A family of loyal martyrs, starting with nine wives to continue the family line.

Jinyi Pavilion, Xishan Villa.

A door that had never been opened before was pushed open with a creak.

Liu Suan looked up from an old book and calmly gazed toward the doorway.

He has been under house arrest here for a full month.

There was no interrogation, no torture, and no one even spoke a word to him.

Three meals a day were delivered on time, and there was nothing lacking in food, clothing, or daily necessities.

All he could do was read books.

The books hidden in the courtyard cover everything from classics and historical texts to agricultural and water conservancy projects.

He knew that Wei Zhao was tormenting him.

We must temper his arrogance and pride until he figures things out on his own.

The person who entered was Fang Fuyao, dressed in a plain white robe.

Her face was expressionless, and she held a stack of manuscripts that still smelled of ink in her hand. She walked straight to Liu Suan and placed the manuscripts on the table.

"Take a look at this."

Her voice, like her personality, was devoid of warmth and filled with unnecessary chatter.

After saying that, she sat down opposite Liu Suan, poured herself a cup of tea, and waited quietly.

Liu Suan looked down and glanced at the cover of the manuscript.

New Military Laws.

The four characters, printed in the simplest Song typeface, felt like four mountains, making his breath catch in his throat.

He didn't go to get it right away.

He merely raised his eyes and glanced at the white-robed imperial advisor opposite him, who was so quiet he seemed almost lifeless.

He knew very well that this was Wei Zhao's final answer to him.

He reached out and picked up the law.

The pages were very new, and the edges of the paper were even a little sharp.

He turned to the first page.

Then, he never looked up again.

A full hour.

The room was eerily quiet, with only the rustling of papers turning and the occasional chirping of birds from outside the window.

Sunlight streamed through the windowpanes, casting dappled patterns on the floor that gradually shifted from the east to the west.

Fang Fuyao sat there quietly, the tea in front of her going from hot to lukewarm, and then from lukewarm to cold, but she didn't touch it.

Liu Suan read very slowly, yet also very quickly.

His eyes were moving slowly, almost as if he were chewing on each word one by one.

What's fast is his mind, like a rapidly spinning abacus, matching each clause of the law with the half of the "Policy for All People" in his mind, dissecting and comparing them one by one.

The opening chapters focus on military achievements.

The detail was appalling. For each rank of execution, the reward would be five acres of land and three taels of silver.

Capture a flag and you will be rewarded with ten acres of land and promoted one rank. Those who die in battle will receive a pension directly to their families, and their sons will be eligible to attend government schools without tuition fees for three years.

He saw Wei Zhao's ambition. This was not a simple reward or punishment; it was using military merit to bind all the poor people in the world who wanted to rise above their circumstances to the chariot of Xinwu.

Further down, there are fields.

The land was surveyed and distributed equally among households. Anyone found to have concealed their land would have their property confiscated and be executed. The person who reported the concealment would receive 30% of the land.

Liu Suan's finger lingered on the words "The whistleblower will receive 30%" for a long time.

ruthless.

It's too cruel.

Once this law is enacted, there's no need for the court to send anyone to investigate. Those tenants and farmhands who have been oppressed by powerful families for centuries will become the eyes and knives of the Embroidered Uniform Guard.

Wei Zhao is inciting the people to dig up the roots of powerful families.

Then comes commerce.

Abolished heavy taxes at strategic passes, unified the currency, and standardized weights and measures. Salt and iron were state monopolies, but private sales were permitted, subject to an eleventh-rank tax. Maritime trade was encouraged; those who brought back new crops or tools from sea were exempt from tax for one year.

The shadow of Su Qingyun.

Liu Suan could almost see how that shrewd woman from Jiangnan turned account books into deadly laws.

Then came crafts, medicine, and various other medical practices.

Anyone who makes a new invention can enter officialdom and be appointed to a position in the Ministry of Works based on this skill.

