Chapter 414 Richard Meets Guo Rong

"My Taoist friends are not as good as me!" Lu Dongbin was speechless for a long time, and finally bowed.

Richard received a salute and continued: "Fellow Taoist, are you here because of the strange movement of the Luck Golden Dragon?"

"That's right." Lu Dongbin said: "The world has been in chaos for a long time, and the unification of China is about to reappear. I am here to prevent the evil heretics from taking the opportunity to cause chaos."

The prosperity of China's luck will naturally cause some evil spirits to covet it and want to steal China's luck.

The system tower spirit's investigation data on Lu Dongbin was also displayed in front of him.

"Chun Yang Zhenren Lu Dongbin [Sword Immortal] [Flawless Immortal Body] [Chun Yang Yuanshen] [Residing True Immortal] [Immortal Wind Dao Bone] [Sword Heart Psychic]."

"Pure Yang Sword [Fairy Sword] [Zhuxie] [Pure Yang] [Protect]."

In the system's danger level label, its level has exceeded that of a god with medium divine power. If it ascends to the fairy world, it will probably be even more powerful.

In the multiverse, gods with medium divine power can already become the main god of a pantheon. As for the pitifully small number of powerful gods, great gods almost only exist in legends.

The gods with great power have basically given up their godhood and begun to seek ways of transcendence.

Richard and Lu Dongbin had some exchanges. Stones from other mountains can attack jade. They have different fields of law, but there are many merits in it. Richard benefited greatly from this discussion.

Next, Richard and Lu Dongbin exchanged tokens. After learning that Richard had no place to stay, Lu Dongbin immediately invited Richard to stay temporarily in his Chunyang Temple.

After all, there are too few people in the entire land of China who can sit down and talk with him. When meeting Richard this time, he will naturally not let him go easily. He will have to discuss Tao for at least ten days.

Richard readily agreed, and he was also very curious about the way of practice in China.

You must know that many of the practitioners on the land of China are ordinary people who have become gods. However, if arcanists want to reach this level, they can only rely on floating cities or fusion of divinity.

Lu Dongbin naturally saw the fox demon and cat demon next to Richard, but he didn't say anything. Chunyang Master's demons were mostly man-eating monsters, and the two of them were not.

After staying in Kaifeng for a while, Richard also had a good understanding of the situation here.

He also met Guo Rong, the Emperor of the Great Zhou Dynasty in Kaifeng. Guo Rong, who was only thirty-nine years old this year, looked strong and handsome. His years of military service made him tough and at the same time aware of the sufferings of the people. Now is the time to be ambitious and show your ambitions.

No one could have imagined that he would pass away due to illness this year.

Richard also observed Zhao Kuangyin. As the inspector in front of the palace, Zhao Kuangyin was an important minister of the Zhou Dynasty. He was deeply trusted by Guo Rong and was in charge of a forbidden army.

Moreover, Zhao Kuangyin had a wide range of friends and had good friendships with almost all generals. At the same time, he himself had outstanding military exploits and had high prestige in the army. But Richard didn't see any dragon energy in him.

Obviously, only after Guo Rong dies will the true dragon's energy fall into his body.

"Do fellow Taoists think highly of Zhao Kuangyin?" Lu Dongbin asked.

"He does have the appearance of a leader, but I am more optimistic about Guo Rong." Richard said.

Lu Dongbin looked at the True Dragon of Luck in the palace and said: "Guo Rong is indeed very good, but he is destined to have a calamity, and although his True Dragon's luck is broad, it is not condensed, and his son is still young. How? Can you take on a big responsibility?”

"It's very simple, just help him get through this disaster!" Richard said with a smile.

Lu Dongbin was slightly startled when he heard this, and then said: "Do you really plan to do this, fellow Taoist?"

"Of course!" Richard said with a smile: "Then Zhao Kuangyin is indeed good, but the others behind him are not up to par. If I don't intervene, although the Central Plains will be unified, in the end China will be the three pillars!"

"I don't want to see this!"

"I'm afraid that my fellow Taoist is too deeply involved and it's hard to let go. How will we ascend then?"

Richard shook his head slightly and said nothing. He had no intention of ascending. After he completed this, he could naturally use the space gem to leave. Can the fate entanglements in this world chase him to the Marvel world?

Lu Dongbin and others were restrained precisely because they were worried that the entanglement would be too deep and they would not be able to ascend in the end. He was not worried about this.

"How do fellow Taoists plan to act?"

"Of course I want him to invite me!" Richard said with a slight smile.

