Chapter 522 — The Star Beast's Rigorous Interrogation
The Herdsman of the Wasteland · Page 3 of 5
In the way of governing a state one must not haggle over every penny; one must see far, see decades and centuries hence. The Grand Libationer wants to make money, and that is small money; I want to make money, and what I earn is the realm itself: to take all without bloodshed, to order the world and succor the people, to unify by economy! " The Minister of Revenue bowed in utter submission: "These words of Your Majesty may serve as a warning to later generations. " In Crimson Dragon City, Shen Mu watched the cultivators come and go through the streets in endless throngs, and the caravans streaming in without cease; Jingping's cultivators and caravans made Crimson Dragon City more clamorous than ever. "If Jingping's Imperial Preceptor leads the women cultivators of the Western Lands to lay the road as far as this, opening the way between the Western Lands and Jingping, the people of the Wasteland will no longer live so bitterly. " Shen Mu made his reckoning: a month or more had passed since Jingping's Imperial Preceptor had taken the Heavenly Works Hall of the Ministry of Works to the Western Lands, and by now they should have turned much of the desert to green, which the Qingxuan Water Dragon Pearl, one of the four great spirit treasures of the Western Lands, could accomplish. And by opening rivers and drawing the meltwater of the snow mountains into the desert, the vegetation could be made dense.
If the Heavenly Works Hall could split open the great mountains in the desert's south and draw the cloud vapors of the Southern Sea northward, then the desert's water would flow without end, and there would be no need to fret over rain or snow.
In a few years' time, the Flame Desert would be a thing of the past. And once the roads were laid, joining the Western Lands, the Wasteland, and Jingping, with the ways open and trade flowing, and market towns and cities set up along the Wasteland route, the people of the Wasteland would grow rich by it.
"Divine Physician Shen, I hear you are a man of the Wasteland. " Xing An stood behind him and broke his thoughts: "You are a man of the Wasteland, yet you bring Jingping's power into the Wasteland.
You are the Wasteland's traitor. " "The Wasteland has no nations; how can there be talk of traitors? " Shen Mu said, puzzled.
"The people of the Wasteland have always lived off the mountains and the waters.
There is no ruler here. Even if Jingping comes, the men of Jingping are people of the Wasteland too; they cannot turn guest into host, but must keep the Wasteland's rules.
Here the Wasteland's rules are mightier than an emperor's law.
" Xing An shook his head: "I have met Emperor Yanfeng only a few times, but I can see that he is a man of grand vision and great capacity, and in time he will surely unify the Wasteland. When his armies stand beneath the walls, it will be too late for regret.
" Shen Mu smiled: "If the Emperor sends troops against the Wasteland, then his throne will not last much longer either.
You should know how terrible the Wasteland is. Those stone statues.
.
. " He pointed to the shrines scattered through Crimson Dragon City and said unhurriedly: "They are waiting for the summons to rise again. When they rise, heaven and earth will be overturned.
Jingping will never be master of this land; this land's master is someone else. " His eyes flickered and he smiled: "I drove off the Minister of Revenue, and the Emperor did not come looking for trouble with me; his designs I know perfectly well.
Only his fancies are all empty fancies. If the Emperor's achievements could surpass Kaihuang's, then there might be a chance; otherwise they are flowers in a mirror and the moon in water.
I mean to go and tend a grave. Will you come with me, Brother Xing An? " Xing An looked at the Box as it came running over on its several legs, then drew his gaze back: "Where you go, I go.