Cursed Mountains and Seas

Chapter 206 The world is shaken, the laws and talismans are united! (Two chapters, 7000 votes needed)

Southern Zhili, located in Guishan Academy, a place rich in cultural heritage.

The academy covers an area of ​​more than 20 acres. It was originally built during the Song Dynasty and was abandoned and rebuilt several times. It was built with the donations of a large number of literati and gentry and was very beautiful.

The stone archway, the Pan Pond, the Guishan Study, the Lizhe Hall, the Yiyong Hall, and other structures within the academy are all favorite spots for scholars, poets, and students.

The core of the academy is named Yiyong Hall, and a famous couplet hangs in front of its entrance:

"The sounds of wind, rain, and reading all enter my ears; I am concerned about family affairs, national affairs, and world affairs."

However, the owner here is quite hypocritical, and these two sentences sound particularly ironic.

Gao Ren and Gao Jingzhong changed into Confucian robes and stood guard outside the door with several other young Confucian scholars, silently listening to the various teachers and elders inside engaging in lively discussions.

Xiao Gao summarized that the core principles of these Guishan Publishing House members can be summarized into two points:

"They opposed commercial taxes but heavily relied on agricultural taxes."

They opposed the imperial court's collection of mining and commercial taxes, which competed with the people for profits, and pushed the court to abolish overseas trade taxes and salt taxes, while increasing agricultural taxes in the northwest.

What if the people can't get enough to eat, and the nine border regions are in turmoil? I don't care!

"The tax farming system from the Yunmeng period will be reinstated, and the imperial court will also delegate the power to collect agricultural taxes to them."

Gao Ren has a wide range of knowledge and has even heard of the tax farming system, which disappeared two hundred years ago.

The Yunmeng court contracted out tax collection to local powerful families, allowing them to pay a fixed amount of tax in one lump sum and then collect the tax within their jurisdiction, effectively granting them the right to collect taxes.

The gentry in Jiangnan, through methods such as "deceptive taxation," "flying taxes," falsely reporting land holdings, and concealing taxes, actually paid only about 30% of the taxes stipulated by the imperial court.

The remaining 70% was converted into private wealth through cunning and extortion.

This may be the earliest example of a 30/70 profit split.

Thirty percent belonged to the imperial court, and seventy percent belonged to the local officials.

Paying taxes not only doesn't lose you money, but it can actually make you money, which is unprecedented in history.

In the short history of the Yunmeng Empire, which lasted less than a hundred years, the gentry of Jiangnan accumulated enormous wealth by exploiting ordinary people through their control of taxation.

As Gao Jingzhong listened silently to these head-threatening remarks, he truly understood how "loyal" the Guishan Academy was to Dazhao. His guilt for betraying his adoptive father lessened considerably.

He thought to himself, "Isn't Sang Hongyang's question easy to answer? The answer is that I will collect taxes, collect taxes from the people, and collect taxes however I want."

As long as they weren't in front of the emperor or facing public condemnation, they dared to answer.

Everyone says parents are role models for their children. My godfathers have explained the meaning of loyalty in this way, so I'll follow their example. They'll surely understand, right?

At this moment, someone inside lamented the hardships of the people's lives:
“From the time of Emperor Taizu, how much hardship and fear did scholars endure when they became officials, and how much effort did they put into serving the court?”

In the end, even minor offenses resulted in exile or execution, with only twelve or thirteen out of ten dying peacefully.

At that time, the scholar-officials did not fail the country, but the country failed the scholar-officials of the world many times over!

Once the matter was settled, they suddenly went from being parasites to victims, and could feel at ease about what they had done.

Others chimed in:
"It is not we scholars who have failed the country, but the country that has failed all scholars!"

"I'd rather be a dog of Yunmeng than a servant of the Han family!"

Some people then brought up anecdotes about famous figures from the early days of the Great Zhao Dynasty to prove that their actions were correct.

