Chapter 1573: Hidden Wealth

Chapter 1573: Hidden Wealth

Seeing Mo Hua lost in thought for a long time, pondering over who-knew-what, Bai XiaoSheng said somewhat helplessly:

"Stop dwelling on these nonsensical things. With such a bizarre title, it's probably just an idle pastime book that Lü Chongshan was reading for fun..."

"Let's settle the important matters first. The Lü Family and the Golden Cores in Qingchou City will definitely stop you from opening the tomb."

"If you want to unseal the tomb, plan ahead early. Don't drag your feet."

"I don't want to spend the rest of my life playing around with you in this Qingchou City..."

Mo Hua replied, "I know, but things have to be handled one at a time..."

"After all, these local families, magnates, and gentry aren't the Green-Faced Multitude. They haven't openly rebelled, so it's not appropriate to mobilize the army to simply flatten them. Doing so would cause mutiny and sow public panic."

"Besides, seventy or eighty Golden Cores gathered together aren't that easy to kill either... Golden Cores aren't cabbages you can chop down whenever you feel like it."

Golden Cores certainly were not cabbages...

In ordinary Prefecture Realms, Golden Cores were absolute powerhouses. Even within great aristocratic clans, they served as core pillars. How could anyone kill them at a whim?

Yet hearing those words come out of Mo Hua's mouth, Bai XiaoSheng could not help feeling a sense of bizarre uncanniness.

Gu Changhuai pondered for a moment. With a solemn expression, he nodded and said, "When quelling a rebellion, waging war and slaughter is arduous indeed."

"Yet appeasing all the factions after the rebellion is settled, that is the truly troublesome part..."

"In particular, these magnates and gentry rooted in the local soil are actually far trickier than they appear."

"In a Third-Grade Prefecture Realm, they have Golden Cores presiding over them and excel at acting as 'fence-sitters,' swaying with whatever wind blows."

"During peaceful times, the Dao Court Division needs to court them, using their local influence to get things done."

"During rebellions, blessed with profound reserves and deep roots, they often manage to survive through the blood and storm."

"They have flourished and operated in Qingchou Prefecture for countless generations, their roots deeply entrenched in the soil. While their influence seems far inferior to that of great aristocratic clans, their resilience is exceedingly formidable, like a centipede that dies but never topples."

"When many great clans encounter storms, once their grand mansion leans, the tree falls and the monkeys scatter."

"Yet these landlords, magnates, and local families have deep roots and low profiles. They are very likely to survive for hundreds, even thousands of years."

"Most importantly..."

Gu Changhuai frowned. "These local factions are 'invisible'."

"To call them strong, they are not overwhelmingly so. Yet to call them weak, they are not weak in the slightest."

"The truly strong can't be bothered to touch them, while the weak suffer beneath their bullying."

"So through all the storms of history, these 'middle-of-the-road' landlords and magnates have instead become Kun Province's greatest chronic malady."

"Such situations exist in other Prefecture Realms as well. But Kun Province is vast, reliant entirely on the land for its livelihood, making this phenomenon all the more pronounced."

"Many affairs, in truth, fall apart right in the hands of these local families and gentry... They are not to be underestimated in the slightest..."

Gu Changhuai laid out these matters one by one for Mo Hua.

Even Bai XiaoSheng grew somewhat astonished as he listened.

Hailing from a Great Aristocratic Clan with lofty talent, his perspective was naturally elevated.

Subconsciously, he had never regarded these small families and petty landlords with much gravity.

He had assumed these minor families and petty landlords were merely miniaturized versions of Clans.

Yet through Gu Changhuai's explanation, he suddenly realized that there seemed to be far more beneath the surface.

Listening along, Mo Hua felt stirred as well.

Previously, his Divine-Sense and computational capacity had primarily been consumed by the overall situation of Heavenly Secrets, War-Scenario Deduction, and Formation Origin Tracing.

He had not paid much attention to such granular details.

Compared to the Earth Sect and the Four Great Clans he had dealt with, these local minor families, magnates, and gentry were naturally insignificant.

