"Robbing spirit jade naturally meant targeting landlords, merchants, and bureaucrats whose businesses were thriving but who lacked Herald protection. They were just like the shrimp dumplings from earlier—thin skin, generous filling."
Shang Xin Lei scooped up a large mouthful of ice cream and stuffed it into her mouth. Yan Qing's teeth hurt just watching her. "That's why Liang developed a strange phenomenon: the farther a place was from the emperor's reach, the less oppression and exploitation ordinary people suffered. Anyone who dared run rampant without Herald protection would either have their head severed by a passing Demonic Messenger or have a quasi-Herald emerge from the fields at some unknown time, sneak in, and slaughter their entire family."
Yan Qing said, "Then why not hire Herald guards?"
Shang Xin Lei smiled. "Even the weakest one-turn Herald, with only a single token, can earn at least six hundred spirit jade a year by participating only in the simplest one-turn secret-realm raids at a military outpost. An ordinary village landlord who controls the hills and fields might not even earn six hundred spirit jade a year. What could they use to hire a Herald? At most, they could hire some able-bodied men."
The gap between rich and poor was that huge?
Yan Qing was somewhat surprised, but after thinking about it carefully, he found it quite reasonable. This world simply wasn't short on ordinary resources.
An ordinary village's total annual output might not even match the output of a one-turn secret realm in a single day. Aside from selling their goods to the poor nearby, who else could landlords and local gentry sell to? Resources in the towns around military outposts were in surplus.
In terms of productivity, a single secret-realm Herald could match the output of a hundred farmers. Compared with Heralds,