Jiang Shumiao nodded.
"I could tell the first time I saw you that you were blessed with good fortune, which turned misfortune into good luck and made everything go smoothly for you."
"Stop!"
Wen Zhixuan made a stop gesture. "If everything went smoothly for me, the Jiang family would have been wiped out long ago."
Jiang Shumiao: "Isn't this exactly what you saw in your dream?"
Wen Zhixuan choked.
Jiang Shumiao continued, "After my sister died, you locked her soul, but you had to revive her body for her to come back to life. So you tried to refine demon pills and use forbidden techniques, but you still couldn't succeed. Most people would give up at this point, but you were stubborn and determined to achieve your goal. So you abandoned your country and went to the East Sea."
"Bringing the living back to life is an act of perversion. Even if Heaven were to turn a blind eye, Fengdu would not allow it; you can't possibly succeed. So—"
Wen Zhixuan's eyelids twitched violently.
"So I went mad and slaughtered the entire immortal realm."
Jiang Shumiao didn't reply, but her expression said it all.
Wen Zhixuan's face darkened.
"Are you kidding me? There are so many powerful beings in the Immortal Realm. If I had that ability, I would have ascended to the Nine Heavens long ago. Why would I be afraid of not being able to resurrect a dead person?"
"If you can kill demons and take their cores, you can naturally kill cultivators as well."
Jiang Shumiao argued vehemently, "Besides, you were the emperor of the mortal realm back then, and you must have stolen my uncle's Ziwei True Qi. Not to mention the great powers of the immortal realm, even the gods would avoid your sharp edge. You even killed the person next to you in bed, what else wouldn't you do?"
Wen Zhixuan choked again.
In my dream, he was like a murderous maniac.
Slaughtering noble families and royalty, killing demons and destroying immortals.
They've gone to extreme lengths to revive Jiang Shuman.
If even the immortal sects cannot fulfill his wish, he might really...
No!
Wen Zhixuan could not accept that possibility.
He traveled here to prevent the destruction of the immortal sects, to ensure the eternal prosperity of the mortal realm's mystical sects, and to change history...
But Jiang Shumiao told him that he might be the real culprit.
What about the Wen family ancestors?
Where are we now?
For the first time, Wen Zhixuan felt bewildered.
"No, these are all just your guesses and don't count."
Wen Zhixuan shook his head, his face pale, with an unspeakable panic in his eyes. "Everything has changed. The Immortal Realm will no longer be in danger of destruction."
Jiang Shumiao looked at him strangely, "It wasn't you who changed it. Besides, if it wasn't you, it proves that there are others eyeing the Immortal Realm, and the calamity still exists. I think you should pray that it's you, because with your current temperament and abilities, you really can't do it."
Wen Zhixuan: "..."
How is he supposed to respond to that?
"Can you... protect the immortal realm?"
Jiang Shumiao nodded.
"As long as they don't do anything reckless, I can protect them."
Wen Zhixuan breathed a sigh of relief.
Jiang Shumiao found him strange, but having said what she needed to say, she turned to leave.
"etc."
Wen Zhixuan suddenly called out to her, his tone unusually uneasy, "Can...I still go back?"
Despite having a son in this world who is his blood relative, he still wants to go home.
His loved ones also exist in that world.
"Of course you can."
Jiang Shumiao looked at him with an expression that said, "What nonsense are you talking about?" "You are not from this world. Unless the space completely collapses, even if you die, you will have to go back to that world to die."
If everything is as she suspects, then Wen Zhixuan is the one who destroyed the Immortal Realm.
Space really might collapse.
So, did the goddess Nuwa send her into this time and space?
not understand.
Jiang Shumiao scratched his head and walked through the wall.
Wen Zhixuan got the result he wanted and was somewhat relieved.
He began the next step of his plan.
Reform the land system.
One of the reasons why powerful clans and aristocratic families were so powerful was that they occupied a large amount of land, and private land was not subject to taxation.
In the feudal era, when productivity was low and taxes were heavy, ordinary people struggled to make ends meet. Powerful landlords used various means to buy and seize land from poor peasants, then leased it to them, making them tenant farmers.
Tenant farmers did not own their own land and could only live by depending on landlords.
Most of the annual harvest was used to pay rent.
The rest could not make a living.
As a result, the phenomenon of selling one's son or daughter became commonplace in society.
Behind the red gates, meat and wine go to waste; on the roads, the bones of those frozen to death lie.
In addition, land consolidation is rampant, the state ownership of land has been severely damaged, and the national treasury is facing a shortage of revenue.
In the event of war, powerful families would have to contribute money and manpower, thus increasing their power while weakening the imperial authority.
Therefore, reforming the land system is urgently needed.
Wen Zhixuan proposed the Equal-Field System, which allocated unclaimed land to small farmers according to population, and the land would become their property after a certain number of years of cultivation. Furthermore, the private land of aristocratic families should also be subject to land tax.
Both blades were aimed directly at the vital points of the aristocratic families.
Emperor Hongde hesitated slightly, "Reforming the tax system is tantamount to forcing aristocratic families to pay money at knifepoint, which may cause a backlash."
Wen Zhixuan smiled and said, “Your Majesty, the imperial examination alone is not enough to weaken the aristocratic families. Moreover, the imperial examination takes time to select talents. Even if these children from poor families enter the court, they will only be minor officials, and the power they receive from the aristocratic families will be negligible. Military force and money are their foundation.”
Emperor Hongde naturally understood this principle.
The late emperor tried every means to suppress the powerful families during his reign, but with little effect. In the end, it was just treating the symptoms, not the root cause.
Wen Zhixuan continued, “If the equal-field system can be promoted and implemented, it will not only harm the interests of aristocratic families, but also promote population growth. In the past two years, Your Majesty has promoted military officers from humble backgrounds, but they have always been suppressed by aristocratic families. Your Majesty, you can no longer tolerate this.”
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