Chapter 79: The Way Of A Ruler
On the eaves corridor of the building, Wu Fei leaned on the railing and gazed into the distance at all the noble families leaving, his eyes those of a standard villain character. Wu Fei rubbed his chin, imagining himself with a shoehorn face.
Wu Fei: We give them a knock, then a date, scare them and then sweet-talk again, seeming close but monitoring them every moment for any overstepping. It’s a bit excessive, huh!
Apologetic on the lips, but not the slightest bit kind in the heart!
Wu Fei’s subconscious did not trust these noble families, already assuming they would definitely betray, so he did not give up any opportunity, searching for evidence of their improper behavior. Just like a villain comprehensively controlling a woman physically, economically, and spiritually.
Wu Fei summoned cadre members from within the Security Bureau.
These Security Bureau members were all blood relatives recommended by personal soldiers to serve; they were not addressed by real names, only code names. Their merits could not see the light of day, but they would be recorded on Wu Fei’s personal soldiers. And the personal soldier promotion channel was one of the few routes that the entire army’s officers and soldiers tacitly permitted to bypass the public blood labor system directly for blood rewards.
After Wu Fei gave instructions, these people quickly vanished. These Security Bureau members changed into special clothes, brought sleeve crossbows, and began action.
…Dogs in the streets barked woof woof woof…
Wu Fei’s understanding of the relationship between imperial power and noble families was similar to that of a marital relationship between man and woman.
Even the relationship between the imperial power’s predecessor paternal group and the noble families’ predecessor maternal group was the origin of the marriage system. In ancient times, the monarch represented the paternal tribe, while the maternal tribe providing women was equivalent to the earliest “noble families”.
The matter of Yellow Emperor consorting with three thousand women was not him personally doing it all, but after Yellow Emperor’s tribe completed military unification, it formed alliances with many tribes through marriage alliances. It was not Yellow Emperor’s own spear seeing blood alone, but Yellow Emperor’s entire tribe participating in marriage alliances; nor necessarily three thousand tribes, but all tribes under heaven submitting formed stable interest ties with the monarch’s tribe.
Of course, for various local tribes, the most valuable was still directly marrying the paternal tribe leader.
With historical development, the three thousand tribes eliminated each other, some local forces grew powerful, and these powerful local tribes would lock onto the monarch’s line.
In this power combination, when the monarch needed to conduct military leadership, he utilized the paternal tribe’s mobilizing power to summon uncles and elder brothers, cousins, all to carry out military operations; and when the monarch was young and lacked military leadership, the uncles and elder brothers might act on their own, needing maternal forces’ local support to ensure the monarch could mobilize the most resources, with his core position unshakable.
The marriage system’s those “sacred principles” came from this, because it hooked into the political stability of early human society’s upper structure.
Thus, the earliest relationship between monarch and noble families was born this way.
However, just as initial marital cooperation is sweet, but soon there will be bumps and fights, even struggling for power to the point of irreconcilable conflict.
The contradiction at the end of Western Zhou was like this: for several continuous generations, the rearguard faction tribes continuously held steady shares in Zhou Dynasty’s core power layer through bloodline marriage alliance relations, while the Zhou Dynasty paternal tribe suffered serious decline due to losses in Zhou’s six army corps, at this time King You of Zhou had the idea to change the crown prince, and the political contradiction between monarch and noble families erupted in the most intense way.
From then on, the struggle between imperial power and noble families in history became increasingly fierce, with no return.
If the end of Western Zhou was still a couple going from verbal spat to physical fight, then after Qin Shi Huang ascended and pulled out all his maternal relatives, then ruthlessly unified greatly, with “imperial power” unprecedentedly elevated, his behavior was equivalent to “promote and get rich, wife dies”, pushing the six royal families linked by marriage alliances for hundreds of years in the Qin king line toward extinction.
For the emperor, if the whole under heaven was in his control, then the next generation monarch did not need the maternal line as a transcendent existence providing political aid, and a too-strong maternal line might even be enemies seizing imperial power.
Qin King Ying Zheng did not prepare to give any maternal relatives titles. He took women from the six states into the palace but did not establish an empress; all women were concubines. The maternal line was Chu state’s eldest son Fusu, exiled outside, attempting to support Hu Hai who had no clan forces. Then what: the six states’ forces: fine fine, playing like this huh. Even this one power channel to cut off, then let’s do it.
Thereafter for two thousand years, imperial power and noble families’ love-hate killing did not stop.
…Cannot break up, so two thousand years of fateful entanglement began…
Until the Ming and Qing stage, the monarch’s relationship with noble families thoroughly became mutual scheming between a scumbag man and gold-digging woman.
