The Officials Report Their Duties, Storm Winds Sweep Through the Tower
Renowned author Chencang has joined the platform with his new work, "Lineage Cultivation: Starting from the Peacock Bloodline"!
Ring! Ring! Ring...
At this moment, three phoenix cries suddenly rang out in the Vermilion Bird Hall. Kong Wenxuan looked up and saw a Vermilion Bird figure composed of Chihuo descend from the sky and land in the head position of the Vermilion Bird Hall. It transformed into a figure wearing a royal robe and a royal crown and sat on the throne.
"His Majesty has arrived! All officials bow in welcome!"
A shout came from above, carrying an imposing and awe-inspiring force that shook everyone's spirits, causing them to involuntarily bow down.
At the same time, the Bifang Commandery in front of him, and the Ya County magistrate and Jiao County magistrate on his left and right, all bowed down towards the direction of the throne.
Upon seeing this, Kong Wenxuan dared not be negligent and quickly followed the others in bowing, while loudly proclaiming, "Greetings, Your Majesty! May Your Majesty soon attain immortality and live as long as the heavens!"
No need for formalities!
A dignified female voice came from the head of the table, and at the same time, Kong Wenxuan felt an unseen force that helped him and the surrounding officials to their feet.
"Thank you, Your Majesty!"
The officials expressed their gratitude, then rose and stood with their hands clasped in front of them.
"The mini-court assembly begins; officials report on their duties!"
The voice of the official presiding over the small court assembly came again from the head of the table, and immediately officials stepped forward in order to pay their respects and report on their duties.
Kong Wenxuan already knew from the information sent to his mind by the "Vermilion Bird Hall" that such a "small court assembly" generally consists of six procedures.
These six procedures are: welcoming the king, officials reporting on their duties, deliberating on matters, punishing wrongdoings, rewarding merits, and dismissing the court.
Among them, "officials reporting their duties" refers to the fact that only officials who are qualified to report their duties at this small court assembly are at least prefects, then governors of provinces, and principal officials of the six ministries of the royal court.
A county magistrate like Kong Wenxuan has no right to be reported for office in this small court assembly. He can only report for office to the Bifang Commandery once every four years. Now he can only stand behind the Bifang Commandery County and serve as a background figure for Bifang Commandery.
However, Kong Wenxuan focused his attention and listened carefully to the words of each official who came forward to report on their duties.
Although these officials were talking about affairs and situations in other prefectures and counties outside Bifang Commandery, and even outside Extended Net Moon Deer Prefecture, these places were all very far from Bifang Commandery, let alone Peacock County.
He may never go to these prefectures and counties again, and even if he hears about their affairs, it will often be of no use.
However, Kong Wenxuan listened attentively to their reports and collected some of the information and data.
This is a good opportunity for him to broaden his horizons and learn about other places in the Southern Vermilion Bird Domain outside of Bifang Commandery.
Moreover, carefully listening to and analyzing the remarks of these state and county officials during their official duties can often yield some useful information.
For example, he heard a prefect in the "Ghost Metal Sheep" state mention during his report on his duties that the demon Demon Race had been extremely active in the past few years in the territory under his jurisdiction, and there had even been cases where they led a tide of Demon Beast to break through a county town, which resulted in a shortfall in the tax revenue of the prefecture in recent years.
During his performance review, the prefect also apologized, saying that the Demon Race had led a horde of Demon Beast to break through the county town, even causing tax arrears. It could be said that the local officials and the True Spirit Lineage had failed to fulfill their three main responsibilities: slaying demons, defending the territory, and paying taxes.
Although the main responsibility lay with the True Spirit Lineage in the county town that had been breached by the Demon Race, at this small court assembly, the prefect, as the superior of the breached county town, had no choice but to be implicated and also had to plead guilty and be punished.
Afterwards, Kong Wenxuan heard several prefects mention the activity of the Demon Race during their reports on their duties. These prefects came from different states among the seven states of the Vermilion Demon Race Vermilion Bird Domain, but they all had one thing in common: the Demon Race had basically become active within the past ten years.
It should be noted that before this, these Demon Race were mostly hiding in remote areas or in some "Demon Race Secret Realm," not daring to show their faces, let alone lead Demon Beast tide to attack counties and towns.
After all, this is the "True Spirit Realm," where the various "True Spirit Lineage" are high above, suppressing all places, and have the responsibility of slaying demons and guarding the land. In the past thousands or tens of thousands of years, the Demon Race that dared to show their faces have basically been wiped out.
Nowadays, the Demon Race who have managed to survive are hiding like rats in various secret places or Demon Race Secret Realm, not daring to show their faces.
Even in the "South Lake Mountains" where the Kong Household is located, most of the Demon Race hide in the "Demon Race Secret Realm" within "South Lake" and dare not show their faces.
The few who stood out were partly attracted by the disaster that befell the Du Household, and it's even possible that the Du Household was actually connected to them and that they were part of a scheme set up together; otherwise, the Du Household wouldn't have been able to join the Demon Race so easily later on.
On the other hand, it should also be to prepare for the Demon Race that was trying to break through to the Fifth Tier and undergo tribulation, to collect various resources, cultivator bloodlines, corpses, etc., so that those Demon Race would have to show themselves.
From this, we can understand that the status and fear these Demon Race have in this "True Spirit Realm" should not be as rampant as they are now.
Furthermore, among the reports from the prefects of the seven states, many counties under their jurisdiction were breached and devastated by sudden waves of Demon Beast led by various large and small Demon Race.
Listening to the reports from these prefects, Kong Wenxuan couldn't help but feel a sense of impending doom.
He thought of the Demon Race in the South Lake Mountains, the "Demon Race Secret Realm Heavenly Demon Grotto-Heaven Secret Realm" beneath South Lake, the Demon Race in the "Heavenly Demon Cave" that had colluded with the martial artists of the "True Martial World Realm," and those martial artists of the "True Martial World" who had infiltrated the "Demon Race Secret Realm" through the "Heavenly Demon Grotto-Heaven" as a bridge!
Kong Wenxuan suddenly had a feeling and an epiphany. He realized that the Demon Race who had suddenly become active and fearlessly showed themselves in the seven prefectures of the Vermilion Bird Domain must be related to the "Heavenly Demon Grotto-Heaven" and the invasion of the "True Martial World".
It is likely that the active Demon Race, leading the Demon Beast tide to conquer various county towns, was actually preparing for the martial artists of the "True Martial World" to invade the "True Spirit Realm" again through the "Heavenly Demon Grotto-Heaven".
Perhaps, in the near future, he and the Kong Household will be able to confront, fight, and battle against the invading martial artists of the "True Martial World".
Kong Wenxuan listened to the reports of the prefects from various states and counties, he analyzed the information and pondered the matter.
Soon, it was the turn of the prefects of various counties in "Extended Net Moon Deer Prefecture" to report on their duties. The Bifang Commandery also stepped forward to report on the development of Bifang Commandery over the past thirty years, including tax revenue, demon slaying, territorial defense, and the promotion, demotion, and fall of the various Low-Grade True Spirit Lineage under his command.
During this process, the Bifang Commandery also had to apologize for the Du Household's forbidden "A Hundred Birds Pay Homage to the Phoenix Paying Homage to the Phoenix" ritual and for the attack and destruction of Cuckoo County.