Industrial Crisis!

The sun is shining brightly.

Red Mountain raised its head high, snorted and exhaled hot air; as its streamlined muscles twitched, its short, blood-red hair shimmered with silver light.

Liang Qu kicked off his horse, dismounted, and instructed the two men at the door to go in and announce his arrival.

I just crossed the threshold.

The news spread like wildfire throughout the entire Martial Arts School.

The apprentices in the second Martial Arts Field of the Martial Arts School had no intention of resting and surged out like a tide.

The line of people waiting to collect their medicine was eager to get a glimpse of the Martial Arts School's legend.

As soon as the apprentices put their skills into practice, others seized the opportunity to take advantage of the chaos.

Some unpleasantness arose within the group, and the arguing grew louder.

The cook in the kitchen kept banging the bucket with an iron ladle and shouting loudly for those cutting in line to go to the back.

The poor boy sitting on the flower bed was closest to the door and immediately grabbed his spot.

Amidst the bustling crowd, a tall young man came into Martial Arts Field, looking dignified and imposing, with two waist Waist Token hanging from his waist. He strode confidently, exuding youthful vigor, and his appearance alone surpassed that of the senior brothers who taught him daily! Was that Senior Brother Liang?

His eyes were like torches, and he led a red horse.

A powerful aura emanates from him.

It perfectly matches my fantasy.

The legendary Senior Brother Liang, what a true hero!

An excited heart, trembling hands.

As the person approached, the apprentice blushed slightly and awkwardly greeted them.

"Senior Brother Liang!"

Good morning, Senior Brother Liang!

"Greetings, Senior Brother Liang!"

"Okay, good morning!"

Liang Qu walked through the covered walkway, nodding in response to each person, but then noticed a steady stream of apprentices surrounding him, which surprised him.

Why is everyone so enthusiastic?

"When I'm not out, the Martial Arts School has plenty of visitors, right? What's the point of all of you gathering together? Spring is the season for growth, and the morning is the time to plan. How many times have you practiced your stances and punches today? Zhou Zhiyong, Zhang Xiaoming! You two are fifteen minutes late this morning. Instead of using this time to practice, you're wasting your time here. You paid money to come here, so you should at least be responsible to yourselves!"

And Song Yifei, Yu Faxian, you guys are all from the Second Hospital, what are you doing here in the front yard causing trouble?

The sound pierced through the commotion.

Hu Qi put on a stern face and reprimanded each person by name.

He waved to Xiang ChangSong, signaling the others to hurry back.

"Did you hear what Senior Brother Hu said? Go back and practice your Standing Post and exercises. The year begins in spring, and the day begins in the morning. You are full of energy in the morning, so don't waste this precious time."

"If I break through this barrier today and hone my skills, I can join the River Conservancy Office tomorrow. Who knows, I might even be assigned to work under your Senior Brother Liang!"

"You two senior brothers are right, everyone hurry back to practice your skills."

Liang Qu responded with a few words.

Chen Jiechang and Li LiBo came from the Second Hospital to help Rogue Person.

The apprentices who had come to watch the spectacle dispersed in a noisy murmur, and order was restored to the Martial Arts Field.

Liang Qu laughed and said, "The place is quite lively today, there must be more than a hundred people, right? More than when I came a few days ago."

Hu Qi shook his head.

"Master is coming this afternoon, so everyone is here. Everyone wants to show their face and leave a good impression. Usually, it's only about 70-80%, but with your sudden arrival, everyone from the Second Hospital came out to join in the fun, so it looks like there are more people."

Xiang ChangSong laughed and said, "In our sect, even with Master Du and Junior Brother Liang being so powerful, Senior Brother Lu, Senior Brother Yu, and even Senior Brother Xu wouldn't be as formidable."

"Me?" Liang Qu walked down the steps, turned around, and bent down to dust. "Do I have that much face?"

Hu Qi Xiang ChangSong each stepped forward and brushed away the yellow dust.

The three brothers sat on the steps of the corridor, their shoulders resting in the shade of the trees, chatting idly.

The light and shadow are uneven.

Xiang ChangSong a group of apprentices standing in a Standing Post, practicing their stances.

"The apprentices came from Yi Xing Town. There are several large towns near Pingyang Prefecture, and each town has its own Martial Arts School."

The most apprentices come from Yi Xing Town. They refuse to go to the Martial Arts School in their own town and are willing to walk more than ten miles every day to come here to learn.

