Chapter 420: Reform (1)
Just as Dao Yuechen had executed the Governor of the Central Army Governor’s Office, Gu Yangpae, the Heavenly Demon of the Demon Cult, also moved in secret and eliminated another of the most threatening forces.
In addition, various corrupt officials and those who had remained loyal to Emperor Taiping lost their lives throughout the Central Plains, just as they had at the hands of the Nine Dragons Room.
And Beijing was no exception to the bloody purge.
It was only natural.
The relatives of the high-ranking officials Mujin had killed while wreaking havoc inside the Forbidden City lived in Beijing, so they also needed to be dealt with.
That task was undertaken by members of the Beggar Union living in Beijing and martial artists of the Zhengmu League who had secretly entered the city.
In addition, the Hebei Peng Family, which had attempted to establish connections with the imperial family, was uprooted entirely by the Nangong Family and Huangbo Family.
While the shadows of the previous emperor, Emperor Taiping, were being busily erased throughout the Central Plains.
“Phew.”
Prince Ying, who had been reading books and writing letters deep within the Forbidden City, let out a long sigh.
It was because, in addition to preparing for the enthronement ceremony, he was handling matters even more important than that.
The book Prince Ying was reading was a register of names.
Thanks to the success of the Grand Plan he had carried out with Mujin, the upper ranks of the empire had been left little different from an ownerless wasteland.
The high-ranking officials who had resided in Beijing had been massacred, and a considerable number of them had been civil officials. A considerable number of the military officials had also been purged through the edicts he had written and the strength of the martial artists.
The problem was that those vacant positions now had to be filled.
As the saying went, personnel were everything, so he could not simply place anyone in those positions. Especially when many of the vacancies were high-ranking offices.
“Haah. There are many people, yet every last one of them is riddled with problems.”
At Prince Ying’s complaint, Mujin, who was standing guard beside him, smiled bitterly.
Mujin had also read the register Prince Ying was holding. No, in the first place, it had been created by the Zhengmu League.
It combined the intelligence network of the Zhengmu League itself with the Beggar Union’s information-gathering ability, then added information from Hao Gate through cooperation with the Southern Heavenly Society for the sake of this Grand Plan.
Naturally, the strengths of each official were written there, but it was also filled with filth.
“This one is capable enough, but he is far too obsessed with women and will inevitably cause trouble. This one is also competent, but he is too sentimental and will appoint his relatives through personal connections. This one is incorruptible, but incompetent.”
As Prince Ying repeatedly sighed while flipping through the register, Mujin carefully opened his mouth.
“......May this foolish subject offer a word of advice?”
“I will listen, so speak freely.”
“Since the situation is urgent, would it not be best to choose the lesser evil for now? As stabilizing the empire must take priority at present, I believe it would be right to consider ability first.”
“What if they insult me and suck the blood of the people?”
Seeing that Prince Ying seemed to care for the people in his own way, unlike Emperor Taiping, Mujin smiled faintly inwardly.
After all, it would be disrespectful to look upon the man who would soon become emperor with the pleased expression one might direct at a child.
“Would it not be fine, since we have the martial artists, the Embroidered Uniform Guard, and the Eastern Depot? Each time those capable men commit crimes, we can gather evidence, then deal with them whenever a suitable successor appears.”
“......And what should we do if no suitable successor appears?”
“Your Majesty. More than one hundred million people live throughout the Central Plains. There are still countless pearls buried beneath the soil and countless flower buds that have yet to greet the spring. If we wash away the soil covering those pearls and bring about a spring in which those buds may bloom, then one day the imperial city may be filled entirely with excellent officials.”
“.......”
At Mujin’s advice, Prince Ying sank into thought for a moment.
“Hmm. Then choosing people based only on ability for the time being would also serve as a foundation for bringing that ‘spring’ closer.”
“That is correct.”
They would temporarily place capable but corrupt men in high-ranking positions, gather evidence once they committed crimes, and execute them.
After repeating that process several times, officials would naturally have no choice but to fear committing corruption.
'Well, I do not know whether that will work here in the Central Plains.'
Having given Prince Ying his advice, Mujin thought with a bitter smile.
It was both an advantage and a disadvantage of the Central Plains.
An enormous population lived across a vast territory, so capable people appeared endlessly.
The problem was that the absurdly large territory and enormous population also caused crime to run rampant.
It was a world where honestly competing through ability was treated as foolish. The land was vast and the people were numerous, so most thought it did not matter as long as they were not caught, and that even if they were caught, they could simply run away.
