Doctor, I'm really strong!

Jingdian was indeed proud to be born in Yan Country, but if she could, she hoped that Yan Country could become a better place.

Moreover, all crises are accumulated over time. The seemingly prosperous and splendid Yan Kingdom is actually rife with undercurrents. When Jingzhe was reviewing the historical records of the Yan Kingdom, he discovered that in the last five hundred years, various uprisings within the Yan Kingdom have shown a clear upward trend, and the growth rate is getting faster and faster.

Initially occurring only in border regions, it has spread to the area surrounding the capital in the last hundred years. Not long ago, Jincheng, less than two hundred miles from the capital, reported that some Xi people were causing trouble. Fortunately, local officials suppressed the disturbance in time, and the problem has been resolved. The court even commended the officials of Jincheng for this.

The root cause of the unrest was that the local landlords had increased the rent for the tenants from 50% to 90%, and coupled with a year of famine, the farmers could not survive, so they demanded an explanation from the landlords. As a result, the landlords were afraid that the matter would escalate, so they reported it to the government, which sent soldiers to suppress it.

In reality, those farmers didn't even have the most basic weapons. Their most powerful weapons were hoes, and those so-called "mob weapons" even included manure scoops. Meanwhile, the government soldiers were fully armed and even carried cannons.

The final result was that 100 mobs were killed, and the rest scattered and fled.

How dare these people write such things!

However, another set of data can verify the results of these officials' efforts.

For the first time in its more than 500-year history, the organization has successfully established a foothold in the area surrounding Beijing, setting up its own work stations and infiltration teams. We are truly grateful for the utter lack of morality of these beasts.

When Jingzhe told these stories, Liu Jiuli was not surprised at all. The ruling needs of feudal dynasties were to maintain their own rule. The court represented the interests of large landowners and high-ranking officials. No matter how much these people shouted "the people are more important than the ruler", in reality they were all powerful and influential.

Although Liu Jiuli couldn't obtain official statistics from Yan State, he could still discern many problems based on publicly available information. Combined with on-site investigations, he couldn't hide anything even if he wanted to.

For example, among the administrative expenses incurred by the State Taxation Administration last year, there was a substantial amount spent on hospitality.

Oh dear, hospitality expenses, lol. Who are you tax inspectors entertaining? Businessmen and merchants?

Imagine a tax inspector saying to a shop owner, "I'll treat you to dinner."

This is just as terrifying as "drinking coffee," "pork chop rice," "your water meter is broken," or "opening the door to deliver a package."

It's more like business owners are treating tax inspectors to meals, not the other way around! How dare you expect the tax inspectors to treat you businessmen to meals! Do you have a death wish?

Since such an outrageous scene is impossible, it can only prove one thing: the money was spent on the wrong things.

I understand, I understand. It's normal for high-ranking officials to eat and drink when they come out of the government; that's basic consumption. It's not appropriate for such high-ranking officials to be running around in the provinces, getting all sweaty and smelly. It damages the image of the government and must be seriously rectified. They must be provided with luxury hotel accommodations, top-notch female service, full-body massages, and hot springs and banquets.

So you suddenly have a little more money, but it's just a tiny bit, nothing much. The Yan state is so big and powerful, do you think it needs your little bit of money?

As for the extra financial expenditures paid by the local government, it was just a tiny, insignificant amount. At most, it could be squeezed out of those lowly people. Everyone was very skilled at it and knew how to do it without being taught.

There are many similar cases. In Yan Kingdom, corruption has become completely undisguised. The extravagance of officials can be seen from the saying, "A three-year-old prefect can amass 100,000 taels of silver."

Having gone to such lengths, Liu Jiuli couldn't help but ask, "How much would it cost if I wanted to become a lowly ninth-rank official?"

Jingdian was immediately embarrassed, but still replied, "Although it's only a ninth-rank official, it's still a formally appointed official, so this number is probably needed (opens palms)."

Liu Jiuli: "How much is this?"

Jingzhe: "500,000 Lungmen coins".

Liu Jiuli: "Five hundred thousand Lungmen dollars is enough?"

Jingzhe: "Then, every year, 50,000 Lungmen coins will be offered as tribute."

Liu Jiuli nodded: "That's right."

A good official is one who doesn't just make a quick buck; he needs to be sustainable and exploitative.

The two then stopped talking about high blood pressure and began to learn about each other's actual situation.

Jing Dian: "I know you, Liu Jiuli. You established an organization called the Red Guards in the Ursus Empire and have a certain influence in the Far East region of the Ursus Empire."

Liu Jiuli: "It seems your organization's intelligence network is quite impressive."

Jingzhe shook her head and said, "No, we only obtained it through official channels. We don't have much power outside. We basically don't know anything about things that Yan Kingdom knows very little about. But you're not even a member of the organization."

