How to become a Taoist priest starting from a brothel

"Of course, answering students' questions is a teacher's duty," Liu Yin said with a smile.

"The reason why I said in 'The Hereditary Houses' that the hereditary houses were one of the culprits in the collapse of the dynasty is also related to the topic we are talking about today, which involves two terms: hidden households and land annexation."

"Hidden households...land annexation?" The crowd had heard of the term "hidden households" before, and they could understand the general idea of ​​land annexation from the literal meaning, but they couldn't understand why it was related to the collapse of a dynasty.

"This relates to my new book," Liu Yin said, deliberately keeping everyone in suspense.

"Teacher~" Wang Wenxin said, pulling her along affectionately.

Liu Yin patted her head before continuing, "Since ancient times, dynasties have allowed the buying and selling of land. In fact, at the beginning of a dynasty, emperors would allow powerful nobles to acquire land. Can you understand the consequences of that?"

Mu Jiaxu frowned: "But if we don't reward them with land, how can we expect them to be loyal?"

“Yes, without benefits, how can one be loyal…” Liu Yin sighed deeply. The profound education in her soul told her that this was a wrong idea. Her motherland was founded by a group of idealists who did not pursue benefits but only loved their people. But she also knew that such education was not suitable for the current dynasty.

Seeing that she seemed to be lost in thought, with regret and sorrow in her eyes, the children were at a loss.

Liu Yin pondered for a while, then came to her senses, took a deep breath, looked at the worried children in front of her, and said with a smile: "Although it is not a problem to reward land in the early days of the dynasty, as time goes on, the powerful families will not be satisfied with this little bit of land income. They have money, power and status. In years of famine, they will turn the disaster victims from good people into slaves and turn the land in their hands into their own land."

"In this way, over time, there will be fewer and fewer people who can pay taxes, and fewer and fewer lands that can be taxed. If the country cannot collect taxes, it will be unable to provide relief to people affected by disasters, and it will even be unable to maintain the basic operations of the army. How can a dynasty be governed in this situation?"

"If soldiers don't receive their pay, they become bandits. In the end, it's the common people who suffer. When the people can't survive, they will rise up in rebellion. But those who are only full of passion will ultimately become nothing more than pawns for powerful families to fight for the world."

Hearing this, everyone felt a little sad. They hadn't expected that something as trivial as buying and selling land could have such a big impact on the dynasty.

"What if land sales are not allowed?" Zhang Yong'an asked, mustering his courage.

“No, if it were a sale, how would the aristocratic families support such a large group of people? Many of them are aristocratic families with no other means of livelihood, and they rely on the income from their clan's land to make a living.” Zhuo Yongnian, who also came from an aristocratic family, shook his head.

“Yes, if the teacher’s seals and books are spread out completely, and there are many scholars, once the imperial examination system that the teacher mentioned before is implemented, for ordinary people, studying must be something that brings benefits in order to motivate them to study. Only in this way can we prevent the powerful families from controlling everything.” Wang Yongxin nodded repeatedly, and for a moment she felt a resonance with Zhuo Yongnian.

"This is inevitable. In fact, with the increase in scholars, the state must provide sufficient rewards to the gentry to stimulate their activity. If I were a minister in the court, I would definitely exempt those who pass the imperial examinations from taxes on their land as a reward," Zhuo Yongnian continued.

"Wow, wouldn't this lead to more and more hidden households and land consolidation?" Wang Yong exclaimed in surprise at the thought of such consequences.

"Yeah, is there really no way?" Mu Jiaxu chimed in.

The crowd began to discuss it animatedly, while Liu Yin, sitting to the side, watched with increasing satisfaction.

When her eyes fell on Ming Ge beside her and she saw his envious expression, she couldn't help but smile and ask, "Brother Ming, can you read?"

Ming was caught off guard by her sudden question and was momentarily at a loss for words. He nodded and then shook his head, before nodding again as if he had just remembered something.

Only when he saw Liu Yin's curious expression did he blush and whisper, "I know some of them, but I wouldn't dare say I know them all. The brothel teaches us a little, but not much."

Liu Yin nodded knowingly. This was not unexpected. After all, compared to the two prefectures of Qinhuai, the brothel where Ming Ge was located was just in a county town. In terms of training and aptitude, it was far inferior to the two prefectures of Qinhuai, let alone the careful training and proper education they received.

"I think you've roughly understood what I'm saying. I've also written some books that are fairly well-known, and the writing isn't too difficult. You can read them."

Ming nodded repeatedly. Although he had only vaguely heard what was being said, he had grasped the general idea. At least he knew that the young master in front of him was the legendary reclusive master.

Despite his secluded life in the red-light district, many of his patrons would gossip about her. Initially, they would say nice things, but once they learned that she was a woman, they would stop praising her and say that she was a woman who was not virtuous and obedient. Even so, he had once envied her greatly.

Later, when they heard that the recluse had written many great books, the patrons in the hall began to praise her again.

At this moment, realizing that his idol and his savior had become one person, he was so excited that he didn't know how to react.

Liu Yin was unaware of his thoughts, but seeing his interest, she smiled and said, "It's late now. Starting tomorrow, you'll study with them. If you don't understand something, you can ask me or them."

Ming knew this was an opportunity to change his fate, so he nodded repeatedly, saying, "Okay, okay, thank you, young master, thank you, thank you."

The children nearby had also come up with a general idea, and they decided that Tao Boyi would summarize and tell Liu Yin.

“Teacher, we think that a portion of the land should still be allocated to the people. This land should not be allowed to be bought or sold. This way, at least the people will not starve.”

“That’s one way,” Liu Yin nodded and said. “The previous dynasty had permanent land ownership, but it was still destroyed by land annexation at the end of the dynasty. Do you know why?”

Everyone thought their method was brilliant, but when they learned that someone else had suggested it before, they were somewhat disappointed.

They only perked up a bit when Liu Yin suggested they continue to explore the subject further.

"Teacher, we really don't know." A thoughtful look appeared on Tao Boyi's usually amiable face.

“It’s alright, we have plenty of time to learn and understand. You should observe more and ask more questions, especially those people who live on this land.” Liu Yin didn’t directly answer their questions, but instead encouraged them to think for themselves.

Seeing her say this, no one was surprised. After all, they had learned from their interactions over the past few days that Liu Yin was a teacher who liked to encourage students to observe and think.