Cursed Mountains and Seas

Chapter 15 If one hears the Way in the morning, one may die content in the evening.

Xue Da found the swallowtail cold-water fish that they had just captured, thanks to his talent of "greed for wealth and ruining destiny".

No one could have foreseen the tax collection process, so naturally, it hasn't been processed yet.

"Stop! Put down our 100,000 seafood treasures!"

The two boatmen who stayed on the boat to watch over the house tried to stop him, but Xue Da pushed them away.

This man's mastery of the Yaksha staff technique was exceptional, making him one of the best in the army. He was far beyond the capabilities of two boatmen.

Having no interest in inspecting the other worthless catch, he picked up the wooden bucket and jumped off the boat.

When the two tax collectors saw the strangely shaped sea creature with their own eyes, their eyes lit up, and they pretended to be dignified as they addressed Wang Cheng and his party:

"The dynasty has its own laws and regulations, which combine both the original and the discounted colors."

The magistrate is kind-hearted and has saved you the trouble of selling your catch to exchange for silver. This time, you can pay your taxes in kind.

I think this fresh fish is worth its price.

Wang Cheng almost laughed in anger when he saw the identical greedy faces of everyone in the Water Management Bureau.

Just like grain harvesting, fishing tax collection does indeed have a distinction between its original value and its discounted value.

"Natural products" refers to processed products obtained by fishermen from their catch, such as dried fish, fish oil, and swim bladders, which are usually local products.

"Zhese" means to convert currency or silver into cash based on commodity prices.

The ratio of the two taxes is not fixed. Sometimes the full amount is levied in the red, sometimes the full amount is levied in the original color, sometimes it is half, sometimes it is 30/70, which is very complicated.

It's common for tax officials to try every means to collect more taxes.

In any case, given that they are dealing with a group of illiterate fishermen, the right to interpret the situation belongs entirely to them.

Anyone who dares to resist taxes or pay less will be dragged into forced labor without a word, and it's not uncommon for them to kill someone on the spot if they're angered.

A group of tax collectors and tax clerks admired the 100,000-dollar sea delicacy, the "Swallowtail Cold Yellowtail," which was worth 230 incense coins. They then waved their hands at Wang Cheng and his group as if to show them mercy, telling them to get lost.

But no one could do that!

Incense money is a necessary hard currency for all ghosts and gods. It is a quantification of the power of incense offerings and vows. At its cheapest, a single coin can be exchanged for one tael of silver. Theoretically, an ordinary self-employed farmer could only buy a 100,000-dollar sea delicacy after more than ten years of not eating or drinking.

"Release our 100,000 seafood treasures! What's the difference between government officials forcibly seizing valuable goods and fishing tyrants?"

Before the Zhang brothers could argue, the tax collectors immediately pointed crossbows and firearms at their heads.

Xue Da, who was originally a fishing tyrant, revealed a sinister smile. He put down the wooden bucket containing seafood and picked up the black dragon stick.

"Do you ignorant and arrogant Tanka people want to test whether my stick is harder or your bones are harder?"

The momentum of the Tanka people stalled.

Wang Cheng's mental vision could even see the crimson, blurry beasts rising behind a group of tax collectors. He subconsciously took a step back, suppressing the envy in his heart:

That's why even my father, the most powerful water collector, wanted to send me on a career in government, regarding an official position as the most prestigious and promising path.

The ancient sages established an alliance with the Dao, creating the Three Officials Alliance. The three officials of Heaven, Earth, and Water were all respected, with the Lord of the State as the most revered, and they relied on the Twenty-Four Solar Terms to harmonize Yin and Yang.

The ninth-rank officials of the imperial court were all ministers of the state, and not only were they unmatched among their peers, but they also enjoyed the systemic advantages of the entire dynasty, as well as the protection of the official aura derived from the divine energy of the First Emperor of Han.

Even a minor official who receives only one ten-millionth of the profits still possesses an air of authority that is completely different from that of ordinary people.

To wield great power is to bully others by abusing one's influence.

Once someone kills an official and rebels, even if they are not caught on the spot, they will be marked by the "Twenty-Four Solar Terms" and will find it difficult to move an inch within the dynasty's territory, unless they escape the land and become a pirate.

By analogy to cultivation worlds, the Great Zhao Dynasty is the number one sect in the world for divine cultivation!

For this reason, although Xue Da was not an official, he immediately became arrogant and domineering after simply putting on a uniform, no longer taking his former Tanka people kin seriously.

As the tax collectors pressed closer, Wang Cheng suddenly stopped and stood in front of the fierce-looking Xue Da, blocking the 100,000-sea treasure.

He didn't even glance at the traitorous Tanka man, but instead bowed to the two tax collectors and began to speak eloquently:

"Officers, let's talk about the poll tax. As long as a person is alive, they have to pay it even if they don't go to sea. We accept that the Tanka people pay more than the farmers. But what about this tax?"
According to the "Great Zhao Code", the imperial court established the Capital Water Management Office.

The scope of taxation covers lakes, ponds, rivers, canals, shallow waters, and high ponds, and five tax categories are levied respectively: official lake tax, pond tax, floating tax, shallow water tax, and high pond tax.

To this day, a thorough search of the "Great Zhao Code" has revealed no mention of the so-called "Eastern Sea Course"!
May I ask you both, since the dynasty both prohibits the sea and the mountains from being touched, yet forbids the Tanka people from settling ashore and leaving them to fend for themselves in the sea.

