In the chaotic and disorderly void, a small world floated quietly. Two mysterious figures sat in the center, staring at the black and white chessboard in front of them. No one spoke for a long time.

"Ziwei guards Tianyuan, Shapolanggong guards the star position, Damin's national destiny has really changed!"

Feeling a faint trace of life brewing in the absolute silence, an old man in black robe with gray hair and childish face shook his head in surprise, twisted the sunspots in his hand and slowly dropped them.

"The idea is good, but trying to turn things around by one's own efforts is tantamount to wishful thinking."

Pa~

The sunspot fell, sharply severing the connection between Tianyuan and the star position, and the white dragon that originally complemented each other suddenly fell into pieces.

"Manpower is sometimes scarce, and using force to defy the will of nature is nothing more than a mantis' arm acting as a chariot. Under the general trend, it will turn into powder in an instant."

Pa~

Pa~

Pa~

One after another, black stones conquered the city, white stones continued to disappear on the vast chessboard, and the whole world seemed to have fallen into a black ocean.

"Junior sister, it seems that the outcome of this game has been decided."

After dropping the last chess piece, the old man in black robe stared at Duan Musui with a pair of strange double eyes, then stopped with a smile.

"Not necessarily. Who says force cannot defy heaven?"

Suddenly sensing something, Duanmu Sui took out a colorful and shining white piece from the Go jar, as if he was holding a big mountain, and slowly lowered it into the star position with some difficulty.

Pa~

As the white piece fell, the entire chessboard trembled. The world originally surrounded by black suddenly collapsed. The white dragon, which was in a desperate situation, regrouped and once again fought against the aggressive black dragon.

"Hiss~"

"Po Jun Xing enters the Palace of Life?!"

Taking a breath of cold air, the old man in black robe looked at this scene in disbelief and frowned tightly.

"Seven kills can occupy one star position, and Pojun's life can occupy another star position. When the Shapolang pattern is completed, is it possible that he can form a dragon by himself? I don't believe it!"

Pa~

The menacing black dragon strangled them again, carrying the power of the entire world to crush the white dragon, intending to dismember and devour them completely.

However, Duanmu Sui sat firmly on the Diaoyutai. No matter how the black stones attacked, the white stones that reflected each other remained motionless and impregnable.

After a long time, this seemingly small and tenacious vitality could not be wiped out. The old man in black robe frowned more and more tightly, and he was somewhat doubtful about the pause in life.

"It's strange, it's strange, Xiang Yu was not so arrogant back then..."

"Haha, senior brother, let's leave the endgame here. It seems that there is no winner in this game in a short period of time."

Duanmu Sui stood up leisurely and yawned lazily.

The old man in black robe stared at the chess game and thought hard. After a long time, he nodded helplessly.

"It's really an anomaly, completely unfathomable..."

The next second, the small world in suspension and chaos suddenly collapsed, dissipated into countless dense particles, and completely melted into the void.

……………………

"Jun Wu An disappeared from the [God List]! Did he fall?"

"Damn it, haven't you heard the rumors in the Imperial Capital a few days ago? His Majesty conferred the title of [Champion Marquis] on him, and he has become a legend!"

"The champion? The one who seals the wolf and lives in Xu?"

"Hasn't this title not been passed down for thousands of years? Why does he have it?"

"That's right. Although [Wu Anjun] is a master of martial arts, he is still young and has little experience. He has not yet made any achievements in opening up new territories. Why should he inherit such a distinguished title?"

………………

Similar discussions centered on Zhili and quickly spread across the country. The protagonist who set off this storm of public opinion quietly returned to the Luzhou fiefdom.

"Where's the cat? Where's the cat?"

"I ran away as soon as I got home. Here, I'll let you play with the pig first."

Throwing the naive Zhu Xiangxiang to Oakley Yani, Zhao Yinshun came to the study without stopping and began to deal with the backlog of government affairs during this period.

"Your Majesty, my subordinates are incompetent..."

Zhou Rou, who had been waiting in the study for a long time, bent down from afar, but the travel-stained young man in white walked straight past her.

