Ch 15: Emperor Qianlong: That kind of vibrant vitality, a realm where all things compete to flourish…
Returning to the Ji Residence.
As soon as Chu Mo arrived at the study, preparing to inquire about the affairs of the World Society, he found Ji Xiaolan looking distressed.
“What’s wrong? Now that the World Society is developing so vigorously, I’m curious, what dissatisfaction do you still have?” Chu Mo’s tone carried a hint of displeasure.
Just as he had said a year ago, he really didn’t compete for the position of leader, but simply treated Ji Xiaolan as a rubber stamp. In his name, he issued order after order to the World Society located throughout the Divine Province…
Including, but not limited to, the reorganization of the World Society’s organizational structure. At the same time, the strategy of struggle also changed from directly instigating civilians to rebel when encountering disasters, and exhausting the living forces of the Demon Qing as much as possible… to rooting in the countryside and gradually seizing the property of landlords.
Now, even at Chu Mo’s request, in order to prevent a violent reaction from the imperial court, after the World Society established order in the areas where it was rooted… it even took the initiative to pay taxes to the imperial court! Not really to contribute to Emperor Qianlong’s rule, mainly to buy time for development.
Those local officials and demon officials have also become very reasonable. As long as enough taxes are paid, they allow you to do whatever you want locally… and they won’t become greedy when they see you gradually becoming wealthy, thinking about how to squeeze these troublemakers dry…
Well, mainly because Chu Mo gets restless when he’s too idle, so he goes to various places to sort out the situation every once in a while.
If the demons and officials aren’t presentable, then he’ll help them become presentable! And those landlords and powerful figures within the World Society who were unwilling to follow his orders and still oppressed the people… he also took care of them along the way.
Moreover, when he kills, he kills the whole family!!!
The reputation of “Number One Demon Slayer” has gone a step further, and he is hailed as the “Number One God of Slaughter” in the world. He is no longer just feared by the demon descendants… those who oppress the people have finally experienced the fear of the demons who had their whole families killed…
With Chu Mo’s multiple measures, at least in the key areas cultivated by the World Society, such as Jiangnan and Jiangxi… at this moment, it is thriving, full of vibrant vitality, and all things are competing to flourish!
Originally, because overnight, all the demons in Jiangning were slaughtered… Ji Xiaolan was severely scolded by the Emperor! Even, Emperor Qianlong almost directly asked Ji Xiaolan to abandon his official position and return to the capital…
But on tax payment day, looking at the taxes submitted by Jiangnan this time, which were fully 50% more than in previous years… Emperor Qianlong immediately became amiable again, praising him for doing a good job, and making excuses, saying that the demon slayer was cunning, and overnight, the city was full of dead demon descendants, and no one could solve it no matter who came.
“…How could I have any objections to this?” Ji Xiaolan quickly waved his hand, then he paused slightly, a hint of gloom appearing in his eyes, “Someone from the capital is here.”
“Demon or human?” Chu Mo frowned.
“Demon!” Ji Xiaolan sighed to the sky, “And this person… you should be familiar with! It is none other than Lord Heshen, whose reputation in the imperial court is no less than mine.”
“Before, Lord Heshen led six Grandmasters, pursuing the traces of that demon slayer in the north… for a long time without success! Later, because the demon slayer’s activity range came to the south, they followed… as a result…”
“So, Emperor Qianlong no longer allows them to pursue the traces of the demon slayer?” Chu Mo was thoughtful.
“I suspect that His Majesty thinks I am protecting the demon slayer! Of course, there is also a possibility that he thinks Jiangnan is developing too well and is preparing to let Lord Heshen come over to make his money bag even bigger.” Ji Xiaolan bit his lower lip.
“It’s also possible that he feels that I have been rooted in Jiangnan for too long… No matter how much he trusts me, I am still just a person after all! Lord Heshen’s coming this time should be to replace me as the Governor-General of Jiangnan, and I will return to the capital… So now!”
Chu Mo understood what Ji Xiaolan was troubled by. He opened his mouth, suddenly sensed something, raised his eyebrows slightly, and looked towards the door with a strange expression.
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“What’s wrong?” Ji Xiaolan was a little confused.
“That Lord Heshen has already broken into your residence with six Grandmasters! Coming straight for where we are now.” Chu Mo leisurely picked up the teapot, poured a cup of hot tea, and drank it all in one gulp.
Ji Xiaolan’s face became extremely ugly. Breaking in directly, this attitude obviously harbored great malice. It didn’t seem like the attitude towards a fellow-level official who was about to take over at all… In other words…
Who betrayed him?!
The Governor of Zhejiang Province, the Governor of Anhui Province… Ji Xiaolan’s mind flashed through one name after another. It wouldn’t be Song Yuchen, would it?!
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Inside the Governor-General’s Residence.
“Lord Heshen, without evidence… won’t this kind of action…” A Grandmaster demon closely followed Heshen, his face filled with worry and apprehension. His Majesty only sent Heshen to take over the position of Governor-General, he didn’t say anything about settling accounts with Ji Xiaolan.
“No evidence is the biggest evidence!” Heshen said with a smile. Although his face was chubby, one could vaguely see his peerless beauty when he was young. When he was young, he relied on this face to gain His Majesty’s trust and favor!
Heshen had a natural vigilance towards the human race. When he saw that the demons in Jiangnan were almost cleaned up, but the taxes paid were still more than before… he instantly discovered the problem! This didn’t need evidence… because this situation was already an obvious anomaly!
There was only one explanation, and that was that someone was deliberately maintaining stability on the basis of cleaning up the demons! Even doing better than the demons.
And the reason for paying more money was probably to prevent Ji Xiaolan’s actions from reaching the Emperor’s bottom line… Didn’t this clearly show that Ji Xiaolan had a problem?!
Did the Emperor not think of this? Heshen didn’t believe it. The Emperor letting him come to inherit the position was already a very clear attitude! He just didn’t say it directly, that he wanted to deal with Ji Xiaolan. He came this time to do the dirty work for the Emperor!
After really finding out Ji Xiaolan’s problem and taking him down, he would have to thoroughly clean up the place… and then make a big profit! Anyway, Jiangnan was not His Majesty’s core ruling area. Many times, the forces of rebellion were born from here. Extracting wealth was not just for pure enjoyment, but also to reduce the power of those who might resist the imperial court.
“What a pity.” A long sigh suddenly sounded, interrupting Heshen’s thoughts.
In that instant, Heshen’s footsteps stopped, and the hairs on his body stood on end. And the expressions of the six Grandmasters behind him changed at the same time.
At this moment, they felt as if they were facing the vast starry sky at night… There was a natural fear of the vast and boundless heavens from a weakling…
“Now is not the best time. I was clearly preparing to prepare for a few more years, to accumulate enough cadres who could take over the world before taking action!” Chu Mo stood in front of the door, Ji Xiaolan respectfully standing behind him, lowering his head.
“Why are you,” Chu Mo said as he slowly walked forward, “unwilling to let yourselves live a little longer?”
The seven Grandmasters, who clearly stood at the peak of the Divine Province, and whom even the Emperor had to treat with courtesy, were now all drenched in cold sweat, as if under immense pressure!
Even, Chu Mo took a step forward, and they subconsciously took a step back!
