You Have Science, I Have Martial Arts-Chapter 595 - 269: I Haven’t Rebelled Yet, but Da Liang Is Already Doomed (Part 3)

Chapter 595: Chapter 269: I Haven’t Rebelled Yet, but Da Liang Is Already Doomed (Part 3)

At this point, the State Governor’s Mansion was practically obsolete, the Liaodong General Family collectively turned against them, and the entire Youzhou had completely fallen under Ye Qingzhou’s command, with no one daring to defy his orders.

Even Lv Gongming, the Dao Master of Louguan Dao who had been secretly observing Ye Qingzhou for a long time, brought his disciple Xu Biyi to join Ye Qingzhou’s ranks.

Especially Xu Biyi, who is an extraordinary talent comparable to Nie Shixiong and Wang Junfeng. After joining the Heart Martial Sect, his cultivation advanced rapidly, and soon he became Ye Qingzhou’s third direct disciple after Wang Junfeng and Nie Shixiong.

In the following days, Ye Qingzhou was practicing daily in the Protectorate, while his three direct disciples Wang Junfeng, Nie Shixiong, and Xu Biyi were involved in the complex process of selecting soldiers, training troops, and expanding the power of the Heart Martial Sect.

The manpower and resources of the entire Youzhou were mobilized, and Wang Junfeng, along with the remnants of the freshly surrendered Ta Bai Army, began to visit the local noble families and the rich to ’reason’ with them, persuading them to ’voluntarily’ hand over the lands they had illegally occupied.

Of course, there were certainly those who opposed this initially.

But once those opposing were dead, naturally no one opposed anymore.

With land in hand, Ye Qingzhou could recruit displaced people for farming, greatly stabilizing social order, while also gathering considerable public support.

For the Heart Martial Sect, the Power of Thought Ability is the most important cultivation resource, so Wang Junfeng and others were extremely ruthless in their campaign against the stubborn factions among the noble families and the rich.

Obstructing someone’s path is like killing someone’s parents!

The entire Heart Martial Sect moved with one accord, dominating Youzhou and rapidly expanding their influence.

Initially, Ye Qingzhou thought the Da Liang Court would gather a large army to crusade against him, but after half a year, the only news he received was about the Xiliang Border Army’s rebellion and the Capital’s downfall.

Looking at the intelligence gathered by Divine Calculator Lv Gongming through Louguan Dao disciples, Ye Qingzhou was at a loss: "What is this? I haven’t even started rebelling, and Da Liang is about to perish?"

Lv Gongming stroked his beard and laughed: "This is divine intervention. You are destined to rule over the world, dominate the seas, and achieve an unparalleled legacy."

"What exactly happened? Why would the Western Regions Protectorate rebel out of nowhere?"

Ye Qingzhou was quite puzzled by this.

The Da Liang Kingdom established four major protectorates in the east, south, west, and north, among which the Western Regions Protectorate was the strongest, responsible for guarding the Western Regions and exerting power over other nations.

The second-ranked Northern Domain Protectorate had the duty of suppressing the Northern Border, preventing the Donghu from invading southward.

The remaining Eastern Domain Protectorate and Southern Domain Protectorate were primarily naval forces, with the Southern Domain Protectorate maintaining a large land army due to its role in subduing the Land of Baiyue.

In terms of military power, Da Liang was quite formidable, maintaining a massive army with a total strength of near a million.

Yet first the Northern Domain Protectorate was destroyed by rebels, and now even the strongest Western Regions Protectorate has rebelled, which spells doom for Da Liang.

Lv Gongming remarked with emotion, "Alas, Da Liang’s sovereignty was ruined by the Queen’s Brother Li Guozhong."

"Prime Minister Li Guozhong of Da Liang?"

Ye Qingzhou had indeed heard of Li Guozhong, mostly due to rumors involving Li Yunxia, the Liang Kingdom’s most beautiful woman famed for her alluring charm.

Despite being a second-marriage woman, she managed to captivate the Emperor to such an extent that she ascended to the position of Empress, elevating her entire family—a standard for gold diggers.

After Lv Gongming’s explanation, Ye Qingzhou understood why Lv Gongming attributed the fall of Da Liang’s sovereignty to Li Guozhong.

Li Guozhong was excessively inhumane; after using family connections to climb to the position of Prime Minister, if he only embezzled a bit, it wouldn’t have been so bad.

But he was too greedy—he actually reformed the financial system and privatized Da Liang’s government-operated banks!

Banks were essentially Da Liang’s treasury or the nation’s financial repository.

Li Guozhong’s action effectively transferred the banks from Da Liang Court’s control directly into the hands of himself and his disciples, monopolizing the financial system.

More disastrously, Li Guozhong later reformed the tax system, mandating that Da Liang’s citizens pay taxes in currency rather than providing grain directly.

The problem was that currency issuance was in the hands of the banks, who inflated prices and raised interest rates, artificially causing economic contraction, resulting in money being collected by banks. The common people were left with no money, forced to sell grain and land to convert into currency for tax payments.

As a result, the common people were completely controlled by gentry officials, pushed into the dead-end of land annexation, speeding up the process exponentially.

Land annexation led to wealth being squeezed out entirely by gentry officials and Li Guozhong’s disciples and other bureaucrats, depriving the entire nation of a large tax base, leaving the Court unable to levy money and grain, and powerless to suppress local uprisings.

The Profound Celestial Sect’s rebellion further accelerated the rise of noble families and rich armament, with the rebellion of the Western Regions Protectorate being a mere result of this chain reaction.

"Ye Qingzhou, the Emperor of Da Liang has already fled east to Xingyang, currently rallying troops across the nation to enter the Capital and restore power, uniting to oppose Protector of the Western Regions Cao Yingcheng. Should we intervene?"

Lv Gongming looked at Ye Qingzhou, awaiting his decision.

Recognizing the eagerness in Lv Gongming’s eyes, Ye Qingzhou smiled and nodded, "After all, we’re idle; joining in the excitement could be fun."

The Emperor of Da Liang recklessly brought on calamities, along with bizarre bureaucrats who destroyed the very foundation of governance for profit.

The saying goes, heaven may forgive natural disasters, but not self-inflicted ones.

Yet this was good news for Ye Qingzhou; if the enemy didn’t initiate their collapse, how could he quickly unify the Central Plains and bring forth the Xuanyuan Sword?

Ye Qingzhou had a premonition, feeling that this venture to the Capital would yield great rewards—this was the intuition of a martial artist, often proving to be extremely accurate.