Am I the old man who's always by my apprentices' side?

Chapter 199 The Rebellion in Longxi
This era had not yet experienced the highly centralized development of the Ming and Qing dynasties, so the relationship between the supreme ruler and his ministers was very delicate.

In fact, you can see the clues from the fact that everyone sits down to attend court. In the neighboring Xiao Kingdom, when the emperor holds court, he sometimes personally goes down to the court and puts his arm around the ministers!
As for the Southern Chu Kingdom, it was even more exaggerated. Only the current emperor of Southern Chu had some ability to control the "representatives of the southern noble group" in the court. If it were his father and grandfather's generation, it would be the standard "the emperor governs by doing nothing" that the scholar-officials had always imagined - completely ignoring everything!

Even if an official in the Southern Chu Kingdom commits any crime, he cannot be easily punished by beheading!

Therefore, when Zhang Chengdao repeatedly issued policies that were increasingly incomprehensible to the Guanlong nobles, their first counterattack was a large-scale resignation of officials.

From the highest-ranking officials in the Six Ministries down to minor clerks whose specific duties Zhang Chengdao didn't even know, a total of fifty or sixty people resigned one after another!
If this were in a typical feudal dynasty, the emperor would have a real headache. The loss of people wasn't the problem; the key issue was the political warning it represented: the aristocratic group, which had long been in a cooperative relationship with the emperor, was dissatisfied.

Depending on the supreme ruler's response, such situations would be recorded in history under different names, such as "the disaster of the partisan purges," "Wang Anshi's reforms," ​​"the Great Rites Controversy," and "the struggle for the foundation of the state." Of course, most of the time, the supreme ruler could achieve a temporary victory on the surface, but whether it was a case of outward compliance but inward resistance, or a reckoning and counterattack after the emperor's death, or even the nobles leading the way in colluding with the enemy, leading to the accelerated collapse of the dynasty, is hard to say.

But...

Why should your feudal dynasty's laws apply to my immortal sect?
I was just worried about not finding a chance to free up a spot, and you guys so considerately moved your butts aside. What a stroke of luck!?
However, the Guanlong nobles were not truly fools. Although many officials resigned, the key officials of the Six Ministries and those who were truly of the third rank or above remained unmoved, not even submitting a sick leave request. Even at court meetings, they only stated that too many officials had resigned, paralyzing the Six Ministries.

Commonly known as: occupying the toilet without doing anything.

In response, Zhang Chengdao was very enlightened and dismissed all these officials, reducing the number of people in the Six Ministries by a third, and even the atmosphere at the court meetings became much fresher.

As for staff shortages...

Don't be ridiculous. Given the central government's governance needs in the Qin and Jin regions, even if we cut the quota in half, there wouldn't be a shortage of personnel!

Of course, the Guanlong nobles also put up a more intense resistance—

"All thirteen counties have rebelled?"

Zhang Chengdao didn't even lift his eyelids, and casually asked in return.

Upon seeing this, Wang Cheng, the then Chancellor, felt a pang of unease. He instinctively wiped the beads of sweat from his forehead with his sleeve, then bowed deeply in trepidation, saying, "The news is...it's about thirteen counties, but..."

"but?"

Wang Cheng hesitated for only a moment before gritting his teeth and saying, "However, these thirteen counties originally belonged to the Li, Wang, Du, Yang, Chen, and Pei families. It is said that there are 100,000 people rebelling, but I... I think that at most, there are no more than 50,000 people. However, most of them are hidden households, and these aristocratic families probably have a lot of grain stored up..."

Zhang Chengdao glanced at Wang Cheng and said, "I remember you're also from the Wang family of Jinyang, aren't you?"

Wang Cheng grew increasingly alarmed and hurriedly replied, "Your Majesty, my ancestors were indeed from the Wang family of Jinyang, but by my generation, we had become less close to our clan..."

Zhang Chengdao did not pursue the matter further, but simply waved his hand and said, "I already know about this matter."

