No one in the tea stall dared respond to what Cui Hao had said.
Though they had never studied, that did not stop them from knowing what they could and could not say-at the very least, when someone shouted about overthrowing the damned feudal emperor, they would tacitly pretend to be deaf, without so much as another glance.
After all, it would be rotten luck to be mistaken for an accomplice when people came to pin the offender down.
Cui Hao swept his gaze over them, looking thoroughly pleased with himself, as though he had said something so extraordinary that it had cowed everyone. His smile deepened as he said:
"The books say, 'The people may be made to follow a path, but not to understand it.'"
"That means you should simply have them do things, without letting them know why."
"My father said Li Junzi wishes to distribute weapons of violence to everyone under heaven, which naturally makes her a source of calamity."
"The New Policies Li Junzi advocates are naturally also the root of calamity for our Black Tortoise Kingdom. If they truly were sound policies for the whole nation, why would she have been driven away like a homeless dog?"
The burly man looked at Cui Hao's utterly naive expression and weighed the bowl of tea, which now had some color to it, in his hand. Though Cui Hao's words and behavior were not likable, he had benefited from this bowl of tea, so he called out:
"New Policies or not, that's a matter for the officials. There are some things we can't talk about. Friend, why not have a cup of tea?"
Cui Hao nodded with a smile, pulled over a stool, and sat beside the burly man, speaking with effortless familiarity:
"The New Policies are