"No need to be polite. The letter said the situation is very serious. What's going on now?"

When it came to business, Zhou Rou quickly suppressed the guilt and anxiety in her heart and forcibly cheered up.

"Since you returned to Beijing, prices throughout Linbo County have skyrocketed abnormally."

"At first we thought it was the expansion of the army, training of cadres, and rising prices caused by large-scale construction, but later we found that this was only a trivial factor. The real reason was that there were people behind the scenes who were fueling the fire and manipulating it secretly."

"who is it?"

"All the wealthy families in the local area...and even in the entire Luzhou..."

Speaking of this, Zhou Rou's tone revealed a hint of powerlessness and despair.

This heavy pressure that the whole world was against her made her feel faintly suffocated.

However, the young man in white who was sitting upright did not show any panic at all. He just rubbed his chin thoughtfully, with a cold smile appearing in the corners of his eyes.

"How much have prices increased specifically?"

"Food prices have increased three times, salt prices have increased seven times, and various construction materials have increased dozens of times. All our projects have now come to a standstill."

Biting her lip, Zhou Rou hesitated for a moment, and finally spoke.

"In addition, there are rumors circulating in Fengguo that all this is because you are so happy with your achievements and waste money on people and money. Many people who cannot afford to eat are complaining about you..."

"Well, the financial public opinion war...those insects will really give me a hard time..."

Nodding his chin, Zhao Yinshun sneered and asked casually.

"The feudal country is surrounded by the sea on three sides and has countless salt fields. Why is there still a shortage of salt?"

"Japanese pirates are raging for hundreds of miles along the coast, and it is almost deserted. The salt fields there are either abandoned or in the hands of Japanese pirates."

Hearing Zhou Rou's words, Zhao Yinshun immediately understood why those wealthy families would spend so much effort to support Japanese pirates.

This is artificially creating scarcity and then taxing the people in disguise!

Originally, this part was controlled by the state, but now through Black Glove, it is equivalent to a monopoly by the local wealthy families!

The cost of transporting salt over thousands of miles in other places will definitely not be able to compete with the local ones. Even if it can really compete, the local snakes who unite will have 10,000 "natural and man-made disasters" waiting for you.

Foreign businessmen will know how powerful it is if they lose all their money a few times.

"What about grain? Can we purchase stored grain from the private sector to stabilize prices?"

If the progress of the project slows down, no one will die, but if the price of salt and food goes up, it could lead to a tragedy of starving people everywhere in minutes.

After hearing Zhao Yinshun's question, Zhou Rou shook her head solemnly.

"More than 80% of the land in Luzhou is controlled by wealthy families. The remaining rich peasants and small landowners only have enough grain to survive, which is a drop in the bucket."

"Besides, I don't know how long this situation will last. No one dares to sell the life-saving food in their hands. Everyone is hoarding food, which further pushes up the price."

"Wait a minute, how much land is controlled by wealthy families?"

"More than 80%."

"Is this data reliable?"

"This is the data obtained by my father who has been an official in Luzhou for many years and was in charge of government in various places. It will only be more, not less."

"Good guy..."

After muttering a long sigh, Zhao Yinshun shook his head in shock.

I had long known that land annexation in Damin was serious, but I didn’t expect it to be this serious!

All the wealthy families in Luzhou together, including the lackeys who depend on them, account for at most 1.2% of the total population.

In other words, more than 80% of the land is concentrated in the hands of about 1% of the wealthy families.

If you don't rebel if you don't rebel, there will be trouble!

Salt, grain!

The two most important survival resources are monopolized by a few people. They can create artificial crises, hoard them, force small farmers and even small landowners who have no ability to resist risks to go bankrupt, and then plunder the most precious resources from them at a symbolic cabbage price.

wealth!

After all, when you are about to starve to death, a bowl of gruel can make you give up your ancestral land with both hands.

Inexplicably, I remembered the furry bears on Earth in the previous life. Back then, those people held shares in state-owned enterprises worth tens of millions, and then were harvested by a few slices of bread and a few bottles of milk.

What is professionalism?

This is called professionalism!
To be continued...