When there are many apprentices from other places, they tend to stick together. Yi Xing Town has a large population, and they stick together very well, which makes them stand out from people from other places and they are louder.

Your story spread like wildfire, reaching far and wide, especially among families that weren't well-off; they all saw you as a role model and a goal to strive for!

"Ha?"

Liang Qu burst out laughing.

From fisherman to Dushui Official, his many deeds are truly remarkable.

Unexpectedly, following the advice of his two senior brothers, and with the encouragement of fellow villagers from Yi Xing Town who came to learn martial arts, he became a legend in the Yang Martial Hall School.

"I must say, the effect is quite good." Xiang ChangSong patted Liang Qu on the shoulder, pointing his thumb outwards. "With your name on the team, after Pingyang became the prefect, the number of people in the Martial Arts School didn't decrease much. On the contrary, the other schools... not to mention the distant ones, do you remember Master Pang?"

"I can't forget it, his strong-boned disciple worked under me."

"Master Pang's apprenticeship has been almost halved."

Liang Qu was taken aback.

"Cut in half?"

"Yes, everyone has more choices now," Hu Qi added from the side. "After the establishment of the prefecture, not to mention the towns, there are as many as eight newly opened Martial Arts School in the prefecture city alone."

Xiang ChangSong said, "Junior brother, why don't you guess how many of the eight Martial Arts School Martial Arts School have Great Martial Master?"

Liang Qu thought for a moment.

"Three families?"

He spread his five fingers towards Xiang ChangSong.

Liang Qu was startled. "Five families! How come there are so many?"

"That's all! Five Martial Arts School, all nominally have Great Martial Master, but most of them are not as powerful as our Master, belonging to the middle or lower realm. Only one is equally matched, and like our Master, he only comes a few days a month."

Hu Qi added, "The Master changed the days for giving guidance. He used to come at the end of the month, but now he comes every ten days. I think this is a kind of response measure."

Liang Qu frowned. "Eight Martial Arts School, five of them have Great Martial Master, isn't that a bit too high a ratio?"

Is the competition in the prefectural city really that fierce? Could it be that all the families with Great Martial Master have come out to open Martial Arts School?

Xiang ChangSong said, "Because their Martial Arts School is different from ours and Master Pang's. The outstanding apprentices there are selected not as personal disciples, but to take up positions in the corresponding Great Martial Master Lineage and do work."

Damn it! Assign tasks!

Liang Qu was shocked and immediately understood why his Master's Martial Arts School was losing out in the competition and why the surrounding Martial Arts School were all suffering from poor business.

"It's not Martial Arts School at all; it's clearly a staff training center."

From Ping Yang Town to Ping Yang County, and now to Pingyang Prefecture, it has ostensibly undergone two rounds of the Dragon Crossing the River.

In reality, the two rounds were completely different.

The first round consisted of personnel from the Demon Subduing Division, the Three Laws Department, and the River Conservancy Office, who were dispatched as ordered. They were formidable, all second-generation leaders, and their overt Dark Side strength was no weaker than that of the second round, and perhaps even stronger.

However, they came as individuals, not for industrial interests, and were paid by the imperial court.

Conversely, the second wave was mostly Lineage relocations, as people needed to support large families.

This naturally leads to industrial encroachment, which is theoretically more complex than the first round, involving interests and being more aggressive! The decrease in the number of apprentices in many local Martial Arts School is a direct manifestation of this! Each Lineage's industrial chain needs to expand, and it cannot rely entirely on its own people; it must reasonably absorb outsiders.

Therefore, the purpose of a large Lineage opening Martial Arts School is completely different from that of Yang Dongxiong, who opened Martial Arts School for a living.

It's not about making a profit from the Martial Arts School.

This benefit is negligible.

The key is to cultivate our own talent and bring them into our own organization to ensure a constant influx of fresh blood and energy!

Liang Qu asked, "Senior brother, are their tuition fees cheaper than ours?"

Hu Qi turned his head. "Junior brother, how did you know?"

"Because their goal isn't to make money, it's to recruit people... I guess the quality of their teaching is usually quite average?"

"I'm not quite sure. We can't exactly go in and learn by stealing. But Chang Song and I noticed that it's very disorganized inside. We heard from others that only the senior apprentices are posing and having their subordinates follow along. They don't care how well the apprentices are learning. Some even get injured from practicing. Unless you've paid tens of taels of silver, they won't help you with anything."

"You really do get what you pay for..."

As a substitute for a sect, Martial Arts School has many advantages.

