A certain person is the Heavenly Killer Li Gui.

Chapter 287 It’s time to speed up the progress of unification

"Brother, something seems wrong."

Zhu Wu came to Li Gui worriedly.

"This year there is another severe drought in every state. Although the food reserves are still sufficient, people have begun to become anxious."

"According to the news coming back from various places, some people are secretly rumoring that this drought is a punishment from the gods and Buddhas in the sky for our blasphemy in Liangshan."

Li Gui became very angry after hearing this and cursed:

"Thief!"

"It must be the people from the Imperial City Division who are causing trouble again!"

"Don't pay attention to these rumors. Just keep an eye on the construction site of the water conservancy project and don't let the built facilities be destroyed by the Imperial City Department."

"Shandong has a developed water system with countless rivers. Even if there is a drought, as long as the irrigation work is done well, there is no need to worry about a serious harvest failure."

"What's more, Brother Zhang Shun buys a lot of food from Annan and other places every year. We have enough food and we don't need to requisition food from the people in the territory. There won't be any trouble."

Liangshan's current state is actually abnormal.

The normal relationship between the court and the people should be that the court continuously collects food taxes and labor from the people to maintain the operation of the country's political system, while the existence of the court provides order and security for the people.

This essentially means that people who lack the ability to protect themselves use their own resources and freedom in exchange for their own safety.

This should be an equal transaction.

However, due to the huge disparity in power between them, this kind of transaction is often not equivalent.

When a court gradually loses its ability to protect people's safety, it is often the beginning of the collapse of the dynasty.

The situation in Liangshan is even more special.

Liangshan's initial money and grain were snatched from the wealthy gentry's families, and now the money is snatched back from Yinshan in Japan. They are all transactions without capital, which highlights the true nature of a bandit.

Today's Central Plains is prosperous, and the only products that can be sold overseas to the Central Plains are various rare treasures such as ivory, agate, pearls...

But Liangshan doesn’t want these things, only food.

Zhang Shun's foreign trade ships had always only transported various kinds of porcelain, silk, and tea, and then brought back shiploads of grain.

If there is any remaining price difference generated by sales, a large number of seagoing ships will be hired to continuously transport grain back from overseas.

Anyway, Liangshan Spirits requires a lot of food, so don’t worry about having too much food.

Having a lot of money is so willful!

This led to the fact that under the rule of Liangshan, the government had no demand for resources from the people.

In case of a disaster and government relief is needed, it is actually the Liangshan government that provides for all the people.

This model cannot last at all. It can continue to operate now only because Liangshan has a small territory, a small population, and only a few states.

But if it expands to the whole country in the future, this model will inevitably collapse.

No matter how big the silver mountain is, it cannot support a big country.

No matter how much food is purchased overseas, it will not be able to fill the bellies of hundreds of millions of people.

Agricultural self-sufficiency within the territory is still very important, so Liangshan has been building water conservancy projects in recent years and has never stopped.

These things had been decided for a long time, and Li Gui didn't take them seriously. But when he saw Zhu Wu was hesitant to speak, he asked strangely:

"Brother, do you have something to say?"

"Then let's be honest, don't be separated from my brother!"

Zhu Wu composed himself and smiled apologetically:

"It's my little brother's fault!"

"Then I asked directly."

"My little brother received the news from below, saying that the clouds in the sky avoided the rain in our land in Liangshan that day."

"When I first got the report, I didn't believe it, so I went to confirm it."

"As a result, I saw with my own eyes that at the junction of Yingtian Mansion and Shanzhou, the dark clouds in the sky only rained in Yingtian Mansion, but there was no rain at all in Shanzhou one step away."

"This is terrifying!"

"Brother, I see that the Song Kingdom has always had good weather and no disasters in the past two years, but when it comes to Liangshan, everything is not going well, including plague and drought."

"This...isn't this really a god in the sky looking for trouble for my brother?"

Li Gui was stunned after hearing this, and subconsciously wanted to deny it, but suddenly his heart jumped and he realized that there are immortals and Buddhas in this world, so this abnormal situation may not be impossible.

