Conferred God: Started from Swallowing the Heaven-Repairing Stone

Chapter 293 Three Fires

"Long Bo's talent is truly amazing, and this reform method is very good." In the palace, Emperor Xin looked at Ao Bing's memorial with excitement on his face.

Everything Ao Bing wrote could be said to be in perfect harmony with his needs. Clarifying the division of powers among officials was essentially for the purpose of centralizing power.

Take back the power to appoint officials from the hands of the nobles!

In the past, nobles had the power to recruit their own subordinates. These were the subordinates of my subordinates, not my subordinates. But now, under Ao Bing's reform, the nobles' subordinates had to be appointed by the emperor.

In this way, the nobles' subordinates became the emperor's subjects, and their power was strengthened.

Ao Bing's reform method, if placed in the later generations, can only be said to be commonplace. But in this era, it is the first time, which naturally attracts people of insight to marvel at it and call it a wonderful idea.

After all, the rites and laws were established by the Duke of Zhou, and many of the systems familiar to later generations basically originated from the Duke of Zhou.

As for Duke Zhou, he was the fourth son of King Wen, that is, the fourth legitimate son of King Ji Chang of the Western Zhou Dynasty. He was still a young man at the moment, and it would take many years for him to perfect the etiquette and laws.

Ao Bing's move was to intercept the luck that belonged to Duke Zhou in advance!
"However, although Long Bo's reform method is good, I am worried that those nobles will not follow it!"

Emperor Xin had not completely lost his mind at this moment. After his excitement, he quickly realized the drawbacks of Ao Bing's reform method, which could easily be opposed by the aristocratic groups.

Since ancient times, it has not been easy to cut flesh from vested interest groups. If one fails, one will lose oneself. Therefore, Ao Bing's method is essentially a risky one.

"Let's try to implement it first. If the nobles agree, that would be the best."

"If the nobles disagree, then we will implement it on a small scale. On a large scale, we will still give them the power to recruit officials, but the officials they recruit must be appointed by the king."

Ao Bing said slowly that the purpose of his reform was to improve work efficiency, and centralization was just a byproduct. If it could be successful, then it would be successful. If not, then he would take his time.

In short, first occupy the title and let the subordinate officials know that they are officials of Da Shang, and then they are subordinates of the nobles.

As long as we hold the righteous position, we can take back some power sooner or later as long as we act slowly.

"Just do as Long Bo said."

Emperor Xin also knew that too much is as bad as too little. Reform is not something that can be done overnight. It requires cutting flesh with a blunt knife. Within the acceptable range of the nobles, the bottom line must be lowered little by little until they no longer have the strength to resist.

"Reform is not something that can be achieved overnight, but there is one thing that must be put on the agenda, and that is the abolition of the system of human sacrifice."

"From now on, we should use grains and meat to replace living people in order to sacrifice to the ancestors of heaven and earth and the ghosts and gods of the four directions."

Just after finishing the first fire of the new official, Ao Bing started the second fire. And this second fire was the key, pointing directly to the core of the demise of the Shang Dynasty.

At the same time, this is also Ao Bing’s merit!
The demise of the Shang Dynasty was caused by the humanitarian backlash caused by human sacrifice. Therefore, if the Shang Dynasty was to be saved, the first step was to abolish human sacrifice.

As Ao Bing was the Prime Minister of the Shang Dynasty, he had to do his job according to his position. No matter what his real purpose was, since he was in this position, he had to do something.

Abolishing the system of living sacrifices was what Ao Bing was going to do. As long as he accomplished this, he would have given an explanation to the people of the world.

Even if the Shang Dynasty eventually perished, his evaluation would not be too low considering this achievement.

"I have wanted to do this for a long time, but there are too many obstacles. I never thought that Uncle Long and I have the same idea.

When Emperor Xin heard this, he seemed to have found a confidant, and he was overjoyed. He was really happy, because he saw clearly where the shortcomings of the Shang Dynasty were.

But unfortunately, every time he wanted to make a change, he found that the resistance in the country was greater than he had imagined, and everyone became his enemy, so that he was blocked everywhere and accomplished nothing.

But now it’s different. With Ao Bing’s support, the probability of accomplishing this is very high.

"This is the general trend. As the number of humans continues to increase, humanity has attached more and more importance to them. Under this circumstance, continuing to sacrifice humans alive is an act against humanity and will surely be punished."

"If Dashang doesn't want to be hated by humanity, it must make changes."

Ao Bing did not respond to Emperor Xin's words, but only explained the reason why he did so.

Emperor Xin did see the shortcomings of the Shang Dynasty and was prepared to reform it, but his reforms were a little too outrageous.

To put it in a nutshell, it is a one-size-fits-all approach.

The living sacrifice system is not good, so I will abolish it. Whether it is the ghosts and gods of the four directions, or the ancestors of heaven and earth, I will not offer sacrifices to any of them.

But how is this possible? Offering sacrifices to ghosts and gods of all directions involves the conflict between royal power and divine power. If Emperor Xin says to abolish it, then he will abolish it. Naturally, the nobles who hold divine power in the country will strongly oppose it.

The human race reveres their ancestors the most. Emperor Xin's abolition of the ritual of ancestor worship would undoubtedly cause dissatisfaction among the princes from all directions.

