Over the past few days, Chen Wu had carefully read this even more subversive book, Waiting for the Dawn, and had gained a clearer understanding of where the Yongjiu School's idea of Leaderless Dragons came from.
On the surface, the Yongjiu School seemed anarchistic. It spoke only of attacking high officials, wealthy merchants, government offices, and ritual law, but at its heart, it opposed all privilege.
In the Great Shun of today, the greatest source of privilege was the dragon throne inside the Forbidden City. Anyone who believed in the idea of Leaderless Dragons would sooner or later take the path of opposing imperial authority.
As a modern man, Chen Wu had instinctively felt no affinity for imperial rule. Now that he had joined the Yongjiu School, he felt right at home. His own path in martial arts also seemed to point toward turning the world upside down. It looked like he would have to take on the Great Shun court.
Chen Wu had pondered the matter before, but his understanding of the Great Shun court had always been superficial. He had thought that Great Shun was so powerful that it would be hard for anything earth-shaking to happen.
But the more he had seen lately, the more he felt there was a great deal that could be done.
Great Shun had become closely connected with the entire world. This was no longer an age when it could simply shut its doors, call itself king, and enjoy two or three centuries of peace under a ruler who governed by doing nothing.
The complex conflicts of the world were all having a profound impact on the Great Shun court.
Trade with India and the Western Oceans, Huguang's shift from grain to cotton, the wave of small farmers going bankrupt in Anhui