Chapter 68: Shameless Leader (2)
The War Shrine and Knowledge Seeking Realm were the two holy lands of humanity. All cultural researchers aimed to enter the Knowledge Seeking Realm while all warriors aimed to enter the War Shrine. Naturally, not everyone could make it inside.
The Great Xia King was naturally qualified to join. Furthermore, the War Shrine was basically founded by the invincible experts of their generation. They were only trying to ask for some support from their descendents. This Marquis Xia was being rather unreasonable here.
After a while, the chubby old man finally calmed down. He gave it some thought and said, "Send them a corpse. However, make them pay with several thousand divine and devil corpses. They can easily kill that much with a wave of their arms, so those corpses shouldn't be worth much to them. We're sending them a top-notch corpse. They need to send us thousands of Mountainsea corpses as compensation..."
"Cough."
The old man wanted to speak, but he eventually swallowed his own words.
The chubby old man continued, "I know, I know, they don't have that many corpses. I'm asking for too much. Fine...they can pay with a couple secret grottos."
"I heard that my old man cut a chunk of space from an unknown location a couple of years ago. Great Zhou King also found a chunk of space a few years ago. Get them to pay with their secret grottos."
"Marquis...will that work? Will they even agree?"
The chubby old man stomped his foot in anger, "Negotiate with them! Damn it! If they refuse, start crying. Get a few thousand people and have them stand outside the War Shrine and cry. Cry until they give in to our demand. They are the ones trying to take from us. Are they trying to get the corpse for free? Dream on! If they disagree, they can fuck off!
"Those old bastards only care about eating their fill. Why can't they think about their descendents? We're all hungry here!
"Tell my old man that if he refuses, I'll go and become Great Ming King's grandkid instead. I'll anger that old fart to death!"
"..."
The old man was greatly troubled. He was afraid that Great Xia King would kill him in anger instead.
What was this? If Marquis Xia became Great Ming King's grandchild, what about Great Xia King? Was he going to become Great Ming King's son? After all, he was Marquis Xia's father.
What the hell was that?
The old man no longer dared to say anything else. He hurriedly replied, "I understand. I'll get someone to work on it. How about the other corpses? The cultural research academy is asking for all the corpses for their research..."
"Wan Tiansheng can piss off."
The chubby old man had a ferocious expression. However, the old man didn't know what to feel about that expression. He would rather this marquis stop making a fierce expression as when the marquis was trying to look fierce, he looked more like a hungry fat cat instead.
"They can have one corpse."
The chubby old man did not care about what the old man was thinking. He said, "Also, if they want the corpse, Wan Tiansheng must produce eighty new cultural researchers this year. Any fewer than that and I'll have a problem with him. If they can't produce enough cultural researchers, tell him to send some out of the Heart Cultivating Pavilion. If he dares to steal the corpse from me, he will not get a single cent in funding for the second half of the year."
"Alright." The old man continued, "How about the war academy?"
"They're not getting any corpses. Just give them some blood essence. What can those brainless brutes do with the corpses? Are they going to eat them?"
The chubby old man had a rather uncouth mouth. After he was done unleashing a string of profanities, he continued, "If the war academy keeps sending novices that have never seen blood before to the front line, I'll cut their funding for the second half of the year by fifty percent.
"There's also the internal affairs academy. Tell them to train their students faster. We lack a lot of specialists in the government. Also, is their spying course working? How many spies have they managed to send into the Myriad Race Cult? Have they found any treasure vaults? If they still can't find any, stop the program. It's very expensive to maintain.
"How about the scientific research academy? I remember telling them to create a working war airship fifty years ago. I need airships capable of flying and carrying tens of thousands of warriors to the battlefield. What the fuck are they doing? Why are they not done? If they still can't do it, cut their funding."
The only thing the old man got from this conversation was that a lot of funding was going to be cut.
He finally couldn't hold back anymore and said, "Marquis, if we really do all that, we can save around three hundred billion this year."
