Double penetration: This Three Kingdoms has dragon energy

Chapter 151 The Terrifying Zheng Xuan
“Excellent! It is a blessing for the whole country that you think this way. I hope you will treat the people of Jinan well in the future!” Zheng Xuan said calmly.

Ji Qiu was slightly taken aback, and hesitated before asking, "Does Lord Zheng mean that you are willing to let Jinan Prefecture surrender to me?"

“Of course, isn’t that why you came, my lord?” Zheng Xuan said with a smile.

Ji Qiu frowned and said, "Doesn't Lord Zheng have any other requests? For example, preferential treatment for the Zheng family of Jinan..."

"Why should they be given preferential treatment? If the ruler can treat the people well, they can live in peace even without preferential treatment."

If the ruler cannot treat the people well, even if he treats them well, they will still find it difficult to last long!
"I am willing to surrender Jinan because I value you as a person, not because of the preferential treatment you have promised!" Zheng Xuan said calmly.

Ji Qiu immediately gave a thumbs up and praised loudly, "Well said! Zheng Gong truly deserves to be called the greatest Confucian scholar of our time; his ideological awareness is indeed high!"
Those powerful families who only think about their own interests all day long should come and take a good look!
Let's see if they'll be killed out of shame!

Although he praised her verbally, he still harbored some doubts in his heart.

Was Zheng Xuan truly as selfless as he appeared?

It wasn't that he didn't believe in saints, but rather that things had gone far too smoothly.

Even if Zheng Xuanzhen was truly a saint who was utterly selfless and dedicated to helping others, how could he so easily trust Ji Qiu?

The whole thing went so smoothly that it was like going through the motions.

It was as if there was a divine hand in the dark, having arranged everything, just waiting for him to be like a puppet, to complete the scripted tasks he was supposed to fulfill.

However hesitant one may be, it's impossible to spit out the fat that's already in one's mouth.

So we can only eat it first and then see if there are any problems!

So Ji Qiu began to take stock of what he had gained from the trip.

First, there's Zheng Xuan himself.

Zheng Xuan was a top-ranking scholar who possessed innate secret arts and the ability to educate.

This secret technique not only allows the user to impart their own secret skills to students with reduced training requirements, but also enhances students' learning abilities.

The first-class peak teaching secret technique can reduce the difficulty of the secret technique to one-third, while increasing the learning ability three times!
This is an extremely terrifying ability.

If used for training a strong military, it can not only save two-thirds of the cultivation resources, but also increase the cultivation speed by 300%!

It can also play a significant role in cultivating talented individuals or those who are unorthodox or unconventional.

To put it bluntly, Zheng Xuan alone could increase the overall strength of an organization by more than five times!
If he fully supports the Zheng family of Jinan, he could even give them the ability to directly confront Ji Qiu!

Besides the secret techniques of moral education, Zheng Xuan also possessed seven other acquired secret techniques.

1. Mingde Chuanshi: Capable of perceiving livelihood issues in the jurisdiction (uneven taxation/wrongful convictions).

The initial level of the ninth rank increases perception range by 10%, each minor level increases perception range by 3%, and each major level increases perception range by 7%.

2. Encourage farmers to shorten the crop growth cycle in the jurisdiction.

The initial level of the ninth grade is shortened by 20%, each minor level is shortened by 5%, and each major level is shortened by 10%.

3. Drawing a line in the sand: Demarcating a legal territory to imprison criminals and forcing them to perform hard labor such as building city walls.

4. Fish Scale Yellow Register: Automatically counts population changes within its jurisdiction, with a 15% error rate across nine ranks, and at its peak, it is accurate to the point of an infant's cry.

5. Equalization and Price Stabilization: Consumes dragon energy to balance grain prices. 200 points can suppress low grain prices that harm farmers, and 500 points can curb speculation and hoarding.

6. Collect folk songs and observe folk customs: Enhance the popularity of official folk songs.

The third rank can be implanted with the "Imperial Mandate," enabling the people to spontaneously uphold the reputation of the government.

7. Mingtang Biyong: Automatically enhances the comprehension of children within its jurisdiction, enabling them to quickly reach the ninth level of literacy, with the peak producing a prodigy who "masters the classics at the age of seven".

These seven acquired secret techniques are all Confucian secret techniques, and all are practical secret techniques needed for governing local areas.

Learning any secret skill can secure you a position in the government.

If one could master all seven secret techniques, one would at least be qualified to be a county magistrate.

Secondly, there is the strength of Moshan Academy.

Moshan Academy itself is a building imbued with the aura of dragons.

Possessing a secret technique, ink marks cleanse the heart.

It can increase the speed of students' secret technique cultivation within the academy by 50%!

Meanwhile, at Moshan Academy, there were also three hundred Confucian scholars studying under Zheng Xuan.

These Confucian scholars learned at least one of Zheng Xuan's seven acquired secret techniques, and some even learned three of them.

