Longzang

Chapter 1060 Choose the Lesser of Two Principles

A wise ruler seeks to hear about one's faults, not one's virtues.

This means that a truly wise ruler wants to hear about his own faults, not praise.

Upon seeing this sentence, Wei Yuan did not continue scrolling down. Instead, he reflected on himself and felt that he could not find any shortcomings in himself for the time being, so he continued reading.

Half an hour later, Wei Yuan finally closed the book "Essentials of Jianyuan Governance" and left the quiet room.

No matter how busy he was, Wei Yuan always made time to read classics, histories, philosophical works, and literary collections every day, and he gained something every time he opened a book. He had discovered that many problems in reality had already appeared in history, and more than once. His predecessors had dealt with them successfully and unsuccessfully, and all of this was recorded in historical books.

Wei Yuan discovered that he had recently developed a particular fondness for reading biographies of founding monarchs.

Stepping out of the secluded room, a wisp of misty vapor suddenly drifted in, landing on my body with a refreshing coolness. Some of my internal injuries healed rapidly, and my maximum Dao power also increased slightly.

These water mists radiated light, and all the knowledgeable cultivators around them paled upon seeing them, bowing respectfully to Wei Yuan.

These radiant water mists are nothing short of elixirs for cultivators, gifts from heaven and earth obtained after slaying powerful cultivators. All cultivators are filled with envy, believing that even a trace of them could potentially alter their very nature.

Wei Yuan hadn't paid much attention at first. After the prosperity of all realms was created, his mental world was complete with the sun and moon, and it had its own cycle of reincarnation. It was already vaguely resembling a true world.

From this moment on, the gifts of heaven and earth changed, becoming extremely unstable, fluctuating greatly and decreasing by more than 80% in total. It seemed that heaven and earth had also become wary of Wei Yuan and no longer favored him as much.

Wei Yuan's power was as vast as the sea, and long ago, this gift from heaven and earth had become negligible in its enhancement to him, so it was never given special consideration.

But at this moment, Wei Yuan suddenly remembered something: Yu Jing, a high-ranking cultivator, had perished. Normal gifts from heaven and earth could enhance one's Dharma Aspect and Root Bone!

Thinking about it this way, Wei Yuan instantly became uneasy. After all, there were many relatives and friends around him who needed to improve their physical constitution. Sunbathing in the Desolate Realm could only improve the physical body and indirectly enhance the Dharma appearance, which was still somewhat ineffective. It was not as direct as the gifts from heaven and earth.

Wei Yuan immediately assigned a task to the Prosperous Realms: to research a brand new industry: proxy killing.

Wei Yuan appeared in a flash, ascending the city walls of Guantun County. As usual, he looked northeast, but there was still no sign of military activity within a thousand miles. Wei Yuan had already exhausted all his options. If the Ji Kingdom's army did not attack, he had no better choice for the time being than to continue building high walls, digging deep tunnels, and stockpiling grain.

Winter had arrived, and Wei Yuan's figure flickered as he toured several large mines in the mining area once again.

The mountain village is rich in minerals, with several veins near the exit of the secret realm. Currently, they are focusing their efforts on building a large coal mine. After more than a year of construction, there are now tens of thousands of miners, including over eight hundred senior underground engineers, and daily coal production has reached hundreds of thousands of kilograms.

Now, all the residents in the mountain region use coal for heating instead of burning firewood. There is even a surplus of coal, which is being transported back to Qingming along with other minerals.

A senior underground engineer is a formwork foundation clerk who works underground in a mine.

This is an improvement made by the Prosperous World of All Realms after absorbing the experience of the outer world. It gives special titles to the template foundations of each industry and divides them into three levels: beginner, intermediate, and advanced, for horizontal comparison. Each title corresponds to different benefits, so that the foundations must know how much work they have done and how long it takes to be promoted to a higher title.

Moreover, the title corresponds not only to Qingyuan, but also to various privileges, mainly that the clothing and accessories are different from those of ordinary mortals, making it easy for people to tell at a glance that this person is a Dao Foundation cultivator.

According to calculations by various experts, after the implementation of this system, the average clarity of the Dao heart among the template Dao foundation members increased by 77.666%. Among the keywords that contributed to this clarity, honor and confidence ranked first and second, but closely followed by revenge, manifestation of divine power, and humiliation…

Given that the investigation was conducted under real names, Wei Yuan roughly understood why honor and self-confidence were ranked first. In fact, these two items should be ranked fourth or fifth, or perhaps even lower.