Now that the Tanka people have suddenly taken on the obligation to pay fishing taxes, or even 100,000 yuan worth of seafood, does this mean that they have the legal right to go to sea to fish and sell fish?
The maritime ban has now been lifted!
Is that what you two mean?

Wang Cheng could readily cite the laws of the Great Zhao Dynasty, and every word he uttered resounded with authority.

The fishermen on the surrounding boats, still pleading with the tax collectors, gradually brightened their eyes. What the tax collectors said made perfect sense; it was so righteous. The government officials kept claiming to collect taxes according to the law.

In the end, it turns out you didn't have this law at all!

"This"

The two minor officials were immediately speechless.

They are like gods in the eyes of ordinary people, but in the official system of the dynasty, they are nothing more than vermin that anyone can step on. How can they be qualified to undertake such important national affairs?

Moreover, the order they received in Yuegang was not from the central government, but from a high-ranking official in the prefecture who came from Minzhou.

As for whether there are other people behind the master, they have no right to know.

The master told them to accept it, so they accepted it.

As for the law? The master's word is the law!

The official in charge who brought them here, the "Du Shui Lang," is not here. If they dare to talk nonsense outside, they will be stripped of their clothes and sent back to farming the next day.

No, even the lowest-ranking officials were considered lowly, unable to cultivate land and forced to beg for food. Their lives were even worse than those of the Tanka people.

Unable to contain his anger, which was outwardly fierce but inwardly weak, he shouted:
"Who are you?"

Zhang Wen had already brought a scholar's blue robe from the boat and respectfully draped it over his scholar's shoulders.

Wang Cheng flicked the wrinkles off his blue robe and gave them a dashing smile:
"I am Wang Fugui, a scholar from Xiangzhou Prefecture in the thirty-eighth year of the Shaozhi reign."

It's not scary to be a petty troublemaker; what's scary is a troublemaker with education.

Even the lowest-ranking students in the affiliated schools were still scholars, exempt from corvée labor, taxes, and even from bowing to officials.

It can be said that in feudal dynasties, only those who had obtained the title of Xiucai (a scholar who passed the lowest level of the imperial examinations) were considered real people in terms of their personal character, rather than being treated as worthless animals.

The Water Conservancy Bureau had no jurisdiction over a mere scholar.

What these tax collectors and tax officers didn't know was that just as Wang Cheng exposed their violation of the "Great Zhao Code," a large group of fishermen joined in the outrage.

Om-!
A faint wisp of official aura above their heads became clouded, undergoing some unknown change, their imposing presence plummeting to almost nothing.

The two tax collectors remained silent, but Xue Da swung his black dragon cudgel, producing a piercing whistling sound that sent Wang Cheng's hair flying backward. He arrogantly declared:
"Scholar Wang, are you going to stand up for these Tanka people?"

Even the most powerful water collector, Prince Jinghai, was easily killed by the imperial court. You'd better think carefully about whether you can bear the consequences of getting involved with the Tanka people.

Seeing that he couldn't reason with him, Zhang Wu and Zhang Wen resorted to brute force, even daring to disrespect the Prince of Jinghai, who died for all the Tanka people.

With both old and new grudges combined, they wanted to fight this traitor to the death, but Wang Cheng, whose eyes also flashed with cold light, grabbed them and shook his head.

Turning his head, he seemed frightened by Xue Da's fierceness, shrinking his neck and stepping aside to avoid the bucket of water.

"I'll give it to you, but this isn't tax; it's money that I, a scholar, 'sell' to you."

Xue Da didn't care about anything else; he just wanted to get the goods.

"You're smart to know what's good for you." With a cold snort, he reached out and took the swallowtail amberjack.

The transaction is complete!
As if he had given up, Wang Cheng led a group of still indignant Tanka people away from the dock, his fear vanishing in an instant.

The crowd looked at the "gang leader" with a puzzled expression. He could kill the ferocious Haizhu Ghost with a single arrow back then, so how could he be afraid of a mere fishing tyrant today?
There must be a deeper meaning behind doing this.

Wang Cheng gave a cold smile:
"Zhang Wen, you've read the most books, have you ever heard of a line from the Analects of Confucius?"

Just like four years ago, the young Tanka man had his hard-earned treasure stolen once again. He was now clenching his fists, his eyes bloodshot.

Hearing this, he turned around somewhat blankly, only to see Wang Cheng recite, word by word, the words of the sage that everyone knew:

"If I hear the Way in the morning, I can die content in the evening!"

He had already completed a transaction by "selling" the Swallowtail Cold-blooded Amberjack to Xue Da.

Satisfying the other party's obsession with getting rich, I successfully found the way to his house in the "Four Seas Treasure" coin.
"Moon Harbor, Green Willow Lane, the third shop on the west side!"

Not only that.

It should be understood that only by abiding by the relevant precepts could officials appointed by the imperial court be protected by the "Twenty-Four Precepts," thus enabling them to bully others.

If no one exposes it, it's fine if it stirs up public sentiment and backfires.

If the people don't report it, the officials won't investigate; they'll embezzle what they want and take what they want.

But once officials are exposed for knowingly breaking the law and are publicly humiliated, their protective "official aura" is immediately tarnished. If they are then secretly killed by someone, they can't blame anyone else!

(End of this chapter)