Chapter 415: The Grand Canal is Blocked

Wangbei Academy.

Dean's study.

Xie Yu looked indignant: "Dean, Chen Ran he..."

The Dean was practicing calligraphy and did not respond to her.

Xie Yu said anxiously: "Dean, Chen Ran gave the poppy to the Zhongkujiao Tribe; this is a great taboo of the Academy! How can mere expulsion satisfy the public?"

The Dean then chuckled: "What would you have me do?"

Xie Yu paused upon hearing this and said: "It is not what I would have you do, but the rules of the Academy..."

The Dean sighed: "Xie Yu, you are a contemporary scholar, you should know Chen Ran's status. He is a Prince of the Nanzhao Kingdom; surely, we cannot hunt him down, can we?"

"But..."

Xie Yu was full of indignation.

Nanzhao Kingdom.

This is the largest kingdom currently in the Southern Barbarian Lands, which is the later Yunnan. A hundred years ago, it completely broke away from the control of Longyan, not even claiming to be a vassal state.

The Nanzhao King of this generation can be considered a ruler who strives to make his country prosperous, a heroic leader of his time.

As the tides turn, it is normal not to pay homage to Longyan.

The Nanzhao Kingdom is only a few hundred miles away from this Liangshan region. Even half of Lugu Lake is owned by the Nanzhao Kingdom.

In this Southern Barbarian invasion of Chuan Shu, the Nanzhao Kingdom sent fifty thousand troops. But after losing fifty thousand, the Nanzhao Kingdom claims to still have an army of two hundred thousand!

Two hundred thousand!

Looking at it this way, this Southern Barbarian invasion might be a Strategy by the Nanzhao King to deliberately exhaust his opponents—Agutuo, from within the borders of Yunnan, is the greatest enemy of the Nanzhao Kingdom, Ailao!

The Ailao Kingdom lost one hundred and fifty thousand troops this time, and the Jiaozhi Kingdom lost one hundred and fifty thousand.

The Nanzhao Kingdom immediately became the standout in the Southern Barbarian Lands.

Truly a brilliant calculation!

The Nanzhao King sent his own son to Wangbei Academy from a young age, naturally having his own considerations.

It is just unclear whether this scheme of using poppy to control the Liangshan region was instructed by the Nanzhao King to his son.

"Dean, if this matter is discovered by that intruder..."

Xie Yu sighed.

The Dean laughed and finally finished his calligraphy work. After examining it carefully for a while, he pointed to the chessboard on the white marble Square outside and said: "Xie Yu, look, the Nanzhao Kingdom still has destiny, like a sword hanging in the air!"

"This intruder, after all, is an intruder..."

"The momentum is like a fog, sometimes bright, sometimes weak..."

"You tell me, if the Academy does not stand behind walls, how should it choose?"

Xie Yu was slightly stunned upon hearing this.

Then she smiled bitterly: "Dean, what Xie Yu sees is different from what the Dean sees."

The Dean smiled: "Oh?"

Xie Yu took a deep breath: "What Xie Yu sees is that the destiny of the Nanzhao Kingdom is like color, but it has no momentum to cross Liangshan."

"This intruder, sometimes bright, sometimes weak..."

"It is because he is a spark! The Dean must know that Liangshan has much wood, and Nanzhao also has much wood... when it meets fire, it will ignite; when it meets fire, it will burn..."

"What?"

The Dean's expression changed slightly upon hearing this.

This is probably the most chaotic moment in the Liangzhou Prefecture region.

Regarding the Pension Insurance System, the Cabinet's attitude has made the public angry.

Countless people began to walk the streets in groups—this was permitted under the instruction of Governor Liu.

Of course.

There must be the Liangzhou Army on-site to maintain order.

After all, the nightmares of the Liangzhou Prefecture being "besieged" several times in the past were still fresh in his mind, so Liu Zheng had already made some policy regulations regarding these public demonstrations.

For example, those who want to join the demonstration and petition can do so, following normal order, by asking for leave from their employers so that production can be rotated.

Society cannot be thrown into chaos because of this, work and production cannot be stopped, and commercial order cannot be affected.

Fifty thousand.

One hundred thousand.

One hundred and fifty thousand.

It finally grew to three hundred thousand people gathered at the gate of Liangzhou Prefecture.

Shouting and petitioning, they demanded that the Cabinet initiate the "People's Representative Congress intervention" procedure. By logic, the People's Representative Congress should be held as scheduled every spring. But Liu Zheng believed that the Cabinet and the people's representatives should be in a relationship of mutual cooperation and mutual supervision.

Whenever there is a disagreement across the entire prefecture, the People's Representative Congress can initiate an emergency voting mechanism.

That is, voting level by level, from the village, to the town, to the county, to the prefecture.

The people's representatives cast an indicative vote on this matter.

Finally, based on the number of votes, it is decided whether the policy rejected by the Cabinet should be brought out again for further discussion and negotiation.

The voting process must be open, fair, and public.

Voting result: Re-deliberation.

"Preposterous, absolutely preposterous!"

"A bunch of unruly people! Truly a bunch of unruly people!"

"If the Young Master does this, where does it leave our Cabinet? How can we still work!"

At this moment, the Cabinet Members were one by one filled with righteous indignation, unable to contain themselves.

Only Shen Xing chuckled and said, "Gentlemen, don't you think that it is only you eight who are being uncooperative by insisting on this?"

"Could it be that millions of commoners are worth less than eight people?"

His words were rather sharp.

Suddenly, those eight people all darkened their faces and stopped speaking.

This reason for rebuttal left them feeling quite powerless; if one were to call the commoners unruly, then what about those County Marquises and State Marquises? What were they thinking! They had actually agreed to the demands of these commoners!

Although... these representatives were all conveying the will of the people layer by layer, could you not change it halfway through?

A bunch of pedantic fools!

In fact, they truly did not dare to tamper with the voting results privately—in this regard, Liu Zheng also had people specifically supervising them.

And so,

The subsequent problem became simple.

These Cabinet Members were not fools themselves; with only nine Cabinet Members per state, if their political intuition were not sharp enough, they would absolutely never have been able to sit in these positions.

That very day.

Three Cabinet Members "defected" and changed their votes to support the establishment of the Pension System insurance fund.

A few days later, there was another one.

In this way, there were already four who supported the pension insurance fund.

Only one more was needed.

If another vote were held, five to four, this side could achieve a historic victory.

However.

Just at this moment.

External pressure arrived.

The Lianghan Canal was blocked!

When this news arrived, many people did not believe it; that was the Grand Canal dug by their own Young Master, how could it be blocked? With such a wide river surface, were they joking?

However.

Things were just that coincidental.

Three Merchant Ships from the Jiangnan Chamber of Commerce hit a reef and capsized while passing through Longqi Gorge. Coincidentally, what these ships were carrying was entirely Cement—all bought from Yintan City. Very quickly, after some rescue attempts, these three massive Merchant Ships turned into three giant stone piers, completely blocking the entire gorge, the only passage from Hanzhong to Liangzhou.

Three days passed, and many people were at their wits' end regarding this.

And what was even more anxiety-inducing was this.

Also blocked were twenty ships of grain from the Jiangnan Chamber of Commerce.

The entire Liangzhou fell into a state of panic.