The Situation Changes

Zhuge Huaijin stood up abruptly, glaring at the group of ashen-faced aristocratic officials, and roared through gritted teeth, "I implore Your Majesty to swiftly establish the Great Zhou General Taxation Bureau! Investigate ruthlessly, collect ruthlessly! Make those parasites spit out all the people's blood and sweat they've swallowed! Whoever dares to stand in the way is a sinner of Great Zhou for all eternity and should have their nine generations exterminated!"

"We second the motion!!!"

Led by Zhuge Huaijin, dozens of officials and censors from humble backgrounds fell to their knees in unison. Their voices revealed a resentment that had been suppressed for hundreds of years. This was their first full-scale charge against the lofty aristocratic families!

The atmosphere in the great hall instantly became tense, as if the civil officials were going to tear each other apart in the imperial court the very next second.

Cold sweat finally broke out on Zhang Wuji's forehead.

Looking at Zhuge Huaijin acting like a mad dog, and looking at the red-eyed officials from humble backgrounds, a deep chill rose from the bottom of his heart. To think that this little emperor had manipulated people's hearts to such an extent, using the resentment of the poor to counterbalance our aristocratic families... What a vicious method!

Zhang Wuji knew that if he backed down even half a step at this moment, half of the aristocratic families' sources of wealth would be cut off, and that was their lifeblood!

"Silence!"

Zhang Wuji turned around abruptly, and an angry shout suppressed all the arguing. He was, after all, the Second Grand Secretary of the Cabinet whose power overshadowed the court, and his lingering prestige was still present.

He took a deep breath, forcefully suppressing the panic in his heart, and faced Wang Hao once again.

"Your Majesty, the Chief Grand Secretary worries about the country and the people, and this old minister admires that." Zhang Wuji's voice was low. "However, establishing a new Second-Rank government office involves too much and needs to be considered at length."

Zhang Wuji paused, raised his head, and his eyes met Wang Hao's gaze directly as he launched a counterattack.

"Taking ten thousand steps back, even if Your Majesty establishes this General Taxation Bureau in the capital today, how will the decrees be transmitted to the local areas? With thirty-six provinces and thousands of counties in the world, could it be that people will be sent from the capital to collect taxes everywhere? If commercial taxes are to be forcibly collected, we must rely on the cooperation of local prefects, county magistrates, and local gentry."

"But Your Majesty, local officials have complex official duties. If they refuse to cooperate with the decrees of the General Taxation Bureau on the grounds of insufficient manpower... Wouldn't this General Taxation Bureau become an empty shell that cannot even step out of the capital? When the time comes and decrees cannot be executed, the imperial court's majesty will be swept away. Who will bear this responsibility?"

As soon as these words came out, the aristocratic officials who were just filled with righteous indignation seemed to have been injected with a stimulant, and they all revealed smug sneers.

That's right! No matter how powerful you are as an emperor, your hands cannot reach the local levels!

This was the viciousness of Zhang Wuji's move. He directly pointed out the core lifeblood of the feudal dynasty's power: the local areas were entirely populated by people from aristocratic families!

No matter how large or high-ranking the government office you build in the capital is, once it reaches the local level, those county magistrates are all disciples, former subordinates, and clan members of our aristocratic families. As long as they find any random excuse to feign compliance while secretly acting in opposition, your General Taxation Bureau won't be able to collect a single copper coin of commercial tax!

What can you, the emperor, do to us?

The air in the entire great hall seemed to stagnate. Zhuge Huaijin and the other officials from humble backgrounds turned pale. They knew that without the support of local power, the new policy was just a joke.

However, looking at the confident Zhang Wuji, Wang Hao suddenly smiled.

That smile fell into Zhang Wuji's eyes, but it was like seeing a demon opening its bloody maw in the abyss, causing his heart to tighten abruptly, and an indescribable sense of crisis instantly enveloped his whole body.

"Second Grand Secretary Zhang's words are extremely correct, and every word comes from the bottom of his heart." Wang Hao leaned back in his chair, his slender fingers gently tapping the dragon desk. "I deeply agree. Imperial power not reaching the countryside and decrees not being executed is indeed a big problem."

"Therefore—" Wang Hao's voice suddenly rose, echoing throughout the entire great hall!

"In order to cooperate with the local operation of the General Taxation Bureau, and to solve the problem of insufficient manpower, I have decided to carry out a thorough extension of the imperial court's authority structure!"

Wang Hao stood up abruptly, his dragon robe billowing and his eyes wide open, as he issued the imperial decree that was enough to change the course of the entire Great Zhou's history.

"Pass down my decree! From this day forward, the authority of the Six Ministries will be directly extended down to the township level!"

"The Court of Judicature and Revision and the Censorate will be comprehensively expanded! The Court of Judicature and Revision will establish branch courts in every county across the world! The Censorate will dispatch censors to be permanently stationed in every county!"

