Taming the Demon: A Guide to Raising a Great Sage

Chapter 56 056, the generous gold master little rich woman

Duke Ying raised pirates?
Shen Lang said in surprise:
"The Duke's Mansion is the founder of the country, with a big tree and deep roots. There are plenty of ways to get money. Is it necessary to do something like raising pirates?"

Mu Qingxue patiently explained:
"Maritime trade is ten times, a hundred times as profitable as agriculture, forestry, animal husbandry and mines. Even though the family of the Duke of Ying has a big business, who would think that there is too much money?
"But nobles have privileges, and ordinary maritime merchants can't compete at all. And hereditary nobles are not as difficult to evade taxes as ordinary maritime merchants. There are plenty of ways for nobles to evade taxes. No matter how much money they earn, they will not pay the court. how much tax.

"Therefore, the imperial court is very stuck in regards to Xungui's maritime trade. Like the government of Yingguo, only two ships are allowed to go to sea every year, and one more is not allowed.

"Seeing that some ordinary merchants can sail several ships every year, and a few large merchants can even sail more than a dozen large ships a year, making a lot of money. How can Duke Ying be willing to watch Others make a fortune?
"So the Duke's Mansion secretly supported a group of pirates, who wandered and plundered on the sea route from Yingzhou to Nanyang, and they did so viciously, not only robbing ships, but also killing people.

"Yingzhou's maritime merchants are unbearably disturbed, so they can only offer a large amount of offerings to the Duke's Mansion every year, praying for the Duke's government to be lenient. In this way, the Duke's Mansion doesn't even have to do maritime trade, and only relies on pirates to collect Tolls can be a lot of money.

"This move undoubtedly seriously interfered with the normal order of maritime trade, causing a large loss of taxes that belonged to the imperial court. As early as the beginning of this year, some maritime merchants risked their lives to secretly report this matter to the imperial court, which aroused the attention of the imperial court.

"It's a pity that the base of the pirates is far away in the Thousand Star Islands in the South Seas. Among the Yingzhou Navy and even the Nanyang Navy, there are also hidden eyes of the Duke's Mansion. Four months ago, the imperial court dispatched a navy to wipe out the pirates, but the pirates closed them in advance. Hearing the wind, they scattered into the Thousand Star Islands to hide, resulting in the failure of the encirclement and suppression, and only captured some insignificant scattered peripheral areas.

"In addition, Duke Ying also has connections in the capital and the imperial court, secretly obstructing the imperial court's investigation, and the emperor's attitude towards this matter is also...unexplainable. As a result, the imperial court has been unable to catch the ironclad evidence that the Duke's mansion colluded with the pirates."

The emperor's attitude is indescribable?

From what she said, it seems that the opinions of the emperor and the court are not unified?

But it seems normal to think about it.

Throughout the dynasties, there seems to have been a struggle for power between the emperor and the court bureaucrats.

After all, the one who can completely control the court is either the founder of the country who was killed by the world. If the court dares to be disobedient, it can clean it at will.Either the master of ZTE, who is trying to turn the tide, also has enough prestige to suppress the court.

It is difficult for ordinary emperors to fully control the government, and there are even many emperors who have been emptied by the court.

In terms of economic interests, things like the emperor wanting to spend money from the treasury, and the imperial court wanting to spend money from the emperor's small treasury are also emerging in endlessly.

As for who is in power, the emperor or the court, is more beneficial to the country...

Anyway, Shen Lang felt that, apart from emperors like the founder of the country and the lord of Zhongxing, other emperors who relied solely on the advantages of reincarnation and grew up in the deep palace, who were completely ungrounded, were either mediocre or unreliable. It is difficult to find a wise master.

It's okay for the emperor to be mediocre, but it would be a disaster for the country and the people to have a very unreliable one.

I don't know if the current Great Chu Emperor is mediocre and incompetent, or if he is not special.

In short, Duke Ying is poaching the corner of the country, but his attitude is still ambiguous, and he can't say anything.

