The more tax-free land there is, the more impoverished the people become.
Zhao Minggeng's method was a complete disaster.
This made ordinary people feel that the scholars they once looked up to were actually bloodsuckers.
Those princes and nobles all returned their fiefdoms to the court for the sake of its prosperity.
Those high-ranking officials were willing to give up tax-exempt land for the sake of the imperial court, without taking advantage of it.
Why are you scholars considered so precious?
Moreover, the imperial court has provided you all with rice, grain, and silver, as well as numerous job opportunities.
You all benefit so much, how dare you criticize the imperial court and the officials who help the people?
They're such ingrates.
Just because of a single announcement, the image of intellectuals in the eyes of ordinary people has collapsed.
Even scholars who have always considered themselves highly educated are beginning to doubt themselves, wondering if they truly possess a sense of national righteousness.
In any case, the uproar caused by canceling the tax-free land has subsided, but the aftermath is that Zhao Minggeng is even less popular.
However, he didn't care.
Whether you like me or not is not important.
The important thing is that the emperor likes me, since I'm just doing things for him.
Only the Minister of Revenue truly sympathized with Zhao Minggeng.
After all, he had been involved in it before, but Zhao Minggeng took all the blame.
If the father is not well-liked, naturally his children will also be poorly liked.
Recently, fewer people have been going to Huicui Pavilion to spend money. The reason is simple: Huicui Pavilion is Zhao Minggeng's daughter's business.
Zhao Qingyan had already instructed Chang Yi and the others to keep an eye on the income situation at Huicui Pavilion, and upon learning the result, she merely curled her lip.
She thought these officials' wives would have some backbone, but is that all?
In her opinion, the place should be deserted.
Before their income plummeted to a certain level, Huicui Pavilion launched a new drama series called "The Future".
The story is about a country that was originally thriving...
However, due to management problems, things got worse and worse, and eventually the country was on the verge of collapse.
Frequent border wars have left the national treasury with no money or grain to allocate.
The officers and soldiers were too hungry to lift their weapons.
Despite natural disasters, the national treasury remains tight, and there is no money to allocate disaster relief funds.
When everyone was getting anxious, it was discovered after investigation that the taxable area was decreasing year by year.
The lost lands were all in the hands of the powerful. And the powerful did not have to pay taxes.
If so, the country will perish if no measures are taken; if measures are taken, there will naturally be scapegoats.
Ultimately, someone stepped forward.
For the greater good of the nation, he sacrificed himself, was ostracized, and disliked. Even when he tried to find a wife through matchmaking, he was disliked.
The protagonist is so pitiful that he has to hold a bowl and squat in a corner to eat.
Every bite of food brings tears to my eyes. Life is as miserable as it gets.
The audience felt immense sympathy for the protagonist, wishing they could share their own food with him.
Officials' wives who had seen the play naturally wanted to go home and share it with their families.
The word spread like wildfire, and "Future" became a hit.
Those colleagues who had been threatened by Zhao Minggeng also understood Zhao Minggeng's good intentions.
Some even linked him to the protagonist in the drama, feeling that Zhao Minggeng must have been bullied at home and was pitiful to death.
Are they even unable to afford food?
Thinking back on their own attitude towards Zhao Minggeng, they felt they had gone too far.
If Zhao Minggeng hadn't stepped forward and willingly played the villain, would the Divine Dragon Kingdom have truly ended up like the one depicted in the drama?
The thought is chilling; your hearts trembled.
Just because of one drama, the protagonist was portrayed as extremely miserable, coupled with Zhao Qingyan's manipulation of public opinion.
Zhao Minggeng, who was once repulsive, suddenly became popular with his colleagues.
"It was our narrow-mindedness that led to this court; Lord Zhao has borne the brunt of it all."
In the face of such apology matters,
Zhao Minggeng was completely taken aback, but in the end, he still waved his hand calmly.
"It's nothing, it's just what a citizen of the Divine Dragon Kingdom should do."
This is because it doesn't have a big tail; otherwise, we would definitely have seen Zhao Minggeng's tail swishing around in a spectacular display.
At various gatherings, his colleagues were always willing to invite Zhao Minggeng.
However, Zhao Minggeng refused, as the matter of the last group of assassins was not yet over.
Pulling out the radish brings out the mud; the assassins, having lost their initial opportunity to commit suicide, ended up confessing quite a bit.
The colleague who drank with Zhao Minggeng was indeed involved in the assassination attempt.
The son of that colleague was framed and ended up owing 200,000 taels of silver in gambling debts.
If they don't pay, their limbs will be cut off.
That person couldn't raise enough money, and even less could they stand by and watch their son have his hands and feet cut off.
So he had no choice but to agree to invite Zhao Minggeng out for drinks.
Such a simple request was naturally agreed to by that colleague.
Then what happened next occurred.
Although those who had been coerced by Zhao Minggeng knew that he was skilled in martial arts.
But how could someone who has been drugged and given muscle relaxants possibly still have the strength to fight?
The variable is that Zhao Minggeng can identify these basic poisons.
As a result, the colleague was naturally dismissed from his post. The mastermind behind the assassin was neither royalty nor any of the officials.
It was the first and foremost family, the Qilian family.
The Qilian family was the most affected by the cancellation of tax-free farmland.
Therefore, some of the younger members of the clan, unable to remain calm, devised this plan to assassinate Zhao Minggeng.
It backfired.
Well, if they hadn't done that unnecessary thing—poisoning the drink—it would have been a real shame.
Zhao Minggeng had no reservations; he might just launch a surprise attack, and Zhao Minggeng might fall into their trap.
Unfortunately, there are no "what ifs" in this world.
The Qilian family did manage to find a scapegoat.
Despite bearing the blame for Qilian Hanshuang's crime, the imperial court's actions against the Qilian family gradually unfolded.
For an imperial court to target a family is all too easy. It's impossible to guard against.
This infuriated the head of the Qilian family, who wanted to seize his impulsive and brainless grandson and hand him over to the imperial court.
It was all too late.
In order to preserve their strength, the Qilian family members gradually withdrew from the public eye.
It is said that they fled the capital and went to a coastal city, where the whole family escaped by boat.
After the direct descendants escaped, the collateral branches also tried various ways to escape.
Ultimately, all the businesses that had been operating in the Divine Dragon Kingdom for many years were seized.
What's even more incredible is that, by sheer coincidence, they managed to raid the treasure vault that the Qilian family had left in the Divine Dragon Kingdom.
If the head of the Qilian family were to find out about this, he would probably vomit three liters of blood.
Whether it was a psychological phenomenon or not, the head of the Qilian family did indeed have a dream the night his treasure vault was raided.
I dreamt that the clan's treasure trove was confiscated by the government. The old patriarch was so anxious that he coughed up blood when he woke up.
From then on, his health deteriorated, and before he even reached the planned island, his body collapsed.
Ultimately, he did not die on land.
Qilian Hanshuang was deeply saddened upon learning of her grandfather's death and subsequently disappeared. Her clansmen never saw this young master again.
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