National Division

Chapter 85 The Eldest Princess: This is all the way of the Holy Emperor!
Prince Zhao's Residence, Outer Study

Upon seeing the Prince of Zhao enter, Zhou Liang quickly composed himself, rose to greet him, and bowed, saying, "This humble official greets Your Highness."

Yang Youxing smiled and said, "Lord Zhou, what brings you here so late at night?"

Zhou Liang said, "This humble official has something to ask Your Highness."

Yang Youxing sat down and greeted Zhou Liang, "Lord Zhou, there's no need for formalities. Please sit down and let's talk."

After all, he was one of the Nine Ministers of the Imperial Court, and we could not be negligent in our etiquette.

Zhou Liang then sat down, met Yang Youxing's gaze, and said, "Today, I sent men to arrest a young man from the Shen family of Lanxi, named Shen Xian."

Under Yang Youxing's gaze, Zhou Liang recounted the events of the day in detail, saying, "This humble official was unaware of when such a person appeared by the Empress's side? I wonder if Your Highness is aware of this?"

Yang Youxing's eyes also lit up with interest, and he said, "I don't know either, but according to what you said, the Empress treated him with great courtesy, and the Princess also went to visit him. Could he be a Taoist master disguised as a mortal, playing in the mortal world?"

This makes sense. The Empress of Heaven is facing pressure from the Taiqing and Yuqing families, and this is precisely the time when she needs the help of a powerful figure in the immortal path.

Zhou Liang paused, his heart filled with even greater fear, and hesitantly said, "It shouldn't be. The person is a member of the Shen family of Lanxi. Today, Shen Lin, the Junior Supervisor of the Secretariat, also brought his clansmen to the Dali Temple."

Yang Youxing thought for a moment, a guess appearing in his eyes, and said, "Then it might be that he has a master who is a highly skilled immortal."

Yang Youxing simply couldn't believe that a young man could receive such a high honor from the ruthless Empress Dowager simply because of his own intelligence and strategy.

Upon hearing this, Zhou Liang frowned, his tone full of uncertainty: "It's hard to say."

"Regardless, there is indeed such a person who is favored by the Empress Dowager." Yang Youxing said softly, "If Lord Zhou is really worried, he can investigate this matter thoroughly in the next couple of days. I'm also wondering when such a person appeared by the Empress Dowager's side?"

Upon hearing this, Zhou Liang's heart grew even heavier.

Yang Youxing offered only a few words of advice and said nothing else, asking, "How is the interrogation of Prince Qing's case going?"

"We've reached a stalemate; Prince Qing won't confess," Zhou Liang said absentmindedly.

Yang Youxing said, "Lord Zhou still needs to put in more effort. In my opinion, if all else fails, we can hand it over to the Censorate for questioning. That way, we can uncover the truth and bring the real issues to light."

In the end, the Prince of Zhao spoke in a cold tone, clearly harboring malice towards Li Jing's clan.

Zhou Liang understood the hidden murderous intent in Yang Youxing's words and quickly said, "Your Highness, rest assured, I will intensify my interrogation efforts in the coming days to uncover Prince Qing's accomplices within the imperial clan as soon as possible."

Yang Youxing gave a few words of advice, then changed the subject and said, "Tomorrow I will have an audience with the Empress Dowager and inquire about the background of this Mr. Shen in the palace."

Upon hearing this, Zhou Liang stood up, cupped his hands, and said, "Thank you for your help, Your Highness."

King Zhao Yang Youxing smiled and comforted him, saying, "Don't worry too much. The Empress Dowager trusts you greatly, and the court relies on you for many things. A few opportunistic people can hardly shake the Empress Dowager's trust in you."

Zhou Liang said, "I was fortunate enough to be selected by the Empress Dowager from my humble position, and I can only repay her with my life."

However, he couldn't help but recall the Empress's ruthlessness in dealing with Suo Yuanli at the Dali Temple, and the change in her attitude towards him.

Emperors are the most callous of men, let alone a woman.

Yang Youxing said, "Lord Zhou, I have other matters to attend to, so I won't keep you any longer."

Zhou Liang said, "Then I shall take my leave."

He then took his leave.

After seeing Zhou Liang off, King Zhao Yang Youxing returned to his residence, while Abbot Faming of Baima Temple remained waiting in the same spot, reading Buddhist scriptures by lamplight.

"Master Faming is still engrossed in his books," came the hearty laughter of King Zhao, Yang Youxing.

Faming put down the Great Cloud Sutra in his hand, chanted a Buddhist prayer, and said, "Your Highness has returned from his duties."

"A trivial matter, not worth mentioning." King Zhao Yang Youxing smiled, sat down again, and looked at the Great Cloud Sutra in Faming's hands, asking, "Does the sutra in your hand, Master, contain a method for martial artists to attain enlightenment?"

As a fifth-realm martial artist, he naturally knew that the Human Immortal was the pinnacle of martial arts, so how could Yang Youxing be willing to accept that?

But even setting aside the fact that being granted a royal title would prevent one from cultivating Qi due to entangled fortune, one's aptitude for immortality... is also insufficient.

“I do not have any scriptures in my possession,” Faming said. “However, I can teach you the Dharma of relics recorded in the Agamas, which can enable martial artists to achieve spiritual enlightenment, attain the state of Arhat, transcend the sea of ​​suffering, and reach the other shore.”

