"In the governance of a wise ruler, he seeks to hear of his faults, not his virtues."
The gist of this was that a truly sagacious sovereign desired to hear of his shortcomings rather than praise.
Coming upon this line, Wei Yuan did not turn the page immediately. Instead, he reflected upon himself. Finding no apparent faults in himself for the moment, he continued reading.
Another half an hour passed before Wei Yuan closed Essentials of the Jianyuan Reign and stepped out of his quiet chamber.
No matter how busy he was, Wei Yuan always set aside time each day to read the classics, histories, masters, and anthologies; every time he opened a scroll, he gained something. He had realized that many practical problems of the present had already appeared in history, and more than once. The successes and failures of the ancients in addressing them were all recorded in the historical texts.
Lately, Wei Yuan found that he particularly enjoyed reading the biographies of founding sovereigns.
Stepping out of the quiet room that was sealed off from heaven and earth, wisps of shimmering mist suddenly drifted through the air, falling upon him with profound coolness. Several hidden injuries within his body swiftly healed, and the upper limit of his Dao power even saw a faint rise.
The mist carried its own radiance. Seeing it, discerning cultivators nearby changed countenance and bowed to Wei Yuan one after another.
To cultivators, this glowing mist was nothing short of an elixir. It was precisely the bestowal of heaven and earth gained after slaying a high-level cultivator. Every cultivator looked on with intense envy; if one could touch even a sliver of it, it might alter their root bone.
Wei Yuan had not paid it much mind at first. Ever since Flourishing of the Many Realms formed, his mindscape world possessed both sun and moon along with its own cycle of samsara, already vaguely resembling a true world of its own.
From that point on, the bestowals of heaven and earth had changed, turning extremely erratic—sometimes large, sometimes small—and the total amount was reduced by more than eighty percent. It seemed heaven and earth had grown wary of Wei Yuan, no longer favoring him excessively.
Moreover, Wei Yuan's Dao power was vast as an ocean; long ago, such a meager bestowal had become almost negligible to him, so he had never given it special thought.
Yet at this moment, Wei Yuan suddenly recalled something: when a Scenery Command master fell, a normal bestowal of heaven and earth could upgrade dharma idol root bones!
With that realization, Wei Yuan could no longer remain calm. After all, he still had numerous friends and kin around him whose root bones needed improvement. Basking in the sun in the Desolate Realm only tempered the dharma body, refining the dharma idol only indirectly—a bit like scratching an itch through a boot. It was nowhere near as direct as the bestowal of heaven and earth.
Wei Yuan immediately assigned an objective to Flourishing of the Many Realms: investigate an entirely new industry—killing by proxy.
Wei Yuan's figure flashed as he ascended the walls of Guantun County and looked northeast as usual. Within a thousand li, there was still no trace of military aura. Wei Yuan had already played all his hands; if the army of Ji still did not attack, he had no good recourse for now other than to keep building high walls, digging deep trenches, and stockpiling grain.
Midwinter had arrived. Wei Yuan's figure flickered as he inspected several major pits in the mining district.
The land of the Mountain Folk was rich in minerals, with multiple ore veins near the exit of the secret realm. What they were developing with full force right now was a massive coal mine. After more than a year of construction, there were now ten thousand miners in total, among whom over eight hundred were senior underground engineers, producing hundreds of thousands of jin of coal daily.
Now, all the residents across the Mountain Folk region used coal for heating instead of burning firewood. Furthermore, there was surplus coal, which was shipped back to Qingming alongside other ores.
The so-called senior underground engineers were template Dao Foundation cultivators working in the mines.
This was an improvement Flourishing of the Many Realms made after absorbing experience from otherworldly realms, giving template Dao Foundation cultivators in each profession specialized titles divided into three tiers: junior, intermediate, and senior, allowing for cross-discipline comparison. Each title corresponded to different benefits, ensuring the Dao Foundations knew exactly how much work and how much time it would take to achieve promotion.
Moreover, the titles corresponded not just to Qingyuan, but to various privileges, primarily distinctive attire and accessories that differed from ordinary mortals, letting anyone tell at a glance that this was a Dao Foundation.
According to the calculations of Flourishing of the Many Realms, after this system was rolled out, the average mental clarity of the template Dao Foundations increased by 77.666%. Among the keywords driving mental clarity, "honor" and "confidence" took the top two spots, but following closely behind were "revenge," "showing off," and "face-slapping."
Considering that the survey was conducted using real names, Wei Yuan roughly understood why honor and confidence ranked first and second; in reality, those two probably belonged in fourth or fifth place, perhaps even further down.
Among all the factors, Qingyuan ranked only tenth, and barely squeaked in at that.