By targeting the general public and increasing the number of grassroots Martial Artist, it is difficult to form local forces, reducing the difficulty of centralizing power, while also allowing them to reap the benefits and absorb top talents from Martial Arts School.

Unfortunately, it's impossible to absorb all the talent.

Especially those who have some talent, but not enough.

Large Lineage open their own Martial Arts School precisely to absorb this talent and thereby expand their influence and win over various groups.

Once you've been initially selected, the rest of the people won't care about you. If you follow the old apprentice's instructions and make mistakes, it's a sign of "lack of intelligence."

Unfortunately, this kind of selective Martial Arts School with the Drunkard's Intention Is Not In The Wine will have a huge impact on people like Yang Dongxiong who specialize in making a profit from Martial Arts School.

After all, it's cheaper, and on the surface, it seems to offer a better future. As for those who have injured themselves...

Humans are driven by self-interest, so no one cares. There's also a sense of wishful thinking; no one thinks they or their child will happen to be the one who is eliminated because they lack talent.

"Can't our Martial Arts School assign positions?"

"Where should we put him? Master isn't from a wealthy family with a lot of businesses. He just runs Martial Arts School and doesn't do any other business. He only has some connections with the herbal medicine merchants' association. Are we going to stuff him into the government?"

"This won't do."

Liang Qu was puzzled.

He knew how well his two senior brothers taught.

Bad money drives out good money; that's just how the world is.

With Liang Qu's deeds as a role model, the Martial Arts School can certainly hold on for a while.

But family members know their own situation best, and there's no possibility of copying it.

A few years later, no one succeeded in imitating it. As an unattainable castle in the air, its appeal naturally began to wane, and people gradually began to consider reality.

It's true that Master Yang is more skilled than other Martial Arts School owners, but he actually participates in very little of the teaching, which cannot be considered a key factor in a Martial Arts School's appeal.

Xiang ChangSong and Hu Qi understood this.

a long time.

Liang Qu's eyes lit up.

I have two ideas!

Xiang ChangSong asked, "What idea?"

"One option is for us to collaborate with the Shanghu Academy and have them send two teachers so that the apprentices can learn pinyin and literacy while they rest!"

Xiang ChangSong asked in confusion, "Wouldn't hiring instructors from the academy increase our costs?"

"Tuition fees will also increase. But don't raise them too much. Going to the academy isn't cheap because you learn a lot of things, like writing essays, practicing calligraphy, and studying other classics, histories, Classics, Histories, Masters, Collections."

We'll just add one more item, charging two or three taels of silver, and we'll only teach literacy, nothing else!

Furthermore, they set up large classes, with one teacher teaching dozens of students. The teacher lectures on their own, and the students learn on their own. There's no need to tailor instruction to individual needs or care about who learns well or not.

"If you put in a little effort, you can learn quite a few characters in three months. This is different from martial arts training, where you might not necessarily succeed. But being literate is a lifelong benefit!"

Hu Qi Xiang ChangSong thoughtfully.

Unlike Liang Qu, many apprentices, as his personal disciples, had the opportunity to study at academies and medical clinics, which broadened their horizons and knowledge, allowing them to develop comprehensively.

When people enter Martial Arts School, many only learn a set of boxing techniques.

Anyway, they teach you step by step, and you just do what they're told. You don't need to understand any secret manuals or meridians. You'll still end up illiterate, neither good enough for high-level jobs nor good enough for low-level ones.

On the contrary, literacy is very useful; it is a real skill!

Hu Qi asked, "And the second one?"

Liang Qu scratched his temples.

"Junior brother also has a business, farming."

Xiang ChangSong wondered, "Farming? How much money can you make from farming an acre of land? Many apprentices come from farming families. If they really learn the skills and then go back to farming, wouldn't it be a waste of their time?"

"I plant medicinal herbs, Dark Spotted Frog, Golden Thread Leech, and rice together, but the scale is still relatively small at the moment. I'm still experimenting, and I'll start sowing when it gets hot."

Once this year is over and we achieve results, we will definitely expand, and at that time we may have to buy land in other counties.

The transportation, protection, distribution, and guarding of large quantities of medicinal herbs all require manpower. It would be good to be able to recruit and employ people from Master.

In my opinion, combining both methods—teaching literacy, providing opportunities for advancement, and having a strong reputation—definitely gives them a significant advantage over other Martial Arts School!

Hu Qi spoke up, "Junior brother, I have a question."