In other words, these Confucian scholars could at least serve as county-level officials.

In better cases, they might even be appointed as county magistrates!
This is a great gain for Ji Qiu.

Today, the smallest administrative unit under Ji Qiu's rule is the community, above which is the street, and then the county.

Because he followed the path of modern urbanization, concentrating the population on a large scale in towns and cities.

Therefore, each county has a population of one million.

Each street has 100,000 residents.

Each community has nearly 10,000 residents.

The path of highly urbanized development places higher demands on both the quantity and quality of management personnel.

Although Ji Qiu has been working hard to cultivate management talent, it is still not keeping up with the needs of the force's development.

The twelve county towns in Taishan Prefecture were alright, barely able to meet the needs.

However, the Beihai New City and many county towns under construction in Beihai Prefecture are truly lacking in management talent.

Now that we have these three hundred Confucian scholars from Moshan Academy, this problem can be solved directly.

Of course, he wouldn't directly assign these three hundred Confucian scholars to Beihai New City and other cities in Beihai Prefecture.

These were, after all, old-fashioned talents who had not been tempered by experience. Although they possessed management skills, they could not meet Ji Qiu's requirements in terms of ideology and concepts.

Therefore, they need to undergo training first.

Ji Qiu planned to have the publicity department conduct a three-month training program for them.

We'll assess their training effectiveness three months later before assigning them jobs.

Those Confucian scholars who accepted Ji Qiu's ideas and became his followers could be assigned to important positions.

Those Confucian scholars who could not accept Ji Qiu's ideas and could not become his followers would be assigned to less important secondary positions.

This was a training exercise for the Confucian scholars, and also an important test for the propaganda department.

Let's see if they can convert Confucian scholars who have received long-term orthodox Confucian education into believers.

If this can be achieved, it will prove that the propaganda department truly possesses combat power.

This also proves that Ji Qiu's ideas have truly gained recognition from the mainstream values ​​of the Dragon Qi Three Kingdoms world!
Third, there is the Zheng family of Jinan.

As a mid-level aristocratic family outside the city, and at its peak, the Zheng family of Jinan was naturally very powerful.

They possess a formidable army of 30,000, typical of mid-level aristocratic families outside the city, with an average level of advanced eighth-grade secret arts.

There are also a large number of rare treasures, gold and silver, grain and cloth, and secret treasures.

However, as the first aristocratic family to actively seek refuge with Ji Qiu, even though Zheng Xuan never mentioned the treatment of the Zheng family in Jinan, he was directly rejected when Ji Qiu specifically raised the issue.

But no matter what, Ji Qiu could not possibly go too far against the Zheng family of Jinan.

Therefore, he simply sent Zheng's 30,000-strong army from Jinan to Jibei Commandery and handed it over to Liu Bei.

Then they spent money to buy back all the people and land of the Zheng family in Jinan. That was the end of it.

The wealth accumulated by the Zheng family of Jinan over hundreds of years still belongs to the Zheng family.

Fourth, the people of Jinan.

Although Jinan Prefecture was not large in area, it had a considerable population.

There are a total of 450,000 people!
It can be called the third largest prefecture in Qingzhou!
These people naturally followed the example of the people of Pingyuan County and all went to Beihai County.

After tallying up the gains from this trip to Jinan Prefecture, Ji Qiu was even more puzzled.

Overall, Jinan Prefecture's strength was actually stronger than he had anticipated.

Moreover, Zheng Xuan has extremely high prestige, and if he were to truly rally support, he would definitely want to confront Ji Qiu head-on.

But why did he choose to surrender directly?

Is it really as he said, for the sake of all living beings?

There doesn't seem to be any other reason.

So let’s do this for now.

Regardless of whether Zheng Xuan's actions were truly innocent, the truth will eventually come out.

Ji Qiu was not worried that Zheng Xuan would infiltrate his forces and turn against him in the future.

Given the state of his power, any external force that joins in will be broken up and reorganized before being absorbed.

They have absolutely no ability to turn against them!

So Ji Qiu bid farewell to Zheng Xuan and returned directly to Taishan County.

……

Taishan Commandery, the governor's office.

Ji Qiu had just returned to his residence and hadn't even had time to wash his face when Jia Xu came to visit.

"Wenhe, you really don't give me any free time at all. Can't you let me rest for a while?" Ji Qiu said helplessly.

As his status rose and his power grew, he had less and less time to rest.

Sometimes, I really don't know if we've put the cart before the horse.

Whether it's making money, developing power, or cultivating secret techniques, the essence is all about living a more comfortable life.

But why does life feel increasingly uncomfortable these days?
However, if he were asked to give up this busy life and return to his previous idle existence, he would certainly be even more unwilling.

Perhaps this is the ideal.

Maslow said long ago that the highest level of human need is self-actualization!

