The boss of a foreign organization called the police, claiming that he was defrauded by me

The ministers continued to grumble and complain; they simply couldn't accept such a demand.

"What you're saying is all nonsense. Yang Xia has already made it very clear that he only gave us one last week. Either we agree to this unreasonable demand, or we let him go back."

Fei Liang got straight to the point, not wanting them to continue arguing endlessly, as it was completely pointless.

"To be honest, we certainly cannot give up our cooperation with the Great Zhou Kingdom. Only by cooperating with them can the Great Chu Kingdom develop rapidly."

“Yang Xia of the Great Zhou Kingdom is incredibly shrewd, and he naturally possesses such formidable methods. We also want the Great Chu Kingdom to become as powerful as the Great Zhou Kingdom.”

When it came to making this choice, these ministers knew that the benefits of cooperating with Yang Xia were enormous, and of course they were reluctant to give it up.

"What you're saying is all nonsense. Just tell me straight, do you agree or not!"

Fei Liang was also in a state of utter confusion. He knew, of course, what abandoning the Great Zhou Kingdom meant; he might never encounter such a good thing again for the next few decades or even centuries.

The Great Chu Kingdom would remain in this state of poverty and backwardness forever. The thought filled them with immense pain and even profound shame. What use would it be to preserve these cultural artifacts?
The ministers finally fell silent.

"Your Majesty, if a choice must be made, why not abolish the slave system and preserve the writing system and clothing of our Great Chu Kingdom?"

A moment later, one of the ministers actually spoke up. Forced into a corner, they could only try to come up with a compromise.

"Yes, Your Majesty, if all else fails, we will have to agree to abolish the slave system. The writing system and clothing of the Great Chu Kingdom must not be abolished; this is our bottom line."

The other ministers finally chimed in. They all felt that this was the only option, and if it could secure the cooperation of the Great Zhou Kingdom, it seemed like a worthwhile trade.

Everything turned out exactly as Yang Xia had predicted; his wise mind had finally come into play.

When they make particularly unreasonable demands, they will proactively come up with this compromise.

Looking back at the abolition of slavery, it seems rather insignificant now. This is Yang Xia's remarkable skill.

After a final discussion among the ministers, they decided to reluctantly abolish the slave system, preserve the writing system and clothing of the Great Chu Kingdom, and then send Fei Liang to conduct final negotiations with Yang Xia.

A week later, Fei Liang, entrusted by the nobles and ministers, came to Yang Xia for a discussion, hoping that Yang Xia would agree to the alternative plan they had devised.

"So, what's your opinion on the request I made before? Just give me a straight answer."

"If you agree, we'll start construction right away; if not, I'll pack my bags and leave right now."

From Fei Liang's hesitant tone, Yang Xia had already guessed seven or eight parts of the truth. He knew that they would never agree to abolish the writing system and clothing of the Great Chu Kingdom. They must have come to bargain with him, and their bargaining chip was naturally the abolition of slavery.

However, these words would only be valid once Fei Liang said them himself, and Yang Xia still had his face full of anger, refusing to give them any breathing room.

"This...that..."

Seeing Yang Xia's appearance, Fei Liang was too frightened to speak, fearing that if he angered this god of wealth, their entire plan would be ruined, and the Great Chu Kingdom would remain trapped in poverty and weakness.

“Yang Xia, can we find a way that satisfies both sides? Look, abolishing slavery is fine, but the writing system and clothing of the Great Chu Kingdom must be preserved. This is the foundation and cultural heritage of a country, and we cannot lose it under any circumstances.”

Fei Liang spoke in a very humble tone and adopted a very soft posture, as if afraid that Yang Xia would not agree to the request.

Yang Xia was overjoyed; it seemed that his own move was the most effective.

When we discussed abolishing slavery with them before, they were all incredibly stubborn and refused to budge on that point.

But now they're using this as a bargaining chip, even begging for his approval in a humble manner, which naturally makes Yang Xia find it somewhat amusing.

