novelraw Chapter 420: Heavens Secrets Must Not Be Revealed
Chapter 420: Heavens Secrets Must Not Be Revealed
Li Daoxuan understood that the two county magistrates had come this time to discuss the issue of “tax collection” with him.
Chengcheng County had not collected any taxes since Fang Yaocai died in Year Seven of Tianqi.
After Liang Shixian assumed office, he had been using the help of the Donglin Party and employing a delay tactic; Feng Jun also joined in the delay.
Both were being evasive with the court, but now the court had pursued them earnestly, using words like “if they exceed the deadline and fail to report, they will be severely punished together,” indicating a serious effort to recover the unpaid taxes.
Could they continue this deception?
The two county magistrates were panicking in their hearts.
Li Daoxuan thought to himself: This is indeed a problem! If the court played seriously, they were bound to arrest and deal with these two county magistrates, and he would definitely have to protect them; once things escalated, the court might send troops to attack his place.
Li Daoxuan was certainly not afraid of the court attacking; just a few slaps would finish off the Ming army.
But what benefit was there in killing all the Ming army?
None!There was no benefit at all.
Consuming large numbers of Ming troops here would only make the entire realm more out of control; more common people would be harmed by bandits, and the Jurchens in the northeast might also invade the Central Plains, causing an even more terrible scene of devastation.
It was not yet the time to have a direct confrontation with the Ming court.
How, then, could they ensure that the two county magistrates were not dealt with?
To be honest, this was indeed not easy to handle.
He could never take money out to help pay the taxes because once the tax silver fell into the court’s hands, it could not be used for the people; most of it was squandered by corrupt officials, and he did not want to give even one copper coin to these corrupt officials.
How, then, could this be resolved peacefully?
Li Daoxuan suddenly thought of something: “Who is the current Provincial Governor of Shaanxi?”
Liang Shixian said respectfully: “Liu Guangsheng.”
Li Daoxuan typed the three characters “Liu Guangsheng” into the computer and searched…
Before long, he had thoroughly investigated this fellow’s life story.
Of course, “judging a person based on history” was a major taboo; it was impossible to discern a person’s character and morality from historical records alone, but some major events in history could serve as crucial references, for example… Liu Guangsheng was about to step down soon.
The reason for his resignation was also simple.
It was precisely because of this tax collection drive.
The court wanted him to hand over the unpaid taxes from Shaanxi; Liu Guangsheng could not possibly submit it—no one understood better than him how terrible the state of Shaanxi was; to ask him to pay taxes was worse than killing him, so he simply gave up the burden and fled.
Seeing this, Li Daoxuan could not help but chuckle; this late Ming history was truly…
He said into the box: “Don’t worry about the tax issue.”
The two county magistrates could not help but be stunned: “Don’t worry? This… this matter was already like hair on fire—extremely urgent.”
Li Daoxuan said: “Don’t worry, if anyone’s hair was on fire, it would not be yours; just relax and boldly delay; if the Provincial Governor asked why there were unpaid taxes, just play dead—tell him there was none, and that was that; if he demanded the tax, there was none, but he could take their lives if he wanted.”
The two county magistrates said: “Would this really work?”
Li Daoxuan said: “If he said it would work, then it would; this was a heavenly secret; heavenly secrets must not be revealed; they should just do as told.”
That nonsense like “heavenly secrets must not be revealed,” if a Taoist priest had spoken it to the two county magistrates, they might already have ordered the yamen runners to “seize this divine being.”
But when these words came from the mouth of the Deity, it felt entirely different.
The two exchanged glances and nodded, feeling much steadier inside: “Then we your humble officials will do just that.”
They did not hurry back to the yamen. Instead, they borrowed paper and pen in Gaojia Fortress and wrote a load of nonsense. It started with some objective reasons, like three years of drought and rampant bandits, basically excuses throughout. The whole thing contained no direct challenge, but it clearly showed five big words: “No taxes, take my life if you want.”
They sent a trusted aide to rush this letter to Xi’an for Provincial Governor Liu Guangsheng to review. Then, each went home, plumped their pillows, and slept soundly, waiting to see what this “heavenly secret” was all about.
Several days later, news arrived.
Provincial Governor of Shaanxi Liu Guangsheng submitted a memorial to the court, saying taxes could not be paid. It began with objective reasons, much like what the two county magistrates had written. The entire memorial hadn’t a word directly opposing the emperor, but it clearly showed five big words: “No taxes, take my life if you want.”
Zhu Youjian was furious. Before he could vent his anger, he saw Liu Guangsheng’s final line: “I’m resigning!”
This exalted provincial governor official directly declared his resignation on grounds of ill health.
The New Provincial Governor Wang Shunxing took office immediately. But being new, he too was powerless to turn things around, only continuing to submit memorials to request: “Waive all unpaid taxes for Chongzhen Year One, Year Two, and the full arrears for Year Three; substitute alternate sums for the portion allocated to capital transportation.”
Zhu Youjian was dumbfounded at the sight. Were all provincial governors pulling such stunts?
Forget it! Forget it!
He couldn’t just appoint yet another provincial governor, could he?
This emperor must endure it!
Thus, the tax arrears were postponed once again.
Only then did the two county magistrates realize how this so-called heavenly secret had unfolded. The Deity truly was a powerful immortal, knowing the past five hundred years, the future five hundred years, and every detail in between.
…
Ancient ferry dock.
The stockade wall had been built, circling the ancient ferry dock tightly around to encase it completely. Three tall arrow towers stood protecting the dock in a triangular formation.
This water fortification dock had been constructed quite large. When planning this stockade, Old Nan Feng had designed it on military camp scale to hold three thousand people. Now, it housed only Three Hundred Cavalry Troops, three hundred infantry soldiers, and over a thousand commoners, which was more than ample.
Not only was the space plentiful, but it was also divided into zones.
There was a cavalry camp zone, an infantry camp zone, a zone for commoners, and a zone for the grain storage warehouse. Gates stood between the four zones with guards stationed who barred anyone from casually crossing zones without getting Gao Chuwu’s Token.
With his skills in setting up camp like this, Old Nan Feng had effortlessly outshone everyone in Gaojia Village; even Cheng Xu was certainly no match for him.
However…
A problem arose!
Gao Chuwu had no Token at all.
It was all rough and ready ways; where would a Token come from?
Therefore, Xing Honglang was holding a fine piece of wood, rapidly carving it with a knife to personally make a Token for her husband.
Old Nan Feng was strolling behind the newly erected stockade wall. He waved a porter over and pointed to a spot: ‘Dig a hole here, a small tunnel through the entire wall to see outside. Then make a little cover plate to cap the hole.’
The porter was deeply puzzled: ‘Boss, why do this?’
Old Nan Feng snorted: ‘Call me General, not boss.’
The porter quickly changed his words: ‘General, why dig a hole and then make a plate? Isn’t that just wasted effort?’
Old Nan Feng said: ‘This is a loophole for firearms, fool. We must dig loopholes all around this stockade wall. Keep them covered with plates normally; to fire, open the plate and extend the firearm out to shoot.’