My clone is on the other side of the starry sky

Chapter 216 The general trend of the world

"How about teaching the world what it is like?" In Lu Xuan's study, everyone sat across from each other. Li Xingzhi spread out a map of the world and looked at Lu Xuandao.

"Now this Dagan is like a furnace that is about to explode. It may explode at any time. What is missing now is someone to touch it, and it will explode on its own." Lu Xuan clicked on the map and said.

"How did you figure this out?" Zhang Yuanrou looked at Lu Xuan in confusion. She usually stayed in the Shenji Hall to study things. When she came out, she would run to see if her research results were accepted by everyone.

"Seven years ago, the population of Yunzhou was about 10 million. Last year, the church members conducted a household registration survey according to the instructions of the leader. Now the population of each county in Yunzhou is 22 million." Yan Danfeng said indifferently.

"Isn't this a good thing?" Zhang Yuanrou was even more puzzled, feeling that what she saw was different from what these people saw.

"After experiencing the Guiyi Sect seven years ago, the total population of Daqian Jiuzhou is about 180 million." Li Xingzhi mentioned that Yunzhou, Huangzhou, and Yanzhou bordered the Kang Kingdom and the Buddha Kingdom, and they fought wars all year round. It has never been considered wealthy, especially Yunzhou. The land suitable for farming is actually Longxing, Qingmen, Yancheng and Qingyu County. The other five counties are scattered with mountains and rivers. In fact, the cultivated land area is not large. The population of Yunzhou has never been They are all at the bottom of Kyushu, but now, in just seven years, the population has more than doubled. This is certainly due to attracting many refugees through caravans, but in these years, who is willing to run away unless they have to? Become a refugee?

"So what?" Zhang Yuanrou was puzzled.

"Information obtained from the Shenfeng Hall shows that the current household registration in Jiuzhou, including the 20 million in Yunzhou, is less than 100 million!" Li Xingzhi sighed.

In seven years, the population of Yunzhou has doubled, while the total population of Dagan has plummeted.

"It's more than that." Yan Danfeng added: "According to the court's new policy, the commercial tax has increased by 10% compared with last year. Correspondingly, the agricultural tax has been eased, and now it is about three taxes and one tax."

"I remember that before the commercial tax, it was 10% tax and 40% tax. Now if we add 10%, wouldn't it be 20% tax and 1% tax? It's more harsh than here!" Yang Ao frowned.

"It's different." Yan Danfeng shook his head: "The leader is targeting wealthy businessmen like the Pei family and the Cui family. In Yunzhou, wealthy businessmen avoid taxes and kill their families without mercy. But in other states and counties, this tax law targets They are shops along the street, small businessmen, but they are local wealthy merchants. They have too much influence. Even if the court wants to collect taxes from them, local officials have close relations with these wealthy merchant families and will usually protect them, so they cannot collect them."

"Running businessmen are almost extinct now. Unless they are wealthy businessmen with strong backgrounds, even these wealthy businessmen are only doing business on their own territory." Li Xingzhi nodded.

"But what does this have to do with the general trend of the world?" Zhang Yuanrou was confused.

"Although business has no status, it is a manifestation of the prosperity of the world. If the world is prosperous, there will be an endless stream of commerce. Often, the more prosperous a place is, the more prosperous the business will be, and vice versa. It is the same in a dynasty. If commerce dries up, It is often a sign that a court is about to collapse." Lu Xuan smiled and said: "Wealth is concentrated in the hands of a few people and cannot be spent. Ordinary people have no wealth and can only cut back on clothing and diet. It is difficult to collect taxes from them. In the past, Everyone still has land in their hands, but after these seven years, private land has basically been concentrated in the hands of a few people. As a result, the court cannot collect taxes from ordinary people, and large households basically do not pay taxes, so the court has no money to collect. , we can only collect taxes from those traders who have no roots. In this way, the small traders will disappear. If the court wants to maintain its operation, it must find new tax sources."

"Those local big players?" Zhang Yuanrou's eyes lit up, feeling that she had grasped the key.

"This is the most dangerous thing. Back then, the aristocratic family forced Ji Huan to delegate military power to the localities. If the localities wanted to recruit troops, they had to cooperate with these big families. Many local generals came from these big local families. Now they collect taxes from them, and they If you don’t want to hand it over, what do you think we should do?” Lu Xuan said with a smile.

"Then let's fight. Whoever wins will listen." Bao'er said.

"So now it depends on who will blow up the furnace first." Lu Xuan nodded and said with a smile: "The furnace will definitely blow up. The only difference is who will blow up the furnace. This is the so-called general trend."

"Aren't the local big families destined to lose? The imperial army is not comparable to those of the local county soldiers. No matter whether they are experts or ordinary troops, they are incomparable." Zhang Yuanrou frowned.

"That's true on the surface, but many of the court's masters and generals come from big families in these places. You are one of them, and the court wants to send you to wipe out your family. What will you do?" Lu Xuan asked with a smile.

What can be done?

Just work for the imperial court.

Zhang Yuanrou felt a little headache.

"In this case, won't the Guiyi Sect become the next target of the imperial court?" Yan Danfeng narrowed his eyes slightly and said.

The local big families cannot move, so now Yunzhou is the one that can move. Now the entire Yunzhou is under the control of the Guiyi Sect. After seven years of development, the population of Yunzhou has increased dramatically. Population is wealth. Since the local big families cannot move, then looking at the situation Daqian, the one who can take action is Guiyijiao.

"So, we are the ones who set off the furnace?" Zhang Yuanrou's eyes narrowed.

