Otherworld Advance Team
Chapter 1729 - 1722: Encountering an Old Friend Again

Chapter 1729: Chapter 1722: Encountering an Old Friend Again

The terrain of Yin State is primarily plains, interspersed with some hilly areas, but overall it is flat and the land is fertile, suitable for cultivation.

Thus, along the way, Cheng Ziang and others could see the vast stretches of neat rice fields on both sides of the road. Farmers stood in small groups on the roadside, bowing respectfully to the cavalry and carriages.

Cheng Ziang was surprised to find that there were quite a few members of the Demon Clan among them. Moreover, judging by their clothes and appearance, these demons did not seem to be slaves.

After all, the Wen Family had proactively proposed the abolition of slavery, naturally needing to set an example for others.

Thinking of this, Cheng Ziang inexplicably felt a bit more favorable towards the Yichuan Clan.

Of course, Cheng Ziang felt more guilt towards the Yichuan Clan, specifically towards the siblings Yichuan Long and Yichuan Ying.

The roads in Yin State were very straight and smooth, apparently well-maintained and repaired regularly. They were vastly superior to the roads in Qi State and Hua State.

Alongside the road, every few kilometers, small villages could be seen. After traveling over ten kilometers, bustling small towns appeared.

To counter the Wu Family’s concealment of population and tax evasion, the Dongsheng Empire implemented a policy of free population flow. Within the empire, people of any class or status could move freely.

This led to an unprecedented population movement within the Dongsheng Empire, with large numbers of people flocking to the wealthy counties governed by the Wen Family, which objectively weakened the Wu Family’s strength.

The flow of population made the commercial and traveler culture within the Dongsheng Empire extremely developed, with inns seen everywhere. Especially as the economic and political core, Yin State attracted a massive population, objectively promoting the economic and cultural development of Qi State.

Advocating for the empire’s policy of population flow were mostly the great families of nobility. Although their political identity was aligned with the Wen Family, objectively speaking, this approach also weakened their power as great families.

However, they persisted in implementing it solely because the benefits of such a policy outweighed the drawbacks.

Thanks to the exceptional governance of the Wen Family, the economic development levels of the states and counties under their rule were generally higher than those governed by the Wu Family.

People naturally seek better livelihoods. So when the population flow was liberalized, these ordinary tenant farmers naturally chose to live in wealthier states rather than remain in impoverished states suffering from exploitation.

From Cheng Ziang and others’ perspective, such a policy seemed somewhat too forward-thinking. But considering the struggle between the Wen Family and the Wu Family, they felt there was simply no reason to oppose it.

The Wen Family was, of course, aware of the limitations of this policy, yet they adhered to it nonetheless, solely to weaken the Wu Family’s strength as much as possible.

The population flow led to a rapid development of the commodity economy within the empire, the dawn of capitalism began to rise, and the merchant class grew stronger, starting to seek political status.

According to the Dongsheng Empire’s class standards, Warriors, Farmers, Artisans, Merchants, the merchant class was at the bottom of the empire’s class pyramid. But now, with capital in their hands, they naturally weren’t content with such class distinctions.

But they did not resent all the upper classes, instead, they specifically targeted the warrior class.

The scholar-official class, ranked second, they considered not enemies but rather potential allies.

Thus, from this perspective, the so-called Wen Family did not refer solely to scholars or the Civil Official group but was a community of interest formed by the scholar-official class and the merchant class.

Their enemy was the warrior class, long entrenched at the top of the class hierarchy, which was the so-called cultivation group.

The natural presence of magical power allowed for the embodiment of strength, which made the cultivation group naturally the pinnacle of the class structure, as it has been for countless years.

Currently, the scholar-official class, which controlled culture, and the merchant class, which controlled the economy, had long been fed up with the long-term misconduct of the cultivation class. Thus, the conflict between civil and martial classes, during the over two hundred years of the Dongsheng Empire, was particularly evident and fierce.

