Time flew by, and several years passed in a flash.
With the help of the eight heavenly masters, Zhu Xiangyang established the "Peace Protection Bodyguard Agency". On the surface, the escort agency was in the business of escorting escorts, but in reality, it was searching for the strongholds of mountain bandits in all parts of Da Duo. After verifying it, he would exterminate them with lightning speed. Later on, the escort agency became bigger and bigger, gradually spreading throughout the country, and the number of bandits also decreased day by day.
Although the domestic banditry had gradually subsided, the various kinds of exorbitant taxes and miscellaneous taxes in the imperial court had become more and more numerous. There were even head taxes, roadblock taxes, grain taxes, drinking water taxes, and many other inexplicable tax names. The complexity of the types could be said to be all sorts of things, making it unimaginable.
Another year passed. At noon on this day, Zhu Xiangyang and the others met a group of bandits who were not bandits. They weren't bandits because they were all sallow and emaciated. They were called bandits because these people were holding fences, hoes, guillotine, and other weapons in their hands, blocking the road and doing business without capital.
Zhu Xiangyang and the others understood what was going on. He knew that this group of people had been robbed of heavy taxes by the Imperial Court and were starving, resulting in them being reduced to this state.
Zhu Xiangyang thought for a moment and decided to take these refugees under his command. Therefore, Zhu Xiangyang and the others used the power of the Taoist masters to reclaim a piece of fertile land from the barren mountains for the refugees to plant, allowing them to live a self-sufficient and free life.
If there is a surplus of agricultural produce, it will be used for two purposes. One was to sell them in town and exchange the copper coins for daily necessities. The second was to stock up the granary, either to help others in the future or to prepare for emergencies.
A few years later, Zhu Xiangyang rescued more and more refugees and opened up more and more mountain fields, but the shops became deserted. At that time, the common people were subject to all kinds of heavy taxes from the imperial court, and the trade between the markets decreased day by day, gradually reaching the point where they did not dare to buy what they needed and did not dare to sell what they wanted to sell.
In order to revive the prosperity of the market, Zhu Xiangyang had entered the capital several times to meet the emperor. After all, the Imperial Court had not dismissed him from the Sharp Army. As the Marshal of the Sharp Army, Zhu Xiangyang could still enter the Imperial Palace and meet the Emperor.
However, the Emperor and all the officials in the Imperial City avoided Zhu Xiangyang. Occasionally, when Zhu Xiangyang bumped into the ministers, they would also hurriedly avoid them and use excuses to shirk their responsibilities.
Even so, Zhu Xiangyang still persisted. Later on, he used gold and silver to open up a channel, which was why some officials were willing to meet him.
Zhu Xiangyang took the opportunity to promise the imperial court that he would pay a large sum of money to the national treasury every year, as well as the official position of marshal. Only then did the emperor abolish all kinds of miscellaneous taxes.
To Zhu Xiangyang, it was fine to resign and hang his seal. Originally, he did not want to serve such a dark imperial court. It was just that the tribute that he had accepted was not much more than the miscellaneous taxes of the court, so it was a little difficult. If Zhu Xiangyang was unable to pay such a huge amount of tribute, the court would not only restore all kinds of taxes, but he would also be imprisoned and awaiting execution. This was a warrant written by Zhu Xiangyang in black and white. He could not go back on his word.
Since Zhu Xiangyang had accepted a huge amount of tribute, the income from the Bodyguard Agency and Yamada's labor was far from enough.
Zhu Xiangyang discussed with everyone and decided to start with the escort agency business. He expanded the escort agency's current single escort business to investigate information, guard the merchant house, suppress bandits, drive beasts, guard the house, rescue people's tickets, and other tasks that did not violate morality. After the business expanded, the Bodyguard Agency was short of manpower.
Zhu Xiangyang made up his mind and decided to open the gate. Anyone could come to Baoping Bodyguard Agency and register as an escort. The Bodyguard Agency would issue errands every day, and the escorts would receive the corresponding remuneration after completing the errands. The Baoping Bodyguard Agency would receive a small amount of remuneration from the escorts 'remuneration.
In the long run, those who had the slightest bit of strength in the martial world would flock to Baoping Bodyguard Agency and start doing manual labor in order to survive. At that time, all kinds of miscellaneous taxes were gone, and the market trade was recovering. Besides making a fortune, the merchants also knew that the bandits outside were fierce. Therefore, whether they opened shops or traveled far, most of them would go to Baoping Bodyguard Agency to seek the help of escorts in exchange for peace. After all, even if merchants earned mountains of gold and silver, they had to live to enjoy it, right?
Later on, the more wealthy the merchants were, the more they valued their own protection, and the more generous they were. They even hired several escorts to travel with them. As a result, Baoping Bodyguard Agency's business would prosper, and it would not be a problem for them to pay tribute to the imperial court.
After two years, the drought was severe, and many places had no harvest. Fortunately, Zhu Xiangyang took out some of the income from Yamada every year to store the granary, which was of great use at this time.
When Zhu Xiangyang learned of the drought, he immediately ordered the granaries to be opened to release food and relieve the victims. Fortunately, there were no civilians starving to death in the streets during this drought.
