Mang Shusheng's Ink Painting Practice

Chapter 220 Xiuti County Magistrate
"Sir, General Zhou has arrived with supplies and said there are transfer orders."

Just as Zhao Yifu was inspecting the area around Fancheng, a knight brought news.

Zhao Yifu didn't think anything of it at first, but as he walked back, he felt more and more that something was wrong.

What supplies require Zhou Su to send his own daughter to escort?
He had a bad feeling.

Sure enough, when he met Zhou Qingzhao, he not only handed over supplies, but also received her transfer order.

She led a thousand new soldiers into Fancheng and would serve as a deputy general to assist... well, nominally to assist Wu Dun.

Zhao Yifu asked helplessly, "Junior sister, why are you here?"

Zhou Qingzhao knew what he was asking and said with a smile, "My father saw that you might be short of manpower here, so he wanted to send someone over to help you."

"You know, Uncle Yungui is father's right-hand man and it's impossible for him to come to help you. Zaixuan and Xiangyu are always together and father doesn't want to break them up, so he sent me here."

It made so much sense that Zhao Yifu felt speechless.

"That's good. The Fancheng Camp is still being reorganized. It would be much better to have your soldiers to help garrison there at this time."

Zhou Qingzhao didn't say anything, but he was in high spirits.

She asked, "Brother, everyone else has work, what about me? Shouldn't you assign me a job too?"

Zhao Yifu was troubled for a moment. The city's political affairs were handled by Wu Dun, the city's defense was the responsibility of Wei Kang, the military training was done by Zhu Fei, and public security was maintained by his cats transformed into humans.

It seems like there's nothing else that Zhou Qingzhao's people need to do...

But then he suddenly remembered something and said, "Because of the North-South confrontation and the chaotic politics in Lu Zhao over the years, there are actually quite a few bandits active in the Xiangfan area."

"Master Zhou will naturally take care of other things, but the bandit problem in Fancheng needs our attention."

"Since Junior Sister brought a new army, how about we go and train them to suppress bandits?"

Zhou Qingzhao straightened his expression upon hearing this and nodded, "Okay, I'll go right away."

Zhao Yifu quickly stopped her and said, "Don't be impatient. It's not right to leave right after arriving. Rest for a while before going."

Zhou Qingzhao refused to listen. She said, "Fancheng is the front line of our Great Xu. We must resolve all hidden dangers as soon as possible. Besides, I'm just leading people across the Xiangjiang River. There's no need to pamper these new recruits too much."

Zhao Yifu originally wanted to let her take a break, but he didn't expect her desire to work was so strong...

He could only nod and say, "Okay, then you should rest for a night. I'll draw you a map of the surrounding area so that you can move around more conveniently."

Zhou Qingzhao smiled and politely declined, "No need. I met a master on the road who can draw a map for me and even find out the enemy's situation."

Zhao Yifu quickly said, "Junior sister, who is that? I hope it's someone with ulterior motives approaching you."

Zhou Qingzhao smiled softly again and said, "Senior Brother, you'll know if there are any ulterior motives."

Then she shouted to the door, "Sister, come quickly. He wants to see you."

Zhao Yifu's scalp exploded, because the figure that appeared at the door was the object of his recent troubles...his uncle Xiaohui!
"Uncle Hui, why are you with Qing Zhao?"

Hui Gu said with a smile, "I think this girl and I are destined to be together, isn't that right?"

Zhao Yifu had to keep what he wanted to say to himself.

Hui Gu didn't need Zhao Yifu to say anything more. She looked at him quietly for a while before saying, "Then I will go with Qing Zhao. Don't worry."

After saying this, she turned around gracefully and gently, took Zhou Qingzhao's hand and left.

Zhao Yi Fu was at a loss for a moment. He always felt that the advice from his two masters was of no use to him.

That’s right, Huigu is the descendant of Zhenyi Dao, how could she not know how to deal with her own feelings?

But in this way, Zhao Yifu suddenly felt that he was troubled instead.

How should he handle these relationships?
Not only Huigu, but also Zhou Qingzhao...

"I'm sick!"

Zhao Yi Fu decided not to let these things bother him. He was going to work, and would find work even if there was no work!

