"The Lianghuai salt merchants are making suspicious moves." Yan Shan took out a piece of intelligence.

It detailed the Lianghuai salt merchants' plans to manipulate the grain market.

Xu Qing was reviewing the new-style waterwheel designs co-created by the Ministry of Industry and the Fang Immortal Dao, his wolf-hair brush hovering mid-air. The cicadas outside suddenly became ear-piercing. The hot wind brought in the unique sulfur smell of the minting plant into Xu Qing's office room.

"How much grain do they have?"

Yan Shan replied, "According to the Embroidered Guard's report, they hold at least 300,000 shi of Jiangnan japonica rice."

Upon hearing this, Xu Qing put down his pen. The tip of the wolf-hair brush pressed heavily onto the rice paper, spreading a stain of ink, forming a landscape painting.

Xu Qing looked up towards the copper bell at the eaves corner, where a Demon Suppression Talisman made by Fang Immortal Dao was tied.

The official army had suppressed the civil unrest, killing many vagrants, but soon after, there were cases of these scattered vagrants transforming into demons.

The transformation of vagrants into demons was more terrifying than a plague.

Even Jiangnan was seriously impacted, causing public fear and anxiety.

Xu Qing thus had these yellow paper cinnabar things hung in all the government offices.

He did not believe in this, but he needed something to soothe the people's minds.

And he could also make a bit of money from this.

The Jiangnan region, be it scholars or commoners, now all had money.

"How much grain is left in the warehouses?"

"Yingtian Prefecture's Changping Warehouse has only about 50,000 shi that can be moved." Yan Shan paused, then continued, "What's more perplexing is that the eight major salt fleets of Lianghuai all altered course last night to Yu Hang."

The copper bell moved without wind.

Xu Qing put down the pen and pulled out the Longevity Silver Coin he carried close. The dragon pattern pressed by steam rubbed against his palm; this was his personally designed anti-counterfeiting mark, visible only with a magnifying glass made by the Ministry of Industry.

Since ancient times, no coins were as exquisite and complex as today's Longevity Silver Coins, and the more coins minted, the lower the cost of labor.

"Have you checked the rice prices in Yu Hang?"

"The price per shi has risen to three taels and seven qian." Minister of Revenue Chen Fu stepped into the room, mud from the outskirts still on his official boots. "And more troubling is this."

He unfurled a piece of silk, with strange designs painted in cinnabar: hundreds of skeletons stacked to form a lotus platform, with a faceless Buddha statue sitting in the center.

"White Bone Lotus Temple!" Yan Shan stepped back half a step and bumped into the office's precious decoration—the Duobao cabinet, causing an enamel vase to shatter with a sound. "This is a cult spreading among the Northwest vagrants, wasn't it already suppressed?"

"A few days ago, the granary in Chunhua Town was robbed, the soldiers guarding the grain turned into demons. Those vagrants... their eyes glowed green, they could tear raw iron apart." Chen Fu's face was extremely grave.

Xu Qing suddenly stood up, the urgent Northwest report beneath the paperweight was lifted by the wind, revealing a corner. He recalled what the Temple Master at Chaotian Temple night-watched the constellations and said not long ago: "Ying Huo enters the Southern Dipper, the blood lotus blooms ninefold. Gongming, what must come will come."

Black Mountain Demon, Snowfield Living Buddha!

Two names flashed in Xu Qing's mind.

The emergence of the Snowfield Living Buddha was inseparable from the Esoteric Buddhism Monk Shanzhi he encountered in Liao Xi skidmark, who was precisely Black Mountain Demon's pawn.

"Yan Shan, I will dictate, and you note it down. Immediately implement three policies." Xu Qing's silver coin buzzed on the desk as he spoke, "First, have the Ministry of Industry assemble all steam engines into anti-drought waterwheels; within seven days I want to see the Yangtze River backflowing into Black Water Lake; second, inform the Martial Arts Academy, it's time for these students to stretch their muscles; third..."

He took the Weiyang Sword off the wall and tossed it to Chen Fu: "Take the Embroidered Guard and the Martial Arts Academy students to seal off the private ports of the Lianghuai salt merchants, and say that I suspect them of colluding with Eastern Barbarians, smuggling grain to the Liao Dong Jurchens..."

"And you?"

Xu Qing had already reached the corridor. A terrifying Martial Saint Qi-Blood exploded from him, like the scorching sun, causing the bluestone slabs to emit steaming heat. He looked at the rolling thunderclouds in the north, a thunderstorm incited by the joint rituals of Fang Immortal Dao and Dragon Tiger Mountain.

This drought required a combination of mechanisms and Dao skills to allow human power to overcome natural disasters.

One could say that under Xu Qing's careful planning, the Great Yu Dynasty not only had the potential for a successful renaissance through reform but also might become an unprecedented Immortal Dynasty.

If this step could be achieved, to what extent his Heavenly Demon Technique would terrifyingly evolve, even Xu Qing could hardly imagine.

…

…

Yingtian Prefecture, with three hundred steam mechanisms standing by. The polished steel casings shimmered blue under sunlight, the sound of interlocking gears growling like a giant beast. These were the Ministry of Industry's latest "drought demon nemesis", each boiler inscribed with a Fire Avoidance Talisman, and the piston rods made from Thunderstruck Wood.

Captain Zhang, who took care of Xu Qing's horse, brought over the Fire Cloud Horse that whinnied like dragon roars.

Xu Qing pressed the Six-headed Gold Seal at his waist. As he mounted, thunder cracked in the depths of the clouds, raindrops bouncing off the coin's emblem, as if scattering tiny sparks.

The downpour came ferociously.

"I'll destroy this cult!"

Xu Qing's voice resounded gently yet mightily between heaven and earth.

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