"From the perspective of the imperial court, this is the theory." Li Xingzhi nodded and said, "But it will be different in actual implementation. Now there are five fifth-level masters of the Guiyi Sect. How much will it cost to destroy the Guiyi Sect? The price, who will bear the price? The foundation of the imperial court has been sucked dry by the big families in the past seven years. They must not be able to come up with the money and food. Five fifth-grade masters, this is something that no big family can afford. Yes, and there will be losses, and no one is willing to pay this price.”

"Then we can only wait to die!" Bao'er's words are always to the point.

"But people don't know that we have so many masters." Lu Xuan said with a smile: "So we still have to show it, and we can't show them all. If the threat of exposure is too great, everyone in these big families will be in danger, but If it is too small and not shocking enough, I think three should be the bottom line that the court can accept. It will not dare to act rashly and will not make these big families wary." ˆˆˆ "If the Guiyi Sect had so many fifth grades, Even his adoptive father doesn’t know how to..." Zhang Yuanrou sighed.

Everyone was silent. There were so many masters in the Guiyi Sect at the beginning, which would only attract the joint efforts of the imperial court and the Taoist League to suppress them. After all, the imperial court did not know the role of the Mountain and River Seal at that time, and they still had a cooperative relationship with the Taoist League.

"Now that we have decided on someone, me, second senior brother and Lao Yang will appear frequently. It is difficult to hide them, so the three of me will come forward, while the senior sister and senior brother will be hidden for critical moments." Lu Xuan brought up the topic. Yes, Zhang Yuqing's death was also a regret in his heart, but regrets are inevitable in a person's life, so he still has to look forward.

"But how do people know?" Zhang Yuanrou asked a stupid question.

"They came to fight, and we fought back. This is called morality! Didn't you teach me?" Bao'er looked at Zhang Yunrou in confusion. She remembered Zhang Yunrou said this. She always had a good memory, and Lu Xuan also praised her. she.

"Junior sister, what have you taught Bao'er!?" Yan Danfeng glared at Zhang Yuanrou dissatisfied.

"Did I say that? I forgot, haha, I don't know if my stove has been repaired, I'll go check it out!" Zhang Yuanrou laughed, used an escape technique, and disappeared in front of everyone in an instant.

"Have you ever thought about what to do next, leader?" Li Xingzhi looked at Lu Xuan and smiled.

"Yunzhou has almost developed to this point. It's time to expand the scope of missionary work. I think Yanzhou is good and has a affinity with me. I think the court will meet my request." Lu Xuan placed a wine glass on the map of Yanzhou. From his position, he looked at Li Xingzhi and said, "What do you think, senior brother?"

"Although we are separated by Tengshan Mountain, we are also connected by Qingyu County and Longxing County. The most important thing is that it is connected to Dongzhou. If our teaching range can be extended to Yanzhou, Dongzhou is in sight. Once the world changes, our teaching can Quickly master the land of the three states and watch the world." Li Xingzhi said with a smile.

"With the current manpower in the teaching, it is enough to control Yanzhou, but adding one more state will be stretched thin, and the troops will be scattered. We must be careful to learn from past mistakes and take it step by step!" Lu Xuan stood up and said with a smile: "Arrange manpower to go to Yanzhou to preach. .”

As for the tacit understanding with the imperial court... it is outdated. In the past, the Guiyi Sect was not strong enough and could only retreat. Now that the Guiyi Sect has become stronger, the imperial court has lost the power to restrict it. Naturally, the Guiyi Sect no longer needs to abide by this tacit understanding.

"Yes!" Li Xingzhi nodded, got up and went to make arrangements.

In the past seven years, thanks to the business channels opened by the Zhenyuan Escort Bureau, although the Guiyi Sect has not preached, the story of the Guiyi Sect has long been spread in various states. This is also the basis for the Guiyi Sect's missionary work. Seven years has been enough for people to forget that they returned home. The pain caused by a religion is over.

The pain of the past will never compare to the pain you are experiencing now.

Not only the Guiyi Sect, but wealthy merchants from all over Yunzhou also hope that the Guiyi Sect can expand beyond one state, so that their business scope will be wider. Although the Guiyi Sect has strict control over local wealthy families and will wipe out their families at every turn, But ordinary traders are not included in this list. With Zhang Yuanrou's improved rice seeds being planted on a large scale, Yunzhou does not need so many people to engage in farming now, and the liberated population can be engaged in other industries.

For this reason, not only has the population of Yunzhou grown rapidly in recent years, but the private economy has also been quite active. Perhaps those engaged in business are more eager to expand the scope than the senior leaders of the Guiyi Sect.

As Lu Xuan finalized this strategy, a large number of Guiyi Sect members began to cross Qingyu County and Longxing County and enter Yanzhou to preach. For a time, the wealthy and prominent families in Yanzhou changed their colors, and the news soon spread to the court.

"Oh!"

Xie Yao looked ugly and threw the tea cup in his hand to the ground. Compared with seven years ago, Xie Yao's overall condition had deteriorated a lot, his age was showing, and his eyebrows were a little more angry.

"What does the Guiyi Sect want to do!?" Xie Yao looked at the memorial sent by Yanzhou and snorted coldly.

"It's also a good thing. Thanks to the Guiyi Church's efforts to beat those counties, last year's taxes were never paid." Cui Jinyuan rubbed his temples. Like Xie Yao, his condition was much worse than seven years ago.

"But the Guiyi Sect has grown a bit in recent years." Murong Cheng took a sip of tea, looked at the two of them and said, "It's time to give them a warning."

"Let him take care of Cao Jingzhong's people." Xie Yao snorted coldly.

Murong Cheng nodded. After hesitating for a moment, he looked at the two of them and said, "You two, I want to retire."

(End of this chapter)