Just last year, Guo Rong invited Master Chen Tuan here and asked him for advice on the art of Huang and Bai. Many people don't know the Yellow and White Technique, but changing the term will definitely make it clearer.

Midas touch.

That's right, it was this Midas touch that Guo Rong asked Chen Tuan for. Because Guo Rong lowered the taxes on the people, but he also had to fight a war, and lacked financial resources, he wanted to use the Midas touch to make money.

Chen Tuan said: Your Majesty is the Son of Heaven, and it is your duty to govern the world. How can you be obsessed with these magic arts?

In fact, the Midas touch studied by Guo Rong is more like chemistry.

Since Guo Rong can invite Chen Tuan, Richard naturally has a way to get him to invite him.

So Richard first built a Taoist temple outside the city, and then preached while treating the people's illnesses. His sermons were not about teaching scriptures, but about imparting various kinds of knowledge.

This era experienced wars in the late Tang Dynasty and the Five Dynasties. The people suffered heavy casualties and the number of scholars was small. Otherwise, Zhao Pu's statement of ruling the world with half of the Analects would not have appeared.

As for those aristocratic families, they gradually declined under the suppression of the Tang Dynasty emperor, and finally perished in the turmoil in the feudal towns.

Richard now teaches knowledge publicly, and many people flock to him to learn. At the same time, Richard also treats people for free. For him, the diseases of the people are basically not a problem, and they are almost completely cured.

So, Richard's reputation began to spread in Kaifeng City, and many people came to see him. After seeing that Richard lived up to his reputation, his reputation became more and more famous.

The knowledge Richard teaches is not the Four Books and Five Classics, and it has nothing to do with the Four Books and Five Classics. The knowledge he teaches is very miscellaneous. Today he teaches some arithmetic, tomorrow he teaches some agronomy, the day after tomorrow he will talk about governing the people, and then he will talk about some health preservation Huang Lao learning.

It can be said that it is all-encompassing, and more and more people come to listen. It even reached a scale of thousands of people.

Such a big commotion soon alarmed Guo Rong, who was also worried about the lack of talents at this time. At this time, the Great Zhou inherited the imperial examination system of the Tang Dynasty, and the imperial examination was also held in Kaifeng. However, due to various reasons, although the imperial examination was held, not many talents were selected.

After all, after a hundred years of war, even those aristocratic families have disappeared, let alone ordinary people. Although the Great Zhou at this time looks good, it has many internal problems.

The Great Zhou inherited the world of the Later Han Dynasty, which inherited the Later Jin Dynasty, which inherited the Later Tang Dynasty. These countries have been in war for decades, and there are too few qualified officials.

What's more, when the Later Jin Dynasty was destroyed by the Khitan, the Khitan raged for half a year, and the Later Jin Dynasty suffered heavy casualties. In this case, how much legacy can the Great Zhou inherit?

So now the Great Zhou is seriously lacking in talents.

Not long ago, Guo Rong personally examined the imperial examination, and the result was that less than one-third of the people passed, which made Guo Rong very worried.

So when he heard that there was a great sage outside the city, he immediately led people to visit him.

When Guo Rong came here, Richard noticed it at the first time, but he did not show it, and still talked about knowledge by himself. Today, Richard talked about governing the people.

The way to govern the people he talked about did not have too many great principles, nor did it have a lot of things like "zhihuzheya", but he tried his best to make people understand.

Richard talked about the current situation of the Great Zhou. Although the Great Zhou occupied a lot of land at this time, there was very little arable land. At this time, it was natural to encourage farming.

How to encourage farming, equal distribution of land is an important link. In addition to equal distribution of land, you can also encourage the reclamation of wasteland, reduce taxes, promise that the reclaimed land belongs to you, and collect taxes on the reclaimed land after five years, etc.

Although many of the things Richard talked about were methods used by other dynasties in the past. But even these methods are still unknown to many people.

Guo Rong nodded repeatedly while listening to the side. Guo Rong was not from a high family. He also read some books in the past. After growing up, he was a businessman for a period of time, so he was knowledgeable. He heard a lot of knowledge for the first time.

And Richard also talked about the problems that need to be paid attention to, such as strictly prohibiting local tyrants and powerful families from occupying land, and talked about the methods of those local tyrants and powerful families.

Richard's narration made Guo Rong feel as if he had suddenly seen the light.

Soon today's lecture ended, Richard returned to the Taoist temple, and the people who came to listen to the lecture also dispersed. Guo Rong then stepped forward and asked someone to knock on the door.

Soon the gate of the Taoist temple opened, and a Taoist boy came out.

"What's the matter, sir?" The Taoist boy asked after seeing Guo Rong's clothes.

