[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"origin-restoring-the-mountains-and-rivers":3,"chapter-restoring-the-mountains-and-rivers-restoring-the-mountains-and-rivers-chapter-35":6},{"origin":4,"title":5},"chinese","Restoring the Mountains and Rivers",{"chapter":7,"nextChapterSlug":19,"prevChapterSlug":20,"totalChapters":21,"novelImage":22},{"id":8,"novel_id":9,"title":10,"slug":11,"index":12,"content":13,"wordcount":14,"created_at":15,"updated_at":15,"volume":16,"translator":17,"content_hash":18},2364304,4623,"Chapter 35: Investigating Military Lands","restoring-the-mountains-and-rivers-chapter-35",35,"\u003Cp>The news had barely spread through the yamen when people began coming to request leave.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It was clear that the eunuch faction’s plan had succeeded.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Human greed is universal; if it can attract the sons of noble families, it can attract civil officials and local gentry.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As long as the price is tempting enough, there will be no shortage of buyers.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Had land been movable and distant management not an issue, the bureaucrats in the capital alone could have bought up all these properties.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Even if not all are sold at once, it doesn’t matter—the local gentry, upon hearing the news, will rush over quickly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Besides, next year is the imperial examination year; provincial juren can arrive in the capital ahead of time without issue.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Unless the land is too remote for the court’s nobles to care about, Li Mu didn’t believe they’d get a share.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Two million eight hundred thousand mu sounds like a huge number, but to the imperial clan, nobles, relatives by marriage, and the civil and military officials of the court, it’s simply not enough to divide.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Throughout history, whenever a dynasty enters its middle or later phase, the population of the ruling class grows rapidly, and so does its demand for wealth.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The eldest son inherits the family estate, but the other sons must also have a means of support.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Relying entirely on ancestral land, after a few divisions, the family will fall into financial crisis.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Aside from intensifying plunder of the common people, internal struggles within the ruling class will become unprecedentedly fierce.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Li Mu slapped his head and realized he’d been worrying over nothing.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>If the sky were to fall, it would be the emperor who bore the brunt first.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Below him, a host of grand secretaries and noble lords would take turns holding it up—there was no need for a mere minnow like him to fret.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>From what he’d learned, both Emperor Tianyuan and the court officials were sharper than one another.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Whether they could learn from history’s lessons was uncertain, but they certainly had read the historical records thoroughly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Judging from Emperor Tianyuan’s actions since his ascension, he had clearly sensed the empire’s dangers and initiated reforms.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>So far, the most direct results of these reforms have appeared in the treasury.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Compared to the first year of Tianyuan, the court’s revenue had increased by nearly a quarter over seven years.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>For an old, great empire, this was an extraordinary achievement.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Of course, Emperor Tianyuan had failed more reforms than he’d succeeded in, but he was a master of playing behind the scenes.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He not only divided the civil officials but also created the eunuch faction as the ultimate scapegoat, drawing all the hatred to himself.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Everyone targeted the eunuch faction; no one paid attention to what the emperor had done.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Or rather, the emperor had done nothing himself—he merely hinted that others should act.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>If it succeeded, it was the emperor’s wisdom.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>If it failed, it was because his subordinates had misunderstood his imperial will.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>By not personally stepping into the fray, the emperor never made a mistake.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Except during critical moments when he made decisive rulings, everything else was handled by the officials.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Playing this game in a feudal dynasty was simply invincible.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Assisting the sovereign in managing state affairs was the duty of the officials.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>When things went wrong, they naturally bore the corresponding responsibility.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Shifting blame upward was a skill—not everyone could pull it off.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Especially shifting blame to the emperor, which carried immense risk.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The crippled Censorate was the best cautionary tale.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The emperor, who had always been open to advice, quietly used the eunuchs’ hands to eliminate them without a word.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Many who were exiled from the capital probably didn’t even know they had offended the emperor—they thought they’d merely angered the eunuch faction in party struggles and brought disaster upon themselves.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After a bout of mental speculation, Li Mu regained his faith in the emperor and the court.