Rebuild the Xiuxian Family

"However, shopkeeper, you must remember the 'scholars, farmers, artisans, and merchants' social hierarchy. If this class division is truly established by Confucianism, then businesses will be ruined!"

Before leaving, Li Zhirui left these words as if to remind him, and then drifted away.

Upon hearing this, the shopkeeper was jolted awake, his face changing drastically. Yes! Although this matter had not been mentioned for some time, it did not mean that the Confucian school had given up on this idea.

After all, if this matter succeeds, it will benefit Confucianism the most!

In a broad sense, the term "shi" refers to those who study and pass the imperial examinations, but in a narrower sense, it refers only to Confucian scholars.

Confucianism might use a broad definition to win over other schools of thought, gain their support and approval, and then gradually narrow its scope until it is finally defined as Confucian scholars.

This is very likely, and Confucianism has sufficient motivation to do so.

But in any case, this has nothing to do with the sons of merchants, because in this class division, it is specified that the sons of merchants are not allowed to take the imperial examinations!
In particular, during one of his intelligence gatherings, the shopkeeper learned that the Confucian school had initially intended to classify merchants as lowly! However, this sentence was later deleted from official documents.

From this perspective, it is not difficult to see that Confucianism looks down on merchants and is determined to suppress them, even to the point of killing them!
“Indeed, it is necessary to limit the development of Confucianism! We cannot allow Confucianism to continue to occupy the top position among all schools of thought!” The shopkeeper thought more and more that Li Zhirui’s suggestion made a lot of sense.

Immediately write down this matter and his opinion on a piece of silk paper, seal it with a secret technique, and then send someone to send it back to the Jinzhou merchant headquarters as quickly as possible!

Although the various schools of thought in the pre-Qin period invented methods of transmitting messages over long distances, the confidentiality was not very good, so important information still needed to be delivered in person.

……

Meanwhile, Li Zhirui had already returned to his room at the inn.

He was quite confident in his persuasion, believing that the merchant would most likely agree to cooperate with him.

After all, he bears most of the risk, and the merchants only need to act according to the situation.

After Li Zhirui connected with the merchants, he no longer planned to take any action easily.

After arriving in the capital, he learned a little about the situation. The two major rivals of Confucianism, the Mohists, were currently focusing most of their efforts on creating the Mohist state.

The remaining strength of the Mohist school in the Great Qian Dynasty was mostly focused on intelligence gathering and the cultivation of the new generation.

The other major rival, the Legalist school, is fine, but how did a stranger like him manage to contact the Legalist school's higher-ups for no apparent reason?

If the information is reported up the chain of command, too many people will know about it. If the information is leaked at any point and the Confucianists become prepared, it will be much more difficult to quickly strike against them!

Therefore, Li Zhirui plans to wait until he has finalized the alliance with the merchants, and then have them act as intermediaries, or at least not directly, to provide him with a way or channel to get to know the Legalist leaders and then discuss the joint effort to deal with the Confucianists.

Therefore, for the next period of time, he did not have to worry about anything else. He simply walked through the streets and alleys every day, measuring the outer city of the capital with his own feet and observing the people's lives with his own eyes.

Don't underestimate these things; they might just be a powerful weapon against Confucianism!
For example, Li Zhirui discovered that the current laws of the Great Qian Dynasty are quite favorable to Confucian scholars, such as allowing scholars to not bow to officials and allowing those who passed the provincial examinations to have their taxes reduced or exempted.

Although these preferential treatments are ostensibly effective for all disciples of the various schools of thought, the Confucianists, being the most numerous and especially those most enthusiastic about official careers, are the ones who benefit the most.

Like other schools of thought, apart from Legalism and the School of Military Strategy, they were not very willing to engage in officialdom and rarely took the imperial examinations, so they naturally did not enjoy those preferential treatments.

At the same time, Li Zhirui was also doing something else, which was to secretly establish an underground organization!
The purpose of doing this is to facilitate the dissemination of information in the future.

The people he chose were mostly wandering knights-errant, because they were idle and spent their days wandering around. If they did something outrageous, it wouldn't attract anyone's attention.

