The hearts of the people in the Great Jin Immortal Dynasty had utterly collapsed. Countless cultivators were locked in battles in the sky day after day.
Some cultivators who were unwilling to fight were forced to do so.
Many mortals hid in their homes in fear, not daring to step outside. With the populace in panic, order naturally dissolved into chaos.
Once the populace's spirit was broken, recovery became exceptionally difficult.
After nearly a year of turmoil, the cultivators of the Great Jin Immortal Dynasty had developed an unprecedented craving for spirit stones.
The people's morale collapsed, and the army's morale collapsed. The prestige and trust that the Great Jin's central government had spent billions of years building crumbled in an instant, beyond repair. This was the insidious brilliance of Ye Yu's plan.
In this vast world, due to differences in one's background, status, education, ideology, and stance, everyone would have different opinions on any given matter.
Ten thousand people had ten thousand ideas, a hundred thousand people had a hundred thousand ideas, a million people had a million ideas, tens of millions had tens of millions of ideas, and a hundred million people had a hundred million ideas.
If arguments ensued, it would truly be a case of the mother-in-law having her reasons and the daughter-in-law having hers, with neither side able to convince the other.
However, when it came to money, no one ever thought they had too much.
This principle held true for cultivators as well; no cultivator would ever consider the spirit stones in their storage bag to be too many.
This issue became even more pronounced within a cohesive collective.
As the first immortal dynasty built by cultivators in the current epoch, the Great Jin Immortal Dynasty was no exception.
As the Great Jin Immortal Dynasty, which dominated the cultivation world of a province, they needed to maintain the dignity and functioning of the immortal dynasty. The extravagant desires of the imperial family, the daily cultivation expenses of the officials and soldiers, and the appeasement of rebellious aristocratic families—each of these matters required spirit stones.
Seeing that the Ministry of Revenue had reaped such a bounty of spirit stones this time, the central government of the Great Jin Immortal Dynasty, from top to bottom, was ecstatic.
From the princes to the officials of the six ministries, everyone was feasting on the spoils, truly living a life of opulence.
How could they have imagined that merely by exploiting those they considered "muddy-legged commoners" would bring about such severe repercussions?
The entire cultivation world of Purple Province was thrown into upheaval and plunged into complete chaos!
Now, hearing the bad news from various regions, the officials in the imperial court were naturally greatly alarmed and filled with unease.
...
More than a dozen princes, all with cultivation at the late Nascent Soul stage, looked with extremely grim expressions at the stacks of jade memorials on the imperial desk.
The contents of these jade memorials were nothing but bad news.
Lu Domain had rebelled, Tiao Domain had rebelled, Jin Domain had rebelled, Feng Domain had rebelled. Out of the Great Jin Immortal Dynasty's one hundred and eight domains, there were very few that had not rebelled.
Rebels were rampant throughout the immortal dynasty's territories.
Even in the thirteen domains, which were the core territory of their Liu imperial clan, many towns had now raised the banner of rebellion.
Furthermore, the local cultivator armies were not obeying orders, with some even having directly revolted.
Fortunately, the Five Great Legions and the Yan Han Fleet had remained steadfast. Otherwise, they wouldn't even have the mood to sit here and read memorials.
...
Because Liu Xie had found the Primordial Beginning Immortal Light, all five Liu-surname cultivators at the Purple Mansion stage had entered seclusion, attempting to completely refine the ancient god's corpse at the Deity Transformation stage.
Before entering seclusion, Liu Xie had selected over a dozen princes at the late Nascent Soul stage to temporarily assist him in handling state affairs.
...
These dozen princes felt as if their heads were about to explode!
After taking a sip of tea, barely suppressing his anger, the Eldest Prince, Liu Xiu, began discussing with the other princes how to stabilize the situation.
Following a heated discussion, the princes finally reached a consensus.
First, they had to find a scapegoat.
Second, they had to immediately dispatch cultivator armies for suppression and quell the local rebellions as quickly as possible.
Third, they would not inform their father, the Emperor, and the four elders about this matter for now.
Once all matters were agreed upon, the princes immediately convened an imperial court.
During the court session, the matter caused them to erupt in arguments.
For a time, the Ancestral Dragon Council's imperial court was filled with a cacophony of discussions.
Many officials urged the Immortal Emperor and the four ancestors to emerge from seclusion immediately.
The dozen princes who were temporarily managing state affairs, seeing this scene at this moment, became even more vexed.
"Silence! In the Ancestral Dragon Council's imperial court, you are all high officials of the immortal dynasty, yet you behave so out of control, like village women. What kind of decorum is this?!"
With a hint of shame and anger, the Eldest Prince, Liu Xiu, under the cold gaze of the other princes, quelled the chaos among the officials.
