On the 21st of February in the second year of Gaia, it was the first day of the new year.
The north wind blew strongly throughout the night.
The bustling New Year's Eve had become a thing of the past. A new year was about to arrive.
The thin morning mist rolled up and down in the north wind, making it look like smoke. Shanhai City, which had been sleeping for the whole night, was shrouded in the morning mist, as if it was wearing a veil made of clouds and mist. It was like a fairyland.
Under the contrast of the smog, the central commercial street looked like a market in the sky.
Shanhai City began to wake up along with the crowing of roosters.
The city gate opened, and the merchants who had temporarily spent the night outside the city began to line up to enter the city. Among the merchants, there were also a few commoners who had come to the market.
The central commercial street and the commercial district on the side were the first to wake up.
The shop assistants pulled themselves together and, under the instructions of their owners or shopkeepers, moved the doors of the shops, swept the floor, and arranged the shelves, preparing to welcome the first batch of customers.
From the first day of the new year until the Lantern Festival, Shanhai City would hold the Mazu Temple Fair that would last for half a month. Countless gentry and civilians of Quanzhou would once again come to Shanhai City to participate in this grand event.
Not only that, the people of the counties under Lianzhou County would also come to Shanhai City one after another to visit their relatives and friends, or buy all kinds of goods.
The Mazu Temple Fair was no longer limited to worshiping Mazu, but had become a comprehensive grand gathering. It was the annual festival for the old people of Lianzhou County to "go to the market and have fun together".
The area along the inner city river and the central commercial street became the busiest places in the city.
The crowd was like weaving, shoulder to shoulder, and the endless stream of horses and carriages. It was an unprecedented grand occasion.
The hawking of merchants, the greetings of acquaintances, the occasional quarrel, the playful sounds of children, and the whispers of young ladies gathered together to form a scene of the Hundred Lives of Mortals.
Shanhai City gradually had the atmosphere of a giant city.
For Ouyang Shuo, his schedule in the morning was completely occupied by the sacrificial ceremony.
Early in the morning, Ouyang Shuo, with the help of Zi Su, put on the ceremonial robes given by the imperial court and was about to be crowned.
As the saying went, clothes make the man, while the saddle makes the man.
With the crown on him, Ouyang Shuo's temperament changed, and he really had the atmosphere of a feudal lord. Coupled with the blessing of the Dragon and Phoenix Bringing Auspicious Pendant, the golden qilin seal, and the power of the Emperor derived from the "Inner Canon of the Yellow Emperor".
Ouyang Shuo's prestige skyrocketed. The quantitative change had finally triggered a qualitative change. To describe it in layman's terms, it was a domineering aura. It was so awe-inspiring that ordinary people couldn't look at it.
The might of a Marquis had materialized and made people fearful.
Everywhere Ouyang Shuo passed, the people of the Marquis' Estate would lower their heads in respect.
If it could be said that the people's reverence for Ouyang Shuo previously came from Gaia's intentional guidance, then now, they were filled with reverence for Ouyang Shuo, the Marquis, from the bottom of their hearts.
Among the temples in Shanhai City, the Yellow Emperor Shrine, the Confucian Temple, the Martial Temple, and the Mazu Temple required Ouyang Shuo to personally participate in the worship. Temples such as the City God Temple and the Earth God Temple were worshiped by the Mountain Sea Prefecture.
As the main place of worship, the Temple of the Yellow Emperor was the most important part of all sacrificial activities. Ouyang Shuo had specially invited Jiang Shang, who was a person of virtue and prestige, to act as the libation to preside over this grand sacrificial ceremony.
All civil and military officials with a certain status in the territory would participate in this sacrificial ceremony.
Early in the morning, the ministers lined up in the square in front of the Yellow Emperor Shrine.
The civil officials were on the left and the generals on the right.
At eight o 'clock in the morning, Ouyang Shuo appeared on time.
The guards who accompanied him shouted, "The Marquis has arrived!"
"Greetings, Marquis!"
In an instant, hundreds of officials knelt to greet him.
Surrounded by his guards, Ouyang Shuo passed through the crowd of civil and military officials.
When he arrived at the temporarily built high platform, Ouyang Shuo slowly turned around and faced the civil and military officials. "Everyone, please rise!"
"Thank you, Marquis!"