So he went straight to find trouble with Wu Dun.

"Old Wu, how are you doing with the things I asked you to do?"

Wu Dun was confused. It had only been a few days?
Zhao Yifu looked at Wu Dun's bewildered expression and asked, "Okay, if you have any trouble, tell me."

Then he added: "The most troublesome kind is the one you feel you can't solve on your own."

Wu Dun was speechless for a moment. After confirming that he was not joking, he said, "Sir, my biggest problem now is that the county is short of oxen. Now we can only farm by hand, which is very troublesome."

Zhao Yifu said, "Impossible. When I assigned you the task, I had already inspected the oxen in this county."

Wu Dun said with a bitter face: "Your Excellency is right, but nearly half of these oxen are sick and unusable!"

Zhao Yifu was surprised. He said, "How is this possible? A sick cow?"

As he spoke, his spirit had already left his body. This time, he carefully looked at the local oxen working the field, and discovered... these oxen were all lame!
No wonder then.

These days, oxen are extremely precious, and the imperial court has issued an order prohibiting the slaughter of oxen, but beef can always be bought on the market... Why?
Many oxen, injured in their hooves from long-term work, became lame and could no longer work. These oxen became sick, their last contribution to humanity being their beef.

Zhao Yifu said, "Go, find me a sick cow and let me see if I can help."

Wu Dun wondered if this gentleman could also be a veterinarian?
However, considering that Zhao Yifu had let Shi Youzhao die on his own terms, he couldn't help but feel a little confident.

Soon the sick cow was brought to the yamen, and it was indeed limping.

Seeing this, Zhao Yi Fu didn't say anything. He called Xiong San and he threw the bull to the ground and pinned it down.

Zhao Yifu pulled up the dirty cow hoof and took a look... There were so many cracks on the hoof.

Zhao Yifu thought for a moment, then used Renshui to wash the ox's hoof. He then said to Wu Dun, who was standing in the distance with a look of disdain, "The ox's hoof is so badly injured, don't the people know how to deal with it?"

Wu Dun thought for a moment, then said, "Sir, perhaps these people were originally settlers, and the oxen were distributed by the Liao Kingdom court. Liao Kingdom has many cattle, and usually when they are no longer useful, they are killed for meat, and then new ones are distributed."

Zhao Yifu nodded after hearing this and said, "So that's how it is. The cattle here aren't taken care of by the common people. The cattle officials of Liao State must be crude and unskilled. That's why so many of these cattle are lame."

"Let me try first."

As he spoke, he took action himself, sword energy formed at his fingertips, and then began to cut on the cracked cow hoof.

Layer after layer of cuticle was cut off, leaving a large bad spot.

Suddenly, a stream of thick juice spurted out from the bad spot, but the cow that was pressed by Xiong San did not move, but instead mooed comfortably twice.

Zhao Yifu took a look at the bad spot that was spurting juice, then used his spiritual power to explore its internal structure, and then a flash of sword energy appeared at the tips of his two fingers... The next moment, a large piece of keratin fell off the cow's hoof, completely exposing the festering wound.

"Haha, that's good now."

He used Ren water, or Yang water, to wash the wound, then crushed a healing elixir and applied it on the wound.

It was almost visible to the naked eye that the ulcerated area began to close and recover quickly... The medicine was good, but it was a little wasted.

Zhao Yifu released the hoof and looked at Wu Dun. "This cow is fine now. Have someone take it away. Put a straw bag over the injured hoof for the first month. It will be able to work in the fields soon."

Wu Dun exclaimed in amazement: "Your Excellency actually has this skill, it's simply..."

He wanted to flatter the boss, but suddenly remembered that being able to repair cow hooves was not a title he could boast about, so he got stuck.

Zhao Yifu said nonchalantly, "Okay, from now on, send all the sick cows to me and I'll treat them."

He kept in mind the words of his master Liang Zhongzhi and was determined to turn the area under his jurisdiction into a paradise on earth.

So he is very pragmatic and is willing to do anything to help the people of this county.

Therefore, he even used his Yangshen cultivation and vision to develop a 'keratin hyperplasia technique' to help the cow's hooves recover, and a 'keratin hardening technique' to prevent the cow's hooves from being frequently damaged during daily work.

