Wang Yan's reforms were comprehensive. Whether officials, commoners, or the powerful local households caught in between and holding regional authority, all had to be reformed, all had to change.
To suppress unrest and keep fools from risking their lives, the only method was harsh punishment and severe laws—to kill one as a warning to a hundred.
By the same logic, kill a hundred to warn ten thousand; kill ten thousand to warn a million. So long as those vicious men who dared step forward were dealt with decisively, so long as batches of people were ruthlessly dealt with in every region, the rest would lack the nerve to stir up further trouble and would honestly work and live their lives.
Moreover, on the other side of harsh laws and severe punishments were immensely favorable conditions: as long as people worked and lived properly, their lives would steadily improve. This was not the final stage of a collapsing dynasty, where the more people were killed and the harsher the killings became, the fiercer the resistance would be.
Wang Yan first ruled the central court by law, thoroughly dealing with civil and military officials of every rank within Bianjing and unifying opinions at the highest level of government. Afterward, he used the northwest, Hangzhou, and Kaifeng Prefecture as three centers, radiating outward from them.
A total of three hundred thousand troops were transferred from the western and northern armies, leaving only one hundred thousand soldiers behind to suppress the various ethnic groups.
Western Xia and Khitan had now been wiped out, and the foreign tribes were no longer much of a threat. A limited force was enough. Furthermore, to guard against unforeseen circumstances, Wang Yan once again reorganized the officials responsible for governing the foreign peoples and purged their practices once more,