'That must be why all those Chinese people were like that.'
Various bizarre incidents involving Chinese people that Mujin had encountered through modern news naturally came to mind.
While Mujin was briefly lost in idle thoughts, Prince Ying rapidly wrote out letters.
Following Mujin’s advice, he spent some time filling the high-ranking positions with ability rather than character.
“Hmm.”
Prince Ying, who appeared to be pondering something deeply, opened his mouth.
“There is no need for me to personally select those who will fill the vacancies below the senior fourth rank.”
Not that many officials below the senior fourth rank had lost their lives. Except for the military units that had moved to attack the Zhengmu League and Shaolin.
There had been no helping it there, because their commanders had been killed indiscriminately in order to delay them.
It had been the greatest possible effort to avoid massacring innocent soldiers who had merely followed the orders of their superiors.
In any case, although not many had died, replacements were still needed among the middle- and lower-ranking officials.
That was because many of those who had originally held such positions would now need to rise into higher offices.
“We will hold a new imperial examination to recruit lower-ranking officials, while appointments from the senior fourth rank through the senior seventh rank will be handled by the heads of each department whom I have newly appointed.”
Because the high-ranking positions had been filled according to ability rather than character, there was a strong possibility that, if things proceeded according to Prince Ying’s decision, the middle-ranking positions would be filled through bribes and personal connections.
However, Mujin did not bother pointing that out.
It was not because he was watching the emperor’s mood.
The people currently being placed in high-ranking positions were temporary parts meant to stabilize the empire.
Those who rose into middle-ranking offices through connections or bribes could simply be replaced along with those temporary parts when the time came.
Rather, if people who did not share the same intentions were mixed together carelessly, there was a risk that the work would not function properly.
Mujin had also realized that Prince Ying had calculated that far, so he did not bother arguing.
'I have watched him for several years, and he truly is an intelligent man.'
Perhaps it was because he had spent many years living not in Beijing but in his princely residence, directly observing how ordinary people lived.
Prince Ying understood that the world did not operate exactly as books described, and he was a man capable of handling matters with a reasonable degree of flexibility.
***
Several days after the purge throughout the Central Plains came to an end.
A grand enthronement ceremony was held in Beijing.
It was another enthronement ceremony held only a little over five years after the day the previous emperor, Emperor Taiping, had held his own enthronement and proclaimed the northern expedition.
And at that ceremony, just as Emperor Taiping had done, Prince Ying also proclaimed his intentions.
“The long war has plunged the people’s lives into misery, so Our foremost priority shall be guiding their lives until they once again resemble those of the age of Yao and Shun!”
Because an enthronement ceremony was little different from a political performance, Prince Ying did not directly criticize the previous emperor, Emperor Taiping.
However, every intellectual who heard the news could understand what he meant. He was criticizing Emperor Taiping’s excessive wars and asserting his own legitimacy.
Of course, even those who understood could not openly oppose Prince Ying’s will.
At the end of the enthronement ceremony, Prince Ying proclaimed himself Emperor Jianping and announced a new beginning.
The first matter to confront the newly enthroned Emperor Jianping was money.
“Good heavens. I knew there were many thieves in the empire, but I never imagined such an enormous sum had been hidden.”
“Please put us to death!!”
At Emperor Jianping’s words, the newly appointed high-ranking officials gathered inside the now-repaired Hall of Supreme Harmony all bowed their heads deeply as they answered.
Before them was the money that had been embezzled by the corrupt officials and recovered during the recent purge.
It included not only the property of corrupt officials but also the confiscated fortunes of those who had followed the previous emperor. Yet among them, there had not been a single person who had never accepted bribes or embezzled taxes.
'Is this the scale of the Central Plains?'
Even Mujin was rendered speechless by the scale of the black money brought to the imperial family.
All he could think was that they had stolen an astonishing amount. Even to Mujin, the son-in-law of the Tianliu Merchant Association, known as the number one merchant association under heaven, it was a sum beyond imagination.
While everyone remained dumbfounded by the sheer scale of the black money, Emperor Jianping spoke again.
“Whether We spare or kill you is not what matters. What matters is how that enormous sum should be used, is it not?”
The moment Emperor Jianping finished speaking, those gathered in the Hall of Supreme Harmony rapidly began calculating.
“Your Majesty! The people’s lives have grown impoverished after the wars of the past five years, so would it not be best to first distribute relief grain among them?”
Since only reasonably capable people had been appointed, an answer came quickly.
