17: Chapter 17 Erecting Monuments and Building the City, Land Tax Blueprint

The main force quickly relocated from the coastal camp to the high ground.

This time, it was no longer a temporary camp, but the true founding of a city and establishment of a stronghold.

On the high ground in the early morning, the flow of people shuttled back and forth like ants.

Mortals carried timber, ironware, cooking stoves, and grain bags uphill, women brought children to tidy up temporary living quarters, and the able-bodied men, driven by stewards and Dao soldiers, marked out areas and set up stakes.

The entire high ground, which had been a bloody battlefield yesterday, quickly transformed into a chaotic yet vibrant construction site.

Lu Changyuan stood on high, watching all of this. The first thing he did was have people carry the boundary suppression stele bestowed by the Family up from the spirit boat.

It was a three-zhang-tall ancient black stele, primitive and heavy, with its surface covered in silver spiritual patterns, weighing over ten thousand jin.

Thirty Mortals and ten Dao soldiers worked together to barely carry it all the way into the rock cavern where the core of the Spiritual Vein was located.

Lu Hu looked at the ancient stele with a solemn gaze: "Once the stele lands, this island can truly be considered ours."

Lu Changyuan nodded. Without wasting words, he bit his fingertip and pressed a drop of blood essence onto the surface of the stele.

In an instant, the silver patterns on the entire ancient stele lit up brightly.

Lu Changyuan formed hand seals, borrowing the power of the Spiritual Vein to drive the boundary suppression stele, pressing it inch by inch toward the center of the rock platform.

Cyan light surged within the rock cavern, and the entire Blue Moon Island seemed to tremble slightly at this moment.

Shi Jian stood behind, watching that black stele slowly sink into the Formation eye, feeling that it wasn't just a stele, but more like a nail, firmly pinning the drifting Blue Moon Island into the hands of the Lu Family.

The moment the boundary suppression stele completely sank into the center of the rock platform, Lu Changyuan's Sea of Consciousness trembled slightly.

He closed his eyes and could vaguely perceive the flow of spiritual energy throughout the entire Blue Moon Island.

The coastline, jungles, high ground, reef areas, and even the surging waves in the western bay appeared in his perception as if through a thin veil.

This feeling was extremely faint, yet incredibly real.

Blue Moon Island had officially acknowledged its master.

And from this moment on, this island was no longer just the foundation he had chosen, but his responsibility.

He opened his eyes, gave no one time to catch their breath, and immediately began issuing orders.

Dao soldiers were to break mountains and split rocks to first build the outer stone wall; Mortals were to divide into areas to build houses, dig ditches, and level fields; stewards were to re-register households, dividing residential areas and future spiritual fields according to household and labor; Shi Jian was responsible for registering all the population, tools, and grain supplies newly moved onto the high ground one by one.

A group of Foundation Establishment Dao soldiers were dragged into doing manual labor, so naturally, some were unaccustomed to it.

Some felt awkward inside, some felt embarrassed, and there were even squad leaders who complained in low voices.

Lu Changyuan heard them and only gave two sentences: "Wages will be doubled, and those who slack off will go to the mine cave to stand guard at night."

Thus, all dissatisfaction was forcibly suppressed.

Soon, the high ground was a scene of intense activity.

Some swung hammers to break stones, some dragged timber to set up stakes, and some carried water buckets running back and forth; Dao soldiers and Mortals were mixed together for the first time in such a rough yet direct way.

At first, the Mortals were trembling with fear seeing these Cultivators, who were usually high above them, also coming down to work. But after watching for a while, their courage gradually grew, and their movements became faster and faster.

For the first time, they truly felt that they were building a city, houses, and fields for themselves.

Once this feeling emerged, people's hands and feet became more energetic than before.

Even those who originally only thought about following orders began to actively ponder how to make things more secure.

Some even took the initiative to ask the stewards if their section of work could be done more neatly and sturdily.

Another day passed, and even the few Dao soldiers who were originally the most unaccustomed stopped complaining.

Because they quickly discovered that every change on the high ground was astonishingly fast.

Places that were gravel beaches yesterday already had wall foundations built today; slopes that were empty yesterday were already filled with stakes marking the boundaries of spiritual fields today.

Even during meals, people no longer discussed who was tired or who was suffering, but rather which section of the wall would be more stable with two more layers of stone, or which irrigation ditch could be made more efficient by changing its path.

Three days later, the prototype of the first circle of stone walls had already been built around the perimeter of the high ground.

