The Governor-General remained silent longer than ever before. In the end, he did not agree; he merely told him to leave.
That ambiguous attitude proved that even the leader was uncertain. He probably needed to weigh it carefully or seek instructions from above.
Lin Wen could not be bothered with so much. After completing the relevant appointment procedures at the Governor-General's Office, he took a special car back to Long Mountain Commandery.
This time, he had to make good use of this position and rake in Good Karma.
Lin Wen thought to himself.
Good Karma was the root of everything. It could add flowers to brocade and send charcoal in snowy weather; it could carry one to the heavens in a single step, or serve as a safety net at the bottom.
As long as he had enough Good Karma, nothing was a problem.
Then he would find an opportunity to achieve Perfect Reincarnation.
If reincarnation could be achieved early, that would naturally be best. It would spare him the suffering of being tempered in the mortal world, lest his Dao heart be clouded with dust and ashes gather upon his spiritual platform.
If there was no opportunity, that was fine too. He would simply treat it as another kind of trial and tempering.
After all, when he cultivated immortality in the future, he probably would not be able to escape the trial of the mortal world anyway.
Third, he needed to find more ways to die. If he truly found an exceptionally good death that could replace Star of Salvation and Duty-Bound Person, then changing targets was not impossible.
Having settled his thoughts, Lin Wen studied [Immortal's Guide] for a while longer and raised quite a few questions, but unfortunately gained nothing.
For example:
"How can I become the prefect of Long Mountain Commandery perfectly, without making a single mistake?"
19600 Good Karma required.
"What is the way to make everyone in Long Mountain Commandery become rich overnight?"
92021812 Good Karma required.
"How can I use the prefect's authority to maximize my Good Karma?"
Content does not exist. No answer.
Damn!
Upon returning to Long Mountain Commandery, Lin Wen's workplace moved from Changle Town to Huai Town. This was a town with modern civilization, the capital of Long Mountain Commandery, and its facilities were vastly better than those in Changle Town.
The Governor-General's Office appointment had long since arrived at the Commandery Administrative Office and the prefect's office. Yet when Lin Wen arrived, only a few low-ranking clerks came out to greet him. Not a single official from the Commandery Administrative Office was anywhere to be seen, nor did anyone hand over the work to him.
Lin Wen did not care. He dismissed everyone and went straight into the prefect's office to look through documents.
He stayed there for three days.
Lin Wen read every document in the prefect's office, then went to the Long Mountain Commandery Archives and sifted through the records of the past ten years. Of course, there was too much material to finish in a short time, so he only browsed some of the main contents.
He had gained a preliminary understanding of Long Mountain Commandery's basic situation. It truly deserved its reputation as the poorest region in the Empire. Last year, the entire commandery's output value was 89 million Imperial yuan.
It sounded like quite a lot, but Long Mountain Commandery had 1.3 million people. The average output per person was only 680 yuan. If this total output was calculated the same way GDP had been in his previous life, then per capita GDP was a staggering 680 Imperial yuan.
It was not even one-tenth of what African black brothers had. Compared to his former dynasty, one would probably have to go back to before liberation to find anything like it.
Moreover, in reality, because the mountainous regions were remote and difficult to count, Long Mountain Commandery should have had 1.4 to 1.5 million people. Calculated that way, it was even lower.
No wonder when he asked [Immortal's Guide] what Long Mountain Commandery needed most.
The answer was only one word—[Money].
Among the prefectural documents he had read over the past few days, what Lin Wen saw most often were Long Mountain Commandery development plans that had been halted or shelved, as well as even more drafts written only halfway through. Most of them had been the work of the previous prefect, Zhao Anping.
There was only one reason they had been abandoned.
Insufficient funds. Unable to implement.
Sure enough, in every world, the only incurable disease was poverty.
It seemed that if Lin Wen wanted to rake in Good Karma, the first thing he needed to do was get money.
There was no longer any hope of relying on the East Qin Provincial Governor's Office. Sheng Huaixuan had told him plainly, "I simply won't give it to you."
Moreover, based on what Lin Wen had learned so far, the Empire's funds were also extremely tight. There were enormous gaps in every area. Although Long Mountain Commandery was a first-class impoverished region that ought to receive support, among the many children crying to be fed, it was clearly not the one crying the loudest.
Long Mountain Commandery received only 600,000 Imperial yuan in fixed support funds from the Empire each year, which came to only 46 yuan per person. Even as the region hit hardest by disaster this year, only 100,000 Imperial yuan in post-disaster reconstruction funds had arrived. The vast majority of the money remained a distant promise.
Now, the Commandery Administrative Office had zero funds on its books.
The Empire could not be counted on either.
He could only find a way to make money himself.
Lin Wen truly was not good at making money, but at the thought of 300,000 disaster victims waiting for Long Mountain Commandery to help rebuild their homes, his heart blazed hot.
Other policies might go wrong, but rebuilding homes had to be right, didn't it?
How much Good Karma would rebuilding homes for 300,000 people earn him?
Although the policy had been decided long ago, because of insufficient funds and a series of problems such as flood cleanup, the reconstruction project had been forced to halt as soon as it began.
The disaster victims could only be temporarily settled in resettlement sites.
If I can get the money, the credit for rebuilding homes for 300,000 people will be huge, right?
Lin Wen thought.
Giving me eight hundred or a thousand Good Karma shouldn't be a problem, right?