Yet if things were truly as Uncle Gù described, then the waters around these seemingly unremarkable local factions might run rather deep...

Fortunately, Uncle Gù combed through the case files every day.

Only by reviewing vast quantities of local files from the Dao Court Division and acquiring an extensive understanding of the inner workings could one decipher the structure of these native factions...

Could it be...

Mo Hua could not help asking, "Are these people... very rich?"

Gu Changhuai's eyes flickered slightly as he said slowly:

"The Dao Court Division's dossiers don't state it explicitly, but I had people calculate based on the fragmented ledgers, tax records, and arable acreage from the Qingchou Division Office. A massive quantity of produce within Qingchou Prefecture has 'evaporated' into thin air, leaving no trace behind..."

"Yet one doesn't even need to think to know that a considerable portion must have fallen into the pockets of the local families and gentry."

"After all, this was meat right at their own mouths to begin with..."

Mo Hua considered this for a brief moment, his heart sinking as understanding dawned.

That made sense...

The Heavenly Dao is fair. Wealth in the mortal realm neither appears from nothing nor vanishes into thin air.

If the vast majority of spirit farmers clearly toiled with all their might yet received meager returns, growing poorer and poorer...

Then it proved beyond doubt that someone in the shadows was growing richer and richer.

The extent of the current poverty in Qingchou Prefecture was obvious to all.

Yet by all logic, Qingchou Prefecture shouldn't have been poor in the first place.

Because this was Kun Province, the Kun Province where Profound Virtue Bears All Things, blessed with vast farmland and fertile soil.

The spirit farmers toiled diligently for generations.

How could they be poor? How could it be possible for them to be poor?

Even suffering a Famine Disaster, the situation could never have deteriorated to this extent in an instant.

If they had held even a shred of surplus grain in their hands, they wouldn't have been reduced to rioting mobs.

The Famine Disaster, in the end, was merely the final straw that broke the camel's back.

And that camel had already been down to its very last breath...

Mo Hua's gaze turned profound, laced with a sliver of chill.

Observing Mo Hua and sensing the chill radiating from him, Gu Changhuai was taken aback. He asked, "You aren't thinking... of confiscating their property, are you?"

Mo Hua asked, "Can we?"

Gu Changhuai sighed. "What do you think?"

Mo Hua lapsed into silence.

Gu Changhuai said slowly, "For now, all of this is merely conjecture. I only calculated it from the Division Office's files and ledgers."

"However... even if these local Qingchou landlords and families are truly wealthy, you cannot simply raid and confiscate their homes whenever you please."

"Because under the Dao Law, these people are 'clean'..."

"They earn their Spirit stones and amass their family fortunes. There is nothing to fault them for."

"More importantly, they did not rebel."

Looking at Mo Hua, Gu Changhuai said helplessly:

"Strictly speaking, the Changshan Army under your command is technically the 'mob', while these landlords, seeking only self-preservation without revolting, are 'law-abiding citizens'."

"If you raid their homes without cause or reason, you truly will become a 'tyrant'."

"Esteemed Master Mo's atrocities: confiscating properties and exterminating families."

"Within Qingchou City, the prestige of your Tongxian Cult will cease to exist."

"And you won't be able to account for it to Great General Chang either..."

After all, Great General Chang himself was considered one of the local prominent gentry and regional powerhouses...

Mo Hua's gaze lowered slightly, remaining silent.

Taking the opportunity, Bai XiaoSheng chimed in, "Why not just forget it? What blasted Tongxian Cult? It was an empty facade and a hollow act from the start. If its reputation rots, let it rot. Empty fame is better off discarded."

"If you ask me, let's raid the homes of these gentry. Use the seized supplies to relieve the disaster, and we will have done our utmost duty."

"After that, drop everything and run. Settle it once and for all..."

Mo Hua treated Bai XiaoSheng's words as pure wind, paying them not the slightest mind.

Instead, Gu Changhuai sighed and asked Mo Hua, "What do you intend to do?"