Of course, this organization has only just been established and has a small number of members; it still needs time to develop.

……

Jinzhou during the Great Qian Dynasty.

After receiving the message from the manager in the capital, the business headquarters immediately convened a high-level meeting.

After the letters were circulated one by one, only one of the three sages of the Great Qian merchant family spoke up, asking, "What are your thoughts on this?"

"Putting everything else aside, the Confucian school really shouldn't let it continue to develop like this! Otherwise, how could we have any say in this Great Qian territory?"

"Especially the Confucian system of 'scholars, farmers, artisans, and merchants' is a fatal blow to us. I don't know how many disciples will run away."

"But the problem is, do you really believe that cultivator who suddenly appeared? Who knows if he's a spy from another country, infiltrated into the Great Qian Dynasty just to incite internal strife and sabotage its development?"

……

Regardless of what they say, their ultimate goal is the same: to limit and weaken the power of Confucianism!

The question now is whether this suddenly appearing Li Zhirui is trustworthy, and what methods he has to do this.

"Since everyone agrees, let's pass this decision on to Mo Wen, let him continue to contact the other party, find out more information, and then make a final decision!" The merchant sage made the decision.

A few days later, Mo Wen, who was far away in the capital, received a reply and couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief. It was better to be a little cautious, after all, Li Zhirui's appearance was too sudden. He had to test why Li Zhirui was doing such a thankless task.

The next day, he invited Li Zhirui to come and discuss alliances and cooperation.

"It seems the merchant is willing to cooperate with me." He received the invitation in his room yesterday evening, so he knew the merchant had agreed.

So when they met again today, Li Zhirui had a faint smile on his face, waiting for the shopkeeper Mo Wen to speak first.

After a while, seeing that he didn't intend to speak, Mo Wen had no choice but to take the initiative and asked, "May I ask why you did this? Is it because the Confucian school has offended you in the past? Or is there some other reason?"

Hearing the question, he raised an eyebrow. It seemed that the merchants didn't trust him much.

But thinking about it, it makes sense. Such a big matter would have serious consequences if it weren't thoroughly investigated!
"Shopkeeper, you need not doubt my identity or purpose."

As he spoke, Li Zhirui set up a barrier around the area and then released the secret technique within his body that concealed his cultivation level.

"I am not from the Southern Region, but a cultivator from the Eastern Continent. I came here only for training, not as a spy from another country. So why am I scheming against and dealing with the Confucianists?"

"First, I don't like Confucianism; second, I have some minor conflicts with Confucianism; third, I have seen many ordinary people suffering because of the actions of Confucianism, and I feel pity for them; finally, there is no other reason, I just want to do what I want and seek clarity of mind!"

Li Zhirui smiled calmly and said, "So, do you believe me now?"

In fact, when he revealed his true identity, Mo Wen was already somewhat convinced, since it was indeed impossible for him to do so given his status.

As for the four reasons he mentioned, in Mo Wen's view, the first and second reasons were actually irrelevant, while the fourth reason was the real reason.

As for the third point? He simply didn't believe it. How could a cultivator who had transcended worldly life, especially one with the cultivation of a Celestial Immortal, who had experienced countless years and worldly affairs, have a Dao heart that had seen life and death for so long, possibly feel pity for the poor lives of some mortals? And why would he intend to spend so much effort to suppress Confucianism and change the living conditions of those mortals?

To put it bluntly, even if it were Li Zhirui, an unrelated person, he wouldn't feel the slightest pity for those people living in poverty.

Seeing Mo Wen's expression, Li Zhirui knew that he didn't believe the third reason at all, which made him quite helpless. He told the truth, but no one believed him.

He shook his head helplessly and quickly used the secret technique again to conceal his cultivation level in order to avoid being exposed and discovered by the Human Law Network.

"What are your plans? What are your intentions?" Mo Wen asked.

This is a very important step that will determine the final outcome!

"My method is simple: spread negative information about Confucianism, attack Confucianism from the bottom up, and make the common people no longer trust Confucianism."

Li Zhirui said, "If it succeeds, Confucianism will definitely suffer a great blow, and it may even affect its future development."

And this is enough.

