Shennong Dao Master
Chapter 309 - 1: Starting with a slash, is the first ring of military affairs this thrilling? _2

Chapter 309: Chapter 1: Starting with a slash, is the first ring of military affairs this thrilling? _2

Zhao Xing opened the box that Gao Ming had sent and took out a new Earth Mirror to check. Sure enough, the first task had already been issued.

However, Zhao Xing’s expression changed slightly after seeing the first task.

"What’s wrong?" Chen Shijie asked.

"The first task, the location is in Xier County."

"That’s perfect, isn’t it? Old Chen can return with us along the way," Long Xiao said nonchalantly, until he noticed the serious expressions on Zhao Xing and Chen Shijie’s faces. "Your first task doesn’t have anything to do with the Divine Might Army, does it?"

Zhao Xing stayed silent.

Chen Shijie’s face grew even darker: "Is it that serious?"

Serious enough that the two of them had to keep their distance and couldn’t know the task details?

Zhao Xing nodded slightly.

Long Xiao’s mouth fell open: "Your first task isn’t an inspection task, is it?"

"Don’t ask," Chen Shijie said in a deep voice, "Hand over your Earth Mirror."

"Oh, okay," Long Xiao said, taking out his Earth Mirror from inside his clothes.

Then Chen Shijie took out his own Earth Mirror and handed it to Zhao Xing as well.

Their attitude was very clear, indicating that they supported him and that he should proceed as he saw fit.

Zhao Xing thought for a moment and said, "You can keep it. I trust you."

"It’s not about trust," Chen Shijie said firmly. "Your evaluation in the Military Realm starts the moment you leave the Grotto Heaven. There’s a divine monitoring over you, and every action of yours will be watched. Keep it. Return it to us when we reach the Inspection Bureau in Xier County."

"Alright," Zhao Xing agreed, putting away Chen Shijie and Long Xiao’s Earth Mirrors.

...

The Arrowfish Flying Boat pierced through the sky. Chen Shijie was piloting it outside while Long Xiao entered the cabin, and Zhao Xing, along with Mountain Cat, went into another room.

Because Zhao Xing’s first task was in Xier County and it was an inspection task, the atmosphere turned somewhat heavy.

As a result, the three of them didn’t communicate for the rest of the trip.

After flying for most of the day,

Zhao Xing suddenly looked outside the cabin.

The Water Element Power between heaven and earth had become denser.

"The destination is almost here," Zhao Xing said, sitting up straight. Xier County was near the river, where the Water Element Power was several times denser than it was outside the Ten Suns Cave Heaven.

Observing the heavenly times and feeling the earth advantages, the water veins in the earth veins also grew stronger.

Taking out his own Earth Mirror, Zhao Xing looked at the task again.

[First Military Task: Inspect the Divine Might Army]

[Location: Xier County]

[Military Realm Intelligence: Xier County is a critical border town. However, due to prolonged peace and neglect, numerous illegal activities have already taken root within it, including smuggling, illegal crossing, corruption, rape, murder, plunder, kidnapping, and injuries, totaling 1,423 offenders.]

[Below are the specific names and respective crimes of each individual. You need to convict and punish the people on this list.]

[Submit the completed task through the Earth Mirror.]

Zhao Xing opened the name list and reviewed it.

[Hong Tai: Current Changshui Captain of the Divine Might Army, Secondary Seventh Rank. Former Land Register Commander of Tao County in Xier County for five years. After the reformation of the Divine Might Army, he returned. Crimes: Raped fourteen people, caused the suicide of five, and after Marquis Boping’s reappointment, killed all family members of the fourteen victims to cover up his crimes.]

[Qi Shan: Current Middle Barrier Captain of the Divine Might Army, Secondary Seventh Rank. Former Pinghuai Commander of Fubu County in Xier County for three years. Set up unauthorized checkpoints and accepted bribes from foreign merchants, totaling 3.42 million taels.]

[Fan Geng: Current Nine-section Commander of the Divine Might Army, Standard Eighth Rank. Former Agricultural Minister of the Taicang Bureau in He Yuan County. Abused power for personal gain, appropriating three mountains and two lakes, and a total of 14,800 acres of farmland.]

[He Cheng: Current Nine-section Commander of the Divine Might Army, Standard Eighth Rank...]

[Chang Sihai...]

...

The list was long. After quickly scanning it, Zhao Xing closed his eyes and pondered.

Marquis Boping lost the position of the Divine Might Army’s main general five years ago.

He had also returned to his fiefdom.

In those five years, the Divine Might Army had become a hollow shell.