Liu Jiuli: "What's the name of your organization?"

The Awakening of Insects: "Red Rice Balls".

Liu Jiuli: "Red group, huh? That's a good name. I won't ask about anything else. You must have your own confidentiality regulations. Can you tell me the truth? That way we can cooperate."

Jingzhe hesitated for a moment before saying, "It's not that I doubt you, but your current identity might cause some trouble."

Liu Jiuli shrugged: "I understand. No organization is without nationalists. Even if we are comrades, when nationality is between us, we will still subconsciously hold back."

While we sincerely hope that the proletariat of the world can unite, differences in language, religion, belief, and culture will make such issues extremely difficult. Not to mention, the real leaders of those international brigade members back then were all fluent in multiple languages, a time when humanity was shining like stars.

Even if the Red Group didn't know Liu Jiuli's true identity, they would still be very careful in their cooperation.

This is the kind of caution that an organization must have to survive for over 500 years; those who are not cautious are eliminated.

Although Jingzhe is a member of the Red Group, he is actually still in the position of an observer on the periphery. After all, this is an organization that has developed in the last five hundred years after the Red Force was attacked in Yan Country. Caution has been engraved in their DNA. There must be many long-lived people among them. This patience and persistence are their most powerful weapons.

As for why the Red Group hasn't found an opportunity after so many years of development, it's because Yan Guo's response has been very rational.

Remember, your enemies know you better than you know yourself, and capitalists also follow Marxism-Leninism.

The first ruler of Yan knew the problems within Yan itself and was well aware of the dangers of land annexation. Therefore, he needed to crack down on these large landowners to stabilize his rule. Moreover, as the founding ruler, he had the prestige to back him up, so it was easy for him to deal with these landowners who had not yet gained power.

But new landlords will still form, because the emperor himself is a landlord, and there is no class that betrays the class.

The fact that Yan State was able to maintain stability for a long time is the fundamental reason why the Red Army could not develop. Economic growth always blinds the proletariat, but the economy cannot grow forever, and contradictions cannot be prevented from erupting forever.

Of course, if Emperor Yan had the ability to carry out a complete redistribution of land across the country, it could indeed delay the outbreak of conflict. But the question is, can he do it now? Does he dare to?

No matter how you shift the conflict, as long as the original underlying conditions remain unchanged, it will slowly accumulate until it undergoes a qualitative change. Even with wise rulers throughout the two thousand years of the Yan Kingdom's history, these conflicts will eventually accumulate to a point where they can no longer be sustained.

The Yan Kingdom is now entering a critical point. Yes, the Yan Kingdom is currently in a golden age, but what will follow this golden age?

Everyone understands.

Chapter 185: The Arrogant, Incompetent Chess Player

(Update delivered, good evening everyone (～￣▽￣)～)

What made Jingzhe a revolutionary?

Regardless of her background or family history, Jingzhe meets the standards of a wealthy family, but her family is rather unique among many wealthy families.

To put it bluntly, they are the kind of wealthy families who can't bring themselves to abandon their conscience and lose face. Under normal circumstances, such wealthy families should have been eliminated by the feudal bureaucratic system long ago. But they have a good background. They are ruthless people who followed their ancestors to conquer the country, equivalent to the founding fathers. Moreover, the ancestor of the Jingzhe family is an immortal being who is still alive.

With such an elder in charge, the Lin family (Jingzhe's real name is Lin Qingyan) can naturally sit back and relax in many places. Even if the Lin family members, who are raised with strict family discipline, are not popular, others dare not say anything.

Moreover, the emperor himself also needed such a model for the people to see, and to promote integrity and anti-corruption efforts on a daily basis.

Look closely, you bunch of troublemakers! The Emperor is wise and mighty, and he is willing to treat the common people well. Those who got into trouble were the corrupt officials. They have already been executed by the Emperor, and you're still not grateful!

Listen to me say thank you, because of you, every season is filled with warmth and joy~

In many cases, officials under the feudal system were not willing to be corrupt, but rather had to be corrupt, and they also had to ensure that the emperor had evidence of their corruption. This was called a "pledge of allegiance," a pledge to make the emperor trust them. In this way, the emperor had leverage over them, and if they disobeyed, he could use this leverage to get rid of them. This was called the art of governing subordinates.

Therefore, anti-corruption efforts in feudal dynasties are like cheat codes in games. The official system can never eliminate all cheat codes; they only need to make you feel that the game environment is acceptable, and nothing else matters.

If cheats don't affect the game experience and can even make the official team more money, they won't bother with them.

The same principle applies to the Yan Kingdom's court; it's not exactly the same, but rather completely the same.

But being an official in such an environment is truly a torturous thing, especially when you can't let go of your conscience, the pain will be doubled.

