In the 7th Year of Yan Huang, summer.
The King led the officials on an inspection tour of the Northwest.
The Northwest Continent was, after all, where Shen Tang had first made her name. It was also the stronghold into which she had poured the most resources and effort. Though in recent years she had shifted her focus toward the northeast, central region, and southwest, the Northwest Continent still had the largest population and the most stable situation.
The officials there also knew better than anyone just how terrifying Shen Tang could be.
Before the continent was unified, Kang had held the northwest for more than a decade.
The royal court had conducted inspections year after year, screening the officials again and again.
It was true that people had clever heads when it came to bribery and corruption, and a hundred ways to line their pockets. But Shen Tang had a thousand ways to find out whether their backsides were clean. Corrupt officials could never be wiped out completely, but her blade would never stop cutting. The fools who refused to learn, naively believing that the devil was one foot tall while the Dao was ten, had all been reincarnated by now. Even their descendants for three generations were barred from entering government service.
All these factors combined meant that, compared with the regions the royal court had inspected before, the officials of the Northwest stood out like lotus flowers rising unsullied from the mud.
The officials traveling with the King also breathed a long sigh of relief.
They didn't want to come away from every business trip with a pile of heads.
Beheading corrupt officials and confiscating their assets for the state treasury was certainly satisfying, but the mess they left behind was a headache. The King also held