Translator: Exodus Tales Editor: Exodus Tales
Chapter 1233 – Fishing
“Your majesty, are you really going to do that?”
Within the Imperial Reading Room, Jiang Shang was facing a dilemma, and his face revealed a tired expression.
Although Ouyang Shuo was surprised that the officials all opposed the idea, he did not panic. The first person he found was the Cabinet Grand Secretary Jiang Shang. He hoped for Jiang Shang to help suppress the pressure.
It was not Ouyang Shuo being a coward and forcing his minister take the brunt of the pressure. In truth, with his authority and prestige, he could have totally pressed down this matter.
However, if he did that, the officials would only agree on the surface but not in their hearts.
In the future, when the court of law was exercising its power, it would definitely face resistance either outright or in the dark, and it would not be able to establish dominance. This change of system might even fail halfway and mutate into a completely different thing.
This was not something that Ouyang Shuo wanted.
Moreover, as the emperor, if he quarreled and disagreed outright with his officials, it would be going against the system. A truly great emperor would use officials to fight officials to achieve his political goals.
Jiang Shang was undoubtedly a good choice.
Apart from him being the Grand Secretary, he was the ancestor of the philosophers. Be it amongst the historical figures or the officials, he had high prestige. More importantly, Jiang Shang had already been instantiated as an AI.
As an AI the way, the way he thought was definitely different.
Jiang Shang understood why his majesty wanted to establish the court of law, and he himself was supportive of the move. However, these circumstances were not something that the officials that were not instantiated would be able understand.
To not cause waves in the game world, Gaia ruled that before a NPC was instantiated, they would not be able to come into contact with real world information, much less understanding the environment of the interplanetary migration.
Misunderstandings could not be avoided.
This Jiang Shang became the bridge between Ouyang Shuo and the officials and also helped to mediate things.
This was one of the roles of the chancellor.
If this was at a different time, Jiang Shang would have accepted this job happily to expand his influence in the official field. However, this matter was unusual, and it would shake the entire cake of the civil servant group.
Even with Jiang Shang’s ability, he would find it hard to sustain the pressure.
Ouyang Shuo learned that during the holiday period, there were many officials who visited Jiang Shang’s residence to ask him why he would agree to establish the court of law.
For this matter, a lot of unhappiness arose from both sides.
If it were not for the help of Zhang Liang, Jia Xu, and other instantiated ministers, Jiang Shang would have probably been the enemy of the entire civil servant group.
This was the first time the Great Xia civil servant group had been so divided.
As time passed, the effects of this matter spread from the imperial capital to the other provinces, shaking the local areas.
The entire Great Xia official field shook.
Throughout this entire process, Ouyang Shuo sat still at the fishing stand. He needed such a chance to observe the officials to see which ones were worth instantiating and which ones were too stubborn.
Along with Great Xia’s unification of China being unstoppable, most of the historical talents in China were taken up by Great Xia.
When the forest was big, it would naturally be chaotic and messy.
The hidden currents during the holiday period from the Imperial Court to the local areas were all noted down by the Shanhai Guard spies and handed over to Ouyang Shuo.
Among the imperial capital officials, the one that made the most noise was Civil Affairs Director Pei Yun. It was under his support that more than 10 officials planned to go over to Jiang Shang’s residence to question him.
Truthfully, the performance of Pei Yun totally disappointed Ouyang Shuo. This also caused him to gain a bad impression of the rich and powerful family powers of the Imperial Court.
These people cared too much about family interests.
Moreover, in the local areas, the unhappiness was even worse, especially with those officials who had just joined Great Xia. They did not dare to scold the emperor, so they took it out on Jiang Shang.
During the holiday period, Ouyang Shuo actually received 60 odd memorials scolding Jiang Shang, making him furious. He wanted to just behead all of them.
In the end, Ouyang Shuo forced himself to swallow it.
Ouyang Shuo was going to continue to observe calmly. He knew that if everyone had jumped out, there had to be bigger and more fishes hiding under it all.
What Ouyang Shuo needed was patience.
After half a month of rest, the Imperial Court and the wilderness was bustling.
The part that made Ouyang Shuo relatively happy was that not all of the non-instantiated officials opposed the matter. Those that supported, or at least did not oppose, could be split into three types.
First were the generals.
This was the point that Ouyang Shuo was the happiest about. Throughout the entire process, he did not even need to ask Baiqi to step out because the entire general group did not interfere and continued to focus on their roles.
Such an army was the blessing of Great Xia and Ouyang Shuo’s good fortune.
Ouyang Shuo had always emphasized on administrative and military matters being separate and that the military were not to interfere. The results of this problem showed the successful results of his ideology.
The second type were the old officials.
Natives like Gu Xiuwen, Zhou Haichen as well as those who joined early like Tian Wenjing and Fan Zhongyan all agreed unconditionally.
This made Ouyang Shuo happy.
They did that because of their loyalty toward him. Moreover, since they had followed by his side for so long, they were influenced by him, so their ways of thinking were more open.
Thirdly were the truly ambitious ones.
They did not oppose and even determinedly supported the restriction of the emperor’s power. Zeng Guofan, Wei Zheng, Di Qing, and more were among them.
Meanwhile, Wei Yang supporting the matter somewhat surprised Ouyang Shuo but not really.
One must know that establishing the court of law would affect the Internal Affairs Court the most.
Wei Yang not bothering about personal losses and standing from the viewpoint of the court of law to evaluate this matter made Ouyang Shuo feel greatly touched.
As expected from the giant of the legalism school of thought.
…
This storm still has not calmed down after the Imperial Court resumed work.
Ouyang Shuo was not prepared to wait. This time, he was not only going to establish it, but he would also cleanse the Great Xia official field.
When Jiang Shang learned of this, he was totally placed on the spot.
Seeing that, Ouyang Shuo consoled him, “Elder, if time would allow it, I would not do this. However, it’s already the 7th year, and time waits for no one.”
Ouyang Shuo was obviously anxious.
In these short three to four years, Great Xia needed to expand, tear down Silver Hand and Azure Badge and also finish the internal transformations before they arrived.
Each and every matter was important, so how could he not be anxious?
“Understood!” Jiang Shang nodded. He understood the position the emperor was in, “Do not worry, your majesty. I’ll do everything I can.”
“Thank you.”
Looking at the silver hair of Jiang Shang, Ouyang Shuo was also touched.
Any revolution would not be smooth and would always face various challenges.
“To be able to help the emperor is my fortune.”
Ouyang Shuo sighed and waved his hand, “The Emperor dynasty has been proceeding too smoothly. It’s time for a revolution, or problems will arise.”
Jiang Shang nodded.