“I have seen many people who shouldn’t have died die, while many who should have died are still alive, not because of insufficient evidence or poor investigation, but simply because the people above want them to live.”

As Jingzhe spoke of this, her eyes blazed with fury, and her hands clenched into fists; she could not accept it.

Once is an accident, twice is out of helplessness, but what about the third, fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh, eighth, ninth and tenth times?

“Once, I did my best to save someone who shouldn’t have died, but that person still died, right on my way to Dali Temple every day, in the alley next door.”

When she saw the man's body, Jingzhe felt like a clown. She finally understood that the Dali Temple in Yan Kingdom had no justice, only the emperor's needs, and when necessary, it became the emperor's white glove.

I was taught from a young age to be a responsible and strong person, to have compassion for the weak and to treat the strong equally, that everyone is equal before the law, and that princes and commoners are subject to the same laws.

But it's impossible. People with money and power have too many ways to escape punishment. For example, wealthy merchants only need to pay a sum of money, and the poor people who are beaten to death can be considered dead in vain. Whether this so-called "compensation" can actually reach the family depends on the conscience of the person involved.

"Once, I handed over all the compensation owed to a wealthy businessman to that family. The other party knelt on the ground and kowtowed to me. I felt no joy at all, only deep sorrow."

"The people of Yan are suffering so much that they don't even dare to remember their relatives who were killed."

"Conflicts are accumulating, anger is building, and sooner or later they will rise up in rebellion."

"In the history of Yan State, those selfless and fearless people left behind a lot of things, including the most simple 'Are kings and nobles born with a special destiny?'"

Jingdian's words deepened Liu Jiuli's understanding of the Red Group.

Although Jingzhe only provided her own information, a lot of additional information can be gleaned from a person's growth trajectory, such as the Red Team's vetting standards, how they obtained this intelligence, and their methods of recruiting members, etc.

Liu Jiuli was absolutely certain that the Red Team must have had observers secretly watching Jingzhe for a long time before they started contacting her.

Considering that the ancestors of the Yan Kingdom's royal family were all comrades, Liu Jiuli had every reason to believe that there were such people within the Lin family as well, and they might even be their ancestors.

Bi Jinglin's ancestors lived in the same era as the pioneers of that time. With the Lin family's upright family tradition, if you say they weren't influenced by the pioneers, Liu Jiuli would rather believe that Biden is Trump's father.

"Now that we have revealed our identities to each other, let's work together happily from now on, Comrade Jingzhe."

Liu Jiuli extended his right hand towards Jingzhe.

"It's a pleasure to cooperate with you, Comrade Liu Jiuli. By the way, my real name is Lin Qingyan."

Jingzhe grasped Liu Jiuli's right hand.

Revealing one's real name is a sign of intimacy, a practice shared by all races on Terra.

You can think of a code name as a pen name; real names are only used between close friends and represent trust.

With Jingzhe as an inside source, everything became much easier. Liu Jiuli's movements also became unpredictable, all in order to gather more information about Yan Kingdom and investigate the actual situation there.

In a country of over 15 million square kilometers, collecting samples alone would take a long time. Fortunately, Liu Jiuli could fly, so the two of them saved a lot of time. They often traveled back and forth between several prefectures and counties, keeping the Si Suitai busy and causing them to frequently lose track of the people. Fortunately, Liu Jiuli would always take the initiative to contact them soon afterward.

Because they ran out of money, they directly asked Si Suitai for more.

You f***ing...

Si Suitai really wanted to curse, but he couldn't fight back against the excavator, so he had to swallow his pride and accept it. Fortunately, the emperor had specially approved the funding, so Si Suitai wouldn't have to use his own department's money. If he could keep some of it, it would be an extra benefit.

However, Liu Jiuli seemed determined to treat the civil servants of Si Suitai like maids, seeking their help whenever he needed it. He completely regarded Si Suitai as his personal welfare institution. If he suddenly wanted a late-night snack, he would have the people of Si Suitai buy the ingredients. Such treatment would be unthinkable for any other Sui Beast clone.

That evening, Liu Jiuli brought Jingzhe back to the capital. However, as soon as he landed, Liu Jiuli looked at a nearby corner and asked, "Should you come out by yourself or should I just drag you out?"

Before Jingzhe knew what was happening, a strangely shaped ancient beast emerged from the shadows.

"What is this?" Jing Dian looked at Liu Jiuli.

Liu Jiuli said to the strange beast, "I've been secretly observing you since the day I entered the capital. Have you seen enough, Go player?"

The strange beast sat down and spoke in human language: "What Go player? How rude of you. I am your second brother."

Liu Jiuli: "My second brother thinks I'm suspicious and is therefore wary of me? We don't have any grudge against each other, do we?"