On the surface, the Eldest Prince Liu Xiu's expression was calm, but the look in his eyes was as fierce as a wolf.
He turned his gaze to Liu Ba, the Minister of Revenue, and asked through gritted teeth, "Minister of Revenue, can you explain to everyone what exactly is going on right now?"
"Because of you, the rebellions that were gradually subsiding have reignited, and they are even larger than the one a hundred years ago!"
"All of this was caused by you..."
"Who instigated you to do this? Why did you betray the imperial family..."
Hearing these heavy accusations, Minister of Revenue Liu Ba was truly flustered.
He couldn't bear such a severe charge; the Eldest Prince wanted him dead.
...
Liu Ba, the Minister of Revenue, waved his hand and urgently explained, "Reporting to the Eldest Prince, isn't the primary function of the Ministry of Revenue to collect taxes and earn spirit stones?"
"I earned hundreds of billions of spirit stones this time, mountains of pills, and countless treasures. I've more than exceeded my task, haven't I?"
"Even if I don't get credit, I've certainly put in the effort. Now that trouble has arisen, it's fair for you to place all the blame on me?"
"Moreover, at the beginning, when I earned so much wealth for the court, you were all extremely pleased."
"When the various departments and you princes extended your hands to me for benefits, I gave it all..."
...
Seeing that everyone remained silent, watching coldly, intending to make him the scapegoat for this incident, Minister of Revenue Liu Ba stopped pretending and retorted fiercely.
"Everyone, I believe I have done what a Minister of Revenue should do and satisfied all parties' demands."
"Now that trouble has occurred, you plan to abandon me?"
"Fine, very fine. None of you are speaking, are you all pretending to be deaf and mute?"
"Then we'll all go down together. When the Immortal Emperor emerges from seclusion, I will tell him everything about this matter, and then none of us will escape."
Hearing Liu Ba's words, not only the Eldest Prince Liu Xiu's brows furrowed tighter, but the expressions of the other princes and officials also turned grim.
That's right, this matter could not have been accomplished with such a grand scheme by the Ministry of Revenue alone.
A mere Minister of Revenue would never have the authority to mobilize, buy and sell, and control market fluctuations of such enormous amounts of spirit stones.
For he simply did not possess such power.
Liu Ba's ability to mobilize nearly half of the national treasury's spirit stone reserves was actually tacitly approved by various parties.
After all, if this matter could truly be accomplished, it would bring immense rewards to the central government.
And even if this matter ultimately failed and caused severe consequences, Liu Ba would be the sole scapegoat.
When it came to calculations, these individuals standing in the imperial court understood far better than anyone else.
However, while Liu Ba was not particularly intelligent, he was not a fool either.
He naturally knew that at this critical juncture, if he didn't hold these scoundrels accountable, not only would he die, but his family would also not survive.
Seeing Liu Ba acting like a mad dog, biting indiscriminately, the princes and officials in the imperial court exchanged glances, a hint of killing intent rising in their eyes, but it quickly vanished.
Regardless, Minister of Revenue Liu Ba was, after all, a cultivator at the late Nascent Soul stage.
Even if he died, the Immortal Emperor and the four ancestors would investigate afterwards.
And this matter could not withstand scrutiny. Once a thorough investigation began, it would truly be a case of pulling out one radish and bringing out a whole bunch of mud.
Even if leniency was shown to the masses, the Immortal Emperor and the four ancestors would not easily let them off.
The princes and officials, who had originally intended to make Liu Ba a scapegoat, suddenly found that Liu Ba, who usually seemed meek and easily bullied, had become arrogant and defiant when pushed to a corner!
In the past, when Liu Ba managed the Ministry of Revenue, he was always very easy to deal with and had never been so forceful.
Now, the princes and officials found the situation somewhat tricky.
Looking at Liu Ba, who was as defiant as a dead pig unafraid of boiling water, the princes and officials couldn't help but rub their temples, clearly overwhelmed with headaches.
Even the immortal dynasties of the cultivation world were no different from the mortal imperial courts in this regard.
Officialdom was never as simple as it seemed.
Any matter, when debated in the imperial court, was a thorny issue, let alone such a significant one.
If all the blame were immediately placed on Liu Ba and he were thrown into prison to await the Immortal Emperor's return, Liu Ba would undoubtedly make random accusations, and then it would truly be like a toad crawling on one's foot—not biting, but disgusting.
However, if Liu Ba were not dealt with, who would bear the responsibility for such a massive affair?
For the princes and officials, someone had to take the fall; this was a matter of fundamental importance!
As for who specifically, it was actually irrelevant.
...
In fact, it wasn't just the princes and officials who were contemplating this issue at this moment; Liu Ba himself was also pondering it.
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