Fearing being killed for his overwhelming merits, the empress decided to marry him.

"Insolence! You brat, shut your mouth and say no more!"

Shen Lang's words seemed to have touched a nerve with Li Hong, causing him to blush immediately.

"You don't understand, you simply don't understand how much suffering and hardship my ancestors endured when they entered the pass as barbarians and sought to rule the world!"

"You have no idea how difficult the situation our ancestors faced after entering the pass was."

"The Mingzhao Kingdom has fallen, but bandits are rampant everywhere within the pass. The former generals are all outwardly obedient but inwardly despise us barbarians from beyond the pass!"

"After the establishment of the Wu Zhao Kingdom, our ancestors faced threats from aristocratic families, sects, and even forces seeking to revive the nation. Do you know how difficult it was to face such an environment?"

"At that time, the eight battalion commanders who followed our ancestor into the pass were either old or dead. Faced with pressure from powerful families and gentry, many surviving veterans advised our ancestor to return to the pass more than once."

"But our ancestors persisted, first by compromising with the powerful families, and then using bloody methods to suppress rebellions in various places."

After the pressure eased, the Emperor used the power of the sects to suppress the powerful families, which gave him a chance to breathe and formulate the relevant laws and regulations for the Wu Zhao Kingdom.

Later, taking advantage of the fact that both the sects and aristocratic families were weakened, he adopted the imperial examination system, which had been abolished by the previous dynasty, to select talents, and proclaimed a promise that scholars from all over the world would rule the world together with the emperor.

Finally, the monopoly of aristocratic families on talent was broken. Do you know what kind of situation the restoration of the imperial examination system brought about?

Shen Lang chuckled lightly: "Isn't it just about letting the royal family kick out the aristocratic families, seize power for themselves, and strengthen central control?"

Li Hong: "I didn't expect you to even know this. It seems I underestimated you. Since you know the benefits of the imperial examination, don't you think it's great?"

Shen Lang clapped his hands and said expressionlessly, "Great, indeed great. The imperial examination system did end the system of aristocratic families recommending talents, and on the surface, it formed an advanced selection mechanism that only selected the talented."

Actually...

He sneered, "It's nothing more than using the imperial examination system to imprison the minds of scholars across the land, so that you can manipulate them at will."

Li Hong stared blankly at Shen Lang, then smiled after a long while: "It seems that the Empress of Great Chu is even more powerful than I thought, able to make a son-in-law like you understand so much about the art of rulership?"

Shen Lang laughed: "The so-called imperial tactics are nothing more than schemes and open plots by those in power to fool the ignorant. Using this as a means of governing a country, even if it can achieve temporary prosperity, it is destined to never become truly powerful."

Li Hong, you are not worthy to be compared to my wife. Your perspectives and values ​​are simply not on the same level.

Imperial tactics may bring benefits to those in power, but in the long run, they can be a devastating disaster for the nation and its people.

Li Hong smiled and shook his head: "Ignorance is bliss, indeed. But you're not wrong either; the art of rulership is indeed something that can't be brought to the table."

Actually, I don't like it either, but as one gets older, one becomes more and more fascinated by it. After all, being able to get subordinates to get things done for you with just a few words is quite fascinating.

Isn't it easier than doing everything personally? I'm old. Although I have the blessing of cultivation techniques and look no more than forty, my mental age is almost seventy.

At this point, Li Hong remained silent for a long time.

After a long pause, he slowly spoke: "I ascended the throne at the age of twenty, and it has been forty-eight years since then. What was I thinking when I first ascended the throne?"

They simply wanted to ensure that ordinary people would no longer go hungry, that everyone would have enough to eat, and that they would later eat better, have clothes to wear, and new clothes to wear during festivals.

Don't look at me like that. I was young once too, and I've seen how miserable life is for ordinary people. I even witnessed cannibalism when I was nine years old; it was truly tragic.

So, I swore back then that if I became emperor, I would ensure that all the people could have enough to eat.

To increase crop yields, I have sent envoys to neighboring states to collect seeds for cultivation, and have also recruited talented individuals skilled in agriculture from among the common people.

Finally, in the seventh year of my reign, I cultivated plant seeds that could produce nearly 500 catties per mu per season and were also cold-resistant.

Two harvests a year, nearly a thousand catties of grain—that should be enough to feed the people, right? I ask myself, haven't I done enough for the country and its people?"

Shen Lang remained silent, but in his heart he was already planning how to obtain the seeds and then bring them back to the Chu Kingdom for experimental planting.

"Not only that, I have also drastically reduced taxes for the people. In the early years of my reign, I reduced the land tax from 30% to 20%, in the third year to 10%, in the fifth year to 0.5%, and by the ninth year, the tax reduction was no more than 130%. I ask you, has your Chu Kingdom ever reduced taxes so drastically?"

Speaking of the benevolent policies implemented at the beginning of his reign, a gratified smile appeared on Li Hong's face.

It must be said that the first ten years after Li Hong ascended the throne were indeed the most relaxed political decade in Wu Zhao since the founding of the kingdom.

But soon, his face darkened again: "However, those unruly people have greatly disappointed me. I have been so good to them, but they not only do not know how to be grateful, they also repeatedly cause me trouble."

"When they are exploited by officials, they go to the capital to appeal to the emperor. When their houses are occupied by local gentry, they also come to appeal to the emperor. Do I not do my important work every day, but deal with these trivial matters?"

"What's even more infuriating is that some people are spreading rumors about me behind my back, saying that my purpose in making my southern tour was to seek out women and pleasures..."

“Only then did I understand what the late emperor meant when he said that the people should only struggle for three meals a day. If they are too full, they will have other thoughts.”

Shen Lang immediately chimed in: "So, ten years later, you began to adopt a high-pressure approach to governance over the people, allowing corrupt officials and cruel bureaucrats to exploit and bully them."

Turning a blind eye to their demands and allowing corruption and embezzlement to run rampant across the country? Is this your excuse for not doing so?

Li Hong: "That's right. In the end, in the hearts of the people, I am just a foreigner. No matter what I do, it will be in vain. This is the prejudice in people's hearts."

Since that's the case, the only way to secure my empire is to trample their dignity underfoot, let them starve and suffer poverty, and live without any dignity.

Experience has shown that only severe punishment can deal with these ungrateful woeful individuals.

"Hahaha."

Shen Lang suddenly laughed, a laugh filled with utter disdain.

"Is this your true thought? But I'm sorry, all I see is a tyrant putting on a show for the people at the beginning of his reign."

The common people bypass local officials and petition you directly, not because they have nothing better to do.

Rather, it's because local officials are unable or unwilling to solve their problems.

They sought you out because they believed you were different from the previous Wu Zhao ruler, and that you truly loved your people like your own children.

But little did they know, this was all wishful thinking on their part. No matter how adorable a wolf cub may be, it is still a wolf at heart.

You're essentially the same as your wolf ancestors, worse than beasts.