry about it.

What he did did not violate the laws of the Chu State. Instead, it benefited the people. Others could not find any reason to hold him accountable.

If any problems arise in Yongzhou first, Mi Gu can suppress them.

Mi Gu was not stupid, so he could naturally distinguish the pros and cons. Comparatively speaking, this matter brought more benefits than disadvantages to him, so he didn't need to think too much about it.

He originally felt that there were too many gods sharing the incense offerings, and it was just right to take this opportunity to cut off some of those who were just sitting there doing nothing.

Mi Gu said quietly, "Chu is the Chu of my Mi family. Some gods have taken too much of the spoils... This is beneficial to the country and the people. Even if the gods are weakened, it is actually a good thing for our great Chu. We should learn from the past and the past dynasties!"

Seeing Mi Gu's thoughts, Zhao Ming didn't want to talk about the pros and cons anymore. Instead, he said, "I just did a rough calculation. These projects that benefit the people will cost a huge amount of money..."

"How much?" Mi Gu asked curiously.

He never cared too much about money. After all, he had never spent it all, and people offered him money from time to time, so he was not short of money at all.

Zhao Ming whispered a rough number.

Mi Gu sighed, "You're going to drain me out! Building such a small thing requires so much money?" Zhao Ming couldn't help but say, "Your Excellency, Yongzhou governs over twenty counties and thousands of towns and villages. Some places already have poor conditions. Building these projects and keeping them running for a long time will cost a lot of money, and we can't burden the people. All the manpower and material resources cost money..."

Mi Gu thought that no god had done this before, and they were probably reluctant to spend money and effort. They were all thinking about the people's filial piety, so how could they be willing to use their own wealth to benefit the people?

Mi Gu said calmly, "I'll pay for part of the work, and let the local city gods handle it. We can't just let them sit there and do nothing every day, right? How much would it cost to select people with cultivation to repair these things?"

Mi Gu felt bad about spending so much money, but in order to gain a good reputation, he couldn't assign the task to the people of Yongzhou, so he could only make the clergy and officials under him suffer.

"Uh……"

Zhao Ming thought that it was easy to say, but he was afraid that the people below him would not work seriously and would pretend to obey but actually disobey.

After all, doing these things will only bring benefits to Mi Gu, and other city gods and wild gods will not get much benefit.

Mi Gu said unhappily, "Don't tell me it's impossible. If everything is difficult, then what's the point of having you subordinates?"

Normally, Mi Gu didn't care about anything, but now that it concerns his future, he naturally doesn't want to hear anyone say this is not allowed or that is not allowed.

"I will definitely take care of this matter." Zhao Ming responded quickly, not daring to complain.

He sighed in his heart. He failed to recruit Lu Zheng this time, but instead let the other party give him a big problem.

One made suggestions, and the other only looked at the results. This process made Zhao Ming very uncomfortable.

……

On the way, Qing Wan held up the red fire-avoiding bead and looked at it curiously.

The fire-avoiding beads are warm to the touch and give people a very comfortable feeling.

Qing Wan hopped and skipped on her short legs and asked, "Can this bead avoid your flames?"

Lu Zheng looked at the beads in Qing Wan's hand and smiled, "Probably not."

The flame he unleashed was not an ordinary spiritual fire, so how could it be so easy to defend against?

"Well, then wouldn't that be of much use?" Qing Wan couldn't help but say.

Lu Zhengdao: "It should be fine to keep it for some common situations."

"Oh!" Qing Wan put the beads in her pocket and whispered, "I feel that the City God just now was very scheming."

Lu Zheng said leisurely, "As the City God of a state, and having lived for so long, how could he not be a bit cunning?"

"That's right!" Qing Wan said excitedly, "That judge has supernatural power and righteousness. He's quite impressive!"

Lu Zheng smiled and said, "You have demonic energy, but also literary energy. They are equally powerful."

Qing Wan scratched her head and said, "It seems so... Then can we also cultivate divine power?"

Lu Zhengdao said, "There are many kinds of spiritual energy in the world. If you can find the right method and maintain a balance, you can cultivate more... However, the power of Shintoism mainly relies on incense, which requires a lot of vows and strength, so it is not easy to practice."

Lu Zheng understood more about cultivation than before. If one's talent was good enough, theoretically one could master many kinds of power.

But it is not easy to master too many things, so most practitioners focus on a few aspects.

Take himself for example, his righteousness can be transformed into other forms, giving him certain special powers, but the purest righteousness is the most useful.

Qing Wan tilted her head and asked curiously, "When there was no wish power before, was there no God?"

"Well..." Lu Zheng thought for a moment and said, "Ancient texts record that there were natural gods in ancient times. At that time, it seemed that no willpower was needed. It was only later that people discovered that people could become gods by gathering willpower. As for how to become a natural god, the records in the text are vague and it is no longer clear whether they are true or not."

"I see!" Qing Wan nodded. "So, aren't the gods of the past more powerful than the gods of today?"

Lu Zhengdao: "Maybe, but it has become history now, who can really know."

Qing Wan, hands behind her back, skipped and said, "By the way, are we really going to watch that heavenly sacrifice on the Double Ninth Festival?"

Lu Zheng said, "Let's go and take a look. I'm curious too."

Having seen the sacrifices in the Confucian Temple, Lu Zheng was very curious about what the scene was like when the gods of Chu State offered sacrifices to the sky.

Qing Wan said excitedly, "If only it could rain again, it would make me grow taller!"

Qing Wan fantasized that she would receive grace again and break through the realm once again.

Lu Zheng smiled lightly, "Where can you always encounter so many good things?"

The two walked on a deserted mountain road, preparing to visit villages and towns along the way, understand the situation of the people in Chu, and then go to Yongzhou City.

On the forest path ahead, a figure came hurriedly.

Lu Zheng's eyes moved slightly. He saw that the other party was wearing a police uniform. The style of the clothes seemed familiar. He should be an official under the City God.

(End of this chapter)