Lord Yunzhong in Douluo

Chapter 331 The Empire Has Never Been Sacred

Kanshui City Minfang, the second floor of a small building rented by Fan Yun and his party.

The crescent moon lifts up and hangs high in the sky. The cool night breeze blows into the small building, flickering the candle flames inside the house.

Fan Yun was sitting on a chair by the window, holding a pen in his hand, and recorded today's receipts and withdrawals on the ledger one by one, marking the details clearly.

"crunch~"

There was a sound of the bamboo door, and Zhu Zhuqing, who had packed up the horses, vehicles and remaining goods, came up from the first floor, holding three bowls of fragrant white and tender rice in his hands.

"Teacher, Miss Cat, it's time to eat."

After entering the door, Zhu Zhuqing hooked one foot on the door frame, pulled slightly, closed the bamboo door, and said to everyone in the room.

"Meow~" "Alright, here we come."

Putting the banknotes in his hands away, Fan Yun walked to the round table, picked up the bowls and chopsticks on it, sat down, smelled the fragrance of the rice, and couldn't help but sigh:
"Zhuqing, don't tell me, this Xingluo's rice is more fragrant than Tiandou."

Taking out a piece of jerky from the package, Zhu Zhuqing's fingernails shone with a cold light, and he divided it into three pieces of different sizes with two strokes. The next one is the smallest one.

"Teacher, in fact, what you said is not entirely correct. This is Kanshui City, and there are tens of thousands of acres of rice and perfume fields nearby. It is a famous grain area in the empire. It is rich in production and full of rice grains. In the big cities where princes and nobles live together, ordinary people in the empire cannot eat such good rice."

"And the students remember that there is also a high-quality grain and rice production area in the northeastern part of the Tiandou Empire. In the province of Fore, it is said that the grains are also large and full. Because the growth cycle is too long and the yield is scarce, few people taste it."

Zhu Zhuqing put a mouthful of rice into his mouth, chewed a few mouthfuls carefully.

"Isn't it, 'the best rice in the world', so exaggerated?" Fan Yun's face was a bit suspicious, "I have eaten the rice in Kanshui City in the Pope's Palace before, but the rice in the Fore Province is not the same. I have never eaten it. This is very strange, why can't even His Majesty eat this so-called 'No. [-] rice in the world'?"

"Meow?"

The big cat, whose paw was holding chopsticks in a rather weird posture, also raised its head at this time, and the cat had some doubts on its face.She was also puzzled by the question raised by the two feet. If the rice is really so delicious, why has she never eaten it when she followed the two feet all over the world?

Hearing the teacher's question, Zhu Zhuqing also frowned, apparently not expecting this kind of situation to happen, thought about what he saw and heard in the family when he was young, and replied:
"It is said that the province of Fore is one of the few provinces in the Heaven Dou Empire that is directly controlled by the royal family (unentrusted and self-reliant), and the rice in Fore province is basically used directly for the royal family, and it seems that the royal family was responsible for controlling this matter at the beginning. It is said that there is an old grievance with Wuhundian, so it may not be given, teacher, you also know that Xue Ye's actual control over Tiandou is limited."

For the Zhu family to help the Star Luo Royal Family manage the dark side of the empire, they naturally need to have a good understanding of the future enemies of the empire.

Regarding Tiandou's situation, every child of the Zhu family must be familiar with it by heart, and Zhu Zhuqing, who used to be a princess, will only be asked for more, even though she was still young at the time.

Hearing Zhu Zhuqing's answer, Fan Yun raised his eyebrows and twitched the corner of his mouth, as if he doubted this guess.

However, Fan Yun didn't get too entangled in this matter, and took a few more mouthfuls of food, then thought of some things during this period, and became frowning.

"Zhuqing, don't tell me, the business tax of your Xingluo is too expensive."

Turning around and stretching out his hand to the table by the window sill, Yun Qi emerged and handed the ledger on the table to Fan Yun's hand.

Fan Yun spread out the account book, pushed it in front of his little apprentice, and vomited bitterly:
"Look carefully, although there are a lot of goods that can be sold every day, and the revenue that can be earned is quite considerable, but after deducting the rented stalls for the day and deducting the taxes paid, the income is That’s only two or three tenths of the day’s revenue.”

"Although there are some profits, it still feels a bit worthless... Most of our goods are shipped from Tiandou. Because of our special situation, we can save a lot of freight, and there are many goods from There is no cost to get it from the bandits, so it makes more money."

