Who Cares

or hundreds of millions of people in the Wei Kingdom.
My article is a voice for the privileged, and his article is to plead for the life of ordinary people.
Your highness, how many powerful people are there in Wei Kingdom? How many are the common people? If the common people had been bewitched by him and believed that I was a running dog for the powerful, they would never listen to me from now on! Even if I wrote hundreds or thousands of articles, it would be in vain.
Do you remember the last time Prime Minister Wang incited civil unrest? The power of the people can overthrow even the imperial power, and even the monarch must be in awe, so how can the voice of the people be ignored or even blocked at will? To go against the people’s mouth is like going against the river, and if I write an article against him, it’s like standing on this gushing river, and destined to be drowned! I only hope that the emperor understands my painstaking efforts, and pays more attention to my strategies, can supports and reuse them.
So now we can’t do anything but wait.
”

County Prince Jing recalled the man-made disaster that nearly split the Wei kingdom last time, and his heart was already timid.
He was not Emperor Sheng Yuan, and he had absolutely no prestige to quell the civil unrest.
If Xu Guangzhi and that Innkeeper person start a writing battle but fail miserably, not only would his literary name be destroyed, but himself could invite trouble.

The two sat silently, and after a while, they could only admit defeat with hatred, and wait for the next time to make arrangements slowly and regain their strength.

—-

In the Weiyang Palace, after Emperor Sheng Yuan dispatched a secret guard to steal the original manuscript from Zhao Luli’s arms, he then infatuatedly read it, sometimes slap the table and shout with praise, sometimes suddenly realized, and reluctant to let go even for a moment.

“People come! Summoned Emperor Teacher, Chief of Ceremonies, Minister of War, Minister of Education, Minister of Works, and the others, and said that Zhen have an outstanding article that Zhen want to share with them!”

Half an hour later, the ministers were summoned, and when they saw the manuscript in the emperor’s hand, their heart were uncertain.
As scholar-officials, they were naturally more satisfied with Xu Guangzhi’s policy theory, but the emperor was born in the rough and a non-Han people, so it was difficult for him to understand their obsession with patriarchal power and clan etiquette, but the court gradually started using poor official, and the pursuit of fairness and justice were unprecedentedly strong.

The publication of this article could be said to be in line with the mandate of heaven and in line with the people’s hearts.
Although it hurt the vital points of the powerful, it also scratched the itch of the common people and even the poor officials, so it had an extremely large mass base.
Now that the noble family was declining and the poor family was rising, on one side it affirmed the importance of the Confucian doctrine of benevolence and won over the common people’s recognition; On the other hand, it directly pointed out the limitations and disadvantages of dividing people by social classes, and won the backing and support of the common people all over the world.
Immediately after that, the style was changed again, from simple and easy-to-understand white prose to a profound and refined legislative outline, which captured the hearts of literati.

If this Innkeeper was willing to become an official, he would be on the same level as Emperor Teacher!

Everyone’s thoughts were different.
They walked slowly to the front of the hall to salute.
Before kneeling down, they were summoned by the emperor, he happily said, “This article called “The Law of the People”, presumably all the beloved ministers must have read it? Come and tell me what you think.”

Old Master Guan and Guan Father took a closer look and found that this manuscript paper was actually their family’s beloved daughter’s handwriting, and they couldn’t help breaking out in a cold sweat.

Among the chief ministers of the three divisions, two came from official noble family, naturally they didn’t like the article very much, so they would hang their heads and drink tea after a few perfunctory sentences.
But the Minister of Works, who came from a poor family, praised and highly admired them, and the mood of Guan family’s father and son who were originally fell to the bottom, slowly lifted up.

The emperor had never seen Yiyi’s handwriting, so it shouldn’t matter.
Thinking like this, the two of them changed their faces to their usual looks, took a few sips of hot tea, and waited to enjoy Minister of Works’ praise before talking.

“Emperor Teacher, you are the best at writing article, please help Zhen to appraise this “Law of The People”?” Emperor Sheng Yuan asked with a wicked delight.

Old Master Guan reluctantly suppressed his pride and affirmed, “This article can be regarded as the introduction to establishing the law, and all officials should be ordered to study and understand it carefully.
Xu Guangzhi’s policy theory has also been read by this minister, and its purpose is to ‘establish the national laws on the basis of etiquette and patriarchal law’, which seems to show benevolence and righteousness, benefiting all classes, but in fact it strengthens patriarchal power and weakens monarchical power; it strengthens the cohesion of clans and weakens the rule of the country.
Within three to five years, the society can be stabilized, and within ten years, it can make people obedient, but twenty or thirty years later, noble families can flourish and the clan prosperous…”

As for the consequences of revitalizing the noble family and clan, presumably without him saying anything the emperor had already understand.
They would try to eliminate each other, you advance I retreat.

Emperor Sheng Yuan’s eyes became sharper, and he turned to look at the two courtier, Minister of War and Minister of Education, and said with a fake smile, “No wonder Xu Guangzhi is so sought after by scholar-officials, it turns out that this is the reason.
Concealment of relatives, officials shielding one another, if you violate the national law you can still go to court or become an official.
It’s really easy, huh! You have obtained privileges to hold into a group, if you want to do anything, you have relatives or colleagues to help cover up, then where do you put Zhen? Xu Guangzhi is good, good mouthpiece for the noble families, running dog for the powerful!”

Minister of War and Minister of Education were trembling with fear, and hurriedly knelt down to plead guilty, and never dared to recommend Xu Guangzhi to become official.
Anyone with a discerning eye could see that his policy theory was poking at the the emperor’s heart and lungs, which really disgusted him to the extreme!

T/N: I will break down GSY’s pen name here because, spoiler alert, it will be asked later.
It’s 逆旅舍人(nì lǚ shè rén) as a whole it means Innkeeper, and I’m translating it as such because I think it meant to be a simple word like this but if it looked deeper it will have different meaning.
The word ‘Nilu’ means inn or guest house but the literal translation of its character is ‘reverse travel’, ‘Sheren’ can means owner or the general term for relatives and guests of noble family’s house, but the literal translation of shè can means residence or give up (shě) and rén is people.
So if we really see the literal meaning of each character, Innkeeper = reverse travel give up people.
Please forgive the confusing explanation, I’m also confuse because I don’t understand Mandarin!!