After all, the matter regarding the Lü Family was far from over.

These local families certainly wouldn't take things lying down.

Mo Hua pondered for a moment and said, "Since that's the case, we can only switch to a different approach..."

"Fat pickings..."

...

Sure enough, starting that very night, the local Qingchou families used the matter of Great Philanthropist Lü to launch their offensive.

Several disturbances broke out across Qingchou City.

Instigators began making trouble across various families and factions.

Within the Changshan Army, some of the incorporated soldiers also began protesting.

Out on the streets, rogue cultivators, beggars, and refugees even began clamoring outside the Qingchou Division Office, pleading:

"We beg Esteemed Master to see clearly and show mercy!"

"The Lü Family is a lineage of accumulated virtue, and Great Philanthropist Lü was a great man. The Lü ancestral grave must never be dug up..."

"Great Philanthropist Lü did this to suppress the Feng Shui, to protect Qingchou City..."

"Digging up the Lü Family's ancestral grave will invite divine retribution!"

"Esteemed Master Mo possesses vast Divine Powers. He must have been deceived by villains to make things difficult for the Lü Family."

"We beg Esteemed Master Mo to examine the truth thoroughly..."

Remembering the favors of the Lü Family as well as the grace of Esteemed Master Mo, the vast majority of cultivators in Qingchou City only dared to voice petitions without acting excessively insolent.

Yet among them, others mingled within the crowd, fanning the flames and spreading slanderous rumors. They depicted Mo Hua as an opinionated, domineering, and tyrannical Unorthodox Path heretic.

The guise of an Esteemed Master was merely skin-deep; a cruel demon was his true essence.

This stirred up endless gossip and rampant panic.

Worse yet, some soldiers of the Changshan Army—who had been routed and then incorporated by Mo Hua—began using the Esteemed Master's banner to suppress ordinary cultivators, causing even greater terror among the people.

The image of Tongxian Cult's Esteemed Master Mo as "vicious and domineering" and "arbitrary and tyrannical" gradually took root in the hearts of the populace.

Although Great General Chang had dispatched men to quell the unrest, rumors were formidable, and with disturbances everywhere, he found himself utterly at a loss.

He was a general; taking the field to slay enemies was fine, but dealing with these rumors and unruly crowds gave him a splitting headache.

As for unsealing the tomb, that was even less worth mentioning.

Someone had leaked the location of Great Philanthropist Lü's grave.

A mob of starving refugees, disaster victims, and raggedly dressed cultivators of dubious origin took the lead, forming a human wall that surrounded Great Philanthropist Lü's tomb so tightly that not even water could seep through.

To dig up the grave, one would have to step over their dead bodies.

Truly powerless, Great General Chang could only report these matters to Mo Hua, asking Esteemed Master Mo to make a decision.

...

Inside the Qingchou Division Office.

Mo Hua and Gu Changhuai were skimming through several dispatches documenting the rampant rumors circulating in Qingchou City and the accounts of several disturbances.

"All of it petty, underhanded tricks..." Gu Changhuai sighed.

Yet he had to admit that such methods were often the most effective, as well as the most disgusting.

Great General Chang also had his brow deeply furrowed, his eyes exhausted. This upright veteran general had been completely overwhelmed these past few days.

Mo Hua, however, was reading with keen interest.

Especially regarding those 'slanderous rumors', there was no harm in learning them; they might prove useful in the future.

In this world, everything could be learned.

One could learn insults, and naturally, one could learn slander. The only thing that mattered was how one chose to use it.

Seeing Mo Hua staring silently at these treasonous words, unable to see the keenly intrigued expression hidden beneath the pitch-black cowl, Great General Chang assumed Esteemed Master Mo was furious. Feeling uneasy, he whispered:

"The common people are ignorant and manipulated by others. Please do not take offense, Esteemed Master."

Mo Hua did not take offense, for he often manipulated others as well.

Furthermore, these acts—slander, fanning the flames, inciting disturbances—were rather like trying to teach a fish how to swim before Mo Hua, whose intellect bordered on the demonic and who excelled at the Dao Heart Seeding Demon.

