Faced with the threat from the New Army commander, Wu Youren remained silent, not uttering a sound for a long time.
"Damned difficult pain in the ass," Jeff cursed under his breath. "Damn it all, it's just a general assessment. What do you want?"
"I ask for a promise from you: spare me in the future," Wu Youren answered softly. "My frail frame can't handle such rough treatment!"
"That, huh..." Jeff gave a noncommittal nod. "Out with it. My patience really has its limits."
"Does that count as an agreement?"
"Even if I agreed, could you stop me from going back on my word?" Jeff grew impatient. "Speak. Last chance!"
His words were overbearing and tyrannical, a blatant display of rogue behavior, yet Wu Youren was not disappointed.
This man's words and actions were at least direct enough. When he could crush someone by force, he didn't bother with convoluted schemes.
On that point alone, he was far better than that crowd from the Life-and-Death Knot—at least he didn't make people feel sickened.
Wu Youren had rambled and beaten around the bush partly to test the waters, and it seemed to have borne some fruit.
The youth stated plainly, "In truth, I already made it very clear to Ailin."
"Three hundred thousand knights are an immense resource."
Bullshit, there aren't three hundred thousand at all! Commander Jeff snorted inwardly.
Yet that was not the point. Liang had many knights, and they were indeed a powerful force.
His voice turned solemn. "Do you know what causes the court's inability to collect taxes?"
The youth, however, shook his head decisively. "I don't know, and I don't want to know!"
A smart man! Jeff was not angry. Skipping that point did not hinder their conversation.
"The opposing forces are formidable, and the knights all have patrons. It's very difficult to form a unified force."
Not difficult at all! Wu Youren calmly answered, "A conflict of interest is all it takes!"
Jeff fell silent. He could think of that as well. When Liang's knights pillaged, they were completely reckless.
Yet whether they dared to turn on their patrons... that was hard to say.
The people of Jin had a saying to describe Liang: they fear power but cherish no virtue. In a sense, that was truly the case.
The New Army commander needed someone to state it clearly to him: interest was all it took!
Even if the speaker was an insignificant nobody.
No, that was wrong. This Jin hostage's true potential was anything but small, and even rarer, his wisdom was sharp!
Yet he still had another question. "Enacting such a policy will subject the court to unprecedented pressure."
Want to steal a bite of meat, yet afraid of getting a beating? Wu Youren sighed softly. "Just float the rumor and make an official stance known. It can be done from the bottom up."
Did it sound like a simple stratagem? It really wasn't. Virtually no state here possessed such knowledge or tradition.
And the only culture to openly teach such imperial statecraft was an ancient civilization from his previous life!
Jeff went silent once more. Only after quite a while did he smack his lips. "Tsk, I still can't quite wrap my head around it."
"From the bottom up, wouldn't organization be terribly poor?"
Wu Youren turned his head to glance at him, eyes clear, then turned back to watch the drizzle.
For the man to utter the word "organization" proved he possessed considerable insight, worthy of a New Army commander.
Still, did he have no end to this? Please, did he even realize what he was trying to freeload? That was the true art of dragon-slaying!
Setting aside that Wu Youren couldn't produce a precise, workable blueprint, even if he could and wanted to, he wouldn't dare!
Jeff waited for a bit. Seeing that Wu Youren said nothing, he gave a cold snort. "See? Can't make your argument hold together, can you?"
Such an amateurish goad... Wu Youren replied in a deep voice, "My lord, I am only sixteen."
His words completely silenced the New Army commander. Indeed, what had Jeff himself been doing at sixteen?
After a long silence, Jeff snorted again and spoke coldly, "A fine calculation!"
There was even a trace of killing intent in his voice. "Are you seeking to throw Great Liang into chaos with this?"
Hearing this, Wu Youren turned to look at him, his gaze clear yet carrying a hint of helplessness.
He had merely acted on a whim, casually offering a suggestion to a female knight looking for work.
Not only had he been pressured into it, how could he have foreseen that word would reach the ears of the New Army commander... and draw his attention?
Yet the youth did not explain. In matters like this, explanations only muddied the waters; better to let the man fill in the blanks himself.
Jeff also turned his head, glaring at him coldly.
Even the surrounding air felt noticeably chillier.
Wu Youren drooped his eyelids and turned back to watch the drizzle.
After a full minute, the New Army commander saw that the boy remained in that posture of "swallowing anger without daring to speak," and finally cracked a faint smile.
"Forget it, I was just messing with you. Look how frightened you are... If you have any thoughts in the future, you can come straight to me."
After all, he was only a sixteen-year-old youth whose whole upbringing had been fraught with dread. He might not handle fear well, and Jeff couldn't risk breaking him.
Wu Youren still made no sound, his breathing quieted until he resembled a statue.
The New Army commander waited a few more minutes. Finding it dull, he rose and strode away.
Long after Jeff had departed, Wu Youren let out a soft sigh and breathed a long breath of relief.
