the divine martial stars

Chapter3 Act as a Fraudulent Substitute for the County Magistrate

“Yes.” The little girl nodded and said, “My mother told me to give it to you.” As she said so, she pointed aside.

And there was a young couple next to her.

The man was in his early thirties, he looked big. He wore bearded and his face looked rugged. He was carrying a pole, three-stranded hunting fork, and several newly stripped animal skins on his back. He dressed like a hunter. The woman was younger and looked around 23-year-old with fair skin and beautiful look. She was there holding a baby who had not yet weaned, although she was wearing a simple dress and looked poor, it was still hard to hide her elegant temperament. When you saw her at first sight, you would find her radiant, which was not like a poor person, but a great lady.

There were two bamboo baskets at her feet.

There were golden apricots in the bamboo basket, emitting a clear and fruity aroma. They must be wild fruits picked from the mountains, and then would be taken to the market for sale.

As they saw Li Mu, they smiled kindly.

“Thanks a lot.” Li Mu cupped his hands in front of his chest to show appreciation, and then took the apricots from the little girl’s hands. He touched her head, smiled and said, “Thank you, little girl, can you tell me your name?”

“I’m Ya Ya.”

The little girl smiled happily and jumped back to her parents.

The people from the alien planet were really so kind and simple.

Li Mu sighed with emotion and tears.

The two apricots left Li Mu a good feeling towards this alien planet.

Those two golden apricots were big and sweet and satisfied his hunger. He ate one of them and the two attendants shared the other.

The line of the people to the city was advancing in sequence.

And not soon, the young couple and Ya Ya arrived at the gate of the city.

Obviously, those soldiers and guards who were interrogating and examining the passers-by were so sophisticated, they were wearing loose clothes with greedy face and asking for things brazenly, those who were entering the city would all be exploited, and they just took advantage of every opportunity to benefit them.

Those guards took the two hides and half one box of apricots from the young couple, however, they choked with silent fury and took their children to the city.

And those guards finally came to Li Mu and his two attendants.

The little attendant Qing Feng just went up and wanted to show his identity while the guard leader covered his nose, looked up and down at those three people and said, “Damn, why are you here, beggars? It’s so dirty and smelly, come on, get out of here now… Don’t make any mistake in the city, or you’ll be in trouble…” Then he ordered other people to get them to the city.

As Li Mu entered the city, he turned to look back at the city gate repeatedly three times at every step, and he was able neither to cry nor to laugh.

Though he had successfully entered the county, he was not feeling so comfortable since he was looked upon like that.

What’s more, it was just a glimpse of the whole and one could find that the government official didn’t have good performance in the Western Qin Empire.

Tai Bai County was a mountain city.

And you could only feel its charm of this ancient city when you entered.

The main roads were paved with bluestone, which was the specialty of Taibai Mountain. It was smooth and flat, which was comparable to an asphalted road on earth. Most of the other roads contained steps or curved roads, they were winding and shuttling between mountains and rivers just like landscape gardens. Several rivers flowed around the ancient city from high to low, forming several waterfalls in the city, but the falls were not big and they were crystal clear.

There were ancient trees in the city, such as canopy, which were hundreds of years old.

It was such beautiful scenery, when you walked there, you would easily get lost.

About 2 hours later.

Li Mu took those attendants with him, they were climbing as they asked directions, and they arrived at the gate of the government office at the top of the county after a long while.

Yes, after fierce tussling with himself, Li Mu decided to push the boat with the current and acted as a fraudulent substitute for the Magistrate of Taibai County.

There were three reasons for this.

The first was because he had offended Bloody-moon faction and he would surely be pursed and killed, now he had no power to protect himself; secondly, through the exchange with the attendant Qing Feng, he knew that those without household registration would be slaved by the government in the Western Qin Empire; and the third reason was simple, Li Mu only graduated from junior school on earth without any survival skills, he would be dying of hunger after several days if he was wandering around.

