Chapter 669: Decree of Grace, The Descent of the Gods

After the unification ceremony, the next step was naturally the promulgation of new national decrees.

And the first decree was none other than what is known as the greatest overt scheme of antiquity—the Decree of Grace!

The Decree of Grace was an important political decree issued by Emperor Wu of Han to consolidate centralized power. This decree required that the regions previously governed by various feudal lords be inherited not only by their eldest sons, but jointly by their eldest, second, and third sons. According to the Han system, the marquisates formed under the Decree of Grace were subordinate to commanderies and were equivalent in status to counties. Later, according to this decree, the feudal states were divided into smaller and smaller pieces, and Emperor Wu of Han took the opportunity to weaken their power.

Although the Star Luo Empire and the Spirit Empire on the continent had already surrendered, Xue Ke's Heaven Dou Empire had also become a dependency.

But in reality, to achieve unification in the true sense, much more effort was still needed.

As things stood, there were two major problems: first, apart from the completely annihilated Star Luo Empire, the Heaven Dou Empire and the Spirit Empire still possessed a certain amount of political and military power, which was an unstable factor; second, the annexation of land by the nobility was severe, which would inevitably cause social unrest and the continuous development of class conflict in the future. To thoroughly resolve these two problems, it was necessary to further strengthen centralized power to avoid a situation where the dynasty would disintegrate from within before any foreign enemy even attacked.

In fact, the simplest method would have been to kill—to slaughter a large number of nobles, solve the people who created the problems, and everything would naturally be resolved.

Feihuang had indeed done this; he had slaughtered many nobles, but only those for whom there was solid evidence that they had committed serious evils.

For those without evidence, he could not act for the time being. If it were wartime, Feihuang could still harden his heart and carry out the cruel act of "rather kill three thousand by mistake than let one go."

Unfortunately, there was a downside to the continent unifying too quickly: the wartime period was too short, and before Feihuang could do it, the various nations had already surrendered.

Regarding the forces that had already surrendered, Feihuang was not a tyrant. He did not want to stop killing with killing; there were good people among the nobles, and if he were to slaughter them on a large scale, he would inevitably harm the innocent.

Even if ten nobles stood before him, nine evil and one good, unless he could figure out which one was the good one and pull him out separately, only then could he execute the other nine.

But at this time, Feihuang's thinking was the exact opposite of the wartime period. As long as he hadn't figured out who was good, he would rather not kill a single one for the time being, but instead strengthen surveillance on all ten people, wasting manpower and resources, to try his best to "rather let three thousand go than kill one by mistake."

In fact, Feihuang knew that this mindset did not belong to a qualified ruler or politician; he was not decisive enough in killing. So, Feihuang simply gave up—he wouldn't be a ruler, and he would let Xun Yu and his father worry about it.

In the end, Xun Yu's method was the greatest overt scheme of the ages from Emperor Wu of Han: the Decree of Grace! The important figures from the various nations below, upon hearing this decree, were all surprised.

Ge Long finally understood the method Xue Ke had mentioned earlier regarding how the Gu Lei Empire would treat them; it turned out to be this move.

Indeed, in this way, the Gu Lei Empire had not invaded the Heaven Dou Empire.

It seemed to have little impact now, but what about a few decades later? As the imperial fiefs continued to become more numerous and smaller, it was feared that large states would have no more than a dozen cities, and small states no more than a few dozen miles.

Gradually, the major vassal states would no longer have the strength to contend with the center, and centralized power would be effectively consolidated. The various nations were not nominally weakened in any way, thereby avoiding the possibility of inciting local kings to armed rebellion. Thus, "the vassal states began to divide, and the sons and younger brothers all became marquises," leading to the fiefs being divided smaller and smaller, the power of the feudal lords greatly weakened, and from then on, "large states had no more than a dozen cities, and small marquises had no more than a dozen miles." Even if a feudal king dared to rely on his own troops to rebel, the center could quickly suppress the rebellion.

In this process, the power and territory of the major vassal states became smaller and weaker, thereby achieving the goal of gradually disintegrating the vassal states.

"Heh, what a fine overt scheme. In this way, a few decades later, a so-called lord of a fief will probably be no different from the lord of a small city. After another period of time, there will be no more vassal states, only the great imperial dynasty at the center," Qian Daoliu laughed.

He had also been curious about what method Nan Tianchen would use to solve the problem of the major vassal states; he had not expected it to be such a formidable overt scheme.

Although this method would be opposed by the eldest sons, the others who were originally supposed to receive no fiefs would all be grateful to the Emperor, because according to the previous decrees, they would have nothing after the eldest sons inherited the land. In this way, this decree was very beneficial to them. Although the means of the Decree of Grace were relatively indirect and tactful, they were indeed very effective, and they were also very beneficial to the Emperor's own reputation. "Not by killing, but by strategy? A good method. It seems this continent is destined to be his Nan Family's," Ge Long sighed. He admitted he could not break this Decree of Grace.

Otherwise, Nan Tianchen would not even need to take action against him.

Among the various princes and nobles, there would be many who would want to kill him.

After all, there is only ever one eldest son, and among the nobles, there are far more second sons and sons of concubines. Opposing the Decree of Grace is opposing everyone eating the cake together, instead letting the eldest son enjoy it alone—on what grounds? After the Decree of Grace came the rest of the national decrees.

Drafted by Xun Yu, announced by Feihuang, and sealed by Nan Tianchen.

These new decrees, Confucian on the outside but Legalist on the inside, were simply a godsend for ordinary people.

Although Spirit Masters still enjoyed many privileges, they were also subject to many restrictions. At least under these laws, to the high and mighty Spirit Masters, they, the ordinary people, were also human beings, not stray dogs on the side of the road that could be trampled at will.

"We obey the decree, long live the Emperor!" The masses kowtowed sincerely; these decrees could be said to have spoken to the bottom of their hearts.

The unification ceremony lasted the entire morning, and just as it was about to end.

Feihuang was suddenly startled and subconsciously looked up at the sky. He saw the sky covered in dark clouds, and a power so formidable it was hard to describe seemed about to cover the entire Gu Lei Imperial City.

"This power is... a god!" Qian Daoliu exclaimed in shock. Having dealt with the Angel God for many years, he naturally could not fail to recognize the power of a god.

"Nan Feihuang... receive the divine decree——————"

The majestic and vast voice resounded across the entire continent, making people subconsciously want to prostrate themselves in worship.

A black figure stood in mid-air, and behind them, five halos of light appeared.

"A Level Two God from the God Realm!" Qian Renxue exclaimed. As the inheritor of a Level One God, how could she not recognize the mark of a Level Two God? But how could a god suddenly descend in their true form, and it seemed to be for Feihuang?

She could not help but worry; if the god wanted to harm Feihuang, that would be extremely dangerous.

Lan Xue even subconsciously wanted to summon her martial soul to protect her son; even if she couldn't win, she would not back down.

But she was stopped by Feihuang. If they fought to the death and used all their trump cards, he might not necessarily lose to a Level Two God, and he did not feel much killing intent from that god in the sky.

In other words, at least at this very moment, this god should not be here to harm him.

(End of chapter)