Song Lian, the leading civil official, and Liu Bowen, a renowned figure, both wrote poems in remembrance of Yunmeng. Even the old immortal Zhang Lata called himself "the remnant of Yunmeng" twenty years after the founding of the Great Zhao Dynasty.
Another book, *Caomuzi*, written during the Yunmeng period, states:
“The law is lenient and taxes are minimal. Songjiang is a remote place by the sea, a veritable paradise. One family dominates a village, and the common people are terrified. They are called the Wild Emperor, and their tomb is still called the Tomb of a Certain King.”

The author, Ye Ziqi, even calls himself the "Wild Emperor," so you can imagine how wonderful his life must be.

Of course, they weren't actually growing braids on the back of their heads or having no bones in their bodies, and they weren't really longing for a foreign emperor. They were just reminiscing about the days when they were unofficial emperors and could do whatever they wanted.

During the meeting, as was customary, people reminisced about the Yunmeng Empire. Their conversation gradually turned to the recently failed "Zheng He Treasure Map Deciphering Project".

Fengzhou Shanren looked somewhat haggard, but his spirits were exceptionally high:
"Gentlemen, I remember clearly, I told that mastermind, I'll remember you, we'll see!"
That mastermind is none other than the Rejuvenating Immortal!
A strange fairy child who claims to come from the celestial realm outside the wall.

He stole 30% of the treasure ship blueprints, plus one-third of the [Blood River Floating Pagoda] that I had.

On the same day, the Liu family in Tukeng Port was also captured, and more than 30% of the blueprints they had were mysteriously lost. I suspect that the same group of people were behind it.

I am sworn enemies with that childlike immortal!

The headmaster of the academy comforted him:
“Our Guishan Bookstore is not made of clay; those who steal our things must return them a hundredfold.”

But Brother Fengzhou, you don't need to worry about it and hurt your health.

Even without the magnificent ship of nature, we still managed to firmly hold the leash around the necks of the water collectors in the past few decades.
Even a figure like the Prince of Jinghai, if we wanted him to die, he would die too!

We were too greedy in the past, always wanting to decipher the entire treasure map.

It's fortunate that the [Tai Xu Kun Peng Ship], which has the fastest deciphering progress, is still in our hands.

The academy preserves the original manuscript of Zhuangzi, which records "Free and Easy Wandering," a national treasure that is considered the origin of Taoism. "Building just one of these divinely crafted ships would be enough to suppress the East Sea."

Other key members of the academy also said:

“Brother Fengzhou, the seas have become a powerful force. The only country that can truly threaten our maritime trade is the Donghai Kingdom. However, it is isolated overseas, surrounded by dozens of Japanese vassal states, and lacks both domestic support and a continuous influx of overseas Chinese. It will be destroyed sooner or later.”

We have already sent letters to the daimyo we know, urging them to send troops to besiege us. Good news should arrive soon.

"That's right. Once the Donghai Kingdom falls and all those overseas traitors are killed, no one in the Great Zhao Dynasty will dare to change the ancestral laws and the mountain and sea curses."

As long as the economic model of people being dependent on the land remains unchanged, and people's hearts remain unchanged, the world of Dazhao will ultimately not escape our grasp.

"Even if there's a new ruler, we'll still have to govern the country."

at this time.

A top-notch courier rode a tall paper horse swiftly through the treetops of the mountains, delivering a batch of new books, still fragrant with the scent of ink, to Yiyong Hall.

The highest-ranking Confucian scholar, who had been waiting outside with Gao Ren, quickly took the bundle and brought it into the hall, respectfully saying:

"Headmaster, gentlemen, the Imperial Gazette and the new books published by Shidetang have arrived."

Shidetang belongs to the Tang family bookstore group in Southern Zhili. The book industry in this area is prosperous, the policies are lenient, and the folk book printing is popular. The publications are known for their exquisite binding and authoritative content.

Whenever a new book was published, whether it was serious academic knowledge required for the imperial examinations or vernacular novels, a copy would be sent to Guishan Publishing House.

All the officials present knew that their foundation lay in the lineage of Confucian scholars, so they remained silent and focused on reading their latest works.

Fengzhou Shanren casually picked up a book with a rather simplistic and straightforward title, yet directly addressing the topic they had just discussed, titled *The Influence of Sea Power*, and frowned as he turned to the title page:

No country has ever become powerful because it is closed off.

