aircannonsinc Chapter 141: Emperor Shengzong's Rule of Law
Chapter 141: Emperor Shengzong's Rule of Law
Three months later, Ye Xiu and Ji Ruoxi walked out of the Magical Beast Mountain Range side by side.
Upon reaching the entrance of the Magical Beast Mountain Range, Ye Xiu was surprised to find a checkpoint had been erected there at some point.
The checkpoint was guarded by a group of heavily armored soldiers, holding long spears, with serious expressions, giving off an air of authority.
"Halt, documents!" A soldier stopped a middle-aged strong man who was about to enter the Magical Beast Mountain Range.
The middle-aged strong man seemed to have been prepared for this, as he calmly took out several small booklets of various colors from his storage bag and handed them to the soldier.
The soldier took the documents and carefully examined them. After a while, the soldier nodded in satisfaction, "Alright, you can go in, be careful." After speaking, he returned the documents to the middle-aged strong man and gestured for him to pass through the checkpoint.
Watching this scene, Ji Ruoxi looked at Ye Xiu in confusion, "Ye Xiu, do you need to verify your identity to hunt demonic beasts here?"
Ye Xiu shook his head, he didn't know why this checkpoint had appeared at the entrance of the Magical Beast Mountain Range, it certainly wasn't there when he came in six months ago.
"I don't know, perhaps it's a money-grabbing scheme devised by some royal prince!" Ye Xiu speculated with a calm expression.
"Hmph, those princes and nobles are truly detestable, they even want to collect money for entering the territory of demonic beasts," Ji Ruoxi said with an angry look.
In her heart, she secretly despised them: 'The lower realm is the lower realm, as expected, they are all uncivilized barbarians.'
"Let's go, Ruoxi, let's go ask about the situation," Ye Xiu suggested with a smile.
For the past six months, he had been cultivating diligently in the Magical Beast Mountain Range, and was completely ignorant of outside information.
Now that there were only two months left before the three-year agreement with Ouyang Nana, he also needed to understand the changes that had taken place in the outside world, and at the same time prepare to go to the Yunshan Sect.
Ji Ruoxi nodded, and then walked towards the checkpoint with Ye Xiu.
When they reached the front of the checkpoint, a soldier stopped them and said in a kind tone: "You two, please show your documents."
Ji Ruoxi looked blank, "Documents? What are those? What are they for?" She had just heard the soldier say the word 'documents', but didn't know what they were specifically for.
"If you don't have documents, then you should hand over a collection tax equivalent to 50% of your harvest from the Magical Beast Mountain Range!" The soldier said with a serious face, stating the new law of the Daqian Dynasty.
"Fifty percent! Why don't you just rob us!" Ji Ruoxi shouted angrily.
"This female cultivator, please do not insult our profession, you are hunting illegally, the imperial court is benevolent, and is only fining you," the soldier said sternly, popularizing the law to her.
"You're lucky, in another two months, illegal hunting will mean confiscation of all gains, plus a fixed-term imprisonment of three years!" A rogue cultivator who passed by said gloatingly.
"Who told them not to get a permit before, they deserve it!"
"Some people are just ignorant of the law. The dynasty issued an announcement earlier, asking all cultivators and commoners to go to the relevant departments to apply for relevant documents for free, but some people didn't listen. Now that they've been caught, they want to act shamelessly. It's really a disgrace to us cultivators!"
"I've seen a lot of people like this, they deliberately sneak into the Magical Beast Mountain Range to poach, pretending to be confused when they know better. It's a pity that the imperial court treats everyone equally. As long as you don't have the relevant documents, all income will be confiscated by 50% within six months of the new law's implementation."
"The imperial court is benevolent, and has given these cultivators six months to reform themselves. In my opinion, these people should be directly thrown into prison and all illegal gains confiscated, to demonstrate the majesty of the imperial court."
"Don't say that, after all, some cultivators are in secluded cultivation, and it's understandable that their information is lagging behind."
"That's true, that lord is indeed considerate."
...
Hearing the words of the rogue cultivators beside him, Ye Xiu finally understood what these soldiers were all about. It turned out that the big shots at the top were using reforms to amass wealth.