On the western bay side, they also began to clear the reefs, preparing to build a simple Pier.

The boundaries of the mining area, residential area, and spiritual field area were clearly marked out by stakes and ropes for the first time.

And Lu Changyuan did not stop either.

The blank Formation Plates and spiritual materials he had casually bought in Zhenhai Immortal City previously finally came in handy at this moment.

Lu Changyuan, taking Leng Feng with him, first repaired the core remnant flag of the ancient Spirit Gathering Array into a usable main flag, then buried it beneath the Formation eye of the boundary suppression stele, and placed twelve auxiliary flags around the four sides of the high ground.

The moment the Formation took shape, the Spiritual Qi that would have slowly drifted away into the surroundings began to be gathered back by an invisible force, and the air throughout the entire Qingyuan Terrace seemed to become clearer.

Lu Hu stood at the edge of the high ground, feeling the changes in the Spiritual Qi coming towards him, and couldn't help but whisper: "Young Lord, this place is coming alive."

"It's not enough yet." Lu Changyuan looked at the crowd busy moving back and forth below and said calmly, "The land must come alive, and the people must also come alive."

That night, the large tent was brightly lit.

Lu Changyuan summoned the stewards, Shi Jian, and representatives of the Mortal groups to officially set the first agricultural tax system for Blue Moon Island.

"Spiritual fields will be contracted by household; those with more labor get more, those with less labor get less."

"For the first three years, only thirty percent will be collected."

"Of that thirty percent, twenty percent goes to the island treasury, and ten percent goes to supporting the soldiers and workers."

"Whoever opens new fields, repairs irrigation ditches, or performs agricultural service will be rewarded with extra fields."

When these words were spoken, the entire large tent fell into dead silence.

These Mortals had never dared to even dream of owning a piece of land that belonged to them; now, not only could they be allocated fields, but only thirty percent would be collected for the first three years. To them, this was simply like a path to survival falling from the sky.

Shi Jian was the first to react and asked: "Young Lord, what if someone lets their fields go fallow?"

"First a penalty, and if they offend again, it will be confiscated." Lu Changyuan's tone was flat. "I provide a path, but I do not support useless people."

Once these words were spoken, those who were still somewhat dazed instead felt completely at ease.

What they feared was that the rules would be empty. Now that the rules were laid out one by one in the open, it meant that this Young Lord truly intended to establish a long-term enterprise on this Blue Moon Island.

For those who had just struggled out of the status of serfs, the most terrifying thing was that what was agreed upon today would be wiped away by a single word tomorrow.

Now that the Young Lord had nailed down the rules in public, they finally had the confidence to look ahead for the first time.

After the meeting, the few old farmers who had been pushed out as representatives did not leave immediately, but stood outside the tent and whispered to each other about which section of the irrigation ditch to dig first tomorrow, and which piece of land to first try planting salt-alkali resistant spiritual rice in.

Watching this scene, Shi Jian suddenly realized that what the Young Lord had set was not just a tax, but a whole set of methods to make the Mortals move on their own.

Once people start calculating harvests, calculating fields, and calculating how much extra grain they can add to their household next year, this island will no longer be supported just by orders, but will truly begin to have its own muscle and bone.

The next morning, the boundaries of the first batch of spiritual fields were officially nailed down with stakes, and the first irrigation ditch began to be excavated from the edge of the Spiritual Vein tributary.

Watching the stone walls, houses, port, and ridges of the fields take shape bit by bit, Lu Changyuan finally sat down cross-legged in front of the Spiritual Vein core.

Everything was ready.

It was time for his Foundation Establishment Breakthrough.

And before he went into seclusion, the entire Qingyuan Terrace already clearly had the outline of a city.

Wooden fences were erected outside the mining area, the first row of stone houses in the residential area had been roofed, and people on the side of the western bay even began to discuss how wide the Pier should be built in the future and how many spirit boats it could accommodate.

Women were drying freshly washed cloth in the open space, children were running around the half-formed stone walls, and even those old farmers who originally had no concept of the future began to squat by the field ridges, studying whether the irrigation ditch needed to be dug another half-foot deeper.

These fragmented scenes falling into Lu Changyuan's eyes were more important than the stone walls themselves.

A city cannot be established by just a stele or a circle of walls; what truly allows it to survive is that these people have finally started to treat this place as their own, and have started to actively plan how they will live tomorrow, next month, and even next year.