Cursed Mountains and Seas

Chapter 145 Supreme Economic Power: An Opportunity for Legal Integration!
[Anchoring a major historical event: Jiang Chong framed Crown Prince Liu Ju with witchcraft.]

When Emperor Wu fell ill in his later years, Jiang Chong instructed the Hu (non-Han) shaman Tan He to deceive the emperor, saying, "There is a great evil spirit in the palace. If it is not removed, the emperor's illness will never be cured."

Emperor Wu believed in it.

Jiang Chong, who had a grudge against Crown Prince Liu Ju, took the opportunity to frame the prince and led his men to dig up a wooden doll that he had buried in the prince's palace.

Liu Ju was speechless with fear and terrified. He then sent troops to kill Jiang Chong, but was falsely accused by Jiang Chong's henchmen of rebelling.

The emperor's and the crown prince's armies fought a fierce battle in Chang'an for five days, resulting in the deaths of tens of thousands of people.

Ultimately, Crown Prince Liu Ju was defeated and fled, whereupon he hanged himself. Empress Wei Zifu, who married into the "Twin Jewels of the Empire" with the most lavish dowry in history, also committed suicide. The Wei clan, the maternal relatives, never recovered, an event known in history as the "Witchcraft Persecution."

How to use:

If a wooden doll is buried in the palace of a prince or crown prince, the prince will be cursed to death by the resentment of the doll, which is tainted by witchcraft.

The stronger the target, the longer you can persist.

If a skilled carpenter performs the ritual, the time it takes for a target of lower rank to die can be shortened to three days, for a target of middle rank to seven days, and for a target of upper rank to at least one month.

Wang Cheng suddenly realized:

"When one plan fails, Mao Haifeng comes up with another."

Having failed to use his senior sister to kill me, he turned around and cooperated with the Qingliu gentry to have 'Wang Fugui' bury the talisman that killed Liu Ju in the Litang Palace.

While cursing Wang Cheng to death, they also captured Wang Fugui to make him a scapegoat, implicated the delegation, and fundamentally solved the problem of the court reopening the sea ban.

That's a good plan to kill two birds with one stone. If your plan hadn't been so perfect that it caused problems in the transportation process, I might have actually fallen victim to it.

This treasure is mine now!

The wooden puppet shimmered with spiritual light, resonating with the two magical talismans within Wang Cheng's body, as if it had always been his possession.

Perhaps to others, the greatest value of this talisman lies in its ability to kill the crown prince through witchcraft.

But this was not the case for Wang Cheng.

In his eyes, the greatest value of the Tongmu people was actually their creator, Jiang Chong, the Water Balance Commandant!
Back when Wang Cheng was breaking through to the sixth rank while concurrently serving as [Bai Shui Lang] and [Chao Feng Lang], he had already gained some insights.

These two naturally compatible official positions can be integrated to form a completely new official position.

Unfortunately, even now, the [Four Seas Exorcising Evil Talisman] and the [Golden Toad Suppressing Treasure Talisman] have only been partially integrated before they could no longer be sustained, seemingly due to the lack of some key element.

Wang Cheng consulted Yun Xiao, a dragon maiden from a family with a strong scholarly tradition, who offered her advice:

"Many of the modern three-tiered official positions actually originated from the official positions established by the ancient state."

However, some of these official positions, which may have been very prestigious at the time, disappeared into the annals of history and failed to be passed down because they existed for too short a period of time or were replaced by other official positions during functional reforms.

We must try to sense what that new official position actually is.

Then look for talismans and protective objects strongly associated with the other party, especially items representing official rank and status, such as the Tomb Raider's Seal, the Tomb Raider's Talisman, the Crouching Tiger Waist Token, etc. (Chapter 114).

The stronger the correlation between the talisman used in the inauguration ceremony and the official rank, the better.

Ideally, one should be able to trace back to the source and find the earliest representative figure of a certain ancient profession, whom they can be called the patriarch of the lineage. Only then can the success rate of the talisman and talisman be guaranteed to the greatest extent.

At that time, Wang Cheng had an epiphany: the new position that the "Bai Shui Lang" and "Chao Feng Lang" could eventually merge into was the same one that Jiang Chong had once held, representing the highest economic power of an empire—the Water Balance Commandant!
Wang Cheng's heart pounded with excitement:
"There are two main types of power in the world: political power and economic power."

In Shenzhou, in the Great Zhao Empire, the position of supreme political power undoubtedly belongs to the "Lord of the State," and second only to him is the "Dragon's Heir."

Official positions representing supreme economic power have not yet emerged.

However, anyone familiar with the functions of the Water Balance Commandant will know that once this official position is established, it will inevitably become a strong contender for supreme economic power.

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

The Water Balance Commandant was an official in the Han Dynasty who was in charge of the imperial finances.

In the second year of Emperor Wu of Han's Yuanding era (115 BC), the Water Balance Commandant was established, with officials such as the Bell Official, Copper Analyzer, Forestry Official, and Skills Official under him. He was in charge of the Imperial Gardens and also oversaw tax revenue, the imperial treasury's income and expenditure, and the minting of coins.

He directly controlled the Shuiheng Treasury, one of the three major treasuries of the Han Dynasty, and managed the royal properties, including the Shanglin Garden, as well as the national state-owned industries and commercial taxes.

When the Grand Minister of Agriculture collected 40 billion coins in poll tax and agricultural tax during the Han Dynasty, 25 billion copper coins were directly stored in the Water Balance Treasury!
The Water Balance Commandant was also responsible for issuing currency.

