Yefutidaolu

Chapter 195: Discussion at the Helm
Zuo An and Zuo Qing sat in the Zuo family's meeting hall.

There are only two of them here.

Just a few days ago, the two were at loggerheads, ready to fight to the death, and were even willing to resort to assassination.

But now, the two of them sat down and started chatting.

There is no other reason.

The Zuo family has encountered too many things in the past few days.

It has reached the point where they are neither qualified nor have the time to cause chaos. The two of them must sit down and talk. Even if they have to fight, it can be done later. The most urgent task is to stabilize their position and get through the New Year's Eve festival at the end of the year in peace.

"So, let's not fight for now. We need to be on duty everywhere to get through the year-end festival. At least in these two months, nothing can happen to the Zuo family." Zuo Qing said with his eyes closed.

Zuo An also nodded: "Each of you should suppress your subordinates and appease the elders. Things cannot escalate any further. The internal fighting has consumed too much strength, and the external chaos continues. Now the tribesmen are probably divided. In this state, I am afraid that they will not survive the end-of-year festival."

"Gather all the clan members and make everything clear. Let's resolve all their grudges now. We cannot allow internal strife among the heirs because of the death of the heir. We must make it clear that within three months, the selection among the heirs will not be considered. Once trouble occurs during this period, regardless of talent and performance, they will be removed from the list." Zuo Qing said.

"Okay." Zuo An nodded.

They soon reached a new agreement.

Putting aside all disputes, he used an almost tough approach to demand that all members of the Zuo family give up all fighting, even the hatred for their father's murder, and endure it until the ancestor went into seclusion.

If anyone can't stand it, just leave the Zuo family and go out on your own and solve the problem however you want.

Isn't it inhumane?
Yes, inhumane.

But Zuo An and Zuo Qing both knew that now was not the time to show favoritism.

The continuous blows suffered by the Zuo family have even caused problems with cash flow, because too many clansmen have seen a sharp increase in consumption recently, while revenue has decreased by a considerable amount.

Over the past few hundred years, a large part of the Zuo family's revenue came from offerings from sacrifices and blood sacrifices to monsters. For example, the Baishan River water tribe would bring a lot of wealth to contribute to the Zuo family every year.

The Zuo family also has some industries, such as chambers of commerce, workshops, and dojos, forming a comprehensive wealth circulation mechanism with sacrifice as the core and various industries as branches.

There is usually no problem with this mechanism. The Zuo family can rely on it to continuously absorb the wealth of Cangzhou, making themselves stronger and richer.

But now there is a problem.

Cangzhou's grassroots forces have been cut off. The original Baishanjiang water tribe and other grassroots gods are now cut off, and there is no time to build new ones.

In fact, they could have built a new one long ago, but how to build it, whether to rebuild the blood sacrifice system or to use "law" to regulate the new system, these two fundamental issues, Zuo An and Zuo Qing have always refused to give in, resulting in it not being successfully built until now.

But even if it is not established successfully, you still need to eat.

There are so many members in the Zuo family, and each branch and each branch has to spend money in the family.

In addition to supporting these tribesmen, there are various industries that need to be maintained and various things that need to be run, which also cost money. In addition, with the recent internal strife, there are also many expenses.

With less income and more expenses, the Zuo family’s accounts are not looking good now.

Zuo An then said, "So, what do you want to do? The fastest way to reestablish the previous income system is to rebuild the blood sacrifice. This is easy to do and can be rebuilt in half a month at most."

"And according to your method, it will take at least two months to regulate it by law. Now we are all negotiating. I don't want to say that you should follow my way, but you have to give me some advice on how to do it."

Zuo An looked at Zuo Qing, waiting for his solution.

Zuo Qing took a deep breath and said, "Rebuilding the blood sacrifice... is only temporary."

Zuo An smiled and said, "Okay."

Rebuilding the blood sacrifice, as long as it is rebuilt, it will not be so easy to tear it down and rebuild it again. Now everything is in ruins, and it is easy to build a new building.

But if it has already been built, it would not be easy to tear it down and rebuild it, so now that Zuo Qing has agreed to use blood sacrifice as the basis, it means that he has already won half the battle.

“However, I have one request, that is, the new blood sacrifice cannot be allowed to happen at will by the lower-level gods. I want to establish laws to regulate their actions.” Zuo Qing said.

"Okay." Zuo An knew that this was the price he should pay. At this critical juncture, everyone should not argue too much.

Let's both take a step back and build it first, and then discuss the style later.

Otherwise, everyone would freeze to death in the snow.

"Then go and gather the tribesmen." Zuo An stood up and prepared to leave.

