The World Online

When Bing’er returned to Shanhai City, the four small beasts did not follow her.

Little white and little green were training in the spirit beast hall. Blackfang wanted to protect little white, so it did not return.

What was special was Xue’er, that little fella could actually cultivate in the spirit beast hall.

Xue’er was a high-class artificial intelligence and had entered the game only to act as a pet. One would not expect the spirit beast hall to actually be so mystical.

Out of the four of them, Xue’er had the highest intelligence. Based on what she said, when she entered the spirit beast hall, a mysterious voice sounded out in her mind. The voice wanted to teach her spirit beast cultivation methods.

Ouyang Shuo nodded. Xue’er was becoming more and more like a player. Needless to say, the cultivation method she learned was probably the same as the secret manuals that could be brought back to reality.

Who would have expected Xue’er to have such luck?

As he walked out of the teleportation formation, Ouyang Shuo was amazed.

Compared to when he left, Shanhai City actually did not undergo much change. The destruction from the Battle of Lianzhou had already been repaired, and all the civilians had returned to their normal lives.

All the barricades and arrow towers outside the city had been dismantled.

In a short few days, one could not see any traces of the war anymore. Who would have known that this place was the focal point of the world and a territory that people thought would fall?

Only the west cemetery had a few thousand more graves, showing that war was cruel and heartless.

As the festive season neared, the happy atmosphere helped to lessen the pain and sorrow.

The commerce street was bustling with people seeking various New Years goodies. Compared to a year ago where Ouyang Shuo had to purchase such goodies from the market, it was the difference between heaven and earth.

The Chamber of Commerces that had invested in the territory did not just bring funds and opportunities. They also brought various goods and items that satisfied consumer needs.

The people who appeared on commerce street was not limited to the civilians of Shanhai City. Instead, there were also other merchants, as well as travelers from other houses and counties in the prefecture. There were even mountain barbarians and grassland nomads.

Shanhai City was slowly becoming the political, economical, and cultural center of Lianzhou.

At the intersection of Friendship River and Canyon River, a huge distribution center was set up. Every day, the many ships would travel to and fro through the distribution center.

The original dock was expanded, and it had now become a small sized city.

The House of east and west made use of the Friendship River and the Qiushui River, which crossed a big part of Lianzhou, to make their relationship with Shanhai City become closer and closer.

Shanhai City continued to prosper under the management of Wei Ran.

Before Ouyang Shuo returned, he did not inform anyone. As a result, no one came to greet him. Only when he returned to the Lord’s Manor did he surprise everyone and cause an uproar in the big manor.

The territory had many matters that needed Ouyang Shuo to decide. It was highly inconvenient to depend on Mulan Yue to spread the message. So, when they learned that the marquis had returned, the various high ranking officials and generals all rushed over.

Ouyang Shuo shook his head in amusement, as he had expected such a situation.

Du Ruhui, Fan Zhongyan, and many more had matters to talk to him about, but Ouyang Shuo waved them off and said, “Everything will be left till after the new year!”

After they heard these words, Du Ruhui and the others were dumbfounded.

When he saw all his officials with sad faces, Ouyang Shuo frowned and teased, “If you guys are so hardworking that means your subordinates are too. If that’s the case, they might be grumbling about me. One should have a few days of rest in a year, shouldn’t they?”

Du Ruhui and Fan Zhongyan looked at one another and smiled, “Let’s do as the Marquis says!”

”That’s right, you are all the backbone of the territory, so you must care about your bodies!”

Du Ruhui’s body had always been poor, so Ouyang Shuo’s words also acted as a reminder to him. He had heard that Du Ruhui had worked like mad and experienced many sleepless nights.

”Thank you, Marquis, for your concern!”

Ouyang Shuo nodded and continued, “A year has ended, so there’ll probably be some interesting things. With the two of you in the lead, prepare rewards for the military and the administration. Fetch the money from the Financial Department.”

Fan Zhongyan laughed slightly, as he recalled what had happened during the last New Year’s Eve.

That time, the Marquis personally bought his gift. The Marquis also decided the standard of the gift. As times changed, this kind of thing wasn’t too high on the priority list for Ouyang Shuo.

After he gave these two officials something to do, Ouyang Shuo finally had time to return to his reading room.

As for Fan Lihua, little princess Bing’er naturally helped to show her around.

When Bing’er returned to the Lord’s Manor, it naturally grew chaotic again. Everyone remembered her playfulness that made everyone love her and feel a headache too. Luckily, the four small beasts weren’t here, which lessen the burden.