Wu Fei went straight to the point: to centralize, to suppress local strongmen, to have more power over noble families mastering economy and information resources locally, but reduce the responsibilities he had to bear.
Wu Fei: As for voices in the future cursing him for being controlled by noble families and being a pervert. You all have no qualification; we just achieved the extreme of the Eastern Dynasty system, that’s all.
…Wu Fei: I need to send out scouts to widely collect beauties…
Among Sun family disciples, a slave-born son Sun Xi Zhao was touching the bruise from being beaten for not grinding ink well for young master in the study.
He, brushing horses in the stable, although hearing that outside recommendation of filial and honest did not avoid status, but he dared not imagine.
“Hehe—” Sun Xi Zhao shook his head; on filial piety, he and his mother had extremely good feelings, on talent, he was not inferior to that fool in the clan who stuttered even a thousand-character text.
Just as he sighed, suddenly a bamboo slip was thrown in from outside the stable.
He looked; this was a registration notice, asking him to come to the designated area to register.
Two days later, he who applied to lead horses followed clan disciples to the recommendation of filial and honest site, saw other clan disciples enter the council hall to talk grandly, he suddenly mustered courage, regardless of others’ gazes walked into the council hall, found an examiner, and handed over the bamboo slip he picked up a few days ago engraved with his name and native place.
The registrar’s eyes lit up upon seeing the bamboo slip, immediately had other family disciples move aside, and conducted assessment ahead of time.
After passing the assessment, under the gaze of Sun family’s disciples and small protests,
Sun Xi Zhao thus occupied a Sun family quota. Someone was indignant on the spot: “Why?! This filial and honest quota, my house paid the most money, why give it to a slave-born son?!”
Words just fell, killing intent surged, the bailiffs maintaining venue order came out and took him away.
The examiner then came out to say: “Recommendation of filial and honest is fair and just, there is no phenomenon of selling offices and noble titles, we need to investigate him.”
The captain was so righteously pompous, a Sun family elder clutched his chest, pointed at the recommendation of filial and honest examiner, angry speechless.
These noble families a few days ago, when having each house collateral branches pay money, the head of family did not say this. The head of family said: “Whoever pays occupies the quota.” How did it become the money paid belongs to the clan, and when determining quotas, it became examiners randomly selecting from clan disciples?
But General’s Mansion was very clear: your family each house paying money is your affair, this is protection fee; selecting talent is my business, I must be responsible for state altars.
…Wu Xiao Que: Money you pay, and do not slander His Majesty’s benevolence…
Wu Fei through Security Bureau, bypassed various noble families, obtained from inside a series of lists of slave-born sons and born-to-concubine sons not valued. Began picking one by one.
Nominally noble families paid money, expecting to select a batch of filial and honest according to their provided lists, but Wu Fei did not follow the lists. Instead, as long as confirmed to be related to that family among exam takers, he hard-selected over half slave-born sons. These slave-born sons had not even entered the family ancestral hall, just knelt and called father and grandfather to some clan branch, and were immediately recognized as that family’s people.
Regarding these slave-born sons, those indignant noble family people criticized their character as not pure enough.
Wu Fei: Does character have some extremely difficult threshold? As long as filial to parents, basically passes, yet insist on some performance art to compete for specialness; does such specialness benefit the administrative system operation?
After selecting these talents, Wu Fei immediately had these slave-born sons bring Wu Family Army soldiers home, pick up their old mothers to properly support.
Through this move, Wu Fei once again gave all cooperating noble families a lesson.
Your noble family internal legitimate or whatever is self-entertainment; I want which line to be legitimate! Even if actually a slave-born son, he is legitimate line! Your defined legitimate, if it displeases me, then it’s collateral branch. Various local noble families must offer as many “beauties” (talents conforming to monarch centralization rule) that satisfy me as possible.
Of course, the Security Bureaus once again reported this to themselves: the talents they selected created many frustrated individuals within the core direct lineage groups of the Noble Families, and they were now connecting with external forces.
Wu Fei nodded at this, as if it were only natural. If Noble Families don’t cause trouble, can they even be called Noble Families? But the more you fawn over Noble Families, the less effective it is; only ensuring that you don’t break up with them while continuously engaging in abusive love is the Imperial Way.
Thus, Wu Fei took action again, this time targeting the new round of weaknesses exposed by the Noble Families, namely the discord between “direct lineage and capable commoners.”
Grasping Sparrow decided to scrape once more. Because these families could still be squeezed for a bit more oil.
As for offending them? Wu Fei: I never expected you all to “not offend me” in the future anyway, so I might as well offend you early.
