Chapter 200: Chapter 200: Sugar-Coated Shells
A desk with a case, two cups of Spiritual Tea, Wang Chen and Yu Feihong sat facing each other in conversation.
This story, when told, is rather lengthy.
The events that transpired today in this desolate temple in the mountains have a direct relationship with the current state and fortune of Great Qian.
During the sixty years of the former emperor’s reign, he consistently favored the literary over the military, bestowing great privilege upon scholars.
To look after these scholars, as long as one had scholarly honors, he would enjoy tax incentives on land and trade taxes.
Scholars, Juren, tribute students, Jinshi— the higher the accolade, the greater the incentive!
This was originally a good policy, since many scholars came from impoverished families, studying hard by cold windows with hunger that reading could not sate, lacking other means to make a living, how could they compete with the progeny of the wealthy and noble?
Many talented individuals were thus buried in obscurity!
Such preferential treatment could undoubtedly help those capable scholars.
However, over the decades, the gentry class rapidly inflated.
A large number of merchants and farmers, to pay less in taxes, registered their shops and farmland under the names of scholars.
Moreover, a great number of hidden households, hidden fields, and secret assets appeared!
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As a result, Great Qian’s annual revenue greatly diminished.
During the reign of the Supreme Emperor, Great Qian’s annual income was always more than 55 million taels of silver.
By the time the former emperor passed away,
this figure dramatically dropped to around 30 million taels.
A near halving of the income!
And Great Qian constantly faced threats from the great Western Xia in the northwest; just last year’s border expenses totaled up to eight million taels.
The state treasury was in a yearly deficit, relying solely on centuries of accumulation to endure.
After coming to the throne, the new emperor worked diligently to improve governance, deciding to turn his blade upon the gentry class.
For this reason, he established the Investigative Bureau.
The task of the Investigative Bureau was to scrutinize those hidden households, fields, and assets, to increase the income from land and trade taxes,
to compensate for the shortfall in the national treasury!
After its establishment, the Investigative Bureau set its first investigatory target on Jin State.
Jin State was prosperous in trade and commerce, and the land was wealthy.
If a breakthrough could be made here, half of the emperor’s goals would be achieved!
However, unexpectedly, of the three detachments the Investigative Bureau sent to Jin State, two were ambushed on their way, suffering heavy loss of life and devastating defeats.
The other detachment, upon arriving in Jin State, was besieged by local scholars, sparking fierce conflict.
The capital was instantly shaken!
Enraged, the Emperor of Great Qian ordered the Imperial Guard Bureau to thoroughly investigate the case.
Yu Feihong, on imperial orders, headed south and soon uncovered part of the truth.
The Zhang Clan of Jin State, deeply implicated in the Investigative Bureau massacre, was the first to be exterminated by the Imperial Guard.
“From the Zhang Family’s possessions, we seized gold and silver, land and shops, totalling 3.74 million taels of silver!”
Yu Feihong said, “And Great Qian’s annual income last year scarcely exceeded 29 million taels.”
Wang Chen was somewhat speechless.
The wealth of one family in one state actually exceeded more than a tenth of the entire nation’s fiscal income!
No wonder the current Emperor of Great Qian readily wielded the butcher’s knife.
Without slaughtering a few pigs, this year simply can’t go on!
Yet the Zhang Clan of Jin State was no easy target, having produced over a dozen Jinshi and hundreds of Juren in the last few centuries, deeply rooted with extensive connections—how could they possibly submit without a fight!
While the Imperial Guard was escorting the Zhang family members to the capital, they were heavily attacked by an unknown force.
After a fierce battle, the Imperial Guard suffered hundreds of casualties.
Though dozens from the Zhang family also perished, the rest were all rescued.
This undoubtedly struck a severe blow to the face of the Imperial Guard and Yu Feihong.
As the Commander of the Imperial Guard, how could Yu Feihong let this go? On one hand, he issued a sea warrant and a reward for the arrest of the remaining Zhang family members, and on the other hand, he personally led a team to pursue and kill the bandits who rescued the prisoners.