Wang Cheng wiped his sweat again and stammered, "Then, Sect Master, about these thirteen counties..."

Zhang Chengdao casually replied, "To coerce the people for one's own selfish desires is an unforgivable crime. Order the Left and Right Guards to set off immediately and pass through Longguan first. I will send someone to take charge of military affairs later."

Although Wang Cheng felt it was absurd to send the Weiwu Guard, which only had a few thousand men, to "suppress the rebellion," he still nodded and agreed without daring to say anything more.

Like the Imperial Guard, the Mighty Guard was an elite force directly controlled by the former Zhou emperor. There were six guards in total, named Left Imperial Guard, Right Imperial Guard, Left Mighty Guard, Right Mighty Guard, Left Divine Valiant Guard, and Right Divine Valiant Guard, totaling about 20,000 men.

After the incident involving the Left and Right Imperial Guards, there was no time to replace them, so the Mighty Guards had to take their place.

……

After handling some official business, Zhang Chengdao, who was finally "off work," stepped onto the teleportation array and hurriedly returned to Baishi Mountain from Chang'an City.

The first teleportation array to be officially put into use in the region under the jurisdiction of the White Stone Immortal Sect was this teleportation array that was set up a few days ago before the entrance examination of the White Stone Immortal Dao University. It was also the first "short-distance teleportation array" that Tang Xiaoyu and Huang Wu could use to teleport more than 1,500 miles.

According to the book, a true "long-distance teleportation array" would have to travel at least tens of thousands of miles, so this teleportation array that only travels from Baishi Mountain to Chang'an City can really only be considered a "short-distance" teleportation array.

However, since this teleportation array requires at least a Qi Refining stage cultivator to activate, it is mainly used by Zhang Chengdao himself, with Xu Wen, who commutes to and from Chang'an City every day, also using it.

Although Baishi Xiandao University has not yet started classes and only a preliminary list of admitted students has been drafted, Xu Wen is still very proactive in going to work every day and asking a group of doctors and lecturers at the Imperial Academy for advice on teaching students. He shows no signs of being a so-called "madman".

As soon as he stepped out of the teleportation array, Zhang Chengdao glanced at the plaza in front of Lingxiao Palace in the distance and saw disciples walking in twos and threes toward the market.

It was right after lunch, and the disciples were all relatively free.

Zhang Chengdao casually took out a paper bird from his backpack, imprinted a spirit seal on it, and it instantly transformed into a fluffy Northern Long-tailed Tit, flapping its wings and flying away.

After he leisurely strolled into the Lingxiao Palace, the Northern Long-tailed Tit was chirping as it suddenly arrived with He Shilie, who had rushed over. "Sect Master, what are your orders?"

Heshilie suddenly bowed and asked respectfully.

Zhang Chengdao took a closer look at He Shilie. Compared to when he first started, he seemed to have become much stronger. He heard that he had found a body tempering formula in the library and was working every day at the Spirit Mine Peak to earn money to buy spiritual materials for body tempering, which was why his physique was becoming increasingly abnormal.

Is this guy going to pursue a physical cultivation path in the future?

For a moment, Zhang Chengdao even began to secretly speculate in his heart.

However, he maintained a kind expression and asked, "Suddenly, I heard that your father is General Heshilie of the Xiao Kingdom. You must have a family background in military affairs and know something about military matters from a young age."

He Shilie was taken aback at first, but then his mind was moved. He clasped his hands and replied, "Reporting to the sect leader, I have indeed been familiar with military strategy since I was a child. I went into battle with my father when I was thirteen years old, so I do know a little about military affairs."

"Hehehe, good, it's good to know a little bit."

Zhang Chengdao was greatly pleased.

I originally planned to transfer Chang Ping'an and Murong Ruyan to deal with the rebellion in the thirteen counties of Longxi, but now that Heshilie Tudi is here, I estimate that he alone will be enough!

However, to avoid suspicion, Zhang Chengdao still arranged for two more people to accompany him.