Of course, it was a good thing to be a County Magistrate as he had just traveled here.

There were two guards at the entrance of the county government.

As soon as the three men came to the door, the guards came and cursed. “You three stinky beggars, it’s the county government’s land here, persons not concerned must get out of here, or you will be in trouble…” They were very ferocious as they were speaking.

“Are you blind? How dare you curse our Young Master? He will beat you to death, believe it or not?” The violent and silly girl attendant Ming Yue stood akimbo and cursed back. “You just act like a snob, our Young Master is the new County Magistrate of Taibai, why are you so stupid? Come and welcome our County Magistrate.”

…

Half an hour later.

“Greetings, Magistrate.”

In the hall of the government office.

After verifying the letter of appointment and the official seal, a group of high and low ranking officials as well as military officers looked different and bowed their heads to meet this new County Magistrate.

Li Mu was sitting on the office chair, poker-faced.

Though he was green here, he could find those official members didn’t show much respect or fear for him, however those previous rude soldiers were so scared and now they were kneeling outside, shivering.

“That’s OK, back off for your all persons…”

He didn’t want to care about the attitudes of these people.

He was afraid of being found out.

After all, Li Mu was pretending a literary scholar who has passed the imperial scientific examination, and he must be a knowledgeable master absolutely and know well the official order of the Western Qin Empire. However, Li Mu, as a traveler, knew nothing about most of the general knowledge of officialdom in this world.

“What?”

The group of officers and soldiers were feeling a little stunned.

What happened?

Why did he tell them to be back off now?

Wouldn’t the new County Magistrate know something about the current situation of the county since he had just taken office?

“Sir, it has been one year when there’s no County Magistrate in Taibai County since the previous County Magistrate Mr. Lu has retired one year ago, now there’re a huge amount of documents waiting to be approved…” One middle-aged man, who was a little fat and looked like the ministry councilor bowed and smiled, then he said, “I’ve prepared all the records of the big or small events, files, and official documents as well as cases, now you can review…”

Li Mu waved his hands, interrupted him and asked, “Who are you?”

“I’m Zhou Wu and I’m the County Prime Minister.” The middle-aged man replied as he smiled.

Well, the County Prime Minister, that was the Deputy County Magistrate.

But according to his words, the former County Magistrate had retired? How could it happen?

Li Mu nodded silently and said, “I’m so tired after a long journey, let’s talk about political affairs later… Now back off you all.”

Now that he had decided, he couldn’t talk too much with them.

Or, it would lead him to disasters.

As those officers heard so, they looked up at Li Mu with different facial expressions, some were disappointed, some were happy, some were despising, they saluted again and went out in sequence.

“Well, wait a moment, Mr. Zhou…” Suddenly, Li Mu raised up his hands and pointed at County Magistrate Assistant Zhou Wu.

Zhou Wu was a little surprised and then suddenly changed his face. He turned back and looked at Li Mu.

“Well, I’m just… a little hungry, just go and get someone to get some food to the back office.” Li Mu tried to be natural and said, “There must be wine and meat.”

“OK.” The County Magistrate Assistant didn’t feel afraid anymore, and a flash of hidden disdain appeared in the depth of his eyes, thus he smiled in a strange way. “All right.”

Then those officers went out of the hall of the government office.

Then there was a roar of laughter outside.

And the young attendants Qing Feng and Ming Yue were so shy and covered their faces.

Obviously, just now, the Young Master’s performance in the office had become a joke among his colleagues. It would soon spread in the upper circle of Taibai County. This was really an embarrassment before he made many changes in the office.

Li Mu crossed his knees on the chair and didn’t seem to care about it at all, he even giggled.

He was doing this only for survival to be the County Magistrate, and he didn’t care about the so-called rights.

After all, he was an alien.