It seems that sometimes when faced with difficult problems, one has to use one's brain more. Only by using these sharp methods to force them to give in can one be considered a master's way of doing things.

After hearing Fei Liang's words, Yang Xia finally felt relieved, knowing that he had achieved his goal.

He never intended for the Great Chu Kingdom to abolish its own writing system and clothing; doing so would be nothing short of blatant humiliation for a nation.

The ultimate intention was simply to use this as a pretext to force them to abolish slavery. Now that this goal has been achieved, the rest will be much easier.

"Alright then, for the sake of Lord Fei Liang's reputation, we'll do it your way."

Yang Xia readily obliged, and Fei Liang was naturally extremely grateful.

"Yang Xia, I am so grateful to you. You are indeed very understanding. As long as you agree to this method, we can continue to work together."

Fei Liang was overjoyed. He had finally managed to keep Yang Xia here, and now he could lead the Great Chu Kingdom forward together. This was indeed a great joy.

"Don't thank me yet. Now that you've agreed to abolish slavery, immediately remove all the handcuffs and shackles from those slaves and give them true freedom."

Yang Xia was afraid they would change their minds later, since this system had been in place for many years and they would definitely feel uncomfortable with such a sudden change.

Perhaps such things will still happen in the shadows, where I can't see them. If that happens, all my hard work will have been in vain.

Yang Xia always did things thoroughly, and since he wanted to abolish slavery, he wanted to do it completely.

"Alright, I'll give the order right away and have them give those people their true freedom."

"Whether they want to return to their original homeland or stay in the Great Chu Kingdom, we should respect their own choice. What do you think of this arrangement?"

Fei Liang hurriedly made assurances and discussed with Yang Xia how to resettle these slaves, ensuring they could live normal lives.

"The ruler of Feiliang is indeed very thoughtful; we will do as you say."

Yang Xia saw that Fei Liang's attitude was indeed sincere enough, so he had nothing to criticize.

Thus, the slave system that had persisted for generations on the land of the Great Chu Kingdom was cleverly and decisively abolished by Yang Xia.

With no more bloody scenes to be seen, Yang Xia could finally lead the Great Chu Kingdom to develop together with peace of mind, which was the result he was most happy to see.

"General Meng Yu, the Great Chu Kingdom's actions are quite considerate. We can start construction now. Take your men to the construction site immediately."

Yang Xia had actually been eager to start work for a long time, but he had been so focused on abolishing slavery that it had been delayed for so long.

Now that everything is in place, the next step is to speed up the work, and he hopes it can be completed as soon as possible. "Your Majesty, I'll go right away."

Meng Yu looked at Yang Xia with eyes full of admiration, knowing that there was nothing he couldn't do, and that he could even change those stubborn old ideas.

They can finally start work smoothly.

The first major task is to thaw the permafrost. We had already prepared to start the work, and it was estimated that it would take about half a month to thaw the permafrost.

But then the abolition of slavery came along, and the matter was put on hold.

Now that construction can finally resume, General Meng Yu knows that Yang Xia is anxious to finish the renovations as soon as possible, so he plans to lead his men to speed up the work so that the entire project can be completed ahead of schedule.

Yang Xia personally visited the construction site and stood by, watching them break ground. He was quite gratified that construction could finally proceed smoothly again.

I hope that my "Zhou Chu Plan" can proceed smoothly and that there won't be any more of the previous setbacks.

Yang Xia also felt that there should be no other obstacles. Although this country was closed and backward and retained many outdated customs, apart from slavery, everything else could be guided step by step, and he believed that everything would gradually get better.

"Your Majesty, we've wasted a whole week. We'll have to work day and night to catch up now."

"We only brought a limited number of men, so it looks like we'll have to make the brothers work harder and put in more effort. These people from Da Chu are really something else."

General Meng Yu hadn't expected such an unexpected situation to suddenly arise, and he was naturally very unhappy.

