Rewarding Merit, Punishing Faults, and Bestowing a Banquet
After the meeting concluded, it was time to reward those who had performed good deeds and punish those who had done wrong.
Whether it's rewarding merit or punishing wrongdoing, it all comes from above, that is, it's decided by the "Vermilion Bird King" sitting high above.
However, the decisions on rewarding merits and punishing demerits, as well as their specific details, naturally did not need to be read aloud by the "Vermilion Bird King." Instead, the "Vermilion Bird King" issued a royal decree, which was then read aloud by the official presiding over the small court assembly.
As the decrees of reward and punishment were read out one by one, officials from the six ministries of the royal court and the governors of the seven prefectures, down to the prefects of various counties and even the magistrates of various counties, were rewarded or punished according to their previous performance and their performance in the past thirty years, whether it was their tax payment, demon slaying, defense of the territory, or performance in the "Outer Heaven Battlefield".
The rewards and punishments were distributed from state to state and from county to county, and soon they arrived at Bifang Commandery.
The Bifang Commandery also had both punishments and rewards. The punishments were for the existence of Lineage under his command, such as the "Cuckoo" Du Household family, who violated the imperial court's prohibitions by using forbidden techniques, and for the fact that Cuckoo County was twice attacked by Demon Beast tide driven by the Demon Race.
The rewards are numerous, including paying taxes without fail, slaying Fifth Tier Demon Race, eradicating "Demon Race Secret Realm," and resisting the invasion of martial arts cultivators from the "True Martial World."
Even Kong Wenxuan, as the magistrate of Peacock County, was awarded a prize.
The main rewards are for achievements such as paying taxes, slaying demons, defending territory, stopping the Du Household's forbidden technique "A Hundred Birds Pay Homage to the Phoenix Paying Homage to the Phoenix", finding the "Demon Race Secret Realm", clearing out the "Demon Race Secret Realm", and resisting and killing invading martial artists from the "True Martial World Realm" in the "Demon Race Secret Realm".
He was not punished, after all, he neither allowed the Demon Race or the Demon Beast horde to break through Peacock County, nor did he fail to pay taxes, nor did he lose any territory.
The imperial decree announced two main rewards for him: 500 merit points for the imperial court and a banquet of Fifth Tier spiritual food and a pot of Star Dew Sweet Spring.
As members of the Imperial Dynasty, Kong Wenxuan and his Kong Household have received rewards for their merits according to the law after fulfilling their duties of paying taxes, slaying demons, guarding the territory, clearing out the "Demon Race Secret Realm," and resisting the invasion of martial arts cultivators from the "True Martial World."
To date, the Kong Household has accumulated nearly a thousand merits.
But this time, the "Vermilion Bird King" decreed that he was rewarded with 500 merits. This was different from the previous rewards for duties and merits. It was a separate reward from the "Vermilion Bird King" and was not from the "Golden Crow Imperial Dynasty". It could be considered as the "Vermilion Bird Vermilion Bird" subduing and winning over the "True Spirit Lineage" in the Southern Region.
Kong Wenxuan heard that most of the rewards given to the governors, prefects, and county magistrates who had made contributions in various places included awards for meritorious service.
These merit awards were all issued by the "Vermilion Bird King," and were considered a common type of reward.
Similarly, bestowing banquets with divine food and fine wine from sacred springs were also common forms of reward.
The only difference lies in the amount of merit and the quantity of spirit wine.
Among all the rewards he had received, including merits, spiritual food, and spiritual wine, he was among the top county magistrates. Other county magistrates who received rewards generally received only one or two hundred merits, which was far less than his.
Kong Wenxuan knew that this was mainly because he had found the "Demon Race Secret Realm" in the "South Lake Mountains" and participated in resisting the invasion of martial arts cultivators from the "True Martial World Demon Race Secret Realm".
Therefore, the rewards he received were generally higher than those of some other county magistrates who received rewards.
However, compared to the rewards received by those prefects and governors, his rewards were far less substantial.
The rewards and honors bestowed upon those prefects and governors were at least a thousand or more for their merits, and some even received tens of thousands. In addition to the rewards of merit and banquets, they were often also given spiritual objects and treasures.