Anyone who can cure the plague or improve the prescription will be recognized as a great contributor by the Imperial Medical Academy and rewarded with a thousand gold pieces.

He even saw detailed reward provisions for movable type printing, new spinning wheels, and blast furnace steelmaking in the appendix of the law.

Shang Wanqing. Xie Daoning.

Those names he once thought were just those of women in the inner quarters of the Wei family, one by one, have become the most solid framework of this law.

When he saw the chapter on the imperial examinations, he fell completely silent.

Exam papers were anonymous, officials were transferred to different locations, and rotations were implemented every three years.

If any one of the examiners, examinees, or graders leaks or cheats on the exam, their entire family will be held accountable.

The exams covered not only classical texts and policy essays, but also mathematics, law, agriculture, and water conservancy.

This is hardly the imperial examination system.

This is telling the whole world that as long as you have the ability, whether you are a farmer, a blacksmith, or an accountant, I will give you a path to heaven.

When Liu Suan turned to the last page and put down the "New Military Laws" that he had almost rubbed sweat into, the sun outside the window was already setting in the west.

He was silent for a long time.

Fang Fuyao thought he would remain silent forever.

He suddenly spoke, his voice a little hoarse.

"Did you and Wei Zhao really write this law together?"

Fang Fuyao looked up at him and nodded.

"Your Majesty holds the pen, and I revise the text."

She paused, her voice still calm, yet it struck Liu Suan's heart like a heavy hammer:

"Li Huai verified the practical aspects, Su Qingyun calculated the financial feasibility, and Xie Daoning reviewed the medical entries—it took a full three months."

Liu Suan's face paled slightly.

He lost.

He always thought he was playing chess with Wei Zhao alone.

He thought he lost because of Xiao Heng's hurtful words, because of the defeat in the northern border, and because of Liu Ruhui's stupidity.

It wasn't until this moment that he truly understood.

He lost not only to Wei Zhao.

He lost to a newly formed, well-organized, and highly efficient court.

He lost to an era.

Liu Suan slowly stood up, walked to the window, and gazed at the sliver of sky cut off by the high wall outside the courtyard. After a long while, he turned around.

His face no longer showed the struggle he had felt in the snowy northern plains, nor the embarrassment he felt when Xiao Heng exposed his thoughts; only a deathly calm remained.

"I surrender."

When he uttered those three words, the weight that had been hanging over his heart for so long finally lifted.

He looked at the "New Military Laws" on the table, and then thought of the half of the "Policy for All People" that he had painstakingly written in his arms, and suddenly laughed self-deprecatingly.

"I will burn that half of 'The Strategy for All People' myself."

Fang Fuyao looked at him without saying a word.

"Because it's no longer needed." Liu Suan's voice carried a hint of relief that even he himself didn't realize. The goal he had devoted half his life to achieving—a world where people were not judged by their birth but by their abilities, where the people were provided for and the country was supported—had now been outlined in a clearer and more feasible form by the laws before him, though they were brutal and bloody.

His book is outdated.

"But you have to let me do one thing." Liu Suan raised his head, looking intently at Fang Fuyao.

Fang Fuyao picked up the cup of tea, which had gone cold, took a small sip, and gestured for him to continue.

"I want to explain the principles behind this law to the former officials of Jingzhou."

Liu Suan's voice suddenly rose, and a spark rekindled in his eyes. It wasn't the fire of revenge, but the fire of finding a new goal.

"People like Liu Ruhui don't understand the new martial arts or Wei Zhao at all. They still think that the world can be governed by a few pretentious articles and a few words of ancestral laws."

"They don't understand, I'll teach them for you."

He wanted to personally wake up those "allies" who were still immersed in the old-fashioned dream.

He wanted them to see with their own eyes just how utterly they had lost, and what kind of monster they were rebelling against.

This might be the last bit of dignity he retains as a failed player.

Fang Fuyao stared at the fire in his eyes for a long time.

Finally, she slowly nodded.

"it is good."

"I'll go and speak to His Majesty for you."