Chapter 120: The Yan Party and the Qing Stream: The Ming Dynasty seems a little small and must expand outward!
"There are still some fruits. Let's share them all." Jiajing said as he stood up and walked towards the side hall of Yuxi Palace.
"Your Majesty, we thank you." Everything that needed to be said and arranged had been done. Naturally, everyone heard the meaning of seeing off the guests in Jiajing's words, so they all saw him off respectfully.
"Everyone," after Jiajing left, Lv Fang also held the jade box and said with a smile: "Come and take it from me. One fruit per person. It's best to eat it on the way back. It won't be good if you keep it for too long."
After the little farce between Yan Shifan and Zhao Zhenji, Lu Fang opened the jade box and let everyone come forward to receive it.
After watching Jiajing leave, they heard Lu Fang tell them to come forward and receive the fruit. At this moment, no matter whether it was the shrewd Yan Song and Xu Jie, or Zhang Juzheng who always maintained a gentlemanly demeanor, everyone lost their composure at this moment.
They turned around and rushed forward with quick steps, surrounding Lu Fang in the middle.
Everyone stretched their necks and stared eagerly at the green fruit in the jade box, which seemed to be something they had never seen before.
There seemed to be a faint layer of white frost on the fruit, as if it had just been picked fresh from a small garden in the winter.
Although it is now the first month of the year, which is only early spring and the weather is still unusually cold, no one would think that these fruits were grown somewhere in the Ming Dynasty.
Firstly, it was freezing cold, so it was impossible for the fruit to grow. Secondly, they had already determined that Jiajing had been blessed by the immortals in heaven, but where did the immortals come from?
Without a doubt, it is the fairyland in the legend.
Naturally, whether it is the elixir or the fairy fruit in front of you, they all come from the fairyland and are bestowed by the immortals.
No one would have thought that today, just an ordinary meeting in front of the emperor, would lead to such a huge reward.
It can be said that the emperor really gave all of them a huge surprise this time!
"Lord Yan, this is yours." Lu Fang first picked up a spiritual fruit and handed it to Yan Song.
"Thank you, Eunuch Lu." Yan Song took the spiritual fruit with both hands, smiled, and thanked Lu Fang humbly.
If we say that before this, when Yan Song faced Lu Fang, he was just polite at best and just seemed to get along with him on the surface.
Even, sometimes, there is a hint of condescension and alienation in his expression and attitude. After all, he is the prime minister of the dynasty, a powerful official in the cabinet who is second only to the emperor.
To put it bluntly, Lu Fang was just a household slave kept by the emperor.
No matter how favored a household slave is, Yan Song would never psychologically place him on the same footing as a household slave.
But now it’s different. Lu Fang is no longer a simple family slave, but is practicing Taoism with the emperor.
Moreover, seeing the means that Lu Fang displayed with a wave of his hand, it was obvious that he had officially embarked on the path of immortality and became the immortal cultivator that His Royal Highness Prince Jing had mentioned before.
You know, even the two princes, Prince Jing and Prince Yu, have not really entered the immortal path and become immortals. But Lu Fang successfully entered the immortal path before everyone else.
Therefore, when facing Lu Fang again, Yan Song had already put away the contempt in his heart, and replaced it with a humble and cautious attitude as if facing an immortal.
This is Yan Song, who always knows how to judge the situation, adapt to the situation, and always knows how to strike the right balance.
The most important thing is that he is very capable and skillful, which makes people who use him feel very comfortable.
After breaking through the first level of Qi training, Lu Fang's six senses and perceptions in all aspects became very sharp. He naturally felt the humble attitude that Yan Song inadvertently revealed towards him at this moment.
In response, he just smiled and didn't take it to heart.
He had never paid much attention to this cabinet capital before, let alone now.
No matter if they were upright officials or powerful ministers, these literati and scholars never took these eunuchs seriously.
But he is not like Chen Hong, who is petty, with a strong sense of self-esteem and revenge.
House slaves are always house slaves and will always be on the same page with the emperor. As for these upright and powerful ministers, what does it matter even if they have tremendous power?
The power also comes from the emperor giving them. When he wants to abandon them, he will naturally abandon them without hesitation.
