After Chu Fan finished speaking, everyone present fell silent. In fact, they initially shared Cao Mengde's idea: to reduce unnecessary casualties within the Wei State, they should adopt a conciliatory policy towards other sects. This would effectively reduce unnecessary fighting and allow the warriors of the Wei State to fight the enemy on the battlefield and serve the country.
But Chu Fan's words made them realize that although a conciliatory policy could temporarily avoid conflict, it might encourage disobedience to orders. Even if these people appeared on the battlefield, they might become a burden to the State of Wei.
Because once the Wei court begins to implement a policy of appeasement, the majesty of the Wei court will gradually be weakened. At that time, if the Wei court wants the warriors of these forces to go out and fight the enemy, they may all make excuses and ask the Wei court to agree to additional conditions before they are willing to fight.
By then, the Wei court and the royal family will not only have to face the threat of the enemy, but also have to find ways to appease the warriors of these sects, which will not be worth the loss.
After Chu Fan's reminder, everyone in the Imperial Study understood this point, but there was still another problem.
Minister of Rites Fu Youde asked, "Your Majesty, may I ask you a question?"
Chu Fan replied, "Minister Fu, just say whatever you want to say. There's no need to worry."
Fu Youde glanced around at all the ministers in the imperial study and then spoke, "Your Majesty, I am very clear about the situation you described, but I still have a question. That is, although some sects do not have much respect for the Wei court, they have extremely high prestige and influence among the local people.
If our court is too tough on these sects, it may cause dissatisfaction among the local people. After all, such sects often hold a special place in the hearts of the local people. I am worried that an overly tough attitude will hurt the people's feelings and cause unnecessary public resentment."
Before Chu Fan could answer, Cao Mengde spoke up, "Minister Fu, we really need to be cautious with the sects and forces you mentioned. After all, they are so good at winning over people's hearts and minds, and they don't obey the imperial court's orders. So, are they secretly accumulating strength to rebel against the court?
You must know that the ancestor of our Wei State was just the leader of a sect, and the emperor of Wu State was incompetent. The ancestor of Wei State relied on the power of the sect to start a rebellion and gained the support of people all over the world, and then he was able to establish the Wei State.
If these sects harbor ulterior motives, the Wei Kingdom may well suffer the same fate. Even if they fail to completely overthrow the Wei Kingdom, a rebellion would consume a significant amount of Wei's manpower and resources. Our plans to conquer the Holy Martial Continent would likely need to be postponed or even abandoned.
Therefore, we have to be on guard against such sects. If they really have any inappropriate thoughts and suddenly attack when the time is right, it will be a great disaster for the Wei State.
Fu Youde frowned slightly upon hearing this. As the Minister of Rites, he had never considered this matter from this perspective, but Cao Mengde's words made perfect sense. Under the rule of the Emperor of Wei, the Wei Kingdom was now free of starvation, and the various policies His Majesty had introduced promoted fairness for all its citizens.
From studying for the imperial examinations to joining the army to defend the country, fairness and justice were evident in every aspect. All signs indicate that the Wei State was on the path to prosperity. The state of Wei could be described as peaceful and prosperous, with its people living and working in peace and contentment, and its economy and education were steadily developing.
If those sects truly cared about the welfare of the people, then given the state of Wei's sound governance philosophy, why would they defy the imperial court's orders? If they truly cared about the people, they should have actively responded to the court's call and contributed to Wei's development, rather than standing aside or even opposing it.
Although Fu Youde had figured out what Cao Mengde said, he was still unwilling to believe that those sects were kind to the people just to win their hearts. If that was really the case, then their intentions were too sinister.
Minister of War Mu Yundian said, "I think what Prime Minister Cao said is very reasonable. Sometimes what we see is not necessarily the truth. Sometimes what we see is just the surface phenomenon. If we want to understand the truth of a matter, we must conduct an in-depth investigation to uncover the motives and purposes behind it.
Although these sects appear to be working for the benefit of the people, the reality is often not so. They often only consider their own interests and ignore the real needs of the people. Now, as long as the government of all regions strictly implements your majesty's policies, the people of Wei will basically be able to live and work in peace and contentment.
These sects were clearly motivated by their attempts to win over the people's hearts at this time. They might be using the people's trust to secretly build up their strength, hoping to strike a fatal blow to the Wei Kingdom at a critical moment.
Therefore, we cannot simply appease them but should take necessary measures to make them understand the consequences of defying the court."
After listening to their argument, Chu Fan had his own thoughts: As Cao Mengde said, those sects with extremely high prestige and influence could indeed become potential threats. If it were in the past, he might have allowed them to develop and then launch a rebellion so that he could complete the system mission.
However, under his rule, the State of Wei was now showing signs of prosperity, and he had developed feelings for it. As the emperor of Wei, he was the father of all the people of Wei, and the people of Wei were like his own children. He no longer wanted to let his children kill each other to complete his system tasks.
In fact, when Goudan blocked a fatal arrow for Chu Fan, Chu Fan began to slowly integrate into this world. Gradually, because of the company of Mu Xi and others, Chu Fan had more and more feelings for Wei State.
A sense of belonging. Chu Fan was no longer like when he first crossed over to this world, ready to sacrifice anything to complete the system's mission. Now, Chu Fan only wanted to arrange everything properly and then be killed by warriors from other countries on the battlefield. This way, he could complete the system's mission and return to Blue Star to see his parents.
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