txolops Chapter 82 Luo Qishengchen, the sin lies with the common people
Chapter 82 Luo Qishengchen, the sin lies with the common people
Chapter 82 Luo Qishengchen, a sin committed against the common people (Seeking first subscription!!!)
Zuiyue Tower is the largest den of iniquity in Changning County.
Outside the window, the rain continued to fall, splashing onto the bluestone slabs and creating a pool of murky muddy water.
Inside the building, the floor heating was blazing hot, the air was filled with a warm fragrance, and the sounds of string and wind instruments filled the air.
In the private rooms on the second floor, several well-dressed scholars and wealthy young men dressed in fine silks were gathered around a stove, drinking wine and arguing heatedly.
"Have you heard? The youngest granddaughter of Grand Secretary Li wore white socks woven from snow-white silk to the poetry gathering today. Hmph, her intentions are despicable! White is the totem of those barbarians in the far north snowfields. She is trying to betray the etiquette of our Great Wei and fawn over foreigners!"
"What's so special about white stockings? I personally saw the wife of the Vice Minister of Revenue parading around town wearing dark-colored silk stockings from the Western Regions. That's the style favored by the demonesses of the Demonic Sect! This is blatant support for the demonic path and a disgrace to the righteous path of our Great Wei!"
"Stop arguing! Those brutes from the Zhenbei Army are the most rude. They actually advocate that women not wear stockings and ride horses and shoot arrows barefoot. It's simply warlord behavior, an insult to civilization, and utterly lacking in manners!"
"If you ask me, the most disgusting ones are those heretics wearing flesh-colored stockings. Covering themselves up, it's all so incongruous and absurd; they look like they have bare legs, but they're actually just wearing a layer of hypocrisy! This is typical formalism, a revival of bureaucracy!"
"As for those bare-legged individuals, their behavior is utterly outrageous! To place personal desires above the dignity of the empire—what kind of behavior is this!"
"Even worse, some wear black on their left foot and white on their right. This is utterly unprincipled opportunism, a weather vane that sways with the wind. How can the greater good of the nation tolerate such opportunism!"
"Those who prefer to wear footed socks are arrogant, out of touch with reality, and completely detached from the hardworking masses!"
"Those who idolize fishnet stockings are proof of decadent thinking! This is the promotion of extravagance and hedonism, the poisonous weed of consumerism, attempting to erode the foundation of our Great Wei's diligent and thrifty nation-building!"
These so-called pillars of the nation elevated the beauty of women's feet to the level of national righteousness, arguing fiercely as if the Great Wei Dynasty would be at peace forever once the color of socks was decided.
In the corner, Gu Yan held a cup of tea and listened quietly to this absurd and rambling discourse.
His presence in such brothels was not for pleasure.
This morning, after he reprimanded Wu Decai at the county government office, his eyes caught Wu Decai sending several groups of his cronies to various mansions in the city to curry favor with the local gentry and powerful figures.
One of them was Zhao, the largest grain merchant in Changning County, who was standing next to him.
Since he had made up his mind to act as a just and upright official and reap the rewards of offerings, and to build a foundation through the divine way, he couldn't just talk the talk; he needed to actually distribute real money and grain.
He came here to create the illusion that although he was strict in handling cases, he also indulged in pleasure, so that Wu Decai would think that he was not an invincible saint and thus lower his guard.
After all, dealing with Wu Decai was too easy for him. As long as Wu Decai didn't do anything reckless, Gu Yan wouldn't touch him for the time being.
Otherwise, if Wu Decai dies, the court will send another Wu Decai.
He is currently struggling to withstand the wrath of several sects behind the Wei Kingdom.
We must find a way to eliminate this problem completely.
Secondly, it was to select the first prey for his Blood River Sect clone tonight.
Gu Yan's gaze lingered for a moment on Zhao Yuanwai's greasy neck, his eyes like a butcher eyeing a fat pig waiting to be slaughtered.
