Chapter 155

【At the end of the month, the Han and Chu states quietly withdrew their troops in the land of Shizhou.】

【The Yanbei army, carrying the prestige of going north, returned south, with great momentum!】

【At the end of autumn in the same year, the Qianyuan iron cavalry withdrew from Jingyang City.】

【In this retreat, Qianyuan not only conceded but also gifted the fertile land of Hexi, that rich land adjacent to Yanbei, to Yanbei.】

【This move was no different from declaring to the world: although Yanbei had not officially established a country, its power was already firmly seated in a corner of the world, and within the four seas, it was respected as the Yan land.】

【At the end of the year, the four states and Yanbei concluded the White Horse Alliance together and issued an edict to the four seas.】

【Slaughtering a white horse as an oath, establishing a ten-year agreement.】

【If there are any treacherous people, they will surely be attacked by the heroes of the world.】

【Once this news came out, the whole world boiled over, the people sang for it, and the good news spread rapidly from the streets and alleys, with everyone showing joy.】

【The troubled times of the five states were finally calmed, and the world ushered in long-lost peace and harmony.】

【At the end of the year, the Qianyuan Empress Wu Ying held the second Fengshan ceremony, and on the second day, she "granted amnesty to the world."】

【With Lady Gongsun Pingxi as chancellor, she employed virtuous officials to reform the administration, streamlined government agencies, strictly assessed officials, inspected fields and households, and cracked down on the annexation of land by powerful families.】

【When Empress Wu Ying was grazing in the autumn, she built a high platform on the top of the Qianyuan capital, melted the weapons of the past conquests, and recast long swords into plows for the fields.】

【She spoke generously: "Qianyuan has gone through twenty years of war; today, we should cast swords into plows."】

【Empress Wu Ying even put on a coir raincoat herself, walked into the fields, and plowed with the people.】

【There were already poems among the people, "The nine heavens open the palace gates, and the clothes and crowns of ten thousand countries pay homage to Qianyuan!"】

【At the end of the year, Tuoba Shuyi of Northern Wind established his son Tuoba Hongyan as the crown prince and then issued an edict.】

【In the Northern Wind world, all field taxes are exempted.】

【For a time, the people in the north all wept and praised the emperor's grace.】

【At the end of the year, Northern Wind finished counting the population, compiled the fish-scale registers, paid taxes according to the number of households, and abolished miscellaneous taxes.】

【Established the innovative system of "Field Titles," directly linking the effectiveness of agricultural production with personal social status and material rewards.】

【If you farm well, you can also be enfeoffed!】

【In the same year!】

【Yuwen Yan of the Han State issued a self-reproach edict, disbanded the six courtyards of the harem, poured more resources into people's livelihood, and made an agreement with the people of the Han State: "Do not engage in construction that wastes money and hurts the people, reduce taxes to solve the people's difficulties, and swear to let the people live and work in peace."】

【It is also called the Covenant of Monarch and People, which is detailed and far-reaching, with as many as ten articles, all based on frugality, swearing not to add the slightest burden to the people.】

【History calls it "Ten Things to Say!"】

【The Han State's imperial examination system also ushered in major changes; the examination time was significantly shortened to an annual grand event, and the content of the examination also kept pace with the times, expanding from the traditional Four Books and Five Classics to cover practical fields such as national policy and planting, aiming to cultivate more talents for the world.】

【In the Han court, an official assessment system was established, breaking the chronic disease of hereditary succession, allowing scholars from poor families to stand out with real talent and learning, thus renewing the political ecology and making the atmosphere of clarity a trend.】

【Attach importance to commerce, vigorously build canals from the capital to Hexi, open markets, replace silver with new currency, and promote the Han State's "dumpling" silver notes in surrounding countries.】

【At the end of the same year!】

【Lady Gongsun Zhongshu of the Chu State revised the Chu State laws, striving for simplicity and strict law enforcement.】

【He governed corruption with an iron fist and punished it without mercy, making the atmosphere of the officialdom clear and reducing the burden on the people.】

【Advocated: "Abide by the law and do nothing!"】

【The Lady Gongsun Confucianism promoted by Lady Gongsun Zhongshu is based on the skin of Confucianism, the bones of Legalism, and the heart of Daoism!】

【"Law enforcement" and "law-abiding" thoughts, but based on the position of "pacifying the people" and "benefiting the people," he did not agree with the Legalist claim of "heavy punishment for light crimes."】

【Huang-Lao thought requires not only "the monarch to be upright" but also "the law to be upright."】

【Abolished the "law of collective punishment," "abolished the law that when one person commits a crime, the family is taken as slaves and various forms of implication." Abolished corporal punishment and changed it to flogging and caning.】

【In addition, Lady Gongsun Zhongshu personally abolished inappropriate positions within the Lady Gongsun clan and said sonorously: "Selecting the virtuous and capable should be unconstrained; one should neither avoid relatives nor value relatives."】