Jia Xu said with a wry smile, "My lord, I didn't mean to disturb your rest, but the military situation is urgent and cannot be delayed. I must report it to you immediately!"

"Alright, then tell me what's going on?" Ji Qiu asked.

Jia Xu said, "First of all, our plan to peacefully occupy Donglai County has failed, as the Wang family of Donglai is unwilling to surrender to our lord!"

"Well, this result was expected. Since they are unwilling to surrender voluntarily, let's proceed with the plan and prepare to send troops!" Ji Qiu said calmly.

He was mentally prepared for the lack of cooperation from the Wang family of Donglai.

When the Wang family had just occupied Qi Commandery and Le'an Commandery in the late autumn, they sent an envoy with a large sum of money to pay homage to Ji Qiu.

Their intention at the time was very clear: to strengthen their relationship with Ji Qiu and leave themselves a way out for the future.

If Ji Qiu hadn't halted his military advance and had instead taken Beihai Commandery directly, Donglai Commandery would certainly have surrendered as well.

But Ji Qiu stopped to reorganize the internal affairs.

As Ji Qiu reorganized the internal affairs, the attitude of the Donglai Wang clan towards Ji Qiu began to change.

From initial enthusiasm, it gradually turned into indifference.

The reason for this change in attitude is not hard to guess.

It's simply that after seeing how Ji Qiu treated the powerful families under his rule, the Donglai Wang clan no longer wanted to get close to him.

After all, all of the Donglai Wang family's decisions were for the benefit of the family.

They originally thought that by siding with Ji Qiu, they wouldn't need to give up too much benefit, so they were naturally happy to spend money to buy peace of mind.

But now that they see so much benefit to be given up, they are reluctant to give it up and naturally don't want to get close anymore.

Ji Qiu's attitude towards the Wang family of Donglai was very clear.

Regardless, Dongnae County must be captured.

If the Donglai Wang clan is sensible, then give them some preferential treatment and strive for a peaceful occupation of Donglai County.

If the Donglai Wang clan is ignorant, then we should send troops directly and occupy Donglai County by force!

But Jia Xu shook his head and said, "I'm afraid that won't work. We cannot send troops to Donglai County at the moment!"

"Why is that?" Ji Qiu asked in astonishment.

Jia Xu said, "The second thing I need to report is that Yuan Shao and Yuan Shu are preparing to jointly submit a memorial to the court, recommending Tao Qian as the Left General, to command the military affairs of Qing and Xu provinces!"

"Yuan Shao and Yuan Shu jointly submitted a memorial? They're trying to sow discord and use one tiger to devour another! What was Tao Qian's reaction?" Ji Qiu asked, frowning.

Jia Xu said, "Tao Qian has already accepted the position of Left General and is currently mobilizing troops, preparing to have Zang Ba lead 100,000 elite troops to attack Beihai County!"

"A hundred thousand strong army? Hah, Tao Qian really thinks highly of me!"

Ji Qiu sneered, but his expression suddenly turned serious.

One hundred thousand strong troops—that's by no means a small number.

At present, Ji Qiu's total number of elite troops is only about 100,000.

This also includes a battalion of 20,000 newly trained sailors.

Tao Qian, as expected of a powerful warlord who had integrated the strength of the entire Xuzhou region, actually dispatched a force of 100,000 strong troops.

It truly gave him a feeling of being crushed by Mount Tai.

"With Tao Qian's 100,000-strong army pressing on the border, it seems that we really cannot send troops to Donglai County."

But what is the reaction of the Wang family of Donglai now?
"They won't cooperate with Tao Qian to attack Beihai County, will they?" Ji Qiu asked.

Tao Qian's 100,000-strong army, though under considerable pressure, was still able to withstand the strain.

However, if the Wang family of Donglai joins in the fun, then things will become more complicated.

Although the Wang family of Donglai is the weakest among the mid-level aristocratic families outside the city of Qingzhou, it is still a mid-level aristocratic family outside the city.

If they launch a full-scale attack, they can still cause some trouble for Ji Qiu.

If these minor troubles are compounded by Tao Qian's 100,000-strong army, it will be enough to put enough pressure on Ji Qiu, forcing him to change some of his established plans.

Fortunately, at the crucial moment, Jia Xu reassured him: "No, at least from the intelligence we have so far, the Wang family of Donglai has no intention of cooperating with Tao Qian in sending troops."

Their attitude remained the same as before: they planned to sit back and watch the showdown, deciding their next move based on the outcome.

"I see. It seems that the Wang family of Donglai is indeed very lucky, having escaped another great calamity!"
I was even thinking of using this battle against Tao Qian to kill two birds with one stone and directly unify Donglai County by force!
It seems that Donglai County will eventually be peacefully unified!

"Alright, go and invite Fengxiao, Zhicai, and Mr. Jungong over. Let's discuss this matter together!" Ji Qiu said with a light laugh.

(End of this chapter)