Feng Wu shook her head. “Your Majesty won’t do that.”
Emperor Wu stared at her. “Why is that?”
Feng Wu said, “You’re a merciful ruler.”
Emperor Wu said, “One day, I’ll adopt the blood tax system, and the Junwu Empire will be invincible!”
Those children were brought up as soldiers and couldn’t marry until they were 40. They would devote all their energy to serving their king.
Feng Wu chuckled. “You’re wiser than the Dongsang King, so you won’t do the same.”
Emperor Wu glanced at her. “How so?”
Feng Wu said, “The blood tax system has made the Dongsang Kingdom powerful, but it’s also a time bomb waiting to explode.”
Emperor Wu glanced at her. “Why do you say that?”
Feng Wu said, “Because of human nature.
“All men are selfish. Once they have their own families, they’ll want different things, and the relationships will become more complicated.
“The key lies in the rule which forbids the guards’ children from joining the guards.
“If a former guard has worked so hard to become a chancellor, but his son can’t join the guards, that means that the latter won’t have a job in the military or government. How can he maintain the prosperity of his family?
“Therefore, the influential people will try their best to get rid of that rule.
“Something is bound to happen. Even if it doesn’t, we can create some problems for them.”
Emperor Wu looked at her in amazement.
“The crown prince said exactly the same thing right here when he was eight years old. You and he are the only two people who have noticed that.
“You’re both brilliant kids!” Emperor Wu almost couldn’t contain his excitement. “Can you imagine how smart your children will be?”
Feng Wu said, “Your Majesty…”
Emperor Wu knew she felt shy, so he shook his head. “I got carried away.”
He thought, Feng and I have worked so hard to create this great opportunity for you, Jun Linyuan, but you still haven’t won her heart!
Emperor Wu took a deep breath and went on talking about politics with his future daughter-in-law.
“The first king of the Dongsang Kingdom was a wise man. Since he started the blood tax system, he also created a corresponding succession system.
“Do you know how it works?”
The books Feng Wu read didn’t cover the succession system, so she shook her head and looked at Emperor Wu in bewilderment.
Emperor Wu felt like talking today.
“Don’t get impatient because it’s closely related to the incident Junjun went to solve this time.”
He then saw his future daughter-in-law sitting up and urging him with her eyes.
He couldn’t believe what he saw.
Had his plan worked?
Emperor Wu told Feng Wu, “The blood tax system isn’t cruel in comparison because it at least gives the ordinary people a way to climb up the social ladder. The succession system is a different story.”
