He changed Tiwat

"A major case that led to the deaths of two Seven Stars?" Bai Shi's eyes widened.

She had followed Ningguang for many years, and this was the first time she had heard of such a thing.

As the Star of Tianquan, who governs the laws of Liyue, Ningguang has countless case files on her desk. The secrets buried within them form the undercurrents of Liyue's 3,700-year history, and Baishi certainly couldn't have seen them all. However, to assist Ningguang, Baishi and the other two often studied the case files under Ningguang's supervision, and Baishi was quite familiar with the more important case information.

The case that led to the deaths of two high-ranking Seven Stars should be a well-known event in Liyue, or at least an important case that could serve as a warning to future generations. Why has she never come across such a case in the case files?

"Because it wasn't recorded in the case files, or rather, it wasn't considered a case. In the public records, there wasn't any major case that happened four hundred years ago; both of the Seven Stars died of illness. It was only after I took office in Tianquan that I discovered this booklet deep in the archives and secretly investigated for many years before uncovering its secrets."

"Of the two deceased Seven Stars, one was the author of this book, 'The Pearl and the Treasure Mine,' an ancestor of the Rouran. He was also from Tianji Star at the time, and concurrently served as the head of the Silver Plains Hall. The other was from Tianquan Star back then. As far as I know, it was that Tianquan Star who broke into Tianji Star's residence and killed Tianji Star. Afterwards, he was personally executed by the Rock King Emperor."

"...Is it related to this book?" Bai Shi unconsciously tightened his grip on the book "The Gemstone Mine".

Ningguang stood up and paced a few steps.

"'Lifting restrictions on private goods, expanding public markets, and reforming government offices are inevitable tasks'... Tianji Star did this back then. In fact... they are still doing it now."

Bai Shi looked at Ning Guang.

Ningguang whispered four words.

"Officials selling salt illegally."

Chapter 290 Casually Breaking Through the Window to a Thousand Lifetimes [4k]

"Before I took office as the Star of Tianquan, I had worked hard in the business world of Liyue for more than ten years. Although there were twists and turns, it was generally smooth. At that time, I still firmly believed that the country under the rule of the God of Contracts was a fair country. You see, even an outsider like me who has no roots in Liyue can become the Star of Tianquan based on my own abilities."

When Ye Mingxiang recalled her carefree days, a new sparkle seemed to appear on her face.

“I still remember when I took office, Xingxiang gave me this sword, and I returned the favor with a sentence. I said, ‘With me in office, the elderly in Liyue will have a place to end their days, the strong will have a place to use their talents, the young will have a place to grow, and the widowed, orphaned, lonely, and disabled will all be cared for, and men will have their roles, and women will have a place to belong.’”

Ye Mingxiang's words meant that the elderly in Liyue should be able to live out their natural lifespan, the young and middle-aged should have careers, and children should be able to grow up smoothly. The destitute and the disabled should be provided for. Everyone should have a job and be able to build a happy family.

Han Fulai nodded in agreement, realizing that the so-called "Great Harmony Society" was indeed such a society.

As someone who has experienced the destruction of her country and the pain of losing loved ones, it is perfectly normal for Ye Mingxiang to yearn for such an ideal society.

If it weren't for the current difference in their positions, Han Fulai would have loved to call out "Comrade-in-Chief".

But Han Fulai also knew that establishing such an ideal society would be fraught with difficulties—at least Liyue couldn't achieve it at present. When social productivity is insufficient to accommodate advanced production relations, such a society can only be a beautiful wish. His experiences in Liyue over the past few months have all illustrated this point.

“During my tenure in Tianquan, I revised the laws and improved people’s livelihoods. I believe I have done my job in Tianquan without any shame. I have punished countless evildoers, and every case was based on the law. There was absolutely no abuse of power or favoritism.”

Upon hearing this, Han Fulai couldn't help but let out a bitter smile.

Although he had never seen Liyue four hundred years ago, he could still imagine it based on Ye Mingxiang's style of doing things—after all, he had seen Keqing before the Lantern Festival. Imagine Keqing in charge of Liyue's laws, hmm... she probably would have to be careful not to be poisoned even when drinking water.

He didn't think Ye Mingxiang's ideals were wrong, nor did he question his style of doing things. From the perspective of a commoner of Liyue, having such an "upright and honest official" was certainly a good thing—but to be an honest official, one had to be more cunning than a corrupt official to live a long life...

He could almost guess who Ye Mingxiang had killed... after all, he had also participated in the Seven Stars Conference.

In Jiang Xue's words, if all those "virtuous families" living on Yujing Terrace were killed, there would probably be a few innocent people—and only a few innocent people.