…Historical records show that once you offend Noble Families, you must strike them down ruthlessly…
In Xuan Chong’s database, during the Three Kingdoms period, Gongsun Zan came from the Gongsun Noble Family but was not direct lineage, so he could only start from a minor official position. Later, relying on his cleverness, he became the Prefect’s secretary. Of course, without opportunities, that would have been the end. But opportunity came: when the Prefect encountered thugs, he stepped forward to repel them, then switched to a military position, and after that, with the Great Chaos Under Heaven, he rose high once more.
But Gongsun Zan never integrated into the Noble Family circles. When he was enemies with Yuan Shao, his core allies were the local powerful merchant brothers he had sworn brotherhood with, not the local Powerful Clans. After Gongsun Zan’s defeat and death amid betrayal and alienation, he was likely stabbed in the back by the local Powerful Clans.
Therefore, people like Lu Bu and Gongsun Zan were extremely frustrated under the Powerful Clan system. They rebelled against destiny, yet history books prominently record them as repeatedly flip-flopping for “petty gains.”
…The Military Strategist style has never been to stop when things are going well…
Fan Tang Wen returned home dejectedly.
A few days ago, for the “Recommendation of Filial and Honest,” the family’s main branch lacked money and assigned him a large payment quota, promising that his son would be recommended. He took his son excitedly to the Hall of Discussing the Worthy, but after bustling around, the Prefecture’s final list of filial and honest candidates did not include his son, leaving him extremely disappointed.
However, today when he entered the shop, he saw a “peculiar person.”
This person saluted him, then showed a waist token.
Fan Tang Wen was stunned upon seeing the waist token but soon wasn’t surprised. The person straightforwardly stated that he represented the Wu Family Army and was seeking local worthies.
The visitor: Today, I feel that you possess talent.
Fan Tang Wen was stunned, invited the person inside, and after a few incense sticks’ time, discerned the military camp’s killing aura from the person’s speech. When the person showed the waist token for the General’s Mansion internal affairs, he suddenly realized this might be a connection.
Just as Fan Tang Wen was preparing to wrap up gift money and ask him to act as an intermediary.
However, the person politely refused and gave him a hint: “Sir, real connections won’t discuss vulgar matters of gold and silver at the start; only discuss merit after success—anyone demanding bribes upfront is a fraud.”
This was Wu Fei’s strict order to the Security Bureau internally, because Wu Fei knew that once the connection was opened, many would scramble for it; once money was accepted, people would inevitably send it, and once people eagerly sent money, fraudsters would inevitably come to scam it.
Wu Fei: It’s all my money! It must flow efficiently into my hands—how can I leave space for fraudsters to scam?
Thus, a clear order was issued to Security Bureau personnel: absolutely no accepting any money when handling affairs. Afterward, these side branches gnawing at the family would offer equity, and then Security personnel would receive dividends.
Wu Fei to his subordinates: “Everyone gets a share! So mind your manners while eating.”
Note: This imitates the previous life’s Britain, where some with knight titles acted as fronts, seeking out relevant people everywhere to attend salon banquets and build networks.
…The dividing line for leaving no talent behind in the wilds…
After carefully inquiring about the situation, Fan Tang Wen understood the operations suggested by this person claiming to have a connection.
He gritted his teeth, ran to the Wu Family’s loan ticket office, and pawned his industries—though they were family industries, since the family was unrighteous, he couldn’t be too honest.
Two months later, after pawning family assets to raise funds and purchasing industries in Fen Xing City in the Southern Border, he suddenly encountered a Barbarian Tribe outside the Border and earned merit from heads.
The selection officials suddenly announced they had overlooked a worthy candidate and added him.
Under this demonstration effect, many scholar traveling merchants also began to follow suit, and the Wu Family, which had pulled in investments in places like Fen Xing City, also “opened their wise eyes” and discovered numerous talents.
Wu Fei’s logic was very simple: You commoner clans used to pay money to cooperate with the direct lineages who controlled upper-level channel resources—I get it—but now you can direct-sell with me. Why go through middlemen?
In past peaceful times, the Da Yao Imperial Court cooperated with local Noble Families to maintain “great order,” naturally accepting recommendation quotas directly from local Noble Families, where the major direct lineages within them controlled the recommendation rights.
Now Da Yao faces strong external military pressure and needs support from the Marquis groups controlling Border military affairs. The Recommendation of Filial and Honest quotas here in Lingnan have already been taken over first by the Wu Clan Military Group.
