“For the people?”
Xia Xuanmiao sneered and said, “Could it be that if you don’t bribe your superiors, the people of Shangyang County won’t have good days?”
Upon hearing this, Li Mu sneered and said, “Let me put it this way!”
“This place is located on the border, far from the emperor’s reach! What do you think officials who come here to serve are here for?”
“If I don’t ‘honor’ those high-ranking officials, then the people will have to ‘honor’ them!”
“I can make money from tourists and merchants from other places, but do the common people have that ability?”
“I can use money from outsiders to ‘honor’ the higher-ups, but what about the common people?”
“If it weren’t for me, the people of Shangyang County probably wouldn’t even have a single grain of rice left in their homes!”
Hearing this, Xia Xuanmiao was stunned.
Thinking about it carefully, it made sense.
She had traveled to many small border towns, but only the people of Shangyang County lived somewhat decently.
No, it wasn’t just decent—the people of Shangyang County lived better than those in the capital!
Could this corrupt official before her eyes really be a genius?
“Do you never exploit the people?”
At that moment, Si Qin, who was standing nearby, suddenly spoke up.
Upon hearing this, Li Mu waved his hand dismissively and said, “What’s there to exploit about them?”
As he spoke, Li Mu grinned mischievously and leaned closer to Xia Xuanmiao. “Miss Xue, since you’ve accepted my ‘local specialty,’ it means you’re also here to make a profit, right?”
“Let me tell you something! Exploiting the people also requires a method.”
“Ordinary corrupt officials exploit the people in a simple and crude way—by directly raising taxes!”
“But doing that becomes a one-time deal! It’s killing the goose that lays the golden eggs! The business won’t last long.”
“Oh?”
Xia Xuanmiao looked at Li Mu with great interest and asked, “Then what is Lord Li’s method?”
“Hehe…”
Li Mu snapped his fingers and said, “Let the rich get richer first, and then they’ll help the poor get richer!”
“Only by letting the people get rich first can I get rich!”
“Governing the people is like farming or herding sheep. If you peel and eat the seeds while they’re still seeds, what will you do next year? And the year after?”
“You have to take good care of them first—dredge the irrigation channels, water the fields, sow the seeds, and apply fertilizer. That way, in the second year, you can harvest thousands or even tens of thousands of times more seeds!”
“Repeating this process is a sustainable, organic way of exploitation!”
“This way, the people won’t curse you as a corrupt official. Instead, they’ll remember your kindness!”
Hearing this, Xia Xuanmiao was utterly shocked in her heart!
Good heavens! Ever since she entered Shangyang County, her mood had been like riding a roller coaster!
She was starting to wonder whether Li Mu was truly a corrupt official or not.
But now, it seemed he was a thoroughgoing corrupt official!
It was just that compared to the corrupt officials she had encountered in the past, this scoundrel had more brains.
Thinking of this, Xia Xuanmiao angrily slammed the table with a bang! “Li Mu! You exploit the people and break the law like this! Aren’t you afraid the Sage will find out!?”
“Ah! What’s there to fear from a woman?”
Li Mu spoke bluntly, “Throughout history, those in power have always been men!”
“Just you wait. In a few years, we might even revert to the Stone Age!”
“You’re talking nonsense!”
Before Xia Xuanmiao could speak, Si Qin beside her couldn’t hold back and cursed, “You corrupt official! What nonsense are you spouting?! Her Majesty the Empress is wise and mighty! If not for Her Majesty the Empress, Daxia would have long been torn apart!”
“And what’s wrong with women? Weren’t you born by your mother? Go back a few thousand years, and the whole world was a matriarchal society!”
Upon hearing this, Li Mu immediately retorted, “Miss, you are mistaken.”
“The transition from a matriarchal society to a patriarchal society represents human progress, while a shift from patriarchal to matriarchal would be a regression of the times!”
“Since you seem to be someone who has read history, haven’t you noticed this? People in matriarchal societies lived like savages!”
“It was only in patriarchal societies that we began to develop civilization, culture, laws, and even writing!”
“Everything we have now, including ethics and morality, evolved from patriarchal societies!”
“In matriarchal times, morality was utterly degraded! Children never knew who their fathers were, sisters could bear children for their brothers, and even mothers could bear children for their sons!”
Hearing this, Xia Xuanmiao, as Daxia’s foremost formidable woman, angrily slammed the table and stood up!
But upon careful thought, Li Mu’s words did hold some truth.
She truly couldn’t find any points to refute.
In the end, she could only angrily grab the wine pot on the table and drain it in one go!
Li Mu didn’t stop her, after all, the pot contained only beer, which wasn’t very strong. Such a small pot—one could drink three or five of them without getting drunk.
Li Mu simply treated the stuff as a beverage.
“Hahaha! Miss Xue, you sure can hold your liquor!”
“Come, come! Let it all be in the wine! Let it all be in the wine!”
Li Mu also quickly waved to Cheng Dazhuang, who was standing by the door grinning foolishly, and said, “Go fetch more wine! What are you grinning about?”
“Oh! Right!”
Soon after, Cheng Dazhuang brought up a wooden barrel!
Looking closely, the barrel was even covered in frost!
But in the middle of summer, where did the ice come from? Could it be that this corrupt official had built himself an ice storage room?
After putting down the wine pot, Xia Xuanmiao stared curiously at the frost-covered barrel.
But then she thought again, this wine was surprisingly delicious!
Rich in malt aroma, crystal clear, cool and refreshing!
Due to the brewing techniques of this era, although the alcohol content wasn’t high, the wine was particularly cloudy.
Even the imperial wine was murky and looked like rice soup.
But this wine was as clear as water! Its color was quite beautiful, like golden broth!
Cheng Dazhuang then brought two beer mugs, filled a few glasses, and while the others weren’t paying attention, secretly sprinkled some powdered substance into Xia Xuanmiao’s wine.
Then, with a sly grin, he placed the wine in front of Xia Xuanmiao and said, “Here! Miss Xue! Please!”
Seeing Xia Xuanmiao pick up the beer mug and drain it again, Li Mu laughed and said, “Miss Xue, although you and Her Majesty the Empress are both women, you really shouldn’t emulate her!”
“Alright then, I’ll tell you a little secret about the Empress, and then you won’t admire her so much.”
Hearing this, Xia Xuanmiao frowned and asked curiously, “What? A secret?”
At the same time, she thought to herself: What secrets could I possibly have? Even if I did have secrets, there’s no way this corrupt official in front of me would know about them, right?
But the next moment, Li Mu glanced around and, seeing no outsiders, spoke with a serious expression: “Actually, this Empress… is a mirror grinder!”
“?”
Xia Xuanmiao, Xue Zhiyun, and Si Qin were all shocked!
“Mirror grinder” meant a lesbian.
“That’s why she’s still unmarried at thirty!”
“Every single palace maid around her has been toyed with by her! She didn’t even spare the previous emperor’s harem!”