“That happened in my third year in Tianquan.” Ye Mingxiang’s voice grew lower and lower. “At that time, Zhuji of Tianji Star proposed a reform plan for Liyue at the Seven Stars Conference. He printed his plan into a booklet and distributed it to the Seven Stars present. Three of the Seven Stars agreed, one was neutral, and only Yaoguang Star and I opposed it.”

His "reforms" focused on five key points: first, "lifting the ban on private sales"; second, "expanding public markets"; third, "reforming the eight major government departments"; fourth, "reducing relief"; and fifth, "increasing the size of the army."

"One of the measures to reduce social assistance is obviously aimed at me. He said that the existing social welfare system fosters a lazy mentality. The pension fund, unemployment relief, and work injury insurance will make people think that they can get something for nothing and will only create lazy people. If you can eat even if you are unemployed, who will go to work? These things should be abolished so that people can maintain their enthusiasm for work and continue to work."

"I asked him, if the aid is reduced, how will the injured and sick miners in Liyue, the destitute and helpless, the born disabled... survive?"

He said he also sympathized with those people, but in order to achieve the goal of reform, a generation must be sacrificed, and that generation is the old workers and those who are unable to work.

"I say, why wasn't it your Tianji Star that was sacrificed? You are incredibly wealthy, with gold and jade filling your house. A little bit of it would be enough for those poor people to spend for a year. Since you sympathize with them, why not donate your wealth?"

"He said that the existence of people like him gives the poor a reason to strive, and seeing the gap will inspire them to make progress. He also said that the poverty relief funds in Liyue come from their taxes, and these people are supported by him. It is this system that narrows the gap between the rich and the poor, which makes people lose their ambition. Only by widening the gap can society progress."

"So I asked him what his ideal Liyue society would look like?"

“He said that the market should be expanded, and all industries should compete freely to maintain its vitality. All industries in Liyue are regulated by the government, which hinders the development of the market. For example, mining requires a permit from the Huishan Hall, salt trading requires salt tickets from the Yinyuan Hall, maritime logistics require coordination from the Heji Hall, food vendors need to be reviewed by the Market Office, and even carrying a sedan chair requires passing a sedan chair carrying qualification exam at the General Affairs Department... All of these are not conducive to the expansion of the market and should be reformed.”

He euphemistically called it "enhancing market liquidity," saying, "The pursuit of profit is like waves washing away gold dust, with many being eliminated; it is also like a torrent in a valley, ever-flowing. The poor will not remain poor forever, and the rich will not hold onto their wealth indefinitely, thus ensuring a full treasury and a peaceful and stable nation."

"He even said that I also climbed to the top in such a market step by step, and should be even more disgusted with market regulation."

"That meeting ended badly during my argument with Zhuji. Although his proposal was temporarily shelved, I knew that several of the Seven Stars were already on his side, and it was only a matter of time before this policy was implemented. Perhaps only the Rock God could subdue them, but the Rock God only appeared once a year at the 'Invitation to Immortals Ceremony,' and he never actually interfered with the Seven Stars' agenda."

"Although Xingxiang and I agreed to argue our case, it was only the two of us, and we couldn't change the situation. I was still feeling frustrated, so I went out of the city to clear my head. On the mountain road outside the city, I met a fishmonger."

"The fishmonger was pushing his cart into the mountains, so I went up to help him. There are many people in Liyue Mountain, and they usually only come down from the mountains every few months to sell wild game to earn a living. They buy most of their daily necessities from these merchants. These fishmongers sell seafood from the Cloud Sea to the mountain people, which is normal. However, when I casually asked about the market price, the fishmonger was evasive in his words, which aroused my suspicion."

“I revealed my identity to him and questioned him. He stammered that he sold pickled fish, and the price of the fish was slightly higher than the market price in Liyue Harbor, but he earned his money through hard work and hoped that I would not pursue the matter. Actually, the price difference was not a big deal, and I did not intend to pursue it. However, his attitude did not seem like he was just hiding such a small matter. So I checked his goods.”

"His salted fish is much saltier than the ones sold in Liyue Harbor."

Upon hearing this, Han Fulai suddenly understood.

"He's not selling fish at all, he's selling salt!"

Ye Mingxiang nodded.

"Now I finally understand that the core of Zhuji's book, 'The Pearl Mine,' which is thousands of words long, is nothing more than three words: 'lifting the ban on private matters.'"

"Officials profiting from smuggled salt?!"

Upon hearing Ningguang's words, Baishi was greatly surprised.

