Wei Yuan ultimately rejected Tianyu's suggestion of proxy slaughter. So-called proxy slaughter was still killing by one's own hand; such an act could deceive heaven, but it could not deceive one's own heart. While Wei Yuan believed humanity was naturally meant to rule over all races, he had no intention of indiscriminately massacring alien peoples who possessed no power to fight back. No sentient beings deserved to be slaughtered and driven to extinction without cause. If he truly were driven to extremes and forced to raise the butcher's blade, he would at least have to find an excuse—such as them stepping through the door with their left foot first. After deep deliberation, Wei Yuan finally decided to transport all the slaves purchased this time back to Qingming, establishing reservations for the Shaman Clan and Mountain Folk along the borders of Qingming and administering them in accordance with the system used by the Liao domain's Three Rivers Khan Tent.
The Sea Li and Guiche were comparatively more troublesome, but fortunately their numbers were small. Wei Yuan first selected a saltwater lake, preparing to develop it into a rearing base for the Sea Li. He then set aside a plot of land along the southern border of Yizhou as a Guiche reservation, allowing this batch of slaves to be properly settled.
Tianyu had always supported Wei Yuan's decisions unconditionally. However, aside from proxy slaughter, Tianyu had prepared another plan.
Seeing that the Shaman-Liao War had already broken out, Tianyu had spoken with the frontline generals of the Shaman Clan to purchase the corpses of slain Shamans. The bodies of noble Shaman warriors would naturally be claimed by their families, but nine-tenths of the Shaman army consisted of lower-class slaves and outcasts.
These Shamans were used merely as cannon fodder. Dead was dead; the generals would collect bodies only symbolically, and more often than not simply left the outcast soldiers' corpses to rot in the wilderness.
Now, purchasing corpses was vastly cheaper than buying living slaves, and it also dispensed with the need for slaughter. The generals could make an extra sum on the side, so naturally they agreed with great enthusiasm.
Tianyu had also purchased a large batch of soul vessels, issuing one to each general so they could collect vengeful spirits on the battlefield. In this way, both flesh and vital essence could be obtained without spending much at all.
Tianyu's head for business was truly nothing to scoff at, and even Wei Yuan was full of praise for the scheme.
Speaking of this, a sudden thought struck Wei Yuan. With the Shaman-Liao War begun, neither race had leisure to attend to other matters for the time being, and with a great calamity looming over the Liao Clan, the world's tangled affairs had suddenly become much clearer. It seemed some had plotted for a long time, waiting for this very moment.
Having seen Tianyu off, Wei Yuan immediately convened a council of cultivators from the Palace of Grand Beginning to prepare for the great upheaval to come.
The first matter to discuss was the so-called Imperial Commissioner, Zhou Houli.
The cultivators held differing opinions regarding his purpose. Cui Yu considered it a fine opportunity to answer the imperial summons, enter the capital, and step onto the grand stage of the entire Great Tang. Feng Tingyu, on the other hand, felt such empty titles were utterly useless; so long as one possessed sufficient strength, one could command the feudal lords without needing to manipulate the Son of Heaven—and whoever refused to obey could simply be wiped out.
Opinions varied, and Wei Yuan finally turned his gaze toward Zhang Sheng.
With her customary nonchalance, Zhang Sheng remarked, what weight could a secret edict carry from a puppet emperor at the end of a dynasty? What was more, it was merely a verbal decree, without even the courage to leave a written imperial rescript. Even the envoy dispatched was merely a minor official holding an idle post. The Court of Imperial Entertainments was a marginal office to begin with, and Zhou Houli was only a Vice Minister, not even the Minister himself. Therefore, in such trivial matters, Wei Yuan could do as he pleased; so long as he did not actually answer the summons and enter the capital, any handling would do.
The primary reason Wei Yuan had wiped out the entire envoy party was that he had grown suspicious of the behavior of Zhou Houli and his retinue. Furthermore, he believed that since Emperor Zhao could employ such trash as an imperial envoy, the emperor himself was clearly nothing remarkable.