After this incident, the prestige and status of the Baoping Bodyguard Agency in the hearts of the people was no different from that of the Bodhisattva who saved the world. As a result, when there were arguments in the marketplace or even unjust cases among the people, the people often did not go to the government yamen. Instead, they came to Baoping Bodyguard Agency to visit the head of the escort to uphold justice.
When they were asked why they went to the Bodyguard Agency to seek justice, the commoners all said,"Lord Zhu sacrificed himself for others and bore the heavy taxes of the Imperial Court for us. With his character, we commoners can trust him.”"The affairs of the government and the yamen are dark, how can they compare to Lord Zhu's open and aboveboard saving of the world.”
Later, when these words reached Zhu Xiangyang's ears, he smiled and changed the name of the " Baoping Bodyguard Agency " to " Illuminati ".
From then on, the reputation of the Illuminati became increasingly resounding, and the number of people who came to seek refuge also increased. Other than ordinary martial artists, there was no lack of Five-pointed Heavenly Masters.
In just a few short years, there were nearly a hundred heavenly masters who came just because of their reputation. Zhu Xiangyang knew that those who could obtain such supernatural powers from the heavens must have suffered inhuman pain. The Taoist masters were indeed powerful. Therefore, when Zhu Xiangyang learned that Taoist masters came to seek refuge, he often greeted them personally to show his sincerity.
Zhu Xiangyang would explain in detail the original intention of establishing the Illuminati to every Taoist master who came to seek refuge.
If the visitor was also a person who cared about the common people of the world, Zhu Xiangyang would secretly investigate him. When he found out that the Taoist Master was not a spy sent by the imperial court or an enemy country, Zhu Xiangyang would personally appear and invite him to join the Elder Council of the Illuminati.
If the other party's plan was different from his, Zhu Xiangyang would not force him to stay. Instead, he would invite him to become a guest of the Illuminati and give him a monthly salary. When Zhu Xiangyang's old friend, Leng Hongying, came to seek refuge with the Illuminati, Zhu Xiangyang knew that Leng Hongying would never care about the world, so he invited her to join the Association.
Leng Hongying was greedy for the guest elder's monthly salary, so she naturally agreed.
After Leng Hongying and Zhu Xiangyang parted ways, she used her wealth to live the life of a rich lady. After a while, when she was about to run out of money, Leng Hongying happened to encounter bandits again. She immediately wiped out the bandits happily and searched for them, obtaining some more wealth.
Leng Hongying knew that she wouldn't be so lucky forever. When there were no more bandits in the world, she would be in a poor place again. Hence, he found a small town and started a business to make a living.
Her original intention of registering with the Illuminati was to use the Illuminati's connections and informants to find out where there were other bandit strongholds so that she could make a fortune.
With Leng Hongying's reappearance, Zhu Xiangyang couldn't help but miss another old acquaintance, Ye Wenxin. Although he had been married for many years, he still couldn't stop thinking about Ye Wenxin.
A few years later, Zhu Xiangyang heard from his subordinates that a village near Lanshan City was plagued by bandits. The local villagers could not stand the harassment and fled the village to another place. Who knew that the villagers would suddenly disappear during the migration? There was no news of them, and their whereabouts were still unknown.
When Zhu Xiangyang learned of this matter, he knew that it was strange, so he ordered that the truth must be investigated. He himself also brought his beloved wife Qiao Yi to personally investigate.
Zhu Xiangyang's wife, Qiao Yi, was a Heavenly Master of Gale. She was beautiful and had a strong personality. Qiao Yi was once ravaged by the bandits, and after she joined the Elders of the Radiant Church, Zhu Xiangyang took pity on her and took good care of her. The two of them fell in love over time and became husband and wife.
"Yi 'er, are you feeling unwell?" Zhu Xiangyang controlled the roaring flames and flew above the clouds with his wife. He noticed that his beloved wife's spiritual power was shaking, so he asked.
Qiao Yi, who was standing beside Zhu Xiangyang, was wrapped in a small hurricane. The hurricane that was slightly larger than her body made her clothes flutter.
"It's fine. My stomach suddenly hurts. It's nothing serious." Qiao Yi didn't mind and only thought that she had a stomachache.
At this moment, a soft and illusionary spiritual power appeared in the distance. Zhu Xiangyang could not help but be stunned by this familiar feeling.
Qiao Yi, who was beside Zhu Xiangyang, did not notice anything strange about her husband. She pointed into the distance and said,""Over there." Zhu Xiangyang nodded and flew over first.
The two of them tore through the air and sped forward. A moment later, the water-like Mental Energy seemed to have sensed their arrival and disappeared without a trace.
Zhu Xiangyang and his wife floated in the air and looked down at the ground in front of them.
Below him was a circular basin that was five miles in diameter. Green grass grew in the basin, and a ring-shaped mountain range that was about a mile in diameter stood in the middle of the basin. Within the ring-shaped mountain range was a mountainous terrain, and there were short forests all over it.
In the middle of the ring-shaped mountain, there was a lone peak that rose up into the sky, surrounded by thin clouds. There was a waterfall flowing down from the waist of the lone peak, giving off a unique aura.
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