There is also a 'muscle regeneration technique' that can quickly heal cow hoof injuries.

Of course, we have to mention the 'Xiu Ti Blade Method' which is not sure whether it is a knife or sword technique... The two ancestors fought fiercely for this, but this time they were not fighting for the 'naming rights', but were afraid to avoid it.

There is no other way, so there is this "hoof blade repair method" that can be used with both swords and knives.

By the way, the name of "Xiuti County Magistrate" also became famous.

The people in the county all called Zhao Yifu this way. To outsiders, this seemed like a joke, but only the people in Fancheng knew that it was a nickname of endearment.

They were all very grateful to Zhao Yifu for doing this, especially after these oxen were distributed to the village, which became important assets of the village or the entire ethnic group.

No one knew that Zhao Yifu actually stabilized the people's hearts in the entire Fancheng County by repairing cow hooves.

Even because of his title of "Xiuti County Magistrate", the people had no fear of him and would tell him about any problems they encountered.

Either ask him for advice or ask him to resolve a dispute.

Then, Zhao Yi Fu showed the world what a Yangshen cultivator would become when he was wholeheartedly trying to govern a place well!
Differentiation of the primordial spirit is a high-level application of the primordial spirit and is also the next stage of cultivation in the Yangshen realm. Zhao Yifu achieved this while concentrating on it.

Because Fan Cheng had too many things to ask him, and sometimes his yang spirit and main body were too busy to deal with them.

So he split his Yang Shen into seven Yuan Shen incarnations, each of which was modified by magic to look like a real person, and then sent to various places to deal with problems.

It was also thanks to the underdeveloped transportation and information in various places at that time, otherwise the people would have known that their county magistrate was actually everywhere.

Wu Dun was about to be killed. The incarnations of Zhao Yifu in various places would send him specific operational instructions... He had to deal with the orders of seven or even eight or nine Zhao Yifus alone, which really made the fat man very busy. He even had no intention of doing anything crooked.

Sure enough, as long as you curl up enough, you will become clean.

When Zhou Qingzhao successfully suppressed the bandits and returned, he suddenly found that Fancheng had changed a lot.

People's hearts are at peace, and it can even be said that people leave their doors unlocked at night and do not pick up things on the streets. The public security environment has risen to more than one level in one go.
Especially when she and Huigu saw Zhao Yifu's real body trimming cow hooves in the yamen, they felt unbelievable.

How could a county magistrate do such a dirty thing?
The oxen worked in the fields every day, and their hooves were covered with mud, especially the diseased hooves, which had a foul odor.

Such a dirty job was actually done by a county magistrate himself. If it were to be spread out, he would definitely be ridiculed by those scholars and considered as a disgrace to society.

Zhou Qingzhao said with some distress: "Brother, why are you doing this?"

Zhao Yifu said, "Someone has to do this, but everyone thinks it's dirty, so why not let me do it?"

"Don't worry, this is only temporary. I've asked Wu Dun to go around and find some farmers of the right age. I'll teach them the hoof trimming technique, and they'll be able to do it themselves in the future."

Hui Gu looked at Zhao Yifu's skillful technique and asked, "Nephew, are you practicing?" Zhao Yifu said, "No, I'm just doing my job as an official. My master told me to be a good official."

Zhou Qingzhao said, "But I have never seen an official like you."

Zhao Yifu said: "They are the judges, and I am the father and mother of the country."

Zhou Qingzhao seemed to understand something, and Huigu also showed a hint of realization.

She said firmly: "Entering the world to practice cultivation, this is how you should be."

Zhao Yi Fu smiled without saying anything. He loosened the clamp that was holding the cow and asked the old farmer who had delivered the cow to drive it away.

"Thank you, my Lord. Thank you, my Lord."

The old farmer was very grateful.

Zhao Yifu smiled and shook his head, saying, "Just farm well and pay the taxes when the harvest is good."

The old farmer said, "That's for sure, for sure!"

The old farmer thanked the old farmer profusely and led the cow away.

Zhao Yifu, as if nothing had happened, cast a small spell to clean up the things on the ground.

Hui Gu sighed and said, "Only with you do I realize that Taoism can be so full of worldly spirits."