【Once these words were spoken, the whole country was shocked, and everyone praised his selflessness.】

【The Chu State re-measured the national land and implemented the equal-field system, striving for fair and reasonable resource allocation.】

【For a time!】

【Between the four states, the trend of reform was prevalent, magnificent and unstoppable.】

【The Great Qing State also ushered in a change of power at this time; the young emperor ascended the throne, and Empress Dowager Zhou Jinyu held the government from behind the curtain, sharing the overall situation with the Jiangnan aristocratic families.】

【Zhou Cheng nominally surrendered to Great Qing with Hexi, was enfeoffed as the King of One Character, and his territory, Jiangbei, also held the power of three prefectures, could independently establish official positions, and take scholars through imperial examinations; his power was so great that it could almost be compared to a state.】

【Zhou Cheng returned to his hometown and began to reform in Jiangbei with great interest, benefiting the people and re-selecting talents; the next day, his uncle and mother's family tried to dissuade him, and his mother even raised severe opposition.】

【Zhou Cheng ignored the opposition and issued an edict; at night, his subordinates and hundreds of officials remonstrated, and some ministers even hit pillars and died.】

【Zhou Cheng insisted; half a month later, there were peasant uprisings in many places in Jiangbei, and Zhou Cheng led troops to suppress the rebellion, unfortunately being hit by an arrow in the shoulder.】

【At the end of the month, Zhou Cheng had no choice but to abolish the edict.】

【At the beginning of the next month, the Jiangbei uprising was suppressed in three days!】

【This year is approaching the Spring Festival!】

【Great Qing divided the state where Mount Zhongnan is located into the Yan land.】

【You were enfeoffed as "Yan King" at Mount Zhongnan!】

【On this day, 300,000 Yanbei troops circled Mount Baijing.】

【Although you advocated simplicity, on the day of the Fengshan ceremony, the people who poured in from the northern Yan land were as spectacular as a tide, and they spontaneously gathered under Mount Zhongnan.】

【You wore the clothes of ten thousand people and were enfeoffed as king at Mount Zhongnan.】

【You changed the name of the Northern capital to "Yanjing"!】

【Dou Gu, Liu Wen, and other virtuous people were entrusted with important tasks, serving as left and right ministers, and based on the "Essentials of Northern Governance," a series of reform measures began to take root in this land.】

【In the second year, people's banks were opened, and private schools and martial arts halls were built on a large scale.】

【As one policy after another began to be implemented!】

【You chose to start practicing at Mount Zhongnan, and Lu Yu also followed.】

【This year, Liu Jinchan handed the Sanzhen Sect to you and went traveling around the world; you were appointed the 42nd generation Heavenly Master of the Sanzhen Sect.】

【In the middle of the year, you made the Sanzhen Sect the great sect of Yanbei.】

【You entered the Tomb of the Living Dead to start practicing; with the blessing of the "Late Bloomer" fate, you practiced faster and faster.】

【You put on the Daoist robe again, started climbing the mountain in the early morning, and started practicing boxing under the waterfall.】

【Spring went and autumn came, and you didn't slack off for a single day.】

【Although the Yan King's Mansion in Yanjing was magnificent, you had never been there for a single day.】

【At the end of every month, the financial revenue and expenditure of the Yan land, military budget, and the selection and appointment of officials were all presented to Mount Zhongnan in detailed booklets.】

【But you never read these documents, leaving only a layer of dust!】

【In the winter of the third year, your cultivation finally touched the threshold of a Grandmaster.】

【In the third year, at the same time, Wu Ying of Qianyuan carried out drastic reforms in the court, implemented the equal-field system, activated the garrison system, strengthened the country's military power, and expanded military land reclamation.】

【In the fourth year, Northern Wind counted the fish-scale registers, and the population reached 70 million.】

【In the fifth year, the Han State counted nearly 500 million mu of cultivated land.】

【In the sixth year, the Chu State originally set up righteous granaries to prepare for famine years, with a full twelve granaries, Liyang, Cangping, Huiluo Granary, etc.; the minister in charge of the granary complained, "There is too much food, the treasury can't hold it anymore!"】

【Lady Gongsun Zhongshu said: "Better to accumulate it among the people than to hide it in the treasury."】

【Prefer to distribute these to the people rather than keep them in the national treasury.】

【So!】

【The Chu State announced to the world again that the field tax was reduced by one-third, the military service was halved, and the adjustment was fully exempted.】

【The nursery rhymes among the people in the Han State said: "Rice flows with fat, millet is white, and both public and private granaries are full."】

【In just six years, the entire world of the five states ushered in great governance.】

【In the autumn of this year, you entered the Grandmaster realm.】

【You finally felt the spiritual energy between heaven and earth.】

【You looked at the red persimmons all over Mount Zhongnan, and a smile couldn't help but appear on your face.】

PS: The update is a bit late today!

(End of chapter)