Qian Wendao was not Gu Weiyang.
If Gu Weiyang was like water, fond of bringing harmony to all, then Qian Wendao was like a mountain, unmoved by any wind.
Unlike Gu Weiyang, Qian Wendao would not be willing, within certain limits, to do favors for the people of Zone 1 and secure a share of resources to ease conflicts within the Safe Zone. Nor would he act as the Safe Zone's patriarch, resolving disputes between its various powers.
Gu Weiyang valued checks and balances, keeping the Safe Zone in a manageable equilibrium, but that depended on the strength of Zone 1 and the United Government.
Now that Zone 1 had declined and the United Government was a shadow of its former self, someone like Qian Wendao was all the more necessary at the helm.
Qian Wendao did not like getting too involved.
The principle he upheld was that those who created a problem should be the ones to solve it.
When a conflict arose, let the parties involved settle it themselves. Never mind who benefited and who lost out; the conflict would be resolved in the end.
As for the possibility that a winner-take-all outcome might give rise to an exceptionally powerful faction, Qian Wendao was not worried about that either.
The world was vast, and history stretched on through the ages. Old powers fell, new ones arose, and there would always be a powerful faction that overwhelmed the rest and became dominant. Today it was Zone 1; tomorrow it might be the Qin Character Legion. No one could say for certain.
But these powers were not omnipotent, after all. Internal or external conflicts would eventually cause them to stagnate, and ultimately decline and disappear.
Those who survived and continued to make history were individuals, not factions.
As long as