However, at the same time, everyone gathered in the Hall of Supreme Harmony was thinking the same thing.
They were wondering how they could siphon off a portion into their own pockets without being discovered while sending relief grain throughout the Central Plains with that enormous sum.
For a while, each of them insisted upon a method advantageous to himself.
“Your Majesty. This subject wishes to offer a word.”
The moment Mujin opened his mouth, silence instantly descended upon the Hall of Supreme Harmony.
That was because many of those present had personally witnessed Mujin devastate the Forbidden City and execute the former high-ranking officials and the emperor.
“Speak, Commander.”
Once Emperor Jianping gave his permission, Mujin answered.
“Distributing relief grain among the people is important, but I believe the most important thing is to provide them with work.”
“Provide them with work?”
“That is correct. An old saying tells us to teach one’s child how to gather firewood. Furthermore, in the distant Western Regions, there is a saying: ‘Give a man a fish and he eats for a day, but teach him how to fish and he eats for a lifetime.’”
Emperor Jianping, who understood Mujin’s intentions, let out a thoughtful “Hmm.” and asked again.
“Then what sort of work would be suitable?”
“How about constructing buildings needed by the people or repairing the roads? I understand that many places have collapsed or fallen into disrepair because of the long war.”
Mujin had thought of this because of his memories of the modern era.
The road construction that took place every year as soon as the end of the year approached.
The construction that began whenever there was nowhere else to spend the money remaining from the annual tax budget.
That bizarre road construction where neglected places remained ignored no matter how many times they were reported, yet as soon as the end of the year arrived, roads repaired only two or three years earlier were somehow dug up and repaired again.
And on top of that.
“As it happens, this subject knows one person perfectly suited to oversee such work.”
The savage face of a certain bastard came to mind, which was why Mujin had deliberately stepped forward.
At Mujin’s suggestion, Emperor Jianping nodded and sent him a meaningful look.
Mujin understood the intent behind that gaze and nodded as well.
- I will send letters to the Zhengmu League and Southern Heavenly Society and have them watch for anyone attempting to embezzle the money.
When Mujin secretly answered through Wisdom Light Heart-Speech so the high-ranking officials would not hear, Emperor Jianping nodded with a satisfied expression.
***
Several days later. A rugged mountain somewhere in the Central Plains.
It was where Mugung had gone into hiding with his wife, child, and guards after massacring the Eastern Depot eunuchs who had come to kill them and fleeing.
And today, men dressed in official robes came to find them.
“You bastards must be desperate to die.”
Mugung gripped his great axe and wore a savage expression.
At the sight of Mugung, whose already fierce face had grown even more terrifying, the man at the very front of the officials turned deathly pale and waved his arms.
“Y-you misunderstand! W-we came to deliver His Majesty’s imperial command!”
“So you came under the emperor’s orders to kill me!”
With a shout infused with inner energy, Mugung charged toward [N O V E L I G H T] them.
And just before Mugung’s great axe severed the head of the man standing at the front.
The imperial edict the man hurriedly unfolded caught Mugung’s attention.
The edict contained the following command.
In order to aid the movement of the people and the trade of merchant associations, roads throughout the Central Plains were to be repaired and paths cut through the mountains, and Mugung was ordered by the emperor to take charge of the work.
“You bastards have come up with an absurd little trick!”
Although Mugung had read the entire imperial edict, he could not easily believe their words.
However, the man who should have answered Mugung’s shout was unable to open his mouth.
Because the great axe had stopped right beside his neck, he had already fainted while still standing.
Foam bubbled from his mouth, and the legs of his trousers were slowly turning yellow.
Just as Mugung was about to swing his axe again and cut off the neck of the reeking man.
“Senior Brother. It is real!”
Mukyeong shouted as he belatedly revealed himself in midair. Mujin had secretly sent him along in case anything happened.
Stepping forward, Mukyeong briefly explained how the emperor had changed.
“And His Majesty, who has newly ascended the imperial throne, has proclaimed that he will formally grant an official position to the Foolish Old Man Road Party in order to provide work for the people.”
Meanwhile, the officials watching from behind wore dumbfounded expressions.
'Why did he only appear now?'
'Tsk, that poor fellow.'
They looked pityingly at their colleague, who remained unconscious while standing with the imperial edict spread open, giving off the smell of urine.
Mugung also wore an equally bewildered expression.
“Y-you are saying I am to be granted an official position?”
Mugung was about to go from bandit chief to Minister of Land and Infrastructure overnight.