Although Bai Nanpu wasn’t here, the secretary room still functioned.

The important letters were placed neatly on the table, as they waited for Ouyang Shuo to deal with them.

Ouyang Shuo postponed the meetings to after the new year; he wanted to use these few days to familiarize himself with everything in the territory.

In the afternoon, Ouyang Shuo went to visit Jiang Shang and Sun Wu. Although these two heavyweights didn’t participate in city matters, one couldn’t underestimate them. Since Ouyang Shuo had returned, he naturally needed to visit them.

This time, Ouyang Shuo hoped to acquire their help.

For the next step of the territory, Ouyang Shuo had already made plans. But before he officially pushed them out, he hoped to garner the opinions of the two.

As time went on, Jiang Shang’s feelings for Shanhai City had deepened. As a result, he warmly replied to Ouyang Shuo.

A few sentences had helped to change his opinion.

When he saw the young lord in front of him, many thoughts filled Jiang Shang. This knowledgeable young man had depth and courage. More astoundingly, he had foresight.

A few of the ideas and plans of Shanhai City were like a stroke of god from Jiang Shang’s perspective.

Such a young man in such a position, not only was he not arrogant, but he was willing to ask for help!

Hard to come by!

Even when the Wu King was young, he wasn’t this capable.

As the army military academy was about open, Sun Wu was busy with the teaching materials. For Ouyang Shuo’s visit, his warmness was naturally overflowing.

Sun Wu was the War Saint. As expected, he managed to point out the flaws in Ouyang Shuo’s plan.

The knowledge of the olden people definitely could not be underestimated.

Near the end, both of them exchanged opinions about the building of the academy. Ouyang Shuo wanted to choose the first semester students from the current military.

Sun Wu nodded in agreement, as he clearly knew the weak aspect of the Shanhai Army.

Ouyang Shuo had come to his decision after much consideration.

After he bid the War Saint farewell, Ouyang Shuo took a walk around the city before he returned.

The Shanhai City population had already broken 300 thousand. Not all of the citizens in the city recognized him. If it was not for the Guards behind him, they might have treated him as an ordinary rich man.

The next day, after his morning training, Ouyang Shuo continued to settle administrative matters. Although he had asked his officials and subordinates to rest, he did not.

Yesterday’s lessons helped to clear up Ouyang Shuo’s thinking. He needed to be alone to clear up everything.

Ouyang Shuo instructed the secretary room that if nothing important came up, do not disturb him.

In this room, Ouyang Shuo was alone. In the other room, Shanhai City had two very important guests.

The two of them had coincidentally met and had decided to travel together.

One of them was an old men, who looked very energized. He was dressed up like a doctor.

The other was still young, but he was paralyzed and could not walk. He sat in a wooden wheelchair, and the old man pushed him forward.

He had a unique feature on his face, from his left eye down ran a long scar. If one was familiar with punishments, this was a scar from branding.

A city guard stopped the two of them.

”Who are you?”

The old man laughed, “I’m a travelling physician. I heard this city has many expensive herbs, so I’ve come to visit.”

The guard nodded and pointed to the man in the wheelchair, “And who is this?”

Shanhai City will have Thousands of people would enter the gates of Shanhai City every day and the Guards would not check them one by one. However, this young man was just too special.

The guard was from the military, so he could recognize the scar. Normally, to get branded, you were either a slave or you committed a huge crime.

Regardless who he was, it was enough to attract attention.

This check caused a hundred people to gather at the gate.

When they saw his appearance, everyone started to gossip. Some pitied, him while others mocked him.

The young man did not care seem to care about all the hustle around him, seemingly used to all this.

The guy raised his head; his face was extremely handsome. The scar did not spoil his appearance. Instead, it added a special kind of charm.

”I’m here to find my grandfather!”

”Grandfather? Who is your grandfather?”

The young man waved at the guard and asked him to come forward.

The guard did not suspect anything and immediately approached.

The young man softly said out a name in his ear.

”Ah, it’s actually him? Is this true?”

When the guard heard this name, he called out.

The young man said, “If you don’t believe me, you can follow me to see my grandfather. Just nice. I’m not familiar with the way, so can you bring me there?”

As he said these words, the guard did not bother about the civilians at the side. He simply brought the two in.

All this naturally attracted the gossips of the people. Everyone tried to guess the identity of the young man’s grandfather that had managed to shock the guard.

One most know that the guard was an elite of the city protection division. He was usually very calm.