He was coming here to practice the martial arts on this planet, and what happened previously had all proved that the old faker was true, the Xiantian Skill and Zhenwu Boxing probably contained the power of the immortals, and he might also get it on this planet.

As long as he obtained the two kinds of magic martial arts—No, even if he was just in the elementary stage of it, his power could sweep across this low-level martial arts planet, and the Emperors of the three Empires, as well as the leaders of the nine factions, might be trembling at the feet of Li Mu. It meant nothing to him to be a County Official, at that time, money, beauty, high officials, and rich salaries would be within his reach.

“Aha ha ha…”

Li Mu, who was imagining about the bright future, couldn’t help laughing wildly in the official chair.

Qing Feng and Ming Yue were speechless there.

What a loser, how could Young Master be happy like that?

…

About half an hour later, a table of delicious food was sent by the Prime Minister of Mr. Zhou. As expected, there was really wine and meat, which were delicacies from land and river.

Li Mu and those two young attendants couldn’t help controlling themselves, they were just eating directly in the government office so happily and were even full like starving ghosts, which made those servants’ eyes pop.

After dinner, Ma Junwu, who was in charge of the county government defense, came to see him and said that he wanted to inquire about the county government’s defense arrangement.

The division of labor in the administrative units at the county level in the Western Qin Empire was very simple and clear. There were three vice-county bureaucrats below the county magistrate, which were the county head in charge of county administration, the deputy governor in charge of taxes on money and grain, and the envoy in charge of military equipment.

The envoy was equivalent to the director of public security on earth.

There were three major parts below the envoy, which were the head of the county government defense, the head of the guard responsible for hunting and pursuing murderers, and the head of the Civil Guard in charge of the militia, which corresponded to those of the internal guard of the armed police, the criminal police and the militia on the earth roughly.

Ma Wujun, the head of the county government defense who was responsible for the arrangement of the defense of the county government, had to get approval from the county magistrate as usual.

“No.”

Li Mu refused to see him without hesitation, and told Qing Feng to deal with him.

He himself hid in the back office quickly.

…

Chapter3 Act as a Fraudulent Substitute for the County Magistrate

“Yes.” The little girl nodded and said, “My mother told me to give it to you.” As she said so, she pointed aside.

And there was a young couple next to her.

The man was in his early thirties, he looked big. He wore bearded and his face looked rugged. He was carrying a pole, three-stranded hunting fork, and several newly stripped animal skins on his back. He dressed like a hunter. The woman was younger and looked around 23-year-old with fair skin and beautiful look. She was there holding a baby who had not yet weaned, although she was wearing a simple dress and looked poor, it was still hard to hide her elegant temperament. When you saw her at first sight, you would find her radiant, which was not like a poor person, but a great lady.

There were two bamboo baskets at her feet.

There were golden apricots in the bamboo basket, emitting a clear and fruity aroma. They must be wild fruits picked from the mountains, and then would be taken to the market for sale.

As they saw Li Mu, they smiled kindly.

“Thanks a lot.” Li Mu cupped his hands in front of his chest to show appreciation, and then took the apricots from the little girl’s hands. He touched her head, smiled and said, “Thank you, little girl, can you tell me your name?”

“I’m Ya Ya.”

The little girl smiled happily and jumped back to her parents.

The people from the alien planet were really so kind and simple.

Li Mu sighed with emotion and tears.

The two apricots left Li Mu a good feeling towards this alien planet.

Those two golden apricots were big and sweet and satisfied his hunger. He ate one of them and the two attendants shared the other.

The line of the people to the city was advancing in sequence.

And not soon, the young couple and Ya Ya arrived at the gate of the city.

Obviously, those soldiers and guards who were interrogating and examining the passers-by were so sophisticated, they were wearing loose clothes with greedy face and asking for things brazenly, those who were entering the city would all be exploited, and they just took advantage of every opportunity to benefit them.

Those guards took the two hides and half one box of apricots from the young couple, however, they choked with silent fury and took their children to the city.