Zhao Yifu felt that she was calling him unsophisticated, but after all, he was his uncle.

So he changed the subject and asked, "Have the bandit problems been resolved?"

Hui Gu nodded and said, "There are no more bandit troubles in Fancheng."

"By the way, we seized a lot of things, look..."

Zhao Yifu said, "You can keep half of the spoils for yourself and use them to reward meritorious soldiers and generals. The remaining half can be divided among the soldiers themselves. New recruits need some material rewards for fighting."

Zhou Qingzhao tried to refuse, but Hui Gu held her back and said, "Listen to him. He's teaching you the rules of leading troops."

"This guy doesn't seem to care about you, but he actually considers everything for you."

Why does this sound sour?
Zhou Qingzhao blushed slightly upon hearing this, but he still clasped his fists and said seriously, "Thank you for your guidance, Senior Brother."

Zhao Yifu felt very tired. Why was it so difficult to talk to these girls?

At that moment, a man with a small mustache, disguised as an official, came over and said, "My Lord, the scout cat that was scouting the surrounding area has returned with information on enemy movements. They seem to be gathering troops in Baishui, Yunqiu, and Xiachuan counties, northwest, north, and northeast of Fancheng. I'm afraid they could pose a threat to Fancheng."

Zhao Yifu was silent for a moment after hearing this, but in fact, the incarnation of his soul that was nearby had already gone over to take a look.

Sure enough, there was an intention to mobilize troops.

Zhao Yifu couldn't help but ponder, "There's no reason to be on guard against thieves for a thousand days. The noise from the neighboring county is really disturbing."

"Junior sister, I need to gather the generals to discuss matters. Please wait with me in this county government office."

As he said this, he asked his servant to pass on the message, and he personally helped to clean the county government office.

However, even after it was cleaned, there was still a stench of livestock in the county government office.

There is no way.

The generals from Fancheng arrived one after another.

Wu Dun, who had been busy with government affairs for more than two months, arrived first. He looked much thinner, and it seemed that a lot of fat had been lost from his body. He even had some signs of baldness... How miserable.

The next person to arrive was Wei Kang. He had almost finished repairing the city defenses and was about to find Zhao Yifu to report his achievements.

Next came Zhu Fei, who was training troops outside the city. He looked much stronger and darker.

But it was visibly seen that his aura had become even stronger... It wasn't just a feeling of bravery, perhaps one could even add the word 'heroic' to it... heroic.

Zhao Yifu was very satisfied with Zhu Fei's changes, but he didn't know how much progress Zhu Fei had made.

He looked at everyone, then silently spread out a piece of white paper in front of the table, and then picked up the pen and started painting.

Zhu Fei seemed very excited and nostalgic when he saw this... He had come to this point because of a painting by Zhao Yifu.

Zhou Qingzhao also had a similar feeling.

Wei Kang was curious because he had never come across Zhao Yifu's way of doing things.

Wu Dunze felt a little numb. Such pictures had almost become his nightmares in the past two months... He could actually see Zhao Yifu drawing pictures for him in his dreams. It was unbelievable.

Zhao Yifu's brushstrokes are swift, effortlessly outlining the walls of Fancheng and the surrounding hills with just a few lines. Don't dismiss this painting as merely impressionistic; every turn and even every thickening of the ink in this seamless line can be found in real life.

In this way, a map that looks simple but is actually detailed was drawn.

Then he quickly clicked on the details of the garrisons in various places.

According to this detailed intelligence and previous experience, Yang Zaixuan only needs to lead a thousand people to defeat them.

Of course, he now has more people and more soldiers available.

He said, "I want to send three generals to attack these three cities separately. What are your opinions?"

The generals bowed and said, "We are willing to follow your orders, sir."

Zhao Yifu dipped his pen in ink and wrote the word 'Zhou' under Baishui County. He said, "Junior sister, lead our troops to attack this place. Although there are many soldiers in Baishui County, most of them are newly recruited. We should be able to win the battle."

Zhou Qingzhao clasped his fists and said, "Qingzhao obeys!"

It looks very impressive.

Zhao Yifu then wrote Zhu Fei's name under Yunqiu and said, "This is where the enemy's baggage is concentrated. If we can capture it, it will greatly reduce the enemy's morale and shake their military spirit. We need a brave and capable general who can lead the troops to attack."

