The Immortal Seeker: Legend of Bronze Mirror

At the end of the first lunar month, the first Martial Saint in a century in the Great Yu Dynasty, the Xiong Chan Great Monk, entered the Capital.

The first thing he did was to visit Xu Qing at the Southern Zhili Guild Hall.

During their meeting, they dismissed everyone else and discussed something in private, the content of which remains unknown. However, the actual content of their discussion is not important for the various factions in the Capital.

The key point is that Xu Jieyuan was the first person the Great Monk visited upon entering the Capital.

This action is quite intriguing.

After meeting Xu Qing, the Xiong Chan Great Monk moved into Prince Yu's Mansion to cultivate, by imperial decree.

To have a Martial Saint reside in the Hidden Residence is an inspiring event, even for Prince Yu, the actual Crown Prince.

However, the Emperor's remark referring to the "Duke of Rong" has spread quickly throughout the Capital.

According to rumors, since the Xiong Chan Martial Saint moved into the Prince's Mansion, he has yet to meet Prince Yu, but has gone to the West Garden several times to explain Buddhist Law to the old Emperor.

It's said that the Great Monk uses Buddhist Law to explain the Daoist Scripture, which greatly pleases the old Emperor.

After each lecture on Buddhist Law, he receives many rewards, and even the Great Zen Temple has received imperial favor because of it.

Some nobles can't help but sigh, thinking that it wasn't that His Majesty disliked Buddhist Law before, but rather that there wasn't a contemporary Arhat like Master Xiong Chan to explain the teachings.

Now that His Majesty has enlightened the true meaning of Buddhist Law, which aligns with the subtle mysteries of Daoist Scripture, how could he not be delighted?

For a time, the incense offerings at temples near the Capital became more prosperous than before.

The main reason is the current implementation of the "Single Whip Law," combined with the Court's gain from maritime trade, increasing the amount of silver, so many nobles in the Capital have more silver, and urgently need to lend it for profit.

Temples have always been a natural lending platform.

After all, the people of the Great Yu Dynasty are practical; if they didn't have so many desires, why would they pray to the gods and Buddha?

Where there are desires, there are suitable lending targets.

Moreover, every year after the Examination, there is a peak in lending in the Capital.

Many Capital officials and newly minted Scholars need to borrow money to make a living.

These are high-quality clients.

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Considering the difficulty of living in the Capital, Xu Qing, in the name of the Recovery Society and the Southern Zhili Guild Hall, provides certain subsidies to Scholars and Scholars from Southern Zhili who are in financial difficulty.

Actually, the difficulty for these people isn't in covering food, clothing, and daily expenses, but in needing to spend a lot on social networking.

Apart from subsidies, there's a certain amount of interest-free loans with very flexible terms.

These benefits are available to all scholars originating from Southern Zhili who meet the conditions.

But for scholars outside Southern Zhili, Xu Qing has no intention of extending a helping hand.

Firstly, the expenses are too large; secondly, if he does so, it's likely to provoke many unnecessary troubles. Since Xu Qing can't supervise every matter, even if others dare not provoke him, it is still easy to get away with minor matters by deception.

Any matter, once it becomes too big, must rely on a system, a basic foundation, rather than an individual.

All these require long-term theoretical practice and continuous strengthening and expansion of the basic foundation.

In this aspect, Xu Qing's methods align with those of the Grand Secretary; however, the Grand Secretary, having the Court's resources, takes a more aggressive approach, but the quality of results isn't as good as Xu Qing's.

The key lies in the basic foundation.

The Grand Secretary uses the past foundation of the Great Yu Dynasty, while Xu Qing's foundation is reformed by himself; it may not be excellent, but it's definitely not worse than the original foundations of the Great Yu Dynasty.

In Southern Zhili, Xu Qing has to engage in infighting with other nobles, but in the Capital, as long as it's those from the scholarly class originating from Southern Zhili, they naturally regard Xu Qing as their leader.

Because within the Capital environment, their interests need a strong figure like Xu Qing to protect them, and they must have someone like Xu Qing to lead them in expansion.

The world's cake is only so big; if others have more, then they must have less, so they must fight.

Of course, nominally, the current Southern Zhili Party in the Capital, or rather the Wu Party dominated by Wu people, officially has Elder Liang as the leader, but the actual leading figure is Xu Jieyuan.

This is a dual leadership structure.

Elder Liang's main role is as a mascot and atmosphere builder.

The elderly man is quite clear; vying for power is useless, even if power is acquired, he won't live much longer, and how could he outlast Xu Qing?

By relinquishing power early and relying on Xu Qing's support before retirement, he could enjoy a term as Grand Secretary. How delightful!

Additionally, Xu Qing and Xiong Chan discussed plans to deal with the Black Mountain Old Demon, but specific actions must wait until Xu Qing completes the Examination and the Imperial Examination processes.

This time, the chief examiner of the Examination is the Left Imperial Censor, Huo Jing.

This is also part of a political transaction between the Grand Secretary and Minister Wang.

The successor to the Minister of Personnel is the Minister of Revenue, Wang Gong.

The new Minister of Revenue is the Grand Secretary's capable aide, Chen Fu.

Once the dust settles, Assistant Minister Zhang of the Ministry of Personnel directly broke down.

Because Chen Fu is merely the Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Revenue, and by rank, he is slightly below the Assistant Minister of the Ministry of Revenue. However, with the position of Vice Minister of the Ministry of Revenue, after serving one year as Governor of East Mountain Province, he leaped to the high position of Minister of Revenue.

Assistant Minister Zhang deeply regretted not heeding Xu Qing's advice to plan for the Minister of Revenue position.

And ended up drawing water with a bamboo basket, meaning all efforts were in vain.

If not for the imminent Examination, he, an Assistant Minister in the Ministry of Personnel, would have gone to seek Xu Qing's help, and it's easy to arouse criticism. Assistant Minister Zhang surely would have sought Xu Qing for a solution.

Now, Xu Qing shuts his door, refusing to see anyone.

Moreover, the chief examiner of the current Examination is Huo Jing, who represents the last significant banner of the Conservative Faction.

His appointment as the chief examiner of the Examination clearly disadvantages Xu Qing.