Chapter 353- Coronation
Translator: TeamTWO
Editor: Nora
Gaia 2nd year 2nd month 21st day, 1st day of the Lunar New Year.
The bustling New Year's Eve night had come to an end. A new year was about to arrive.
The thin, morning fog drifted up and down under the blow of the north wind, which created a dream-like scene. Shanhai City had slept for a night, and a thin veil of fog covered the city. The fog made the city look like a paradise.
The commerce street looked like a road in heaven under the fog’s engulfment.
As the birds chirped, Shanhai City started to awaken.
As the city doors opened, the merchants that spent the night outside started to form up and enter. There were some commoners among the merchants. They had rushed here to spend the New Year.
The middle Commerce street and the one at its side woke up the earliest.
The assistants in the store riled up their spirits. Under the leadership of their employers and bosses, they opened up the doors of their shops. Then, they swept the floor, arranged the items, and got ready to welcome the first batch of customers.
From the first day of the Lunar New Year till the Lantern Festival, Shanhai City would hold a Mazu Temple temple fair for half a month. Numerous believers had once again come from across Quanzhou to join in.
Not only that, numerous civilians from the various Houses in Lianzhou Basin had all rushed over to either visit friends and family or purchase various goods.
The Mazu Temple temple fair was not limited to the worship of Mazu. Instead, it was a huge annual gathering of commoners in the Lianzhou Prefecture. It was a time for them to have fun together.
The middle commerce streets that ran along the inner city river had become the most bustling street in the city.
The peddling noises of the sellers, the greetings from familiar people, the kids playing around, and the women chatting. Together, they formed up the picture of a bustling street.
Shanhai City had slowly become a place similar to a huge city.
Worshipping activities had totally taken up Ouyang Shuo’s plans in the morning.
Early in the morning, Zisu had helped him wear the lord dress that the Imperial Court handed to him. Then, he waited for his coronation.
As one said, one's clothing affected one's aura.
After he wore the coronation dress, Ouyang Shuo's entire atmosphere changed. Instantly, he emitted the aura of a lord. The effects of the Dragon Phoenix Jade Pendant and the Qilin Golden Seal, as well as the emperor prestige from the Yellow Emperor Internal Cultivation Technique added to his presence.
Ouyang Shuo's prestige had slowly climbed as a result of a change in his aura. This was the aura of an overlord. It was not something that one could neglect.
The prestige of a lord made one terrified.
Everywhere he went, all the people in the Lord's Manor would bow their heads and worship him.
If one said that previously, the fear and respect the people held for Ouyang Shuo was because of Gaia; then now, it came from their own hearts. They truly respected their lord.
In Shanhai City, Ouyang Shuo needed to personally attend the sacrificial ceremonies in the Yellow Emperor Temple, the Confucius Temple, the Martial Temple, and the Mazu Temple. The Shanhai House would attend to the other temples like the Chenghuang Temple and the Earth Temple.
As the main location of worship, the Yellow Emperor Temple stood as the core of the sacrificial ceremony. Ouyang Shuo had specially invited the respectable Jiang Shang to lead the proceedings and help offer wine.
All the officials and generals in the territory attended the sacrificial ceremony.
Early in the morning, all of them gathered outside in the square before the Yellow Emperor Temple.
The officials were on the left, while the generals were on the right.
At 8 AM, Ouyang Shuo punctually appeared.
The Guards, who traveled alongside him, shouted, “The lord arrives!"
"Greetings, lord!"
All of a sudden, all of them knelt on the ground.
Ouyang Shuo proceeded forward through the path in the middle.
When he reached the temporary high platform, Ouyang Shuo slowly turned around and faced all of them, “Please rise!"
"Thank you, my lord!"
All of them stood up. When they saw Ouyang Shuo, their eyes narrowed.
Dressed in the coronation wear, he looked awe-inspiring, as he displayed might.
Fan Zhongyan felt emotional, as he stood below. He was here from the start and had witnessed the lord grow. A year had passed. Now, the once rookie teen had become a real Lianzhou Lord.
In his heart, there was only happiness.
All of them naturally wanted to see a more mature and powerful lord.
Even Jiang Shang, who stood at the side, felt emotions fill him when he looked at Ouyang Shuo. The growth of this lord was far faster than he had expected.
Jiang Shang asked himself whether or not he was the one growing older.
Zhao Kuo similarly had a complicated expression. He had accepted the mission from the lord, and he would become the deputy director of Military Affairs, as well as the Secretary of the War Division.
He held an even higher position than the director of the Combat Logistics Department, Zhu Hongliang.
For the future, Zhao Kuo felt confident.
Father, watch me. Your son will become famous and show a change in Shanhai City.
In his heart, Zhao Kuo had such thoughts.
Just at this moment, a system notification sounded out in Ouyang Shuo's ear.
"System Notification: Congratulations player Qiyue Wuyi. After going through so much, you have finally developed the aura of a lord. Because of this, loyalty of all residents and talents increased by 10%."
Ouyang Shuo looked at all the officials and generals below him; his heart was very calm.
He wished for this to be a brand new start.
A really grand sacrificial ceremony followed.
It lasted for the entire morning. When it ended, it was already noon.
After a break, in the afternoon, Ouyang Shuo planned to meet two waves of important guests.
The first wave was the tribal chiefs of the various mountain barbarian tribes.
There were a total of twenty four mountain barbarian tribes that lived within the Lianzhou Territory, a total of seventy eight thousand. All of them were scattered around, and they formed up an important component of the Lianzhou Territory commoners.