Even the unknowns that exist in the depths of the vast ocean cannot be a reason to close the country off and abandon the entire Age of Exploration.
We should be clear that whoever controls the ocean controls the sea lanes, and whoever controls the sea lanes controls world trade.

Whoever controls world trade controls world wealth, and thus controls the world itself!

I've only read the prologue.

This conclusion, which was completely contrary to the views of the Guishan Publishing House, enraged him:
"Arrogant fool!!! How dare you advocate opening the seas and openly challenge the national policy of maritime prohibition!"

Upon hearing this, the others also changed color and gathered around him, looking at the contents of the book.

Anyone can express their opinions. The Tanka people have been clamoring for the opening of the fishing season for countless years, but they keep repeating the same few sentences, which are meaningless. They're tired of hearing it.

Unless supported by evidence, theory, a systematic and independent ideology, or even enormous and undeniable interests, the so-called "The Theory of Sea Power" is ultimately nothing more than parroting others' ideas.

As they slowly turned the pages, everyone's faces grew paler and paler.

Until I saw a page that said:
"Sea power is everything that enables a nation to become a great nation by virtue of or through the sea."
It encompasses both military and non-military maritime forces, including a powerful fleet, affiliated bases, ports and other facilities, as well as a maritime economic force centered on overseas trade.

It should be noted that the first British Empire, the Franco-François Empire, had a small mainland, but by building maritime fortifications on small islands along ocean routes, it became the largest country in the world at that time.

Their economic interests overseas are as follows:

The New World has 2000 million square kilometers of land, nearly three times the size of the Great Zhao Kingdom. The land is fertile, flat, and suitable for cultivation, and is dotted with gold and silver mines.
They acquired 500 million catties (approximately 80 million ounces) of gold accumulated by the natives of the New World, accounting for 8000% of the world's gold circulation.
Silver slaves

No matter how eloquently you explain a principle, it's difficult to directly move people's hearts and touch their souls.

But money is different!
It is the human heart itself.

The people in the book were all scholars. Just by looking at the lingering fragrance of ink and paper, which seemed to intertwine to form a dazzling treasure and land, they knew that the data in the book was correct and that the author was not a fraud.

They all sighed inwardly, "With the publication of this book, the maritime ban will be impossible to lift!"

And when they finally saw the author's name.

—King Jinghai of the East Sea Kingdom, Wang Cheng!
"It's actually this kid?!"

The already exhausted Fengzhou Shanren coughed up a mouthful of blood, staining the words "unparalleled wealth" on the page.

"Father!"

Gao Ren quickly stepped forward to support him, outwardly showing concern, but inwardly thinking:
'This father will be here soon too.'

At the same time, the book "On Sea Power" published by Shidetang was spreading rapidly within the Confucian cultural sphere, which covered the entire Dazhao Kingdom and its sixty-four vassal states.

The book was not only seen by Guishan Publishing House, but also by officials, merchants, clerks and water collectors from all over the country. It spread like wildfire and quickly caused a huge uproar.

Everyone has a different identity and focuses on different things, but they can definitely find the answers in books.

The world was instantly shaken!

Whether "Water Margin" or "Jin Ping Mei" are extraordinary books or famous works, they are ultimately just novels for entertainment.

"The Influence of Sea Power" is one of the ten greatest works that have influenced the course of world history, and it certainly deserves this influence.

Under the influence of the interaction between Heaven and Man, the Dao Qi of the Nine Heavens manifested, and the [Heavenly One Water Golden Toad Qi] representing the Water Official descended upon Wang Cheng's head.

The speed of Dharma integration suddenly seemed to have taken off like a rocket.

Wang Cheng originally thought he would have to wait until he advanced to the fifth rank before he could achieve this in one fell swoop.

Unexpectedly, just the day after "The Influence of Sea Power" was published, the "Four Seas Extermination of Evil Register" and the "Golden Toad Suppressing Treasure Register" were completely merged under the guidance of the sorcerer's wooden puppet, Jiang Chong, the Water Balance Commandant!

(End of this chapter)