"And how much can those merchants who sell goods according to the normal process earn? That is to say, those merchants who do not need to travel to local vendors or have a very large volume of goods can earn more. "Small-scale" like us Hong merchants may only be able to meet food and clothing."

"No wonder I feel that the merchants I met in Xingluo along the way are much less than Tiandou..."

"Dong Dong~"

The big cat also stood up from its position at the right time, stretched out a cat paw and tapped on the ledger to express its approval.

And hearing what the teacher said, Zhu Zhuqing was also silent for a while, following the teacher's topic, she thought of many things for a while.

"What's the matter, Zhuqing?"

Immediately after Fan Yun finished complaining, he noticed something was wrong with his disciple, and hurriedly asked with concern.

"It's nothing, teacher, it's just that I thought of something." Faced with his teacher's concern, Zhu Zhuqing just shook his head.

"What's the matter?" Fan Yun put down the bowl and chopsticks and asked, and the big cat beside him also turned his gaze to the little cat next to him.

"Alas..." Zhu Zhuqing sighed, looked out the window at the moonlight pouring into the building, and said slowly:

"Teacher, to tell you the truth, I used to be extremely proud of being born in the Star Luo Empire, because we have the most powerful army, the clearest government, the wisest monarch, and the most stable order."

"But now... After studying with you, Teacher, for these years, I found that the empire is not so perfect..."

Recalling what he had seen and heard along the way, Zhu Zhuqing's expression was a little bit of struggle and pain: "Although I was struggling on the edge of life and death before, I also enjoyed the treatment that most people in the empire could not enjoy, like a nobleman on a high platform, Looking down at everything in the empire, I feel that even though the clan is brutal and bloody, the people under the rule are peaceful and happy.”

"But following your journey back to Xingluo from Tiandou, teacher, I re-examined the empire from a perspective I had never experienced before, and discovered many things that I had never discovered before."

"The clean and honest administration of officials in the empire is at the cost of cruel punishments and strict supervision standards. Everyone in the empire is in danger, for fear that they will be reported to prison by their colleagues or superiors, and even go home after work every night. He will also hug and cry with his wife and children."

"Suspicion and precaution are the background colors for imperial officials to get along with."

"And in order to protect themselves from being punished, the officials ignored the lives and deaths of the people when completing the empire's targets, abandoned all goodness in their hearts, and tried to turn themselves into cold machines to complete all the orders sent by the empire."

"And the empire's unparalleled army..."

When Zhu Zhuqing said this, he closed his eyes, paused for a long time, and then began to say:

"Economic production is the foundation of everything. The empire's economy is not stronger than that of Tiandou next door, and even a little weaker, so why is the army of the empire far stronger than Tiandou? What about the army's food, grass, armor and other expenses? Burden?"

"I didn't understand it when I first studied with you, teacher. Now that I've been in the empire again, I seem to understand..."

"This powerful army of the empire was cultivated at the cost of oppressing the people...Different from the high taxes caused by Tiandou's artificial search for corruption, the harsh taxes of the empire are due to the policy system that is more difficult to adjust..."

"Not only are high taxes levied on commerce, but in towns and villages, after collecting the agricultural tax for the season, the empire leaves farmers with only enough grain for the season, and all the rest has to be handed over for collection, which is very strict. The taxation made the people suffer unspeakably, and they could not bear any disaster."

"The army is the foundation of the empire and cannot be shaken, so in order to meet the huge expenditure of the army, the harsh taxes imposed on the people cannot be changed..."

"In addition to taxes, there are also corvees for young and middle-aged men other than nobles and merchants. Those who saw along the way built official buildings..."

Zhu Zhuqing was at a loss for words for a moment, and every word she uttered between her lips seemed to carry a tremendous force, which made her tone even heavier.

"And the so-called stable order...is only in the towns and villages of the empire...bandits and bandits roam from city to city, killing and robbing the people who come and go, but the officers and soldiers of the empire turn a blind eye to this , as long as the bandits do not spread to towns and villages, they will be left alone when they are small in scale.”

"...Because this can reduce the flow of population and avoid the loss of the empire's labor force, and regular bandit suppression can also return the property looted by the bandits to the treasury..."

"Empires have never been holy... I seem to understand the meaning of this sentence better now, teacher..."

"Under the current situation, no matter whether the empire rises or falls, the people are living a hard life...prosperity...the people are suffering...death...the people are suffering..."

Zhu Zhuqing's voice gradually weakened, but the pain in his eyes gradually increased.

"Zhuqing... you're about to become a teacher..."

……

(End of this chapter)