Chapter 1187: Mud-Legged Ones

Chen Guanlou was lectured by his eldest sister, Chen Xiaolan, ate a table of sumptuous home-cooked food, and headed home.

Someone in the clan was marrying off a daughter in a few days and asked him for help, which he readily agreed to. Another family was taking in a daughter-in-law. It all happened at once. He looked at the calendar and realized that good days were bunched together recently, and it was the season after the autumn harvest, when every household had money and grain, which was indeed suitable for holding happy events.

Whoever was marrying off a daughter or taking in a daughter-in-law was rushing to do it during this period.

He attended several banquets in one go, eating at feasts every three days.

Chen Guanlou discovered that the feasts were not as sumptuous as they had been a few years ago. At a glance, the difference wasn't big, but the gap was hidden in the details. For example, the grade of the wine and tea, and the variety and portion of the meat dishes.

People who lived roughly might not notice the difference.

But Chen Guanlou, having served in the Heavenly Prison for years, had long since honed his observational skills. A careful look revealed that everyone's life wasn't as good as it had been a few years ago!

He chatted with someone casually. "How is business this year?"

"Business is hard to do!"

"Is business in the south also hard to do?"

"It's all been ruined, not as good as a few years ago." He lowered his voice. "During the years Prince Chujiang was in power, business was truly easy to do, and one could truly make money. Now that the imperial court is in charge, it's actually not as good as it was under Prince Chujiang."

"How could it be like this? Logically speaking, the imperial court has recovered the lost territory, and the people are living and working in peace; business should be getting better."

"Don't mention it! The imperial court claims various tax breaks for the people in the former territory of Prince Chujiang, but in reality, it's very harsh. When we go there to run business, there's a checkpoint every so often, asking this and that. If it weren't for the backing of the Marquis Prefecture, let alone making money, it would be a blessing not to lose money. Some unlucky ones were even thrown into prison; if they don't spit out their money, don't even think about getting out of prison."

Chen Guanlou clicked his tongue in wonder. "I thought the south was getting better, but hearing you say this, it's actually worse."

"Those officials, along with the local powerful families, are squeezing us to the limit. I heard from the locals that when the war was fought, the local powerful families transported grain and wealth for the imperial court, and now they want to earn it back double. They don't dare ask the imperial court for it, so they can only take it out on the common people. Every one of them deserves to die!"

Chen Guanlou understood everything in his heart upon hearing this.

He had heard back then that the imperial court had no money or grain, and the war was difficult to sustain. It was Xie Gechen who, with his own strength, organized the powerful families in the south to donate grain and supplies to support the front line. Only then did they defeat Prince Chujiang's army.

Now, they were starting to pay back the debt.

Alas, the debtor was acting like a rogue, relying on the power in their hands to shift the debt onto the local people. The local government was acting as a tiger's accomplice; none of them were good things.

This move by Xie Gechen was truly 'beautiful'! He was worthy of being a politician, using other people's lives, other people's assets, and other people's land as bargaining chips to drive them!

The final goal was achieved, he didn't get a single leaf on his body, and he even gained the reputation of a virtuous minister!

Chen Guanlou expressed deep disdain.

Officials truly didn't have a single good thing among them; they were all shameless scoundrels.

The southern market was sluggish, and the northern market was equally sluggish.

A clansman running the northwest line nagged, "With the Marquis's care, there's no need to worry about safety. But business in the northwest is also hard to do. Xiliang goes south every year; that place is poor to the point of madness, specializing in grabbing grain and women, burning, killing, and looting.

Logically speaking, grain should sell very well there. But the roads aren't peaceful, the consumption on the road is too high, and although the Marquis is there, the local government also needs to be greased. After all, a county magistrate is not as good as the one currently in charge.

I'm afraid of the grain business, so I turned to the fabric business, but it's a bunch of poor wretches who can't afford anything. I only stare at a few rich guys, but with such a large quantity, the few rich guys can't eat it all. In order to clear the goods, it dragged on month after month. If it were previous years, once the goods were pulled over, it would be resolved within a month. Now, three to five months is considered fast."

"It can't be that bad! Don't those Xiliang people need fabrics? Isn't there any smuggling going out?"

"Of course there is smuggling. But they have other sources and channels, and they are secretive. When people ask and find out we are the Marquis's clansmen, they don't even contact us, fearing we'll play dirty. Heh, a bunch of ignorant fellows. If it weren't for the fact that we don't interfere with each other, I would have reported this bunch long ago."

This was completely different from the situation Chen Guanlou had imagined. He thought that in the northwest, in the war zone, the economy would develop in a distorted prosperity. The goods used by rich families should be in short supply, and merchants should be making a fortune.

He asked the question, and the other party told him, "That's all old news. Xiliang has been frequently going south these past few years, and no one knows where Xiliang will enter from next time or where they will kill. So the locals, this place..." The clansman pointed to his head. "Their thinking has changed. Survival is paramount, and they all want to run away.

If it weren't for the local government strictly controlling the issuance of travel permits, even more people would have run. Even so, many villages have been emptied of people; they would rather be refugees than stay in that ghost place."

"People always say it's hard to leave one's homeland; I didn't expect the people in the northwest to be so willing to leave."

"What else can they do if they are unwilling? The northwest hasn't been peaceful for the past ten years. After fighting the rebels, they fought Prince Chujiang, and after fighting Prince Chujiang, they fought Xiliang. I don't know when this war will end. The government conscripts grain and soldiers, and Xiliang comes to kill and grab grain; they can't live! It's better to flee and be a refugee; perhaps there's still a glimmer of survival."

"In that case, both the south and north economies are collapsing, and the imperial court can still collect taxes?"

Several clansmen all chuckled upon hearing this. "What do commercial taxes count for? Without commercial taxes, there are plenty of mud-legged ones for the imperial court to squeeze. If there's no money, find the mud-legged ones to collect some. If there's no one to fight, find the mud-legged ones to conscript for military service. Anyway, there are plenty of mud-legged ones in the world; the imperial court won't collapse."

"No matter how poor the mud-legged ones are, if you squeeze them hard, you can still squeeze out three taels of oil."

"And squeezing the mud-legged ones doesn't require worrying about them resisting. It doesn't affect the official's future. Squeezing us merchants—everyone knows a few rich and powerful people, and we have our own ways to get back at them."

A few people said one thing after another, explaining the ways of the world clearly.

A strange sorrow welled up in Chen Guanlou's heart!

Mud-legged ones, mud-legged ones!

Since ancient times, the weakest and most easily bullied people were the mud-legged ones. Even the city dwellers knew this, and the imperial court knew it even better, and had formulated a set of effective systems and means to squeeze the mud-legged ones.

He laughed at himself, fortunately he wasn't a mud-legged one.

If he were a mud-legged one without a martial pulse, where would he go to practice martial arts, where would he hunt for secret manuals, where would he get money? Life would be ten or a hundred times more difficult!

It was precisely because of the large number of mud-legged ones that this dilapidated house of the Great Gan could continue to exist in the wind and rain, shielding the powerful from the wind and rain. The Great Gan empire was broken and ragged, but it was always a distance away from the edge of bankruptcy where it would fall at a single push, still hanging on with a few breaths.

It's just unknown how much longer these few breaths can sustain its life! ===== CHAPTER 1188 =====