Chapter 849 - Soaring Aspirations
Wei Zheng’s arrival meant that the Censorate that Ouyang Shuo was planning to set up had a person to lead it.
The Censorate was a monitoring organization set up during the Han dynasty. In terms of their role, it was similar to the Regulatory Department in the Internal Affairs Court. Hence, Ouyang Shuo, after discussing the matter with Jiang Shang and Kou Zhun, he decided for the Censorate to focus on monitoring the officials and ministers of the court while the Regulatory Department would focus on the local officials.
The Regulatory Department was under the Internal Affairs Court, and it had a low rank and could not have an effective power over the officials of the dynasty. Ouyang Shuo replacing Jingjian was a sign.
At the same time, to allow the Censorate to do its job, Ouyang Shuo also announced that the Regulatory Department would be under both the Censorate and the Internal Affairs Court. In monitoring duties, the Censorate could lead the Regulatory Department.
Ouyang Shuo was being extremely decisive in putting Wei Zheng to lead the Censorate. Even someone like Tang Taizhong was unhappy with Wei Zheng not knowing his place.
As they say, if a dragon has a reverse scale, one must die if they touch it.
Wasn’t Wei Zheng’s final outcome a sign?
Ouyang Shuo could not confirm whether or not there would be a day where he fired Wei Zheng or killed him because he could not tolerate his existence.
After all, a person’s heart changes easily.
It was already 5 PM when Ouyang Shuo returned to the Xia palace. Although nighttime had not officially arrived, the palace was lit up with torches as people celebrated the birth of a new dynasty.
At night, Ouyang Shuo did not welcome anyone and just accompanied Song Jia and Bing’er to eat. The entire family sitting together was normal but heartening, and it temporarily removed the barrier of their identities.
How would an outsider guess that the most famous family in China would spend their most unforgettable night in such a calm and normal way?
The way Ouyang Shuo did things was always so unexpected.
4th month, 19th day, Wuji Palace.
In the distant horizon, a fiery sun rose up once again, causing an orange red glow to shine down on the earth. The warm sunlight passed through the curtains and shone into the palace.
Ouyang Shuo opened his eyes and stretched.
Ouyang Shuo had successfully built the Great Xia Dynasty, creating an unassailable foundation in the wilderness. Of course, Ouyang Shuo was far from the stage where he could take it easy.
Within the country, although Yanhuang Alliance had lowered their head, they were not ready to admit defeat. On the other hand, the Turks, west Xia, west region, Mongols, and Nuzhen had not officially come out yet. They would definitely be huge enemies of the Great Xia Dynasty that Ouyang Shuo needed to conquer one by one.
At the current moment, the hidden currents flowed.
In the nine imperial cities, the emperors who had not shown themselves had already started preparing; they were filled with ambition. The underground world just revealing itself had also caused so many waves. The mysterious underworld had quietly taken stage and started to spread over the wilderness.
Currently, it was only the 4th year of Gaia, so who knows what tests Gaia would push out to train the Lords in the wilderness.
The future China region would be far from the battles between Great Xia and Yanhuang Alliance. More mysterious powers would take to the field, and it would definitely be a more complicated place.
Overseas, Silver Hand threatened to move, and their conflicts with the Great Xia Dynasty were everywhere. In the Mediterranean, storms brewed, and the ASEAN states were hard to read and smoke bellowed in the Americas.
Moreover, the country war shadow slowly drew close as eastern and western civilization slaughtered and fought due to hatreds left from history and conflicts of interests.
More importantly, Ouyang Shuo’s ambition had not stopped.
Attacking Morocco, ruling the Mediterranean, running the Africa Continent, opening the great voyage path, taking down Annan, playing around with ASEAN, ruling the south ocean, heading toward Australia and trade with them, searching for the unknown civilization….
There was also their mortal enemy Japan, the swaying Korea, and the aloof America; all of these countries were strong opponents of the Great Xia Dynasty. The Great Xia Dynasty was far from its peak. After the king dynasty came the emperor dynasty and the imperial dynasty.
Ouyang Shuo’s goal of sweeping the universe and ruling everything had just started.
Even within the Great Xia Dynasty, there were many things to do. Industrialization had just started, their population was lacking, the foundations of the prefectures and counties were weak, and the progression of each area was not equal.
The road to ruling was one where if one did not advance, one would slide back.
At this moment, how would Ouyang Shuo think about slacking off? How could he slack?
As they say, ‘Fighting with heaven, endless enjoyment; fighting with the earth, endless enjoyment; fighting with people, endless enjoyment. In Ouyang Shuo’s heart, a never seen before ambition grew.
Men were just like that! … At 6 AM, Ouyang Shuo appeared punctually at the drill field.