This is similar to the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, where the Imperial Court was originally filled with Great Clans ascending via monopoly on the Classics. But after the Yellow Turban Rebellion, local Military Groups rose to power. Great Clans then had to go through that layer of Military Group middlemen.
…As for the Imperial Court? They understand, but tacitly acquiesce…
The inspection personnel sent by the Imperial Court’s Prefecture side silently verified every qualified head, then sighed: the Battle of Yongji Pass 27 years ago was truly a great victory—every bit of killing intent on those heads that perished on the battlefield was real.
Do Fan Tang Wen and others’ head merits from outbound merchant caravans exist as forgeries?
Parts of the Southern Border are now within Wu Fei’s control range—their head merits are more allowed by Wu Fei for the Imperial Court to confirm than confirmed by the Imperial Court itself. If they forge them, even if the Imperial Court confirms, Wu Fei can still make them lose everything outside the Pass.
Of course, this also solved another headache between the Wu Family and the Imperial Court.
Previously, the Wu Family and the Imperial Court had a quite awkward issue: the Imperial Court now couldn’t reward the Wu Family anymore, or it would break the rank.
Wu Fei understood the Imperial Court’s difficulty, and as a bug-exploiting expert, since he couldn’t use so much merit himself, he acted as a live streamer selling goods—ptoo ptoo ptoo. He broke down the merits and distributed them to the bottom level, not synthesizing that “King” super rank. The Imperial Court had to reward them. Otherwise, it wouldn’t value the people’s bravery, and the Southern Border’s people’s bravery would grow alienated from the Imperial Court.
And by rewarding merits to people outside the Wu Family, the Imperial Court could avoid the embarrassment of titles stacking on the Wu Family. This is called diluting merit.
But for Wu Fei, this “invention and creation” successfully monetized the battle merits piled up in his hands in the Southern Border, and the Imperial Court also successfully invested grace and might into the various Great Clans in the Southern Border.
32 years later, merit suddenly became valuable inside the Pass.
After June, each camp’s fellow townsmen associations also started financial businesses. With massive Southern Merchants investing in the Southern Border to open plantations, they lacked both slaves and Merit Points, leading to speculation in the end—Wu Fei had to start curbing it.
What happened? Wu Fei received complaints from the Tusi and reports from Xiao Qing’s intelligence department: some mercenary armies really started privately capturing slaves in various Tusi territories, and also tried to borrow fellow townsmen’s heads for use.
After seeing these major cases emerge, Wu Fei gritted his teeth: Truly worthy of bloody capitalist imperialism—once unleashed, its people-eating efficiency is much higher than the pastoral ritual education system.
In response, in the Southern Border, Wu Fei separated the public security maintenance function from the Vassal Army and directly formed a dedicated police force group.
This police force group measures maintaining public security by “no major cases in the locality,” no longer by how many thugs are caught.
Because further indulging the army in catching thugs would make it impossible to implement Education and Indoctrination in the Southern Border.
Wu Fei already somewhat understood: Africa, which was the first colonized by European and American capital groups, had fallen behind in the 20th century to the level of primitive tribes. The slave-catching groups had captured all the people, even unable to maintain the feudal system, directly causing a break in civilization.
…Xuan Chong: So earlier I was persuaded by the slave-catching group?…
In July, the non-commissioned officer selection exam began at Yongji Pass. The first batch of products from the paper mill was used right here.
In the exam hall, there were both old officers and Wu Family disciples. They were all scratching their heads, and even one fool was secretly glancing at the proctor Wu Fei. When he confirmed Wu Fei’s gaze was elsewhere, he quietly took out an item.
Just when Wu Fei thought it was a cheat sheet, he actually took out dice, to gamble on the multiple choice questions.
Of course, there were also examinees who wrote like gods, quickly filling in the wooden plank test papers with charcoal pens.
The question types on the exam paper were divided into multiple choice and true/false, of course there were also applications, such as look at the picture and answer the question. The picture showed “soldiers wearing armor and distant tree saplings as reference objects”, asking about firearm and crossbow formations, when encountering enemies with one layer of armor, how many steps to advance for the volley to be most effective? And also asking to judge based on the process of grass and trees being trampled and one’s own breathing rhythm conditions, roughly how many rounds of killing could be achieved?
Soon the non-commissioned officers handed in their papers. And among these non-commissioned officers, those who did well were still mainly heterodox path born to a concubine, as well as some from poor families after branching off. After handing in their papers, they looked at Wu Fei with burning hope in their eyes.
Wu Fei received these gazes and slowly confirmed in his heart: In this era, what the Lu Bus really want is not Red Hare or Diaochan, but the military merit great enfeoffment of Emperor Wu of Han’s time.