The officials stood up. When they saw the Marquis on the high platform, their eyes narrowed.
The Marquis, who was wearing a crown, had an awe-inspiring aura.
Fan Zhongyan, who was below the platform, sighed with emotion. He was an old minister of the territory and had witnessed the growth of the Marquis. A year had passed, and the young man had completed his transformation. He had truly become the Lord of Lian Province.
Fan Zhongyan felt gratified.
A more mature and powerful Marquis was obviously in line with the expectations of everyone.
Even Jiang Shang, who was standing at the side, sighed with emotion as he looked at Ouyang Shuo on the high platform. The young Marquis's growth was completely beyond his imagination.
Jiang Shang sighed and wondered if he was really old.
Zhao Kuo, who was below the platform, also had a complicated expression on his face. He had accepted the Marquis's appointment and was about to take up the position of Deputy Director and Chief of Operations of the Military Administration. He would become the second most important person in the Military Administration.
His position was even higher than Ge Hongliang, the Chief of Operations.
For the first time, Zhao Kuo was full of confidence about the future.
'Father, just wait and see. I will make a name for myself in Shanhai City and complete my transformation.'
Zhao Kuo thought to himself.
For a moment, the officials below the platform had different thoughts.
At this moment, a system notification sounded in Ouyang Shuo's ears.
"System notification: Congratulations to player Not Saying That You Have Nothing to Wear. After tempering, you have finally developed the aura of a marquis. Due to this, the loyalty of all talents in the territory will increase by 10 points. "
Ouyang Shuo looked at the civil and military officials below, but his heart was calm.
He only hoped that this was a new beginning.
Next was the grand sacrificial ceremony.
After the sacrificial ceremony, it was already noon.
After a short rest at noon, Ouyang Shuo had to meet two groups of important guests in the afternoon.
The first group was the chiefs of the mountain barbarian tribes.
There were a total of twenty-four mountain barbarian tribes in Lian Province, with a total population of seventy to eighty thousand. Tribes of various sizes were scattered across the vast land of Lian Province. They were an important part of the people of Lian Province.
As soon as the new year was over, the chiefs of the various tribes came to see the marquis with gifts.
The meeting place was arranged in the main hall, and the chief of the administrative office, Fan Zhongyan, accompanied them.
Of course, the chiefs did not come to Shanhai City just to give gifts.
They had other requests.
Apart from the first batch of mountain barbarian settlements in the eastern suburbs, the other mountain barbarian tribes had missed the second rice planting season last year when they moved to Lian Province Basin.
The lack of food was a common problem for all the tribes.
Before this, Ouyang Shuo had promised to lend food to the tribes from the granary of his territory to help them tide over this difficult time. After the first rice harvest of the next year, the tribes would return the food to the granary in unison.
Therefore, since the beginning of the year, under the guidance of the local department of agriculture, the mountain barbarian tribes had reclaimed farmland and built irrigation works to prepare for the next year's farming.
The area along the Friendship River and Qiushui River had abundant water and fertile soil. Almost all the wasteland along the river had been reclaimed as farmland. In just one winter, Lian Province County had gained millions of acres of fertile farmland.
Due to the rapid increase in population, the population of Lian Province alone had increased by fifty to sixty thousand. Needless to say, after taking over the grassland, there would be a large number of herdsmen waiting to be fed by the territory.
Wasn't the reason why the allied forces of the grassland attacked Shanhai City because of the lack of food?
Now that they had taken over the grassland, the burden naturally fell on the Marquis's Mansion of Lian Province.
The territory also lacked food. Every month, the department of finance had to purchase large amounts of food through the major chambers of commerce.
Later, the department of finance simply allowed the major chambers of commerce to open rice shops and sell rice to the people. In this way, it saved the department of finance from having to go through the middleman.
Some chambers of commerce even went deep into the grassland with carts of rice to do business.
The merchants used rice to exchange for the herdsmen's furs and livestock.
For this reason, the department of commerce had to urgently formulate a series of policies to restrain the commercial activities of the chambers of commerce.
If the chambers of commerce were not restrained, who knew what kind of shocking things these chambers of commerce would do based on their innate nature of pursuing profit.
Because of the food, Ouyang Shuo specially summoned the director of agriculture, Sun Yannong.