"Please speak, senior brother."

"We can teach literacy, but other Martial Arts School can copy that too, right? What advantage do we have if we're just doing the work for others?"

"So we should Shanghu Academy in this! Let the academy send instructors, or just lend us its name without sending any instructors."

Other martial arts schools can teach literacy, but there's only one such school in Pingyang Prefecture, Shanghu Academy.

Our main focus should be on promoting our partnership with the academy to teach literacy, which gives ordinary apprentices a different experience.

Xiang ChangSong and Hu Qi fell into deep thought.

The two of them knew that their junior brother always had some brilliant ideas.

If they say they can expand the industry, they definitely can.

Xiang ChangSong murmured, "Sounds good. Anyway, it won't disappear too much in the next year or two, and my junior brother's medicinal herb field will take time to develop..."

Hu Qi asked again, "What if other Martial Arts School also try to borrow the academy's name?"

These two senior brothers have quite a few questions...

Liang Qu spread his hands.

"I haven't thought it through yet. Headmaster Zhao and my Master are friends, so it will definitely be easier for them to talk than for outsiders."

We could either agree to have exclusive use for several years, paying a large sum of money each year, or find another way to allow the academy to share in the profits.

In short, once the first few years are stable and Pingyang Prefecture has developed sufficiently, the basic impression will be established. Later, once the junior apprentice's business is fully established, there will be no need to fear outsiders; everyone will be treated the same.

Xiang ChangSong and Hu Qi exchanged a glance.

"There's no time like the present, let's go talk to our Master!"

"Alright, I was just about to go find my Master to refine my inner energy."

Liang Qu got up and dusted off his clothes.

"Oh right, I haven't asked my junior brother yet, what brings you to the Martial Arts School gym today?"

"Ha." Liang Qu slapped his forehead. "I almost forgot, my junior brother discovered a Treasure Land underwater. It will take about a Yaori Period for a celestial phenomenon to appear."

I've come specifically to ask my two senior brothers to prepare in advance, take care of things, and then we can all go and join in the fun.

Hu Qi, Xiang ChangSong: "?"

Inside the hall.

Hu Qi Xiang ChangSong drank tea while Liang Qu explained his plans.

"That's a good idea."

Yang Dongxiong stroked his beard, showing great interest in Liang Qu's ideas.

Liang Qu: "Three months, using the rest time from martial arts training to teach only pinyin, is more than enough for an adult, in my opinion."

Two books with pinyin annotations will be placed in the Martial Arts School for students to borrow. With practice, they will gradually learn to recognize and write characters, making the teaching process equally easier for instructors.

Yang Dongxiong nodded. "I'll go talk to Headmaster Zhao another day."

Ping Yang County became Pingyang Prefecture.

The Martial Arts School has indeed reached a point where it needs to make changes. If it waits until it is truly weakened and its image is firmly established, it will be too late.

"Let's go to the backyard."

Yang Dongxiong stood up, Liang Qu clasped his hands in greeting.

"Master, please wait a moment, I have something else to ask you."

"What's up?"

Hu Qi felt a surge of energy Xiang ChangSong.

It's here!

The two straightened their backs and looked up at their Master.

Yang Dongxiong caught a glimpse of their expressions out of the corner of his eye, and his eyes flashed.

"I received news a few days ago..."

Liang Qu recounted the long-term Heavenly Water Long Qi and the possibility of unusual celestial phenomena appearing in the world, concealing the process of obtaining the information and only discussing the results.

Silence.

Yang Dongxiong's eyes rolled.

"Is this the big deal you mentioned a few days ago?"

There was no response! Hu Qi was greatly disappointed and leaned back against Xiang ChangSong.

Liang Qu nodded.

"A single strand of hemp cannot make a thread, but two strands can be twisted into a rope. When strange phenomena appear in the world, the waters will surely be teeming with all sorts of creatures, and there will be no shortage of Demon Beast trying their luck."

Today I'm looking for my Master, and later I'll be going to see Brother Yue Long. Could you please help me enclose a few acres of land underwater?

With the help of a master, Liang Qu's task of comprehending the strange phenomena of heaven and earth will be completed, and it will also benefit others, creating a mutually beneficial situation.

As for whether the competition for Long Qi will increase anomalies as a result.

Liang Qu didn't know what level Xu Yuelong had reached, but without the help of Grandmaster, he wanted to go underwater and compete with the aquatic creatures for Long Qi.

That's unlikely.

Most likely, it won't be taken into consideration.