Of all the factors, Qingyuan ranked only tenth, and barely made it in. After inspecting the mining and industrial areas, Wei Yuan visited the medical clinics in various cities, large and small. Currently, all the medical clinics in the Ji Kingdom were overflowing with people, the vast majority of whom were pregnant women awaiting childbirth.

Starting this year, Wei Yuan implemented new welfare programs in both Qingming and Ji Kingdoms, allowing all pregnant women to give birth in medical clinics for free. Previously, when poor women gave birth, one in two babies would die. Now, with just this one measure, Wei Yuan has reduced the infant mortality rate by 90%.

At the same time, the Ji Kingdom also implemented a system of giving Qingyuan subsidies for childbirth. In addition, life was stable and every family had enough food, so everyone was eager to have children. The clinics were already overcrowded and had to open up large temporary areas.

As for medical personnel, although a large number of people have been transferred from Qingming, it is still far from meeting the needs. Wei Yuan has asked Sun Yu to lower the threshold for accepting disciples and to recruit more than a thousand beautiful male and female disciples in the new Dao Foundation Ceremony.

Looking at each clinic, the crowded and bustling scene brought a touch of joy to Wei Yuan's heart.

If this land is like a swamp, then at least in Qingming and Ji Kingdom, there are two dry lands that, although not yet fertile, are enough for people to rest for a while.

……

In the first month of the fifth year of the Hongjing era, the power struggle in the Ji Kingdom intensified.

Led by Liu Wendong, a scholar of the Hanlin Academy, the upright officials, led by Cui Moxuan, an imperial censor, the eunuch faction led by the Director of the Embroidered Uniform Guard and the Deputy Chief Eunuch of the Imperial Palace, and the court jester led by Sun Chaoen, the four factions joined forces to frantically impeach and attack Xiao Jingyuan and the Minister of War.

Wei Yuan wasn't idle either. The Great Wilderness Spear Saint reappeared in the martial world, sending people everywhere to hurl insults and abuse at Lu Jiande. Lu Jiande refused the Great Wilderness Spear Saint's challenge for a decisive battle, and as a result, the eighteen factions that had been formed for three years dispersed into twelve factions in one fell swoop.

Meanwhile, Wei Yuan sent troops to openly loiter around the city gates and sent loud men to insult Xiao Jingyuan's ancestors for nineteen generations, but the government troops, under strict orders, refused to engage in battle.

It's better not to fight; Wei Yuan can just kidnap all the people in the remote towns and burn their houses down.

Inside and outside the capital, more and more people were discussing the government.

Many young scholars, having only read a couple of books, felt they knew everything about the world. Spurred on by others, they couldn't help but become concerned about the country and its people. They first vehemently criticized the Minister of War and General Xiao Jingyuan for refusing to fight, and then their anger gradually spread to Prince Ji.

It's unclear who first called out the name "King Ji the Coward," but then a bunch of people echoed it.

Naturally, what followed was a massive crackdown by the Embroidered Uniform Guard, who beheaded over a hundred people to quell the unrest. However, the word "cowardly king" still reached the ears of Prince Ji.

Therefore, on the tenth day of the first month, Prince Ji issued an edict, ordering the mobilization of a million-strong army to sweep away the bandits on the border!
On the day the edict was issued, Cangwu made a special trip to the imperial study, intending to meet with Prince Ji. However, when he pushed open the door, he saw Prince Ji pinning Cai Miao down on the desk to practice calligraphy.

Cai Miao's handwriting is crooked and often produces a large blotch of ink. It's a case of ugly handwriting but beautiful person, with black ink and white skin, creating a striking contrast.

Upon seeing Cangwu, Prince Ji did not stop practicing calligraphy; on the contrary, he taught him even more diligently.

Cangwu calmly sat down to the side and said, "Wei Yuan used every means to provoke you into fighting. Why did you suddenly become so reluctant?"

Prince Ji, breathing heavily, said, "When faced with two evils, choose the lesser. If we can't distinguish between them, we might as well choose the side with the potential for change. The worst outcome of this battle is simply defeat. I know my troops very well; not many will die in battle, and most will escape. But I can use this opportunity to completely eliminate Xiao Jingyuan and wipe out his entire faction. Otherwise, once the new army is trained, it will still fall into his hands."

Cangwu smiled slightly and said, "We might not necessarily lose. I will put all of this gourd of Dao soldiers into this battle. After we cripple Wei Yuan, I will withdraw the Dao soldiers, which will not prevent you from withdrawing Xiao Jingyuan. Then we will reorganize our army and go and wipe out Wei Yuan again!"

"That's for the best!!" King Ji said fiercely, bringing down the gavel to seal the deal.

(End of this chapter)