Free Web NovelChapter 1840: Chapter 603: Benevolent Ruler
"Indeed. Once this decree is issued, from then on Sects will be exalted above all. Those Sects will probably be doffing their caps in mutual congratulation. You gentlemen serve in the court; I ask that you urge His Majesty again and again."
"His Majesty wishes to choose Twelve Sects as ’Holy Chosen National Sects’, and another Thirty-Six Sects as ’Officially Selected National Sects’, to take charge of the civil affairs of the people of the thirty-nine provinces under Heaven, as well as the instruction of Martial Arts and Magic. This is sheer absurdity—does it not cause the power of the Sects to swell all the more?"
Ding Cangsheng was not only a renowned Confucian Sect scholar of this age, he was also the clan head of the Taiyuan Ding Clan, one of the world gates; one could say he never dealt with the unlettered.
And these people voicing complaints were, with almost no exception, the aristocratic families that had risen to prominence in Bing Province.
Yet that Ding Cangsheng could win the high regard of Chu Xisheng and become Deputy Minister of the Dalv Dynasty’s Cabinet was by no means due merely to his former status as Grand Tutor of the previous dynasty.
Most of the disciples serving under him in the Dalv Dynasty took little stock in such words.
"You gentlemen worry too much. His Majesty is not only striking at the aristocratic families; he is also eradicating the hidden peril of the Sects. Henceforth, all Martial Arts Academies under Heaven will be established only by the state, renamed Academies, and private establishment will be forbidden. All Dalv subjects under fifteen years of age may enroll without examination; the students may, according to their interests, choose different Sect lineages to cultivate.
His Majesty has further decreed that the Academies provide three years of free board and lodging for all students. If their Martial Arts and Magic talents are outstanding, they will even receive certain stipends. This law benefits not only the common folk, but all cultivators under Heaven, winning the hearts of all Martial Artists under Heaven. In this way, we will truly be nurturing talent for the state, and will no longer allow Martial Artists, once they have mastered their learning, to become the private property of Sects."
"It is only that the expenditures of wealth are somewhat great. Land redistribution and graded taxation by acreage can greatly increase revenue, but I fear they may still not plug this hole."
"Fear not. His Majesty intends to send personnel to be stationed in all medicinal fields and mines under Heaven, to supervise output and levy taxes. This will not only allow us to grasp the financial lifelines of the Sects, but will also greatly augment the court’s fiscal resources."
"The Twelve ’Holy Chosen National Sects’, the Thirty-Six ’Officially Selected National Sects’, the Seventy-Two ’Vice-selected National Sects’, and the numerous ’Candidate National Sects’ must all long-term cultivate for the court a fixed number of talents. Those who fail to meet the quota shall be demoted in rank, have their stipends cut, and their medicinal fields reduced. The capable will rise, the mediocre will sink—there is no fear that these Sects will not exert themselves."
"His Majesty is unlike the Grand Ancestor and Grand Emperor of Daning. The founding emperors of past ages all wished to prohibit Martial Arts, yet His Majesty would dearly love all subjects under his rule to have Martial Arts as strong as possible."
"In any case, let us first give it a try. His Majesty has said that if there are flaws in these policies, then we shall amend them again."
"Ha! If the laws in this Imperial Decree had been issued in the dynasties of old, the world would have boiled over. Only because the present His Majesty’s Martial Arts are peerless, a single man and a single blade enough to subdue the realm and stand against All Gods, can they be enforced by sheer might. His Majesty has no concern for whether the localities rebel or not—if you dare rebel, he will simply cut you down!"
Hearing this, Ding Cangsheng could not help the faint lift at the corner of his lips, and drained the wine in his cup with great satisfaction.
At this time, across from him, an old man with hoary hair suddenly fixed him with a burning gaze. "Cangsheng, you have been in contact with His Majesty for over ten days now. I wish to know: what impression do you have of His Majesty?"
Ding Cangsheng’s eyes narrowed ever so slightly.
Within this floor of the restaurant, though there were over a hundred officials of various ranks, those qualified to sit at the same table with him were all Second and Third Grade high officials of the present reign and renowned Confucian Sect scholars.
The hoary-haired elder before him was surnamed Yu and styled Mr. Yu, an Elder of the Confucian Sect in Bing Province whose fame matched his own.
Ding Cangsheng immediately laughed aloud: "His Majesty is a benevolent sovereign!"
The hoary-haired elder was slightly taken aback; he furrowed his brow. "Since His Majesty’s rise, the number of Giant Spirits butchered by his hand alone is beyond counting. Those Jianghu Martial Artists and Daning soldiers who died by his hand also exceed one hundred thousand.
His ruthlessness of temperament may be said to be unprecedented through the ages; his fearsome name is heard throughout and beyond the Mortal World, in the four quarters and eight extremes. Now he further introduces harsh policies, seizing the fortunes of great clans by force of arms, using the Sword to push through the policy of land redistribution—can this too be called benevolent?"