He disliked this ignorant and backward country to some extent, but since Yang Xia had chosen this place, there must be a reason for it, so he could only obediently follow orders.

"It seems we need to find a way to solve the manpower shortage problem. If we can have more manpower, the project can naturally move forward."

Yang Xia looked at the scene before him, as if talking to himself, or as if discussing something with Meng Yu.

“But this is all the people we brought. If we were in the Great Zhou Kingdom, the situation would be different.”

General Meng Yu glanced at Yang Xia, and the two understood each other without saying a word. It seemed that the labor force of Great Chu should also be mobilized. After all, they were here to help Great Chu with its transformation, so they should naturally contribute their share.

Just then, Fei Liang also arrived at the construction site, wanting to see the on-site operations firsthand.

“Lord Fei Liang, you’ve come at the right time. I was just about to discuss labor matters with you.”

“Our project has been delayed by more than a week. We need to send more people to complete it on schedule.”

Yang Xia got straight to the point and stated his request: to increase the number of personnel.

“Yang Xia, those slaves have already gained their freedom, so there are no other laborers available. We can only send some soldiers to help.”

Fei Liang naturally complied with Yang Xia's requests and quickly dispatched some soldiers to provide support.

"Summon those nobles and ministers as well."

Yang Xia suddenly asked Fei Liang to do this again. Fei Liang was confused and wondered why Yang Xia had called those people over. Were they there to watch the construction site?
"Yang Xia, why did you call them here?"

Fei Liang was unaware of Yang Xia's intentions, so he simply asked a question directly.

"Never mind that, just call them over first." Yang Xia smiled mysteriously, without revealing the answer.

This left Fei Liang even more confused, wondering what Yang Xia was up to.

But right now, all he needed to do was fully cooperate with Yang Xia, so he didn't press for more questions and simply summoned all the nobles and ministers over.

The nobles and ministers didn't know why Yang Xia had summoned them to the construction site, but they didn't think much of it and just came over.

The number of nobles and ministers in the Great Chu Kingdom was quite large; they suddenly formed a huge group.

Yang Xia smiled at them, and then smiled at Meng Yu.

Meng Yu seemed to understand Yang Xia's thoughts and found it somewhat amusing. Yang Xia was definitely planning to use them as free labor.

However, these people deserved it. They lived a life of luxury and never lifted a finger, relying entirely on slaves to serve them.

Their own country is already so poor, and these people are still so lazy. They really need to be disciplined and made to contribute their share.

Meng Yu admired Yang Xia even more. This move was brilliant, as it not only increased manpower but also allowed these people to experience the taste of labor firsthand.

"Yang Xia, what exactly did you call us here for? Just to watch you work?"

"Yeah, it's only just begun. What's so interesting about it? If there's nothing else, we'll head back now."

These people started chattering amongst themselves, not knowing why Yang Xia had summoned them, and their words even carried a hint of impatience.

"General Meng Yu, give each of these nobles and ministers a shovel. If everyone works together, the project can be completed much earlier."

As expected, Yang Xia had brought these people in as laborers. Seeing their impatient expressions, he directly instructed Meng Yu to distribute tools.

Then we let them stay here and work hard, and the problem of insufficient manpower was thus easily solved.

These princes and high-ranking officials, who were used to a life of luxury and had never done any manual labor, were now dumbfounded, holding shovels and looking at each other, not knowing where to start.

They never imagined that Yang Xia would capture them and use them as laborers; such a situation was truly unbelievable and unheard of.

The crowd turned their pleading eyes to Su Qi, hoping that their king would stand up for them and make a decision.

How could nobles and court officials be sent to do manual labor? There has never been such a precedent in the Yan Kingdom.

However, after witnessing Yang Xia's arrangement, Su Qi did not dare to utter a single objection. He had clearly promised to follow Yang Xia's orders wholeheartedly, cooperate fully, and never shirk his responsibilities.

This is only the beginning; if I'm picky and make demands, it will inevitably displease Yang Xia. (End of Chapter)