After so many days of practice, research, and charging ahead, Lin Wen had also figured out some of the mechanisms for gaining Good Karma. Put simply, it depended on how great his role was in the matter.
For example, in defending the embankment, he truly had the foremost merit, but not all the merit. After all, others had transported supplies. How could he defend it with empty hands alone?
He had not become immortal yet!
There were porters, but what about the people who built the embankment? If no one built it, what would he defend?
Once all such things were counted, the Good Karma was actually diluted considerably. There was nothing he could do about that. He could not take everything upon himself; he could only maximize the profits as much as possible.
For example, he assigned ten laborers to move dirt instead of having them come help him defend the embankment. That was maximizing profits. Defending the embankment definitely earned more merit than transporting supplies in the rear.
And now, as long as he got the money, that would be maximizing profits.
The question was, how would he get it? Where would he get it?
Lin Wen first turned to [Immortal's Guide] for help.
"How can I obtain, at the fastest speed, the money needed to rebuild homes that will bring the greatest happiness to 300,000 people?"
This was a question Lin Wen had carefully prepared. It was somewhat tongue-twisting, making him repeat it twice.
981092 Good Karma required.
Damn!
Lin Wen disliked this spell very much now, precisely because it always toyed with his mindset like this. If he was not careful, an enormous expenditure would appear, looking extremely irritating.
He changed the question repeatedly, but not a single answer came with a normal cost.
Just as he was at his wits' end, another document arrived from the Governor-General's Office.
This time, it was delivered by the Governor-General's special car.
When the special car reached Huai Town, it arrived with great pomp. The Commandery Administrative Office officials all surged out in a rush. Lin Wen heard the roar and came outside too, discovering for the first time that there were actually so many people here. Then he looked up and was instantly stunned.
It was the most gaudy vehicle Lin Wen had ever seen in his life.
It was a gigantic car three meters tall and seven meters long, surrounded like stars circling the moon by more than ten normally sized luxury sedans.
The huge car was covered in extravagant decorations—jeweled swords, scepters, deer heads, wind chimes, and more. A picture was painted on each side: flourishing flowers and splendid pheasants on the left, the lion king among a hundred beasts on the right. The entire vehicle was a riot of purples and reds, every color competing in beauty, so bizarre it defied words.
But no one present thought so. They stood respectfully, trembling at the roadside, scarcely daring to raise their heads. Lin Wen even felt that they wished they could kneel on the ground and welcome the sacred presence.
The giant car's door opened. The first person to step down was not Governor-General Sheng Huaixuan, but a cold-faced, tall, thin man.
Lin Wen was somewhat disappointed. Not the Governor-General, huh.
A bald man from the crowd hurried forward and immediately gave a 180-degree deep bow so profound that even a Japanese person would fall silent. "Commandery Administrative Office Director Li Tupu welcomes Secretary Cheng's distinguished arrival..."
Secretary Cheng did not even look at him. A burly man in black beside him shoved Li Tupu aside, then walked toward Lin Wen and stopped before him.
Secretary Cheng fixed Lin Wen with a stern gaze, raised his white-gloved right hand, and a burly man solemnly removed a document with a golden dragon-patterned seal from a black briefcase. He placed it on a tray covered in red brocade, then handed it to Secretary Cheng.
Everyone's eyes were drawn to that document, as though it were a massive pile of gold, silver, and jewels.
"Prefect Lin, hello. I am Cheng Hexin, the Governor-General's chief secretary."
Secretary Cheng spoke unhurriedly, his affected tone laid on thick.
"This is the document granting Long Mountain Commandery Special Pacification Authority, specially approved by the Empire, signed by His Majesty, and stamped by the Governor-General."
He raised the tray with both hands and presented it before Lin Wen.
Lin Wen extended his right hand, covered in unidentified grime, and immediately heard a heavy cough.
A beautiful female secretary wearing a blue silk scarf circled behind Lin Wen and personally put white silk gloves with hollow floral patterns on him, tied on a diamond-studded ceremonial sash embroidered with golden cloud patterns, and draped him in a purple-flowered, gold-threaded cloak. Then two ceremonial ladies stood on either side of him and gently supported his elbows.
Seeing Lin Wen still standing there foolishly, Secretary Cheng gave a soft snort and quietly said, "That's enough, Prefect Lin."
Only then did Lin Wen snap out of it. He reached out with both hands and picked up the document from the tray, whereupon countless flashes nearly blinded his dog eyes.
Fortunately, the two ceremonial ladies behind him gripped his elbows tightly, allowing him to maintain a dignified posture.
After the flashing ended, Secretary Cheng finally showed a faint smile. "Congratulations, Prefect Lin. This is the first time the Empire has granted Discretionary Authority to an inland region without unrest or war. Your name will surely be recorded in history. I hope you will use this authority with perfect appropriateness and not disappoint the Governor-General's high expectations."
He clapped his hands. "Return."
The crowd departed like receding tidewater, and the convoy soon vanished into the distance.
Everyone present seemed petrified. Not a sound could be heard.
Only Lin Wen bared his teeth in pain, feeling as though his hand joints had been clamped by iron pincers. He could not even straighten his arms. Those two ceremonial ladies looked delicate and sweet—how were they so strong?
He ignored everyone present, turned, and went back into his office.
He wanted to see what exactly this Discretionary Authority was, to be made out to be so damn impressive.
Maybe it could help him get money?
After closing the office door, Lin Wen had barely sat down when a knock sounded from the prefect's office, which had been deserted for three days.
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