"Excellent!"
"Wonderful!"
Inside Taiwu Hall in the imperial palace, Xiao Yan paced briskly back and forth, loudly voicing his approval. Everyone could hear the joy pouring from his heart. He abruptly turned to Luo Xianzhi and praised him. "Lingxiu, you truly are a great talent. This is an astonishingly brilliant plan that even your father never thought of. I believe you are fully capable of becoming a man like him."
A faint smile curved Luo Xianzhi's lips. The emperor liked comparing him to his father, but that was the fashion of the age, especially when father and son succeeded one another as chancellor. Although Luo Xianzhi was not yet chancellor, everyone knew that, if things continued this way, he would be sooner or later.
He accepted every word of the emperor's praise. Wielding the Record of Clans as both a cudgel and a sweet date was a stroke he took particular pride in. This move alone would be enough to leave his name in the annals.
Xiao Yan remained overjoyed. He now felt that summoning Luo Xianzhi from Gusu to Jianye had been his finest move. "With this, we will be able to control the aristocratic clans to some degree. As their influence declines, the strength of our Liang court will grow."
Luo Xianzhi's political sensitivity instantly caught something deeply wrong in Xiao Yan's words. A chill ran through him as he realized that the emperor was already beginning to crave quick results.
Most rulers in the world suffered from this failing-or rather, most people did. They insisted on seeing results in the short term and disliked laying the groundwork. They were unwilling to be the sort of people who believed, "Success need not come in my time, but my part in it must be assured."
Of course, this also