Planning

Having witnessed the scene in Heping Fang firsthand, Li Fan realized that the matter had reached a point where he could no longer ignore it.

This isn't just a matter of one or two demon gods! If becoming a demon god was as easy as surviving a near-death experience, that would be terrible!

The destitute and hopeless commoners at the bottom of Changsi City number in the millions! If such a huge powder keg were to explode, the entire Li Country would be turned into Devil Domain!

Fortunately, the situation is not yet dire. Although the scene is quite grand, with demons, altars, cultists, and people lining up to offer sacrifices, making it seem like a large-scale raid, it is quite terrifying. However, these Black Lotus Sect freaks are surprisingly quite polite.

Upon hearing that Li Fan introduced himself as "Li Er, a servant of the Li Family Village in Li Family Village," and that he would take them to the Daoist temple of "Master Qingyue of Mountain Lord" to build the "Vacuum Home" together, with Huai Wu and Xiao Lian helping to explain, no one resisted or ran away. They answered all their questions and explained the situation to Li Fan in detail.

So the flock of crows that Real Person Wei had transformed into didn't make a move. They just landed on the branches and rooftops to listen in. Li Er then stepped forward and asked about the current situation of the Black Lotus Sect in Changsi City.

Unfortunately, these people didn't know much either, and although they didn't bring a cat, Li Fan could tell they were telling the truth.

This seems to be a coincidence; the Black Lotus Sect actually had no plan to open a door and create a big scandal by taking advantage of the king's ascension to the throne.

This Heping Fang was originally the main altar for the Black Lotus Sect followers in the city. Because this ward was close to the western city wall, a tunnel was dug underneath it, and Black Lotus Sect members outside the city would smuggle food and medicine to support their fellow followers who were trapped in the city because of their low social status.

However, relying solely on the limited relief provided by the Black Lotus Sect members, the lives of the lowly commoners in the city, who had been abandoned by the powerful families and lost their means of livelihood due to the bankruptcy of the merchants in the West Market, became extremely difficult.

Therefore, some people went to the clinic that Taiping Ship opened in the neighborhood to try the medicine.

Of course, it was probably not the ' Taiping Ship, but rather a clinic run by the sixteen men with white eyebrows.

There seem to be many kinds of 'medicine', red and blue, with varying effects. Usually, it starts with a red medicine. After taking the medicine, one will feel energized and full of strength for a while, without feeling pain. After a day, the effect will wear off, causing severe fatigue, and may even lead to disability or sudden death. However, not many people die from it, at least not many enough to attract attention.

A very small number of people could survive for more than three days without any problems, and they would be taken away as servants by the Taiping Ship. Most people could only barely survive for a day. Although they would vomit and have diarrhea after taking the medicine and suffer terribly, at least they could receive some money and food to live on. Therefore, people with families would often go to test the medicine every day, and it was not surprising if someone suddenly died.

These amulets made from tofu coupons were made and sent to the city by members of the Black Lotus Sect outside the city after they learned that the people in the city were testing medicine.

The Black Lotus Sect envoy from outside the city taught them how to chant incantations, how to Door Opening, and how to capture and trap the unfortunate Devil Seed. He also taught them that anyone who had taken the red pill and survived for half a month could come and eat a piece of the Devil Seed's flesh. Although it was a near-death experience, as long as they survived, they could not only truly become disciples of the Black Lotus Sect, but also have their indentures terminated, and follow the envoy away from Changsi City to live in the Black Lotus Sect's Vacuum Home outside the city.

In fact, the people on the Taiping Ship were aware of these things, but they didn't care much. They only selected those who were perfectly fine after taking the medicine; they didn't care whether the rest lived or died.

Of course, by this time, everyone from the Taiping Ship Medical Hall had already fled. Real Person Wei's crow also shook its head, indicating that the medical halls and manors in Heping Fang had been completely cleaned up, and nothing had been left behind.

As for the people Li Fan captured, there were no clues from Bai Meimao's side.

This man was named Wang Zhi, and he was considered a minor leader among the Black Lotus Sect followers in Heping Fang. As a result, quite a few people knew him and his background. Wang Zhi was not originally a lowly commoner, nor was he a demonic rebel. He used to be a small merchant in the West Market, selling smuggled salt. Having traveled extensively throughout the Li Country, he naturally had business dealings with the villages of the Black Lotus Sect.

These past two years, he'd been relentlessly plagued by natural disasters and man-made calamities, finally driven to bankruptcy. Then, officials chased after him for rent, finding trivial reasons to arrest him, beat him several times, drained his family's wealth, and confiscated all his shops and property, threatening to imprison and execute him. In the end, Wang Zhi had nowhere else to turn, so he fled with his wife, daughters, and family to Heping Fang, where they were taken in by the Black Lotus Sect.