Looking at Zhu Wu's anxious expression, we knew that he, or everyone on Liangshan, was very uneasy about being involved in a great battle between gods and immortals, so he laughed and comforted:

"Tang Monk still has ninety-nine and eighty-one difficulties in obtaining the scriptures. How can it be so easy to establish the orthodoxy of the True Monarch of Exorcism?"

"But you have also seen that even if this thing is done by the gods and Buddhas in the sky, it is already the limit of what they can do."

"They can't get down at all, even if a lightning strikes down and kills someone, they can't do it!"

"Brother, just tell everyone on the mountain that there is a certain family watching over things like gods and immortals. Brothers, don't worry, just do good things in the world."

After Zhu Wu heard this, he took a deep breath, relaxed, crossed his hands and apologized:

"My little brother is too nervous. Don't blame me, brother."

Li Gui hurriedly helped him up and said with a smile:

"Brother, you are worried about Yu's safety, so you are willing to remind Yu. It's too late for Yu to be grateful. How can you blame him?"

The two brothers spoke clearly and there was no gap.

Zhu Wu had many things to do, and after all the knots in his heart were gone, he said goodbye and left to appease the rest of the people.

Li Gui frowned and drove Hot Wheels down Liangshan.

He wanted to check to see if this was true.

He walked quickly along the border of Liangshan. Sure enough, when he saw that it rained somewhere, he came down along the border, really avoiding the rain in Liangshan.

"Straight bitch!"

"It's really the immortal Buddha in the sky who is causing trouble!"

In the past, he was only sure that the gods in the sky could not come down to earth to cause trouble for him, so he acted unscrupulously, but he never thought that the gods and Buddhas could use this method to influence his actions.

Li Gui didn't know that what happened this time was not actually the intervention of the gods and Buddhas in heaven, but the result of Zhang Tianshi from Longhu Mountain reporting to heaven. But he only needed to think logically and he could think of some things. Clues from the past.

If this drought is a natural disaster caused by the gods and Buddhas in the sky, then is the last plague also the same?

Was it the same as the White Lotus Rebellion last time?

Will there be other disasters later?

flood?

Yellow River flooding?

Thinking of this, Li Gui couldn't help but be horrified. If the Yellow River flooded, the disaster would be huge.

But he immediately breathed a sigh of relief, because the Yellow River is one body. If the Yellow River rises, it must be the upstream side of the Song Dynasty.

Because the Yellow River dams on the Liangshan side have to be specially inspected and repaired every year, but the condition of the dams on the Song Dynasty side is hard to say.

However, these judgments are entirely based on the premise that the methods of gods and Buddhas still conform to the objective laws of the world. If the immortals and Buddhas in the sky can ignore the objective laws of the world, then the situation facing Liangshan will be a real trouble.

Li Gui thought about it carefully and felt that everything was still hard to say.

The clouds only rained on the side of Song Dynasty. No matter how you think about it, it seems to be inconsistent with the objective laws of the world.

But other situations show that the methods of gods and Buddhas are not so foul.

Although there is no rain in Liangshan, there is abundant rainfall in the surrounding Song Dynasty. This leads to abundant water in the rivers flowing from Song Dynasty, and these rivers can be irrigated through water conservancy projects.

If the methods of the gods and Buddhas did not abide by the objective laws of this world, wouldn't it be much simpler and easier to just stop the water in Liangshan?

But in fact, the gods and Buddhas in heaven didn’t do this?

Why not?

Could it be because of kindness?

Definitely not!

It must be because I can’t do it!

From this perspective, the things that gods and Buddhas in heaven can do in the world are very limited, or they can only do certain things through the means of believers.

Although this method is somewhat difficult to deal with, it still conforms to the objective laws of the world and is not an unsolvable problem.

The current situation in Liangshan is that if we want to cut off the flow of these rivers and leave no water for irrigation in Liangshan, we can only build dams on the upper reaches of these rivers.

But here comes the problem. With the current situation in Song Dynasty, this dam will never be built. Song Huizong would rather spend money to build a few Taoist palaces than build dams!

But if the immortals and Buddhas in the sky were more ruthless and directly caused the entire Song Dynasty to stop raining, causing drought across the country, then the situation would be serious.

He had no doubt that if this drought could not stop him, the gods and Buddhas in the sky might actually do this.