The heroic figure from Linjiang who was shot dead earlier by the Firearm Machine Crossbow, Xiao Wentian, was one such target!
As for the master and servant who were just taken away, Yuchi Zhong was a retainer of the Zhang family, and the young man in brocade was the direct grandson of the main line.
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They had clearly fled here to meet up with Xiao Wentian, only to find that the Imperial Guard Bureau had tracked them down.
A clean sweep!
“The current state of Jin State is now like a boiling pot.”
Yu Feihong took a sip of Spiritual Tea, his lips curling into a cold sneer, “A bunch of scholars are impassioned, submitting petitions written in blood, demanding the Emperor to chop off my head.”
“Heh.”
“The pressure on the Emperor is enormous right now.”
The Zhang Family isn’t really much, at most a local powerhouse.
However, the Zhang Family has close ties with the White Deer Academy and is one of the important members of the Deer Faction.
The Deer Faction has tremendous influence in the court and government, with at least one-third of the officials hailing from the White Deer Academy. For the current Emperor of Great Qian to bypass the Cabinet to establish the Investigative Bureau undoubtedly touched greatly upon the interests of the Deer Faction.
The open and covert struggles and clashes of blades behind all this cannot be summarized in just a few words!
“Immortal Master Wang…”
Yu Feihong spoke earnestly to Wang Chen, “As far as I know, the White Deer Academy has always been hostile towards the Cloud Sun Immortal Gates, believing that the Guarding Heavenly Master Mansion should be disbanded.”
“And Ruan Zhaoming, the Prefect of Nanshao, is a member of the Deer Faction. The position of Guarding Heavenly Master of Nanshao has been vacant for three years now, and I fear the people within the Heavenly Master Mansion may have developed second thoughts. You must be on guard!”
Wang Chen nodded, “I understand.”
Yu Feihong’s words are credible.
But not entirely so.
As for the idea that the people in the Heavenly Master Mansion have other intentions.
He was completely unconcerned.
Wang Chen had ventured into the mortal realm this time mainly to avoid the upheaval within the Cloud Sun sect.
He only wished to live safely and quietly for a while.
Whoever made trouble for him would surely be made to deeply regret it by Wang Chen!
Seeing Wang Chen remain indifferent,
Yu Feihong secretly sighed.
Cultivators from the Immortal Gates are aloof, free from worldly concerns, and thus significantly unaware of the treacherous human heart.
Immortal Masters are undoubtedly powerful, but not invincible.
To his knowledge, there had been Innate Martial Artists who had successfully assassinated Cultivators before!
And the mortal world is regarded as the Spiritless Land by Cultivators, a place most Cultivators disdain and are unwilling to reside in.
If Wang Chen were to die in Nanshao, the Cloud Sun sect would indeed be thunderously furious, but it was unlikely they would go to war over it.
But the Imperial Guard Bureau would definitely be in trouble!
After some thought, Yu Feihong turned to the woman standing nearby and said, “Immortal Master Wang, you are traveling to Nanshao alone; life may be somewhat inconvenient for you, so let Wan serve at your side.”
“Wan is a member of our Imperial Guard Bureau and guaranteed to be loyal and reliable.”
“Moreover, she has the martial cultivation level of the Acquired tier’s peak, and won’t become a burden to you.”
“Additionally, Wan is familiar with the situation in Nanshao, and you can rely on her to handle any trifling matters that arise in the future!”
Yu Feihong wheedled with a persuasive tongue, and he really struck a chord with Wang Chen.
At first, he was resistant.
It was free and easy for a person to come and go alone; having someone else tagging along always brought trouble.
But what Yu Feihong said also made sense.
Wang Chen came to Nanshao with a mission to serve as the Guarding Heavenly Master, and once in position, he couldn’t neglect his duties.
Having an assistant would be very convenient.
For some tasks, he could completely delegate them to the other party.
When it was time for him to personally take action to solve problems, just think how much time he would save!
Although Yu Feihong’s suggestion had the suspicion of being a sugar-coated cannonball,
Wang Chen accepted with a smile, “Good!”
———
The first update is here; there were some issues at home today, so the update is late, please forgive me; there will be more later.
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