Out of the Game

Northern Qi was tucked away in a corner of the Nine Kingdoms. To its north and east lay the Liao Clan, and only a short stretch in the southeast faced the ocean, where it occasionally suffered harassment from the Sea Li. However, the Sea Li directed their main offensives against Southern Qi and the State of Wu, posing little pressure on Northern Qi. On the northern front with the Liao Clan, Northern Qi faced only scattered, petty tribes. The region was arid and saw little rain, consisting mostly of endless desert where even the Liao found it difficult to survive, leaving it sparsely populated. As a result, Northern Qi had rested peacefully in its remote corner for many years. Coupled with the fact that Xu Shuhe had been approaching the end of his lifespan for over a century and conducted himself quietly, major events were rarely heard from here. In Wei Yuan's eyes, such a country should have developed reasonably well. After all, there were few wars along its borders, and its intrinsic strength and resources were neither exceptional nor terrible. In circumstances like these, keeping one's head down and quietly developing was naturally the best course. It was unlike Western Jin, which bordered the Liao to the north and the Shaman Domain to the west, remaining the primary target of the Shaman Clan and bleeding continuously for thousands of years. Internally, the Xu family and Lu clan held sway, monopolizing the best tracts of land. In such a predicament, even an immortal stepping in as King of Jin would likely have been powerless to turn the tables. At present, disguised as two ordinary cultivators, Li Zhi and Wei Yuan strolled along the main road. The pair walked using the most basic Ground-Shrinking Dao technique, covering dozens of zhang in a single step. Even when they crossed paths with Dao Foundation patriarchs along the way, the latter remained completely oblivious. As they proceeded, Wei Yuan soon spotted something amiss. Desolate fields met the eye everywhere. Judging by their appearance, they had not been cultivated for a long time; only the lingering traces of the field ridges showed that humans had once worked the land. With a flicker of his silhouette, Wei Yuan stood in the middle of a vast stretch of wasteland. This enormous parcel of farmland was neatly shaped and had flat terrain. Its only drawback was being somewhat distant from water sources—a typical dry field of the Northern Qi region, spanning nearly ten thousand mu. Yet the soil was compacted hard and overgrown with weeds; it had clearly been lying fallow for far more than a year or two. Though this plot fell far short of Qingming, in Wei Yuan's judgment it was still capable of yielding two harvests a year at over two hundred jin each. That was more than enough for farmers to sustain themselves. Why, then, had such a massive expanse been abandoned? He had not heard of any major natural or man-made disasters striking Northern Qi in recent years. Puzzled, Wei Yuan looked up. His divine sense instantly washed over hundreds of li around them, revealing that nine out of ten houses were empty in many villages, leaving the buildings dilapidated. The county seat was equally desolate, with barely a soul to be seen on the streets, though a small river with a decent volume of water flowed through the city. "What is going on here?" Li Zhi said, "Years ago, Northern Qi implemented a new policy: all corvée duties and labor service were merged into the acreage tax, and the head tax was likewise incorporated into the land. Northern Qi is dry and lacks rain, and most of the ground is poor. But after years of constant tillage, the soil becomes ripe and workable enough to get by. Once the new law took effect, however, the harvest of a single mu could not even cover the taxes and labor levies. When farmers ended up losing money just to work the land, they naturally abandoned the fields and fled to survive." Wei Yuan frowned. "What about the local aristocratic and powerful clans? Didn't the Xu and Li families buy up this land?" "Farming is bitter, wretched work. The great cultivation clans have already claimed the nutrient-rich veins of the land; why would they look twice at soil like this? It wouldn't even be worth the hassle. Plots like these are what ordinary mortals can cultivate, and most of Northern Qi's mortals relied on them to live." "And the local gentry clans?" Wei Yuan asked again. Li Zhi spoke with deep implication: "The factional strife between the Nie and Li factions in the imperial court is vicious. The two sides have long been locked in a fight to the death. In the past, peasants could still indenture themselves to the gentry clans in exchange for exemption from labor service. But this new policy was proposed by Left Prime Minister Li Duan with the explicit goal of crushing the Nie faction, so he naturally would not let them continue the trick of sheltering and concealing unregistered peasants. "The Nie faction followed suit and simply launched rigorous nationwide inspections. As a result, the common folk had nowhere to hide and no way to evade it; their only option was to abandon their land and flee. With so many abandoning their fields, local officials couldn't collect the tax quotas, so they could only heap the burden onto the people who remained. In the end, even those who stayed behind could no longer survive and were forced to run." "Nearly half the land in the entire county is lying fallow. Does the county magistrate not submit a memorial? Do the inspecting imperial censors and capital officials not know?" Wei Yuan asked. "Memorials were submitted, but nobody listened. Those passing through on inspection certainly saw it, but they simply pretended not to." Wei Yuan's brow knitted. "Why?" "Factional strife! The Nie and Li factions now care about nothing except tearing each other down. Whoever loses will be