Isolated town in northern border region

Xiao Lie sat there without moving. Jiang Min saw through the beaded curtain that his gaze was fixed on the candlelight, as if he were waiting for something.

Xiao Lie stood up and walked to the desk. He didn't lay out paper or dip his brush in ink. He just stood there, silent for a moment, and then began to recite.

"Peaks rise like a gathering of people, waves surge like a raging torrent, the Tongguan Pass lies between mountains and rivers. Gazing westward towards the capital, my heart hesitates. I grieve for the places where the Qin and Han dynasties once stood, their palaces now turned to dust. In times of prosperity, the people suffer; in times of ruin, the people suffer."

Xiao Lie's tone was calm, but anyone could hear the sorrow in his voice.

This was also the first time Xiao Lie had publicly revealed his true emotions since his transmigration.

Sorrow, grief, loneliness...

Xiao Lie had always harbored a burning desire within him.

From an era where the people were the masters of their own destiny and everyone was busy striving for a better life, we inexplicably ended up here.

Although Xiao Lie was fortunate enough to become a member of the royal family, he had no sense of identity with this status and had always been forced to move forward.

What he really wanted was simply a world where everyone could live a good life.

In the northern frontier and the northern barbarians, the two sides raised their knives against each other in a struggle for survival, leaving countless people displaced and turning humans into beasts...

In Qingzhou, tens of thousands of people died from the plague because of Mo Shuna's underhanded conspiracy...

In Yongzhou, powerful families, under the guise of serving the emperor, treat the common people like pigs and dogs…

In Bingzhou, those soldiers of the new army who died at Xiao Lie's hands, weren't they all good sons of the Great Chu?

In this damned world, human life is just a resource that can be consumed... and it's a resource that is not even counted as a loss!

After reciting "Mountain Slope Sheep - Reminiscing about Tongguan", Xiao Lie remained silent for a long time...

Ironically, the people present actually began to appreciate the rhyme and meaning of Xiao Lie's poem, as if they were all literary masters!

"I thought the King of the Northern Frontier wasn't good at poetry, but it turns out he disdained writing those sentimental, flowery pieces!"

"Yes! Although the lyrics are not very well-crafted, the rhymes are extremely fitting. If sung by the most beautiful courtesan, it would be a delightful sound!"

"Absolutely! Absolutely! This is truly groundbreaking!"

"From now on, if anyone says that the King of the Northern Frontier is illiterate, I'll be the first to disagree!"

The group savored the conversation repeatedly, whispering amongst themselves, growing more and more excited as they talked…

But from beginning to end, not a single person uttered a single word for the "common people" mentioned in the poem.

Even Jiang Min could only sense the sorrow in Xiao Lie's tone.

Xiao Lie shook his head with a wry smile, trying to compose his scattered thoughts. At that moment, Emperor Jing, Jiang Jun, gently tapped his wine cup.

"King of the Northern Frontier... I... on behalf of the people, offer you a toast!"

"I am aware of what Your Highness has done, and I also desire what Your Highness desires..."

"However, the difficulty of this matter is no less than that of changing the world!"

Xiao Lie raised his glass in surprise, his eyes meeting Jiang Jun's.

"I never expected that a trip to Jing Kingdom would lead to the making of a kindred spirit... Well then, I shall make a fool of myself!"

Xiao Lie picked up his wine glass and drank it all in one gulp. Then, as if he were a different person, he stood with his hands behind his back, looking radiant.

"Strategies for Governing the Northern Frontier"

The moment he spoke, everyone in the hall fell silent.

"What is the foundation of governing a country? The people!"

"The people are the root of the nation! If the roots are deep, the leaves will be lush; if the roots are shaken, the tree will fall."

His voice was loud and clear, and every word carried a firm conviction.

"The old stories of the previous dynasty are all like this... All the land was given to the powerful families, and the common people had no place to stand. As a result, the people could not make a living. When the people could not make a living, bandits rose up everywhere. When bandits rose up everywhere, the country was doomed."