Liyue is a nation founded on commerce, with a thriving industrial and commercial sector. Liyue merchants have an exceptionally keen sense of opportunity; they flock to any profitable business as soon as they smell the Mora. Take Ningguang's own "Ningguang Merchant Guild" for example; it encompasses everything from construction and fishing to luxury goods, restaurants, and publishing—Ningguang will not overlook anything that can make money.

Her business association may not be the most prestigious in any field, but it is the most comprehensive—which is why she has accumulated so much experience, can provide advice to all kinds of businessmen, and can sell the right to have lunch with her for tens of millions of Mora.

But even Ningguang has a few deals she can't do.

One is the salt industry, and the other is the mining industry.

In Liyue, both the salt industry and the mining industry are state-owned.

In terms of ownership, the Yun family's Blackrock Fortress is actually a "state-owned enterprise"—because the forging techniques of Liyue were taught by the Emperor, and the mineral deposits are said to be formed from the Emperor's divine power, all belonging to the Liyue nation and not allowed to be mined privately—it's just that the Yun family has been the chairman of a state-owned enterprise for thousands of years.

For example, the mines in Tianheng Mountain and Mingyun Town were not privately owned. To mine the mountain deposits, one needed a qualification certificate issued by Huishan Hall, and all output had to be accounted for by Huishan Hall. Shops like "Jie Cui Xing" and "Mingxing Zhai," which sold minerals and jewelry, also had to pay corresponding official taxes to Huishan Hall and Shenglu Hall.

Salt was under the unified government control of the Silver Plains Office, and private sales were prohibited. Liyue had mining merchants, but no salt merchants, because the only salt merchant in Liyue was the Silver Plains Office.

Selling smuggled salt and illegally transporting raw ore are serious crimes, punishable by death depending on the severity of the offense.

If the Huishan Hall finds out about the accounts Han Fulai made for the exploration team, they could be imprisoned for more than ten years, according to the law.

The rules of Ginhara Prefecture were even stricter than those of Huishan Prefecture. Not only would anyone be arrested by the Chiiwa Army for privately producing and selling salt, but even salt workers with official positions at the salt fields under Ginhara Prefecture were subject to body searches when entering and leaving the premises—to prevent them from smuggling and selling salt.

What surprised Bai Shi the most was not the "smuggled salt." In Liyue's thousands of years of history, it's not that no one has ever done such a thing—after all, there are people who would risk their lives for it. The huge profits from smuggled salt have led many people to take the risk throughout history. Of course, those people were eventually caught.

What shocked her most was the "official profiteering"—this was embezzlement of state funds!

The revenue from the official sale of salt by the Silver Plains Office has always been an important source of revenue for Liyue. The profits from the official salt sales go directly into the Liyue national treasury.

As a commercial nation, Liyue levies relatively few direct taxes—commonly known as "poll tax" by its citizens—to encourage the flow of goods and reduce the impact on market transactions and competition. Aside from agricultural tax, land tax, and personal and guild income tax, there are virtually no other taxes that citizens need to pay directly.

However, this doesn't mean that the Seven Stars government doesn't collect other taxes; these taxes alone wouldn't be enough to cover Liyue's fiscal expenditures. In fact, most of the tax revenue is hidden in the daily lives of residents—they just don't realize it.

"State-run salt mines" were essentially a form of taxation.

Liyue is a country with a population of over one million, but not everyone among these one million people needs to pay direct taxes.

For example, children and retirees do not need to pay personal income tax, non-business owners do not need to pay business income tax, non-farmers do not need to pay agricultural tax... In fact, the population that pays taxes in Liyue is less than 10% of the total population.

Based on a population of 100,000 taxpayers, if each person pays 10,000 mora in income tax per month, that would amount to 1 billion mora in tax revenue per month. This is even less than the monthly profit of the Ningguang Chamber of Commerce. However, if the price of salt is increased by 10,000 mora per liter, since everyone needs to eat salt, these 1 million people will pay an additional 10 billion mora per month. The money will come much faster than the high poll tax.

Moreover, this form of taxation is not manifested in the form of taxes, so it will not cause any complaints from the people.

Everyone likes to receive money, but no one likes to pay it, and of course, nobody likes to pay more taxes. A clever way to collect taxes is to make people think they haven't paid any.

The "salt tax" collected by the Ginhara Office was exactly like that.

Because the Silver Plains Office is a major source of revenue for Liyue, its benefits have always been generous. The salaries of Silver Plains Office civil servants rank first among the eight gates, second only to Moonsea Pavilion, and they also enjoy many hidden benefits that Moonsea Pavilion cannot match—for example, Silver Plains Office almost never recruits civil servants from outside the government, and the descendants of the Salt God have run Silver Plains Office for generations, so they are born with a government job.

