045 Planting Compensation

  Three hundred years ago, after that mysterious gathering which caused the entire realm's high-end powers to be emptied, the Heavenly Court seemed to have intentionally abandoned its administrative authority, or rather, maintained a generally indifferent and unresponsive attitude.

  Without the catalytic effect of Tian Ting's heavenly seal, relying solely on the natural spirit and local incense faith transformation method, the birth rate of land gods is far from making up for the inevitable losses caused by various conflicts. If this situation continues, many places will have vacant positions of mountain gods, land gods, and city gods for a long time.

  In places where the situation was relatively better, such as the old mountain temple of Tianzhu Mountain in previous years, relying on lower-ranking officials and yin soldiers could barely maintain the situation. In places where the situation was not good, they simply became a paradise for monsters to gather and play.

  When the skin is gone, where will the hair adhere to? The Di Qi network shares information and claims to be an intelligence network with no holes, but now it can be said that it's not what it used to be. Just like this time, the White Lotus Sect's secret report about Jiang Jia Cang's rebellion was easily leaked. If it wasn't for Yan Chixia having a friend from his school days at Guan Zhonghua Mountain Academy who knew he had been implicated in the rebellion and sent someone to send a secret letter to remind him, perhaps Huang Shirren and Lin Xu would still be in the dark until the governor's army arrived at Jiang Jia Cang town.

  When Yan Chixia received this concise letter advising him to run away quickly, after the initial shock and confusion, Yan Chixia immediately found Tudiye Huang Shiran, and Lin Xu's spirit also attached itself to a body to come and discuss countermeasures.

  "What a great White Lotus Society, what a group of shameless scoundrels! These things that are worse than pigs and dogs should really die!"

  After glancing over the secret letter sent by his fellow student Yan Chixia through a servant, Huang Shiren's old face was red with rage. He puffed out his mustache and glared, grasping his white beard with both hands, which he usually cherished dearly. This time, Huang Shiren was clearly infuriated by the shamelessness and despicability of the White Lotus Sect.

  Don't be naive and think that in a situation involving treason and rebellion, things can be explained clearly.

  No matter in what era or under what regime, rulers have always had the mentality of "it's better to kill a thousand by mistake than to let one go".

  Many times, for those who are in the late stage of paranoia, their thinking logic is very clear. As long as the person being investigated really has the ability to start a rebellion, this is already enough reason to take action, without any motive or preparatory behavior. If you remove the elaborate packaging reasons and simply put it in plain language, the thoughts of the superiors are just one sentence: you have the ability to rebel, which in itself is a great sin, so you should die!

  A disaster of swords and guns is inevitable, Huang Shiren's face was whiter than before when he was furious, now calm, his face showed a bloodless pale.

  In ancient times there was a famous saying: "Bandits are like lice, soldiers are like fleas, and officials are like razors."

  Most bandits were originally peasants, mainly because they could not afford to pay rent and taxes, or did not want to go to the border to serve labor, or had committed a crime, so they simply took a risk and went up the mountain to become bandits.

  Similar to these small-scale bandits, apart from tilling a few thin fields in the mountains, their remaining work is just relying on guarding their territory of about 180 square miles to make a living. Such bandits are often connected to the surrounding towns and villages, so when they go down the mountain to plunder, they only take away some money, grain, and floating wealth, and must maintain a restrained attitude towards hurting or killing people. Therefore, ordinary people summarize that bandits are like combs, after they pass by, nothing can be seen on their heads.

  Before the government mobilized troops to come and put down the rebellion, many of the soldiers were just passing through, their only goal was to get promoted and make a fortune.

  Promotions rely on beheading, wealth relies on looting, and massacring villages can satisfy both of these needs at the same time. It can be inferred that in the places where the army arrives, ordinary civilians are also hard to escape.

  When the troops passed through, the civilians were like being scraped by a bamboo tool with fine teeth, leaving not even a louse on their heads.

  The phrase "officials are like razors" is one of the easiest to understand, when it comes to greed and shamelessness, there are few under heaven who surpass low-level officials, they don't care about the lives or deaths of the common people. Anyway, if the common people are really forced to rebel, this matter also doesn't require them to take responsibility, the cruel methods used by officials to extort money are as sharp as razors, wherever they go not a single hair is left, isn't it just like shaving heads?!

  The great Qin Empire is now in a state of turmoil, the emperor who has no interest in state affairs is devoted to Buddhism, and has donated a large amount of land and houses to temples, while the national treasury is insufficient.

  Not only were high-ranking officials on the court unable to receive their full salaries, but military expenditures could not be guaranteed to benefit the entire army. For this reason, the empire's elite troops, except for those stationed on the border, were concentrated in Guanzhong and Hebei to garrison, while Shu was excluded due to geographical reasons. The above three regions concentrated nearly half of the country's population and financial resources, and were the main irrigation agricultural areas. As for other places, they could only rely on local troops to maintain order, and all expenses were solved locally. For this reason, military discipline in various places deteriorated to an appalling degree.

  For example, the Qin army stationed in Huainan, the source of soldiers was either criminals who were sentenced to military service or bandits who were incorporated. It would be flattering to say that they were a family of soldiers and bandits.

  Those local tyrants who are native to the place still know that a rabbit does not eat the grass near its nest, but these vicious and arrogant rascals do things without any scruples. Who dares to expect them to show mercy? It's better to hang oneself early on to avoid further suffering.