As the New Year had just passed, the tribal chiefs all bought gifts to see the lord.
They arranged for the meeting to take place at the main hall. The administration director Fan Zhongyan was also present.
They had rushed thousands of miles to arrive at this place. Obviously, they did not just come here to give their gifts.
They also had other problems and requests.
Apart from the first settlement in the east, the other mountain barbarian tribes had missed the second grain planting season when migrating to the Lianzhou Basin.
They all faced the problem of a lack of grain.
Before that, Ouyang Shuo had promised that the territory granary would lend them grain and help them get past these times. When the first harvest arrived, they would return the grain they took.
Hence, since the start of the year, the various tribes had started to reclaim farmland. They set up irrigation systems, as they prepared for the planting after the Lunar New Year.
Alongside Friendship River and Qiushui River, there was an abundance of water and fertile soil. The territory turned most of this turned into farmland. In a short winter, hundreds of thousands of mu of farmland were reclaimed in the prefecture.
The population had started to boom. Solely from the Battle of Lianzhou, a total of 56 thousand people were added. Needless to say, after they took down the grasslands, there was an even bigger batch of people they needed to feed.
After all, didn’t the grassland alliance army also attack because of a lack of grain?
The territory would have to bear this burden after taking down the grassland alliance.
The territory was similarly lacking in grain. Every month, the Financial Department had to purchase large amounts of grains through the various Chamber of Commerces.
In the end, they had allowed them to open rice shops and sell to the commoners.
Some Chamber of Commerce had directly brought large carts of rice. They entered the grasslands to do business.
The merchants used rice to exchange for furs and animals from the herders.
With this, the Business Division had no choice but to set down some laws to end such activity.
If he did not restrict the Chamber of Commerces, with their profit-driven nature, who knows what they would do.
Because of the lack of grain, Ouyang Shuo had also specifically asked to see the Agriculture Division Secretary, Sun Yannong.
He ordered the Agriculture Division to ensure that the territory could become self sufficient in the latter half of the second year. At that time, they must not need to purchase grain from the market.
To achieve this, the Financial Department had even prepared ten thousand gold as subsidy to purchase farming tools, nurture sowing cows, build irrigation facilities, and the like.
Ouyang Shuo did not even keep a single gold from the income of the first month of the year.
The tribal leaders that had rushed over all hoped that the Agriculture Division could help them out at their self-governed area.
After all, they were farming for the first time and were not familiar and good at the task.
Toward the cries for help from the tribal chiefs, Ouyang Shuo responded positively. He promised that they would provide all the seeds, tools, and sowing cows to the self-governed area.
They were all delighted to secure the promise of the lord.
"Thank you, my lord!"
Ouyang Shuo nodded. However, his facial expression did not change. Instead, he used this chance to make a small request.
"Tribal chiefs! I have a suggestion. Why don’t you guys go back and think about it?"
"Please tell us!"
Since they had received the lord’s help, all of them naturally gave him a friendly reply.
"To tell the truth, if you guys want to really integrate into the Lianzhou System, you have to put in more work. The tribe system has its positives and reasons, so I won't criticize it. However, it is growing more and more unsuitable for Lianzhou." The moment Ouyang Shuo spoke, it was like the sky broke.
All of them felt a tremble in their hearts, was the lord trying to make an example out of all of them?
When they faced the lord who sat above them with such prestige and intent, all of them had trouble breathing.
Ouyang Shuo smiled, as he had seen through their thoughts. He said, “You guys don't need to worry. Letting you all govern yourselves was my original promise and that won't change."
"Phew~"
All of the tribal chiefs let out huge sigh of relief.
As long as he allowed the mountain barbarians to self-rule and did not break through that bottom line, there was still room for discussion.
Ouyang Shuo naturally would not act so rashly, and he said, “I mean to separate the tribal leader, and the tribal chief."
Apart from the Gushan County, the tribal leader held the position of tribal chief in the other settlement points.
Fan Zhongyan had grumbled about it, as their system made it easy for them to group up.
Be it the tax officials or the household management officials, they would all face problems when they tried to find out the exact details of the settlements.
They either hid their population or hid their land size.
The problem was that the mountain barbarian tribes had too deep of a tribal view. They would place the interests of the tribe over the territory. When both did not match, problems would obviously arise.
Fan Zhongyan had suggested they throw out some administrative changes.
Ouyang Shuo had shelved these suggestions at the time. Ouyang Shuo clearly knew what troubles and problems he would face.
Undoubtedly, he needed to find a good timing.
Now was the best time. The tribes all had something to ask of the territory. Moreover, Ouyang Shuo's prestige and power had grown, making the tribal leaders fear him.
Furthermore, Ouyang Shuo had accepted one of their demands, giving the tribal leaders a way to back down. After all, the Lord's Manor did not force an agreement.
At least, the lord was still asking for their opinion.
Furthermore, this was not a small suggestion.
As expected, after they listened to his suggestion, the various tribal leaders all fell totally quiet. They were all the elites of their tribes, so they naturally knew the implicit meaning.
After a long while, one of the tribal leaders acted as the representative and stood up, “For the lord's suggestion, we need to return and ask our shaman. I believe we will be able to give you a good answer."
Ouyang Shuo nodded, “Then I don't have anything to worry about!"
Fan Zhongyan sat at the side. When he saw the lord play such tricks, his expression was complicated. The current lord, be it prestige or ability, had grown tremendously.
And this was much needed for one to become a great leader.