Braised Dragon with Soy Sauce

Chapter 250 Take precautions before they happen

Moved by the tragic backgrounds of these children, Mo Yuming felt a surge of intense pity.

He often pleaded with the river elder and his companions stationed there to come down and take care of these poor children, and to give them all the help and support they could.

After a period of seclusion, the children's wounded hearts began to gradually heal and recover.

Their once dull and lifeless faces slowly blossomed with more and more innocent and radiant smiles. This seemingly closed-off prison had now become their most secure and peaceful haven.

Seeing such positive changes in the children, Mo Yuming felt extremely gratified from the bottom of his heart.

At the same time, he became increasingly convinced that his bold decision was wise and correct. No matter the risks and pressures, it was all worthwhile if it could help these children rediscover joy and happiness!

On the way back to Zhongyuan City, Mo Yuming and Ji Xianlin traveled by carriage. Sitting in the spacious carriage, they could chat and enjoy the scenery along the way. In the past, they were always rushing back and forth between the two places and never had the leisure to appreciate the scenery stretching through the mountains and valleys.

After the Wushuang Hotel was built on the cliff of self-sacrifice, it brought many benefits to merchants traveling between the two continents. After leaving the hotel, they no longer had to travel for nearly two hours to travel between the original Dongying Town and Xiyu Town.

There's no need to walk that rugged, winding, and extremely dangerous Deadly Slope anymore; you can directly cross the Resurrection Bridge to enter and exit Jian'an City.

Moreover, this entire area is under the control of the Great Xia Empire and is garrisoned, completely eliminating banditry and making it very safe.

Gradually, the number of travelers between the two continents increased significantly. After more than a year of operation, the Wushuang Hotel had become quite famous and its business was booming.

After leaving Wushuang Fortress, Mo Yuming accompanied Ji Xianlin through the garrison camp, from the underground shopping street to the Wushuang Grand Hotel. Along the way, Mo Yuming enthusiastically introduced the buildings.

After seeing these engineering projects, Ji Xianlin couldn't help but praise Mo Yuming's bold ideas and ingenious designs.

They set off by carriage from the Wushuang Grand Hotel, crossed the Resurrection Bridge, and headed towards Jian'an City along the post road. When they passed the place where they had taken the hot air balloon out of the valley, Mo Yuming and Ji Xianlin made a point of getting out of the carriage to take a look.

Mo Yuming specially ordered a stone house to be built here and stationed people to guard it, claiming it to be a sentry post to protect the safety of the post road. Of course, only they knew its true significance.

The abandoned old house where everyone had stayed for one night was also renovated and preserved by Mo Yuming's people.

We had lunch at the Fuyuan Hotel in Jian'an City. During the lunch, Ji Xianlin and I also visited the Jian'an Academy, which is under construction and is a school that combines a middle school and a primary school.

Mo Yuming's plan includes four primary schools, two middle schools, and one university. The university will be located in Zhongyuan City, the middle schools will be located in Jian'an City and Shangyuan City, and the primary schools will be located in Zhongyuan City, Shangyuan City, Luoxia City, and Jian'an City.

Later, Lu Gelao, who was in charge of school construction, suggested merging the middle and primary schools in Zhongyuan City and Jian'an City into one school. This would make it easier to manage and save a lot of construction costs and resources.

Although the school is not yet completed, it has already begun enrolling students and teaching. The academy is open to all citizens of Daxia, and any boy who reaches the prescribed age and passes the test can register for enrollment.

Mo Yuming's middle and primary schools do not charge tuition fees, but they do accept donations from the community. This makes the ordinary people very grateful.

This is the first time in the history of the Tianxuan Continent that children of commoners have been able to attend school. Apart from the children of royal relatives and noble families who can enter the imperial schools, even the children of wealthy merchants cannot enter regular academies and can only run their own private schools and hire teachers to educate their descendants.

The Jian'an City Academy is located in the former City Lord's Mansion, which belonged to the former City Lord Liao. It is the largest courtyard in Jian'an City, with spacious front and back gardens in addition to the buildings. Most of the original buildings are not suitable for teaching and need to be renovated and additional teaching buildings need to be added. Therefore, it will take some time to complete.

The first batch of students being recruited are children of residents in Jian'an City, totaling eighty children aged six to eight. They are divided into two classes: one class has fifty-one students with average spiritual affinity, who will be taught literature and mathematics; the other class has thirty-nine students with excellent spiritual affinity, who will be taught basic Qi cultivation and martial arts.

There is a lot for the children at the primary school to learn. In addition to the compulsory courses of literacy, etiquette and morality, Mo Yuming has also set up elective courses: Introduction to Xuan Gong and Qi Men Enlightenment.