Although he had ascended to the position of king, Ouyang Shuo would not disrupt his cultivation, and he still trained diligently.
When he was training in the Yellow Emperor Internal Cultivation Technique, the primordial energy in his body was already swelling like a tidal wave. However, no matter how he rotated it, it would not increase.
After reaching the level of full mastery, it was tough to go any further.
Ouyang Shuo did not mind, practicing as usual. Even if he could not increase the amount of primordial energy, he could still make it purer and build a more stable foundation.
The path of cultivation was like the path of ruling; if one did not advance, one would lose out.
After slightly washing up, Ouyang Shuo came to the drill field only to see Xu Chu leading the Personal Guards in training.
When Ouyang Shuo saw that, he suddenly got interested and said to Xu Chu, “Come, let’s have a fight.” Ouyang Shuo wanted to test how much his skills had improved after he mastered the Yellow Emperor Internal Cultivation Technique.
Xu Chu hesitated.
Ouyang Shuo smiled, “Do not worry, I know my limits.”
Seeing that there was no way for him to reject, Xu Chu guided his machete forward, taking up a lowered stance and a defensive gesture. Ouyang Shuo did not think much of it, shaking his spear and striking first.
The Tianmo Spear was already connected to Ouyang Shuo, and the spear pierced out like a dragon. Its might hid many changes, and it could be either hard or soft.
When Xu Chu saw that, he did not dare to take the move lightly. He raised both his hands to block the attack and grasped the machete tightly. In an instance, the spear and the machete knocked into one another.
After mastering the Yellow Emperor Internal Cultivation Technique, Ouyang Shuo’s strength was really terrifying. Along with the Tianmo Spear, even a general like Xu Chu could feel his hand turn numb after one strike.
Xu Chu focused, finally turning serious. His thick hands pushed forward, and the machete chopped along the body of the spear, magically reducing the power as he regained his footing.
Ouyang Shuo did not give Xu Chu a chance when he saw that he had the advantage. He changed the movement of his spear and used stroke after stroke, not giving Xu Chu any chance to breathe.
Xu Chu’s forehead was covered in sweat. He did not expect the king to actually be so skilled. Luckily, Xu Chu was a skilled general and was really experienced. Although he was at a disadvantage, he still managed to successfully defend against all the hits.
When the nearby Personal Guards saw that, they stopped their drills and circled around. They did not even dare to take in deep breaths.
Ouyang Shuo was also a person who did not like to lose, and he wanted to show his newfound ambition through primitive combat.
The Tianmo Spear was used so well by Ouyang Shuo that only a black glow could be seen. He was familiar with all the strokes and used them one by one without thinking.
Xu Chu was really experienced. Seeing that the king’s skill had reached the bottleneck of a breakthrough, he rotated the energy in his body to calm it down while also blocking the king’s attacks to become a good target.
In a short while, they had fought over 100 rounds.
The fully trained Yellow Emperor cultivation meant that even whilst using so much energy, Ouyang Shuo still had a lot of primordial energy.
That alone caused Xu Chu, whose face was slightly red, to fall to a disadvantage. He only managed to hold on because of his talents, not only was he born with god strength, but his body qualities were really good.
The two of them, one attacked and one defended, a very even fight.
This lasted for a full half an hour when Ouyang Shuo used a ‘squid breaks away from hook’ to back off. When Xu Chu saw that, he was panting like a cow but still guarded at a side, not letting anyone get close.
After a short while, Ouyang Shuo opened his eyes once more, and a smile appeared on his face. He did not expect that this battle would let his Tianmo Spear Technique touch the perfection level.
It would not take long for him to step into this mysterious 6th level.
Ouyang Shuo looked at Xu Chu, who was still guarding by his side, and he nodded in satisfaction, “That’s it for today, let’s continue tomorrow.”
When Xu Chu heard that, he gave an awkward nod. … At 7 AM, after a simple breakfast, Ouyang Shuo came to the reading room.
In the newly furnished Imperial Reading Room, Tsing Yi and Jia Xu were waiting for him. The two of them, one would be appointed as the Secret Document Pavilion Advisor, while the other as the Administrative Mentor Court Chief Secretary to participate in administrative and military discussions and come up with strategies.
The two of them were waiting here because of three imperial decrees. They were the ones that Ouyang Shuo needed to read at the first court assembly.
Amongst which, there were the lists regarding the Great Xia rank and title system, the Great Xia organization structure, and relevant appointments. The last had to do with the nine ranks of officials in the dynasty.
Each of these decrees had to do with the foundation of the dynasty.
When Shanhai City had upgraded to Capital City, the three documents were already in their draft stage. Many drafts were gone through during that period, and after discussions with the cabinet and many ministers, it was made by the Secret Document Court into an imperial decree.