"Well..."
"Think about it. Is it better for vast sums of money to be in the hands of nobles scattered across the realm, or in the hands of the nobles in Chaoge?"
"Is it easier to deal with the nobles in Chaoge, or the nobles in Xiqi?"
Li Jing thought for a moment, then offered an exceedingly crude analogy:
"These nobles in Chaoge are just like the pigs in the West Garden's Pigsty!"
"His Majesty feeds them well and gives them plenty to drink, fattening them up nice and plump. Then, when the Laji Festival comes, they'll be ready to slaughter for meat!"
"Feeding them now means he'll be able to slice off more meat with a single stroke later!"
"His Majesty is raising pigs!"
Xiezhi pondered for a moment, then nodded. "Your words have finally cleared up my confusion, Minister Li!"
Bi'an exclaimed in admiration as well, "Those nobles who dine amid ringing bells and bronze cauldrons, yet do nothing for the state and spend all day chasing pleasure-aren't they just like pigs in a sty? While securing benefits for the state, His Majesty has also secretly insulted those nobles!"
"If things really are as Minister Li says, His Majesty has done far more than devise an ingenious scheme to divide the nobles. Step by step, link by link, he's playing those parasites of the state in the palm of his hand!"
"His Majesty's wisdom is terrifying indeed!"
Li Jing sighed. "His Majesty was driven to it. If the nobles benefited the state, why would he repeatedly scheme against them?"
"If every noble were like the ministers at court, willing to devote everything they had learned to the realm and the lands of the Human Race, His Majesty would surely welcome them as honored guests."
They marveled for quite