As for slaves like them who serve their masters, as long as they behave well and understand the rules of survival, basically every one of them can live safely into old age, and the risk is greatly reduced.
But now he has become a high-ranking immortal cultivator. There is an essential difference between him and ordinary people. Naturally, he would not take the thoughts of Yan Song and others to heart.
Whether it is humility and respect or disdain, it doesn’t matter.
What he pursues now is to follow closely in the footsteps of his master and embark on the path to eternal life.
"Lord Xu, this is yours..."
"Master Zhang, take it. Remember to eat it early when you get back..."
"Young Lord, this is yours... Zhao Butang..."
In a short while, Lu Fang distributed the spiritual fruits to everyone in the cabinet and the Imperial Household Department.
"After you receive the fruits, go back and enjoy them. The master still needs to practice meditation, so please don't bother him here." Lu Fang said to everyone with a smile, holding the empty jade box in his arms.
"I understand. We are grateful to the emperor for bestowing the elixir and fruit from the bottom of our hearts, but we dare not disturb your majesty's meditation. We will take our leave now." Yan Song said with a smile, then raised his hand.
Yan Shifan, who was standing by, stepped forward to help him, and then everyone bowed to Lu Fang and left Yuxi Palace one after another.
As for Prince Yu and Prince Jing, they stayed.
After all, after the last incident, the two brothers had fought each other with varying degrees of success and failure.
Therefore, both of them were successively forbidden to practice in Lingtian Courtyard, and then pardoned and allowed to practice in the palace.
A few months passed, and many of the acupoints in their bodies that needed to be opened to draw qi into the body had been opened.
According to my father's previous estimation, they will probably be able to start breaking through to the first level of Qi training by this time next year.
It took more than a year, which was half a year slower than Lu Fang.
After the ministers left Yuxi Palace, everyone was extremely excited.
Even though Yan Song was supported by Yan Shifan, and although he was no longer hunched over and was in extremely good health, his whole body was still trembling slightly, with one hand pressing tightly on his chest.
"Dad, is this fruit the spiritual fruit that His Royal Highness Prince Jing mentioned before? Is it a kind of resource for cultivating immortals?"
There was a hint of nervousness in Yan Shifan's low voice.
They have learned a lot about what the resources for cultivating immortals are from King Jing. They even know that the Ming Dynasty will develop into an immortal dynasty in the future. At that time, the most important thing in the world will be this kind of resources!
"It should be correct," Yan Song said, pausing slightly, looking back at Xu Jie and others who were also gathered together and talking in a low voice, and then said in a deep voice:
"I heard from His Highness that when ordinary people eat spiritual fruits, in addition to being able to regulate their bodies and make people healthier and less likely to get sick, the most important thing is that it allows the body to gradually adapt to the spiritual energy."
"And when the body adapts to the spiritual energy, if you obtain the immortal method next, you can assist with the spiritual resources and embark on the immortal path!"
When Yan Song said the words "embarking on the immortal path", his voice trembled slightly, and Yan Shifan's breathing also became rapid.
"Shifan," Yan Song said, taking a deep breath, "Next, we must assist His Royal Highness Prince Jing well, and at the same time, we must arrange our people in the local area as much as possible!"
"The reason why we are assisting His Highness is that the Emperor is training the Second Highness. The purpose of people like us is to help the Second Highness grow up quickly!"
"It has met the emperor's expectation of having them supervise the country!"
"As for the deployment of our people in the local areas, it is because the land of the future Ming Dynasty is likely to be developed into the spiritual soil mentioned by His Royal Highness Prince Jing, and used to cultivate these spiritual resources."
"In the future of the Ming Dynasty, mundane wealth, calligraphy and paintings are no longer important. What is important is spiritual resources!"
"The grasslands in the north, the countries in the south..." Yan Song said, his eyes flashing with greed, "When the Ming Dynasty becomes strong, we must launch foreign wars!"
"Dad?!" Yan Shifan was stunned when he heard his father's words. He just looked at his father beside him and felt creepy.
I understood the meaning of what my father said.
In order to obtain more land resources, or more precisely, more spiritual resources, we can only annex and invade those countries!
Then, their land will be turned into the land of the Ming Dynasty and used to cultivate more spiritual fields. These spiritual fields will then be planted with spiritual rice, spiritual melons, and spiritual fruits. In this way, there will be more and more resources.
