The changed Luo Su

Ji Zhao stood beneath a peach tree with his hands behind his back, gazing at the hollow darkness of the black hole not far away.

As time passed, this world had gradually become beautiful.

Pink peach petals occasionally landed on his shoulders, their fragrance seeping into his heart.

For every petal that fell, a new one was born. This was a peach tree whose petals would never finish falling.

"Historical correction force."

Ji Zhao quietly murmured this newly appeared term. The system's existence seemed to remind him at every moment that this was not a real world.

But looking at those living, breathing people, those descendants who prostrated themselves before him, who could possibly disregard them?

As his soul continued to be nourished, his expression grew increasingly impassive.

He picked a petal off his shoulder. Amid the fluttering petals, a brightly patterned butterfly alighted on his knuckle. "Go!"

The butterfly spread its wings and soared, its multicolored wings trembling lightly as it passed through the black hole, as though flying out of this world.

[You spent fortune points to activate Ancestors’ Blessing on Luo Su. You can exert a stronger influence over him.]

[You spent fortune points to activate Ancestors’ Blessing on the Luo Clan. Your direct descendants will become calmer.]

Ji Zhao spent countless fortune points, subtly changing his clan's character.

Luo Su was handling government affairs when he suddenly caught a sweet fragrance. Looking up from his documents, he saw a butterfly flying toward him, its scent filling his nostrils.

The aides beside him seemed not to see it. His mind immediately sharpened, and he knew his ancestor had sent it.

The butterfly plunged straight between his brows. Deep, resonant bells rang out, their notes lingering. He saw a peach grove, and beneath its trees stood a man whose face he could not make out.

"Ancestor!" Luo Su bowed deeply, his voice brimming with excitement. He could hardly believe it-he had actually met his ancestor!

"Rise."

Luo Su raised his head and saw a handsome, refined face, eyes that seemed to hold endless stars, and an air as detached as a god's.

Then his ancestor spoke warmly to him. "Luo Su, you are the first of the Luo Clan Descendants qualified to come here, and the most outstanding descendant the clan has produced thus far. That is why I brought you here."

Hearing his ancestor praise him as the first of the Luo Clan Descendants worthy of meeting him filled Luo Su with pride. He asked excitedly, "Ancestor, is there something you wish to teach me?"

[Player, please speak freely. The system will automatically filter certain statements.]

Ji Zhao paid no attention to the system's notification and said unhurriedly, "Even in ancient times, you would have been a sage worthy of assisting the Sage Kings. You now hold the Zhou State's Mandate of Heaven, and you have done very well."

"I merely wished to talk with you. How do you think a dynasty's Mandate of Heaven and a clan's legacy can be sustained for ages to come?"

"Ancestor, you once said that the key to preserving a dynasty's Mandate of Heaven lies in the people's hearts.

"Under heaven, there are feudal lords and Dukes and Ministers, great officers and prime scholars, city dwellers, country folk, and slaves.

"If we lose the hearts of the feudal lords and Dukes and Ministers, our Zhou State may collapse in an instant.

"But during my years in government, whenever I saw the vast numbers of prime scholars who received no fiefs, or city dwellers bankrupted by following the Son of Heaven and the Dukes and Ministers into war, I trembled with fear. These are the people who will truly destroy the Zhou State's Mandate of Heaven.

"If my policies can be carried through and their problems resolved, I believe the Zhou State's Mandate of Heaven can be preserved."

Though Luo Su spoke of preserving the Zhou State's Mandate of Heaven, he knew that even if he could revitalize the dynasty's fortunes, his successors would lack his prestige and ability. Sooner or later, the Zhou State would fall.

His ancestor's words alone made it clear that he was a sage worthy of assisting the Sage Kings, the kind of talent that appeared only once in several centuries.

Although his father and grandfather had possessed rare talent for Statecraft, they could only maintain their clan's legacy. They could not change a dynasty's declining fate.

Ji Zhao naturally saw what Luo Su was thinking and said impassively, "Your thoughts are correct.