left without a burial ground. Naturally, they stop at nothing in their political warfare, investigating each other to the death. Neither can afford to let the other quietly nurture farmers. So long as the land isn't theirs, what does it matter if a thousand li of earth is scorched bare?" "Is it only factional strife?" Li Zhi said, "Naturally, there's more to it, but the rest are smaller matters. For instance, if the King of Qi wishes to build a palace, the Imperial Household Department submits a requisition of ten million liang of immortal silver, which swells to eighty or ninety million liang by the time it trickles down through the tiers to the local level. Then, when actually constructing the palace, the department might only spend one or two million. In any case, isn't it always the same sort of business?" Wei Yuan said slowly, "Without mortal commoners, this land cannot produce anything. Even if those officials want to embezzle, how can they steal when there is nothing left? Do they not understand so basic a principle?" Li Zhi sighed. "Those who can become officials are all clever men. How could they fail to grasp such simple logic? But there is only a handful of leeks in the field, yet seven or eight pairs of eyes are watching them; move a bit too slow, and you end up with nothing. Thus, no one is willing to look to the long run; everyone cares only for what is right before their eyes." Wei Yuan asked, "Did you bring me to Northern Qi specifically to see this?" Li Zhi turned solemn. "Because Northern Qi is the best example. The State of Ji is in turmoil. The State of Zhao and Western Jin border you, heavily influenced by Qingming. Southern Qi is exceptionally affluent and mighty, while the State of Wu monopolizes maritime routes—all of them are unique. Only Northern Qi has external enemies without being strong, sees few border skirmishes, and has a king who has lived long enough while remaining sufficiently incompetent and muddle-headed. It is the best case study. "I simply wanted you to see what kind of life the world's mortals would lead when there are no exceptional circumstances." In truth, Wei Yuan understood the logic well enough. It was nothing more than the problem of how everyone divided the single dan of grain under heaven. At present, the princes, nobles, prominent clans, county magistrates, petty clerks, and local gentry all wanted a larger slice of the pie. Only the people who grew the grain were denied a seat at the table. Naturally, the outcome was inevitably to leave the grain growers just barely enough to avoid starving, ensuring they could toil year after year to produce more. Throughout the entire process, whenever any link in the chain grabbed a fraction too much, vast numbers of mortals would starve to death. So long as people were not actively dropping dead from hunger, those dividing the grain would pay it no heed. When that happened, the one at the very top would issue an imperial edict of self-condemnation, and then down through the various layers, everyone's grip would loosen slightly, allowing the grain growers to survive. Once there were enough grain growers again, the same cycle would play out all over. Of course, history was never quite so simple. Foreign tribes, natural disasters, immortals, and the otherworldly realm—various factors could interrupt or distort this process, yet the ultimate trajectory remained unchanged. Li Zhi had brought Wei Yuan to Northern Qi precisely to show him that this was not mere theory on paper, but reality—and a widespread reality at that. "So?" Wei Yuan asked. Li Zhi said, "I believe the root of it still lies in this." He produced an imperial jade seal and handed it to Wei Yuan. The design of this seal and the characters carved upon it were universally known: *By Heaven's Mandate, Longevity and Eternal Prosperity*. "Since it is by Heaven's mandate, naturally no one can restrain it, and thus they do whatever they please. Since the thrones of the Nine Kingdoms cannot be touched, how could they not act recklessly?" At this moment, Li Zhi spoke without the slightest reservation. Wei Yuan murmured the words *By Heaven's Mandate* several times, then pointed toward the sky and said, "Do not forget, in this world of ours, the Heavenly Dao possesses consciousness." "Then let me be the one who receives Heaven's mandate, and you be Heaven." Wei Yuan was taken aback as well. Looking seriously at Li Zhi, he said, "Why have you suddenly become so bold?" Li Zhi said, "Brother Wei, if we were ordinary mortals, we would already be at the age where our feet are in the grave. All these years, I have been pondering: in the metamorphosis of a cocoon into a butterfly, do the butterfly and the caterpillar still count as the same kind?" "Of course they do," Wei Yuan said. In the otherworldly realm, that was common knowledge. Li Zhi nodded. "Then why do the cultivators of this world not treat mortals as human beings?" Wei Yuan had long pondered this question and had conceived countless answers; each was somewhat right, yet none entirely so. For instance, if an immortal were dissected, they were different from mortals inside and out, in every single detail. "What do you plan to do?" Wei Yuan asked. Li Zhi said, "First, I will do what lies within my capability: take the State of Ji." "The King of Ji is a man of deep intrigue and cannot be underestimated," Wei Yuan cautioned. Li Zhi replied slowly, "No matter how well the King of Ji conceals his brilliance, the State of Ji is already rotten to the core from top to bottom. That cannot be changed unless he slaughters every person in every vital position and replaces them with new blood. But with an ailing body like the State of Ji, if you excise all the necrotic flesh, it will simply die. Therefore, in this contest, the King of Ji is already out of the game—just like Western Jin." Wei Yuan finally nodded.