Compared to the dangerous jobs in Huishan Hall that often involve going down into the mines and encountering mining accidents, the jobs in Yinyuan Hall are located within Liyue Harbor, making them a standard "high-paying, low-stress, and close-to-home" option.

For ordinary people in Liyue, Silver Plains is like heaven—but clearly, even those living in heaven are not satisfied.

“I forgot, you’ve never sold fish, so you wouldn’t know.” Ningguang smiled. “When I made a living by fishing in Yaoguang Beach, I had a lot of dealings with the gentlemen of Yinyuan Hall.”

"Hmm? The Silver Plains Hall is related to the fishing industry?" Hyakushi asked in confusion.

“Of course. It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that Silver Plains controls the lifeline of Liyue’s fishing industry,” Ningguang laughed. “Fishermen need to salt their fish. This is to prevent spoilage; otherwise, the fish won’t sell far. I can run from Yaoguang Beach to Liyue Harbor on these two legs, but I can’t run to Qingce Village, to Qiaoying Village, to Mondstadt and Sumeru…”

"Liyue Harbor is located by the sea and has no shortage of seafood. Fish prices are not high, so there is no way to make money. If you want to make big money by selling fish, you have to sell it inland. A pound of salt is only paid 500 Mora to the salt workers in Silverborough for making it. But after they hand over the salt, Silverborough sells it exclusively, and the price ranges from 5,000 to 15,000 Mora per pound, depending on the quality."

“If I want to pickle five catties of fresh fish, I need one catty of salt. But when we fishermen go out to sea, we usually catch hundreds to thousands of catties of fish on a boat. Each fish only sells for a few hundred moras. If we wanted to buy salt at the official price, we would go bankrupt. So we fishermen pickle fish using fish salt purchased from the Silver Plains Office. Fish salt is cheap, only five hundred moras for the cost of processing per catty... Guess if I ever thought about reselling fish salt?”

Chapter 291 Not Letting Down the Madman's Admiration for My Madness [4k]

"Reselling fish and salt..." Bai Shi was taken aback.

She had a vague feeling that she understood something.

Ningguang's rise to power has always been a mystery in Liyue.

When Bai Shi and the others met Ning Guang, Ning Guang was already a rising star in the Liyue Harbor business world.

Everyone says that Ningguang earned her first fortune from fishing, and that's what Ningguang claims to others as well... But there's a question here: how did she earn so much money selling fish?

Decades ago, Uncle Tian could rely on courage and luck to unite fishermen to form a fleet for deep-sea fishing, turning risks into profits, and eventually take over most of the dock shops to become a fishing tycoon. Now, this path is no longer viable—because the market has been taken over by Uncle Tian.

Fishermen typically earn less than fifty moras per fish, a meager profit. Moreover, fishing is unpredictable; a full catch one day can mean nothing the next, making profits highly unstable. Liyue Harbor is teeming with fishmongers, yet no one has reportedly become wealthy from selling fish in recent years.

For example, fishmongers Lao Gao and Lao Sun at the dock, these two colluded to raise prices, but they only made an extra forty moats per fish. Moreover, after deducting the fishing tax, income tax, and even the rent for the shop, they were lucky if they could make a small profit.

In order to earn more money, Lao Gao and Lao Sun even went so far as to evade taxes and conceal their income, but even so they didn't save much money... How did Ningguang become rich by selling fish?

—Perhaps, she wasn't selling fish.

After all, the most profitable businesses are all written in "Liyue Criminal Code".

“It seems you’ve thought of that,” Ningguang smiled. “Fish salt is cheap, while government salt is expensive. If you sell fish salt that costs 500 Mora per pound as government salt that costs 30000 Mora, the profit would be several times higher.”

Bai Shi pursed his lips, "But..."

Ningguang still smiled. "But I'm not the first person to think of this, nor will I be the last. If I can think of it, then other fishermen throughout Liyue's three thousand years of history certainly could too—and the people of Silver Plains certainly could too."

"The salt they provide to fishermen is dyed red with a special dye, making it easily distinguishable from official salt. Selling fish salt as official salt is not feasible. Moreover, even if someone were willing to buy fish salt at the price of official salt, the profit we make from selling fish salt would not outweigh the gains—because of the existence of fishing taxes."

“There are plenty of clever ‘troublemakers’ like me throughout history, and the officials of Yinyuan Hall have seen plenty of them.” Ningguang winked playfully. “So they set a rule that when we fishermen sell salted fish, we must report the number of fish to the Market Office, and the Market Office will issue us an equivalent amount of salt coupons based on the number of fish we report. We can then use these salt coupons to collect our fishing salt from Yinyuan Hall.”