While thinking about it, Mu Qingxue picked up the teacup, took a sip of tea, and continued:
"This time I received news that the group of pirates secretly controlled by Duke Ying's government is spreading hero posts, and they are planning to meet up with two other powerful pirates in the Thousand Star Islands to hold a so-called 'hero conference' , Form a pirate alliance and make a fortune together.

"This move can be seen as the expansion of the ambition of the Duke of Ying, who wants to annex the two gangs of big pirates and monopolize the shipping lanes from Yingzhou to Nanyang.

"Not only the two big pirates were invited to join the alliance, but some single-gang pirates who were also merchants and bandits also received the so-called 'hero stickers'. What I want you to do for me is to mix into a single gang Pirates, join this gang of pirates and help me locate the pirate base!
"Actually, I should have personally dealt with this matter. But Yingzhou Mansion has too many eyes staring at me. Once I disappear for no reason, even if I don't show up for a day, it will arouse the vigilance of many parties. It is too late to transfer people from other places, so, I can only send you on this mission."

Mu Qingxue didn't know that Duke Ying had actually made a mistake, and knew that she wanted to investigate the Duke's mansion, so he was sorting things out.

If it hadn't been for the preparation of this pirate alliance for a long time, the relationship was too big, the arrow had to be launched, and it was held far away in the Thousand Star Islands in the South Seas, even Duke Ying wanted to cancel this alliance.

But fortunately, Duke Ying didn't completely shrink all his minions and cut off all external connections, so Mu Qingxue got the chance.

Shen Lang listened to Mu Qingxue's explanation of the details, pondered for a while, and said slowly:

"Thanks to Master Mu's trust and entrusting him with a heavy responsibility, I shouldn't have flinched, but with my strength...

"Among a group of thieves, if someone exposes your identity, it may be too late to protect yourself, so how can you fulfill the entrustment of your lord?

"I'm not afraid of death, I'm just worried that I'll disappoint my lord's trust and ruin a big event."

What he said was really not a nice word.

He really wanted to help Mu Qingxue with this...

Although the assassination of Zhao Mengshan was neatly organized, successfully misleading the investigators, and pushing the matter to the head of the Blood Shadow Sect, but since the Duke of Yingguo may have colluded with the Blood Shadow Sect, Zhao Mengshan's sister, Mrs. Zhao, must know The murderer is not the killer of the Blood Shadow Cult.

Furthermore, it is impossible to find out that Shen Lang did this by conventional means, but in this world, there are various extraordinary abilities such as Taoism and witchcraft that are beyond the norm.

For Shen Lang, this was always a hidden danger.

Now that Mu Qingxue is going to investigate the Duke's mansion, for Shen Lang, it is undoubtedly a good time to solve hidden dangers.Once the government of Yingguo collapsed and Zhao Mengshan was assassinated, who would care?

But just like what he said, with his current strength, once his identity is exposed, not only might he not be able to complete the task entrusted by Mu Qingxue, but he himself might disappear immediately.

"Don't worry, since I have sent you to carry out this dangerous mission, I will not let you die in vain."

As Mu Qingxue said, she took out a small pendant.

Woven with white silk threads, this pendant has an unassuming, unremarkable appearance:

"This is the 'Silk Shield'. When you encounter a blow that can cause serious injury or death, it will instantly release densely packed translucent silk threads, wrapping you in a cocoon, protecting you from head to toe. A martial artist with a great atmosphere can attack three times with full power, or a fifth-grade Taoist monk can attack with three spells.

"Among the pirates in the South Seas, even if there are many strange people and strangers, there are also criminals who have committed serious crimes in various countries, fled overseas, and joined pirates, but there will never be warriors beyond the fourth rank, and there will never be any warriors above the sixth rank. Sorcerer."

When it was over, he introduced to Shen Lang some information about warriors above the third rank and Taoist monks:
The realm of "upper third rank" is known as the "triple ladder". Breaking through from the fourth rank to the third rank is to climb the first ladder.

