Everything seemed to suddenly fall into place, moving along the predetermined trajectory.

The whole of Lushan City was no exception—

Recently, the citizens within the city realized that a new City Lord had descended upon them. Somehow, their lives seemed to completely change... regularity, efficiency, impeccable order, and neatness; as if the entire city, over the course of a few days, had quietly been integrated into a cohesive whole.

Dissolving into unity, all fragmented parts were concentrated into a single entity!

Thus, only one will was followed, and only one voice was heard!

Of course, it's not about using an iron fist, striking with force, or the adage of harsh rule being worse than a tiger. In reality, there were no coercive measures. Often, a simple directive would be issued from the City Lord's Mansion and then executed as a matter of course, proceeding so smoothly that it was almost unimaginable.

Commands like these could emerge dozens of times in a day, often providing specific guidance on various aspects, including market regulation, price control, recruiting personnel, etc., all sorts of baffling decrees.

How should I put it, the first impression it left was one of playfulness. After all, this situation made one suspect whether the new City Lord was a child, utterly ignorant of governing a city or land, just finding it amusing, thinking sporadically, without caring for consequences.

However, despite the concerns of many commoners, the local dukes and noble landlord classes were also quite annoyed, yet strangely manifested a sort of "saying no, but meaning yes."

Clearly, at the start, everyone seemed to be quite resentful, displaying a highly resistant attitude, feeling that this was utter nonsense and shouldn't continue, lest Lushan City be wrecked and fall into decline.

Nonetheless—

Perhaps everyone held the idea that someone else should take the lead, or that they had reservations they dared not speak, or perhaps they just wanted others to make a fuss first to see what might come of it, choosing not to act rashly... What if the new City Lord truly had the mind of a child and would fly into a rage when opposed?

Some of the noble landlords were watching for entertainment, likely quite gleeful, thinking public discontent was immense, with no need for them to stand out; just let the masses make a noise, the bigger the better. When the time was right, they could act.

In any case, everyone had a good plan in mind.

It was unclear if some mysterious power made them all share such astonishingly similar thoughts or simply amplified thoughts they already had, resulting in an improbably coincidental occurrence.

Everyone thought the new City Lord was problematic, and these governance methods were utter nonsense. They all expressed grievances, yet no one acted, thinking someone else would... Consequently, everything proceeded smoothly.

As days passed by, and after about half a month, when they gradually reacted...

Everything had been standardized; under the comprehensive guidance of those peculiar yet efficient decrees, the efficiency of the entire city had improved by more than one or two levels. The unbelievable implementation consolidated originally scattered parts into an efficient, almost fully operational machine.

Prices, driven up by years of war, began to show signs of stabilization. Small-scale municipal projects were initiated, and the refugees fleeing the war from various places gradually disappeared from the streets.

But not as before, dying unnoticed in some corner or forced into banditry in the mountains, rather they were transformed into the labor force... Perhaps some jobs were hard and strenuous, but as long as they had food, these unfortunate souls could survive, not falling into complete despair.

Not everyone felt things were gradually improving. Some had their interests harmed, especially by the measures to stabilize prices and suppress hoarding and profiteering, but it was just the beginning. Their losses were not significant enough to confront the new City Lord head-on.

After all, no one knew how strong the backer of the latter was, and what the connection was to the Fuma of Mino; no one believed that this suddenly appointed acting City Lord was just Saito Dosan's whim without any deeper meaning. Perhaps all this was orchestrated by that Viper?

That's how it was.

Perhaps Saito Dosan's Viper name carried too much intimidation; no one doubted this old fellow's viciousness and sinister methods. Perhaps it was still some unknown mysterious power in effect, or maybe both, the latter leveraging the former's conditions to exert influence.

In any case, still, no one came forward to oppose someone's fiery start as a new official.

......

"Wood +4..."

"Metal +2..."

"Farmers -1..."

On this day, Gu Mo was meticulously observing the reflection in the water basin, pulling the aerial view of the entire Lushan City and the surrounding areas under its jurisdiction, forests, and farmland, watching it over and over again. Meanwhile, on the left side of his field of vision, the dense display numbers were constantly fluctuating and changing.

Every now and then, a brief increase or decrease would appear after some numbers.

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