The spiritual tax mentioned by Hu Hua, the county lieutenant of Chongyu, gave Zhou Yuan a deeper understanding of the Wei Dynasty.
The central government takes in local spiritual objects, and barren lands rely on central subsidies. If there is a problem with this spiritual object redistribution route, it will indeed shake the foundation of the country.
No wonder extraordinary warriors do not have a simple sect structure. That kind of organization that relies on inheritance from top to bottom is indeed unable to achieve centralized redistribution of resources.
"Duke Zhou Qu, I'm going to treat you to a nice feast today.
You have helped me a lot, you don't know how important Guanzao Mountain is to Chongyu County."
"Twenty percent of the people in this city are engaged in the sale and processing of red dates, as well as charcoal making and transportation.
In addition, merchants from all over the country spent money locally, purchased warehouses and land, recruited shop assistants, etc., which together revitalized the city.
So, without our Chongyu Camp constantly replenishing the official granary, this city would be half scattered and half impoverished."
Chongyu County is a typical resource-based city, where continuous output is more important than anything else.
Therefore, Hu Hua, the county lieutenant who had not yet recovered from his injuries, was sincerely grateful for Zhou Yuan's help. Otherwise, for the sake of the city's commercial stability, he would have to seek help from the warriors of Lin County.
After the joyful banquet, Zhou Yuan got to know several local generals and laid the foundation for cooperation.
When he returned to his newly tidied residence, he used the 【Burning Wood Palm】 and upgraded it to the maximum level with his accumulated experience.
【Skill: Burning Wood Palm】
【Introduction: The Five Elements correspond to the five internal organs. The fire of the five internal organs originates from the heart and has two phases: emptiness and fullness. When emptiness occurs, the mind becomes restless and confused, while when fullness occurs, it burns the body.】
【Effect: Condensed fire damages the target's exterior, inducing false fire to disturb the mind. After use, the target will be overlaid with chaotic energy and burning status.】
The Burning Wood Palm is not known for its burst damage, but rather for its negative effects.
The state of 'chaos' is similar to the silence of the mage system. Warriors who use spiritual energy as the core output will definitely not feel good after being superimposed with the state of chaos.
This is also the reason why Zhou Yuan upgraded it to the maximum level. If the enemy thinks he is not good at close combat and attacks him suddenly, he can silence him and then attack him.
"The Qingsha River in Qiaoxi Village is just a branch of the Qu River, yet it hides the 【Qingsha General's Lair】 dungeon, which is recommended to be level 15.
Chongyu is the estuary of the main Qu River, and there's a high probability that it will also hide some aquatic creatures."
"This is a good opportunity. I might be able to explore new dungeons and gain more powerful skills."
For Zhou Yuan, a large number of copies to choose from are the way forward, otherwise he can only toss back and forth in a limited number of copies.
One of his purposes of entering Chongyu County was to explore the special geographical area where Quhe River flows into the sea.
Therefore, early the next morning he proposed to County Lieutenant Hu Hua that he lead the troops to patrol the coastal area, while Hu Hua would lead the troops to patrol the river.
County Lieutenant Hu Hua was naturally happy to accept this proposal to effectively defend against pirates.
So he wrote a letter to Zhou Yuan, promising that Zhou Yuan could transfer soldiers stationed on the coast.
In this way, Zhou Yuan gained the power to dispatch boats and patrol the offshore waters.
After handing over his soldiers to his two subordinates, Du Bo, he led twenty riders to the sea area where pirates often appeared.
Along the way, he saw some fort-like villages and towns, among which were some large forts similar to small towns.
The Chongyu cavalrymen accompanying him told him that those large forts were mostly built by local wealthy families.
They went to sea to do business and had a lot of surplus wealth in the clan. The young men of the same clan and the dependent servants in the fort were also brave and good at fighting.
Therefore, they were able to gain a foothold in this coastal area and build an internally autonomous city defense fort.