"Just as we thought before," Yan Song said in a submissive tone, "More than half of the spiritual resources of the Ming Dynasty may be handed over to the immortals. There is no doubt about that!"
"Then the remaining spiritual resources will be used by the emperor."
"And the emperor will also allocate some resources to develop the Ming Dynasty, such as the army. The dynasty will naturally also have a large army of immortal cultivators. These are the foundation of the dynasty."
"You can all know that we must develop. In addition, the cultivation of spiritual fields requires manpower, and these people also need spiritual resources. This way, there will be even fewer resources left."
"And all these remaining surplus resources belong to your Highnesses."
"After the two princes have used it, it will be ours," Yan Song sighed and looked at Yan Shifan, saying, "Think about it yourself, will it be enough by then?"
"We are cultivating immortals, but what about our family?"
"Moreover, His Royal Highness Prince Jing has made it very clear. Even if one is an immortal cultivator, if he does not break through his realm, he will eventually die of old age."
"So, if we want more surplus resources, we can only make Daming have more spiritual soil and more resources."
"I understand, Dad..." Yan Shifan's eyes also showed a fierce look, "For the sake of our Yan family, we must work hard to make the Ming Dynasty stronger so that we can annex all the land!"
"No," Yan Song shook his head when he heard his words and said, "It is inevitable that the Ming Dynasty will eventually go on the road of external expansion. Because the resources are far from enough to develop the Immortal Dynasty!"
"So, we have to start planning ahead of time."
"When the Ming Dynasty begins to expand abroad, our planning methods can be regarded as a contribution. Only then will the emperor reward us with more resources."
"Dad, do you have any plans?" Upon hearing what his father said, Yan Shifan's eyes lit up and he asked excitedly.
Dad always plans before he acts. Now that he said that, it's obvious that he already has some plans.
"I haven't thought about it yet, I just have some ideas. Let's not talk about it anymore, let's go back first..." Yan Song came to the sedan chair and got into it with the help of Yan Shifan. While Yan Song and Yan Shifan were planning to conquer other countries and make early arrangements for the future territorial expansion of the Ming Dynasty, the Qingliu faction was also not idle, and they all realized the importance of land.
They also knew that land meant a large area of spiritual soil, which meant more resources they could get.
Therefore, everyone started thinking about how to plan ahead.
As it concerns immortality, Xu Jie and others came up with an idea at this moment, which is to launch a war against foreign countries, conquer the south and the north, annex the surrounding countries, and even the overseas islands...
In short, Jiajing's small reward stirred the already passionate hearts of the ministers.
At this moment, everyone has a consensus that most of the Ming Dynasty’s future resources will belong to the immortals in the fairy world.
After that, it will have to go through the emperor, the needs of the country, and the two princes before it can be their turn. There is simply not enough to eat! At this moment, they deeply realized that the Ming Dynasty seemed a little small.
Jiajing naturally didn't know what everyone in the cabinet was thinking.
At this time, after sending away Prince Yu and Prince Jing, he summoned Lu Bing into the palace.
"Reporting to the emperor, Lu Bing has lived up to the emperor's trust. The first batch of children of the Daming Xianwu Guard has a total of 3,000 people. After elimination and supplementation, the total number has gradually approached more than 4,000 people..."
In the Lingtian courtyard, Lu Bing respectfully reported to Jiajing the results of his training of the Immortal Guards over the past six months.
"Now, there are only one thousand eligible children left. The oldest of these children is fifteen years old and the youngest is six years old."
"Among them, there are 625 boys and 375 girls. After half a year of training, all of these children can read and study, and are familiar with hundreds of classics..."
"Moreover, the most important thing is that they are all orphans. These selected children are extremely loyal and obedient to orders."
"Therefore, I intend to formally teach them the 'Xianwu Fa' next month and start training the first batch of Xianwu Guards."
Looking at the report submitted by Lu Bing, which included the selection process of the children of the Xianwu Guard, as well as the name, personality, and preferences of each child, Jiajing nodded with satisfaction and said:
"Wenfu, well done!"
When he gave Lu Bing the immortal martial arts, he required him to train the first batch of immortal martial guards within three years.