Does he expect him to find a way to completely eradicate Confucianism? He doesn't think he has that kind of power.

"That's so simple?" Mo Wen said, somewhat incredulously.

"Is it simple? This requires getting as many people as possible to know and believe its contents in a very short time. Is that simple?"

Li Zhirui shook his head and said, "I have already started preparing for all of this. After I take action, you should immediately step in to further expand the reach of these rumors."

"This won't put too much pressure on you, nor will it require too much effort. You just need to follow me and take action."

Mo Wen nodded. Indeed, according to this statement, they bear no responsibility whatsoever.

"May I ask if you could introduce me to someone who can directly contact the leaders of other schools of thought such as Mohism and Legalism?"

"You want to win over other people?"

"Of course, it's a good thing that more people are joining in."

"The more people who know, the easier it is for the information to leak. You must take this seriously," Mo Wen warned.

"I've decided that bringing in one or two more schools of thought will be enough."

In the end, Li Zhirui still managed to obtain the contact information of a high-ranking Legalist and a high-ranking Military strategist from him.

"Put it aside for now and wait for my message."

Having said all he needed to say, he didn't linger any longer; he still had many things to do.

Mo Wen sat there quietly watching him walk away, without getting up to see him off.

He actually felt that this method was somewhat unreliable and too simplistic. Could the Confucian school, the leading school of thought among all schools of thought, really be defeated by such a method?

But as Li Zhirui said, the merchants are hiding in the shadows, and even if they fail, they will not expose themselves, so he did not object and let Li Zhirui operate.

On the other side, Li Zhirui quickly contacted the two men using the contact information he had just obtained, and arranged a meeting time with them at the same time. One was tomorrow morning, and the other was half an hour later!

The latter was a high-ranking military strategist. As expected of a military strategist, he emphasized speed and decisiveness in warfare.

Upon arriving at the agreed-upon location, the military cultivators also arrived as scheduled.

The man who came was named Peng Yue. He was a big, burly man with an ordinary appearance, but the scar at the corner of his eye added a unique charm to him.

As soon as Peng Yue pushed open the door, he said directly, "Make a long story short, what's your purpose in looking for me?"

"I want to invite the military strategists to join the fight against the Confucianists!" Li Zhirui didn't hide his intentions and told the other party.

"What's your plan?"

Seeing this, he felt a surge of joy, which meant that the other party was interested!

"I have nothing to say for now. If the military strategists really do join in, I will explain in detail then."

However, he did not directly tell Peng Yue about the issue. After all, it was still unknown whether the military strategist would join in, and telling him without any guarantee would pose too great a risk of leaking information.

"Okay, then see you again tomorrow at this time and place, and I will give you a definite answer then."

After saying that, he got up and left.

The entire conversation lasted no more than fifteen minutes.

Li Zhirui didn't care about the other party's impolite behavior. It was nothing. When his cultivation level was low, he had encountered much worse things.

After finishing another task, he did not return to the inn to rest, but instead went to find those wandering knights.

"Yesterday I asked you to invite and recommend more adventurers to join. I wonder how well you've done?"

There were too few people; they simply couldn't complete Li Zhirui's plan. That's why they asked them to invite more wandering knights to join.

"Many brothers are willing to join."

“After they found out we were doing something big, they were all very envious and tried to find a way to join us.”

Putting aside everything else, this group of wandering knights has a wide network of connections. According to them, they recruited over a hundred wandering knights in just one day!
Of course, this number is still not enough, and further development is needed.

Furthermore, they also need to teach those wandering knights to enhance their persuasiveness when spreading propaganda.

“You have done a great job, but the number of people is still far from enough. At the same time, we also need to teach everyone how to give speeches so that the audience can be convinced.”

Li Zhirui took out a considerable amount of silver from his storage magic treasure, which was for the wandering knights to spend and cover their expenses.

There are also several booklets he wrote himself, the contents of which are very simple: they teach them how to evoke emotions so that people can be immersed in them and thus believe what they say.

He didn't do these minor tasks himself, but instead assigned them to the few wandering knights who had joined at the beginning, which could be considered entrusting them with important responsibilities. (End of this chapter)