In truth, Wang Zhi was a man of great experience and strong will. He had already taken drugs and eaten demonic beast meat, and he could have survived and left Changsi City with the envoy. However, with his wife and children by his side, he was naturally reluctant to leave. So he stayed in the city to help the Black Lotus Sect coordinate affairs within the monastery and even tried to feed his family drugs and demonic meat, but unfortunately, none of them survived.

He probably heard from the Black Lotus Sect's envoy that once they reached the Vacuum Home, their families could be reunited. That's probably why he went mad this time, gathering a group of similarly pitiful people, hoping to Door Opening the gates and return home.

Anyway, there have been far too many crazy guys like this over the years.

Li Fan could only sigh in regret; there was nothing else he could do but pat the guy's head.

A few days ago Li Fan and the White-Browed Eunuch fought so fiercely that no one dared to come and take a look. But now, thanks to the message from the Dean, Fei Ya, the support from the Discipline Institute of Ink Bamboo Mountain arrived quite quickly. The black-clad Daoists rushed forward one after another, and when they performed their magic, they summoned large swaths of dark clouds and thick smoke, which completely enveloped Heping Fang, sealing off its entrance and exit, and dealt with that unfortunate Devil Seed.

The remaining Black Lotus Sect members did not resist and obediently accepted the control and inspection. The more than one hundred people present were all afflicted with talismans and taken to the flying boat to be cared for ahead of time at Ink Bamboo Mountain.

However, in Heping Fang, and even the entire western part of the city, the number of people who have taken those pills, while not as many as a million, is still considerable.

Even Real Person Wei realized the seriousness of the problem and supported Li Fan's outrageous suggestion to rescue the lowly people of Changsi City from their misery and bring them back to Moshan to be raised.

Yes, Li Fan knew that he had done more than just cause trouble this time; he had gone too far and caused a huge problem for Ink Bamboo Mountain.

Perhaps due to the schemes of Nangong's seven or seventeen or eighteen friends, the abbot was unaware of the small-scale drug trials.

But doesn't the abbot know that there are millions of slaves in Changsi City, living in misery and suffering, treated like mere playthings? Doesn't he want to help them?

But the reality is that it's truly beyond our control.

The population that has migrated to Bamboo Mountain in recent years has not been fully settled. The refugees and displaced people need to be organized to reclaim wasteland, cultivate land, and enter workshops. At the same time, they also need to produce military equipment and supplies to the north and south to prepare for war. It is a miracle that Ink Bamboo Mountain and the Li Country's court have managed to maintain this situation without collapsing.

And now, Li Fan, the Mountain Lord, is actually preparing to relocate a million people to develop Mo Mountain at this time. He himself is embarrassed to say this to the people in the mountain.

This is not only a question of whether Ink Bamboo Mountain can accommodate so many people, Li Country agrees. It's a huge problem that could lead to an explosion if not handled properly.

Although after some internal discussion at Baisun Yuan, the group of eunuchs all patted their chests and said they could give Li Fan face and cooperate with him in liberating slaves, clearing up indentures, and transferring low-status households to Moshan.

However, this group of people living in the west of the city cannot truly represent the opinions of the powerful families Li Country.

To put it bluntly, Qiu Liang and the other powerful families living in the western part of Changsi City were not important; they were the so-called eunuch faction, or the 'new elites'.

They wouldn't care; after all, it's just using other people's money. After all, these people didn't have any family wealth or ancestral property. Which one of them wasn't a treacherous scoundrel who climbed up the ranks by clinging to the emperor's coattails? They've done plenty of things like selling official positions, embezzling, and accepting bribes. They're all nouveau riche who made their fortunes by profiting from the difference between the two sides.

Their good fortune largely stemmed from their luck; they profited from the massive real estate development in the capital. Having been habitual loan sharks in the West Market, they further exploited the situation, seizing assets from numerous bankrupt merchants. Simultaneously, they colluded with officials, using the resources of the Ministry of Revenue and the Border Defense Depot to monopolize trade...

This isn't just making a fortune; it's so much so that my mouth is numb from eating so much that I feel incredibly guilty about earning so much. I can't even sleep peacefully without spending money to hire a powerful bodyguard to protect me!

It's obvious, they can come up with 150 million strings of cash in protection money! Compared to what they've actually made over the years, it's really just a small matter!

So, in the end, these newly rich and powerful people in the capital were indeed very willing to cooperate with Li Fan. After all, they had already paid 150 million, so what were the servants? They only needed to keep a few entertainers and servants at home and hire some thugs to play around with, which was enough. They didn't need so many servants at all.

The real problem lies with the large landowners living in the east of the city, as well as in the various prefectures and counties outside the capital.