The games he had played before were far grander than this.

Besides, Mo Hua had already anticipated the situation escalating to this stage.

Originally, with his methods, resolving this issue wouldn't have been difficult. But now, his intentions had shifted.

Mo Hua said, "The Lü Family and those local families and gentry are pulling the strings behind this, aren't they..."

Great General Chang had to admit, "Yes..."

Mo Hua nodded. "Arrest the ringleaders and lock them in the dungeon... Demand ransoms."

"Ransoms?" Great General Chang froze slightly.

"Yes," Mo Hua nodded, then asked, "In your Qingchou territory, when kidnappers take hostages, how much is the ransom usually?"

Kidnappers...

Great General Chang was at a loss for words. Was it appropriate for an Esteemed Master of your stature to engage in such conduct? Still, he answered truthfully:

"For kidnapping family scions, it ranges anywhere from five to six thousand up to several hundred thousand. The highest could reach a million, though whether it can actually be collected is uncertain."

Mo Hua nodded. "Then double it first. Once you seize them, make these families cough up Spirit stones. If they don't have Spirit stones, trading supplies works too."

Great General Chang hesitated. "Is this... appropriate?"

Mo Hua said, "There's nothing inappropriate about it. They spread rumors about this Esteemed Master; merely taking some Spirit stones without taking their lives is already considered 'gentle'."

Remembering the terrifying scenes at the Green-Faced Multitude's stronghold—where Golden Core commanders had been decapitated with twisted limbs and bulging eyeballs—Great General Chang felt a shiver in his heart and nodded.

Mo Hua then produced a map, saying:

"In Qingchou City, direct lineage scions from some local families will appear in these locations soon. Head over according to the hours marked. Regardless of whether they are causing trouble or not, arrest them indiscriminately. If they don't pay the ransom, don't release them."

Great General Chang glanced at the map. Startled, he frowned once more.

"Arresting troublemakers is justifiable. But these scions haven't caused trouble... Forcibly arresting them, isn't that a bit..."

Mo Hua, however, said, "They did cause trouble. Just say I said so."

Great General Chang hesitated for a moment and sighed, "Very well..."

You are the Esteemed Master; whatever you say goes.

Yet deep down, the habitually upright general could not help feeling uneasy. "Is this not somewhat... excessive?"

"How could it possibly be excessive?" Mo Hua said slowly:

"Presently, the soldiers lack grain and fodder. As the Great General, you naturally need to raise military funds. This is entirely reasonable and justified."

"Otherwise, once the rations run out and the Changshan Army mutinies, another bloody storm will erupt in the city. When that happens, whether these families will be implicated, how many families will go bankrupt, or how many will be wiped out entirely, none of that can be guaranteed..."

"These matters, Great General Chang, should be clearer to you than to this Esteemed Master..."

Great General Chang's face paled slightly, and he nodded:

"Everything shall be done according to the Esteemed Master's command."

...

After that, Great General Chang no longer held back and began arresting people everywhere according to Mo Hua's instructions.

Anyone hailing from local families who caused trouble, ran their mouths, spread rumors, incited the populace, or stirred up unrest was arrested and thrown into the Division Office's Dao Prison.

As for the direct lineage scions and foolish landlord sons who dared to step outside, their movements were entirely predicted by Mo Hua, and they were rounded up in one sweep.

Afterward, Great General Chang began charging them with "provoking quarrels and stirring up trouble," demanding ransoms.

The families' Golden Core elders came demanding justice, but Great General Chang deflected them all by claiming it was an order from Esteemed Master Mo.

When those with personal ties to Great General Chang came to plead for leniency, he stated he was "raising military funds to prevent a mutiny"...

Once army mutiny was mentioned, no one dared to say another word.

From then on, Great General Chang was no longer afraid of people making trouble.

Because whenever someone caused trouble, there had to be a ringleader. And wherever there was a ringleader, he could make arrests, lock them up, and demand ransoms.

The entire process went smoother than Great General Chang—and even Mo Hua himself—had anticipated.