In the fourth year of the Yuanding era, Emperor Wu reformed the currency system and ordered the prohibition of minting coins in prefectures and kingdoms. The copper obtained was transported to the capital, where the three officials under the Water Balance Commandant, namely the Bell Official, the Copper Analyzer, and the Skill Official, were responsible for minting new Wuzhu coins, which circulated throughout the country.

These coins are also known as "Three Officials Coins." They are of high quality, widely circulated, and are one of the Five Emperors Coins originally required for the [Five Emperors Coin Sword].

During the late Western Han Dynasty, 280 billion Wuzhu coins were produced and issued by the Water Balance Commandant. These Wuzhu coins were used until the founding of the Tang Dynasty, making them one of the most successful currencies in the history of Chinese currency. Naturally, the Water Balance Commandant did not rely on a salary for a living; he controlled the largest source of wealth in the Han Dynasty, making it a highly lucrative position that even being an honest official would be difficult.

Even the most corrupt official in the world in later generations would be envious.

In addition, he had eight assistant ministers and twelve lieutenants under his command: responsible for the safekeeping of royal property, minting coins, producing weapons, bronzeware, lacquerware, shipbuilding, transporting tribute, managing public fields, raising wild animals, and controlling floods, etc.

This aligns perfectly with the duties of Bai Shuilang and Chao Fenglang!
Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

Wang Cheng held the ancient wooden figure tightly in his hand, clearly feeling the [Four Seas Exorcising Evil Talisman] and the [Golden Toad Suppressing Treasure Talisman] cheering with joy.

The smile grew even brighter as they seemed poised to continue merging.

"Simply put, the most powerful function of the Water Balance Commandant is 'Director of the Royal Mint,' making him a colleague of Lord Niu across the ocean, no, he has far more power than Lord Niu."

In later times, this would be equivalent to the governor of the central bank, one-third of the minister of finance, and the director of the State Administration of Taxation!
Every move we make can affect a country’s commerce and economy, so why can’t we compete for the highest economic power in China?

Of course, the combat effectiveness of this official position should not be overlooked.

After all, Jiang Chong's record is verifiable; he really did kill the crown prince of the most martial emperor of the Han Dynasty, along with the empress and a large group of Wei clan relatives!

If this were placed in Western countries, its power would be no less than that of their great revolutions! The guillotine!
Two thousand years ago, when commerce was far from developed, even a Water Balance Commandant could possess such power.

If we place it in the present day, when international maritime trade is flourishing and the whole world is connected through shipping and trade, what great power would it have?
That's a real living god of wealth on earth!

What if one day all the kings and emperors of the world were deposed and a system of nominal monarchs was established? Would that be a viable option? Wouldn't they be instantly deified and elevated to a higher rank?

"Fortune has come! My fortune has arrived!"

The world's trends are unstoppable; those who follow them prosper, and those who oppose them perish.

Wang Cheng felt that he, as a "maritime merchant," had inadvertently grasped the pulse of the times, and he was increasingly grateful to the brilliant minds of the Qingliu faction.

Last time, he sold the lantern maker who was vying for the elixir of immortality and gained a lot of "fortune" from the Four Seas Coins, but he has never been able to turn it into wealth as he most desires.

The money he got from Mao Haifeng and Luo Wenlong these past two days, not counting the money, was all earned through his hard work.

Unexpectedly, it ended up happening to this very thing.

It can be said that the [Witchcraft Wooden Man] is the most compatible talisman for Wang Cheng's future, with unlimited potential.

He even suspected that even if the carpenter successfully used this treasure on him, it might not actually be able to curse him, a reserve "Water Balance Captain".

"Unfortunately, Crown Prince Liu Ju was only posthumously honored as Crown Prince Li by his grandson, Emperor Xuan of Han, Liu Bingyi, unlike Emperor Shaozhi of this dynasty, who was required to posthumously honor his father as emperor."

The historical influence of the Tongmu people stopped at the level of the crown prince; they could only be considered treasures of a single province, powerless against the emperor or powerful living spirits.

Wang Cheng then chuckled self-deprecatingly:

"There's no need to be greedy; we have enough for now."

He looked down at Chen the carpenter, who was bound hand and foot on the ground.

Having learned that the wooden puppet could be accelerated by the carpenter, Wang Cheng was no longer in a hurry to kill him.

He crouched down, patted the carpenter on the shoulder, pulled out a large firecracker, and gave him a charming smile:
"Come on, let's make a fair deal."

Would you trade your life for your absolute loyalty, or not?

Now that they had the carpenter's life in their hands, they didn't even need to pay him the life-saving fee of at least tens of thousands of incense money; they could simply buy his remaining life with nothing.

At this point, how could the carpenter dare to utter a single word of dissent?
The chicks nodded repeatedly, pecking at rice.
"Exchange, exchange, this deal is very fair."

The moment the deal was struck, his eyes glazed over, and two coin-shaped pupils appeared deep within his eyes.

When he looked at Wang Cheng again, his eyes were completely filled with "loyalty," absolute loyalty!
Just like when he bought the title of "hereditary centurion," it had fundamentally distorted his perception.

There will never be a situation like that of a regular "Chaofenglang" who guarantees a transaction themselves, only to find that someone still defaults, requiring them to manually punish the oath-breaker.

Subsequently, Chen the carpenter contacted Jiang Wenyuan to report that he had successfully captured Wang Fugui and that the plan was going smoothly.

He then received instructions to immediately bury the wooden figure in the Crown Prince's Litang Palace and to hasten the ritual.

After ending the communication, Wang Cheng repeated Jiang Wenyuan's instructions to the carpenter:

"Yes, immediately bury the wooden effigy in Prince Yi's Qingxiang Palace and hurry up and start the ritual!"

"As ordered!"

(End of this chapter)