Ou Mo finally revealed the reason why many officials changed their attitude.
Ao Huang wanted to pounce on Ou Mo and bite him to death, but he had to hold back.
The blue comments refer to the orders from the four ministers, while the red comments refer to the orders from the monarch.
The human race attaches the most importance to etiquette.
If Fang Yun uses his status as a virtual saint to wage a war against Jing State and give Xiangzhou to Jing State, it would be against etiquette. Not to mention that he would be punished by the Hall of Etiquette, he might even be stripped of his status as a virtual saint!
Etiquette cannot be abolished. If a great sage acted so arbitrarily, the Ten Kingdoms would have been in chaos long ago.
If Fang Yun fought against Qing Kingdom as a free person, even if he won, Xiangzhou would still belong to Qing Kingdom, and Jing Kingdom would have no right to take over.
If Fang Yun fought against Qing State as an official of Jing State, then Fang Yun would lose his absolute autonomy.
The holy emperor governs the world with ease.
This sentence comes from "The Book of Documents". The whole sentence is "Be honest and righteous, respect virtue and reward merit, and the world will be governed by ease." It originally meant that if the monarch can attach importance to sincerity and morality, respect morality, and clearly distinguish between rewards and punishments, then even if he does nothing, the world can be stable.
However, scholars singled out this statement as "the world is governed by the emperor without any effort" and forcibly interpreted it as the emperor should not have to do anything and only need officials to take charge, and the world will be peaceful and prosperous.
Under the guidance of this ideology, the imperial power has been continuously weakened, until now, the cabinets of various countries have tended to compete with the monarchs.
The ten human nations already have an extremely strict official system. Anyone who attempts to subvert this political system, even if he is a monarch or a virtual saint, will be retaliated against.
There are hundreds of officials in Jing State, and there is a cabinet that commands all of them, and the head of the cabinet is the Left Prime Minister Liu Shan.
If the cabinet objects, the monarch cannot even issue an imperial decree.
Fang Yun couldn't help but think of a dynasty in ancient China. The founding emperor attempted to suppress all officials by himself and change the world, but his power was limited after all, and his power could not continue after his death. He was retaliated by all officials and was overthrown in just a few years.
Today, the combined prestige and power of the ten monarchs are not as great as that of the founding emperor.
Fang Yun knew in his heart that even such a figure had no successor. In this world controlled by scholars, it would be even more difficult for the monarch to fight against the interest groups formed by the scholars.
Even a virtual saint who has just established his foundation will never be able to resist the huge inertia of the existing system of officials.
Fang Yun looked at Liu Shan.
If he forcibly stopped Wen Zhan from attacking Xiangzhou, he would inevitably be abandoned by the people. However, how could the Left Prime Minister Liu Shan care about the people's hearts? As long as he stopped Wen Zhan from attacking Qingguo and kept a low profile, he could use his ability to fool the people to win over the people again.
After Ou Mo finished speaking, he stood upright in the Fengtian Hall and stared at Fang Yun.
"Oh? Is there anyone stopping me from recovering the lost territory for Jing Kingdom?" Fang Yun asked calmly.
Ou Mo bowed and said, "Duke Zhenguo, I want to ask, how sure are you?"
"Don't talk about success or failure until the end." Fang Yun did not fall into Ou Mo's language trap. If he said it was low, Ou Mo would naturally be more confident. If he said it was high, it would be out of touch with the facts. No one would be convinced.
"If you don't have a sense of success or failure in your mind, how dare you start a war?"
Fang Yun said slowly: "When I paint bamboo, I must first have the bamboo in my mind."
"You mean you are 100% sure?" Ou Mo asked.
"I have full confidence!" Fang Yun said.
Ou Mo smiled and said, "As you can see, the Duke of Zhenguo is not very sure. The only gain from the war with Qing is Xiangzhou, which was hollowed out by Qing. But the consequences are even more serious. Lord Zhenguo, will you allow me to explain them one by one?"
"This is a court meeting. Even if I convey the king's message, I have no right to stop you." Fang Yun remained calm, but his expression had changed slightly.
"I admire the open-mindedness of the Void Saint. Then I will tell you everything I know. At this moment, if Wenzhan wins, there will be five disasters!"
After Ou Mo finished speaking, he looked around Fengtian Palace and continued, "The first harm is that we will be cut off from the aid of our Jing country! As everyone knows, the demons will definitely invade the south with all their strength this winter. Even if our Jing country is strong, it will be difficult to resist alone. Without the aid of other countries and the Holy Academy, we will not be able to fight. If nothing unexpected happens, Qing country can at least send out a 100,000-strong army and a great scholar, as well as countless supplies and food. If the literary war is won, Qing country will definitely withdraw all aid!"
"The second danger is Qing's counterattack! If Qing quickly retaliates and attacks Jiangzhou, Jiangzhou will surely lose! Xiangzhou's supplies must have been transferred by Qing, and it is an empty state. It can be restored after many years, but it is useless in the short term. If the rich Jiangzhou suddenly becomes Qing's property, then next year my Jing State will not even be able to prepare enough food and grass for the war."
"The third harm is the dispersion of manpower! Xiangzhou has been ruled by Qing for many years, and the people of Xiangzhou have already regarded themselves as inferior Qing people, hoping to become higher-level Qing people one day. Once recovered, what will happen if their country goes from strong to weak? There will inevitably be great resistance, and we must allocate a large number of extra soldiers and civil servants. At the time of the southern invasion of the Caoman, accepting Xiangzhou is simply cutting off an arm of our own!"
"The fourth harm is the discord among the human race! The demon world has received a definite news that many great saints have returned to the demon world. The greatest crisis for the human race is no longer the gains and losses of a county, a prefecture, or even a country, but to stand on the whole human race and look at the world! On the eve of the second two-world mountain war in the demon world, the two countries' literary war, isn't it cutting themselves off from the human race and the saints?"
"The fifth harm is that Fang Xusheng's literary reputation is damaged! Why did Fang Xusheng not start a literary war earlier or later, but today? It is because the Zong family and Fang Xusheng are competing for the holy way of enlightenment. The competition for the holy way should be a competition between scholars, but Fang Yun Fang Xusheng coerced an entire country. On the surface, it was to seize Xiangzhou, but secretly it was to avenge the Zong family's seizure of the holy way. Is this really what Fang Xusheng did when he used public resources for personal gain? If Fang Xusheng insisted on a literary war, his literary reputation would definitely be damaged."
All the officials were speechless. In fact, although the first four harms were reasonable, they were not important. The fifth harm was Ou Mo’s real purpose.
As long as Fang Yun's literary war is made morally untenable, then Fang Yun will lose the possibility of a literary war.
Many people looked at Zuo Xiang again. It was obvious that if Ou Mo was given enough time, he could also come up with these five evils. However, only Zuo Xiang could come up with such an organized list of five evils in less than half an hour.
Fang Yun smiled and said, "Minister Ou forgot that the one who sealed our Fang family's library had nothing to do with the clan, but the King of Qing. The King of Qing and I have no dispute over the holy way, and sealing the library is in accordance with Qing's national law. Once the legality of the library is verified, it will naturally be allowed to open. How could I not wait even a day to start a literary war?"
Ou Mo was stunned and said, "Although you and the Zong family are not competing for the title of the Holy Way of Enlightenment, you are competing for it in reality."
Fang Yun suddenly became solemn and said in a stern voice: "Ou Mo, as a dignified Hanlin, before the Zongsheng opened his mouth, you slandered the Zongsheng for competing with a mere Jinshi for the holy way, and you also tried to sow discord between me and the Zongsheng. What crime should you be punished for!"
.(To be continued..)