This group consists of legitimate powerful clans and large landowners, including families like the Guo Family, whose members have been granted titles and ties through marriage for generations. The rewards and inheritances they have received Li Country the years are astronomical. They can easily acquire millions of acres of fertile land in the localities, support tens or hundreds of thousands of serfs and lowly people as beasts of burden, and easily raise hundreds of thousands of private soldiers and retainers.

The deposition and enthronement of the king and royal family members must be based on their opinions. Otherwise, believe it or not, they could easily follow the example of the northern warlords and declare themselves kings with an imperial edict from the Three Palaces!

If the powerful clans that had previously Li Country were still willing to cooperate with Ink Bamboo Mountain's southern expansion plan and actively participate in protecting the territory of the five northern continents, it would not only be to give face to this newly established local Xuanmen, ease the long-standing bilateral relations, resolve the hidden dangers of migrants entering the country, and protect their own ancestral property, but also to take over the farmland of bankrupt commoners. It would be a win-win situation, a mutually agreeable arrangement.

This upgraded version of the southward migration plan that Li Fan came up with, the 'Moshan Development Plan,' is truly a competition with powerful clans and wealthy families for the population and private property under their control!

Well, we used to be equals, but now that Ink Bamboo Mountain has the biggest fist, you want to drag people to Bamboo Mountain to farm. Considering the chaos in the world these past few years, the large number of bankrupt refugees, and even more poor farmers who have sold themselves into servitude, and the fact that we don't lack labor, we'll keep quiet about it.

But now they're openly taking sides, siding with that group of eunuchs! They're even going to use tricks to get the emperor to grant a general amnesty, for the court to issue an order to release them from slavery, and to exterminate their people and their very foundations?

You said you took all the cattle and horses away, so who the hell is going to farm all that land under their names?

This isn't just taking their lives, it's taking their money!

This is outrageous! This is tantamount to rebellion!

In some parallel universe, this would cause a major upheaval, with thirteen states rising up in rebellion and a purge of corrupt officials from the court!

So Li Fan was genuinely a little worried. After the matter at the Imperial Ancestral Temple was settled, he specifically asked the Imperial Censor if the matter could be resolved.

However, Li Hongxian patted his chest and said, "Don't worry, my lord! It's a small problem! Leave it to us! You're a real man! And you're so adorable!"

Although Li Fan was still a little worried, seeing that the guy's eyes were darting around, he figured he probably had a lot of tricks up his sleeve, so he agreed to let this treacherous minister give it a try first.

At worst, he might actually support the eunuch faction this time and go against the nobles.

Yes, Li Fan understood the difficulties of Ink Bamboo Mountain and the cruelty of reality. He also knew that it was impossible to save everyone. The first-come, first-served order for boarding the ship was already fair, but even if it was fair, some people would inevitably be left behind by the times.

But those who are left behind aren't fools; no one will willingly wait to die.

Whether willingly or forced, the abandoned and degraded people have begun to actively embrace mutation! They are starting to find their own way to survive and have begun the process of becoming too monstrous!

Li Fan felt that if the success rate of such a simple transformation surgery was less than 50%, it would be too irresponsible. He wanted to wait a while and research a more suitable method of transforming into a human.

But these people are already giving up even the most desperate chances of survival.

Considering the existence of other powerful figures like the Nangong Seven Friends and the sixteenth and nineteenth generation secretly producing elixirs, the actual probability is even lower.

But so what?

Anyway, they probably won't last until the day when that flawless method of transforming into human form is available in the mortal world, will they?

Rather than letting these Black Lotus Sect members crudely rely on devouring Devil Embryo and fend for themselves, it would be better to use them as his test subjects. At least the probability of his surgery succeeding and surviving would be slightly higher than a near-death experience, right?

And so the decision was made.

Li Fan flew directly back to Ink Bamboo Mountain to discuss the follow-up matters with the abbot and the system. Li Er's clone, meanwhile, remained hidden in the Jingji to continue tracking down Nangong Seven Friends.

Besides the people in Heping Fang who were transported away first, there were also about a thousand people like Huaiwu and Xiaolian, who were old, weak, sick and disabled and unable to work, and were driven out of their homes. They were also given priority to be released from their lowly status and freed from slavery. They were gathered together and a batch of supplies and flying boats were allocated from the nearby border defense warehouse by the Zhidu Division. They were sent as the first batch of immigrants to develop Moshan.

The abolition of slavery will continue to be promoted, starting from the Jingji, and gradually relocating the entire population of the Li Country towards Moshan and the Ten-thousand-mountains to open up new lands and establish Vacuum Home.

Let them live first, and when they are ready, they can come back and reclaim their true homeland.