At that time, the world will inevitably be in chaos, with wars rising everywhere, and that is not in Liangshan's interests!

What Liangshan needs is a stable Song State, a Song State that can allow Liangshan to steadily encroach, so that all the occupied states can gradually become what they are today under Liangshan's rule.

Otherwise, like the Mongols, they have a false name. In addition to being able to exploit and obtain resources, there is no difference between ruling and not ruling.

But now the drought has made Li Gui change his mind.

The perfect execution of a plan can only exist in novels. In reality, there are always various unexpected changes that make the plan change again and again.

If there were no gods or Buddhas involved, and it was just a battle between Liangshan and the Song Dynasty, then Li Gui could certainly carry out his plan calmly.

But now, he has to carefully consider whether to speed up the process of unifying the country.

The Shinto of this world will be influenced by human dynasties.

If Li Gui's plan succeeds, as time goes by, people in this world may completely lose their knowledge of gods and Buddhas, and will not know their names or their teachings.

At that time, the world will be completely out of the control of gods and Buddhas.

The intervention of gods and Buddhas indeed proved that Li Gui's actions had threatened their foundation in this world.

Perhaps the world under the seat of gods and Buddhas is as numerous as the sands of the Ganges River, but none of them can be given away to others for nothing.

Despise the enemy strategically, but pay attention to the enemy tactically.

Although Li Gui did not think that the gods and Buddhas in the sky could stop his plan, he obviously could not continue to be beaten passively.

He could allow the Song State to exist because it posed no threat to him and could be destroyed at any time, but he could never sit back and watch the threats from the gods and Buddhas in the sky.

Just like the United States can allow Japan to grow bigger, but it must not watch the rabbit develop steadily.

After returning to Liangshan, Li Gui immediately ordered all armies to prepare to capture Denglai Prefecture first.

He wanted to do an experiment to see how quickly the gods and Buddhas in the sky reacted.

If the gods and Buddhas are always paying attention to this world, then their reaction must be very fast. I am afraid that if Li Gui regains the two states of Denglai on the front foot, the rain in the two states on the back foot will also stop.

But if not, Denglai Prefecture was not affected by the drought even though it was included in the jurisdiction of Liangshan, which means that the response mechanism of the gods and Buddhas is delayed.

Depending on the length of this delay, he can formulate a new unified plan accordingly.

Due to reasons such as communication speed and organizational structure, Liangshan's mobilization speed has made great progress. Within a few days, an army of 3,000 people was organized and marched towards Denglai and Denglai states with artillery.

After Zongze and all the generals died in the Chinese army's tent, the remaining soldiers who dared to continue the attack fled back in droves and spread the news.

Today, the two states of Denglai have long been in chaos. A group of gentry once again sat together to discuss matters, but everyone in the entire living room was in a mess and noisy, unable to come up with any useful ideas.

"What should I do?"

"If I had known that Zong Rulin was such a waste, I shouldn't have wasted gold, silver, food and grass on him!"

"What's the use of talking about this now?"

"Who would have thought that the killer Li Gui would personally sneak into the army and become an assassin?"

"How about we surrender?"

"If you want to surrender, you have to be willing to accept it!"

"Even the saint's descendants have been killed, how can you be left alive?"

"I think Liangshan only kills gentry and not businessmen. Otherwise, sell all the land and properties and buy a big house in the city and become a businessman!"

"What nonsense are you talking about? You are sitting on your hands and feet! Without the foundation, you are not meat on someone else's chopping board. You can eat it whenever you want?"

"Then what do you think we should do? Could it be that we go out to sea to wander?"

"If it doesn't work, just take a boat around the south of the Yangtze River and return to the Song Dynasty to rule."

"You can't take the land or the house with you. What's the difference between going to Jiangnan and becoming a businessman? I think it's better to be a businessman! At least it's my own hometown, and everyone is familiar with it!"

"At least we are allowed to buy more land there and become gentry! We take all the gold, silver and gold with us. Although we won't be able to buy so much fertile land there, it will be enough to establish a foothold there."

"I finally understand. As long as we don't live under the rule of Liangshan, we can go anywhere!"

A group of people argued for a whole day without reaching an agreement, and finally broke up and everyone did their own thing.