"Master Zhao's rice shop had 30,000 shi of grain in stock. During years of famine, he used scarcity marketing, forcing countless people to sell their children."
Gu Yan silently checked the information on the clay bodhisattva's ledger in his mind, his eyes peering through the carved window and down to the muddy street below.
Upstairs, amidst the fragrance of fine silks and the sounds of singing and dancing, people debated how the color of stockings was related to the fate of the nation.
Downstairs, a ragged man was kneeling in the mud, desperately protecting the half-bag of coarse rice in his arms, when he was beaten bloody by two fierce-looking constables.
"Let go! You troublemaker! This is grain from the celebration tax, how dare you confiscate it?"
"Sir! I beg you! My five children are all waiting to be fed! If we pay this grain tax, our whole family will starve to death!"
"starve?"
The constable kicked the man in the chest, spat out a mouthful of phlegm, and yelled, "Who told you bunch of poor bastards to have so many children? You can't even support yourselves, yet you still have so many! They're born to compete with the imperial court for grain and with wealthy landowners for land! The Great Wei Dynasty is being dragged down by you bunch of pigs who only know how to breed!"
The man curled up in pain, spilling the coarse rice he was holding onto the ground.
The yellowish rice grains were softened by the rainwater and mixed with yellow mud, making it impossible to distinguish their beige color anymore.
"Did you see that?"
Opposite Gu Yan, a middle-aged scholar in a brocade robe waved a folding fan, pointed at the farce downstairs, and said with a pained expression, "Lord Gu, you are a celestial master from the upper sect. You may not often see such sordid things. The reason why the world is so difficult now is that these peasants are too prolific."
This man was none other than Master Zhao, a famous grain merchant in Changning County who controlled half of the county's rice shops. He was also one of the "refined gentlemen" who had been so enthusiastic about criticizing the color of stockings.
Gu Yan withdrew his gaze, his fingers lightly tracing the rim of the teacup, and said in a flat tone, "Oh? Master Zhao thinks that too many people lead to poverty?"
"nature!"
Master Zhao, as if he had found a kindred spirit, leaned forward, adopting a worried and concerned expression. "Think about it," he said, "Changning County is only so big, with only so much land, and the water in the ponds is finite. These poor wretches have seven or eight children a family. There's not enough land to cultivate, not enough grain to eat, so naturally they're poor. What do you call this? It's called 'too many monks and too little porridge!'"
"If they had fewer children, only one per family, and didn't compete for that meager food rations, wouldn't life be much easier? These refugees all over the streets are essentially a result of overpopulation, becoming a burden on the imperial court!"
When he got emotional, Master Zhao became even more indignant: "They even blamed us rich people for being heartless."
But if it weren't for our soup kitchens, they would have starved to death long ago! If you ask me, the imperial court should impose heavy taxes, punishing them so severely they wouldn't dare to live, and then the world would naturally be at peace.
Gu Yan looked at Master Zhao's oily face and felt like vomiting but couldn't bring himself to do it.
He smiled like a spring breeze, but the smile didn't reach his eyes: "What Master Zhao said is quite novel."
Gu Yan inwardly sneered repeatedly.
What a perfect closed-loop logic, what a sophistry that kills without destroying the spirit.
On one hand, they enjoy the demographic dividend and cheap labor from you, while on the other hand, they shamelessly call you a population burden.
The methods these powerful and wealthy families use to shift blame are remarkably similar and skillful, whether in their past lives or in the cultivation world.
Admittedly, a large number of people does bring competition, but this is a secondary issue.
Gu Yan had seen the mountains of wealth piled up in the Black Dragon Gang's secret chamber and read the blood-stained ledger of Mud Bodhisattva; he knew the truth better than anyone else.
In Changning County, and even throughout the entire Great Wei Dynasty, 99% of the fertile land, mineral veins, and spirit stones are controlled by people like Master Zhao.
It belongs to Wu Decai and the top one percent of people from various sects.
They built a high dam, cutting off the mighty river and leaving only a dried-up stream for the millions of lives downstream.
