I stole divine power in Daxia

Chapter 462: Ming Ji Zhi

On the Danbi, although the Great Xia Emperor, who had successfully attained enlightenment, was smiling, everyone could feel a sense of alienation that separated him from all living beings in the world.

Just like what the attendant Ke Anran felt, after taking the three talents of Heaven, Saint and People as the foundation of the Taoist tradition, the Emperor of Daxia became more and more inhuman. Although there were still joy, anger, sorrow and happiness on his face, these joys and sorrows were more like wearing a mask, showing the appearance of a human being.

But in fact, the expression of the person under the mask is the same as the statues of saints erected in major academies in Tianjing today. He seems to have compassion for the people, but in fact he is just watching with cold eyes.

This makes the way that His Majesty of Great Xia handles things now very different from before. Before, His Majesty of Great Xia would have obvious preferences based on his own likes and dislikes, but now, His Majesty of Great Xia, who looks at the world with a cold eye, will only seek the solution that is most beneficial to himself, even if it means losing his dignity as the emperor in the process.

And this is also the biggest advantage of the Emperor of Great Xia today. It seems that Zhou Tieyi is pleading for the people and has control over public opinion, but the greatest public opinion in the world is still the unified imperial power, and the people still believe in the Holy Emperor's rule.

Therefore, no matter how big a storm Zhou Tieyi stirs up, as long as the Emperor of Daxia does not make any stupid moves, if he takes a step back, Zhou Tieyi will be in a difficult position. In the eyes of the various schools of thought and the people of the world, he will turn from a capable minister to a treacherous minister. Then, no matter how great his previous achievements were, they will all appear to be malicious.

In this game of power, as long as there is no absolute force to overturn the table, the imperial power is inherently invincible.

Just like when Zhou Tieyi played chess with the Lord of Daming Palace, no matter how many tricks he used, within the rules of this chess game, Zhou Tieyi could not defeat the Lord of Daming Palace who had not been defeated for two hundred years.

Since the outcome has been decided, the result will not change whether the chess piece is placed in the four-cornered star position or the Tianyuan position.

So when the game started, Zhou Tieyi was certain that he would not win.

It’s a game that you can’t win, but it doesn’t mean you’re bound to lose.

Because you cannot win, you can lead the opponent to make mistakes. As long as the opponent makes a mistake, he cannot win the game.

In this age when no saints appear, imperial power is still supreme and supported by the people, just like holding an unbreakable shield and an invincible spear.

The only thing that can make the other party make mistakes is the imperial power itself. Only by using the enemy's shield to attack the enemy's spear can the Emperor of Daxia truly reveal his flaws.

This has always been the guidance of Zhou Tieyi.

From submitting the Two Strategies of Heaven and Earth to dreaming about the Zixiao Taoist Palace, how could Zhou Tieyi not have anticipated the theory of the connection between heaven and man.

Even if Ke Anran had not appeared, at the right time, Zhou Tieyi would have inspired another person to propose the theory of the connection between heaven and man.

However, the theory of the correspondence between heaven and man in this world is still different from that in the previous life.

In the time of Dong Zhongshu in the previous life, the core of the interaction between heaven and man was that the king's power was granted by God, which gave the king's power absolute legitimacy and formed a will for great unification. Then, by influencing the king's power, he abolished all schools of thought and respected Confucianism alone, thus laying the foundation for a unified dynasty.

Finally, Confucianism gained the power to interpret the scriptures based on the theory of the correspondence between heaven and man, thus playing a role in restraining the power of the emperor.

Unfortunately, many things are just beautiful ideas.

Even Dong Zhongshu, a talented Confucian scholar, was still banished to death row by Emperor Wu of Han when he wanted to use the saying "Heaven and man are in harmony, and when the emperor loses his virtue, disasters will befall him" to restrain Emperor Wu of Han. He eventually had to compromise and never spoke of the disasters caused by heaven and man in the Han Dynasty again for the rest of his life.

Although the Three Elements Induction Strategy of Heaven, Saint and People in this world seems similar to the Induction Strategy of Heaven and Man, they have completely different principles.

First of all, the Shintoism in this world is defined as evil by the imperial power. So even though from a historical perspective, the Five Emperors of this world were truly granted kingship by God, it was still denied and could not even be mentioned.

Secondly, because of the Taoist tradition, practitioners are aware that their own power comes from all living beings and cannot exist alone. Naturally, in the Three Talents of Heaven, Saint and People, the power of the Holy Emperor does not come from Heaven, but is granted by the people. At the same time, as the sons of the monarch and father, the people cannot point out the mistakes of the monarch and father, so they use Heaven to warn them.

This was also the case when the Emperor of Great Xia asked Zhou Tieyi who his loyal subject was. Zhou Tieyi replied that he would naturally be a loyal subject to whoever the Emperor of Great Xia was.