"The State of Jing was founded on civil administration, but this civil administration is not the civil administration of aristocratic families, but the civil administration of the common people!"

"If the people do not know how to read, do not know how to count, and do not understand the law, then civil administration is nothing more than a gorgeous robe draped over withered bones."

As soon as he finished speaking, all the ministers below the stage involuntarily trembled, as if they had heard some ghost story.

Jiang Min listened through the beaded curtain, her fingers gently tapping the railing.

She had never seen Xiao Lie write any policy essays. In Jiang Min's eyes, Xiao Lie was always a man who spoke through actions.

But at this moment, Jiang Min fully understood what Xiao Lie had done before.

On the high platform, Jiang Jun listened and nodded repeatedly, drinking several cups of fine wine in succession.

Xiao Lie didn't stop and continued speaking.

"Governing a large country is like cooking a small fish."

"However, the methods of cooking fresh food should not be provided by aristocratic families, but rather the people should be able to earn their own living through their own labor."

"The five prefectures in the northern frontier were once barren lands, but are now prosperous regions."

"It is not because I possess any extraordinary skills, but simply because I have returned the fields to the farmers, built roads to the fields, and facilitated trade in all directions."

"When the people benefit, they will naturally take action; when the people are at peace, they will naturally defend their land!"

"This is the reason for the changes in the northern frontier!"

When he finished reading the last sentence, the hall was eerily quiet.

In fact, everyone present understood, but no one wanted to understand, and they even racked their brains to think of ways to refute it.

Because phrases like "returning the land to the farmers," "the people benefiting," and "not having the wealthy families do the work for them, but enabling the people to earn their own living" are tantamount to uprooting them!

These people were all prominent figures in Jing State, mostly from aristocratic families, and naturally they would not allow Xiao Lie's fallacies and heresies to circulate in Jing State.

Of course, there are also many outstanding individuals from humble backgrounds among them, but there are only so many positions at the top, and these outstanding individuals from humble backgrounds are naturally not thinking about how to improve the lives of all the poor and ordinary people in the world.

Because by then, they fear they might lose their positions.

At this moment, Sima Chunfeng stood up.

He neither sneered nor bowed; he simply stood before his desk, his tone neither humble nor arrogant.

"What the King of the Northern Frontier said was indeed moving."

"However, I have a question... The King of the Northern Frontier said, 'The people are the foundation,' 'The land is returned to the people,' and 'If the people benefit from it, they will naturally take action.'"

"But if the people do not know propriety, righteousness, or the hierarchy of superiors and inferiors, how can they support themselves?"

"The Northern Frontier King's distribution of land to the people is certainly a benevolent act, but what happens after the land is distributed? Who will educate the people? Who will maintain order and discipline? Who will establish the laws?"

He paused, then looked directly at Xiao Lie.

"The King of Northern Frontier criticized aristocratic families in his policy essay, but wasn't the King of Northern Frontier himself of royal lineage?"

"Aren't the generals and civil officials under the Northern Frontier King also scholar-officials?"

"If even the King of the Northern Frontier himself is governing the country with scholar-officials, how can he claim to be 'people-oriented'?"

"May I be so bold as to ask... if there truly are no scholar-officials in the world, who does the King of the Northern Frontier intend to rely on to govern this land?"

Upon hearing this, the atmosphere in the hall changed abruptly.

The civil officials exchanged glances, and some nodded slightly, clearly feeling that Sima Chunfeng's question had hit the nail on the head.

Jiang Jun held his wine glass, grinning like a mischievous friend as he stared at Xiao Lie, wanting to see how he would respond.

Jiang Min clenched her sleeves through the beaded curtain, realizing that Sima Chunfeng's rebuttal was extremely tricky!

He wasn't defending the aristocratic families, but rather questioning the self-consistency of Xiao Lie's theory!

If the scholar-officials are useless, then what right do you, Xiao Lie, have to sit here?

If the common people can govern the country themselves, then what is the purpose of you, the King of the Northern Frontier?