Without a main general, most of the soldiers were dispersed to various places to serve as officials. Old Chen came to Nanyang County, Gucheng, for five years for this reason.

A year ago, which was when Zhao Xing came for training, Marquis Boping Yang An was reinstated and reappointed as the main general of the Divine Might Army. As a Secondary Fourth Rank General, regardless of Yang An’s original strength, as long as he held the position of the main general, he would definitely reach the Fourth Rank Realm.

If a major battle broke out, he could temporarily possess the combat power of a Standard Fourth Rank. This was a feature of the Fortune Dynasty System.

Regardless of your actual strength, once you assume this official position, your strength and rank would definitely match.

Following the reformation, many of the soldiers who had been dispersed to various places as officials returned to Xier County.

Of course, there were also those who were unwilling and didn’t want to fight anymore, so there was a need for reservists to supplement the troops, leading to the selection process.

Five years was enough time for a brave and battle-hardened soldier to become corrupt.

After the reformation, Marquis Boping Yang An did nothing but reorganize military affairs in Xier County, retrain the soldiers, and restore their combat power and morale.

However, Yang An wasn’t a god. Even though he screened out many people in this year and conducted self-investigations on the Divine Might Army, some people still hid their illegal activities well, keeping those activities concealed.

For example, the top name on the list, ’Hong Tai,’ remained in Xier County even after the main general of the Divine Might Army was dismissed.

Due to the precedence of military affairs in key border towns, his power remained considerable.

Upon learning that Marquis Boping Yang An had returned, he immediately dealt with his illegal activities and became the Changshui Captain (a position within the Military Minister of Agriculture).

"It’s easy to check others, hard to check oneself. Self-investigation rarely cleans up thoroughly," Zhao Xing thought. "He might even consider past relationships and let former subordinates off the hook, allowing them to wear their crimes as merits."

The Great Zhou’s border military system granted considerable power to the primary commanders of military towns, as did the enfeoffed princes. The handling of crimes by the vassals of the princes was also left to the princes to decide.

If Yang An discovered illegal activities, as long as he was willing and it wasn’t an unforgivable crime, he had the authority to let his subordinates go.

Additionally, various millennia-old families received immunity from death sentences during the Grand Ancestor’s era, which was another form of privilege.

Emperor Wen was lenient with the people and officials alike; he didn’t touch these systems. But Emperor Jing was different.

He squeezed these families, leading by example in self-improvement. Using various reasons, he reclaimed a large number of these families’ immunity tokens. This was the main direction of his two-hundred-year-long reforms.

During the Jingxin Period, he focused on border military reforms. As for the enfeoffed princes? That’s the foundation of the nation. He didn’t dare take such a big step yet.

"During the Jingxin Period, the Military Realm greatly increased the recruitment of reservists. These inspection tasks also surged. Receiving such a task, if I want a high evaluation, I must align with the court’s grand strategy."

"The best approach would be to ruthlessly cut down all these people."

"Only this aligns with Emperor Jing’s expectations. He wants to supplement the army with ’fresh blood,’ meaning people who dare to confront the powerful and are selfless."

"Doing so will surely earn me an ’A’ rating."

Zhao Xing rubbed his forehead, thinking from the perspective of the task setter, quickly determining the ’best answer.’

"But that’s the court’s desired best answer."

"If I truly went to such extremes, it would surely provoke the contempt of the Divine Might Army soldiers. It might even displease Marquis Boping. People are like that; as long as their interests aren’t touched, they will surely plead for their brothers. There is mutual sympathy."

"If I execute half and spare half, the court might give me a ’B’ grade, indicating I have the courage to act but didn’t go far enough. In that case, I might as well kill them all."

"If I reduce capital punishment to heavy penalties and deal leniently with serious crimes, based on my previous performance, I should still get a ’C,’ which is passing," Zhao Xing pondered.

He didn’t even consider the possibility of failing, because even if he did nothing, merely reporting the situation to Marquis Boping and then submitting the report would get him a ’C’ grade, thanks to his solid foundation from the first half of the training.

Inspection tasks did not assess the personal abilities of a Military Minister of Agriculture Officer; they didn’t even test character, as the three aforementioned systems allowed Zhao Xing to release people.

This task only tested his heart, to see if this genius’s heart was aligned with the court.

However, three consecutive ’C-’ scores, even if he was previously an ’A’ level genius, would end his career after completing three task cycles.

At most, he could become an eighth-grade Military Minister of Agriculture Officer.

"Starting off with executing captains and commanders, the first task is this intense?" Zhao Xing muttered, looking out the window.

The Arrowfish Flying Boat began to decelerate and descend.

Xier County was here.