Because no matter they are monarchs or ministers, their power comes from the people. The Emperor of Daxia cannot deny that he is the emperor of the people of Daxia, so he cannot deny that Zhou Tieyi is a loyal minister of the people of Daxia.

Zhou Tieyi looked at the emperor who was smiling on the throne, but seemed to be separated by thousands of mountains and rivers, and replied, "I have heard that there is a sage king between heaven and people. Only sage kings cultivate morality, so all officials work hard and the people are happy. The heavens send down auspicious signs to show it. However, the way of heaven has its gains and losses. Today, a disaster has been sent down, and the people are exhausted. Therefore, there is a divine evil that has brought chaos to the world. The common people are suing the court. I wonder how the sage king will deal with it?"

Zhou Tieyi's answer was also a question. When he finished asking, the entire Golden Palace fell silent. The military heroes from the Right General's line frowned, and the civil officials from various schools of thought were eager to try.

Only the halo in the eyes of Emperor Daxia flickered, as if it was struggling with something.

After one has cultivated to the third level of the Taoist tradition, one will become more idealistic. At that time, Li Jianhu was cultivating the Confucian righteousness, but because he almost failed to overcome a hurdle in his heart, the righteousness backfired.

The same is true for the Emperor of Daxia at this time. After choosing "The Strategy of the Sympathy between Heaven, Saint and People", he needs to perfect his own theory of Taoism. The auspicious signs from heaven are the reward for the Emperor's moral cultivation, which is one of the theories of the Sympathy between Heaven, Saint and People. On the other hand, the unrest among the people and the disasters from heaven are the manifestation of the Emperor's immorality.

This also confirms the reality. It was precisely because the Emperor of Daxia wanted to practice Taoism and seek immortality that he temporarily gave up his responsibility as the pillar of Daxia, which led to many problems later.

This is a questioning of his own orthodoxy. If the Great Xia Emperor denies this, then the orthodoxy he has established after he enters the third rank will collapse like a castle in the air.

On the throne, the flickering halo of light in the eyes of the Great Xia Emperor spread outward at an almost uncontrollable rate.

At the same time, the Emperor of Daxia could no longer maintain the smile on his face that seemed to be watching from a distance from the hustle and bustle of the world. His expression suddenly became ferocious, as if he wanted to capture Zhou Tieyi, who asked the question, and throw him into the Sky Prison.

At the same time, the power sweeping from the Great Xia Emperor pulled all the officials in the Golden Palace into the vortex of the illusory Taoism.

Zhou Tieyi once again felt the scene when the Great Xia Emperor first cultivated the Dao and relied on the Queen Mother to control the Dao of all officials. In the dark space, the Great Xia Emperor himself was like a sun, but the sun's brilliance was extremely dim at this time. The most important thing was that the brilliance from the ministers, like the stars guarding the sun, was pulled by the bright moon next to it, symbolizing the Queen Mother, giving the sun a chance to break free.

At the same time, above the sun, the bright yellow power of national destiny constructed layers of illusory palaces in the sky. These palaces were divided into thirty-three layers in total, and each layer had corresponding changes in celestial phenomena, dividing the entire sky into thirty-three different areas.

Zhou Tieyi's gaze fell on these thirty-three different areas. The next moment, his gaze was like an eagle flying across the mountains, rivers and land from the sky. In an instant, he actually saw the different beautiful scenery of the mountains and rivers of Daxia.

These beautiful scenes are divided into heaven and earth. Above are the illusory palaces mentioned by Zhou Tieyi. These palaces are parallel to the earth and stars beneath their feet, dividing the entire world into thirty-three areas over and over again. Below are statues of evil saints of different materials, with faces merely outlined. Although they are only clay and wooden statues, they have shown magical powers after the initial offerings from the people of the world. They are like wedges that not only freeze the rolling waves of the world above the mountains, rivers and earth, but also serve as coordinates to guide the movement of these thirty-three heavens.

As the expression of the Great Xia Emperor became more ferocious, the outlines of the clay and wooden statues gradually changed to resemble the facial features of the Great Xia Emperor.

"In the past two or three months, His Majesty the Great Xia has not been idle either."

Zhou Tieyi said in his heart that while he was building the Mingyue system, the Great Xia Emperor, who had more resources, also began to build the Thirty-Three Heavens Palace based on the concept of the Thirty-Three Heavens.

Before Zhou Tieyi could take a closer look, a long sigh was heard, dispersing the illusory Taoist scene that seemed to encompass the whole world, revealing the real Golden Palace again. On the throne, the ferocious expression of the Great Xia Emperor, who was ready to devour anyone, turned into a relieved enlightenment. "It is indeed as you said. Since the auspicious signs from heaven are my virtues, then the calamities from heaven are my faults. If I can't even see this clearly, how can I become a great sage?"