Although He Shilie had some suspicions that the sect leader wanted to use his own ideas, he was too preoccupied with his own thoughts to look up, so he kept his head down.

As expected, the sect leader said, "Several aristocratic families in Longxi have gathered forces from thirteen counties to rebel, claiming to have an army of 100,000. I have already sent six thousand men from the Left and Right Mighty Guards ahead. You should pack up and, together with your second senior sister, choose a disciple from your sect that you know well and use the teleportation array to get there."

"We don't need to fight head-on on this trip. Just capture those leaders. If they're not easy to capture alive, we can just deal with them on the spot. If you need any talismans or magic weapons, you can ask Manager Xu to allocate them to you."

Unexpectedly, although He Shilie agreed, he took the initiative to say, "Longxi is a special place, as I have heard. The people here mostly support the local powerful families, and the Guanzhong aristocratic families are numerous. Therefore, it is difficult to disperse the rioters by beheading them. Even if we can suppress them for a while, it is probably not a long-term solution..."

Upon hearing He Shilie's sudden words, Zhang Chengdao suddenly became interested.

I never expected that my disciples would actually be so capable.

Zhang Chengdao closed his eyes and thought for a moment, then suddenly said, "For land allocation, tax exemption, and investigation of wrongful convictions, my bottom line is to exempt the poll tax and the tax on land, and the land tax cannot be lower than one-thirtieth of the total tax."

“All able-bodied men were redistributed land, and married-out women were treated equally, thus breaking the old custom that private rules of aristocratic families and clans were placed above the laws of the state and clans.”

"So, if we were to launch another attack on the rioters in the thirteen counties, could you possibly succeed?"

He Shilie suddenly became more and more terrified as he listened, and for a moment he couldn't even speak.

In fact, the "combination punches" that Zhang Chengdao mentioned have been used in history before, and have been used extensively and improved with each iteration.

From the earliest Red Eyebrow Rebellion and Yellow Turban Rebellion, the banner of equal distribution of wealth was raised. Later, the Huang Chao Rebellion, which explicitly put forward the slogan "Heaven will restore equality," and the Wang Xiaobo and Li Shun Rebellion, which shouted "I hate the inequality between the rich and the poor, and now I will equalize it for you," all had similar purposes.

Up until the Li Zicheng Rebellion with its slogans of "equal land distribution and tax exemption" and "no more taxes when the King of Chuang comes," and the Taiping Rebellion with its slogan of "all land under heaven should be cultivated by all people under heaven," the slogans became clearer and clearer with each reunion.

However, they had not yet developed a self-sustaining set of governance policies, so these peasant uprisings often only appeared briefly in history books until the emergence of the red specter in modern times.

Undoubtedly, land redistribution was the right remedy for peasant uprisings. If it were combined with measures such as tax reduction and exemption, even if these powerful families from Guanzhong and Longxi had a large number of hidden households, they could be easily dispersed.

After all, when the serfs of noble families had to pay high "land rent fees," the common people of the White Stone Immortal Sect could own their own land.

As long as the information is disseminated effectively, the people will have their own judgment on what is important and what is not.

Seeing that Heshilie suddenly remained silent for a long time, Zhang Chengdao smiled and asked again: "In addition, I want to promote the land in the area governed by the White Stone Immortal Sect to follow the policy of 'ox-feathered land' of the Xiao Kingdom. It can be passed down to future generations, but it is forbidden to sell it. It can only be rented. All the people of the White Stone Immortal Sect will be treated equally, regardless of whether they are from the Central Plains or the barbarians, or whether they are from the south or the north."

"So...you think you can defeat 100,000 rioters with only 6,000 elite guards?"

For some reason, He Shilie's breathing suddenly became heavier and heavier. He could even feel the hot air blowing from his nostrils onto his beard, and the sound of his heart pounding seemed to be right next to his ears.

He knelt on one knee and performed the same salute his father had performed to the ruler in the State of Xiao, solemnly declaring, "Your disciple will certainly not fail in his mission!"

……

(End of this chapter)