"The judicial and supervisory powers in the hands of local prefects and county magistrates will be completely stripped away! From now on, provincial governors, state magistrates, county magistrates, and newly established township or town mayors will take overall charge of the local areas! Since they are taking overall charge, things will definitely become very busy, so we must reduce the burden on these principal officials. Those professional matters will be left to professionals to manage. Local judiciary will be under the jurisdiction of the county-level branch courts of the Court of Judicature and Revision; the supervision of officials will be under the jurisdiction of the local censors of the Censorate; as for tax collection... naturally, it will be the exclusive duty of the branch bureaus dispatched to each county by the General Taxation Bureau!"

Dead silence.

The entire Fengtian Hall instantly fell into silence.

Everyone's brains stopped thinking at this moment, leaving only the extension of the power of central departments like the Six Ministries echoing madly in their minds.

Zhang Wuji instantly lost all his color, turning deathly pale. His body suddenly swayed violently, and he almost fell headfirst onto the ground.

He finally understood. He finally understood that this was an open scheme!

How was this about collecting taxes? This was clearly using the name of tax collection to completely dismantle the situation where aristocratic families controlled local power!

All along, grassroots county magistrates had been local emperors, grasping politics, finance, and law all at once, and the county magistrates had to rely on local aristocratic families and gentry to secure their positions. But now, the emperor had directly and forcefully inserted the tentacles of the judiciary, supervision, and taxation into the counties, and even into the townships!

Although the county magistrate still took overall charge, local government affairs, judiciary, taxation, and the great power of supervising officials had all become under dual leadership, which actually strengthened centralization!

This was equivalent to simultaneously putting three fatal nooses around the necks of all the aristocratic families and powerful clans in the world! As long as the emperor tightened the ropes, the aristocratic families' control over local areas would instantly collapse!

"Your... Your Majesty..." Zhang Wuji looked at Wang Hao, his voice trembling so much that he couldn't even catch his breath, unable to complete a single sentence.

But what made Zhang Wuji feel utter despair was not these decrees, but the unusual movements coming from the civil official camp behind him.

He turned his head with difficulty and looked at the civil official group behind him.

What did he see?

He saw those officials from humble backgrounds who had entered through the imperial examinations, who had no foundation in the court, who had endured for more than a decade or even decades still compiling books in the Hanlin Academy, or serving as principals in the idle offices of the Six Ministries. At this moment, their eyes were entirely emitting a faint green light! They were starving wolves extremely eager for power and status!

The Court of Judicature and Revision and the Censorate extending down to the counties, the Six Ministries extending down to the towns... What did this mean?

This meant that the Great Zhou Dynasty's original bureaucratic system would instantly expand by more than ten times! This meant that thousands of official positions holding real power would appear out of thin air!

Those disciples from humble backgrounds and middle-to-lower level officials who were lining up waiting for vacancies, or even thought they would die of old age on the cold bench in this life, suddenly saw a golden door leading to the pinnacle of power kicked open by the emperor!

Who cared about the survival of the great aristocratic families anymore? Who cared about the ancestral laws?

As long as they could go down to the local levels to serve as the director of a Dali Temple branch or the head of a regional tax bureau, they would hold real power! To climb the ranks and curry favor with the emperor, these newly appointed officials would act like mad dogs, mercilessly tearing into the local aristocratic gentry who monopolized the wealth, squeezing out every last drop of profit from them!

"Your Majesty is wise!!!"

It was unclear who took the lead, but immediately after, a sweeping wave of people fell to their knees.

Led by Chief Minister Zhuge Huaijin, the officials from humble backgrounds, along with the middle and lower-ranking officials who had long been dissatisfied with the status quo and thirsted for power, sold out Zhang Wuji and the aristocratic families without a second thought. They prostrated themselves before Wang Hao, cheering for the emperor.

"Long live Your Majesty! Long live! We swear to implement the new policies to the death. Even if it costs us our lives, we will not back down!"

The deafening shouts, surging with momentum, instantly overwhelmed the ashen-faced aristocratic officials, thoroughly drowning them in the frenzy of the new policies.

To secure official positions for themselves and to grasp real power, the civil official faction fractured from within. The humble-born faction willingly and madly swallowed the poisoned apple thrown by the emperor.

Zhang Wuji stood frozen in place, his hands and feet ice-cold. He looked as if he had aged ten years in an instant. He knew that the tide had turned. The establishment of the General Tax Bureau and the downward shift of power could no longer be stopped by anyone.

In the ranks of the military nobles, the Duke of Ying fought back the urge to laugh maniacally. He nudged the Duke of An beside him with his elbow and lowered his voice, "Hey, old friend, see that? Those civil officials who spend all day spouting righteousness and morality, united against us, are now tearing each other to pieces just to snatch the bone the emperor threw at them. His Majesty's move to toss a brick to attract jade is truly brilliant!"

Wang Hao sat steadily on the supreme throne, looking down from on high at the humble-born officials kneeling to give thanks, trembling with excitement, and then glanced at the ashen-faced, tottering Zhang Wuji.

Zhang Wuji, oh Zhang Wuji, you cannot handle it already?

Do not rush. This Great Zhou General Tax Bureau is nothing more than the sledgehammer I am using to crack open the tortoise shells of your aristocratic families. The good show has only just begun.