"The Mandate of Heaven passes from one to another. Human strength cannot interfere with it.

"The Zhou State has existed for barely a century, yet it already shows signs of decline. Your reforms have pushed it back to its peak, but fortune and calamity cling to one another.

"The foundation of the Zhou State's prosperity will also become the cause of its downfall."

Hearing this, Luo Su said gravely, "The drawbacks of widespread feudal enfeoffment have gradually begun to emerge over these past years.

"Xiong Dun's affair was an omen, but this cannot be stopped, nor must it stop.

"Is this Heaven's eternal law?

"The Zhou State prospered because it differed from Yin Shang. In the future, a realm unlike the Zhou State will arise and destroy it.

"When that happens, beneath an overturned nest, how could the Luo State's eggs remain whole?

"How, then, should our Luo Clan preserve its legacy?"

Ji Zhao said calmly, "The Zhou State will certainly perish, but for every day it can endure, let it endure another day.

"As long as the Zhou State remains, the Luo State can stay secure, even if some descendants prove unworthy.

"If the Zhou State falls, the Luo Clan will become rootless duckweed. Preserving the clan's wealth and honor will no longer be easy."

From Ji Zhao's words, Luo Su seemed already to see the Zhou State collapsing and flames rising over the Luo State's capital. The vision chilled him to the bone.

Upon returning, Luo Su underwent another change in his thinking. The Regency Council had originally entrusted the Marquis of Qi with full authority over the Dog Rong unrest.

But looking at the letter in his hands, Luo Su still decided to offer his own opinions.

Under the Marquis of Qi's overall command and coordination, the Dog Rong tribes attacking the Royal Domain had already withdrawn.

Yet the reports arriving one after another over these days confirmed some of their original suspicions.

The Dog Rong unrest had indeed arisen from Haojing's decline, but the first to lose patience had not been the western feudal states. It had been their allies, the Qiang People, and those Dog Rong tribes that had generally maintained mutual nonaggression with the Zhou State.

Economic decline and reduced trade had markedly lowered these tribes' living standards, ultimately leading the Qiang People to watch from behind their walls while the Dog Rong tribes joined forces to raid.

Seeing the situation turn sour, the western lords had simply pushed their boats along with the current, producing the present situation. The Marquis of Qi had now contacted several lords to establish a defensive line west of Haojing.

Luo Su was both shocked and frightened. He had long known of the nobility's degeneration, and successive Marquises of Luo had tirelessly worked to correct this tendency among the Ji lords.

But he had never imagined the western lords had degenerated to such a deranged extent. If they could ride the current now, they would dare collude with one another later.

How arduous and bitter their ancestors' founding endeavors had been-the war to destroy Shang, the wars to establish the feudal states, a thousand hardships and ten thousand dangers.

The Zhou State's nobles of that era had neglected no task and spared no effort, only thus finding a thread of life amid ten thousand deaths.

Yet these present-day lords and ministers had been born in hothouses, surrounded by fine wines, exquisite food, and splendid garments. Such wealth and luxury! Their ancestors' martial spirit had been thrown away completely.

Already gripped by alarm and anger over the Zhou State's destruction and the Luo Clan's downfall, Luo Su immediately wrote back to the Marquis of Qi. "Uncle, the Regency Council has granted you full authority over the aftermath of the Dog Rong unrest.

"But these western lords have enraged me beyond endurance. My thoughts churn, and I must speak. Consider the following for reference.

"First, I suggest submitting to Luoyi a list of those lords who abandoned their states with barely any resistance. Those who have died should receive condemnatory posthumous names.

"Those still living should all be escorted to the Royal Domain. Since they do not understand a lord's duty to defend his territory, strip them of their titles, abolish their states, and reduce them to commoners.

"Second, for lords who resisted unsuccessfully but suffered grievous losses or even died in battle, arrange for their eldest legitimate sons to inherit their states, but rebuke their families and diminish their honors.

"Marquises, counts, and viscounts should each be lowered one rank and have part of their property confiscated. Barons need not be demoted, but half their fiefs should be cut away.