Yang Youxing looked somewhat puzzled and said, "Above the Human Immortal realm, there is no higher realm. This is a consensus reached by the founding emperors, the founding emperors, and the nobles of the Great Jing Dynasty." The founding emperors and nobles of the Great Jing Dynasty naturally wanted to seek immortality, but because they had exhausted their life essence through martial arts in their early years, none of them lived to the age of seventy.

Some of the founding military generals had already passed away by the time they were in their fifties or sixties.

Some people among the common people say that the military general had committed too many killings in his early years, which offended the natural order and shortened his lifespan.

Fa Ming said, "The Daoist path has no boundaries, but the Buddhist path may not be without boundaries. As long as one seeks the true scriptures and propagates the Buddhist teachings, one can establish great merit and achieve spiritual enlightenment, thus ascending to the Pure Land."

Yang Youxing remained noncommittal, or rather, he was skeptical of the claims made by these monks, Taoists, and alchemists.

After a moment of silence, he said, "Tomorrow, Master, please accompany me to see the Empress."

Upon hearing this, Faming was overjoyed and quickly expressed his gratitude.

……

……

On the other side, Shen Xian had finished his dinner with the Empress and sat down again in the side hall to enjoy tea and conversation, while the Eldest Princess and Xue Zhihua sat down beside him to keep him company.

Beneath her willow-leaf eyebrows, the Empress's phoenix eyes shone brightly as she looked at the young man and asked, "Sir, in your previous memorial, you mentioned using newspapers to spread education? The imperial court also has official gazettes that are circulated to prefectures and counties. Could these gazettes be used in place of official gazettes to carry out education?"

“The official gazette only discloses important news and conveys it to the official residence. It can only educate and instruct officials, but it cannot educate the people,” Shen Xian said sincerely.

How many ordinary people actually read the official gazette?

The Empress nodded and then asked, "Sir, all literate people in the world come from aristocratic families. They are proud of their lineage but are not employed by the court, so they may not help spread education."

Shen Xian said, "Then we should implement literacy programs and cultivate scholars ourselves."

This replaces the scholars of the old era and cultivates scholars who grow up under their own narrative epic.

The diva, puzzled, asked, "Literacy?"

"Being illiterate is almost like being blind with open eyes." Shen Xian explained, then continued, "By using phonetic spelling, we can simplify Chinese characters, retranslate the classics, and enable officers and soldiers in the army to read. We can then promote loyalty to the emperor and patriotism among the officers, serving the empire and the Holy Empress, and emulating the rule of the ancient sage kings! After the officers and soldiers have been transferred to various places for one or two decades, their descendants will multiply and thrive. In just one or two generations, the fact that they have studied and joined the army will be enough to change the world."

The army is the ballast. The principles of loyalty to the emperor and patriotism are promoted among the generals, and scholars are cultivated from among them to serve in local positions, thus counterbalancing the powerful local families.

In fact, the Great Jing Dynasty itself was established by the Guanzhong military aristocratic group. However, a hundred years later, the Fubing system collapsed, and its core base was severely lost.

Whether it was Shen Xian's words about "personal worship" or the effects of the alcohol, the Empress's fair and delicate face turned as red as a peach, and she felt waves of heat rising from her body.

It can be said that these words struck a chord with the beautiful woman.

Zhou Liang, Lai Jing, and even the current prime ministers Cai Heng and Yao Zhiwei, none of them could have uttered such words.

After all, this is mature experience from later generations. Of course, if military generals become too powerful in local areas and form new county tyrants or village bullies, then it will require the intervention of examiners to check and balance them.

Therefore, Shen Xian continued slowly, "The Empress's past experience in governing the country can be written down and circulated among the people, inspiring loyalty and righteousness among scholars. If the Imperial Academy, state schools, and county schools all recite the Empress's teachings and take pride in becoming her students, will the world still lack officials?"

At this time, scholars were mainly concentrated in aristocratic families and prominent clans.

In a parallel universe during the Song Dynasty, the emergence of movable type woodblock printing promoted the prosperity of the publishing industry. Subsequently, the scholar class expanded rapidly, and the Song Dynasty had the foundation to hold civil service examinations on a large scale, which led to the peak of civil service politics and the co-governance of the country by scholar-officials.

Here, we find lessons learned by the Song Dynasty from the chaos and moral decay caused by the rise of warlords during the late Tang and Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms periods, as well as cultural prosperity brought about by the emergence of new technologies. The causes are complex and cannot be explained in a few words.

Upon hearing Shen Xian's words about being a "disciple of the Holy Empress," the Empress was already dazzled and mesmerized by the scene he described in which all the scholars of the world worshipped the Holy Empress.

If powerful clans don't cooperate and no scholars become officials, then we should cultivate scholars ourselves.

This is a method that goes a step further than opening up the military examination system to break down the barriers between powerful families.

It can be said that this is far more sophisticated than the Buddhist concept of the reincarnation of the Pure Light Goddess, which is used to govern by keeping the people ignorant.

"This is all the way of the Holy Emperor!" The princess's beautiful face showed a thoughtful expression, and her beautiful eyes also shone with a strange light as she looked at the young man.

I felt a vast and mighty aura, like the radiant sun, emanating from the Emperor, rushing towards me.

Ancient sage emperors tasted hundreds of herbs and created calendars, while the sage kings of Zhou established rites and music. Faced with such a humane trend that benefited all people, even the ancient gods had to bow down and submit.

(End of this chapter)