Unlimited employment

Chapter 59【Four Years】

Time flies, and four years have passed in the blink of an eye.

In the third year of Guanghe, a dusty carriage rushed from Wei County in the south into Julu County, galloping along the bumpy dirt road, leaving a long trail of flying dust behind it.

A young eunuch sat in the carriage, holding on to the window sill tightly. After thinking for a while, he suddenly vomited a colorful sour soup.

After he vomited out everything in his stomach, he couldn't help but say to the coachman.

"Driver, how far is it from here to Zhangjiabao?"

The driver was a dark and skinny old man with wrinkles all over his face. He gently whipped the horse's butt a few times, turned his head and smiled.

“My two nobles, we are not far away.

We have already entered the territory of Pingxiang County. If we go another forty miles north, we will see Zhangjiabao, where the Great Sage Master is.

"You ate too much breakfast, and the food in your stomach can't stand the turbulence, and your senses are out of balance.

After vomiting out breakfast, simply massage the auricular acupoints in the ears with Qi and blood and warm the stomach to relieve the dizziness."

Inside the carriage, opposite the eunuch sat a tall, fat, bearded man with his chest exposed.

The big man grabbed the eunuch's hand and passed a stream of energy and blood through him, letting the hot energy and blood circulate in his ears and abdomen for several circles. Sure enough, his complexion looked much better.

Then the big man turned his head, looked at the lush wheat fields outside the window, and spoke to the driver.

"Father, we are from Luoyang. We have been traveling north this time. Everywhere we go, we have experienced severe drought or floods, epidemics and malaria, and the people's lives are in great hardship.

But after entering Julu County, he saw cars filled with fine ears of wheat and people with plenty of food and clothing.

You people of Julu are truly blessed to be born in such a blessed place with good weather and abundant harvests."

"Alas, there's no such thing as a naturally blessed place. It's only thanks to the great and virtuous master's magic that Julu County has been able to enjoy such good times for a year or two."

"Oh!"

The big man continued to follow the topic.

"We both heard of the great virtuous master in Luoyang. It is said that he has the ability to call the wind and rain, control thunder and lightning, and can also refine elixirs and talisman water.

Our elders are seriously ill, and we came to Julu to seek medical treatment from the Great Sage Master. Is he really that powerful?

When the old man mentioned the great and virtuous teacher, he became excited.

"Of course it's true, how could it be false?

I have lived for more than fifty years, but I have never seen anyone as good as the Great and Sage Master.

Four or five years ago, the life of people in Julu was no different from that in other places. The emperor required one bushel of grain for one acre of land, and the petty officials dared to collect two bushels. If you couldn't pay the grain, they would force you to sell your children, houses and land.

If there is a natural disaster or man-made disaster, and the government does not reduce or exempt taxes, we ordinary people will have no choice but to commit suicide by jumping into the river.

It's nothing like now.

When the Great Sage heard that our people were living a hard life and had to pay such high grain taxes, he personally went to the counties of Julu County to lobby.

I don't know how he persuaded them, but he convinced all the county magistrates in Julu County to reduce the grain tax to 60% of its previous level.

Hearing the old man's disrespectful words to the emperor, the eunuch looked angry, but still suppressed his anger.

"If that's all, then we can only say that Zhang Shou is well versed in human nature and that he was able to get the county magistrate to reduce taxes with just three sentences, but that doesn't mean he knows any magical arts." "The Great Sage Master certainly knows some magical arts."

When the old man heard the eunuch calling the Great Sage Master by his name, he became unhappy and immediately retorted.

"Our Julu County is also experiencing drought this year, from the beginning of spring to the beginning of summer.

If the Great Sage hadn't performed rituals to pray for wind and rain, and if it hadn't rained heavily every two weeks, would the wheat have grown like this?"

"Have you ever witnessed the act of begging for rain?"

"Of course. It's already the end of April, and the Great Sage Master is going to pray for rain today. I'll take you two from Luoyang to broaden your horizons.

But when you get to the land, you must not say anything bad about the Great Sage Master, or you will be beaten, go—"

The driver cracked his whip and drove the carriage towards Zhangjiabao.

After finishing this conversation, the eunuch and the big man looked at each other and fell silent.

Over the past few years, Zhang Shou has been running his sect in Julu County while sending his disciples to travel around to spread the ideas of Taiping Dao. Now his believers are spread all over Jizhou, and his name has spread throughout Yanhan. Even the Yanhan Emperor Liu Hong knows that a Taoist priest with magical powers has appeared in Julu.

The eunuch and the big man were the envoys secretly sent by the emperor to Julu County.

However, the emperor did not send them on this trip to investigate whether Zhang Shou would rebel. There were many people who rebelled in the Yanhan Dynasty, so one more would not hurt.

The purpose of their trip was just to confirm whether Zhang Shou really possessed magical skills and whether he could refine elixirs to improve his martial arts skills.

The emperor is twenty-four years old this year.

Ever since the previous emperor died childless, Liu Hong was chosen from among the royal branches to enter the palace as emperor at the age of eleven. He has been diligently practicing the "Huangji Jingshi Shu", the most advanced martial art in the world, for thirteen years, but he has not been able to successfully condense his true energy until today.

In this dynasty with martial arts as its foundation, one cannot sit firmly on the throne without sufficient strength.

Everyone says that the emperor relies heavily on eunuchs, but for a child who has been away from home and family since childhood, he has no one to rely on in the cold court, and the people he can rely on the most are the eunuchs who are closest to him and seem the most obedient.

Faced with the empress dowager who held great power, the domineering military generals, and the civil officials who looked down on the emperor, Liu Hong chose to win over the eunuchs for his help, and even shouted out words that shocked the world, "Zhang Rang is my father, Zhao Zhong is my mother."

Over the years, the emperor cautiously relied on the power of eunuchs to kill his relatives, and took advantage of the conflicts among the eunuchs to eliminate dissidents, so that the political situation in the court could barely maintain a balance.

However, the fact that several emperors of Yan and Han dynasties had failed to cultivate true Qi and died young, coupled with his own failure in martial arts training, had always filled Liu Hong with fear and suspicion.

The emperor had always suspected that someone was secretly tampering with the martial arts he practiced, the medicine and food he consumed, the women he slept with, and even the air he breathed, in order to prevent him from completing the "Emperor's Book of Shocking the World".

Because there are too many people who don’t want to see Liu Hong advance to the Qi Transformation Realm.

The power of the imperial court is limited. If you have more, I will have less. Civil officials, military generals, relatives of the emperor, and eunuchs all share this power.

As long as the emperor is still a weakling in the Jingjing realm, they can continue to safely hold the power that they now exercise on behalf of the emperor.

Since there is an opportunity to stand up straight and be a human being, who would be willing to crawl down and be a dog?

Therefore, Liu Hong does not trust anyone in power around him.

This time, he bypassed everyone and sent his confidant directly to Julu County in order to find out whether Zhang Shou could refine elixirs that would enhance his cultivation and help him advance to the Qi Transformation Realm.

Of the two people in the carriage today, the big man with curly beard was the emperor's personal attendant when he was still the Marquis of Jie Du Ting, and the eunuch was the eunuch who had been serving him personally since he entered the palace. He once tasted poison in the food while tasting it for him and almost lost his life because of it.

They are all absolutely loyal.

(End of this chapter)