Later, when King Wu conquered King Zhou, one of the crimes he brought against Emperor Xin was that he did not offer sacrifices to his ancestors.

Emperor Xin was too radical, and the reform was bound to fail. Ao Bing learned from his lesson and did not abolish the sacrificial ritual, but only changed the offerings. In this way, even if there were people who opposed, they would not be too fierce. After all, if it was not fundamental to the country, they would not oppose it desperately.

"We will discuss this matter again at the court meeting tomorrow!"

After Emperor Xin discussed with Ao Bing, he informed several trusted ministers and decided to bring up these two matters in public at the court meeting tomorrow.

How could national affairs be implemented just by the decision of Ao Bing and Emperor Xin? They did not have such great power. The majority of court officials had to agree.

The disadvantage of the feudal system is that the monarch cannot make decisions on his own and everything has to be discussed.

……

Time quickly came to the next day. During the court meeting, Ao Bing proposed to reform the official system, and as expected, he was opposed by the ministers.

Ao Bing did not choose to confront them. Instead, he made concessions at the right time. The official system reform remained unchanged, but they were still allowed to recruit their own officials and only needed to report to Emperor Xin.

Seeing Ao Bing make concessions, the court officials did not dare to force him too much and immediately agreed to his reforms.

Thus, Ao Bing's first campaign was over. Centralization failed, but the reform of the official system was successful.

It is unknown what Emperor Xin was thinking, but Ao Bing was able to get rid of the complicated government affairs in the future and thus have more energy to deal with other things.

After the first fire was finished, Ao Bing started the second fire and proposed to replace the sacrifice. As expected, he encountered even more fierce opposition from the ministers.

"The four gods are the foundation of the Shang Dynasty. Now that the Shang Dynasty is in turmoil, it cannot do without their support."

"If we rashly change the sacrifice and cause their dissatisfaction, we will not only lose their support, but also cause them to become enemies with our Great Shang."

"Our Great Shang has become so weak that we cannot stand such a disturbance. I hope Your Majesty will take the country first and withdraw your order and stop discussing this matter."

The nobles who held the power of sacrifice stood up and gave earnest advice.

What he said came from his heart. Changing the offerings was simple, just a matter of words, but it was difficult to get the ghosts and gods to accept it.

Why do ghosts and gods like to use living people as sacrifices? It’s because living people are of high value.

If it is replaced with grains and meat, even if it is the innate grains and the flesh and blood of ferocious beasts, the value is not as good as that of humans. How could the ghosts and gods in the four directions be willing?

If they start making trouble at that time, it will undoubtedly be a disaster for the current Shang Dynasty, and will further accelerate the speed of its decline.

"Our ancestors overcame all difficulties and created such a great foundation, providing a place for their descendants to live. As descendants, we inherit the virtues of our ancestors, so how can we ignore the sacrifices to our ancestors?"

"Sacrificing a living person to the ancestors is a respect for the ancestors and a blessing for the sacrifice. It is such a blessing to let them serve the ancestors. How dare they complain?"

"Also, ancestor worship is the foundation of the human race. If we rashly change the offerings, the princes from all directions will be shocked when they hear about it. They may even use this as an excuse to refuse to pay tribute to our Great Shang."

"This is a rebellious order. If you insist on doing it, it will definitely cause chaos in our Shang Dynasty, so I hope the king will take it back!"

The ancestor worshipping nobles also stood up and spoke, and their words came from the heart.

After all, this world is different from the next.

In later generations, death is death, and there is no such thing as ghosts.

But in this world, after the death of our ancestors, they either ascended to heaven or practiced in the underworld, and they still continued to exist in the world and possessed powerful power.

Many descendants were able to develop because of the protection of their ancestors. What is the difference between asking them to rebel against their ancestors and asking for their lives?
Moreover, as princes and nobles, they cannot live forever, and their souls will return to the netherworld one day. If the sacrifice is changed today, how will their souls deal with themselves after entering the netherworld tomorrow?
Ao Bing didn't want to change the sacrifice at all. He clearly wanted to cut off their retreat. There was no way they would agree to that.

After all, everyone will die one day. The ministers present always have to think about what will happen after death.

Therefore, when it comes to opposing the change of sacrificial offerings, the ancestor worship faction has a louder voice, a more resolute attitude, and the greatest influence.

The God Worship Sect was a powerful force in the Shang Dynasty, but it was only average in the whole world. But the Ancestor Worship Sect was different. All the princes and nobles had ancestors, and they would all die one day.

Therefore, to be an enemy of the Ancestor Worship Sect was to be an enemy of all the princes and nobles. Even if the Great Shang was at its peak, it would be at risk of destruction if it dared to do so, let alone the Great Shang that was now in turmoil.

"you……"

Seeing such strong opposition from his ministers, Emperor Xin was furious, but he also clearly realized that this might not be feasible.

With all the nobles opposing it, no matter what decree it was, it would not be passed. Realizing this, Emperor Xin was suddenly filled with disappointment.

Then, his will began to further disintegrate under the backlash of the power of humanity. He became more and more disgusted with his ministers and wished to kill them all.

(End of this chapter)