Xiao Qing pondered, about to agree, when Liang Xiao spoke first, "This is usurpation, a crime for which I deserve death and cannot accept. He who dares to accept the Nine Bestowments is like an enfeoffed king of another surname, and all under heaven shall strike him down!"
Wang Canghai suddenly thought of Cao Cao in "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" and looked at He Wanli, understanding dawning in his heart.
No matter how He Wanli tried to persuade him, Liang Xiao refused to accept. Xiao Qing, following suit, announced that the matter would be shelved.
At today's court session, regardless of the topic, He Wanli, Du Gu Qun, and others spoke of Liang Xiao with utmost respect, appearing completely convinced.
Xiao Qing understood, of course, that they had no choice but to be more compliant than ever.
This left her with no excuse to reprimand these families, nor could she easily dismiss them.
However, this would not affect her reforms!
Liang Xiao sized up the obsequious He Wanli and the others, finding the situation quite troublesome.
His original intention was to gradually push these aristocratic clans out of the center of power, but using a strategy of apparent promotion with hidden demotion wouldn't solve the issue for so many officials.
They knew they had lost influence and temporarily abandoned their resistance, opting for complete obedience in hopes of retaining their official positions.
But he did not want a nest of ticking time bombs around Xiao Qing.
The method of selecting talent was also unsuitable for these esteemed court officials.
Before the court session ended, Xiao Qing formally appointed Zhang Yang as the Vice Minister of Works, concurrently serving as a Tongyi Da Fu, effectively taking over Liang Xiao's position.
As the Minister of Works, Liang Xiao still had the right to participate in discussions regarding the Ministry of Works, and the Vice Minister of Works was of little consequence.
In a building dedicated to the Ministry of Works, Liang Xiao watched workers mixing cement in the distance and listened to Zhang Yang's explanation.
"We have been researching and experimenting for over half a year. This cement requires a certain time to fully solidify, and it needs constant improvement in the short term, so it cannot be put into large-scale use immediately. As for the tools for grinding cement powder, stone rollers can be used!"
Liang Xiao looked at the cement ground in the distance. Its color was already close to modern cement.
The greatest benefit of cement for Da Qian was in road construction!
To become rich, build roads first.
Smooth roads and efficient transportation facilitate commerce and trade, and allow for faster troop movements, making it easier to deploy forces across the land.
"The work of gradual adjustment will be left to the Ministry of Works. I hope to see the production of the highest quality cement within two years."
Huang Xing, the Minister of Works, confidently replied, "Marquis An Guo, rest assured, it will be done within a year!"
Liang Xiao finally felt satisfied.
"Marquis! His Majesty urgently summons you!"
Just then, Liang Xiao's personal guard rushed in with an urgent report.
Upon returning to the imperial study, Liang Xiao found Xiao Qing and the three Grand Ministers staring intently at a letter on the table, their faces filled with surprise.
"Brother Xiao, look..." Xiao Qing immediately pushed the letter towards Liang Xiao.
Liang Xiao scanned it and was also startled.
This was a secret letter sent with urgent dispatch from Li Xiuyun himself, detailing Ye Chong's partial findings from six hundred volumes of ancient texts.
Six hundred years ago, during the reign of the Great Zhou Dynasty, a "white foreign race" from the west had attacked the western borders of the Great Zhou Dynasty, slaughtering over a million of its people!
The Great Zhou Dynasty urgently mobilized its troops, and the Great Zhou Emperor personally led the campaign to the western frontier for a protracted decisive battle against this white foreign race.
With over two hundred thousand troops on both sides, they clashed for months, ultimately resulting in the white foreign race's retreat, with their marshal even being slain by a Great Zhou Martial Saint!
After the white foreign race's defeat, the Great Zhou Emperor relentlessly interrogated the captives, finally uncovering the truth about this foreign race.
The Gui Fang, defeated by the Shang in ancient times, had fled to a cold land five thousand li northwest of the western regions. They slowly grew in power, conquering the western continent, annihilating countless races, and plundering the wealth and culture of the west, eventually forming the "Tian Ri Kingdom"!