Of course, these large families of the Wen Family were not foolish; they knew the importance of strength. So even as the Wen Family, they still maintained the tradition of cultivation.

Among the Wen Family leaders, the Yichuan Clan had many outstanding cultivators. For instance, Yichuan Xv, who served as a top general, was a late-stage Golden Core Realm expert. Although he was of the Ba Path faction, he had also learned numerous Royal Dao techniques, and his combat strength ranked in the top five within the entire empire without any difficulty.

Most importantly, Yichuan Xv was still very young, just over thirty years old, which also indicated the abundance of cultivation resources within the Yichuan Clan.

After walking along the road for a day, the Advance Team temporarily settled in an inn. The inn seemed to have been prepared for them, as the large inn was empty, and all the staff were at the disposal of the Advance Team.

The cavalry didn’t stay in the inn but instead camped in groups around it, protecting the members of the Advance Team inside.

"My goodness, this Yin State is too fantastic. We’re practically VIPs here," Hu Daoke sat in a chair, waving excitedly and ordering, "Waiter, bring us your most expensive dishes, let the masters indulge, and the wine must be the best."

He spoke in unfluent Kyushu language, so the waiter responsible for reception didn’t understand, only stood fearfully in place.

"Ignore him, bring two tables of good dishes, one for us to eat, and send the other to the Saint’s room," Cheng Ziang instructed the waiter in standard Yin State accent Kyushu language.

"Understood, sir, I’ll arrange it right away, please be patient with us," the waiter cautiously bowed and said.

"What about the wine?" Hu Daoke, understanding some Kyushu language, asked with wide eyes.

"Drink what wine, drinking leads to trouble," Cheng Ziang replied, giving him a sideways glance.

"What are you afraid of? We’re protected by the Yin State army. Do you fear someone will come and snatch the Saint?" Hu Daoke showed a disappointed expression.

"That’s not certain. After all, here isn’t too far from Qi State, it won’t be good if the Anxiang family rush over to snatch people," Cheng Ziang shrugged and said.

"Cheapskate, and we don’t even have to pay," Hu Daoke pouted, muttering resentfully, but with the mask on, others couldn’t see his expression.

Cheng Ziang ignored him and was about to look around when he suddenly heard the noise outside.

With over a hundred cavalrymen protecting, he was not worried about trouble, so he didn’t pay attention, but Fulajie’er’s appearance changed his mind.

"Hey, hey," in the midst of the commotion, Fulajie’er’s voice suddenly echoed in his mind, "There’s a remarkable person outside, want to take a look?"

"What remarkable person?" Cheng Ziang instinctively asked.

"You know them," Fulajie’er said mysteriously.

"I know them?"

"Come on, you’ll see," Fulajie’er urged.

"You’re in intelligence, can’t you stop playing riddles?" Cheng Ziang sighed, stood up, and walked out of the inn.

He crossed the inn’s courtyard and went straight to the entrance, which was already surrounded by the cavalry, but he could still hear a familiar voice shouting outside.

"Isn’t this an inn? Why aren’t you letting us in? Move aside!" the newcomer shouted loudly.

"This place is already rented by us, if you don’t want trouble, leave now," Ming He issued a cold threat.

"Oh, intimidating me, do you think I grew up being scared? You people aren’t even enough for me to fight, move aside!" the person issued an indisputable commanding voice.

"Fine, fine, let’s go somewhere else, let’s not cause trouble..." a soft female voice pleaded, seemingly persuading the person.

"What’s your status, are you actually afraid of these people?" the person responded.

Cheng Ziang stepped out the door, seeing the familiar figure of the person speaking, he couldn’t help but smile and waved to greet, "Long time no see, Xing Hu!"

"Azure, Azure Dragon!" upon hearing Cheng Ziang’s voice, Xing Hu suddenly looked up, exclaiming joyfully, "Why are you... uh, wait, if you’re here, that means the Saint... no wonder..."

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