Because of this, warriors of the fourth-rank True Qi Realm are fairly common in Jianghu.However, the number of third-rank warriors decreased sharply.Even with the population base of Dachu as high as [-] million, there are only a few hundred third-rank warriors.

With the preciousness of a third-rank martial artist, it is impossible to be reduced to such a worthless pirate.

Even if he committed an unforgivable crime in Chu, he could go to sea and find a small overseas country to dominate and dominate, or defect to a large overseas country, or even the barbarians in Mobei, and be a distinguished guest for high officials.

Not to mention Taoism monks.

Martial arts can be practiced with hands, but there is a huge threshold for entry into Taoism.

Basically, for every thousand people, there can barely be one person with Taoism qualifications.

Moreover, most of the one-in-a-thousand Taoist qualifications are mediocre, and it is the limit to be able to barely reach the eighth or seventh rank.

As for the Taoist monks above the sixth rank, they can make a lot of money by refining some pills and potions and making some magic tools and talismans. It is extremely difficult for wealthy businessmen and officials to recruit Taoist monks above the sixth rank.

Even the hundred-year-old nobles in Yingguo Duke's Mansion have only one fifth-rank Taoist monk, and two sixth-rank Taoist monks, who were cultivated by themselves from childhood.

With such a noble status as a Taoist monk, why bother to degenerate and join pirates?
The same is true for wizards on the western side.

Any little wizard below the third level can be the guest of honor of the middle and small nobles.A powerful wizard above the fourth rank can easily get the respect of the great nobles.

Of course, this is not to say that there are no pirates who know how to spell.

However, most of the people who fell into the rank of pirates were just coincidences. They had mastered a few hands of disorganized Taoism, witchcraft, wild cultivators, or talented people with low abilities. Their strength was limited, so there was nothing to worry about.

After talking to Shen Lang, Mu Qingxue handed him the "Putting Machine Shield", retracted her hand into the cloak, and took out a pair of almost translucent light soft armor:
"This is the golden silkworm soft armor, which is woven with the silk thread produced by the golden silkworm Gu. It is as light as a feather, and it is not afraid of swords. It can effectively resist the knives and swords of the sixth-rank warriors. It is also effective against the internal force of the fifth-rank warriors." Very strong defense.

"Even military muskets can't penetrate it. The only flaw is the fear of fire. Once it is directly burned by the flame for more than ten breaths, it will be reduced to nothing."

She handed this armor to Shen Lang:

"You can sew this armor into the middle layer of your underwear to hide it from people's eyes."

Shen Lang took over the "Golden Silkworm Soft Armor", feeling very happy in his heart.

He also has a "Shark Silk Armor", because it came from a wrong place, he dare not take it out and wear it for the time being, and only put it in the pen space to eat ashes.But when you go overseas, of course you can wear it.

When a layer of golden silkworm armor, a layer of crocodile silk armor, and the "silk-drawing shield" meet a fifth-rank warrior, he will have the confidence to fight head-on.

What's even better is that although the crocodile soft armor is not as defensive as the golden silkworm soft armor, it has the ability to avoid fire and water.Putting the crocodile silk armor on the outside of the golden silkworm armor, wouldn't even the flaw of the golden silkworm armor that is afraid of fire be avoided?
Seeing Shen Lang accepting the soft armor unceremoniously, the corners of Mu Qingxue's lips twitched slightly, and a faint smile appeared, knowing that he had accepted the task, she immediately asked:

"What else do you need? Just say it."

Shen Langxin said that I will not be polite!

Now said:

"I have a prescription, and I hope Master Mu can help me prepare the medicine according to the prescription and refine a batch of medicinal oil."

"Ten steps, one kill, the supporting medicinal oil for the realm of 'refining muscles and bones'? No problem. What else?"

"Well... I also want a good sword."

[Ask for a ticket~! 】

(End of this chapter)