Conditions in the Dao Prison were harsh, and compounded by the famine year, anyone imprisoned received no food at all.

They could only starve to death slowly.

Had they been refugees, the families wouldn't have cared.

Yet those locked in the Dao Prison were their own families' nephews and juniors, and in some cases, their own biological sons.

The local landlords and gentry naturally couldn't truly stand by and watch.

Meanwhile, Esteemed Master Mo was sinister and uncanny, and Great General Chang was ruthless and unyielding.

Most local factions were fence-sitters: they stood united when stirring up trouble, but when truly confronted by overwhelming power, they fractured into pieces, each nursing their own selfish schemes.

One after another, unable to withstand the pressure, people began bringing Spirit stones and supplies to the Dao Prison to ransom their kin.

With someone breaking the ice, others soon followed suit.

Seeing that he could genuinely raise military funds, Great General Chang—aside from marveling at the Esteemed Master's brilliance—gradually stopped caring about the moral implications.

Mo Hua, however, thought a step further.

There were two possibilities for why these local families parted with the ransom so readily.

One was that they valued family ties and had no choice but to part with their wealth.

The other possibility was...

They were simply far too wealthy.

These ransoms did not hurt their foundations in the slightest, so they paid them without hesitation, buying peace from the cruel and domineering Esteemed Master Mo.

Mo Hua's eyes glinted faintly; he now had a rough estimate in mind.

...

Having learned their lesson from this incident, the local families no longer dared to openly unite and defy Mo Hua's wishes.

The resistance against Mo Hua digging up Great Philanthropist Lü's grave diminished considerably.

Yet an even thornier problem remained.

"What do you plan to do about the starving refugees gathered before the Lü Family tomb?" Gu Changhuai asked.

These people were not inherently wicked, but once incited, they became filled with righteous indignation.

Because they were innocent, pitiable people, they could neither be arrested nor beaten and killed.

From the look of things, these starving refugees manipulated by the families were actually the most troublesome factor.

Mo Hua, however, paid it no mind and said, "This is the easiest part..."

Gu Changhuai was taken aback. "Easy?"

Mo Hua nodded.

After all, this was about manipulating the minds of the masses, something he had always excelled at.

With only a moment's thought, Mo Hua penned an official proclamation on a Jade Slip in the tone of an Esteemed Master and handed it to Gu Changhuai.

The contents were rather straightforward.

First, adhering to the claims of the Qingchou families, it praised Great Philanthropist Lü for his boundless Merit and selfless devotion, going so far as to use his own tomb to suppress the Evil Vein Feng Shui, a righteous act to seek blessings and avert disaster for the common people of Qingchou City.

Esteemed Master Mo recognized Great Philanthropist Lü's achievements and expressed admiration.

However, doing so meant Great Philanthropist Lü would be buried in vile winds and sinister waters for all eternity, contaminated by cold, damp Evil Qi, forever denied reincarnation.

Esteemed Master Mo, being benevolent of heart, could not bear to see Great Philanthropist Lü suffer such a calamity. Having obtained the consent of the sect master True-Person, he would employ the Tongxian Cult's Supreme Secret Method to open the tomb and relocate the grave for Great Philanthropist Lü.

This would grant Great Philanthropist Lü a proper beginning and end.

At the same time, using the Divine Dao Edict of the Tongxian Cult Master, he would suppress the Feng Shui in Great Philanthropist Lü's stead, securing peace for the common folk of Qingchou City.

In this manner, both objectives would be achieved.

It would fulfill the Lü Family's glorious reputation, ensuring the good man received good karma.

It would also fulfill the grand tenets of the Tongxian Cult, sparing the common masses from suffering...

...

Gu Changhuai stared at the Jade Slip before him, then glanced at Mo Hua, his mind completely overturned.

As an Archive Officer of the Dao Court Division, how could he not recognize that Mo Hua's skill in manipulating words, spinning sophisticated rhetoric, and twisting black into white was truly terrifyingly astonishing...

(End of Chapter)