At this moment, Liu Fu shared his insights, and Zhuge Liang and Xun Yu both nodded in approval.
"Your Majesty has seen this far so quickly. You are already halfway to becoming a great emperor for all time. By 'great emperor for all time,' I don't mean just a title, but truly reaching a level that is unprecedented. Your Majesty is not far from that point!"
Having just finished speaking, Zhuge Liang also laid out his final plan of choice for Liu Fu.
“If Your Majesty insists on strict laws and disregards reason, this is more suitable for a powerful war machine like Qin. Therefore, if Your Majesty does so, it will surely arouse dissatisfaction among some people. Only by governing the country with a tough approach can we achieve national stability. In this way, we must use the strategy of keeping the people ignorant left by Shang Yang, so that the people will remain scattered and ignorant, making it difficult for them to gather together to rebel.”
"If Your Majesty is not prepared to adopt such a harsh law, then you must add reason and compassion to the law to create a country and society with love and righteousness. But in this case, you cannot use the strategy of keeping the people ignorant. Instead, you must liberate the minds of these people. But the more the people understand, the more demands and desires they will have, and the more difficult they will be to govern. So it depends on Your Majesty's original intention and your attitude towards the people in the future."
These are the two paths that Zhuge Liang and Xun Yu summarized for Liu Fu at this time. Liu Fu has now reached a crossroads or a three-way intersection and must make a choice.
We can either maintain this ambiguous boundary and do nothing to preserve the status quo, but that certainly won't lead to progress.
Alternatively, they could adopt the easier path to rule, following the strict laws of the powerful Qin dynasty, and then use a policy of keeping the people ignorant to prevent them from rebelling, thus achieving empire stability. This approach would benefit the emperor's rule, but society would never make any significant progress.
Alternatively, they could take a different path, creating a nation and society that is compassionate and righteous, encouraging the people to think more deeply. They would progress, and the entire nation would progress along with them, but this would place high demands on the rulers.
As a ruler, if you slack off or no longer want to maintain the status quo, and instead disregard the rules for your own selfish desires, you will fall behind the people's thinking and eventually become the one trampled on by everyone.
Three paths lay before Liu Fu, who suddenly recalled that these same three paths had once been laid before the Qing Dynasty.
The Qing Dynasty did not take that step forward at that time.
Even in the feudal dynasties of the past on Earth, they had the opportunity to choose a completely new path at this crossroads, but in the end they did not do so, and instead chose to continue down the path of keeping the people ignorant.
As we all know, the final result was that we fell behind for a long time and suffered defeats for a long time...
At this moment, Liu Fu thought a lot and finally decided to take the most difficult path.
That is to build a nation and society that is compassionate and righteous, giving people more room for reflection and progress. He does not want to blur the lines or maintain the status quo.
He didn't want to follow the harsh laws of the Qin Dynasty; he wanted to take a completely new path. If the events that happened on Earth later were to occur again, Liu Fu hoped that by making this decision in advance, he could change something and prevent future generations from falling behind for too long and suffering too much defeat.
Although Liu Fu was still very young at this time, he seemed to have already understood what it meant for each generation to do its own thing. This was probably all he could do. As for what would happen later, he would leave it to future generations. He would just do what he could do in the present.
Now we can summarize: if we look at the path Liu Fu has decided to take, he has indeed made a mistake.
Hai Rui's remonstrance, in which he pointed his finger at him and scolded him, was very successful. Commander Fang had done nothing wrong, nor had the people. The one who was wrong was himself.
"Take me to see Commander Fang immediately. I want to apologize to him sincerely."
At this moment, Liu Fu, Zhuge Liang, Xun Yu, and the others were still in the carriage and had not returned to the palace. Just then, Liu Fu suddenly decided to turn back halfway to see Commander Fang.
Upon hearing the news, the coachman immediately turned his horse around and headed straight for the road they had just traveled, returning to the place where Commander Fang and his men had been.
The people of the mountains seemed unaffected. They were even pleased and appreciative of Liu Fu's simple and honest attitude. So, everyone in the venue was still doing their best to support Liu Fu. Commander Fang was also patrolling the area with his soldiers to prevent any unexpected disasters or troubles.
Just then, everyone saw Liu Fu's carriage hurriedly return. Hadn't he just left? What brings the King back?
Everyone assumed that Liu Fu had forgotten everything upon returning here, and no one ever connected the matter to the fact that Liu Fu was supposed to apologize to Commander Fang.
Is it even possible for a king to apologize to his subordinates?
For thousands of years, and even since ancient times, the relationship between ruler and subject has always been one of superior and subordinate. Subjects even refer to the ruler as their father. In such a situation, expecting a father to apologize to his son is something that even a military general like Commander Fang would never dare to think. Even the common people have never heard of such a thing, never dared to think about it, and would never even consider it.
But with Liu Fu, anything can happen, as they witnessed today.
Everyone watched as Liu Fu's carriage returned to its original position, and then Liu Fu quickly got off the carriage. So Zhuge Liang, Xuan Yu and the others behind him also got off the carriage with smiles on their faces and stood aside quietly watching Liu Fu's actions.
Liu Fu headed straight for Commander Fang, so when Commander Fang saw Liu Fu walking directly towards him, he was completely stunned. He didn't know what Liu Fu wanted to do for a moment, but he had already knelt down to greet Liu Fu.
"Commander Fang, there's no need for formalities. I was wrong this time, and I sincerely apologize to you. It was my fault, and I am grateful to Hai Rui for correcting it. Commander Fang, you have done nothing wrong. It was all my fault for making assumptions beforehand. I apologize to you here."
At this moment, upon hearing Liu Fu's apology, Commander Fang stood there dumbfounded for a long time. Suddenly, this rough, fearless man, who had killed countless enemies on the battlefield, burst into tears. A large amount of tears welled up in his eyes, and Commander Fang began to cry uncontrollably.
He could hardly believe that a king would apologize to him with such sincerity.
Liu Fu was not one to say one thing and do another. While apologizing, he bowed 90 degrees and greeted Commander Fang. At that moment, this rough-around-the-edges warrior, whose hands were stained with the blood of the enemy, and who had always been tenacious and never complained, cried even louder...
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