"Our Zhou family must resolutely participate in the land reclamation order issued by the county."

"You don't have to pay taxes for ten years to open up wasteland, and we can also accept refugees to open up wasteland. When the fields are cleared, we can set up manors and take them as tenant farmers."

Looking at Zhou Bai alone asking and answering questions, the group discussion seemed to have become a one-spoken meeting. The senior officials looked at each other and did not dare to object to the agricultural policies promoted by the new patriarch.

After all, as a family, it is always right to open more fields and accumulate some food.

The first policy was passed, and no one could withstand Zhou Bai's pressure on the remaining adjustments to the layout of the commercial industry.

The main reason is that he really knows the family very well. After some analysis, even the clan elders can only nod in agreement.

Of course, there are also a few young deacons who have the courage to express their opinions, such as Zhou Qi, who just gave birth to a child this year and comes from a branch family.

He wanted to work hard for a few years before taking the exam to become a scholar. During this period, he couldn't just study behind closed doors, so he became a deacon first.

Zhou Qi came up with the idea based on his experience of going to the county town to participate in the county examination. He found that many people in the county town did not have suitable clay materials to repair their houses or even open up manors outside. They often had to spend a lot of money to buy glutinous rice milk and egg white to mix.

The biggest specialty of their red mud town is red mud. Although this kind of red mud is not as sticky as glutinous rice paste, it is much better than ordinary clay.

Therefore, Zhou Qi suggested that a new trade route be added to the county to sell red mud.

Zhou Bai naturally praised this very much, because although what he said was a little immature, it did have merit.

So Zhou Qi was immediately rewarded with fifty taels of silver and appointed as the organizer and implementer of the Red Clay Trade Road. The higher the sales efficiency, the higher the salary.

All the tribesmen deeply realized that Zhou Bai was practicing the rules set by the Qunshi Hall, and those who were capable were promoted and those who were mediocre were demoted.

Regardless of direct lineage or collateral lineage, as long as you make a contribution, you will be valued by the clan leader and have the opportunity to display your talents.

Because of Zhou Bai's behavior, many clan boys wanted to join the inner palace.

The salary there is more generous, and there is a more complete and fair reward and punishment mechanism.

It's just that the power of the inner government is only so big at present. Zhou Bai doesn't need and can't support too many people, so he can only raise the threshold and let Chen Zhongbang record the right people.

Once the inner government expands later, there will immediately be enough talents for officials.

As the ancestor worship came to an end, the news of Zhou Bai's knighthood also became known to the families of Pingcang County.

Regardless of whether the relationship was good or bad, everyone was given congratulatory gifts, and even the county tycoon Zhao family sent people to keep up appearances.

In fact, Zhou Bai was very curious as to why the Zhao family was fine. Didn't Hu Yanhe tell the emperor that the Zhao family bribed the Kukou Pass guard?

On the day of the knighthood, the guard at Kukou Pass was captured by Wang Xiu and sent to the capital.

There were also a group of generals who had defense loopholes in Cangbei County. They were all reprimanded and could not escape even if they were demoted or dismissed.

However, nothing happened to the Zhao family, and Zhou Bai didn't know what kind of exchange of interests was involved.

I only vaguely heard that the imperial edict read by Wang Xiu only mentioned that the guard general of Kukou Pass, Goulian Jin, did not mention the names of other families.

Zhao Liangji is the legitimate son of this generation of the Zhao family, and if he doesn't deal with him, Zhou Bai will naturally have some trouble.

Just then, Zhou Bai received an invitation from the county. It turned out that there had been no rainfall for a long time, and Ji Hongzhe was going to invite famous people and talents from all over the county to hold a ceremony to worship the gods and pray for rain.

Instead of offering sacrifices to heaven, we worship the local god of parents, the God of Pingcang County.

There is no other way. There is no big river near Pingcang County, so there is no Dragon King to turn to. We can only turn to the gods who have this responsibility.

In addition to guarding the city, protecting the country, and governing the souls of the dead, the City God also happens to have the priestly function of mediating wind and rain.

In the past, when Taoist sects dominated the secular world, they also set rules: "There are no dedicated sacrifices in the City God's Temple. If there are floods, droughts, and diseases, you must pray for them, pay tribute, and stay fast. Therefore, the temple is built to give the gods some support."

."

So the county officials thought of their Pingcang County Town God. This man was always well-known and a promising god in the hearts of the people in the county. The temple of the Town God was very popular.

It happened that after Zhou Bai was ennobled, he needed to meet with the county officials, and at the same time get information about the Zhao family from Ji Hongzhe, so he accepted the invitation.

Sacrifice to gods is a sacred and important event, especially the main ceremony hosted by the government, which often consumes part of the luck of the local law.

In addition, in order to ensure that every official sacrifice can be successful and not damage the court's face, officials who know the inside story will often be cautious in asking for sacrifices and will not trouble the gods unless absolutely necessary.

Although they receive sacrifices to receive incense, if they do something that consumes too much, they will often lose more than they gain.

Therefore, please post that the scheduled time is late April, and those invited can meet up before April 20th.

The officials of Pingcang County still want to wait for the weather. If it rains during this half month, there is no need to waste the county energy to worship the gods.

In April, Zhou Bai, in addition to dealing with family affairs and internal government affairs, studied and practiced military training.

Read books, read the Five Emperors' Taoist Scriptures.

The Qing Emperor of the East, the Red Emperor of the South, the Yellow Emperor of the Central Government, the White Emperor of the West, and the Black Emperor of the North. Each heavenly emperor has a corresponding general Taoist scripture after passing on the Dharma.

These five general outlines of the Taoist scriptures are the scriptures that the Heavenly Court enlightened and spread all over the world. However, in order to prevent ignorant villagers from indiscriminately studying them and harming their health, and fearing that children would read them in advance and delay their foundation, the humane court only allowed those with meritorious status to study them.

The Juren Examination is a test of the Five Emperors General Outline. It is possible to pass every verse in it. Of course, there are no standard answers for most of them. The score only depends on your understanding.

The General Program guides all laws in the world. Every time I read it through, I gain new insights. Although Zhou Bai has already memorized it by heart, it is not a waste of time.

In addition to the Taoist scriptures, Zhou Bai would read the "Essentials of Classics and Military Arts". After he had read it thoroughly, he would teach it to the officers in the village guarding team.

In particular, Zhou Yuan is quite smart and can often draw inferences from one instance to another. If he is unable to answer when asked, it will damage his image as a lord.

Now Zhou Bai has two armed forces in his hands, one is a clan soldier and the other is a village guard soldier.

The clan soldiers are relatively loose both internally and externally, and are of the nature of servants. Currently, there are only more than a hundred people who have left their jobs.

In addition to looking after homes and courtyards, they are also responsible for escorting caravans and patrolling various estates.

This obviously did not have enough manpower, so when Zhou Bai established the village protection team in the name of protecting the village, no clan members objected, and other families and even the government did not have much doubts.

After all, the inner government is paying for it, and it can also make the restless young men in the clan calm down.

The estate protection team is currently stationed at Zhou Bai's manor, implementing military management, providing three meals a day, and practicing continuously every day.

There are five people in a team, including a team leader; two teams have one captain, and there is another captain; five soldiers are a team, and there is a captain and deputy captain; two teams are a capital, and Zhou Yuan is the deputy.

Dutou, Zhou Bai took the lead.

Of course, for the time being, these military systems are called internally, and externally they are ordinary one team and two teams.

With the Taoist priest group under control, although the imperial court has enough confidence to suppress Buchen, it will not let you go too far.
Chapter completed!