"His Majesty is merciless and ruthless toward his enemies, yet toward the common folk under his rule he loves them as his children. Outwardly hegemon, inwardly king—how could he not be worthy of the word ’benevolence’?"
Ding Cangsheng gave a slight shake of his head, a glint of cold light appearing in his eyes. "Nor has His Majesty ever seized the wealth of the common folk. In former days, in Jiangnan there were indeed some local great powers that were destroyed beneath His Majesty’s spearhead. Those people, not knowing Heaven’s mandate, stubbornly resisted His Majesty’s Heavenly Might. His Majesty took their wealth and divided their land—was this not the most right and proper thing under Heaven?
After His Majesty carved out the Ten States, he furthermore turned to using law and taxation to exhort and guide. If the common folk could not pay the tax, then they could sell their land—whence comes this talk of seizure? As for the policy of land redistribution, Mr. Yu, you should know that land annexation has been the foremost affliction of all dynasties throughout history.
Since Emperor Xuanhuang, countless dynasties have been destroyed by the calamity of annexation. Whenever a dynasty approaches its end, without exception the rich own lands stretching without break between the fields, while the poor have no place to set even an awl. Driven to the brink, the common folk will even join the Demon Path without hesitation, raising banners in revolt to oppose the court. Thus under Heaven, order gives way to chaos, chaos back to order, like a cycle of reincarnation."
Ding Cangsheng harbored a fair measure of disdain toward this Mr. Yu whose fame matched his own.
Did he not see what time it was now?
Burial Sky was about to fall into demonization; the Divine Continent Clan of men was on the verge of annihilation!
His Majesty was clearly using land redistribution and equalized taxation as policies to gather the hearts of the people under Heaven, so as to contend against All Gods.
Even if they Confucian Sect Scholars could not throw their full weight behind him, they should not stubbornly resist and obstruct.
The man before him, dwelling in the countryside, cut off from information, perhaps did not know of the earth‑shaking secret of Burial Sky’s descent into demonization.
Yet the calamity of annexation was precisely what Confucian Scholars of all past dynasties deeply dreaded and sought to resolve.
This was what stirred Ding Cangsheng’s aversion.
Did this man not know that every dynastic change was a catastrophe for noble families like theirs?
They say a dynasty may last a thousand years, a noble house ten thousand.
Yet the noble families that have perished through the ages are beyond counting, and most of their descendants have come to wretched ends.
Even their own Taiyuan Ding Clan possessed but seven thousand years of history.
"All present are well‑read scholars; do you not know that land redistribution and equalized taxation are the founding policies of every dynasty? His Majesty has merely made slight improvements, seeking long‑lasting peace and order. As to whether these various strategies of governance are good or ill, each of you knows in your heart."
Ding Cangsheng knew full well why this Mr. Yu, and certain people behind him, were so resistant to His Majesty’s strategies of governance.
It was because the method of progressive taxation according to the amount of land, and that Junhu Order, were truly policies never before seen under Heaven.
In the eyes of many, they indeed cut off the very foundation of existence of the world’s noble and mighty clans.
If it were some other emperor, the localities would already be aflame from one end of Lian Cheng to the other, with rebels everywhere.
Even if they did not rebel outright, they could employ all manner of methods to interfere, delay, stall, even Twist them, change their outward form while keeping their inner substance, until in the end they came to nothing.
Yet their His Majesty not only commanded twenty million stalwart troops across the realm, he also possessed Martial might that was Invincible in this age.
Whatever strategies of governance he wished to implement, none in the Divine Continent Realm had the power to resist.
The key was that this His Majesty had written his laws into the Dalv Edict, as the guiding program for ruling the state.
This made it very difficult for the Dalv Dynasty emperors to come after him to overturn them.
Ding Cangsheng set down his wine cup, his tone also cooling by several degrees. "The Dalv Edict was drafted personally by His Majesty and cannot be defied by the localities. Since you know that His Majesty is ruthless and merciless toward his enemies, you should also know the outcome of defying Heavenly Might. The criminal law of Dalv exists precisely for traitors."
Seeing the men at the table fall wordlessly silent, the twenty-odd surrounding tables likewise gradually grew quiet.
Ding Cangsheng then eased his expression, a faint smile appearing on his face. "Moreover, His Majesty bears no intent to exterminate the noble families to the last. Though they will have no land, they will still have workshops, shops, mines, and various industries—are these not precisely what His Majesty is now encouraging? They can just as well earn money, just as well pass on their lineages, ensuring their descendants are clothed and fed without worry.
That Junhu Order is indeed troublesome; it will cause the disciples of each house to grow disunited in heart. But the establishment of the ’Holy Chosen National Sects’ and ’Officially Selected National Sects’, and so on, is by no means limited to Sects. If a noble family bears the aspiration to inherit the Martial Arts of its forebears, it too may be selected into the roster of National Sects. Our descendants, with the Bloodline reborn that our forebears have left behind, will their prospects truly be so poor?"
As his words fell, the expressions of several heads of Bing Province’s aristocratic families at the table could not help but shift, revealing looks of deep thought.
