Duzun Fort (Part 1)

"It was finally over. As expected, being an emperor—especially a good emperor—wasn't easy. I still needed to find people as soon as possible."

After making that declaration, Shen Fei did not dismiss those present. Instead, he began receiving them one by one. He met each of them separately not only to make it easier to learn certain things, but also to make it easier for him to act.

After all, he had only just arrived and had no reputation beforehand. Moreover, he had thoroughly offended Cihang Monastery, Ning Daoqi, Jingnian Zen Sect, and a host of forces that styled themselves as righteous. Under such circumstances, it would be very difficult to make Luoyang obey his every command and carry out his subsequent reform plans with only Wang Shichong and the Dugu Clan.

Those people did not even need to openly resist. Simply doing nothing could cause him considerable trouble. In more serious cases, they might even betray him in secret.

Rather than wait for trouble to arise and then waste manpower, resources, and time dealing with it, he might as well eliminate the seeds of trouble from the start.

Shen Fei used Dual Mastery on every official inclined toward Buddhism or the aristocratic clans, bringing them under his control. Buddhism had always claimed that there was no one in the world it could not save, and it had even developed martial arts capable of changing a person's heart and will. That made Shen Fei far less concerned about using such methods.

Ordinarily, salvation referred to guiding people, pointing out the way through confusion, answering their doubts, and teaching them until they suddenly saw the light. But to Buddhism, salvation could also mean forcibly making someone submit to the Buddhist faith, such as the legendary three thousand worldly disciples of the