He gave Sun Yannong a strict order. The department of agriculture had to ensure that the territory could achieve self-sufficiency in food in the second half of the second year of Gaia. There was no need to purchase food from the market to fill the gap.
For this, the department of finance had specially prepared a financial allocation of 10000 gold coins. It was used to build irrigation works, purchase farming tools, train cattle, build waterwheels and other measures in the territory.
Ouyang Shuo did not withhold a single gold coin from the territory's January financial income.
The mountain barbarian tribe leaders eagerly rushed to the marquis's mansion to have an audience. Naturally, they hoped that the department of agriculture would favor the mountain barbarians in terms of industrial support.
After all, compared to the refugees, the mountain barbarians were growing rice for the first time. They were not acclimatized.
Ouyang Shuo gave a positive response to the tribe leaders' request. He promised that the department of agriculture would give priority to the mountain barbarians' needs for the seeds, farming tools and cattle needed for the spring sowing.
The tribe leaders were happy to receive the Marquis' promise.
"Thank you, Marquis!"
Ouyang Shuo nodded, but his expression did not change. He took the opportunity to make a "small request".
"Everyone! This Marquis has a suggestion. I hope everyone can carefully consider it when you go back. "
"Marquis, please speak!"
The tribe leaders who had just received benefits responded in a friendly manner.
There was a saying that went, "You are short of what you get."
"To be honest, if the tribes want to truly integrate into the Lian state system, they need to keep up with the times. The tribal system has its advantages and historical reasons. I will not comment on it. But when it comes to the Lian state, it seems more and more out of place. "Ouyang Shuo's words were earth-shattering.
The tribe leaders' hearts trembled. Was the Marquis going to make an example out of them?
Looking at the dignified Marquis who sat at the head of the table, the tribe leaders found it difficult to breathe.
Ouyang Shuo smiled, as if he could see through the tribe leaders' minds. He said, "Everyone, don't worry. The mountain barbarians' autonomy policy is my promise. I will not change it. "
"Phew ~ ~ ~"
The tribe leaders let out a long sigh of relief.
As long as they still insisted on the mountain barbarians' autonomy and didn't cross this bottom line, there was still room for discussion.
Ouyang Shuo naturally wouldn't be so reckless. He continued, "What I mean is to separate the tribe leaders and village leaders in the settlements. We don't want them to be the same."
Except for Gushan County, the tribe leader was the village leader in the mountain barbarian settlements.
Fan Zhongyan once complained that the mountain barbarian system was too easy to form groups.
Whether it was the tax officers of the finance bureau or the household registration officers of the department of household registration, they would more or less encounter obstacles if they wanted to investigate the mountain barbarian settlements in detail.
They would either conceal the population or the land area.
The root cause was that the mountain barbarian tribes had a strong racial concept. Often, the interests of the tribe were more important than the interests of the territory. When the two couldn't be reconciled, a contradiction would appear.
Fan Zhongyan once proposed to Ouyang Shuo to implement administrative reform in the mountain barbarian settlements.
Ouyang Shuo had always put this proposal on hold.
Ouyang Shuo was too clear about the obstacles and difficulties he would encounter in this.
Undoubtedly, he needed an opportunity.
Now, it was a good opportunity. The mountain barbarian tribes needed the territory. In addition, Ouyang Shuo's prestige was growing day by day. The tribe leaders also felt fear in their hearts.
What's more, Ouyang Shuo agreed to their conditions first, giving the tribe leaders a way out. At least, the tribes weren't forced to agree under the pressure of the marquis's mansion.
At least, the marquis was still asking for their opinions.
And this was just a "small proposal".
As expected, after listening to Ouyang Shuo's proposal, the tribe leaders were silent. They were all elites of the tribes. They naturally understood the meaning behind the marquis's words.
After a long time, a tribe leader, as the representative, stood up and replied, "We still need to go back to the tribe and ask the great shaman about the marquis's proposal. I believe that he will definitely give the marquis a satisfactory answer. "
Ouyang Shuo nodded, "If that's the case, I can rest assured!"
Fan Zhongyan sat at the side. Seeing the marquis toying with the tribe leaders in the palm of his hand, his expression was indescribable. The marquis now was not only dignified, but he could also easily play all kinds of political tricks.
And this was also a necessary lesson for a qualified leader to master. (To be continued.)
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