The thousands of questions and discussions on the list finally alarmed all the civil and military officials in the Qing Dynasty.
As Fang Yun said, the bureaucratic system has enormous inertia, but in fact, in a society where officials are the priority, most of the most elite people will be in the bureaucratic system.
Therefore, when Qing State realized that it was in a desperate situation in terms of public opinion, it did not think of reform as Fang Yun did, but instead looked for someone to take the blame.
This is the custom of the elite of every ethnic group.
Soon, Qingguo issued a statement.
It was admitted that the county magistrate where the deceased's family lived was corrupt and had been escorted back to the capital. The local prefect was demoted to the seventh rank and the governor was transferred away.
The statement also said that although the death of the family of seven was caused by the dragon clan, the Qing Kingdom was not prepared to shirk responsibility, but instead began to study how to ensure food and clothing for the relevant people.
Finally, the Kingdom of Qing condemned the Dragon Clan and the Water Palace and hoped that the Holy Court would do justice.
That night, Dongsheng Pavilion sent letters to Fang Yun and Qing Jun respectively, asking both parties to go to Dongsheng Pavilion to discuss the dispute between the two countries.
An hour after the document for the interview was issued, a document from the Gongdian forced King Qing to hold an emergency court meeting late at night.
Using the need for technological innovation as an excuse, the Ministry of Industry withdrew all the engineers and scholars from the Holy Academy in Qing State, and terminated all technical and institutional support to Qing State. In view of the fact that Qing State had privately set up trade barriers to hinder the development of industry, the technology usage fees for the Qing State royal family and government workshops were increased fivefold.
In recent years, the Gong Temple is the temple in the Holy Academy that has expanded the fastest in strength. This is because with the innovation and popularization of a large number of technologies, the Gong family's holy way is constantly expanding. As the holy way is strengthened, the power of the Gong family will also increase accordingly, and naturally they will have stronger control over the relevant forces of the Shengyuan Continent.
In order to develop industrial technology without leaving innovators empty-handed, Gongdian has stipulated technology patents in recent years. Technology innovators can deliver their technology to Gongdian, which is responsible for promotion. All workshops using related technologies must pay certain patent fees.
Generally speaking, ordinary patent fees are very low, because too high a price will hinder the development of workshops, but because the number of workshops using them is extremely large, the total amount is still very considerable, so many innovators have gained considerable wealth.
The scholars of the industrial family, especially those with innovative abilities, have become a new group of elites in Shengyuan Continent.
Someone even did the math and found that among the founders of the new prominent families and new famous families in the past thirty years, workers and scholars accounted for a full 30%, and their wealth growth also ranked first among all families.
The royalties for technology patents are very low, but many workshops have to use the technology of many other workshops, which accounts for about 5% of the total cost. All workshops can accept this ratio. After all, the benefits are greater than the expenses.
Now the technology usage fee has been increased fivefold, which means that most workshops will lose money. The more items they make, the more they lose. If they don't pay, the Gongdian can take action to sanction them.
Therefore, from now on, all the workshops of the Qing royal family and government will either be shut down or continue to lose money until they can no longer afford the losses and have to shut down.
Alternatively, the Qing royal family forced all Qing citizens to buy items produced by the royal family and government workshops at high prices, which is exactly what Qing's opponents want to see.
Qing Jun sat on the dragon throne in the Golden Palace with a frown on his brow. All the palace maids and eunuchs who served him had been kicked away by him. Only the chief eunuch who had served him all these years was still by his side.
The officials of the Qing State sitting opposite the dragon throne were already arguing in a mess. Some officials believed that they should continue to confront the Jing State and Fang Yun and not admit defeat at this time. Some officials believed that there was no need to make things awkward and that they should sit down and have a good discussion.
As the officials were arguing, the Minister of Revenue suddenly changed his expression. He disregarded the etiquette between the monarch and his subjects, ran to the dragon throne, and whispered to Qing Jun.
Ordinary scholars could not hear the sound, but officials at the Hanlin level or above could hear it clearly.
Many people's faces changed drastically.
The more Qingjun listened, the uglier his expression became, and finally he kicked the old eunuch out.
The old eunuch tumbled down the steps, hit his head on the ground and fainted.
Qing Jun said impatiently: "Drag this old bastard out!"
The guards nearby rushed forward and dragged the unconscious old man away.
An official boldly asked, "Your Majesty, what happened?"
Qing Jun took a deep breath and said, "The Agricultural Palace has ordered that new seedlings of high-yield crops will be supplied to the ten countries, but the seedlings are produced in the Blood Mango Realm. All technologies and cultivation processes are related to the Blood Mango Realm, and each country needs to pay a certain breeding fee. Except for Qing and Gu, each country can pay part of the grain in lieu of the breeding fee after the crops are harvested. If Qing and Gu want to use the seedlings of high-yield crops, they need to pay the full breeding fee. The Agricultural Palace did not give the specific number, but it is certain that the breeding fee we have to pay is basically equivalent to spending money directly to buy grain."
"The Nong Palace is going too far! This matter concerns the people's livelihood. Can the saints turn a blind eye to it?" said an official.
The Minister of Revenue said helplessly: "The Agricultural Palace is fully responsible for agricultural affairs, and the saints are not allowed to interfere. After all, the Agricultural Palace is not only the Agricultural Palace of those elders, but also the Agricultural Palace of all the farmers and scholars in the world. Which semi-saint is willing to offend all the farmers?"
"We will still plant with the same seeds as before. What can the Agricultural Palace do to us?"
"The Agriculture Palace can't do anything to us, but let me give you an example. We can only grow 300 kilograms of grain per acre, but other countries can grow 500 kilograms of grain per acre. This means that other countries will have more food and more manpower. No matter what they do, they will be faster, more and better than us. In a few years, our Qing will fall behind other countries. Coupled with the restrictions of the Engineering Palace and the Water Palace, all aspects of Qing will decline, even the number of scholars."
"That will be many years later! The man from Jing Kingdom is not going to live long... Ahem, as long as we delay for another two or three years, Jing Kingdom will be deserted. We can just find a puppet with royal blood of Jing Kingdom and occupy several states of Jing Kingdom under the pretext of going north to defend the king. By then, won't the large tracts of land and workshops in Xiangzhou and Jiangzhou belong to our Qing Kingdom?"
"Yes! We don't need to confront Jingguo for a long time. In just a few years, we can swallow Jingguo!"
"No matter how fast Jingguo develops, a few years won't change anything. Our Qingguo has a solid foundation, so two or three years is enough!"
"We, the Qing Nation, can bow to anyone, but we can never bow to the Jing Nation and Fang Yun!"
"Only by completely defeating Fang Yun and swallowing up Jingguo can our literary talent be freed from the dust!"
Many officials shared the same hatred for the enemy, because at that moment more than half of the officials in the Golden Palace had their literary courage tarnished at the Yueyang Tower Literary Conference, and they were still unwilling to accept this.
Qing Jun nodded and said with a gloomy face: "Yes, we must not surrender to Jingguo! I..."
The Imperial Physician suddenly interrupted Lord Qing and said, "Your Majesty, I have something urgent to report."