"Really?"
The chubby old man blanked out slightly. Then, his eyes lit up in excitement as he said, "Good! Send my orders out. It would be even better if they really fail to complete their tasks. I can then cut their funding! The government can have eighty percent of the money I save. I'll get the other twenty percent as a bonus for my hard work!"
"Marquis, this will only create trouble in the prefecture."
"It doesn't matter." The chubby old man was indifferent. "Some people need to be pushed before they're willing to take things seriously. Those fellows are way too cunning to work without being forced. Just look at the cultural research academy. Wan Tiansheng has a group of elite students that he has been hiding in the academy instead of releasing them to the military. Isn't that wasteful? In fact, he can actually produce thirty additional cultural researchers each year if he wants."
"But if we do things this way, the academy will be on its last legs after a few years. How can they continue training new talents then?" asked the old man. He disagreed with what the marquis was saying.
Everyone knew that Wan Tiansheng had a group of elite students in the academy. But those elites played their own roles as well. These were the people in charge of training more talents, fighting for secret grottos, performing secret research, and so on.
"Well, he can think of a solution himself. That is none of my business." The chubby old man nonchalantly said, "I'm not the real prefect anyway. I'm just an acting prefect. Do you understand? If something bad really happens, I'll simply run to the War Shrine and seek shelter there. Xia Longwu can come out and clean the mess himself."
"..."
How irresponsible could this person be?
The old man was speechless and his expression was bitter. Working with Marquis Xia was much more tiring than working with Xia Longwu.
At that point, the marquis had already reached the rear court of the manor. When he saw that the old man was still following him, he asked in astonishment, "Why are you still following me? Old Hu, are you too free? Are you going to accompany me as I take a nap? Old rascal, time for you to piss off as well."
"..."
The old man decided that he would never visit this place ever again unless he had official business here. While Xia Longwu was in seclusion, he would avoid this fellow as much as he could.
In fact, Xia Longwu had always been very respectful toward him. He was in charge of Great Xia's administrative affairs, so he could be considered a big shot in the prefecture. Xia Longwu relied on him a lot. Coupled with his age, Xia Longwu had always treated him with respect.
But this Marquis Xia here was basically treating him like some third-rate underling.
He started leaving, but after a few steps, he stopped and said, "How about Wan Tiansheng's Foreign Student Faculty?"
"He can do what he wants."
The chubby old man continued walking toward the inner building as he spoke, "For this special project, we will grant them special permissions. Those foreign students will be assigned the best accommodation. Naturally, they have to pay for that. If they're unwilling to pay, they can sleep in the toilet.
"Make sure to feed them well too. Serve them with the meat of divines and devils for each meal. If they're unwilling to eat those meals, they can pay for their own meals. They can't say that I'm neglecting them if I'm offering them something as valuable as the meat of divines and devils. That is the greatest honor the human race can show our guests. Am I right?
.
"As for the price of cultivation methods, sell them to these foreign students for ten times the usual price. Also, give them ten times the reward for each kill of their own people. I want to see if any of them will be tempted to kill their own. Maybe they will even trick more of their own to come and get killed for the reward. Wouldn’t that be a sight to see?
"Wan Tiansheng is too gentle. What is he afraid of? If those fellows decide to come, they are definitely coming with their own agendas. They won't leave before accomplishing their goals. Is he afraid that they will abandon the project and leave?"
At that point, the chubby old man had entered his room. While closing the door, he reminded, "I'm not taking the blame for the funding we're cutting. Just spread some rumors that our finances are tight because we're spending all our money on the Foreign Student Faculty. It's all Wan Tiansheng's fault. He can be the fall guy for his own project.
"Remember to tell Wan Tiansheng that if he's running out of money, he can get a loan from me. I'll charge him a low interest rate since I don't lack money."
"..."
The old man left silently, pretending he didn't hear anything. He was afraid that he would lose his temper if he continued listening to this chubby old man.