"Third, reward those lords who resisted fiercely with wealth and slaves according to their merits, compensating them for their losses.

"Fourth, strip the lord charged with guarding the west of his title of Bearer of the King’s Mandate and rebuke him severely. Confiscate substantial property from the states founded by members of his ruling lineage, but do not remove him. The western defensive line still requires his participation.

"Fifth, reassure the Ruo Qiang Tribe. We may reaffirm our friendship and express our willingness to provide grain and salt for the winter. Sternly demand that the Black Qiang Tribe explain whether it intends to become the Zhou State's enemy.

"Sixth, this Dog Rong invasion absolutely must not go unpunished. After consolidating the western lords' forces, take the offensive and launch extermination campaigns against those tribes that have always resented the Zhou State."

These punishments were undeniably severe, but Luo Su knew that only he possessed sufficient prestige to impose them. If he failed to act sternly, the consequences would be unimaginable.

Marquis Lü Bai of Qi attached great importance to Luo Su's opinions. Striking at different categories separately also prevented the western lords from forming an alliance for mutual offense and defense.

"The Grand Tutor really struck hard. A whole batch of western lords were stripped of their titles and had their states abolished. Some were even reduced to commoners. Apparently, they let the Dog Rong run rampant."

"The remaining states can only be said to have suffered less disastrously. At least ten years of expansion went down the drain this time."

"They happened to violate the Luo State faction's greatest taboo: allowing the Dog Rong to ravage the Royal Domain. Such intentions deserve death."

People throughout the Royal Domain discussed the affair. It raised Luo Su's intimidating authority another level, but also put some people on their guard.

"Have you heard?

"A little while ago, the Wang Clan's chief visited Grand Tutor Duke of Luo's residence. Apparently, he hoped to be granted a fief outside the Royal Domain."

"Has he gone mad? He didn't leave in the first year, when so many great noble families were enfeoffed together, but now he wants to go?"

"Didn't he see what happened to the Qi Clan? They received only a count's domain of seventy li in barbarian territory. There was indeed nothing improper about it under the rites and institutions.

"But for a great ministerial clan whose ancestors had served among the Three Excellencies, the disparity compared with the twelve lords enfeoffed in the first year was far too great."

"Apparently, Grand Tutor Duke of Luo invited seventeen families back then, and twelve later went out to govern their own territories. As for those who remained, the two that behaved themselves did reasonably well.

"The Qi Clan and Wang Clan actually wanted to swallow up the twelve families' lands, along with the positions vacated within the Royal Domain.

"They truly had no idea they were courting death.

"What sort of man is Duke of Luo? These two great clans have been crushed hard over the past few years. They can't hold on anymore, which is why they want to leave."

"These great clans have committed far too many offenses. Originally, their influence was tangled like roots and branches, and countless smaller clans stood alongside them.

"But in the first year, when the twelve Great High Minister Clans went out to govern territories, nearly all their traditional political allies saw members leave.

"And over these past few years, many smaller clans have been sent to serve as High Minister Clans in the feudal states. Those Great High Minister Clans have long since lost their former glory."

"Without Duke of Luo's sweeping axe strokes, forget entering the ministerial administration—we wouldn't even have obtained a single fief. Those days truly were hopeless."

"The Sage King in an earlier generation, Duke of Luo in this one. No wonder the rumors say the Zhou State's Mandate of Heaven will end when the Luo State falls. There really is reason behind it."

"Mind your words! The Zhou State's Mandate of Heaven will endure eternally, like the sun!"

Luo Su, so often the subject of private conversation throughout the Zhou State's Royal Domain and its various states, was facing the greatest crisis of his administration.

And Luo Su knew very well that the crisis came not from any single interest group, but from every direction.

Without the support of his lofty prestige and the Luo State's formidable strength, he would long since have died without even a place to be buried.

He had enfeoffed the Qi Clan in Yue Land and a branch of the Wang Clan in Wu Land. Wu-Yue was even more untamed than the Chu State, so these two families naturally hated him to the marrow.

