Chapter 109: The Prosperity of the Thousand Years
Two months later, the situation in Yanjing began to stabilize.
The civil and military officials who had followed Liu Jian in the rebellion were punished one by one in the public trials organized by the new court.
The secret of Emperor Shengzu's sudden death from a serious illness while hunting was exposed during the public trial. Liu Jian, Chu Bozhan, and others who had participated in the conspiracy to murder the ailing Emperor Shengzu and falsified the imperial edict were daily reviled by the people. Even the former Empress Dowager, though deceased, could not escape the popular verdict, and all her titles and honors were stripped away by Liu Ziye.
Although Qin Feng had not personally participated in the regicide and the coup, he had committed countless evil deeds while serving Liu Jian. Just the campaign against the eight tribes of the Western Rong two years prior, where he falsified the results and concealed the casualties of soldiers and laborers, was a crime worthy of the death penalty.
After experiencing a series of turmoil, the court of the capital of the Great Zhou Dynasty was left with seven out of ten official positions vacant and all administrative procedures in a mess.
The court officials were spinning like tops every day, and one person was doing the work of seven or eight people, but they were all grateful and thankful in their hearts!
Looking back at thousands of years of history, no dynasty center that was so depressed and chaotic could have been able to stabilize its regime and prevent the country from falling into a new wave of power struggles, wars and chaos.
If it weren't for their emperor, if it weren't for the new emperor's unrivaled power and majesty, suppressing all evil spirits...
This great Zhou Dynasty is about to perish!
These millions of people, including themselves, are about to return to the war-torn era!
What does it matter if they work hard now? They are willing to sacrifice their lives for the new emperor!
Fortunately, among the officials in Xiguan during the period when the new emperor was in his private residence, there were many talented people.
Each of them, taken individually, was enough to amaze these people. This group of people filled a large number of important vacancies and relieved a lot of pressure.
The new emperor also issued a recruitment order across the Great Zhou, recruiting talented people from the county governors and their subordinates to be transferred to the capital. Even common people, as long as they could pass the examinations set by the new emperor, could be recruited into the local government at all levels.
Ma Shurong was respected as the prime minister of a country, but after welcoming back the new emperor, this prime minister once again became ignorant and indulged in entertainment all day long.
"Oh, you mean the submission letter from the King of Southeast Yiyang. My eyes are blurry and I can't see it clearly. Please send it to Du Zhongshu's office and let His Majesty handle it."
"You said that Qin Feng will be publicly tried today? Oh, my waist and legs ache, I'm afraid I can't go, so let Du Zhongshu preside over it..."
Gradually, with Ma Shurong's deliberate decline and the tacit approval of the new emperor, Du Hui, although only a secretary of the Secretariat, became the de facto prime minister.
That evening, when Liu Ziye was preparing to go to sleep in his bedroom in Yanjing.
Because of the unpleasant parting last time, the system, which had not been summoned by Liu Ziye for a long time, came online with a rustling sound.
Calling softly: "Host, host..."
Liu Ziye opened his eyes slightly.
System: "Can I ask, ask the host about his next plan?"
On the day when Liu Ziye ascended the throne as the emperor of the Great Zhou Dynasty, the mechanical civilization subsystem of this emperor training system finally started its third upgrade.
This time, it did not further upgrade the "military infrastructure" module, but unlocked the third stage of "civilization leap".
Liu Ziye actually studied it seriously to find out what this so-called "civilization leap" was.
Then he counted his points and redeemed all the documents related to law, education, modern politics, philosophy, architecture, and medicine that had been provided after the upgrade. He calculated that he had redeemed another twelve years of life, until the day he had traveled twenty years.
I also left myself five years of points in reserve in case of emergency.
This series of operations made the system tremble with fear. However, at that time, Liu Ziye had just ascended the throne and had too many matters to deal with, so it did not dare to jump out and interrupt.
Now that the situation is gradually getting back on track, it has emerged.
This time, Liu Ziye didn't give it a perfunctory response. He actually sat up again and leaned on the bed.
"Sure," she said.
The system was somewhat flattered, its voice trembling: "Then, then..."
Liu Ziye: "Next, I will reform the Great Zhou court, establish a people's parliament, nominate a prime minister, establish a constitutional monarchy, and select and train a successor from the royal family."