But Lu Bing did not rush for success. Instead, he spent more than half a year to comprehensively screen children who could become Xianwu Guards.
Not only that, he also taught these children to read and write, and even taught them music, chess, calligraphy, painting, and women embroidery.
This first batch of children of the Immortal Guards were trained completely according to the standards of training heirs of some small families.
Jiajing expressed his satisfaction with this!
Because this first batch of Immortal Guards will be the leaders of countless Immortal Guards in the future, these people must be the best of the best.
"In the remaining two years, Lü Fang will cooperate with you," Jiajing said, handing the memorial to Lü Fang, and then said, "In order to train the Immortal Warriors for me, your cultivation has also fallen behind."
"Wenfu, thank you for your hard work!"
Before, Lu Bing often went to the palace to practice Buddhism and to select children, and he asked his son Lu Yi to do it.
But as the selection criteria for these children became more and more detailed and strict, he rarely went into the palace to practice.
For his daily practice, he relied entirely on the spiritual melons, spiritual fruits, spiritual rice and some spiritual sources that Lu Fang sent him from time to time.
So according to the original plan, when Lu Fang broke through the Qi training stage, he had almost opened up all the acupoints, started to practice towards the first level of Qi training, and broke through.
But now Lu Fang has broken through the first level of Qi training. He only has four or five of the 210 acupoints in his body that he needs to open in order to draw Qi into his body. It will probably take until next year for him to start practicing.
It will be around the middle of next year before you can enter the first level of Qi training.
"For the emperor, Lu Bing is doing all this for the sake of his majesty!" Lu Bing smiled and waved his hands, indicating that he didn't care. "Besides, with the spiritual resources bestowed by the emperor, Lu Bing will catch up."
Lu Fang on the side also looked at Lu Bing with admiration.
Only after he started cultivating immortals did he realize its importance, but Lu Bing was actually willing to delay his own cultivation in order to train the Immortal Guards. This loyalty did not let down his master's kindness in giving him the immortal arts.
"We have already selected all the candidates. You can put down your burden for a while. The next step is formal training." Jiajing said, pointing at Lu Bing with a slightly relaxed expression, and said:
"Lü Fang will start refining elixirs and medicines next... You can ask him for auxiliary elixirs in the training of the Immortal Guards. You can just take the money from my treasury, and you don't need to go through the Ministry of Revenue."
"Yes!" Lu Bing said seriously, clasping his fists.
Afterwards, Lu Bing was kept to practice until later in the evening, and after he had dinner, Lu Fang sent him out of the palace.
"Master, Wenfu has gone back." Lu Fang said respectfully after coming back.
"My little imperial teacher, how are you doing lately?" Standing with his hands behind his back, staring at the sunset glow in the sky, Jiajing suddenly seemed to have thought of something, and asked with a chuckle, "The matter of the immortal made such a big fuss before, and it was all related to her prophecy. Didn't she say anything?"
"My Lord, the Imperial Master didn't say anything," Lv Fang smiled and shook his head, saying, "But I heard from Huang Jin that she often stood on a high place in Xuanpu Palace and looked at the stars in the sky."
"Then tell me, does she believe the nonsense said by the Imperial Observatory?" Jiajing chuckled, turned around and walked towards the Yuxi Palace.
"When the master bestowed the title of Qingfeng Xuanling Shouzhen Huiwu Zhenren, the imperial teacher would definitely not believe it, considering her intelligence." Lu Fang quickly followed Jiajing's steps and said with a smile, "I guess she is also wondering whether there are really immortals in heaven..."
"Well," Jiajing nodded and said, "My little imperial teacher must have guessed something."
"It is her destiny that she can be my Great Ming Imperial Master." After saying that, Jiajing changed the subject, raised his hand and said:
"The national policy of stationing troops to promote agriculture has basically stabilized. With Tang Shunzhi in charge of the frontier garrison system, I am very relieved. It is only a matter of time before the garrison system is restored. The administration of officials has been rectified, and the finances are sufficient to support the first phase of land reform..."
"In the past six months, my cultivation realm has become a little weaker. It is time for me to retreat and break through."
That’s right, during the past six months, although Jiajing was not obsessed with breakthroughs, his daily practice of the exercises was still very effective, and his realm had already improved twice.