Therefore, children are divided into classes based on their talents from the beginning, and each class has its own focus in terms of teaching. As for the second stage of learning arithmetic and construction, cultivation of esoteric arts, enlightenment in weapon crafting and alchemy, and introduction to Qimen mecha, these are taught after the age of ten, based on the students' specialties and interests.

It is said that on the first day of the trial enrollment, thousands of parents brought their children to register, and countless others came to watch, creating a very lively atmosphere, like a festival.

The registration period, which was originally three days, was completed in less than a day. Fortunately, it was explained beforehand that this was a trial enrollment, and formal student enrollment would only begin after the school was built. Otherwise, we really wouldn't have been able to explain it to the parents who came to register.

Seeing the children studying diligently in the classroom, Ji Xianlin sincerely sighed, realizing that Mo Yuming's grand scheme was beyond the comprehension of ordinary people.

Although the Great Xia Empire is currently smaller than even a single prefecture of those other empires, it is bound to rise rapidly. Perhaps in just a few years, the Great Xia Empire will reveal its ferocity and look down upon all others. This place will inevitably become the center of the world's attention.

After leaving Jian'an City, Mo Yuming accompanied Ji Xianlin to visit Luoxia City, Su Family Ranch, Wild Wolf Valley Military Base, Wohugang Fortress, and Shangyuan New District.

The design and layout of the Shangyuan New District is particularly innovative. The houses within the new district are arranged in a staggered and orderly manner, blending harmoniously with the surrounding garden landscape. It gives one the urge to move in immediately.

When Mo Yuming proposed developing the Shangyuan New District, many members of the Elders' Council were not optimistic. After all, there was no precedent for building and selling houses in the Tianxuan Continent. Everyone chose their own location and built their own residences, which was cheaper and unrestricted. Those with money preferred to buy other people's houses in the existing urban areas.

However, after Mo Yuming implemented a strict land management system, people couldn't say anything, because anyone from the Great Xia Empire who wanted to build a house had to obtain approval from the county government first; otherwise, it was illegal and punishable. This was even more true for outsiders. They had to register as citizens of the Great Xia Empire before they were eligible to buy a house to live in.

Those who wanted to settle in the Great Xia Empire were naturally merchants who had business dealings with the region, as well as wealthy people who wanted to send their children to study in the local academies.

Therefore, people naturally had no choice but to buy the houses developed by Mo Yuming in the face of these regulations. Moreover, although these houses were a bit expensive, the surrounding facilities were very good, the environment was beautiful and the price was worth it, so they naturally had a market. Therefore, even before Mo Yuming's new city was completed, many people had already paid to buy it.

Mo Yuming's purpose in developing real estate was to attract talent. After all, the Great Xia Empire was located on the edge of the Monster Mountain Range, a remote area with a vast land area but a sparse population and lagging development. To achieve rapid development, it was necessary to attract more people to settle down here.

Therefore, ordinary people without money could not be turned away. So Mo Yuming decided to establish reclamation farms near the Su family ranch, as well as in Luoxia City, Wangxiang Town, Dog Head Valley on the outskirts of Shangyuan City, Qianheng Town in Zhongyuan City, and Linxiang Town, a border town on the way from Zhongyuan City to Zhenglan Kingdom. He encouraged ordinary people from outside the area to settle down in these places, not only exempting them from taxes but also subsidizing the cost of infrastructure construction.

Although this policy has only been in effect for a few months, it has already attracted thousands of civilians from Zhenglan Kingdom and Dachi Kingdom. As time goes on, the number of people migrating to Daxia will only increase.

Originally, along the thousand-mile-long post road from the Valley of Heartbreak to the Central Plains City, there were only a few small villages, apart from some scattered houses around a few towns.

It was rare to see many pedestrians on the road in a day. Now that the security has improved, many more houses have appeared along the post road without us even noticing. Some of these houses have even set up stalls, teahouses, and restaurants in their front courtyards to serve the growing number of travelers.

Mo Yuming's carriage took three days to reach Zhongyuan City, with frequent stops and starts.

Jiang Yuheng, who was temporarily in charge of the city, came out to greet them. The civilian personnel sent by Su Yangyan had already moved in and taken over the affairs of Zhongyuan City. Once new leaders were elected, the government offices of Zhongyuan City could smoothly take over the city.

In the days since Mo Yuming's incident, all eight cities under the jurisdiction of Zhongyuan City have been captured, the war is over, and the passes leading to the Great Red Kingdom have been garrisoned. The cities are currently undergoing reorganization and stability maintenance. Most of the troops have withdrawn from the urban areas.

After a short rest, Mo Yuming and Jiang Yuheng discussed holding a meeting of the Grand Secretaries that evening to recommend the first Princess of Zhongyuan City.

That evening, Mo Yuming invited Ji Xianlin to attend the meeting. The meeting proceeded according to the established procedure. Su Yangyan, Jiang Yuheng, Huo Chengde, and others recommended candidates. Mo Yuming also recommended Ji Xianlin's two great-grandsons, the brothers Ji Jiayun and Ji Jiahe.