But Luo Su did not care. The Wang Clan and Qi Clan were powerful High Minister Clans. With the Wu-Yue states they founded in the east and the Chu State in the west, they could grip the Southern Barbarians by the throat.

Especially after the discovery of states south of the great river that retained Yin Shang culture, it was all the more necessary to enfeoff the Wang Clan, relatives of the Ji ruling house, in Wu Land to keep watch.

When the western lords had deliberately allowed the Dog Rong to run rampant, a total of two counts, five viscounts, and twelve barons had been stripped of their titles and had their states abolished. Seven had been reduced to commoners, while untold numbers of other nobles received decrees confiscating land, imposing fines, lowering ranks, or inflicting punishments.

The results were also striking. The Royal Domain's financial difficulties were greatly eased, and the royal house recovered considerable land from the Great High Minister Clans.

But after the Royal Domain's military strength recovered, Luo Su began reclaiming the powers transferred away during Xiong Dun's rebellion and once again dispatched ministers to the various feudal states.

He also hoped to make changes to the Hereditary Office and Stipend System within the Royal Domain. He wanted to alter the Zhou State's fundamental institutions.

From this point onward, the feudal states and the Dukes and Ministers and nobles within the Royal Domain began resisting. Even the Marquis of Qi and the Duke of Song began disagreeing with some of his policies.

The Marquis of Qi and the Duke of Song were his most important allies. The Three States' allied army and the Son of Heaven's Six Armies in the Royal Domain guaranteed his military power.

Although Marquis Shen also counted among them, his prestige could not remotely compare with the Marquis of Qi's.

Luo Su felt little anger. He had tried, but apart from the Luo Clan's direct descendants, even the Luo State's ruling lineage opposed him.

This was reality. The Zhou State's inherent flaws could not be changed by the ruling class itself.

The flaws of Xia and Shang had been resolved through the revolutions of Tang and Wu. As for the Zhou State's, he did not know.

Luo Su straightened his robes and headdress, then rode his carriage to the royal palace, where the Queen Mother had arranged a banquet.

The guests were the Dukes and Ministers within the Royal Domain and the Lords Outside the Royal Domain who had come to Luoyi for Ji Xi's coming-of-age ceremony and assumption of personal rule.

But Luo Su knew this had been prepared for him. It was everyone's final ultimatum to him.

Luo Su knew it was time to abandon those radical reforms. Otherwise, even the less radical reforms capable of prolonging the Mandate of Heaven would fail.

As soon as Luo Su arrived, the lords and Dukes and Ministers crowded toward him.

"Duke of Luo, I brought this from my state especially to present to you."

"Duke of Luo, it has been so long. Your bearing remains as magnificent as ever, just like the Zhou State's ever-rising fortunes."

They eagerly expressed their warmth and goodwill toward Luo Su, as though they had not stirred those hidden currents themselves.

Luo Su returned their courtesies one by one.

He wondered how many of these nobles would still have descendants living a thousand years later.

Which generation of the Luo Clan's descendants will sweep these nobles who refuse to move with the times onto history's rubbish heap?

That night's banquet was lively, and the moonlight shone brightly. Luo Su's declaration left everyone at the feast feeling as though a moon had taken up residence in their hearts.

From the historical records, we can clearly see that Marquis of Luo Su was the most progressive member of the slave-owning nobility. He keenly recognized slavery's inherent flaws and attempted to change it.

His reforms cannot be called a failure. Western Zhou's institutions did indeed undergo many changes. Yet we can still see that he was a slave-owning noble, and all his reforms existed to protect slave owners' interests.

Thus, after encountering widespread opposition, particularly when the very forces supporting his reforms also opposed him, he recognized that social transformation had not yet reached this stage and decisively halted some of his more radical reforms.

His family, however, preserved these policies throughout. After ironware appeared and productive capacity advanced dramatically, they successfully led all the All Xia states onto the path toward abolishing slavery.

He was the most progressive person of his era, without exception. -Institutional Change in the Pre-Qin Period