"If you ask me, you should take your men and arrest every last bastard who refuses to work. Chop off their heads!"
"Kill until the blood runs in rivers and heads roll everywhere. Then let's see who still dares disobey!"
Xue Beng spoke through gritted teeth. Those people had driven him so mad that he was saying things like this.
"I know you're angry, but brute force really won't solve this."
"Xue Beng, let me ask you something. Do you think those people are truly afraid to die?"
Smiling, Qin Qi cleared the pieces from the board and started a new game with Xue Beng.
"Of course they are. If they weren't afraid to die, how could we have cowed them back then?"
To Xue Beng, the answer was obvious. He picked up a black piece and made the first move.
"Those officials backed down partly because they were afraid."
"But also because the outcome was settled. You were certain to become the Heaven Dou Empire's next emperor."
"They had no reason to resist any longer."
Qin Qi shook his head. Xue Beng had real ability, but he was still too green.
He had never handled affairs of state himself, so there were things he simply didn't understand.
"Stop talking in circles. If there's a problem, tell me. If you have a solution, tell me that too."
Xue Beng looked at the smiling Xue Ye, then at the grinning Qin Qi.
Compared with those two, he felt like a complete fool.
"Fine. I'll start with the problem."
"First, they're burying you under tedious official business. If you use force to make them handle matters themselves..."
"They'll start working, certainly. But this time, they'll do things their own way."
Qin Qi laid it out. Right now, they brought everything to Xue