The Evil Martial God Chronicles - Chapter 122

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Legend of the Evil Martial God

 

Chapter 122

 

People in the palace thought about the Emperor’s absurd decision.

 

That it wouldn’t last even a month.

 

The Emperor would eventually surrender to the Hanlin Academy, and in the end, it would become a world ruled by the Hanlin Academy and Dongchang.

 

Ministers who had belonged to the Hanlin Academy also scoffed at the Emperor’s ridiculous policy.

 

Creating grounds for criticism all by himself.

 

Wasn’t this truly killing two birds with one stone?

 

Shortly after, contact came from Dongchang.

 

If the Emperor acknowledged his mistakes, they asked him to return to the palace and help them.

 

The Hanlin Academy, which had formed an alliance with Dongchang, eventually all turned to support Noble Consort Man.

 

They thought if they just stayed still, time would solve everything for them.

 

However, a reversal occurred.

 

***

 

When they first entered the palace and began their work, even the lowest-ranking subordinate officials and clerks who assisted them mocked them.

 

“This is ridiculous. Just how lightly do they regard government affairs to gather such a motley crew?”

 

“They brought talented people from all over the Central Plains. Let’s wait and see how well they do.”

 

“Do well? They won’t last even a month before they all run away.”

 

“Isn’t even a month too long? Just looking at those piled-up documents, they’ll probably run away tomorrow?”

 

“Even those who passed the imperial examinations couldn’t properly handle what’s been piled up, so how could these ignorant fools deal with it?”

 

“Since it’s an imperial command, let’s at least pretend to help.”

 

“Ugh! I don’t know if they’ll even be able to work properly with their pride hurt.”

 

“Just bear with it a little. His Majesty will soon realize what a huge mistake he made and call back the existing officials.”

 

“Since it’s come to this anyway, let’s definitely obstruct them.”

 

“Good idea. Let’s just dump all the troublesome tasks on them.”

 

“That’s a good idea.”

 

Thus, the subordinate officials, clerks, and eunuchs remaining in the palace banded together and decided to obstruct the work of the talented individuals Jeok Wigang had brought.

 

Since openly obstructing would endanger their own lives, they planned to assign tasks these people couldn’t handle, making them sick of it and run away.

 

But this was their great misconception.

 

The real combat talents were those who had reached the realm of masters in their respective fields.

 

At a glance, they grasped what the problems were and what needed to be handled first, then began processing work quickly.

 

The Minister of Finance initially showed anxiety about employing real combat talents instead of the ministers who had been working there.

 

His sentiment was wondering how much those who had never handled government affairs could accomplish.

 

Since the nation’s finances were such a crucial matter that poor management could lead the country to ruin, his anxiety was even greater.

 

Moreover, weren’t those coming people who hadn’t even been properly verified?

 

If they harbored ill intentions and embezzled taxes, would it be possible to stop them?

 

That was also a concern.

 

But since it was a policy being pushed by the Emperor and Jeok Wigang, he couldn’t recklessly oppose it.

 

In his heart, he wanted to quit like the other ministers, but if he did that, Jeok Wigang probably wouldn’t let it slide.

 

He could only earnestly pray to the heavens that nothing would go wrong.

 

The remaining officials felt the same way.

 

Since their immediate livelihood would be cut off, they were gritting their teeth and enduring even though they wanted to leave.

 

They thought that those people wouldn’t be able to handle the work properly anyway, and only they who remained would suffer.

 

However, their thoughts were completely shattered in the first week after the real combat talents arrived.

 

As soon as the real combat talents entered, they began examining the account books and documents piled up like mountains.

 

Without even sleeping, they quickly organized the complexly entangled numbers.

 

Currently, there were two problems that were giving the Ministry of Revenue the biggest headaches.

 

Land tax and poll tax.

 

But under Ghost Calculator’s direct command, the real combat talents began finding solutions to those problems.

 

Since they had directly experienced these two taxes, they solved the problems more quickly.

 

The Minister of Finance and the officials were amazed.

 

To think they could process this so quickly.

 

The Minister of Finance’s amazement was particularly great.

 

The reason he had been racking his brains over this problem all this time was that he had tried to find solutions through armchair theorizing without properly reflecting reality.

 

So no matter how much he thought about it, how could a solution emerge?

 

But the real combat talents began quickly identifying and organizing the problems and solutions based on their own experiences.

 

Seeing what was organized, the Minister of Finance unconsciously slapped his knee.

 

It felt like something that had been weighing on him for a long time was finally lifting away refreshingly.

 

Moreover, Ghost Calculator examined the tax record books piled up like mountains at an incredibly fast speed, then picked up his brush and scribbled something down before handing it to the talents he had selected.

 

The talents understood what he meant just by looking at Ghost Calculator’s scrawled content and quickly corrected it.

 

Documents that hadn’t been properly organized even after two years were resolved in just a few days.

 

The Minister of Finance, who witnessed this directly from the side, was amazed and lamented that such talents couldn’t be appointed simply because of their low social status.

 

The Minister of Finance was excited.

 

Seeing the troublesome documents rapidly decreasing, he felt like he could breathe again.

 

Compared to these people, those who had been in the palace until now weren’t talents but just freeloaders who couldn’t do their jobs properly while wasting food.

 

This phenomenon was unfolding not only in the Ministry of Revenue but everywhere.

