Chapter 907 — Severing the Root
The Herdsman of the Wasteland · Page 2 of 4
"The people of Jingping excel above all at commerce; through trade they can earn more money from other parts of the Yuan Realm and secure their own livelihood. The Heavenly Court drains the entire Yuan Realm, plundering its resources, while we draw resources from other powers of the Yuan Realm through commerce. Emperor Yanfeng once said that the Great Feng currency should be used in every nation, and he struggled for that for many years. The unification of the Yuan Realm's currency has actually realized his dream—only now there is an extra Heavenly Lord above our heads.
" Shen Mu said, "Trade and commerce—leave that to you.
" Si Yunxiang said, "I will need your fox spirit to assist me. " Shen Mu nodded. "Minting rights is the third article; leave the planning and resolution of this to Si Yunxiang, to stabilize the people's livelihood.
The first article is to burn all books on reform and forbid reform—we have backups of every text, so this need not concern us. The second is to restore the ancestral system: rule by sects, the common folk revering the gods, the sects revering the gods, and through both sect and commoner to control Jingping. This is a policy to keep the people ignorant and weary. How do we break it? " Wang Muran said, "Among these seven articles, is there any that forbids the founding of primary schools, academies, and the Grand Academy? " Ling Yuxiu said, "There is no such article, but the primary schools, academies, and the Grand Academy everywhere have all been smashed by those heavenly gods, and the books burned. " Wang Muran laughed. "Then we build them again!
Do not use the names primary school, academy, or Grand Academy—change them to something else, such as Yujing Sect, Tiansheng Sect, or Daoist Branch Academy, giving them sect-like titles.
Primary schools, academies, and the Grand Academy are in essence no different from sects to begin with.
" Shen Mu said, "Then that is what we shall do. The fourth article forbids the manufacture of heavy divine artifacts—we simply will not make them for now, and need not concern ourselves with it. The fifth forbids unauthorized alteration of divine abilities and Daoist arts—only a few are capable of altering such things, so this article need not concern us either. The sixth is the sacrifice to Heaven. This one strikes at the heart; how do we break it? " Yuchenzi pondered.
"I have some connections within the Heavenly Court Dao Sect.
Perhaps I can ask persons of standing there to intervene and change what is offered in sacrifice—at the very least, the emperor must not sacrifice humans like livestock. " Shen Mu said, "I thank you, Senior Brother Yuchenzi.
The seventh article is to destroy all clever contrivances and ingenious devices. This one is not so great a matter; after this catastrophe, the people have lost nearly all their fine things. " He looked around at them all and smiled. "Then let us begin to think about how to counterattack.
" Everyone was startled. Counterattack? What kind of grand talk was this? How could there be a counterattack? Shen Mu said, "These past few days I have had a raw idea.
I have wandered about the capital and found that many heavenly soldiers and generals of the Heavenly Court have been breaking into the great households of the capital and seizing all those so-called clever contrivances. The gods of the Heavenly Court seem to be very fond of such things. In that case, we shall manufacture them for free, taking only Heavenly Court coin, and the cheaper the better.
Jingping has no shortage of skilled craftsmen; making everyday goods for the people can preserve the skills of these craftsmen. " The others still did not quite understand. Shen Mu continued, "Senior Brother Yuchenzi, could you use your connections in the Heavenly Court Dao Sect to have some of the Heavenly Court's divine artifacts manufactured by Jingping?
" Yuchenzi frowned.
"You want Jingping to manufacture the New Heavenly Chart?
Impossible!