Zhu Fei's spirits lifted, and he said, "Fei, I'm willing to fight to the death!"

Zhao Yifu smiled and said, "They won't die. Use your brains and control the casualties."

At this time, there was only one place left, and Wu Dun was sweating coldly with nervousness.

Zhao Yifu saw that he was amused and said, "Old Wu, why are you so nervous? You don't think I'll send you to the front line, do you? Fancheng's government affairs are so busy, and we can't do without you."

Wu Dun heaved a sigh of relief after hearing this, but at the same time he was not angry about being looked down upon... because he suddenly realized that he had been redefined!

He is now a general who specializes in internal affairs!
Wei Kang consciously took half a step forward, knowing that his mission had arrived.

He is a surrendered general. He is not afraid of having missions, but he is afraid of not having any missions assigned to him.

Zhao Yifu indeed wrote the word 'Wei' under Xiachuan County and said, "General Wei, I leave this place to you... I must make one thing clear: a powerful Liao army of 10,000 people is gathering in Xiachuan County. You are under great pressure... no, the greatest pressure."

"I don't ask you to achieve any results, I just ask you to stop that powerful army and prevent them from supporting the other two places."

This was obviously not a suicide mission, and it gave Wei Kang a lot of leeway.

Wei Kang nodded solemnly and said, "Don't worry, my lord. I will definitely die without turning back!"

Zhao Yifu laughed and said, "As I said before, use your brain more, control casualties, and don't let anyone die."

He paused, thought for a moment, and finally took out the letter seal and stamped it.

Now he generally doesn't use this chapter, after all, he doesn't really need Yang and spiritual energy now.

I just thought that this was my first formal military meeting, so I decided to stamp it as a souvenir.

However, what he didn't expect was that when he pressed the red seal of the word "faith", Wei Kang trembled all over, and then knelt down in front of Zhao Yifu with a "bang" like pushing a golden mountain and overturning a jade pillar.

"Boom!"

He hit his head on the ground.

"Boom! Boom!"

Three times in a row.

Wu Dun was surprised and asked, "What's wrong with you?"

Unexpectedly, when Wei Kang looked up again, tears were streaming down his face. He reached out with a trembling hand and pulled out a wrinkled piece of yellow paper from his arms. He then carefully unfolded it in front of Zhao Yifu and showed it...

"Benefactor, so you are my benefactor... No, it turns out I have always been my benefactor!"

This nonsensical remark left everyone confused.

Everyone looked at the yellowed paper and saw that it was a letter from home. At the end of the paper was a slightly faded red seal with the word "letter"... It was exactly the same as what they had seen just now!
Zhao Yifu laughed heartily at this and said, "That's it. Back then, a mother and her son asked me to write a letter for them. It turns out that it was sent to you."

Wei Kang kowtowed again and said, "My benefactor, I was young and frivolous back then. Because Lu Zhao kept trying to trip me up, I got so angry that I did something I'll regret for the rest of my life."

"I originally thought that I would never be able to return to Daxu again, and that I would even be separated from my wife and children forever..."

"Who would have thought that first, my benefactor sent a letter home, letting me know about my wife and children's situation, and then my benefactor defeated Lu Zhao, giving me hope of returning to Daxu... My benefactor, please accept my respects!"

As he said this, he started to kowtow again.

Seeing that he had almost vented his anger, Zhao Yifu helped him up and said, "So it was Lu Zhao who blocked your way back. This man is really despicable."

"Alright, now that you've restored order, you should continue to work hard for the court."

"And..." He walked forward, patted Wei Kang on the shoulder, and said seriously: "This time, you can imagine the scene of returning home in glory and making your wife and children proud of you."

Wei Kang's tears, which had originally stopped, suddenly started to flow again.

"Yes!"

He responded emphatically.

Zhao Yifu stood with his hands behind his back and said, "Now, each of you should prepare to go. Take this map with you as well. Let's discuss the timing of your respective actions... These three battlefields may seem independent, but they can actually be linked together."

As he said this, he waved his hand and let the generals think about how to fight.

　I love watching hoof trimming recently

　　
　
(End of this chapter)