"That lord! What a good method!" Ye Xiu couldn't help but sigh in his heart.
This kind of method can only be implemented in the lower realm. If it were the upper realm, the person who issued the order in the morning would be trampled to death by noon.
"You two, if you don't want to pay taxes, you can also go out from other places. However, if you step on a trap on those desolate roads, then it has nothing to do with the imperial court," the soldier reminded kindly.
"Here, we'll pay, how much do you want?" Ji Ruoxi hurriedly agreed for Ye Xiu.
These lower realm cultivators actually said she was uncivilized! Who do they think they are looking down on?
"Fifty percent of your total harvest in the Magical Beast Mountain Range!" The soldier held out five fingers.
"Of course, as long as it's resources equivalent to 50% of your total harvest, you can decide what to hand over," the soldier added.
Those with permits hand over 10%, those without permits currently hand over 50%. Six months after the implementation of the new law, those without permits will have all illegal gains confiscated, plus three years of fixed-term imprisonment.
Of course, spirit stones can also be used to reduce or waive the sentence.
Ji Ruoxi angrily threw out five level-four demonic beast cores, plus a second-order spiritual herb, "Is that enough?"
"Open your storage bags and take out all your gains, we need to inspect them in public!" The soldier said according to procedure.
Ye Xiu stepped forward with a serious face, neither humble nor arrogant, looking directly at the guarding soldier, and said in a deep voice, "This brother, your request is too much! Storage bags are the privacy of every cultivator, how can they be easily searched by others?" His gaze was firm and powerful, and his voice resounded throughout the audience.
Ye Xiu's words were addressed to the soldiers, and also to all the cultivators present.
Ye Xiu knew that the items in the storage bag were often the accumulation and precious things of a cultivator's cultivation path, and were the most important things to every cultivator. No cultivator would be willing to show their storage bag to others.
However, faced with Ye Xiu's question, the soldiers were unmoved.
One of them sternly replied, "Boy, please don't question our professionalism. With so many people witnessing, we are acting entirely according to procedure and will never take anything from you.
If you don't agree, you can choose to leave the Magical Beast Mountain Range from other places. After all, this mountain range is so vast that it is impossible for the imperial court to send people to guard every place."
"Get out of the way! A little brat who hasn't even grown all his hair, what precious things could he have? If you don't want to leave, don't block the way!" A blood-moving realm hunter who had just come out from the outermost part of the Magical Beast Mountain Range loudly ridiculed.
The blood-moving realm hunter bypassed Ye Xiu, with a flattering smile on his face, and quickly walked to the guarding soldier, gently placing the prey in his hand on the ground.
Then, he respectfully handed over a level-one hunting permit, "Officer, this is my harvest for today, please take a look." The blood-moving realm hunter said with a smile on his face, his voice revealing a hint of humility.
The soldier took the permit and carefully checked the information on it, ensuring that everything was accurate.
The soldier nodded slightly, expressing his approval, and then said coldly, "One-tenth income tax, you cut it yourself!" After speaking, he ignored the hunter.
"Okay, officer!" The blood-moving realm hunter cleanly chopped off a wild boar's leg, respectfully placed it, and then carried the remaining big fat pig and left.
Seeing this scene, Ye Xiu's face inexplicably darkened. A blood-moving realm ant actually dared to ridicule him!
Ji Ruoxi angrily took out the gains she had obtained from the Magical Beast Mountain Range these days from her spatial ring, "Look, you calculate it yourselves, see if the things I just took out are 50% of these!"
The soldiers looked at each other, their voices softened a little, "Sorry, fairy, we are just doing things according to the process, you can leave after you put down the fine."
"Hmph!" Ji Ruoxi raised her head, unhappily put down the fine, "Ye Xiu, hurry up, I'll wait for you outside."
Hearing Ji Ruoxi's words, Ye Xiu smiled bitterly, took out a large handful of demonic beast cores, spirit beast meat, animal skins, various animal bones from the storage bag, and finally threw down the animal skins, animal bones, and a few of the worst quality demonic beast cores that were of no value to him, and walked out of the checkpoint without looking back...