Divine Brilliance

Thinking about this, Kong Rui frowned slightly. Zong Shou treated his subjects so strictly, wasn’t he afraid they would turn against him?

Officials dressed up no different from normal people, how could they show the status of the court? How could they display reputation and prestige to the commoners?

How very preposterous…

He heard Weiyuan laugh out, “Country Father-in-Law doesn’t know, Ruler has always saved what he could regarding these useless expenditures. What’s weird is that he is generous in our salaries. I am a primary Grade-4 Official in Gantian but my salary can feed 3,000 people. I remember two years ago Prime Minster Ren was furious regarding this matter, scolding the Ruler for not knowing how tough it was to manage finances.”

Kong Ruo was stunned, a year’s salary could feed 3,000 people?

Looking at Weiyuan, although the robe worn on the outside was normal, the shirt collar that stuck out was trimmed well. On his hand, he wore a High-Grade Crystal Ring, made from

High-Grade Beast Crystals and could even be considered a Spiritual Artifact.

It seems like this person really lives a rich life. The other few looked in good shape, most probably they all spent their money in a low profile manner.

He shook his head slightly. He was finding the Gantian Mountain Ruler more and more tough to read.

When he heard these words, instead of becoming relaxed he became more worried.

For a Grade-4 Official to get such a high salary was totally inconceivable in Great Shang! He could only say flatly, “Your country’s system is special, different from normal.”

Although he didn’t sound like he wanted to comment, he said it with a mocking tone. Weiyuan laughed but didn’t bother much about it.

At the start he also found it preposterous, but after two years of adapting, actually it wasn’t much.

He was grumbling a little, there was not much difference between a high or low role. Sometimes with a high rank you couldn’t even utilize your power. You all wore similar uniforms so who would know what kind of Official you were? Why couldn’t they make a Rainbow City perfect token to hang on his head?

As for those customs and rites, Gantian Mountain didn’t have any special rules, you could do anything you wanted. As long as you had money, you could even spend more than the Ruler.

Weiyuan wasn’t so dumb as to fight with wealth with those rich merchants and large races.

However, with a generous salary and rich life, he also didn’t need to go all around to send gifts and bribe offices. He also didn’t need to spend any effort on corruption.

“Country Father-in-Law is wrong about that, since you are Concubine Yao’s Father, naturally you are from our country. You should be calling it ‘my country’ instead!”

He paused and then asked, “Is Country Father-in-Law going to rest for a day or two here or are you heading directly to Gantian Mountain?”

When Kong Ruo heard this he didn’t hesitate to shake his head, “Prefect Rui please prepare a carriage for me!”

Thinking about his daughter, he didn’t want to delay anymore and wanted to see her, the sooner the better.

He also wanted to take a close look at the person the Confucians already regarded as a preposterous ruler.

The hand within his sleeves clenched as he instinctively touched the side of his waist.

It was a really small Heaven and Earth bag but inside was hidden a great treasure.

Wen King divination money…

This was left by the ancient fellow who was closest to the Saint Emperor and also the ancestors of the Divination Path.

It had always been passed down the Kong Family but because no one used it, it was neglected and abandoned in the warehouse.

When he was young, he came across it when he was playing and his divination skills increased, allowing him to become the best in the Kong Family.

This time he made up his mind to use these few Wen King top treasures to predict the fate of this Ruler!

Weiyuan seemed to have predicted his anxiousness, slightly nodding his head, “Since that is the case, then I won’t try to make you stay. The carriage has already been prepared and it is not far away. I will send you out now! However, there is probably some inconvenience on the road so you should be prepared.”

After saying these words, he gestured a ‘please’ hand signal. Kong Ruo looked over, following his gaze, and then he frowned.

This was a carriage group made up of 14 cloud crossing carriages and they were all dragged by really strong horses.

The grandest one was actually pulled by 16 Windrider Foals, the 4 at the lead were actually Grade-4. The carriage body had gold and jade indented in it, which gave it a really luxurious appearance. The other carriages were a bit lousier, but they still had eight horses and more, seemingly prepared for the servants he had brought.

The moment he stepped out, he stopped, his eyes filled with doubt.

“This is the duke system!”

16 horses, all Grade-4 Windrider Foals…. In the Great Shang Dynasty, only a duke could use them. The cloud crossing carriage in front of him had exceeded the system.

Weiyuan was stunned and at first he didn’t understand what was meant. Moments later, he came back to his senses. He didn’t know whether to laugh or cry, “Country Father-in-Law doesn’t need to mind, our Gantian Mountain doesn’t have these kinds of rules like Great Shang has!”

After he finished, he pointed off into the distance. When Kong Ruo saw this, his eyes were filled with shock and he was at a loss…

Only to see that in the street beside the alleyway, as expected, there were numerous cloud crossing carriages, and beasts pulling them.