In addition, Zhou Yuan also found that the closer to the coastal area, the more serious the phenomenon of forts, as if they were not afraid of pirate attacks.
"Qu Du, most of the docks here are rentable warehouses. Merchants pay to store their goods, and they provide armed protection, taking a cut of the profits."
"The county magistrate stationed troops at the coastal ports, constantly on guard against pirates coming ashore to plunder.
Governor Qu needs to patrol the defensive waters, and he needs to ask Sima Wu to allocate boats and crews."
Zhou Yuan was trying to understand the local situation when he suddenly discovered that a fort was under attack.
The accompanying cavalrymen became excited instantly when they saw this scene, and all said that they could jog and approach quietly, and wait until the pirates were damaged and exhausted, and then kill them and make a contribution.
Zhou Yuan did not object. He also wanted to see why the pirates dared to attack the fort which was easy to defend but difficult to attack.
When he got closer, he found that things were not simple. Some of those pirates were normal people, and some had identity information on their health bars.
【Level 7 Lianhuanwu Bandits】, 【Level 8 Lianhuanwu Shooter】, 【Level 10 Lianhuanwu Small Boss】
【Level 10 Lianhuanwu Small Boss】 was obviously holding back and didn't show much strength.
Under his command, a group of bandits kept shooting arrows into the fort and threatened to come every few days if they did not hand over some money and property as bribes.
In fact, the number of bandits was not large, only more than 20 people, but the people in the fort had obviously suffered losses and did not dare to leave the fort to drive them out.
After some negotiations, a bag of valuables was even thrown out from the fort to satisfy the bandits' appetite.
"Let's go, guys. This guy is a sensible guy. Let's go to the next one to ask for a reward."
Zhou Yuan was not surprised to see these bandits making money so easily. Instead, the soldiers accompanying him calmed down their excitement and were still a little panicked.
“Commander Qu, they may not be ordinary pirates, but most likely bandits from Lianhuanwu.
Those people are real desperadoes, fighting without regard for their lives and extremely brave, and they are a major cancer in several counties along the coast."
"Oh, how did you tell that?"
"Those fort owners are very shrewd. If they were ordinary pirates, they wouldn't give in easily.
Only the name of Lianhuanwu can make them pay willingly."
"Let's go meet them."
Although the accompanying knights were a little panicked, they chose to obey orders because their horses could run fast.
When the galloping cavalry approached the bandits, the normal bandits immediately panicked, but the serial bandits were very calm.
The leader, the 【Level 10 Lianhuanwu Little Boss】, took two steps forward and shouted loudly.
"What high-ranking official is this? We brothers are just here to borrow some money from a friend to get by. Could you please do us a favor and let us go?"
Zhou Yuan ignored his shouting, but drew his bow and arrow with the full-level Blood Evil Arrow Technique, and launched an attack directly.
The swift arrow exceeded the reaction speed of the 【Level 10 Lianhuanwu Small Boss】, and he was hit in the chest by an arrow, and his health bar plummeted by 80%.
"Ah! It's a long-range warrior. Brother, fight back. We can't let him shoot arrows in peace, otherwise we will all die today."
Just as the 【Level 10 Lianhuanwu Small Boss】 finished speaking, he suddenly felt a chill on his back, followed by an intense stinging sensation.
He looked back in disbelief and found that his subordinate 【Level 7 Lianhuanwu Water Bandit】 was about to launch a second attack on him.
"You dare to hurt me? I'll kill you first."
It was chaos, complete chaos. Under the influence of the mind-control technique, internal strife suddenly broke out among the bandits.
The ordinary bandits fled in all directions immediately, and the serial bandits hesitated for a moment and also ran in different directions.
Zhou Yuan took the opportunity to use the ghost spell that could locate the direction, marked the three serial bandits, and stopped the cavalry pursuit in those three directions.
"Humans and monsters live together, and monsters rule over humans. It seems that Lianhuanwu has become popular."