While fish and shrimp are killing each other in the dried-up mudflats due to lack of oxygen, the people standing on the dam point below and say, "Look, there are too many fish, that's why there isn't enough water. If you have to blame someone, blame the fish around you for being too greedy."
This is the truth.
The saying "too many monks and too little porridge" doesn't mean there wasn't enough porridge in the pot to go around; rather, it means the person holding the spoon took the whole pot away, leaving only a few grains of rice gruel for all the monks in the room.
Then, they would fabricate a grand theory to tell those who were starving: you are hungry because you have too many children, because you are not working hard enough, because Zhang San next door has taken your job.
This is an extremely skillful way of managing people.
Let the lower classes harm each other, let ordinary people hate each other because of the pressure to survive.
Zhang San, who only had one acre of barren land, resented his neighbor Li Si for having five sons, feeling that Li Si's sons had taken away his opportunity to do odd jobs and lowered his wages.
In this endless infighting and hatred, no one ever dared to raise their head and look at the vampire sitting high in the clouds.
"What a brilliant scheme."
Gu Yan put down his teacup and let out a soft sigh, "Eating other people's flesh and then looking down on their strong bones."
"Master Gu, what did you say?" Master Zhao didn't hear clearly at first and leaned closer in puzzlement.
"I said, this tea is cold and tastes a bit bitter."
Gu Yan stood up, flicked off non-existent dust from his blue Taoist robe, and glanced at the lavish feasts and banquets filling the building.
"Master Zhao, you can continue to shine here, discussing whether white or black stockings are better. I have official business to attend to, so I will take my leave."
"Oh? Lord Gu, the new top courtesan at Drunken Moon Pavilion hasn't come out yet. I heard she's dressed like that—"
Master Zhao wanted to persuade him to stay, but Gu Yan's figure flickered and disappeared at the top of the stairs, leaving only a proud and aloof figure.
As I stepped out of Zuiyue Tower, the cold rain lashed against my face.
The man who had been beaten was unconscious in the mud, blood trickling down his forehead and staining the sewage beneath him.
Several stray dogs, seemingly appearing out of nowhere, were wagging their tails happily as they licked up the scattered coarse rice and blood from the mud.
The unconscious man was surrounded by a dense crowd of people.
They were all emaciated, dressed in patched and tattered clothes, yet they straightened their already hunched backs, as if they had suddenly become saints judging sin, pointing and gesturing at their unconscious kin.
A skinny monkey who worked odd jobs at Master Zhao's house spat and said in a tone that suggested he also shared the surname Zhao, "That's just not understanding the bigger picture! Don't they even take a piss and look at themselves in the mirror? They can't afford to raise a whole litter, yet they still have a whole family? That's called a lack of self-discipline! If there are too many people like this, how can the overall quality of our Great Wei improve?"
A nearby old man, looking distressed because he couldn't find work, chimed in viciously, "That's right! I say it's good that he was beaten! It's because there are too many shameless people like him who keep having babies that they've embezzled our wages! If I had this job, I would definitely save it, unlike him who is so greedy."
"Exactly! If it weren't for these burdensome people, would the city officials have needed to raise taxes? Our lives would be much better by now!"
"Serves you right, you're destined to be poor."
The rain is getting heavier.
The stray dog licked the rice clean, let out a satisfied whimper, and ran off.
Meanwhile, the hungry onlookers were still excitedly criticizing the father who was trying to feed his child in the rain, as if stepping on the unfortunate man would bring them one step closer to the high and mighty Master Zhao.
Listening to these arguments that are exactly the same as those of the powerful and wealthy upstairs, and watching these pitiful creatures who have been sold out yet are still helping others count the money, venting their anger at being exploited on the weaker ones.
Gu Yan pulled down his straw hat, his eyes sharp as an eagle's.
This group of people not only accepted the shackles, but also learned to praise them, and even spontaneously rejected their companion who tried to make a fuss.
The tamed human heart is dirtier than this muddy ground; colder than this biting icy rain.