"I will not remain the emperor of some ancient dynasty, wielding absolute power. Nor will I carry out the newly upgraded 'Civilization Leap' system, which implies that I must clean up the imperfect human plans that hinder the dynasty's eternal hegemony. I will serve as emperor for a maximum of five years, then abdicate and build a comprehensive university."
In her previous life, she had just finished the college entrance examination and received an admission letter from her ideal university. However, she didn't have time to attend a single day before she unexpectedly ended up here.
If I have a biggest regret, it would be that I have not been able to actually study for a day on the campus of a top university.
Since that was the case, she built her ideal top university here.
The system was dumbfounded: "Then, host, you want to give up on the mission? What will you do in twelve years?!"
Liu Ziye listened to the question with a relaxed and natural expression: "I have my own plans. Tomorrow Jin Jienan will return to the capital after patrolling the border. I can't accompany you for endless night chats. Please kneel down and say hello."
She lay back down and added, "Don't show up again in the future."
"Host, host..."
The system wanted to say something, but Liu Ziye directly chose to permanently block it.
What a shitty system. What does it mean to be an imperfect human being? What does it mean to be a hindrance to the dynasty's hegemony?
If the system defined her this way, should all those who accompanied her growing up in the orphanage in her past life be destroyed with a single click? Shouldn't they be allowed to exist in this world? Who else would be considered imperfect by this machine definition?
She was asked to start a war to annex neighboring countries, and there was also such a human cleansing plan?
I, Liu Ziye, must be crazy to continue carrying out your mission!
My mind was clear, and I felt sleepy involuntarily, and I had another good night's sleep.
In her dream, she traveled to the Great Zhou Dynasty five years later. By then, she had abdicated and was known as Emperor Taizong of Zhou among the court officials and the people.
The plan to build a comprehensive university has been put on the agenda.
But before that, she planned to travel around the four great realms.
In five years, the main roads between the counties have been repaired and opened to traffic, and the first railway running between the central and western parts of the Great Zhou has been opened, with buzzing steam trains running on the tracks.
She and Jin Jie traveled by car, train, or public transportation.
That day, she traveled south to Qiantang, Wujun. In her previous life, she had heard of the saying, "There's heaven above, and Suzhou and Hangzhou below." Back then, she only thought about traveling on a budget once she went to college and could work.
Now, she is sitting in the attic of Wanghu Tower, feeling the fresh spring breeze of West Lake and looking at the beautiful scenery of the lake.
How pleasant.
Wanghu Tower is a famous tower, attracting countless celebrities, businessmen, travelers and the public to come here to drink tea, write a few poems, or just sit here and chat.
The building was packed with guests.
"Why should we be compensated based on the market price from three years ago? Building the road is a good thing, but now that my shop is demolished, I can only afford to buy another apartment in the suburbs! The officials live in big courtyards themselves, but they drive us ordinary people to the suburbs!"
Someone said, "Old Wang, what you said is unreasonable! The new city plan was voted on and approved by the Qiantang City representatives, and the compensation standards have been publicized for three months. If you think the compensation is too little, why didn't you raise it in the first place? You're making a fuss now that the road construction project has already begun preliminary surveys. What if it delays the opening of the road?"
Several young people dressed as students saw the excitement and joined in. One of the female students retorted, "Hey, big brother, you call a bulletin board during the public notice period democracy? I looked up Article 43 of the Great Zhou Property Law, and it says compensation must be based on the current quarter's 'market price'! Let's ask the road engineering office: do they dare to make the bidding documents public?"
A man dressed as a businessman smiled and said, "Young people, you've become stupid from reading too much! Without the demolition of the old, how can there be a new atmosphere, how can there be the flourishing new business opportunities like mushrooms after rain? So many engineers and craftsmen are just waiting to start work and get paid!"
The students were unconvinced. "You're the one who's only concerned with making money, regardless of the lives of others! Are you sacrificing the property rights of a few for the sake of business opportunities for the majority? Have you truly learned the fundamental human rights of the Great Zhou? Uncle, we support you. The Qiantang County government's bidding process is opaque and non-compliant, and we support you in defending your rights!"
