The Six Arts of the Gentleman in the Bright Moon of Qin Dynasty

Chapter 603 The Origin of Taxation [Subscription*Monthly Ticket Request]

"Even if you want to hold on, you may not be able to!" Guo Kai sighed.

He is a corrupt official, and he has never denied that. But this also means that he has a certain ability to get things done, otherwise why would others give him money?
Therefore, he is very smart, even smarter than many people.

He also felt something was wrong with this rumor, as if there was a big hand manipulating the spread of the rumor behind the scenes.

But he didn't dare to think further, and didn't dare let anyone investigate!

Because he knew that he could not afford to offend the person behind the scenes, even if he was the prime minister of Zhao.

In Zhao State, there are only a few people who have this ability, except the royal family and some powerful people.

Bingzhou’s military control, Qin’s snare, and the Confucians who control the world’s opinions!
Each of these three possesses the means to absolutely assassinate.

Han Fei was right when he said, knights use force to break the law, and Confucian scholars use literature to disrupt the law!

Now is the most real manifestation.

For these forces, it is too easy to assassinate someone.

Under such high pressure, who would dare to investigate?

"There is obviously a big hand behind this. The other party's target is the king. You can't resist it just because you want to!" Guo Kai sighed and shook his head.

Everyone is not stupid. To spread the rumor throughout Handan and even the entire State of Zhao in such a short time, who would believe it if there was no culprit behind it?
But who here isn't a smart person?
I would rather die than have my friend die. Kings come and go, but nobles remain. Who would be willing to take the blame for King Zhao?
If it were during the reign of King Wuling of Zhao, they would stand up without hesitation and take the blame for the King of Zhao, because they knew that the State of Zhao would not perish, and that their deaths would bring blessings out of misfortune, so they would do it.

But this time, they all knew that the Zhao ship was going to sink, and they were unwilling to be buried with Zhao.

This can be seen from the fact that the various princes have not sent any reinforcements so far.

It is only a matter of time before Handan is besieged. The three armies of Qin will soon meet under the city of Handan.

But this time, they no longer had Pingyuan Jun Zhao Sheng, Lian Po, Lin Xiangru and other famous generals and ministers.

Everyone left tacitly and began to use their strengths to find a way out for themselves.

They will transfer all their assets out of Handan before the three Qin armies arrive in Handan.

However, before they could leave Zhao's palace, they were blocked at the palace gate by a group of Confucian scholars.

"Please ask the adults and the king to explain where the military funds go, and ask the prime minister to disclose the details of the use of military funds!" The scholars of Zhao State looked at these top figures of Zhao State angrily.

As scholars, they are qualified to speak for the people and to know how taxes have been used over the years.

In the past, they didn’t dare to ask or investigate because they had no reason.

But this time, they represented the voices of millions of people in the entire Zhao State.

They want to know where the taxes they paid over the years went!

In the era of tribal civilization, the chief was the most powerful person who led the people to hunt, so he was respected as the chief.

In the dynasty era, officials and kings began to appear, and taxes began to be paid.

The reason why people pay taxes is that they hope their leaders and kings can focus on the development of the tribe and think about the future. If the leaders and kings cannot make their lives better and protect them, then there is no point in paying the taxes.

In other words, they will return to the tribal era and pay taxes to those who can protect them and lead them to become stronger and richer.

The leading Confucian scholar explained the significance of taxation to the onlookers, and also explained the meaning of taxation to these important figures.

Many of the lowest-level people don’t know why they have to pay taxes. They just know that their ancestors have been paying it, and they are used to it.

It was not until this time that a scholar explained it to them and they realized that the taxes they paid were to allow the court to protect them.

"Please give the people an account and an explanation. They have the right to know where the taxes they pay are used!" the leading Confucian scholar continued.

Guo Kai and others looked extremely ugly.

"So they were waiting for us here!" Guo Kai finally confirmed that the person behind the scenes wanted King Zhao to die.

Spreading rumors was just the first step for the other party, all for the purpose of making Zhao disclose the details of tax revenue and expenditure.

Who dares to make these public?
Just like what the Prime Minister said just now, once it is made public, King Zhao will be condemned by thousands of people!
But what made Guo Kai feel even more chilled was that he had just learned the details of this matter from the Prime Minister. How did the other party know about it?

Therefore, the other party has spies around King Zhao and secret agents in the Prime Minister's Office.

And this person, or this group of people, probably have a high status in the palace or the Prime Minister's Office, otherwise they would not have known so many details.

Sure enough, before Guo Kai and others could answer, the leading Confucian scholar made public a list of King Zhao's food expenses for three meals a day, and it was also King Zhao Qian's food menu for today.

Everyone looked at the Prime Minister. The Prime Minister's Office arranged the King of Zhao's diet and daily life. It was only noon now, but the other party could already get the King of Zhao's detailed menu for the day, including dinner.

Zong Zai's face also looked extremely ugly. The other party was threatening him.

The fact that they could get King Zhao's diet menu also meant that they had the opportunity to poison King Zhao at any time. If they could poison King Zhao, what about himself?
Watching the Confucian scholar talking cheerfully and the changes in facial expressions of important figures such as the Prime Minister, the onlookers all knew that what the Confucian scholar who pleaded for them said was true.

It's a pity that they actually believed that the King of Zhao called on the entire Zhao State to be frugal and live frugally in order to pay war indemnity to Bingzhou.

Some people also told them that King Zhao had started to eat vegetarian food, but looking at the menu in the Confucian scholar's hand, it was vegetarian indeed, but the oil used for stir-frying vegetables was fish oil extracted from deep-sea fish, and the porridge they drank was made from shark fins cut from sharks. It took the fins of more than a dozen sharks to cook one bowl of porridge.

"Swoosh~" With a sharp sound, an arrow shot straight towards the Confucian scholar who was standing among the people and making an impassioned speech.

For a moment the crowd was in chaos.

"Who told you to shoot the arrows!" Guo Kai and others' faces changed drastically.

Shooting an arrow at this time is equivalent to confirming what the other party said.

If there was no arrow, they could deny what the other party said, and then quietly kill the other party later to put an end to the matter.

But killing someone with a hidden arrow in front of the people of the city is equivalent to proving that what the other party said is true!

"Protect the sir!" The bloodiness of the Zhao people is not fake.

Even though they subconsciously dodged the hidden arrow at first, when they came to their senses, all the people spontaneously surrounded the scholar who was shot by an arrow, guarded him in the crowd, and used their flesh and blood to build a human wall against the other side.

(End of this chapter)