"I heard that the master of the temple is a great sage of the time, so I want to ask for advice!" Guo Rong said politely.

"Please come in, sir. The master has said that if you want to ask for advice, you can go by yourself." The Taoist boy said, and opened the door.

Guo Rong was slightly stunned, and then walked in with a few followers.

The Taoist temple was not big. After passing through the main hall, he came to the backyard, where Richard was sitting and waiting.

"I am Chai Rong, sir." Guo Rong did not reveal his identity.

"Please sit down, sir." Richard said with a smile.

"What do you want to ask today, distinguished guest?"

"I have benefited a lot from listening to your lectures today, but I still have many doubts and would like to ask you for advice." Guo Rong said very politely.

"Please speak, distinguished guest."

"Sir, I want to ask about Tao Zhu's teachings." Guo Rong said.

Richard smiled slightly when he heard what Guo Rong said. It seems that Guo Rong has been really short of money for some time!

"I see that your family is quite wealthy, so you should not be short of money."

"Your family is big and many people follow me for food, but I am also worried about it now."

"If you want money and food, you can use the salt and iron method." Richard said.

"Are you talking about the salt and iron monopoly?" Guo Rong said.

Richard waved his hand and said, "Salt field monopoly is naturally a way, but it is okay in the early stage, but it will be a lot of corruption after a while. We can talk about this later."

"What you want to know today is how to prepare food and wages for the expedition." Richard smiled slightly.

Guo Rong said calmly, "How did you recognize me, sir?"

Richard did not answer, and continued what he had just said: "Now the salt fields are all in the hands of the court, and the number is limited, and the output value of the salt fields is also limited. I have a method that can greatly increase the salt production."

"Please teach me."

"Do you know the method of drying salt?" Richard smiled slightly.

"What is the method of drying salt?" Guo Rong asked.

"Salt fields produce salt, mostly by boiling brine to obtain salt, but this method requires a lot of firewood and labor, and the output is not high."

"The method of drying salt is very simple, which is to open up salt fields on the seashore."

Richard explained the method of drying salt. At this time, the method of drying salt was not well known. If the method of drying salt could be promoted, the output of salt fields could easily increase several times.

Salt is money in this era. Humans cannot eat without salt. At the same time, salt is also an important strategic material. It can be traded with other countries and can obtain a lot of money.

This alone can bring a lot of money to Guo Rong, and salt production will not affect the livelihood of the people. There is no need to increase taxes. It is perfect for Guo Rong.

"If the method of drying salt is feasible, you should be the first credit!" Guo Rong said happily.

Richard's expression was calm. He took a sip of the teacup and continued.

"The method of drying salt can make money. The distinguished guest still has doubts about food logistics."

"Sir, do you have any other solutions?"

"Of course there are!" Richard nodded and continued: "The problem of logistics and food is also that the treasury is not rich, there is not enough money and food, and at the same time, civilians have to be recruited for transportation."

"Your distinguished guest can also use salt to solve it."

"Please teach me, sir." Guo Rong asked solemnly.

"Your Excellency can order the production of salt permits, which can be used to purchase salt at the government salt field at a price lower than the market price."

"Then tell the merchants that if they want salt permits, they need to transport grain to the designated area, and the amount of grain they transport can be exchanged for the corresponding salt permits, and then let the merchants use the salt permits to buy salt at a low price."

"When merchants find it profitable, they will naturally gather people to transport grain."

"This is the Kaizhong method!"

"It's really wonderful!" Guo Rong said excitedly.

"It's difficult to transport grain and salaries in the border areas, so the Kaizhong method can be used. In order to pursue profits, those merchants will also hire people to open up wasteland near the border and cultivate, and then harvest grain and hand it over to the government to obtain salt permits."

"As long as the court does not abuse salt permits, does not abuse favoritism and corruption, this system can solve the problem of logistics and food and salary."

"At the same time, reclaiming wasteland in the border areas can also increase the national grain production, killing three birds with one stone."

Guo Rong nodded repeatedly after hearing Richard's words, and he did not give Guo Rong some methods that were beyond this era.

"The world has been in chaos for a long time. In order to avoid disasters, many people can only sell themselves to temples and Taoist temples as slaves. You can ask the temples and Taoist temples to release the slaves, and then register them as citizens and grant them land. In addition, there are too many Buddhist and Taoist temples in the world that do not engage in production."

"At the same time, Buddhist and Taoist temples hoard a large number of gold and copper statues, causing a shortage of money in the world. You should dismiss some temples and use copper statues to cast coins."