Old Wang, who had spoken at the beginning, was encouraged and slammed the table and said, "Okay! Tomorrow I'll go to the road engineering office and pull up the curtains and raise the banners!"
When some people heard that they were going to find fault with the government offices, they immediately rolled up their sleeves and enthusiastically offered suggestions.
Of course, there are also those who disagree, and they keep saying that the "overall situation should be prioritized."
The two sides argued back and forth about this matter. Whose fault was it and which government agency should be held responsible?
The people of the Great Zhou Dynasty were now open-minded. Everyone cared about current affairs and loved to discuss politics. Heated arguments were common. After all, even in the People's Council of Wuzhong County, and even in the highest-ranking People's Councils of the two capitals of the Great Zhou, representatives could come to blows over political disagreements. What about the common people?
The owner and manager of Wanghu Tower were naturally used to it.
Liu Ziye was sitting in his window seat. When he heard this, he made a look at Jin Jie.
The two of them quietly slipped behind the heatedly discussing crowd. A newcomer, wanting to move forward, saw someone blocking the way. Some distance from the center of the crowd, he muttered, "Hey, please make way, please make way!"
As the man spoke, he seemed to reach out to push away the enemy, but before he could get close to Liu Ziye, he was stopped by a hand.
The arm was very powerful. The man, who had stretched his neck to look inside, felt the rock-like resistance and finally came to his senses.
Jin Jie still stretched out his arm, locked him two steps away from Liu Ziye, and said calmly: "You're going to hit someone."
The man was also in a hurry at the time. When someone pointed it out, he quickly apologized: "Sorry, sorry! I will pay more attention next time!"
Jin Jie loosened his arm and the man regained his freedom.
The commotion here wasn't that big, but it still attracted some people's attention.
Liu Ziye was dressed like a rich young man today. He waved his folding fan and just happened to interrupt the conversation.
She said, "This incident happened because Wuzhong County and Qiantang Town failed to enforce the law strictly and supervise the work, which allowed the Road Engineering Office to exploit loopholes."
"Sir, you should go to a legal firm and apply for a lawyer. Then, gather your property certificates, the compensation agreement and notices from the road construction office, and collect evidence of your rights being infringed. Then, go to the Qiantang Town Court and file a lawsuit against these three government offices, demanding they fairly determine the compensation rate."
As soon as these words were spoken, the discussion heated up again.
Old Wang was terrified: "I, I alone, am I going to sue three government offices at the same time?"
After listening to this, several students pondered for a moment and nodded repeatedly: "Yes, yes, that's right! This is how it should be done! This is the spirit of the rule of law taught in the academy! If the government office violates the rules and infringes on the interests of the people, no matter who it is, we can certainly sue them!"
The new national law was implemented not long ago, and not all people have adapted to it. The idea that people must never fight against officials is still deeply rooted in their minds.
Suddenly, the crowd started to make noise again.
But gradually, more and more people supported Lao Wang in filing a lawsuit, and those students immediately expressed their willingness to help Lao Wang contact lawyers and prepare evidence.
Lao Wang's expression gradually became firm: "Okay!"
The matter was finally discussed and came to an end. People finally remembered the rich young man who had originally suggested that they sue the three government offices.
However, no matter how hard they searched the Wanghu Tower, they could not find the man anywhere.
On the willow-lined West Bank, Liu Ziye gently waved a folding fan, feeling relaxed and at ease, as if the comfort in his body was about to burst out from his bones.
Seeing her appearance, Jin Jie couldn't help but smile.
He knew that the scenery of the lake and mountains was beautiful, but it was not beautiful enough to make her so proud.
Or was it because of the instigation just now, which not only caused trouble for the local government, but also pointed out some people, asking them to use the law wisely in their daily lives, that made her feel so comfortable!
During their trip, doing things like this wherever they went was almost Liu Ziye's greatest pleasure.
Liu Ziye just got interested and started reciting the West Lake poems he had memorized when he was in school.
"The moon is slanting on the top of the northern peak, and the ten-mile lake has the same edge.
At dawn, spring is bluish-white, and the east wind chills the peach blossoms.
These four mountains and rivers should be like her, free and gorgeous.
But it is even better than her - it can continue to prosper for thousands of years, and the people of millions of countries will continue to live and prosper without fading.
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