And those guards finally came to Li Mu and his two attendants.

The little attendant Qing Feng just went up and wanted to show his identity while the guard leader covered his nose, looked up and down at those three people and said, “Damn, why are you here, beggars? It’s so dirty and smelly, come on, get out of here now… Don’t make any mistake in the city, or you’ll be in trouble…” Then he ordered other people to get them to the city.

As Li Mu entered the city, he turned to look back at the city gate repeatedly three times at every step, and he was able neither to cry nor to laugh.

Though he had successfully entered the county, he was not feeling so comfortable since he was looked upon like that.

What’s more, it was just a glimpse of the whole and one could find that the government official didn’t have good performance in the Western Qin Empire.

Tai Bai County was a mountain city.

And you could only feel its charm of this ancient city when you entered.

The main roads were paved with bluestone, which was the specialty of Taibai Mountain. It was smooth and flat, which was comparable to an asphalted road on earth. Most of the other roads contained steps or curved roads, they were winding and shuttling between mountains and rivers just like landscape gardens. Several rivers flowed around the ancient city from high to low, forming several waterfalls in the city, but the falls were not big and they were crystal clear.

There were ancient trees in the city, such as canopy, which were hundreds of years old.

It was such beautiful scenery, when you walked there, you would easily get lost.

About 2 hours later.

Li Mu took those attendants with him, they were climbing as they asked directions, and they arrived at the gate of the government office at the top of the county after a long while.

Yes, after fierce tussling with himself, Li Mu decided to push the boat with the current and acted as a fraudulent substitute for the Magistrate of Taibai County.

There were three reasons for this.

The first was because he had offended Bloody-moon faction and he would surely be pursed and killed, now he had no power to protect himself; secondly, through the exchange with the attendant Qing Feng, he knew that those without household registration would be slaved by the government in the Western Qin Empire; and the third reason was simple, Li Mu only graduated from junior school on earth without any survival skills, he would be dying of hunger after several days if he was wandering around.

Of course, it was a good thing to be a County Magistrate as he had just traveled here.

There were two guards at the entrance of the county government.

As soon as the three men came to the door, the guards came and cursed. “You three stinky beggars, it’s the county government’s land here, persons not concerned must get out of here, or you will be in trouble…” They were very ferocious as they were speaking.

“Are you blind? How dare you curse our Young Master? He will beat you to death, believe it or not?” The violent and silly girl attendant Ming Yue stood akimbo and cursed back. “You just act like a snob, our Young Master is the new County Magistrate of Taibai, why are you so stupid? Come and welcome our County Magistrate.”

…

Half an hour later.

“Greetings, Magistrate.”

In the hall of the government office.

After verifying the letter of appointment and the official seal, a group of high and low ranking officials as well as military officers looked different and bowed their heads to meet this new County Magistrate.

Li Mu was sitting on the office chair, poker-faced.

Though he was green here, he could find those official members didn’t show much respect or fear for him, however those previous rude soldiers were so scared and now they were kneeling outside, shivering.

“That’s OK, back off for your all persons…”

He didn’t want to care about the attitudes of these people.

He was afraid of being found out.

After all, Li Mu was pretending a literary scholar who has passed the imperial scientific examination, and he must be a knowledgeable master absolutely and know well the official order of the Western Qin Empire. However, Li Mu, as a traveler, knew nothing about most of the general knowledge of officialdom in this world.

“What?”

The group of officers and soldiers were feeling a little stunned.

What happened?

Why did he tell them to be back off now?

Wouldn’t the new County Magistrate know something about the current situation of the county since he had just taken office?

“Sir, it has been one year when there’s no County Magistrate in Taibai County since the previous County Magistrate Mr. Lu has retired one year ago, now there’re a huge amount of documents waiting to be approved…” One middle-aged man, who was a little fat and looked like the ministry councilor bowed and smiled, then he said, “I’ve prepared all the records of the big or small events, files, and official documents as well as cases, now you can review…”

Li Mu waved his hands, interrupted him and asked, “Who are you?”