After comprehensive evaluation by the Grand Secretaries, it was deemed most suitable for Ji Jiahe to serve as the first Princess of Zhongyuan City. Ji Jiahe had lived in Zhongyuan City for decades and was a native of Zhongyuan City. He was most familiar with Zhongyuan City and had been doing business in the city for many years, so he had a certain degree of fame. This would be of great benefit to the smooth transition of Zhongyuan City.

After the meeting, Mo Yuming invited Ji Xianlin to join the Council of Elders and serve as the first president of Zhongyuan University, with Duan Shichen and Ge Zhuang as vice presidents.

Ji Xianlin has severed ties with the Ji family of Yijianxuan. Now his descendants are all in Zhongyuan City, and he will naturally settle down there in the future.

Therefore, they did not refuse Mo Yuming's recommendation but gladly accepted it. After learning that Ji Xianlin had been the prospective patriarch of the Ji family, one of the seven great families, and possessed a cultivation level of the fourth rank of Heaven, everyone was excited to have such a powerful figure join their team.

This wasn't just because of his status and cultivation level, but also because of his experience and knowledge. After all, apart from Huang Xiaoxiao, who was born into a prominent family, all the other core members of the Great Xia Empire, including those Heavenly Rank cultivators who had surrendered, were born into humble backgrounds. Naturally, their knowledge and experience couldn't compare to Ji Xianlin's.

After the election meeting, Jiang Yuheng told Mo Yuming that Wu Yan from Jingzhou had sent two Heavenly Rank guest elders who were currently residing in the city lord's mansion, their purpose unknown.

"It seems that the disappearance of Wu Qing and his son has alarmed Wu Yi. We need to speed up our plans."

Su Ce said.

Only Su Ce, Sun Min, and a few other relevant individuals attended this military conference. The other senior officials present had already left. Ji Xianlin and Ji Jiahe also departed.

"Currently, only Master Da and fifty Falcon Guards are lurking in Jingzhou. They can protect themselves without much problem, but they are still a bit weak in controlling the situation. Now that Elder Ji and the two Grand Secretaries Duan and Ge are in charge of Zhongyuan City, they already have enough deterrent power. Tomorrow, send Master Long and Master Hu to pick up Master Da and protect Manager Wang of Fuyuan Restaurant. Manager Wang is the key to controlling Wuyan. There can be no mistakes."

Mo Yuming said.

"The Falcon Guard is a bit small. They have to protect the safety of our civilian staff and monitor the movements of key figures in Jingzhou City, so they are somewhat overwhelmed."

Now, with two more Heavenly Realm experts of unknown background, the situation is even more difficult to handle.

Sun Min said.

“We’ll send a group from Shangyuan City and Jian’an City. Also, we can send Ah Hao; he has a special tracking skill that can be useful in critical moments. But you have to protect his safety and make sure nothing happens to him,” Mo Yuming said to Sun Min.

“That’s no problem. When there’s nothing else to do, I’ll arrange for him to stay at the Fuyuan Hotel and be by Master Long’s side,” Sun Min replied.

"How's the construction of Black Dragon Fortress going?"

"His Highness is currently working hard to set up the formation. The underground passage will be completed soon, and the first phase of the soldiers' resting barracks is almost finished. It should be no problem to station 10,000 to 20,000 people," Jiang Yuheng replied.

How many troops do we have available to deploy?

"Less than ten thousand. Although we have nearly one hundred thousand prisoners that can be reorganized, even if we reorganize them according to our standards, we might be able to retain thirty to forty thousand, but they would still need six months of training to reach our standards. This is hardly a solution to our immediate crisis!" Jiang Yuheng sighed.

"This problem is not difficult to solve. Although the situation in Jingzhou is hard to predict, even if a war is ultimately unavoidable, it is unlikely to happen in the near future. Besides, we still have more than 10,000 strong soldiers who can be on standby at any time."

We can arrange it this way: first, station these 10,000 soldiers at Black Dragon Fortress, ready to be deployed at any time. Then, we can begin reorganizing the prisoners, dividing the selected prisoners into two groups. One group will be sent to Wolf Valley Fortress for training, and the other group will be sent to Black Dragon Village Fortress for further training. In this way, even if war breaks out soon, the prisoners from Black Dragon Village can serve as a reserve force to meet unforeseen needs.

Mo Yuming analyzed.

"It would be best to find a way to deceive everyone. If we can stall for half a year, we won't have to fear the Zhenglan Kingdom," Su Ce said.

“We can find a way to create some trouble so that those two guest ministers from Zhenglan Kingdom are temporarily unable to return to report, and we also need to make them believe that the matter in Jingzhou has nothing to do with us,” Sun Min said.