 

From their respective positions, they instantly grasped the palace’s situation and perfectly understood what systems were in operation.

 

And amazingly perfectly at that.

 

As soon as they finished their assessment, what they did was reform.

 

They completely overhauled all the methods that had been chronic problems.

 

The results were amazing.

 

Work processing speed became three times faster than before.

 

The entire reporting system that had been concentrated on the Emperor was distributed, and it transformed into a system where only truly important matters needed the Emperor’s approval.

 

The Six Ministries became more subdivided and work processing proceeded more professionally.

 

The backlogged tasks began to be processed rapidly, and policies for the people were implemented.

 

As a result, public sentiment quickly began turning toward the Emperor.

 

Ju Seo-gi was very satisfied and promoted their positions by one rank while appointing even more talented individuals.

 

At the word that anyone with talent could rise to government positions regardless of social status, people flocked like clouds from all across the Central Plains to showcase their abilities.

 

The role of selecting talent from among them was entrusted to Insimdo Yu Muncheol.

 

Those he designated were all heaven-sent talents, each assigned to departments suited to their aptitudes.

 

With specialists in charge, work processing became even faster and showed outstanding results.

 

Feeling threatened by this, the existing privileged class urgently gathered to devise countermeasures.

 

“Those we thought insignificant are performing their work far better than expected.”

 

“It’s not just better than expected – they’re handling tasks with exceptional skill. They’re resolving in just a few weeks problems that took us years to solve.”

 

“The state of public sentiment is alarming. Voices praising that heaven has sent them a true Emperor for their sake can be heard everywhere.”

 

“I too have heard those words everywhere. At this rate, everything we’ve built will be completely taken away.”

 

“It’s already been taken. They’re selecting talent based on real combat and aptitude rather than civil service examinations. Because of this method, people are coming and going so much that the palace threshold is wearing away.”

 

“What should we do? We cannot just sit and watch this happen.”

 

“First, gather all the scholars. We must show our united strength. Also, we must work with Dongchang to reclaim our lost positions.”

 

“Will Dongchang properly help us?”

 

“I hear that Dongchang is also quite flustered. They too will not just sit and watch with open eyes as these insignificant ones take control of the palace.”

 

At those words, sighs leaked out from here and there.

 

“Sigh. To think the day would come when we’d join hands with eunuchs.”

 

“It cannot be helped. Our Confucian studies are on the verge of disappearing from thousands of years of Central Plains history. There’s nowhere left to retreat.”

 

“Understood.”

 

“Whatever we can do, give it your all!”

 

“Yes!”

 

***

 

Dongchang Headquarters.

 

Taegam was scolding the eunuchs with a thoroughly irritated expression.

 

“What the hell have you idiots been doing!”

 

“We’re, we’re sorry!”

 

“No, how are you handling work that it’s running better than before? Does this make sense?”

 

“They’re crazy. They’re workaholics who work like madmen, even cutting back on sleep.”

 

“No matter what sabotage we deploy, they easily avoid it and process their work. No, rather, they’re handling tasks one step ahead of us, so we can’t keep up.”

 

“To that extent? No, why are these people who’ve never done government work once handling tasks so well?”

 

“They’re all people who’ve worked in their respective fields for at least ten years, some for decades. Because of this, the subordinate officials and clerks can’t keep up with their work processing and are falling behind.”

 

The plan was completely going awry.

 

But there was an even bigger problem.

 

“His Majesty has completely regained his strength.”

 

“What? What are you talking about?”

 

That’s impossible.

 

The poison injected into the Emperor is not one that humans can detoxify.

 

It’s a poison that grows stronger the more good medicine you feed to detoxify it, making the victim die even faster.

 

But he regained his strength?

 

That absolutely makes no sense.

 

“That’s impossible. Every physician shook their heads saying they couldn’t identify the cause.”

 

“Th-that is… Jeok Wigang treated him, they say.”

 

“What? Th-That Guy treated His Majesty?”

 

“Yes. The eunuch in charge of His Majesty said so.”

 

“Why are you telling me this important news only now!”

 

“That eunuch… was choosing to follow His Majesty instead of us. It seemed like proper news wasn’t coming through, so when we tortured him…”

 

“Argh! Jeok Wigang! Jeok Wigang!”

 

As Taegam let out a voice filled with rage.

 

Kurururu-.

 

The large hall shook violently.

 

“Ever since that damn bastard got involved with the Emperor, everything started going wrong! We should have eliminated That Guy first.”

 

“Should we eliminate him now?”

 

“What happened with the investigation into That Guy?”

 

“Nothing is coming up. It feels like someone is intentionally blocking information.”

 

“Wait… Where did you say most of those working in the palace come from?”

 

“Ah… Hao Gate.”

 

“You idiot! Hao Gate is an information organization! Those bastards are systematically hiding information!”

 

“Are you saying Dongchang’s intelligence agency is inferior to a group of mere insects?”

 

“You fool. Which two forces have the best intelligence networks in the Central Plains? The Beggar’s Sect and Hao Gate. What kind of groups are those two? They’re made up of those at the very bottom. Such people are spread countless throughout the Central Plains. Look even now. Outside that door…”

 

Crack-.

 

Taegam crushed a walnut on the table with his finger.

 

Bang-.

 

When he struck the table, the walnut shells floated up into the air.

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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