Faced with Sun Heaven's doubts, Chu Yu continued explaining her personal view. "Of course I support it. It looks unreasonable, but it actually echoes Emperor Wu of Han's policy of weakening the feudal lords." Before Emperor Wu of Han's reforms, lords with fiefs could choose their own heirs to inherit their lands. As more and more lords appeared, the court's territory shrank, and the balance of power between the two sides gradually shifted.
After the reforms, every time a lord with a fief had a child, that child would carve off a portion of the fief. A few decades later, no local power would be capable of opposing the court.
Chu Yu meant to use the number of children and wives to disperse the wealth of the rich. The more wives and children they had, the faster their wealth would drain away. On the other hand, their children possessed far more resources than ordinary children, making it easier for them to succeed.
With a total population of eight million, there had originally been ten elites managing things. After reproduction, there would be fifty elites. Another generation later, there would be two hundred and fifty elites. With the total population unchanged, the average resources available to each elite could only decrease.
In the end, the elites would be trapped in cutthroat competition, while ordinary people who wanted to work hard would have room to improve, and those who did not would have a guarantee of survival.
Chu Yu said, "It sounds absurd and overly idealistic, but with so many Four Symbols Cities, I believe at least one will develop this way. A Four Symbols City that develops like this is a city I'd be satisfied with."
Leaving aside whether Chu Yu's analysis was right, Ding Shi became increasingly certain of one