But at this moment——

Suddenly someone came running outside.

This person was in a hurry, but his cultivation level was also at the sixth realm, and he was considered an upper-middle level manager in the Zuo family.

He rushed all the way here, barely maintaining etiquette, and said with a bow: "Greetings to the two helmsmen, the latest news... Donghai, Yangjing, Xijing, Yuezhou, Minzhou, Hezhou, some of the chambers of commerce and dojos that originally cooperated with us have all terminated their ties with us."

Zuo Qing and Zuo An were greatly shocked!

"What!? What right do they have to do this? Breaching the contract without reason will damage their reputation. What excuse do they have?" Zuo Qing immediately became furious and asked harshly!

Destroying the contract without authorization will result in huge losses. There must be something fishy behind this. Is there a problem on my side, or is it the other party's problem?
"Neither... neither. It's that Yangjing has issued a new decree, which says that things related to Baishan need to be re-inspected..." The manager lowered his head and said so.

Did the capital of the gods, Yangjing, issue a decree to inspect the things in Baishan? Otherwise, they would not be allowed to enter the market?

How could it happen at this critical moment? !
Baishan, which is the westernmost place of the Divine Dynasty, is further west, all the way to the grassland royal court.

The Royal Court of the Grassland is the name given by the Divine Dynasty to the land in the far west. In fact, it is a derogatory term, as people believe that the other side is nothing more than the barbarians of the grassland.

In fact, they call themselves the "Wheel Kings", worship Buddhism, and are a country outside of the Divine Dynasty. They also have their own way of spending the New Year's Eve at the end of the year, and their power is considerable.

And their holy mountain is called 'White Mountain'.

After the snow on this white mountain melts, it flows from west to east all the way to the territory of the Divine Dynasty.

The river formed by the melting snow is called "Baishan River".

There is no doubt that Cangzhou and Baishan have close relations and have done a lot of things.

"Who issued the decree for this kind of business?" Zuo An asked immediately. "We have investigated it clearly. It was... the Ministry of Revenue personally issued it. They said that there were many conflicts with Baishan and they needed to investigate it strictly. This is a copy of the document. It has been implemented!" The manager of the Sixth Realm immediately presented a jade slip.

The two immediately opened the jade slip, only to see the following words written inside:

"The grassland royal court has always had tea and horse business, and has always had trade with the Divine Dynasty. However, there have been frictions over the past few times, and the situation has not been settled until now. There are also frequent rumors that they will invade the border again."

"Whether the enemy comes or not is not a question, but whether we are prepared or not. The extreme border areas are strategically located and close to the border. If the border is not well guarded, the enemy will march straight in and attack us. There will be many things that will be unbearable to say when the time comes."

"But the grassland royal court has always been poor and weak, how can it prepare more troops? After investigation, it turns out that it is the border trade that is at fault!"

"The trade on the border here is all owned by the nobles, the powerful and influential families. The profits earned by both sides from the merchants are more than a huge amount every year. When they trade with the grassland royal court, both sides benefit, but the interests of the Divine Dynasty center are lost."

"The grassland is a greedy country. It is not deep, but has the poison of invasion. If it develops like this, it will inevitably attack again."

"They are able to profit from this because they rely on the powerful and wealthy, flaunt their status, and are close to the nobles and relatives. They have both high titles and generous salaries, and they are rich and noble. However, they are also harming the country and bringing guilt to others. Judging from the law, this is really unacceptable. If we don't deal with it first, it will not only harm the country and drain its wealth, but it may also encourage evildoers, which will have serious consequences!"

"I have specially ordered the Ministry to issue a circular, and have the Supervisory Commission compile it. In the spring, the actual figures of revenue and expenditure shall be checked. Within three months, the hidden malpractices shall be corrected, and the investigation shall be reported. This will hopefully curb the insatiable desires of the powerful and destroy the interests of the grasslands, so that their evil will not arise. When the rebels hear of this, they will know to be afraid, and only then can we avoid fighting. - Minister of Revenue, Li Zuofang."

It’s very simple and straightforward.

On the other side of Baishan, they made so much profit with the help of border trade that they recovered their vitality. The local tyrants and the grassland royal court made a fortune, but the Divine Dynasty had to pay a high price to buy these things.

Therefore, the Ministry of Revenue issued a decree to strictly check the things coming in from Baishan, in order to slow down the trade between local powerful people and the grassland royal court, at least to stop it for a while, so as to prevent them from "draining the country's wealth."

This is actually the "Anti-Dumping Regulations", which prohibit the influx of certain things and require strict review, which happens to be within the scope of the Ministry of Households' authority.

