In the past, the taxation of Yue Kingdom mainly consisted of agricultural taxes, with peasants farming and paying in grain. Peasants had no bargaining power over grain. If they paid in currency, the price of grain would be suppressed, making things very difficult for them. Paying in grain was fixed, so peasants did not need to consider the impact of grain prices. After paying their tax grain, they ate the remainder.
Now, farmland was tax-free, and chemical fertilizers were used to increase yields. Grain was purchased and marketed uniformly by the Whale-Jiao Society, ensuring a harvest regardless of drought or flood. The lands of the large landlords had all been distributed by the Whale-Jiao Society to tenant farmers and poor peasants.
Taxation was primarily commercial. This was already rebellion, because since everyone paid money to the Whale-Jiao Society, they no longer needed to pay the imperial court.
At first, the yamen mobilized troops to suppress them for tax collection, but all were beaten back by the flintlock troops of the Whale-Jiao Society. Later, the yamen turned a blind eye; if the imperial court gave no orders, they would not move. Without money, the yamen had no salaries, so they went to work for the Whale-Jiao Society.
The imperial court was as precarious as a pile of eggs, but the emperor was obsessed with seeking immortality and could not extricate himself.
The Whale-Jiao Society had already occupied the impoverished areas of various prefectures and could rise in revolt at any time.
However, Mo Caihuan was not anxious at all, because the sphere of activity of the Whale-Jiao Society was not limited to Yue Kingdom. The surrounding Yuanwu Kingdom, Fengdu Kingdom, Tianluo Kingdom, Purple Gold Kingdom, Shayun Kingdom, Cheqi Kingdom, and Jiang Kingdom were also accepting the new ideas of the Whale-Jiao Society.
Many reformers had left Yue Kingdom to go to other countries to spread the ideas of resistance and the ideas of transformation.
It was impossible for Mo Caihuan alone to unify Heavenly South; she needed to cultivate her own forces. She had been the leader for fourteen years, and the generation that accepted the new ideas had already grown up. They were the sparks that would start a prairie fire everywhere.
The members of the Whale-Jiao Society exceeded three hundred thousand, scattered across various places to establish militia squads and promote the successful experiences tested in Jia Yuan City.
Everyone was eager to try, waiting just for the word to pull out more forces and make the sun and moon of Heavenly South shine anew.
Yet Mo Caihuan was not in a hurry, waiting for the optimal opportunity.
She also knew that once the process of unification began, she would expose herself to the cultivators of both the righteous and demonic factions, and what awaited her might be a fate worse than death.
Still, she decided to complete this small goal. In fact, unifying Heavenly South was no longer just her goal, but the goal of a large number of young people.
The various systems of the Whale-Jiao Society revolved around unification, and the young talents who recognized unification all supported Mo Caihuan. She was no longer alone.
Of course, there were also cultivators who worried that such cross-border activities by the Whale-Jiao Society might bring about a devastating disaster. Jia Yuan City concealed quite a few cultivators; they lived together with mortals and enjoyed the conveniences of industry.
Their cultivation levels were not high, but their horizons were not low. They knew that the cultivation forces of Heavenly South were intricate and complex, and though they usually did not interfere in mortal affairs, once they wanted to intervene, a single Golden Core cultivator could annihilate the Whale-Jiao Society.
The reason they did not intervene was simply that mortals were too weak and it was not worth the trouble. But this did not mean cultivators would allow mortals to do as they pleased; if mortals crossed the line, cultivators would strike out of nowhere, and by then the Whale-Jiao Society would be reduced to ashes.
These low-realm cultivators could not help because, due to their low cultivation levels-all being in the Qi Refining Stage-they were unable to shoulder the fury of the strong for mortals.
"Development cannot be rushed, but unification cannot be delayed." Mo Caihuan understood the terror of cultivators better than anyone else, so she had to seize the gap of a few years during the righteous-demonic war. While the righteous and demonic cultivators were busy fighting for territory, she needed to strike with heavy blows and swiftly complete the small goal of unifying Heavenly South.
It would probably take about five years for the demonic path to achieve victory, plus another five years for the stalemate between the righteous and demonic paths. Ten years all told; if they succeeded, they succeeded, otherwise it would be falling at the last hurdle.
"Soon, these next few years." She knew the demonic path had already taken action, buying off various families and minor sects.
The operational model of cultivators was that strength was supreme, and Qi Refining and Foundation Establishment disciples were just laborers.
The sects assigned many tasks to Qi Refining disciples, with little pay and much work. After reaching the Foundation Establishment Stage, they would be selected by different Golden Core elders, becoming subordinates to Golden Core elders to complete tasks, and Foundation Establishment cultivators already had the right to set up their own immortal caves.
Upon advancing to the Core Formation Stage, one transformed from a laborer into a shareholder of the sect. One could also leave the sect to create a sect or family of one's own.
