The Immortal Seeker: Legend of Bronze Mirror

However, the Court's silver is also increasing.

But are the people's lives improving?

Honestly, apart from the Southeastern Land, the lives of people in many provinces are getting worse.

There are natural disasters and human-induced calamities.

Because reforms in some places result in good governance, but in more places, they are excuses for the Officials to exploit the common people. Many small landlords also suffer from the reforms.

Yet, the Court is wealthy, and the military strength has increased, making the power to suppress local forces stronger than ever.

In fact, even now, the Great Ming Newspaper in South Zhili has some Scholars concluding that the population of this dynasty is the highest of all previous dynasties, but the land and grain have not increased correspondingly to past dynasties. Moreover, forests are gradually disappearing, animals are becoming fewer, and the average meat consumption by the people is actually less than in the Middle Ages.

Anyway, the conclusion of these Scholars is that there are too many people now, and if there were fewer, it would benefit everyone in the world.

A significant number of nobles actually respond to these kinds of statements.

However, many nobles who have turned into factory owners oppose this, because the population to them equals money. The more the population, the lower the labor cost.

They do not care about the consumption of land and grain; they care more about whether the factory can expand and whether the labor cost can be cheaper.

Additionally, backed by the profits of maritime trade, they only worry about insufficient output, not sparse market.

With the expansion of production through the profits of maritime trade, it becomes a more dimension-reducing blow to those factories without the benefits of maritime trade.

This is another level of annexation, more hidden but also more terrifying than land annexation.

From Su Lianqing's personal understanding, it's impossible to tell what the world will turn into, because some old Orders are collapsing, while new Orders are just starting to form.

In her view, the future direction has been swinging between great order and great chaos.

Everything actually originates from the Young Master.

...

...

Xu Qing naturally has no awareness of being the source of the world's chaos.

"I have read the Twenty-Three Histories, which say that history is the history of Emperor and Generals. This is both right and wrong." Xu Qing casually said to Su Lianqing as they approached the Long Chang Inn.

"What does the Young Master think it is?"

"I'm just saying it randomly, might not be right. In my view, it's just eight words: 'The common people build the stage, the heroes perform.'"

Su Lianqing was taken aback by these words, finding them quite flavorful.

The whole world is the stage, and the heroes are the performers?

As Su Lianqing was lost in thought, Xu Qing loudly proclaimed toward the Long Chang Inn ahead: "Xu Qing from Jiangning is here, please let the old hero come out and meet."

The intention was clear: this time, he came as a commoner, unrelated to the Court's affairs.

So, are the members of the An family willing to come out and meet Xu in person?

The presence of one person was like a thousand troops.

The people of the An family in Shui Xi suddenly felt a sense of dark clouds pressing down on the city, as if it would collapse.

It seemed like the thousand-year reputation of the An family in Shui Xi was on the verge of crumbling with just a few words from Xu Qing.

He had but a few people.

Yet this pressure was incredibly heavy and real.

Especially in the Long Chang Inn, the great horses of the An family, surprisingly, all prostrated themselves and shivered, as if sensing some terrifying danger approaching.

These great horses had followed the An family's soldiers on several campaigns in Qian Nan Province, had seen blood, and weren't afraid of spirits, but now they were trembling.

The people of the An family grew increasingly uneasy.

The more uneasy they were, the more terrifying the danger seemed.

The surrounding time seemed to accelerate, and the scene before them grew grayish, the sky quickly darkening.

Especially the martial artists and the Wizards under the An family, their senses were keener.

The sky not only turned dark but also wasn't pitch black to the point of invisibility. In their perception, stars appeared in the sky.

That was the Xuanwu Seven Stars as defined by the people of the Central Plains, a terrifying aura of slaughter fell from the starry sky, covering the entire Long Chang Inn.

Divine Communication Skill!

The powerful figures of the An family couldn't have imagined that before even formally meeting, this rumored Wenqu Star presented such a terrifying display of power.

A true show of strength as even all the great horses bowed down to the ground.