These spiritual objects and treasures mostly come from Outer Heaven Battlefield or other worlds, and can even be integrated into "True Spirit Star True Spirit Star" to promote their growth and improvement. They are rare and precious items even for Middle-Grade True Spirit Lineage.
Therefore, when these rewards were bestowed, everyone from the governors of the various states to the magistrates of the counties, including the prefects of the various commanderies, was overjoyed and stepped forward to express their gratitude to the "Vermilion Bird King" for his gifts.
Kong Wenxuan did the same, following behind the Bifang Commandery, stepping out of the ranks to bow deeply to the "Vermilion Bird King" seated at the head of the table in gratitude.
This was also the only opportunity he had to leave his position and move around during this small court assembly. The rest of the time he was trapped in his position and the surrounding half-zhang area, serving as a background figure throughout the entire event.
Of course, with rewards come punishments. Those who made meritorious contributions, such as Kong Wenxuan, would be rewarded with honors, banquets, and treasures. Those who made mistakes or committed wrongdoings in the past thirty years, such as failing to pay taxes, failing to defend their territory, failing to slay demons, or even failing in the "Outer Heaven Battlefield," would also be punished accordingly.
There were fines, cancellations of banquets, and even suppression and weakening of "True Spirit Star." However, there were no cases of serious offenses resulting in direct suppression and demotion.
Like the Bifang Commandery, those who had merits and demerits were rewarded or punished after their merits and demerits were offset against each other. The Bifang Commandery clearly had far more merits than demerits, so he also received considerable rewards, far more than Kong Wenxuan.
After a process of rewarding merits and punishing demerits, and with all the officials expressing their gratitude, the situation of the "Vermilion Bird Southern Region" over the past thirty years was thus "finally concluded." The main development plans for the "Vermilion Bird Southern Region" for the next thirty years have also been preliminarily determined and distributed to various prefectures and counties.
Thus, this small court assembly at the "Vermilion Bird Royal Court" was drawing to a close.
The official presiding over the small court assembly announced its conclusion, and the banquet commenced.
As the other person finished speaking, Kong Wenxuan felt the starlight around him shift and the environment change, as if he had been teleported from the "Vermilion Bird Hall" to a banquet hall.
The officials, according to their region, rank, and position, were seated behind individual tables, each set of which was laden with various spiritual dishes and brews.
Kong Wenxuan looked around and saw that it was still Ya Xinghe and Jiao Shihuan. However, the spiritual food and wine on the table in front of the two of them were clearly inferior to the spiritual food and wine on the table in front of him, both in terms of quantity and spiritual light.
At this moment, Ya and Jiao also saw the spiritual food and wine on the table in front of him, and their faces couldn't help but show envy.
Jiao Shihuan, the magistrate of "Wildebeest County," looked at Kong Wenxuan with a mixture of envy and congratulation, saying, "At the banquet following the small court assembly, all officials were bestowed with spiritual food and spirit wine, the quality of which was the same as their cultivation level. Only those who received special rewards during the earlier process of rewarding merits and punishing demerits had their spiritual food and spirit wine upgraded in quality."
"Fellow Daoist Kong, this table of spiritual food and wine is all of the Fifth Tier. After enjoying it, you will surely reap great benefits and your cultivation will improve once again."
Upon hearing this, Kong Wenxuan asked in surprise, "After we enjoy these spiritual foods and drinks here, can we take them back to our original bodies?"
"Of course!" Jiao Shihuan nodded. "Otherwise, His Majesty wouldn't have specially hosted a banquet after the small court assembly."
Upon hearing this, Kong Wenxuan looked at the array of spiritual dishes and wines on the table in front of him, his face immediately filled with joy, and his eyes gleamed.
Spiritual food and spiritual brews are different from elixirs. Cultivators cannot take elixirs to improve their cultivation level by skipping levels, otherwise they often cannot withstand the medicinal power and toxicity of the elixirs, and often their cultivation level will be damaged before they even improve.
However, spiritual food and spirit wine do not pose this danger. Cultivators can enjoy them across ranks, even if they are two ranks higher. At most, they will not be able to fully digest the Spiritual Qi and benefits of the food and wine, and some of it will be wasted.