The Ministry of Revenue is the God of Wealth of the Divine Dynasty and is in charge of all these things.

It sounds high-sounding, has sufficient reasons, and is for the country and the people. No one can find fault with it.

And the impact is not that big. After all, the other party only wants to "inspect for one quarter", that is, three months. The goods will be strictly screened within these three months, and then everything will return to normal.

But... at this time, the Divine Dynasty said it would conduct an inspection. This three-month inspection would deal a heavy blow to the Zuo family's current cash flow!

Three months is not long, but not short either!
Under this situation, it was New Year's Eve, and there were a lot of places to spend money. At the same time as the grassroots funding chain was cut off, the funds for import and export were banned by an official document.

"Is it a coincidence?" Zuo Qing broke out in a cold sweat and looked towards Zuo An.

Zuo An's face was gloomy: "How could it be a coincidence? Who introduced Gao Jian? Have you forgotten?"

Who introduced Gao Jian?

Of course everyone remembers it.

The current second-rank official of the Divine Dynasty, the Minister of Revenue, Li Zuofang!
This matter is closely related to Gao Jian and Li Zuofang!

"Damn it, is Li Zuofang trying to make things difficult for us? Does he really think that we have no one in Yangjing? Send a letter to the Li family! The Ministry of Revenue is powerful, and the Li family is in the Ministry of Rites, so they may not be able to talk to them!" Zuo An slammed the table and shouted angrily.

The Li family, the largest witch family in the Divine Dynasty, has its sphere of influence in the Ministry of Rites! Whether it is the grand sacrifice at the Temple of Heaven or the daily sacrifice, all kinds of etiquette and rules are managed by the Confucian academy and the Li family.

It can be said that he controls half of the Ministry of Rites and half of the ritual planning of the Divine Dynasty. He is the Zuo family's great backer.

"Stop, there's no use in notifying the Li family." Zuo Qing rubbed his temple and stopped Zuo An.

"What?" Zuo An looked at Zuo Qing, wanting to know why he said that.

Zuo Qing said, "Even if I did notify you, so what? Three months is not a long time. Just be patient and it will pass. When the time comes, I'll ask you why you got into conflict with Li Zuofang, why these problems occurred, and what happened to the Baishan River tribe. How will you answer?"

"If we tell everything, what will become of our status in the Li family?"

Upon hearing this, Zuo An raised his hand high.

But soon, he slammed his hand on the table and said, "Three months... we have to endure it."

"Organize a loan, borrow some money from various noble families in Cangzhou, and Jinyouzhai first, stop all regular payments, and call on all clansmen to tide over the difficulties together and make it through these three months!"

Zuo Qing asked with a heavy expression: "Then, the old ancestor...will he be called out of seclusion?"

"Don't do that yet. It's crucial for our ancestor to break through the two levels." Zuo An shook his head. "We have to rely on ourselves to hold on. The bigwigs in the capital are showing us disdain. I think Gao Jian came here suddenly because of this."

"As a result, Gao Jian really found out something. If we hadn't shown our weakness, they would have been reluctant to do anything to us and would probably have turned a blind eye to it." Zuo An shook his head, gritting his teeth.

Now look back.

If the Zuo family had not fought with Gao Jian for the outer city from the beginning, but instead focused on protecting the blood sacrifice system, and not allowed any flaws to be discovered that led to internal strife, and then maintained other relationships and protected their own young master, the Zuo family would not be in its current state of fatigue.

But it's too late to say that.

Even a centipede always has some deep-rooted injuries. Now under the continuous pressure, Zuo's movements have begun to deform, and cracks have begun to appear all over his body.

Obvious.

The Zuo family has revealed various ills and weaknesses that have gradually accumulated over the past two thousand five hundred years.

"But it may not be a bad thing." Zuo Qing suddenly sighed.

Zuo An nodded: "It's not necessarily a bad thing... There is no construction without destruction. The problems exposed this time can just serve as a reminder to the family. After this battle, many things can be changed."

When something happens, you will have the motivation to correct it.

"As for the ancestor, let him stay in seclusion. It's still the same. Gather the clan members and announce our decision." Zuo Qing stood up.

Zuo An also left.

Our ancestor Zuo Lang is a lion-type leader. The daily affairs are handled by the lioness, but once he makes a decision, it cannot be disobeyed.

At this critical juncture, we cannot wake up our ancestors.

Otherwise... Zuo An and Zuo Qing will both lose all their power.

Although they keep talking about family.

But it seems... they themselves can't let go.

(End of this chapter)