After His Majesty the Great Xia said this, the flickering sunlight in his eyes gradually became brighter, and his tone was no longer condescending, as if he was separated from people by thousands of mountains and rivers. Instead, it carried a sense of comfort and lightness, making everyone feel as if a warm breeze was blowing in their hearts.

His Majesty the Great Xia continued, "In the case of the inkstone, I also made a mistake. I should write an "Edict of Self-Revelation" and publish it in the "Tianjing Newspaper" so that the people of the world can judge my mistakes and then listen to good advice and correct them. What do you think, my dear ministers?"

When they heard that the Great Xia Emperor was going to write the "Edict of Self-Revelation", all the officials could not help but smile, especially the Confucians and Legalists.

"Your Majesty is holy."

The officials were naturally very satisfied with this result, because although this edict was not a confession of guilt, it still represented that the Emperor of Great Xia was willing to listen to the advice of the officials. Even if this advice was an lie, it put new shackles on the imperial power, which had become increasingly out of control since the practice of Taoism. Moreover, this shackle was set by the Emperor of Great Xia himself based on the Taoist tradition.

"Your Majesty is holy."

Zhou Tieyi followed the officials in bowing. This is the charm of imperial power. Why does everyone want to be an emperor? It is the supreme power, and only one can supervise oneself.

Even if he made a mistake, a confession of guilt edict was still enough to win back the hearts of the people. Even after this edict came out, combined with the current reforms in Daxia, the people would only think that the emperor of Daxia was wise and brave enough to accept frank opinions.

If the Confucians made up the story a little bit later, then today Zhou Tieyi dared to speak out in the court, and the Emperor of Daxia got angry at first but then woke up, which would be the story of Emperor Taizong of Tang and Wei Zheng in this world.

Since the Great Xia Emperor admitted his fault in the Moshi case, there would naturally be no problems with subsequent judgments.

After the court session, Zhou Tieyi walked towards his carriage thoughtfully, but this time he was stopped by the right general Yuchi Pojun.

"Right General."

Zhou Tieyi saw Yuchi Pojun, who looked indignant, and bowed to him.

"Get in the car. I have something to ask you."

Zhou Tieyi got on Yuchi Pojun's carriage and the curtain was lowered, isolating the inside and the outside.

Zhou Tieyi spoke first, "You are here to call for punishment."

Yuchi Pojun brushed his beard with his thick palm, and without taking out the wine from the secret compartment, he blew his beard and glared and said, "Shouldn't I go to the army to investigate the crime?"

Zhou Tieyi understood what Yuchi Pojun meant. He informed the Legalists and Confucianists about what happened in the Moshi file today, but he did not even inform the Military Strategists, who should have been the closest to him.

"I have informed you of this matter. I am afraid you are not in the mood to question me now, but you have already wanted to kill me the night before."

Zhou Tieyi said jokingly that in the matter of the Moshi case, although he was the one who finally wrote the letter, he also asked the Vice Minister of the Ministry of Justice, Chang Sun Dan, to personally deliver it to the Si Lu Mansion and then to the Simin Mansion.

But there is no wall that is impenetrable, especially in this matter, myself, Qingkong Gui, and Dong Xingshu have never thought of concealing it, just to show it to His Majesty.

With the power of the Right General Yuchi Pojun and the military strategists, even if they didn't know what was written in the file, the Simin Mansion made such a big fuss that night and summoned many Confucianists together to discuss the matter. In fact, they were releasing the news to let everyone know that Zhou Tieyi had written heretical words in the Moshi case again, so the Confucianists had to summon everyone to discuss the matter.

Given Zhou Tieyi's current status, there aren't many unorthodox words that he could write at the end of the Moshi case. After all, even things like the abolition of iron and copper tokens, which are matters concerning the lifeblood of the country, Zhou Tieyi spoke out bluntly in public.

Combined with Li Jianhu's statement at the beginning of the Mo Shi case, anyone with a keen eye could naturally guess that the final chapter of the Mo Shi case must have involved the emperor, which is why the Confucians attached so much importance to it.

Therefore, Yuchi Pojun must have been able to guess this, which is why he avoided it. In the past two days, no one from the Right General's Mansion came to inquire about this news.

Because it did not involve military power, the conclusion of the case jointly conducted by Zhou Tieyi, Confucianism, and Legalism could be regarded as a loyal minister's direct advice. However, if it involved military power, it would be a real act of forcing the emperor to abdicate.

Yuchi Pojun snorted, agreeing with Zhou Tieyi's statement. He then said something else, "Your Majesty passed the Daotong Conscience Examination so easily. It seems that he has been prepared for this. He wants to use you as a whetstone for his own Daotong."

Zhou Tieyi replied, "The emperor is naturally well prepared, but I think he doesn't treat me as a whetstone, but as a bronze mirror."

(End of this chapter)