  As soon as he thought of these annoying things, Huang Shiren, the landlord, would be able to remain calm and composed, his city would be able to draw a blank face and sing an empty city plan.

  The old saying goes well, the thief bites one mouthful, and enters the bone three points. The White Lotus Society's move to accuse people of treason is indeed too sinister and too vicious.

  Pitifully gazing at ally Lin Xu, Old Land hesitantly said:

  "Uncle, do you want me to activate the divine talisman?"

  The Landlord God is undoubtedly one of the most inconspicuous small gods in the pantheon, but they have a lifesaving trick, the Land Deity Symbol.

  When each Land Master receives the Heavenly Seal, he also gets three Land God Symbols. This thing is not a Return City Scroll, but a big killer in the Immortal Hero version. The basic function of the Land God Symbol is to trigger an earthquake, which is equivalent to a magnitude 5 earthquake. If all three are stacked together, it means that a strong earthquake above level 10 will occur. With such great power, there must be constraints on its use. As a price, once the Land Master uses up all three Land God Symbols, he will automatically lose his divine position, divine job and divine status, and fall into the Six Paths of Reincarnation.

  Earlier, when Lin Xu was chatting with Huang Shi Ren, he had also heard about the power of the Land God Symbol. Upon hearing this, he was shocked and turned pale, repeatedly waving his hand and saying:

  "It's better not to use this thing unless absolutely necessary! Don't worry, we'll think of another way, and we'll get through it somehow."

  Huang Shiren nodded and followed with sincere words:

  "Alright, I'll leave it to you then. The White Lotus Society gangsters will sooner or later find out what it means to mess with me."

  Huang Shi-ren, the former Landlord of Jiang's Village, was a prominent merchant who inherited his ancestors' bamboo and wood business and became rich. At the peak of his wealth, his family assets reached one million taels, earning him the nickname "Huang the Millionaire".

  Due to his benevolent and generous nature, never stingy with money, many people in the local community had received help from Huang Shiren. Therefore, a hundred years after his death, he still received offerings and sacrifices from the locals, and his spirit was not forgotten. Later, he even received the title of "Tianfu" (Heavenly Seal), formally becoming the Land God governing the region.

  The land of Jiangjia Village can be said to be connected with the blood of Huang Shiren. Although he has long since disappeared from the world, leaving no direct descendants, the people living in Jiangjia Village are, in Huang Shiren's eyes, just like his own flesh and blood. As the saying goes, "A dragon has reverse scales; touch them and you will be killed." Whether it is an ordinary person, a god, or a ghost, every individual with independent thought has something in their heart that cannot be measured by external values, and this is a truth that applies to all four seas.

  Deep love, deep hatred. To the people of Jiangjia Village, Landlord Huang Shiren seemed like a kind and benevolent old man, taking good care of his own children and grandchildren. Whoever wanted to harm the people in this town would find it more painful than having their heart cut out with a knife.

  The White Lotus Sect actually used such a despicable trick, clearly intending to wipe out the entire Jiang family, regardless of age or sex. This ruthless move of theirs has finally provoked Old Man Huang's temper. It's worth noting that once a kind-hearted person gets angry, they can be even more terrifying. Those who dare to commit great evil must have a strong sense of good in their hearts to support them; otherwise, they wouldn't be able to sustain themselves until the very end. Now, with this added resentment and strong desire to protect his family, Old Man Huang is capable of doing anything.

  After much persuasion, Lin Xu temporarily dispelled the idea of Huang Shiren's jade and stone being burned together, but he was indeed a bit helpless in riding a tiger. Previously, so many resources were spent on Huang Shiren, if he activated the Land God Symbol, then he would directly reincarnate, wouldn't all the manpower, material resources and emotional connections Lin Xu had invested earlier be wasted?

  Even if it's just for his own investment and not wanting it to become a pie in the sky, Lin Xu has got to come up with a solution.

  Lin Xu rummaged through the pile of old papers for several days, and when he gained something, he treasured a battle map like a precious treasure and came to discuss it with Huang Shiran.

  Lin Xuan unfolded this array diagram on the desk and pointed out several details on it, saying:

  "...the Nine Palaces Confusion Formation, this formation doesn't have the power to harm people, it just makes those who enter unable to find their way north. The officials and soldiers summoned from the prefecture and county may be elite, but they are still ordinary people with limited vision, waiting for me to use the earth's energy to set up a large array, I'm sure they won't be able to think of a solution to break it. As long as we can get through this storm, send someone to the county government to clear up the charges and resolve the matter, it will be much easier to handle."

  Lao Tudi Huang Shiren's qualifications were not outstanding, and he was not good at Qimen Dunjia techniques. Looking at the complex array diagram, it seemed like a duck listening to thunder, fortunately, there was still some basic common sense in this aspect.

  Although acknowledging Lin Xu's method as the best choice, Huang Shi-ren still looked worried and said with some unease:

  "Little brother, this method is indeed good, but... will the White Lotus Sect's evil people just sit back and do nothing? I can predict that they will definitely kick us while we're down."

  Upon hearing this, Lin Xu's face showed no signs of hesitation. He had thought about this problem before. With one hand on the formation chart, Lin Xu revealed a confident smile and said:

  "Never mind, let's think of a way to tie those guys' hands and feet instead."