BXBX NOVEL Chapter 630 - Poor people
Chapter 630: Poor people
Translator: Exodus Tales Editor: Exodus Tales
“This isn’t considered going against the court...”
Weiyuan frowned, “Our Gantian Mountain doesn’t prohibit civilian gatherings.”
At this moment he was really envious of the central continent. Under Great Shang rule, most of the commoners were really honest and followed what the Ruler wanted.
How could it be compared to their Rainbow City, it was simply not straightforward!
“They are all people who aren’t satisfied! Now their monthly salary had risen to 50 teals but they still aren’t willing to stop. What do these people want before they are willing to stop...”
When Kong Rui heard that he became more quiet. 50 teals a month, that was comparable to half a Grade-1 Beast Crystal. It was pretty much five times that of in the central continent.
He realised that he had underestimated Weiyuan. He said that his monthly salary could feed three thousand people and if he was using Rainbow City standards, how much would that be?
He suddenly comprehended the reasoning behind why Weiyuan said these words to him. He most probably didn’t want a person like him who came from the central continent to underestimate him...
“That’s right! If this continues, there will probably be no one who is willing to do agriculture.”
“Now there already aren’t many people who are willing to work on farms. Just yesterday, 1 unit of grain actually rose to 110 wen! This was even after relying on large amounts of purchases from other lands which barely suppressed the price.”
“Sigh! I heard that the central continent always used farming to establish the country. But now our Gantian Mountain wants to hand this important country matter to other people.”
“I heard that the Prime Minister had raised a suggestion in the meeting hall to prohibit purchases of grain!”
“Ah! The grain prices are really going to increase crazily...”
“However, I heard that recently there were some Spirit Masters studying how to use spiritual formations and mechanisms to help people farm.”
“Mechanisms? Wasn’t this something the Mohists were good at? Is it the Kongqi Sect? Speaking of which, his Highness is prepared to set up an imperial college like the central continent. He is also preparing to set up a worker course to set up the Mohists techniques as a learnable course. In the future any person in the department of industry would have to complete this course.”
Kong Rui listened to the officials’ discussion and he was startled. With 50 teals monthly salary, 110 wen grain prices were actually too low.
Renbo’s country policies would attract more farmers.
However, without those preposterous government decrees, he wouldn’t have to do this.
Similar to Great Shang, since the Ruler ascended, every year they had sufficient amounts of grain.
However the commoners in Great Shang didn’t seem to be as rich as those in Gantian Mountain...
Moreover, the Ruler wasn’t fierce and these people seemed to have studied some, so why was this place said to be so barbaric and rough?
Apart from this, building a college was a good thing, but that industry course, to teach Mohists skills was something he didn’t understand.
In this world, the only thing that could truly rule the world was the Confucians!
These people continued on and it was going more and more off-topic. However, an hour later maybe because someone felt impatient, he scoffed coldly, “These people really don’t know when to stop. If it were me, I would definitely teach them a lesson...”
“They are indeed troublemakers. We must think of a way to give them trouble!”
“Actually if it was just them it would still be okay and they wouldn’t be able to cause many problems. What is annoying is that there are people fanning the flames in the dark with nefarious intentions.”
The other person shook his head and said, “Please be careful what you say! If others hear this, if those meeting hall members hear this, it would be more or less a problem for our Prefect. These people are worrying about having no methods to attract the eyes of those dumb commoners. It has been close to three years, recently they are preparing for the re-election...”
Kong Rui couldn’t keep himself from speaking, “Those armored soldiers are all elites, why not let them chase away these problematic people?”
The moment he said these words, everyone became silent. The few people who accompanied him all had weird expressions on their faces.
It wasn’t Weiyuan who spoke but the person beside him who smiled, “In the past, there were indeed a few directly ruled cities of Gantian Mountain that did that, but their situations were really arduous!”
Kong Rui didn’t understand. Arduous? Was the Ruler unhappy with it? Although it is good to love the people, one had to differentiate between the subjects. Good commoners and troublemakers definitely couldn’t be treated the same.
Moreover, Officials like them should be the pillars of the country.
How could he allow these troublemakers to be so arrogant and unreasonable?
At this moment Weiyuan sighed, “A few days ago, the Ruler signed a law. The meeting hall participants have the responsibility of questioning and monitoring the officials. They could vote out the head of a city. If the votes exceed half, I can forget about continuing as the Prefect...”
His words were filled with despair. The other few officials all shook their heads emotionally like they were really worried about it.
Kong Rui’s heart sank, his last ounce of anticipation faded.
Such a preposterous ruling system was the joke of the entire world. Going against the flow, who knows how many years the current Gantian Mountain country strength could last for?
No wonder so many famous Confucians in Great Shang were all filled with disdain whenever one mentioned Gantian Mountain.
He originally thought that those people had heard about it from exaggerated sources and that they were most probably false. However, after coming over he realized that the situation was much worse than he had thought.
Based on what he saw, the Ruler really couldn’t be considered to be wise.
For Yao’er to become the concubine of such a Ruler, her future was really dark.
Thinking about it for a moment, he suddenly walked away from the carriage. Since this place was blocked up, even in 8-10 hours it might not be fixed. Since he wanted to see Kong Yao sooner, why not just walk over?
※※※※
Right at the same time, above the clouds of Gantian Mountain, the middle-aged Confucian scoffed coldly and was prepared to leave the region.
Before he left, he suddenly recalled something. He turned around and looked at Zong Shou solemnly.
“I am still a foreign official and there are some things I can’t tell Ruler. However, recently when I toured Gantian I had many deep learnings, there are several things I feel that I have to spit out. Ruler’s meeting hall system is similar to Great Shang’s Fengxian official. It is originally a good thing but with how Ruler is letting others wield power, commoners voting in people for the meetings as well as this monitoring of officials, it is a large mistake!”
Zong Shou’s brows rose, his face expressing a desire to hear more. Seeing this person show no courtesy at all, his face still really serious, “The people aren’t educated and are poor. Their foresight is poor and they haven’t received much education, easily being manipulated by others. Ruler do you know that the meetings have been controlled by the strong races in Gantian? Many places have resorted to buying of votes, 5 units of rice can be exchanged for one vote...”
Zong Shou shook his head when he heard this. This was not the first time that someone had said this to him.
Such matters were simply infuriating. However, if he wasn’t someone who didn’t bother with proper governance, in just a few years the whole country would be ruined by those civil servants under him.
In the meeting hall, at least 3 people had something to worry about.
He was already really poor, now that some people secretly took some money, his internal treasury wasn’t left with much.
His face was still smiling like he approved and agreed with what that Confucian had said.
“Poor people? That makes sense! Only there are some things that since I know are correct, I can’t stand and do nothing despite the tough process.”
His expression turned serious and he said with a righteous tone, “Before they become intelligent, I will try my best to let them know values and customs. In the end, my Gantian Mountain people won’t bend their backs just for 5 units of rice...”