Killing Dao Fruit
Chapter 634 - 560: Old Master Wang Never Cheats the Poor

Chapter 634: Chapter 560: Old Master Wang Never Cheats the Poor

Under the sporadic tyranny of the "Little Ice Age," June was the peak of the rainy season.

Even if neighboring countries experienced no military disasters, it was mainly Red County Shenzhou that faced the Daoism Transformation Disaster. Yet the abnormal rainy season of the Little Ice Age still caused them immense suffering.

The light rain drizzled incessantly.

Tanhuan was still in that beautifully crafted Royal City Palace, which had gathered the nation’s resources.

The gold-lacquered bed, covered with light gauze curtains, creaked and periodically emitted embarrassing noises.

From the outside, it looked like there were more than just three or five people involved in a group activity.

Outside the curtains, several court officials and eunuchs knelt on the ground, burying their heads deeply, not daring to look up at Yanshan Monarch enjoying himself.

"Your Majesty, floods have successively erupted along Xianxing Road and Zhongzhou Road, destroying countless homes and fields. This year’s summer grain harvest will likely be significantly reduced.

Moreover, according to the Imperial Observatory Bureau, as the Heavenly River dam burst affects the balance of the Water Element Spirit Mechanism of Heaven and Earth, this year’s rainy season may continue until October.

Even autumn farming will face serious issues.

By then, not only will this winter be difficult to endure,

but if those lowly civilians are allowed to die off in large numbers in a short time, it might greatly increase the power of demons in the country, and might even give rise to some extremely terrifying anomalies.

I, Tanhuan, don’t have ’Dragon Qi Prohibition’ to protect me. I implore Your Majesty to make plans early."

After a while, Yanshan Monarch Jin Long’s impatient voice came from behind the curtains:

"Are you bothering me with such trifles?

The commoners of this world are like wild grasses; wildfires cannot eradicate them, and they grow back with the spring breeze.

There’s no need to concern ourselves with them; they’ll naturally reappear next spring to continue working.

Instruct the Demon Extermination Department to dispatch more people to perform rites for the spirits and handle the aftermath. The allowance given for this, rewards, are not even worth the fraction of the relief provided to disaster victims.

Such a simple calculation, yet you, Minister of Revenue, can’t figure it out?

There is another matter, however, that you must urgently attend to.

Send out the ’Red Horse Collection Envoy’ and various level constables to claim the fields vacated by the deceased civilians, all without missing a single one, for my private treasury.

If anyone else seizes them, I’ll have your heads!"

Clearly this monarch, who unashamedly embraced "Innate Evil," cared nothing for the citizens who sustained him with their sweat and blood.

His heart only harbored cold calculations of profit and loss.

"Your servant obeys the decree."

The officials outside timidly kowtowed and were just about to leave when Yanshan Monarch stopped them.

"Wait!

Minister of Revenue, you reported the other day about collecting silver conds to continue purchasing precious goods and arms from Great Yan merchants.

In every major city across the provinces, prefectures, and counties, has the forced exchange of Treasure Banknotes for silver coins been completed?

Is the exchange rate really as collected—printing as much treasure banknotes as silver coins collected, one-to-one equivalence in circulation, eh?"

The air suddenly became tense, and the seductive sounds behind the curtains also halted instantly.

Hearing this, the Minister of Revenue’s back was suddenly covered in cold sweat, and he instinctively knelt down again with a "thud."

Just about to speak according to the plan agreed upon with his associates.

However, he felt a gaze sharp as a blade suddenly fall on the back of his head, and the words he had been ready to utter were stuck in his throat.

In Tanhuan’s ’Bone Grade System,’ small and large officials were disciples or relatives from the three sects of Wushan, Zhifeng, and Qingzhuang.

Yanshan Monarch Jin Long came from Wushan Temple, while Minister of Revenue Park Shunji was from Qingzhuang Temple, clearly not standing united.

The immense opportunity of replacing Old Currency with New Banknotes stirred their ambition and action.

Even the distribution of interests was almost completed.

But faced with the increasingly crazed Yanshan Monarch, under that chilling gaze, the Minister of Revenue acutely realized that if he lied, he would probably die on the spot.

He forced himself to say:

"Your Majesty, we...printed forty percent more. I will have ten percent of the banknotes delivered to the palace immediately.

The remaining thirty percent needs to be divided among the marshals and elders of the three sects..."

Yanshan Monarch, aware that ten percent was the limit he as a monarch could siphon off, knew that the real rulers of this country were ultimately the high Slanderous Masters in the mountains.

With their unparalleled Defamation Technique, anyone of high rank, be it noble or royal, would falter before them.

Thus, with a sudden opportunity to harvest the nation’s wealth, they naturally took the lion’s share.

No longer troubling the Minister of Revenue, Jin Long withdrew the peak pressure of his military leadership with a cold snort:

"Get out!"

The seductive sounds resumed behind the curtains.

The Minister of Revenue, along with his subordinates, scrambled out of the palace, frantically rushing to rebalance the accounts.

Yet from beginning to end, none felt the slightest impropriety in seizing from the people forty percent of their accumulated wealth in an instant.

In fact, not just them; this strategy of governing had long been a consensus among the ruling class of the various Deceit Countries.

This was one of the openly practiced ’Five Techniques of Civilian Control’.

The so-called Five Techniques of Civilian Control are: to keep the people ignorant, weak, exhausted, poor, and disgraced.

The strategy of "keeping the people poor" is to ensure only their basic survival needs and use various methods to strip away any extra silver or wealth in their possession.

When people are poor, their aspirations are short; before they are fed, they have only one worry, but once fed, countless worries emerge.

By always keeping them on the brink of hunger but not starving, they can only bow their heads and honestly work, without the energy to think about anything else that might destabilize the foundation of one’s rule.