“I’m Zhou Wu and I’m the County Prime Minister.” The middle-aged man replied as he smiled.

Well, the County Prime Minister, that was the Deputy County Magistrate.

But according to his words, the former County Magistrate had retired? How could it happen?

Li Mu nodded silently and said, “I’m so tired after a long journey, let’s talk about political affairs later… Now back off you all.”

Now that he had decided, he couldn’t talk too much with them.

Or, it would lead him to disasters.

As those officers heard so, they looked up at Li Mu with different facial expressions, some were disappointed, some were happy, some were despising, they saluted again and went out in sequence.

“Well, wait a moment, Mr. Zhou…” Suddenly, Li Mu raised up his hands and pointed at County Magistrate Assistant Zhou Wu.

Zhou Wu was a little surprised and then suddenly changed his face. He turned back and looked at Li Mu.

“Well, I’m just… a little hungry, just go and get someone to get some food to the back office.” Li Mu tried to be natural and said, “There must be wine and meat.”

“OK.” The County Magistrate Assistant didn’t feel afraid anymore, and a flash of hidden disdain appeared in the depth of his eyes, thus he smiled in a strange way. “All right.”

Then those officers went out of the hall of the government office.

Then there was a roar of laughter outside.

And the young attendants Qing Feng and Ming Yue were so shy and covered their faces.

Obviously, just now, the Young Master’s performance in the office had become a joke among his colleagues. It would soon spread in the upper circle of Taibai County. This was really an embarrassment before he made many changes in the office.

Li Mu crossed his knees on the chair and didn’t seem to care about it at all, he even giggled.

He was doing this only for survival to be the County Magistrate, and he didn’t care about the so-called rights.

After all, he was an alien.

He was coming here to practice the martial arts on this planet, and what happened previously had all proved that the old faker was true, the Xiantian Skill and Zhenwu Boxing probably contained the power of the immortals, and he might also get it on this planet.

As long as he obtained the two kinds of magic martial arts—No, even if he was just in the elementary stage of it, his power could sweep across this low-level martial arts planet, and the Emperors of the three Empires, as well as the leaders of the nine factions, might be trembling at the feet of Li Mu. It meant nothing to him to be a County Official, at that time, money, beauty, high officials, and rich salaries would be within his reach.

“Aha ha ha…”

Li Mu, who was imagining about the bright future, couldn’t help laughing wildly in the official chair.

Qing Feng and Ming Yue were speechless there.

What a loser, how could Young Master be happy like that?

…

About half an hour later, a table of delicious food was sent by the Prime Minister of Mr. Zhou. As expected, there was really wine and meat, which were delicacies from land and river.

Li Mu and those two young attendants couldn’t help controlling themselves, they were just eating directly in the government office so happily and were even full like starving ghosts, which made those servants’ eyes pop.

After dinner, Ma Junwu, who was in charge of the county government defense, came to see him and said that he wanted to inquire about the county government’s defense arrangement.

The division of labor in the administrative units at the county level in the Western Qin Empire was very simple and clear. There were three vice-county bureaucrats below the county magistrate, which were the county head in charge of county administration, the deputy governor in charge of taxes on money and grain, and the envoy in charge of military equipment.

The envoy was equivalent to the director of public security on earth.

There were three major parts below the envoy, which were the head of the county government defense, the head of the guard responsible for hunting and pursuing murderers, and the head of the Civil Guard in charge of the militia, which corresponded to those of the internal guard of the armed police, the criminal police and the militia on the earth roughly.

Ma Wujun, the head of the county government defense who was responsible for the arrangement of the defense of the county government, had to get approval from the county magistrate as usual.

“No.”

Li Mu refused to see him without hesitation, and told Qing Feng to deal with him.

He himself hid in the back office quickly.

…