Otherworld Advance Team
Chapter 1516 - 1509: Ruling the Vacuum

Chapter 1516: Chapter 1509: Ruling the Vacuum

"Is there a possibility," Luo’er said, "that the Fengyu Dynasty originally charged so much tax, and the Sect just doubled it on their behalf, hence the widespread grumbling?"

"What do you mean?" Hu Daoke asked, confused.

"It means that the taxation standard of the Fengyu Dynasty might not be eleven, but possibly twelve or thirteen," Cheng Ziang explained.

"I still don’t understand," Hu Daoke scratched his head and said.

"The so-called eleven means taking one-tenth in taxes, which we inferred from our historical experience. Because in Ancient Times, the Central Plains Dynasty’s typical tax rate was around that much, but after all, this is Otherworld, no one knows what the Fengyu Dynasty’s tax rate is, it could be twelve or thirteen," Baiyue patiently explained.

"From this perspective, we need to investigate and understand how much the Fengyu Dynasty’s taxation rate is, whether people are willing to pay, and if they are unwilling, why. We need to clarify why the Fengyu Dynasty would prefer a Sect to collect taxes on their behalf, rather than collecting directly," Luo’er pondered.

"What a hassle, I thought we could just directly confront and discipline those Sect fellows and be done with it," Hu Daoke covered his head and lamented.

"If these were mere highway robbers, that approach would definitely be problem-free. But clearly, these Sects are not bandit bullies, they have backing from the Imperial Court, so we must clear up their relationship with the court before taking action," Cheng Ziang said.

"Moreover, since we can’t stay here long, after dealing with these Sect fellows, once we leave, won’t they just continue to dominate as before? Without addressing the root problem, such issues will continually arise and cannot be eradicated," Luo’er said.

"Didn’t the town mayor say they collect five to six tenths, but only give one tenth to the court? Does this not indicate that the Fengyu Dynasty only collects one-tenth in taxes?" Tangmo suddenly said.

"I’ve said it already, that’s just one side of the story; we need to analyze by integrating all clues," Cheng Ziang shrugged and said, "If I did something wrong, I’d certainly speak in a way that to minimizes my loss, exaggerating the existing issues."

"No matter what, you guys go and investigate, try to mediate the conflict between both sides as much as possible, avoid deepening conflicts, aim for harmony, and avoid internal strife," Luo’er reflected and said.

"So the Saint’s intention is... agreed?" Cheng Ziang looked at Luo’er with a half-smiling expression.

"Taking people’s money to solve their problems," Luo’er smiled and said.

"Alright then, Old Hu, let’s take a walk on the street, the girls stay at home, guarding Luo’er," Cheng Ziang said as he stood up from his seat.

"Alright, just waiting for you to say that," Hu Daoke also stood up excitedly.

"I’ll come along too," Baiyue stood up and said, "Teacher Zhu assigned me the task of examining local customs and culture along the way. Although this is a town of the Demon Clan, it has the architectural style of Kyushu, which is very worth investigating."

"That means I can only trouble Luo’er to stay with Sister Moumou," Cheng Ziang glanced at Baiyue, then turned to Luo’er with a teasing tone.

"What do you mean, why would it ’trouble’ Luo’er!" Tangmo pouted discontentedly.

"Don’t worry, I’ll keep her in line," Luo’er slightly frowned and pushed away the clinging Tangmo.

"Speaking of which, we haven’t started eating yet, have we?" Baiyue suddenly remembered and suddenly felt her stomach growl.

"No worries, we’ll handle that when we come back, we’re just going out for a walk," Cheng Ziang shrugged and said.

"Oh, we haven’t eaten yet, then I won’t go out," Hu Daoke said and began to sit back down.

"Let’s go, it doesn’t matter when we eat, you hopeless thing!" Cheng Ziang pinched his ear and lifted him up, dragging him out of the room like hauling a bag.

The three left their residence on an empty stomach and came to the streets. Although the town was small, its basic architectural infrastructure was quite complete and the design concept was quite advanced; you could hardly see any muddy roads.

Almost all the streets in the town were paved with thick bluestone slabs, and wedges were embedded between the slabs to ensure they would not loosen.

The history of the floor tiles and buildings was quite long, and it could even be said that the history of the floor tiles was much older than some of the buildings.

Initially, the town was a military town of the Kyushu Empire, and these infrastructures were built during that period. Over time, the surface buildings were destroyed and rebuilt multiple times, but these floor tiles witnessed era after era.

On the main road of the town, the bluestone floor tiles were deeply rutted by the passing carriages, with the deepest part being about ten centimeters deep, a trace created by thousands of vehicles over the centuries.

There were many shops along the main road. Although it was a town of the Demon Clan, there were still many from the Human Race active there, including Shanyue people and Kyushu people from Kyushu, and even some from the Ghost Race could be seen.

Compared to East Prosperity Nine States, Fengyu was a relatively inclusive country, as seen by their willingness to accommodate the Demon Clan.

People from the Ghost Race in Fengyu did not deliberately follow the traditions of Aximiya Island by wearing traditional masks, but instead showed their true faces. This seemed to be a retaliatory mindset against restrictions, so when they saw masked individuals passing by Cheng Ziang and his group, they expressed surprise.

Perhaps also because Fengyu did not have a particularly strict caste system, commerce here was very prosperous, with continuous streams of merchants and attendants. Businesspeople of different nationalities and races bargained in the same language, making the entire market very lively.

Seeing such a thriving commercial scene, Cheng Ziang was drawn into deep thought. He wondered what the governance standards of the Fengyu Dynasty were, or perhaps there were no actual standards at all.

Because based on his understanding, as a feudal dynasty, Fengyu should still be a country primarily based on agriculture, and the main policy of an agricultural kingdom would be to prioritize agriculture over commerce.

Prioritizing agriculture over commerce is because the productivity of ancient feudal dynasties often could not keep up with the rapid increase in population, which could lead to very severe social issues.

So the best approach for rulers was to expand productivity as much as possible, which means focusing on agriculture to ensure stable social functioning.

Generally speaking, agriculture belongs to the production segment, while commerce belongs to the circulation segment. It is undeniable that commerce makes money, but the circulation segment cannot create wealth out of nothing; only the production segment can generate wealth.

This means, if the development of commerce is not restricted and agriculture is emphasized, people’s inherent nature to seek benefits and avoid harm will drive more individuals towards commerce, towards circulation, and they will abandon what appears to be the valueless production segment.

As just discussed, the circulation segment cannot create wealth from thin air, leading to the overall societal wealth remaining unchanged regardless of the competition. Consequently, people will fall into severe internal strife, fighting desperately over minor profits, exacerbating social instability.

This is why ancient feudal dynasties prioritized agriculture over commerce.

Of course, there are many reasons to prioritize agriculture over commerce; this is just one of them. For rulers, investing more resources into a production sector like agriculture to generate more wealth could bring stability to society.

As for distribution, that’s another topic. Poor distribution can lead to severe concentration of wealth, similarly increasing social turmoil. Ancient feudal dynasties generally collapsed for these reasons.

In Cheng Ziang’s view, rather than believing that the Fengyu Dynasty had a deliberate policy to encourage commerce, he was more inclined towards the reason that the governance of the Fengyu Dynasty could not effectively reach the grassroots.

Because in a country where even taxes had to be collected by Sects and where local officials were selected by local recommendation rather than appointed by the Imperial Court, saying it was intentionally done to develop commerce seemed quite ludicrous.

While he was deep in thought, suddenly, the noise from the street in the distance caught his attention. The crowd watching was as tightly packed as a burl removed from tree bark, sparking his curiosity as well.

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