frightfiction Chapter 664 Thankless
Chapter 664 Thankless
As the foremost civil official of Cao Wei, who held the title of prime minister but in reality, Zhong Yao clearly understood what the imperial examination system meant.
The imperial examination system would not only uproot the aristocratic families, but also cause the commoners in the Central Plains to collectively rebel, shattering the cohesion he had built using the Provisional Tax Law, and plunging Cao Wei into complete internal strife.
After all, the Provisional Tax Law only allowed the poor to temporarily submit to the gentry through monetary concessions, preventing them from going against the gentry and the court. But how could mere money compare to a career in government?
Both the Han Dynasty and the Cao Wei Dynasty were societies where official positions were paramount. Given the same amount of money and the same official rank, anyone would know which option to choose.
Therefore, if the ideology of the imperial examination system were allowed to spread unchecked, it would probably not be long before the poor families in the Central Plains would unite to resist the aristocratic families, and even be willing to sacrifice themselves for their beliefs.
It should be noted that Cao Cao once vigorously promoted officials from humble backgrounds, resulting in many high-ranking officials in the current court who also came from humble backgrounds. If these people were to follow suit and join the chorus of clamor, the consequences would be unimaginable.
Therefore, Zhong Yao dared not delay. Before he had even finished reading the book, he took the box and went straight to the palace. After reporting the situation to Cao Pi in the imperial study, Cao Pi immediately realized that something was wrong and summoned his ministers to discuss the matter.
Soon, important officials such as Liu Ye, Hua Xin, Zhao Yan, and Wang Lang arrived one after another. Cao Pi directly threw "The Legend of the White Snake" at them. After reading it, they were all so angry that they cursed the national treasure.
Hua Xin stepped forward and bowed, asking, "Your Majesty, where did you obtain this book?"
Cao Pi asked Chen Su to explain to everyone, and Hua Xin continued, "Since it was transported by sea and has already been sent to the capital, which is thousands of miles away from the coastline, it means that it has already flooded the coastal areas. Perhaps the scholars of Qing and Xu provinces have already seen it. This is a big problem."
Wang Lang angrily cursed, "Isn't there a way to completely blockade the sea routes? Are we just going to let maritime smuggling run rampant?"
Following the last meeting, the imperial court closed all major transportation routes and imposed an economic blockade on the puppet Han regime. The blockade was indeed effective; in recent months, the amount of goods transported from Jiangnan to the Central Plains has decreased by more than 90%. However, this only applies to land transport. As for the sea...
If the pseudo-Han dynasty could transport books by sea, it could certainly transport other supplies as well. If the sea routes were not blocked and smuggling was allowed to run rampant, the economic blockade imposed by the imperial court on the pseudo-Han dynasty would become a joke.
Zhong Yao sighed, “The sea routes are difficult to blockade. Zhu Huan’s Yangtze River navy is blocked at Ruxukou by Zhou Xun and cannot go out to sea. Luo Tong’s East China Sea navy lacks warships and cannot fight against the large treasure ships of the pseudo-Han. More importantly, we lack wood and cannot build the treasure ships of the pseudo-Han.”
Zhong Yao originally thought that as long as he was willing to invest, he could build a treasure ship just like the one built by the pseudo-Han dynasty. However, when he actually started working on it, he realized that he was wrong. Cao Wei had no shortage of manpower and excellent craftsmen, but it lacked the ancient wood needed to build treasure ships.
The Central Plains are mostly farmland with few mountains. Even if there are, the trees on them have been almost completely cut down, making it difficult to find timber that is over a hundred or even a thousand years old. The Qinling and Taihang Mountains might have some, but the quality of timber in the north is generally not as good as that in the south. Moreover, the Qinling and Taihang Mountains are too far from the sea, and the transportation costs alone would be enough to give the imperial court a hard time.
In Jiangnan, however, there is no such concern. The logs are cut down and thrown into the river, and they swim to their destination on their own without much effort.
Therefore, in the shipbuilding industry, the Central Plains could not catch up with the Jiangnan region at all, and it was impossible for them to compete with the pseudo-Han dynasty in shipping.