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He had just returned to the Hou Fu and hadn’t yet changed out of his official robes when a messenger from the Marquis of Zhenyuan summoned him.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Uncle, did something happen that you called me here?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Li Mu asked, puzzled.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He knew the Marquis of Zhenyuan somewhat.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After so long in the capital, every time they met, this uncle had always appeared composed and in control—as if everything were under his command. This was the first time Li Mu had seen him lose his poise.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Something huge is about to happen!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Embroidered Uniform Guard found survivors of the Liaodong battle, and from them they learned that the army had run out of grain the day before the decisive battle.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Further investigation revealed that, according to the deployment of Regional Military Commissioner Duan Wenhong, the army had been ordered to requisition grain from nearby guard posts.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But the nearest Shenyang Guard had long suffered raids from the northern barbarians, and its military lands had been severely abandoned.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The military households had long since fled, leaving the granaries with no sufficient reserves.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This critical information should have been reported before the battle.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Instead, someone suppressed the report during transmission.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Only after the battle erupted did Duan, the commander, send someone to demand grain—and then discovered something was wrong.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Unfortunately, the envoy’s tone was too harsh, angering the Shenyang Guard Commander, who killed him in a rage.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>To evade court accountability, he set out with fake grain, then faked a northern barbarian ambush that wiped out the entire force, and now he’s vanished.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Li Yuan spoke, still shaken.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Concealing military intelligence and guard post deficits were both catastrophic offenses.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And these two catastrophes directly caused the defeat in Liaodong.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At this point, the court must pursue the matter to the end.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Uncle, are you saying the court will investigate the guard posts?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Concealing military intelligence was a capital crime—execution was certain. It might even trigger the “nine clans erased” scenario.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Whoever it reached would be finished.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>No matter how powerful their backer, no one in the court would be foolish enough to collude with the northern barbarians.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>From the emperor down to the civil and military officials, none would let these scoundrels go unpunished.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The outcome was inevitable—nothing more to say. So the “big thing” must be the investigation of guard posts nationwide.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Emperor Tianyuan had long been dissatisfied with the decay in guard post combat effectiveness.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But this deep-rooted historical problem involved too many people—it wasn’t something he could simply act upon.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The defeat in Liaodong provided the perfect opportunity to launch a nationwide investigation of guard posts.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Without doubt, every single guard post across the empire had serious problems.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The decline in guard post combat power, beyond lack of training, stemmed most critically from the loss of their incentive—their land, seized by others.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Of nearly one hundred million mu of military land, less than one in ten remained in the hands of military households.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Military households, once exempt from taxes and meant to enjoy a better standard of living, now fared worse than hired laborers.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>If their bellies weren’t full, no one could expect them to fight.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Correct!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The emperor has long intended to reorganize the guard posts, and he won’t miss this once-in-a-millennium opportunity.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“At the small court meeting, the Ministry of War proposed investigating the guard posts’ military lands. Even though we nobles strongly opposed it, the proposal passed!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Li Yuan spoke with a grim expression.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>For the first time, the emperor and the Grand Secretariat had reached consensus on investigating the guard posts, leaving the nobles, who held little influence in court, suddenly on the defensive.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In verbal sparring, all the noble lords combined couldn’t match a single grand secretary.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Besides, the other side had ample justification.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The nobles’ objections were utterly baseless.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>(End of chapter)\u003C\u002Fp>",1302,"2026-06-21T08:09:02.410Z",1,"Qwen3.5 397B","1ac9d5f7788b19c3b5bb32f69d741ad88fde0983f6fdd8b69f7c853bfecdabb0","restoring-the-mountains-and-rivers-chapter-36","restoring-the-mountains-and-rivers-chapter-34",391,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Frestoring-the-mountains-and-rivers-cover.jpg"]