If one became a Nascent Soul, one became a director of the sect, equally free to go and create a sect of one's own.
The demonic path had a long history; although its strength was severely damaged because of the righteous-evil war several thousand years ago, quite a few disciples had already established their own sects and become overlords of their regions. If they supported the demonic path, the demonic path would gain the upper hand.
The benefit of supporting the demonic path was being able to seize territory and expand one's strength. If one did not support them, the demonic path would deal ruthless blows.
Faced with coercion and temptation, quite a few sects had fallen over to the demonic path.
The Yan Family of Yue Kingdom, Spirit Beast Mountain, the Qin Family, the Covering Moon Sect, and others-their ancestors were all disciples of the demonic path. Their ancestors achieved success in cultivation, went out on their own to start businesses, grew large and strong, and created glory.
Han Li was also someone who started as a laborer, continuously hopping jobs and leveling up all the way to become the chairman of the Falling Cloud Sect. While working for companies, Han Li did not forget to profit for himself. Whenever a company made him unhappy, he would immediately drop his load and run off.
Many sect ancestors themselves originated from the demonic path. The demonic path was subverting them bit by bit, strengthening its own power, and when the time was right, the demonic path would be great once again.
Mo Caihuan also had some friends in the cultivation world and knew the plot, knowing that the first appearance of the demonic path in Yue Kingdom would be the Treasure-Taking Assembly of the Yan Family.
The Yan Family was the premier cultivation family of Yue Kingdom. From time to time, they produced Talisman Treasures as stakes, holding a Treasure-Taking Assembly and inviting Foundation Establishment cultivators to attend, by the way getting acquainted with one another and building friendships.
The demonic path utilized the opportunity of the Treasure-Taking Assembly to turn the venue into a blood sacrifice.
Next, Yue Kingdom would usher in the righteous-demonic war. The righteous path would first guard important resources such as mineral deposits and spirit fields. The demonic cult would also scramble for these places, capturing them one by one. Only in the end would they attack the sects of the righteous path.
The righteous path had too many places to guard, and in the end it was "preserving territory while losing people, leading to the loss of both people and territory."
If Mo Caihuan were to defend, she would first cede the spirit mines and spirit fields to the demonic cult, letting them guard them, and follow the method of "preserving people while losing territory, leading to the preservation of both people and territory."
The righteous path wanted to guard everything, resulting in scattered military strength, allowing the demonic path to defeat them one by one.
Mo Caihuan was making intense preparations: radio sets were being sent out one by one, a General Staff was being established, and newly drawn maps of Heavenly South were brought out.
These maps of Heavenly South had been drawn by hiring cultivators using the Three-Point Method, making them much more precise. Of course, the maps only included areas where mortals were active; sect secret realms were excluded.
Therefore, one-tenth of the range on the maps was blank.
The number of cultivators probably accounted for about one percent of the total population of Heavenly South, yet they occupied one tenth of the land, making the per capita land area very abundant.
To draw the maps, she had spent three thousand Spirit Stones. Although there was revenue from talismans, her heart still ached.
The sales of talismans were quite good; after all, the cultivation world was unsafe, and the more talismans the better. Many cultivators exchanged all their wages for talismans, purely for a sense of security.
Cultivation was for longevity, not for Spirit Stones. Between safety and Spirit Stones, they were willing to trade Spirit Stones for safety.
She truly ought to thank the emperor and the Black Fiend Cult; if not for them seizing rogue cultivators everywhere, cultivators would not have felt that everyone was in grave danger, nor would they have urgently purchased talismans.
The new map was ten thousand times more precise than the old one. The General Staff had only one task: to formulate the routes of war and accomplish the great cause of unifying Heavenly South.
All schools had undergone expansion enrollments to cultivate talent. Mo Caihuan needed not just conquest, but also to win wholehearted submission from everyone; post-war management was likewise very important.
"Big sister, how is the production of flintlocks?" Mo Caihuan asked.
"All production lines are already operating at full capacity, and new production lines are also being prepared. But do we really need to produce so many flintlocks? Isn't there still a lot of stock in inventory?" Big Sister Mo Yuzhu was now in charge of flintlock production.
"We do." Having asked about the output of flintlocks, she asked Second Sister next: "Second Sister, how is the quantity of doctors and medicine?"
"We began increasing medicine production five years ago, and the training of physicians started ten years ago. However, physicians with truly solid skills are still only around six hundred; other physicians still need to accumulate experience."
"There will be opportunities to accumulate experience. We also need to prepare some small booklets on first aid and bandaging, with both text and illustrations, and hand them over to the Ministry of Culture for printing as soon as possible." War was the best laboratory, and there would be many wounded soldiers.
Both Big Sister and Second Sister looked at their third sister with worry, feeling that storm clouds were gathering over the city.