After touring the mining and industrial districts, Wei Yuan visited clinics across various cities. At present, every clinic across the territory of Ji was packed to capacity, the overwhelming majority being pregnant women awaiting delivery.
Starting this year, Wei Yuan implemented a new welfare policy in both Qingming and the State of Ji: all pregnant women could give birth in clinics free of charge. Formerly, when the poor gave birth, one in two infants would not survive. Yet with this single initiative of Wei Yuan's, infant mortality dropped by ninety percent.
At the same time, the territory of Ji introduced a cash allowance in Qingyuan for having children. Combined with stable lives and ample grain stored in every household, everyone strove vigorously to have babies. Clinics had long been overflowing, forcing large temporary sections to be opened.
As for medical staff, despite large numbers being transferred from Qingming, supply fell far short of demand. Wei Yuan had already instructed Sun Yu to lower the admission threshold and recruit over a thousand attractive male and female disciples in the new Dao Foundation Grand Ceremony.
Walking through clinic after clinic, the crowded, bustling scene brought a touch of joy to Wei Yuan's heart.
If this world was a foul quagmire, then at least in Qingming and the State of Ji, two patches of dry land had emerged. Though not yet fertile, they were enough to let people catch their breath.
***
In the first month of the fifth year of Hongjing, the court factional struggle in the State of Ji grew increasingly fierce.
The clean-stream faction led by Hanlin Academician Liu Wendong, the censors led by Censor Cui Moxuan, the eunuch faction headed by the Chief of the Embroidered Uniform Office and Deputy General Supervisor of the Inner Court, and the sycophants led by Sun Chao'en formed a four-way alliance, furiously impeaching and assailing Xiao Jingyuan and the Minister of War.
Wei Yuan was not idling either. The Spear Saint of the Great Desolation made a resurgence, dispatching men everywhere to point right at Lu Jiande's nose and rain down vile curses. When Lu Jiande refused the Spear Saint's challenge to a decisive duel, twelve of the Eighteen Smoke Bands that had formed over the past three years disbanded in a single stroke.
Meanwhile, Wei Yuan sent troops to openly loiter before the commandery seat gates, deploying loud-mouthed men to curse nineteen generations of Xiao Jingyuan's ancestors. But the imperial troops were under strict orders and stubbornly refused to engage.
Not coming out suited Wei Yuan just fine; it gave him free rein to seize all the people from the outlying towns and villages, putting their houses to the torch.
Meanwhile, inside and outside the royal capital, more and more people discussed state affairs.
Many young scholars, having read barely two books, fancied that they understood everything under heaven. Goaded from behind the scenes, they could not help but fret for the nation and its people. They first denounced the Minister of War and Great General Xiao Jingyuan for refusing to fight, and gradually the flames spread to the King of Ji himself.
No one knew who first shouted the title "Coward King of Ji," but a chorus of voices soon took it up.
Naturally, the Embroidered Uniform Office cracked down with mass arrests, executing more than a hundred people before suppressing the unrest. But the words "Cowardly Sovereign" had already reached the ears of the King of Ji.
Thus, on the tenth day of the first month, the King of Ji issued a royal edict commanding a grand army of one million to sweep away the border bandits!
On the day the edict was promulgated, Cangwu made a special trip to the Imperial Study, intending to meet the King of Ji. Pushing the door open, he saw the King of Ji pressing Cai Miao onto the writing desk, teaching her calligraphy.
Cai Miao's characters were crooked and sprawling, frequently pressing out a large blob of ink. Her calligraphy was undeniably unsightly while her person was stunning, the ink black and skin fair—a striking contrast.
Seeing Cangwu, the King of Ji did not stop his calligraphy practice; instead, he instructed her even more attentively.
Cangwu calmly took a seat to the side and said, "Wei Yuan has exhausted every trick, all to provoke you into going out and fighting a battle. Why did you suddenly lose your patience?"
The King of Ji breathed heavily, saying, "Between two evils, one chooses the lesser. If one cannot tell which is lesser, it is better to choose the path of change. The worst outcome of this battle is simply defeat. I know my troops well; not many will die in a fight, and most can flee back. But through this, I can strip Xiao Jingyuan of his posts and round up his entire clique in one fell swoop. Otherwise, once the new army is trained, it will still fall into the hands of his faction."
Cangwu smiled faintly and said, "It may not end in defeat. For this battle, I will stake this entire gourd of Dao soldiers. Once Wei Yuan is crippled, I will withdraw the Dao soldiers, which won't hinder you from removing Xiao Jingyuan either. Afterward, we can regroup our grand army and wipe out Wei Yuan once and for all!"
"That would be best!" The King of Ji declared with a fierce gleam in his eyes, finalizing the decision.
Chapter 1055