“If you declare a certain number of fish, then of course you have to pay the corresponding fish tax. For every pound of salt you receive, you have to pay the fish tax for at least five pounds of fish. Over-reporting the number of fish to fraudulently claim salt quotas is no longer an option. Sigh, I was so excited when I first came up with this idea, but it was discovered a thousand years ago.” Ningguang shook her head, looking quite regretful.

Bai Shi gave an awkward smile, thinking to himself, "Lady Ningguang, you actually tried it..."

"Later, I met an old lady who lived in Qingce Village. She came carrying a big basket on her back, saying she wanted to buy a basket of pickled fish. I noticed that when she bought the fish, she picked the reddest ones—which meant that she used a lot of salt for pickling. Using too much salt when pickling fish doesn't actually make it taste very good, but she insisted on choosing the fish that didn't taste good..."

"Because what she wanted to buy was salt?" Bai Shi immediately understood the key point.

“Yes. You can dry the pickled fish, cut it into pieces, and mix it into your food. It will still taste salty. Moreover, it’s cheaper to buy pickled fish directly in Liyue Harbor than to buy fish from the mountains. Mountain people often use pickled fish instead of salt, and one trip to the mountains to buy fish is enough to last them a long time.”

Ningguang nodded and continued, "So I thought of something—selling salt directly wouldn't work, but selling salt substitutes would. What if I sold large quantities of these heavily salted fish to the mountains? For the mountain people, this is a necessity, and mountain specialties, such as mangosteens, bamboo shoots, and furs, also have a good market in Liyue Harbor."

"Back then, the mountain roads were more difficult to traverse than they are now, and it took the mountain people much longer to travel to and from Liyue Harbor. It was also very inconvenient for them to come to Liyue Harbor to buy things. As long as I could afford the cost of transporting the goods, I could exchange the mountain people's goods for low-priced salted fish. The mountain people would save the trouble of traveling to and from the mountains, and I would open up a smooth channel for trade. Why not?"

"But all of this is based on the premise that 'I can mass-produce cheap salted fish'—in other words, I still need a lot of salt. In the end, I still can't get around the Ginhara Agency's regulations. However, as long as I can get past this hurdle... Hyakushi, can you think of the answer?"

Ningguang's wine-red eyes sparkled with a smile. She had given enough hints, and she believed that Baishi could figure out the answer.

Once you find the answer, you'll be able to understand many, many things.

Once you understand these things, you'll be able to make good use of the book "Treasure Trove of Pearls".

Bai Shi nodded solemnly, "I understand, Lady Ningguang."

"'Lifting the ban on private activities'..." Upon hearing these three words, Han Fulai was momentarily at a loss for what expression to make.

He felt that there seemed to be some commonalities in this universe, and even when he traveled to different worlds, he could always see the same history.

Perhaps this is the "historical cycle" that the gentleman from China wanted to break free from.

However, the lesson that humanity learns from history is that humanity never learns from history.

Throughout history, there has never been a shortage of wealthy and powerful merchants like Tianjixing.

Once they gain entry into the inner sanctum, they always righteously proclaim that "government officials should not compete with the people for profit" and talk about "expanding the market and improving people's livelihoods," but in reality, they are stealing from the people and exploiting them to the bone.

As Ye Mingxiang just said, if the "reform" of Tianji Star four hundred years ago had truly succeeded, the consequences would have been far more than just "sacrificing a generation of Liyue's old workers"—it would have meant that the people of Liyue would never be able to rise above their circumstances for generations to come.

When Yinyuan Prefecture was state-owned, the salt tax revenue it earned belonged to the national treasury. Even if there were instances of officials and merchants colluding to enrich themselves, they were still just parasites. It takes a long time for parasites to bring down a large tree.

For example, if the civil servants of the Silver Plains Office are dissatisfied with their current treatment and want to earn more, it's very simple... They can collude with fishermen and merchants to secretly give the official salt under their management to merchants and then take kickbacks—just like exploration teams and treasure-hunting gangs conspire to smuggle raw ore.

Many famous salt merchants in history started their fortunes in this way—the so-called "official profiteering."

Before Han Fulai transmigrated, he had heard of a famous state-owned enterprise tycoon known as "Big Cannon"—a self-made man who "succeeded without relying on his father's connections," had zero capital beyond his own abilities, and published numerous business tutorials and memoirs. He was sentenced to eighteen years in prison for embezzlement, bribery, misappropriation of public funds, and abuse of power. His success was attributed to a franchise license that others couldn't obtain.