Shennong Dao Master
Chapter 334 - 13: Southern Barbarians Have a Witch, The Might of Heaven Descends

Chapter 334: Chapter 13: Southern Barbarians Have a Witch, The Might of Heaven Descends

The flood season of Canglan River lasted from April to July, and it was divided into major and minor floods.

Zhao Xing left the Ten Suns Cave Heaven at the end of February, crossed the river on the seventh of March, and arrived in Cloud City after Jingzhe.

He then spent five days reporting the misdeeds of Shao Wanjie, and enjoyed himself at Shao Wanjie’s residence for three days.

The Inspection Bureau of the prefecture city sent people to deal with Shao Wanjie, finishing the task in just two days.

This batch of Martial Artists, led by Xia Jing, arrived in Cloud City for their appointment on March sixteenth.

The Mechanical Masters, Minister of Agriculture, Priests, Ritual Repairers, and Doctors were assigned in batches and were mostly in place by March twenty-first.

As for the seventh-rank officials of each department, they had all been assigned by March eighteenth.

The list of principal officials for each department was as follows:

The County Magistrate of Yun City, ’Duan Ren’, Primary Seventh Rank

The Yun County Captain, ’Xia Jing’, Secondary Seventh Rank (temporary)

The Priest of Yun County, ’Shen Mingyu’, Primary Seventh Rank

The Yun City Du Water Order, ’Zhao Xing’, Secondary Seventh Rank (temporary)

The Yun City Chief Engineer, ’Wang Ji’, Secondary Seventh Rank (temporary)

The Yun County Medical Minister, ’Yuan Yang’, Primary Eighth Rank (temporary)

The five departments, aside from the primary officials, had several eighth and ninth-grade assistant officers either replaced or added.

Among them, the main official of the divine temple, Shen Mingyu, had not been reassigned, so his rank was not temporary.

Duan Ren was not from the Ten Suns Cave Heaven; he was transferred from Jiutian Yingyuan Mansion elsewhere.

All those with temporary appointments were mostly from the reserves of the Ten Suns Cave Heaven.

From March sixteenth to March nineteenth, Zhao Xing, Xia Jing, Wang Ji, Yuan Yang, and others had been holding banquets. They were not meant for indulgence but primarily for getting familiar with people.

Due to the large number of officials sent this time, over two thousand, even if the primary officials were familiar, many others were not. Therefore, they used the excuse of dining to hold meetings.

By March twentieth, Zhao Xing, Xia Jing, Wang Ji, and Yuan Yang met once more, bringing along their assistant officers, such as Han Bing, Che Shihai, Zhang Jie, Chen Fang, Hu Bing, Zhang Yi, Cao Shuang, among others, all of whom were eighth-grade.

Although fewer people were present this time, the key figures of Cloud City, except for Duan Ren and Shen Mingyu, were all there.

The previous banquets were confined to each department. Now, with Zhao Xing, Xia Jing, Wang Ji, and Yuan Yang meeting and bringing along their eighth-grade assistant officers, it was clear they intended to discuss their future plans.

Zhao Xing had planned the content of the meeting in advance, with Emcee Zhang Yi hosting it.

This way of conducting meetings was quite unique, but those present had grown accustomed to it. In the large-scale drills conducted by Zhao Xing in the Ten Suns Cave Heaven, they always used such methods as principal officials’ meetings and expanded assistant officers’ meetings, which were highly efficient.

Zhang Zhong, Jiang Xi, and He Fengnian were also brought along by Zhao Xing. Seeing so many primary officials gathered, it was actually the eighth-grade Priest Zhang Yi who spoke first, making them find it quite novel. They pricked up their ears and listened intently.

"...The specifics of tasks for the people of the five departments vary, but the overall direction is consistent."

"Only the officials who previously had top-tier treatment in the Ten Suns Cave Heaven have tasks with the highest number of rings. Cloud City has forty-six such officials."

"With more tasks, the intelligence in the Military Realm will also be more detailed. I have summarized all this intelligence over the past few days. The first document on the left on each of your desks contains this information. Please review it to check for any inaccuracies or omissions." After Zhang Yi finished speaking, he returned to his seat.

According to Zhao Xing’s requirements, the first item on the meeting agenda was a summary of personnel intelligence and sharing of task content for each department.

Although the tasks for Martial Artists, Minister of Agriculture, Mechanical Masters, Ritual Repairers, and Priests were different, the overall assessment criteria and task directions were related to war and pacifying the Southern Barbarians.

Zhao Xing also picked up the document to review. Although he had completed similar ring tasks in his previous life, it did not necessarily mean it would be the same this time.

After a quick scan, he set his mind at ease.

In the third-ring tasks, even though the content of each profession’s tasks differed, the assessment criteria and task direction were related to war and pacification of the Southern Barbarians.

"Brother Xia, Brother Chen... Do you need to kill thirty eighth-grade Barbarian warriors, with at least fifty percent being mid-to-late stage Spirit Bridge Realm, to achieve an A-level evaluation for the third ring?" Zhao Xing first checked the tasks for Xia Jing and Chen Fang, the top-tier geniuses.

"Yes," Xia Jing replied, "To get the highest evaluation, at least half of these eighth-grade warriors must be mid or late-stage Spirit Bridge Realm alien races."

Chen Fang added, "As someone from the Azure Dragon Bureau, taking on a hundred enemies alone isn’t difficult at all. For a satisfactory C-level evaluation, we just need to kill two Spirit Bridge Realm opponents. What’s hard about that? The main challenge is finding enough to kill."

Zhao Xing nodded.

Indeed, as it was just preparations for war, the two sides were mostly just training and probing each other, and there hadn’t been any major conflicts yet. Finding enough enemies to kill would be the real challenge.

Although Jiutian Yingyuan Mansion was located south of the Canglan River, this buffer zone was still far from the fortified areas of the various Southern Barbarian nations.

To kill enemies, one would either have to deeply penetrate enemy territory or rely on luck.

With good luck, the task could be completed quickly without having to go deep. With poor luck, it might take more than half a year without encountering anyone.

"Our tasks as Doctors are a bit more complicated," Yuan Yang remarked. "For the third ring, our evaluation is based on the casualty rate among officials and civilians due to combat."

"I must treat the injuries sustained by Cloud City’s officials and civilians due to combat. The higher the casualties, the lower my evaluation."

Cao Shuang, upon reviewing the Doctor’s tasks, was puzzled: "If there’s no combat and no one dies, wouldn’t you easily get the highest evaluation just by doing nothing?"