He had a vague feeling that if he continued to do it two or three times, he would be able to break through to the sixth level of Qi training.
This was originally his plan.
He will stay in the Ming Dynasty until the national policy of stationing troops to promote agriculture is completed, the Wei Suo system is stabilized and put on the right track, the rectification of the civil service is completed, the financial problems are solved, and the land reform begins before entering the world of cultivation.
This time, he must break through to the foundation-building stage.
I don’t know if it’s because some of the pus and rotten flesh in Daming have been cut out and it has started a new life, but in the sea of consciousness, the black air above Daming has disappeared.
Although it still looked gray, the situation had improved a lot, so his cultivation speed increased again.
This also made Jiajing more and more looking forward to what kind of wave of rewards in cultivation he would receive after building his foundation, giving birth to his spiritual consciousness, and binding his natal life with his natal object.
"Master is going to retreat?" Hearing that the master was going to retreat again, Lu Fang was stunned at first, and then immediately congratulated:
"Congratulations to our master, the Emperor, for your further improvement in cultivation!"
"Yes," Jiajing nodded with a smile, and said, "After I go into seclusion, you can take that girl with you to practice together if you have nothing to do."
"No matter what, he is also the Imperial Master of the Ming Dynasty. Although he has been used as a pawn, he has also made contributions."
"Then I'll give that girl a path to immortality..."
"Yes." Lu Fang bowed and responded. He was not surprised that his master would give the young imperial master a path to immortality.
Although this national teacher is young, he has a very clear understanding of things.
Even though she knew she was a pawn, she never cared when the emperor wanted to use her name to do some dirty things. Instead, she saw it very clearly. She was not arrogant because of her favor. She was a very good girl.
In the future, all the high-ranking officials of the Ming Dynasty will embark on the path to immortality. It is not difficult to reward a little girl with merit and status with a path to immortality.
"This is a ninth-grade storage bag," Jiajing said, raising his hand to take out a storage bag he had not used before, and said:
"I will give it to you. There are 100 taels of spiritual energy in it. I will leave 30 taels for Wen Fu to use for cultivation."
"Prince Yu and Prince Jing, ten taels each. They are still in the stage of opening the acupuncture points, so too much spiritual energy would be a waste. With the spiritual field courtyard, it is enough for them to practice."
"You are at the first level of Qi training now. Don't think about breaking through to the second level in a short period of time. This requires a huge amount of spiritual energy..." As he said this, he remembered that he didn't know Lu Fang's true power yet, but he thought it wouldn't be too powerful, otherwise Lu Fang's breakthrough would not be so slow.
So, Jiajing slowed down his tone and continued, "The remaining fifty taels will be used for your alchemy, medicine, and maintenance of the Lingtian Courtyard. The rest you can use to consolidate your cultivation."
"Master, this is a thing from the immortals. Giving it to me, would it be too, too..." Lu Fang knelt in front of him, holding the storage bag in both hands, raised it high, passed it over his head, and spoke incoherently with excitement.
"Here you go, just take it." Jiajing didn't care about the ninth-grade storage bag. This time he was determined to break through the foundation-building stage. When the time came, he could just move the items through his own life form.
These storage bags are actually not very useful.
The extra storage bags can be put to good use by giving them to Lu Fang, the only two immortal cultivators in the Ming Dynasty.
"Yes, thank you for your gift, master!" Lu Fang hurriedly expressed his gratitude.
"As usual, after I go into seclusion, Yuxi Palace will be sealed off and no one will be allowed to enter or leave. If you want to enter Lingtian Courtyard, enter from the courtyard on the right that was opened not long ago. You will be in charge there."
"If something major happens in the court, pray in front of Yuxi Palace every day and explain the reason, and I will know."
"Well, leave now." Jiajing waved his hand and said, "When I leave next time, the Ming Dynasty will also be completely renewed."
"Yes, I can save that trouble." Lu Fang said, and slowly stood up.
After Lu Fang left the palace, Jiajing waved his hand and a ban flew out, sealing the entire palace. Then he took a deep breath and said to himself:
"After being in seclusion for more than half a year, I wonder how Liu Quan's wild market is doing."
Thinking that Jiajing would calm down, he aroused the world of immortal cultivation.
"..."
(End of this chapter)