Wang Lang said, "Then we'll form a detective team to patrol along the coastline. If we find any goods from the pseudo-Han people coming ashore, we'll seize them directly. If we can't deal with the pseudo-Han people, we'll deal with the gentry or merchants who have been in contact with them, Dr. Chen."
Chen Su quickly bowed and asked, "What are your instructions, Doctor Wang?"
Wang Lang, currently holding the official position of Imperial Censor, stared at Chen Su and asked, "Chen Langzhong, how did your cousin Chen Yu obtain these books?"
"This..." Chen Su didn't know how to answer; he couldn't very well tell the truth.
Wang Lang, however, said with keen eyes, “Your Chen family of Xiapi has always had business dealings with the gentry of Jiangdong. You must have been smuggling a lot of things by sea recently. If I’m not mistaken, these books were given to you by merchants from Jiangdong, asking you to help promote them.”
Chen Su's face turned pale instantly, and he said in a trembling voice, "Doctor Wang is wronged, Your Majesty, please see the truth! My Chen family would never dare to openly defy the court's decree and make a deal with the false Han. As for why my family received the books, my elder brother did not mention it in his letter, and I truly do not know."
While begging for mercy, he cursed Wang Lang in his heart, thinking, "I kindly reported this to you, but you doubt me. You're not even human."
After cursing, he felt a wave of sorrow. Thanks to his father's betrayal of Liu Bei and Lü Bu, the Chen family did indeed gain a lot of benefits and firmly established themselves as the number one aristocratic family in Xuzhou. However, they were only number one in Xuzhou; they were not enough to be considered in the imperial court.
Moreover, because his father, Chen Dengying, died young and failed to lay a foundation for him in the court, the Chen family's influence in the court was very weak, which is why he is still just a minor doctor and has no say in front of these big shots.
Cao Pi waved his hand and said, "Alright, let's put this matter aside for now. Let's talk about how to blockade the sea routes first. If we can't blockade the sea routes, there's no need to blockade the land routes either. Let's just open the checkpoints and allow free trade, so that some people won't use smuggling to evade taxes."
Smuggling would only enrich the aristocratic families, because they wouldn't be foolish enough to produce a list of smuggled goods and obediently pay taxes; that would be no different from admitting guilt without being asked.
In this way, the imperial court not only failed to achieve its goal of economic blockade, but also lost a lot of tax revenue, which was a loss no matter how you looked at it.
Wang Lang bowed and said, "I still mean it. Set up detective teams in the coastal counties to patrol day and night and confiscate all goods coming from the sea. After a few more confiscations, I believe no one will dare to import goods from the sea. After all, not many companies can afford to lose so much money."
The goods smuggled by the coastal gentry were purchased from the pseudo-Han merchant caravans. Buying goods required money, and if the goods were confiscated, it was as if that money was wasted. One or two times was bearable, but who could withstand it if it happened several times?
Hua Xin bowed and said, "I second your opinion, but we cannot just blockade without guiding the flow. While blocking, we should also encourage the gentry of Xuzhou to build factories to make paper and produce goods from Jiangnan. If we have our own goods, we will naturally not need to buy them from the pseudo-Han."
Seeing that no one else objected, Cao Pi immediately made the decision: "Then let's do it this way. Order Luo Tong to establish a detective team to crack down on maritime smuggling in Xu and Qing prefectures. Tell Luo Tong that no matter what method he uses, he must block the sea route for me. If maritime smuggling continues to run rampant, I will hold him accountable."
"Let's talk about 'The Legend of the White Snake.' The concept of the imperial examination system has spread through novels like this. How should we respond to this?"
When Cao Pi asked this question, he was somewhat gloating, thinking, "You aristocratic families have come to this."
After so much time had passed, Zhong Yao had recovered from his anger and regained his composure. Upon hearing this, he pondered and said, "It is not advisable to draw a conclusion for now. We should first send someone to Xuzhou to investigate the spread of 'The Legend of the White Snake' before making a decision."
"However, I believe we should think about the consequences in advance and make contingency plans to avoid being caught off guard when things come to a head. For example, if the novel is not widely circulated, we don't need to worry about it, but if it is already widely known, then we must prepare for the worst."