The Tian Ri Kingdom, proud of its strength, attacked without declaration wherever it went. Fifteen hundred years later, it returned to the western borders of the Great Zhou Dynasty, intending to seek revenge on this land.
At that time, the Great Zhou Dynasty was already extremely weak. It still managed to win this war by mobilizing the entire nation, but this exhausted its national strength. Fifty years later, it was replaced by the Great Heng Kingdom.
The captives from the Tian Ri Kingdom confessed that they had been utterly terrified by the Great Zhou Martial Saint. For even their invincible war god had died at the hands of the Great Zhou Martial Saint, the Emperor of the Tian Ri Kingdom had even made his name a taboo.
But what truly shocked Xiao Qing and the others was the subsequent content written by Li Xiuyun.
The name of the Great Zhou Martial Saint was recorded in the historical annals of the Great Zhou.
Liang Xiao!!
Among the six hundred volumes of history, there were also historical records of the Great Heng Kingdom that mentioned the King of Donghai.
In his youth, the King of Donghai had obtained the weapon of the Great Zhou Martial Saint, a divine halberd and a treasured sword. He then campaigned far and wide, expanding the territory of the Great Heng Kingdom.
The reason the King of Donghai was successfully assassinated was because the assassin, from the Great Zhou royal family, was a descendant of the Great Zhou Martial Saint. His name was Liang Xiao, which surprised the King of Donghai, causing him to accept his death with equanimity.
"The Great Zhou Martial Saint, and the youth who assassinated the King of Donghai, both share this name, Brother Xiao..." Xiao Qing gazed expectantly at Liang Xiao.
"Could it be that the consort is a reincarnation of the Great Zhou Martial Saint?" Ning Xuejun murmured.
"It's just a coincidence," Liang Xiao said with a wry smile.
Apart from the "Heavenly General" memories he had acquired by chance, and some special materials in this world, as well as the peculiar "Clan Treasure" of the Sword Tribe, everything else in this world that Liang Xiao understood was perfectly normal.
He had never heard of anyone cultivating "true qi" or "spiritual energy."
Even his father-in-law, Jian Sheng Jian Nanfeng, was merely skilled in swordsmanship, immensely strong, and agile.
However, the contents within were still too astonishing!
"Perhaps the assassin of the King of Donghai only knew of the King of Donghai's past and used his ancestor Liang Xiao's name to plot the assassination," Wang Canghai explained.
Liang Xiao merely nodded slightly, his mind racing.
He had a rough idea why this world's history had taken such a drastically different course after the Qin Dynasty.
The topographical map left by the Dongye clan, detailing mineral resources, had locations that were entirely different from what Liang Xiao knew of his homeland.
In the pre-Qin period, bronze artifacts were prevalent, and the resources available at the time were limited.
After the Qin Dynasty, the scarcity of iron ore, sulfur, and other resources created a butterfly effect, greatly altering history.
Da Qian was approximately five hundred years after the end of the Great Zhou Dynasty.
This meant that the Tian Ri Kingdom had also formed a nation later, and for two thousand years, they had not forgotten their desire to return to this land, eventually acting under the name of the Tian Ri tribe, secretly sabotaging this land.
The founding emperor of the Great Heng Kingdom had made the gravest mistake of burning a large number of books from the previous dynasty, leading to a significant cultural gap, and also massacred the Great Zhou royal family.
And all these sins were borne by the King of Donghai for his elder brother, paying with his life as atonement.
"I hope Brother Xiao can also become the taboo name of the Tian Ri tribe!" Xiao Qing snorted.
Liang Xiao chuckled in amusement.
The Tian Ri tribe was five thousand li from the western regions. That would place it tens of thousands of li from the capital of Da Qian.
A military expedition would likely take more than half a year just for travel, so it would have to be entrusted to others.
At the very least, they had to deal with the two countries, possibly ruled by members of the Tian Ri tribe, first.
The Peacock Dynasty and the Kushan Dynasty, bordering Da Qian!