"What did you two talk about?" Manna had already stepped out of the room, staring at the youth for a moment.
"Nothing much," Wu Youren smiled. "Trouble comes from the mouth—it really is true."
Manna could roughly guess what had happened. "Their noses are sharp indeed... You can still smile?"
"What else can I do if not smile?" The smile remained on Wu Youren's face, but something different had appeared in his eyes.
It was the light of anticipation. Indeed, he was looking forward to what would follow.
The reason he had made the suggestion during the day was, first, to dig a pit for people, and second, the third of his 'Four No's'—no responsibility!
He hadn't expected the suggestion to work, but what if it did?
Anyone expecting him to offer counsel beneficial to Liang was purely out of their mind!
This proposal seemed like a spur-of-the-moment whim, even somewhat absurd, but beneath it lay an earth-shattering landmine.
Whether Ailin, Manna, or the New Army commander, they only saw the potential for social unrest—and that was merely scratching the surface!
This scheme was so deceptive that he wasn't afraid of anyone seeing through it.
Even in his previous life, in that dynasty 'easily dissolved in water,' when the imperial court enacted a similar policy, it was full of good intentions.
To encourage all people under heaven to study, exempting scholars who achieved success from taxes—wasn't that a good thing?
The founding emperor had risen from the humblest beginnings, expelling the northern invaders to establish a great hegemony, accompanied by countless capable founding ministers and generals. Yet who could have foreseen the eventual outcome?
By the time anyone realized something was amiss, the tail had grown too big to wag.
Wu Youren didn't count on Liang necessarily producing a 'water is too cold' phenomenon, but how would he know unless he tried?
What he could be certain of was this: once people tasted a perk, returning to the way things were before was utterly impossible.
There was one more vital reason prompting this decision: experience points!
If his guess was right and experience points truly tied into the national destiny balancer, then if this succeeded, wouldn't he make an absolute killing?
The only thing he needed to worry about was whether gaining too much might cause him to explode and die.
Still, there was no need to borrow trouble; whether this would succeed was far from certain.
Even if the Liang court adopted the proposal, waiting for the situation to ferment would take a long time.
As long as he maintained his current growth rate, by then he might already be strong enough to withstand the scouring flood of massive experience points.
If things truly progressed until 'an itchy scalp' appeared, given his current age, he probably wouldn't even live to see it.
In short, whether it succeeded or not, merely thinking about it filled him with anticipation.
Why did it suddenly feel like killing Guizu to raise his cultivation was a bit slow?
Wu Youren knew in his heart that his current cultivation speed was already very fast.
During this trip to the Guizu domain, he had steadily earned a large amount of experience points.
Because he did not belong to the knight system and had no status panel, he could not gauge his realm with precision.
Yet based on a comprehensive analysis of various factors, he estimated that at the very, very least... he was nearing the middle stage of qi refining, wasn't he?
At least in a one-on-one fight against a knight, as long as there were no onlookers around, he had the confidence to defeat them.
The next day it rained as before, and Ailin did not come to see him.
Wu Youren did not pine after her either. Though running into a swallow had been rather galling, it had given him new anticipation.
In a foreign land, wasn't suffering a loss or being taken for a ride once in a while quite normal?
Better she exposed herself early than late.
Experiencing an encounter with a swallow was quite a rarity in itself; at least in his previous life, he'd never had the chance.
Besides, he had picked up some design concepts for mechanical traps and broadened his horizons. This round had really been no loss at all.
Around midday, Ailin arrived. Wu Youren was inside his room alone, with the door bolted from within.
Ailin was thin-skinned; she pushed gently against the door, found it wouldn't budge, and was about to turn and leave.
"Sit down and chat for a bit?" Manna took the initiative to call out from the doorway of the adjacent room.
The female knight showed no hesitation; shifting to the side, she sat down gracefully. "What's wrong with him?"
"Don't know. Cultivating, perhaps?" Manna replied casually. She had no desire to invite trouble by bringing up those sensitive topics.
Instead, she looked forward to a bit of gossip. "You just... pushed right on his door?"
"I have to go back for a trip," Ailin said solemnly. "I don't know how long it will be before I return, and I was hoping to leave some supplies for him."
Manna glanced at her bundle and smiled. "I thought you'd brought something to eat and was just wondering if I should rob you of it."
"My family takes the proposal I prepared quite seriously," Ailin replied solemnly. "They want me to return immediately to discuss it."
"You..." Manna hesitated, then sighed and lowered her voice. "You are making an enemy of all the nobles!"
"I only make the proposal," Ailin replied with a light laugh. "Whether it's adopted has nothing to do with me. The speaker bears no blame!"
"Just how... can you be so..." Manna's words stopped short, and she finally shook her head. "It must be nice to be young."
"I'm not naive. It's just that some things have to be done by someone," Ailin answered gravely.
Act. Keep acting! In the next room, the youth from Jin wore a face as cold as still water.
Outside, the female knight continued, "The National Treasury Bureau can no longer sustain another war!"
Chapter 141