Serving such a sovereign was tantamount to seeking death, so Wei Yuan had simply silenced Zhou Houli and his entire convoy to avoid leaving any pretext for others to exploit.
As for Emperor Zhao's potential retaliation in the future? Given Emperor Zhao's virtue and conduct, did he even have a future?
The second matter to discuss was Wei Yuan's plan to revise the laws of Qingming, addressing at the root the issue of low-ranking clerks abusing their authority and tormenting the common folk.
When this proposal was raised, those from prominent clans, such as Cui Yu and Xu Henshui, mostly wore troubled expressions, while Feng Chutang sank into deep thought.
Zhang Sheng sat motionless, her thoughts wandering beyond the heavens. Typically, whenever she acted especially cold and aloof, it meant she could not figure out what to do. Her intention was crystal clear: don't ask me.
After careful contemplation, Feng Chutang spoke first. "The scourge of petty clerks has existed across all dynasties, differing only in degree. Sometimes it is merely an itch of the skin, sometimes an ulcer in the flesh and bone. But however one puts it, it never amounts to a mortal illness. Throughout history, rectifying the civil service has always meant rectifying corruption. What we are targeting now is the conduct of low-ranking clerks. Is that not making a mountain out of a molehill?"
Cui Yu nodded in agreement. Most of the other cultivators also felt there was no need to single it out for discussion, let alone alter the laws over it.
Having heard everyone's opinions, Wei Yuan finally said, "Corruption in Qingming appears only sporadically at present; it is not a major affliction. Among our people in Qingming, the literacy rate has already exceeded eighty percent. Accumulated over a dozen years, graduates of advanced academies now account for half a percent of the population. One could say our efforts to enlighten the people have borne fruit. What weighs heavily on the commoners' heads right now are precisely these low-ranking clerks and minor officials. The hardships our people currently suffer mostly stem from this. Since this is the root of the people's distress, if we do not enact reform here, what could possibly be more important?"
Ji Liuli countered, "Are we treating the common people too well?"
"What do you mean?" Wei Yuan was somewhat surprised.
"Across all dynasties, officials have always stood higher than commoners. The entire world has been like this, carrying on this way for hundreds of thousands of years. Is there any need for us to overturn the old order? Besides, every person in Qingming now has meat to eat, enjoying a level of happiness unprecedented in hundreds of thousands of years. Yet now that more people eat meat, fewer are willing to risk life and limb in battle. In the last few conscriptions, the proportion of recruits who enlisted out of the eligible pool grew progressively lower. Many templates would rather work in energy stations than fight for Qingming.
"We have already treated the commoners well enough, to the point of breeding many ungrateful wretches. There are even plenty who remain dissatisfied, feeling that unless we hand out wives to them, we cannot be considered benevolent rulers.
"External affairs demand our attention now, and great upheaval is at hand. I believe we should not invite unnecessary complications at this time, but should instead direct our energy toward more important matters. Moreover, severe laws should be used in troubled times; ruthless clerks are made to keep rowdy commoners in line."
Ji Liuli had never been one to mince words. The cultivators found it awkward to take a stand after hearing her, but judging by their expressions, they mostly felt she made sense. Qingming had too much to do at the moment. With the outbreak of the Shaman-Liao War, it could very well turn into another conflict spanning hundreds of years. Any casual thought revealed countless pressing matters. For Wei Yuan to bypass those and prioritize the trivial administration of petty clerks instead—was that not neglecting the root to chase the branch?
Wei Yuan said solemnly, "To let all people find their proper place and every person rise like a dragon is both my ideal and where my Dao path lies."
At these words, everyone ceased arguing. In all under heaven, nothing superseded one's Dao path. When they recalled the Three Realms Ruyi Sutra authored by Wei Yuan, they understood that he spoke no untruth.
Chapter 1347