Some had 12, some had 18, there were even some exceeding 20. Even Grade-4 Windrider Foals were really common.

“The court encourages people to raise such mounts. The Dragon Horn Winged Horses that the Blood Cloud Cavalry uses are the best. Unfortunately, there are not more than 30,000 of them. Next would be the Wind Winged Dragon Beast, Iron Scale Wind Stepping Beast and Purple Winged Lizard etc., then there were the Windrider Foals. Usually they were on farmland and used to pull carriages. If they become big and strong, the court would set aside money to purchase them.”

Weiyuan explained whilst he led Kong Ruo to step onto the cloud crossing carriage. Kong Ruo didn’t bring much luggage or belongings. In just ten minutes the group started to leave.

Looking at the scenery pass him by the window, his brows frowned deeper and deeper, and he was unable to relax.

Everything here was different from Great Shang, the atmosphere was also greatly different.

His eyes passed around the pier like he saw something. His pupils suddenly constricted as he called out, “Prefect Wei, is even a pier coolie in our Gantian Mountain so rich?”

Just now he personally saw a few workers who were ready to cultivate. When they left, they took off their coats which were covered with dirt and dust and inside they wore brocade garments. The few of them laughed around in a carefree manner, even a coolie isn’t experiencing pain and suffering?

When Weiyuan heard this, for some reason his expression turned a little bitter, “In the past, it wasn’t always like this. However, recently, the people of Donglin weren’t willing to do work. Naturally, these people have good lives. They just need to work ten hours and then not only do they get enough pay, but they get food and drinks. All their bills and expenses are easily covered. How would their lives not be good?”

For some reason when Kong Ruo heard this, it seemed like Weiyuan was grumbling to him.

Luckily, Weiyuan didn’t leave him in confusion, “A year and a half ago the Ruler allowed private hunting, even building several bases under the Cloud Ocean. As long as a few thousand people had a cloud ship that could float in the air, they could enter the Cloud Ocean any time they wanted to hunt for Beast Crystals. Each time they would mostly come back with huge amounts. As long as one had slightly above average talent one would obtain substantial funds in one to two years. As such, everyone went to cultivate and so who would want to do these tough jobs?”

He scoffed coldly, “Originally when Gantian Mountain unified Donglin, there were numerous laborers in the east. However, those meeting hall members held them hostage, not allowing people who weren’t members of the cities the Ruler had direct control over to work in Rainbow City. Now, there are around 200 cities that want to be directly ruled by the Ruler. However, they were all blocked. If this goes on, what benefits are there for our Rainbow City merchant ships? One must know that the other cities along the ocean are staring aggressively.”

Kong Ruo shook his head. At the start he understood a little but now he was even more confused.

However, when others established a country they wanted all the subordinates to be under their direct control. How could one sleep beside a wall that was about to collapse? Food on one’s plate couldn’t be shared.

Great Shang ancestors spent 30 years wiping out the fence towns within their borders.

However, Gantian Mountain was special, these subordinate cities were pleading to be directly ruled. However, the ruler didn’t care, allowing his subjects to do whatever they wanted.

One could hear the superior feeling of Weiyuan over the east of Donglin.

It was like how Great Shang people looked at Donglin.

Only this Rainbow City seemed like they had enough skill. As for Great Shang…

He instantly cast aside these thoughts as he didn’t want to think about it any longer. Gantian Mountain could be compared to their Great Shang…

It was pretty inconceivable!

The carriage continued forward and entered the path. It was made entirely green wind stone, ten feet wide, which allowed the cloud crossing carriage to be extremely quick, exiting the pier in swiftly.

However, when it entered the city region, it slowed down. Sometimes, it would only move after a long while.

Kong Ruo’s brows rose. Although there were many carriages here, he had only just realized. The path was extremely wide and could allow 10 carriages to travel alongside so why would there be traffic?

He couldn’t see carefully by the window which so he stepped out of the carriage and looked.

Only then did the reason become apparent; there were densely packed groups of people sitting on the street.

They occupied a large portion of the path and only a small patch could be used to travel.

At this moment, he finally knew why the Prefect would send the people within the bailiff out and why he said that it was inconvenient to get out of the city.

He saw that beside the group there were numerous bailiffs and some officials who were standing under the sun with helpless expressions. They were looking at these groups, as well as some soldiers who were maintaining the order nearby.

They all had no weapons, only holding sticks in their hands.

“What is happening here?”

Kong Ruo was really curious.

“They are people in the carriage and transportation trade, unwilling to work so they sit quietly here!”

Weiyuan gritted his teeth as he answered, seemingly filled with rage, “They grumble about the pay being too little! Within a few days they will calm down. However, if they don’t want to work they can run to other places, why do they have to occupy the road?”

Kong Ruo was stunned, “These people are going against the government?”

Such troublemakers, why didn’t they just fight and kill them to chase them away?