After Qin Daguan returned home, he thought about it and still felt that he could no longer stay in Laizhou. It didn't matter what other people thought of him. Anyway, he would definitely not stay here anymore.

He immediately asked his family to hire large ships, prepare carriages and horses, transfer their houses and properties at a low price, and prepare to run away.

He was a powerful local and attracted much attention. As soon as he made such a move, everyone else in the city immediately received the news.

A friend came over to persuade him, but he was determined to leave. In the end, the two had a big quarrel and broke up.

Influenced by Qin's officials, those who were preparing to leave also began to prepare.

The atmosphere in the city suddenly became tense. There were houses selling at low prices everywhere, but their residences were originally large houses. How could ordinary people afford them?

And those who can afford it are now at a loss. Although they don’t know what to do in the future, they will never come forward to take over.

As a result, house prices in the city suddenly fell to the bottom, and no one bought them at all.

On the contrary, as for the land, there are scattered small landowners in the countryside who are not well-informed or have a sense of luck and are willing to buy it.

But there are too many people selling, and the property cannot be sold at a high price.

A month or two passed after this delay. Before all their land was sold off, the news of Liangshan sending troops came first.

This group of people were really panicked this time. They didn't care whether the property was sold out or not. They hurriedly packed up a quantity of gold, silver, and soft goods in boxes and put them away. They pulled them on carts and transported them to the ship, along with their families and servants. He set sail directly to the sea and fled to the land south of the Yangtze River.

Seeing that the land was getting further away and no pursuers were coming, everyone on the boat let out a sigh of relief, thinking that they were out of trouble.

Unexpectedly, when the ships reached the sea, the captain walked out of the cabin with a knife and a group of people, and shouted with a smile:

"You bunch of birds, you are usually the best at bullying good people and making your own family fat, but today you fell into the hands of the master!"

"Grandpa, let me ask you, do you want to eat flat noodles or wontons?"

It turns out that because of its emphasis on maritime trade, Liangshan had already taken control of all the shipyards and sea-going ships. Even if the two states of Denglai were taken back by Zongze, they never gave up these sea-going ships.

River boats are just that, but no matter which sea-going ships they are, they are gradually replaced by Liangshan's navy soldiers.

The owners of those seagoing ships only knew that the sailors on their ships were all veterans of the sea, but they had no idea that these people received double salaries.

Now that Liangshan was going to take back the two states of Denglai, there was no need to keep hiding the identities of these people. It happened that these gentry wanted to escape by boat, so they simply used the trick and captured them all including their people and property.

Now that we are at sea, there is no need for any formalities such as public trials. We can just hack him to death with a knife, throw the body into the sea and feed it to the fish, and the matter will be solved.

Poor Qin officials and others tried every means to bring all their hidden wealth on board the ship, but in the end they all got the better of Li Gui and were transported directly to Liangshan.

Although it was not without firing a shot, Liangshan's attack on Denglai Prefecture was completed easily.

Nowadays, some of the adult graduates from the missionary schools opened by Liangshan in various places have begun to work one after another, just in time to take over the affairs of the two states of Denglai.

They don't need to do anything more, they can just copy the already established model.

First, eliminate the powerful gentry, blast all the villages, and destroy their families.

Then they demolished the "Yin Temple", changed the monks and Taoist temples into the Zhenjun Temple, unified the faith, and confiscated the temple fields.

The land was measured and divided equally according to the number of young and strong heads.

Merge villages into townships, merge townships into towns, and then send retired soldiers to the local areas to directly manage the local areas, replacing local clan elders.

Free of grain tax, free of labor, paid to hire laborers to build water conservancy facilities...

After this set of tasks was completed, the land basically changed into the shape of Liangshan.

Li Gui carefully observed the climate changes in the two states of Denglai from behind, and found that the newly incorporated states did not become dry as a result. He knew that the way the gods and Buddhas controlled the weather was not in real time, but he didn't know how. The method is accomplished through which believers.

Just when he was thinking about whether to quickly destroy the Song Dynasty and promote the progress of unification, the maritime merchants who were returning from transporting grain came with news that there were many riots in overseas countries, and it was no longer suitable to buy grain.

(End of this chapter)