Chapter 331: Chapter 189: Breaking through Innate
Translator: 549690339
“After a month of counting, Yangshan Prefecture has 23,000 households, with a population of 110,000. We have appeased 3,000 households of refugees, which is around 10,000 people. In total, the prefecture has 120,000 men and women.”
Jiuyi Prefecture has 17,000 households, with a population of 85,000. We have appeased 2,000 households of refugees, which is around 8,000 people. In total, the prefecture has 93,000 men and women.”
Lingling Prefecture has 38,000 households, with a population of 190,000. We have appeased 5,000 households of refugees, which is around 20,000 people. In total, the prefecture has 210,000 men and women.”
In addition, within the three prefectures, there are 54,000 households of captured Miao people, with a population of 270,000 men and women.”
Among them, there are 13,000 households or nearly 70,000 people who are families of surrendered soldiers. Due to the general’s grace, they are granted amnesty and are now being registered as citizens to replenish the local population.”
The remaining 41,000 households, with a population of 200,000, are being selected for suitable matches for soldier marriages.”
As such, the total Yue and Miao population within the entire prefecture amounts to around 132,000 households, with 700,000 men and women.”
Inside the barracks, Sun Siwen brought a stack of newly counted household registers and reported the work of the past month to Lu Yuan.
“Very good, not bad.”
After hearing Sun Siwen’s report on the population, Lu Yuan couldn’t help but clap his hands in joy, and then asked, “Brother Sun, I remember that in Luyang Prefecture, by the end of the previous year, there were already 43,000 households and 220,000 people, right?”
Sun Siwen had previously served as Prefect of Luyang and knew the situation there better than anyone. He nodded and replied, “Indeed that’s the case. However, two months ago, Miao people attacked Luyang Prefecture from the three southern prefectures.
Although they didn’t capture any county towns, many rural areas suffered and many people were killed or injured.
During this period, there were also continuous battles, causing considerable losses among the local militia forces.
By now, there should only be 210,000 people left in Luyang Prefecture.”
Upon hearing the exact figures, Lu Yuan nodded repeatedly, muttering to himself, “According to these numbers, the population of the three southern prefectures totals 700,000. There are 210,000 people in Luyang Prefecture.
Before the Miao attack, I remember Shaoyang Prefecture’s reported population was 51,000 households, with 260,000 people.
Although currently Shaoyang Prefecture has experienced heavy losses due to the war, I believe that 200,000 people should have survived.
In that case, adding up all the numbers from across the five prefectures, we have a total of 1,100,000 people.
If we consider the territories of Wuling Prefecture’s eight counties that I have already recovered, the population could be increased by another 100,000.”
After doing these calculations, Lu Yuan couldn’t help but stand up and pace around the tent in excitement.
Seeing this, Sun Siwen was slightly puzzled, wondering what his good friend and lord was thinking about.
However, despite his confusion, he didn’t interrupt and merely watched quietly.
In the tent, Lu Yuan paced back and forth several times, his face changing expressions more than a dozen times, before finally stopping and turning to Sun Siwen, “Brother Sun, I have a task for you.”
Seeing the serious attitude of his friend and lord, Sun Siwen’s expression turned grave, and he nodded, “Please tell me, General.”
“I want to build an Altar for Worshipping Heaven, and the rules require that I need…”
At that moment, Lu Yuan began to tell Sun Siwen about his requirements. As he continued speaking, words became insufficient to describe things plainly, so he simply picked up some paper and started drawing.
Soon, an hour had passed, and the two had been talking for a long time, with many sketches piling up.
Once everything was explained clearly, Lu Yuan handed the sketches to Sun Siwen, then solemnly said, “Brother Sun, this matter is crucial to my future cultivation and must be treated with great care. Moreover, we must not draw attention to this affair. Look for a suitable location and have someone build it in secret.
I am not in a rush for completion. As long as it’s built within one or two years, it will be fine.
Is this doable?”
Perhaps you all have guessed by now.
That’s right, the altar Lu Yuan asked Sun Siwen to build was the very one mentioned in the Taiping Dao Book, used for worshipping the Heavenly Pillar and knocking on the Heavenly Gate.
Now that Lu Yuan had unified the five prefectures of the south, he ruled over a population of one million.
With this number, he had already met the minimum requirement to worship the Heavenly Pillar, which will allow him to perform a small-scale worship ceremony with a million people participating and draw the essence of the Immortal Spirit into his body for cultivation.
That is to say, although he had not yet broken through the Innate realm and could not activate the Jade Immortal Fate, Lu Yuan had already satisfied the requirements for cultivation and could attempt to practice the Way of Taiping.
He certainly wouldn’t miss such an opportunity.
And so, after listening to Sun Siwen’s population report, Lu Yuan immediately asked him to start building the altar, preparing to try and worship the Heavenly Pillar and practice Immortal Techniques.
However, it is still unwise to attract too much attention to such matters.
From the previous example of how the Dan Ding Path openly spread its teachings far and wide, Lu Yuan could see that this cultivation technique was probably no secret in the entire Immortal Cultivation World of the Nine Provinces.
Furthermore, not only the Immortal Realm, but also possibly the larger forces beyond the Six Great Daoist Gates might have some understanding of it.
As a result, if Lu Yuan were to build the altar without hiding anything, it would be like telling the world that he was practicing cultivation.
This kind of situation did not suit his steady nature.
Because then there would be no way to explain why he practiced the Way of Taiping but, unlike others, he didn’t die of old age.
Immortality was Lu Yuan’s biggest secret, and he would never allow it to be exposed.
Therefore, secretly building the altar and secretly practicing cultivation became a necessity.
As for this matter, Lu Yuan could bear slowing down the construction progress of the altar and the completion time, as long as it could be secretly finished in the end.
‘After all, in another two or three months, I should be close to breaking through the Innate realm. By then, I’ll have the Immortal Fate contained within the jade piece to explore its secrets, which should keep me busy for a year or two. I can wait patiently.’