"According to the order of the Lord of the Water Palace, the Jiuhe water monster disobeyed the imperial edict and disrupted the water network, and shall be executed!"
Afterwards, the sky within hundreds of miles of the capital was suddenly filled with dark clouds, thunder rolled, and the thunder was deafening.
Before the banquet officially started, Qing Jun was furious and shouted, "Someone, go check who dares to disrupt my birthday!"
Suddenly, endless lightning fell from the sky, like thousands of drums beating together, like hundreds of mountains collapsing, and dense thunder spread all over the Jiuhe River within the capital.
Thunder roared like a waterfall and the sky exploded.
The whole city was shocked at the dazzling thunder that continued to fall. Qing Jun was even so scared that he took two steps back, lost his balance, and fell to the ground.
"Ouch..." Qingjun held his waist and cried out in pain.
When guests from various countries saw this scene, they actually laughed out loud.
The imperial doctors hurried forward and used medical books to help Qingjun adjust his bones.
"The Dragon Clan could have chosen any other time, but chose today. This is too much!" Qing Jun was furious.
An official whispered, "Your Majesty, the master of the Water Palace is Fang Yun."
Only then did Qing Jun remember the matter of the Water Palace. Since it was an order from the Holy Temple, he did not take it seriously and just asked the Cabinet to negotiate.
"What? Was this done by Fang Yun?" Qing Jun became even more angry.
"Fang Xusheng is the master of the Water Palace, but he does not participate in the political affairs of the Water Palace. If my guess is correct, the Dragon Clan did this to please Fang Xusheng." said another official.
Qing Jun became more and more angry. It was not a big deal for him to be frightened, but falling down in public in front of so many people and even missing the auspicious time for his birthday celebration made this banquet a big joke.
"Send someone to stop those dragons immediately. We must not let them go on!"
As soon as Qing Jun finished speaking, a strong wind blew from the north, and then countless dead bodies of water monsters, fish and shrimps were blown away by the strong wind and rose high into the sky above the capital.
Under the astonished gaze of the crowd, rotten fish and shrimp, dead bodies of water monsters and smelly blood fell all over the sky.
Pila... Pila...
The entire palace suddenly turned into a slaughterhouse, with a strong fishy smell floating everywhere.
The officials had never expected something like this to fly over, and for a moment they were unable to react.
Seeing that the second batch of dead fish and rotten shrimp were about to fly over, the officials used their official seals and activated the power of the holy temple to block all the filth.
The officials were about to ask Qingjun how to deal with the situation when they saw Qingjun suddenly put his hands to his throat, knelt on the ground and vomited under the gaze of hundreds of thousands of people.
The king's dignity was completely lost.
No one dared to rebuke King Qing, and they didn't know why he vomited, so they could only watch. Only the eunuchs and palace maids hurriedly tried to pat the king's back, but he pushed them away with his other hand.
After vomiting for a long time, Qing Jun sat on the ground weakly and said, "Water, bring me some water quickly."
Someone immediately brought water and Qingjun began to rinse his mouth desperately.
Now everyone vaguely guessed that when blood was splattered all over the sky, some of the blood must have entered Qing Jun's mouth.
After gargling for a long time, Qingjun suddenly turned his head to look at his vomit. Then, in everyone's incredulous gaze, he reached out to dig into the vomit, not knowing what he was looking for.
After a long while, Qing Jun found nothing. His face turned green and he shouted in despair: "Doctor, please help me. A monster's toe has entered my stomach... Ugh..."
The officials of the Qing State nearby felt a dark sensation before their eyes and thought that the reputation of the Qing State was over.
Just two hundred breaths later, the news that Qing Jun had swallowed the fish monster's toe spread throughout the discussion list.
The discussion board became a sea of joy, with scholars from all over the country mocking the incident to the utmost.
"It's said that Qing Jun likes to show off his achievements. Today I finally saw it. In order to leave a name in history, he even swallowed the toes of the fish monster. I admire you, I admire you!"
"I think this is a bad omen from heaven! Lord Qing should issue a confession of guilt immediately, but first you should vomit out the fish monster's toes in your stomach."
"I was present as an envoy of Wu State. I almost laughed myself crazy, and then... I was kicked out of the palace by Qing State. Qing State is not generous at all! Hahahaha, let me laugh for a while longer."
"I just got the news from the Water Palace. The elders are confused. Fang Xusheng didn't give this order at all. I guess the Dragon Kings of the East China Sea don't like Qing Jun, so they use this method to disgust him. So, don't offend Fang Yun. Who knows who might come after you to repay a favor."
"The King of Stinky Fish, the King of Rotten Shrimp, the Emperor of Eating Feet, the Emperor of Vomiting... I am dying of laughter. The nicknames you gave me are too vicious."
"Alas, I heard that the scene was very spectacular, comparable to the Yueyang Tower Literary Festival of the past, with thunder and lightning like waterfalls and dead fish and rotten shrimps like rain. The Dragon Clan is a bunch of bastards, it's really... pleasing to the heart."
"Do you think the dragons are going too far?"
"The dragons are going too far? If you knew what the Water Palace would do next, you would be grateful to the dragons. Many of us in Kongcheng already know that the four seas dragons have now all become subordinates of our Holy Academy, helping to do hard labor to transform the river. Now is just the beginning, and many people may not know it. In a few days, everyone will know it."
"We have to thank Saint Fang Xu for this. It was he who invited the Four Seas Dragon Clan. From then on, the human race's waterways became well connected, achieving something that no saint in previous generations could do."
"I see. Then let's forget about the dragon clan matter."
"Never mind, it's just a small matter."
"We were discussing the fish demon's toe in the restaurant, and a scholar at the next table muttered that the toe should be Qing Jun's dinner. I spat out all the tea in my mouth, hahahaha..."
"Qing Jun's dinner, hahaha..."
The number of replies mocking Lord Qing continued to increase, causing many people in Qing to constantly try to change the subject and defend Qing and Lord Qing.
Just as the topic was slowly cooling down, an article titled “Talent, the new menu of a restaurant in our city!” appeared.
The article had no text except the title. It was a painting of a restaurant drawn by a scholar who was at the second level of painting.
The most eye-catching thing is a plate of braised pig's trotters with a wooden menu next to it, and on the plate it says, "Qingjun's dinner."
Many scholars were amused again and began to join in the fun under the article, looking for more suitable dishes to celebrate the emperor's dinner, and finally stinky mandarin fish was on the list.
Fang Yun casually glanced at the articles and replies on the discussion board, smiled, and then looked at a piece of paper in front of him.
On the paper were two words he had just written: Rural School.
Fang Yun stared at the two words, his eyes constantly changing, and his heart seemed to be in conflict and struggle.
After a long time, Fang Yong used a pen to erase the words "Xiangxiao" and wrote the words "Land Tax" and "Corvée" next to them, but then crossed them out.
In the end, Fang Yun decided to start the reform from commercial taxes, which are currently the least valued by various countries, and prepared to establish a General Directorate of Taxation.
The Shengyuan Continent places heavy emphasis on land tax and light on commercial tax. However, with the development of the times, human commerce has become more and more prosperous, and many countries have begun to increase commercial taxes. However, many families and interest groups desperately oppose this, under the slogan of not competing with the people for profits, and under the euphemism of hiding wealth among the people and fighting against commercial taxes. As a result, there has been no major improvement in commercial taxes in various countries.
To attack the patriarchal system is to seize private rights, and to increase business taxes is to fight for private interests.