After discussing the establishment of the Great Xia Supreme Court, Ouyang Shuo turned to ask Jiang Shang, "Do you have any solution to the conflict between the elites?"
Ouyang Shuo did not hide anything as Jiang Shang had already materialized as a Homo sapiens.
"According to Your Majesty, Elder Zhang has a son who previously held a position in the Federation?" Jiang Shang asked.
"That's right!"
Jiang Shang said, "Since that's the case, I suggest that Your Majesty issue an edict to recruit him into the imperial court."
Ouyang Shuo was taken aback before he laughed out loud. "Indeed, Elder has a solution. Let's act according to this plan."
"Your Majesty is wise!"
…
Gaia seventh year, 25th day of the second month. Under Ouyang Shuo's strong push, as well as the mediation of Jiang Shang, Zhang Liang, Wei Yang, and the other ministers, the Great Xia Supreme Court was finally established.
Ouyang Shuo personally inscribed the words "If the Emperor breaks the law, he shall be punished the same as the commoners". It was carved into a stone tablet and erected in front of the Great Xia Supreme Court to show Ouyang Shuo's determination and will to promote the rule of law.
Centralization of power and dictatorship did not mean breaking the rule of law. Ouyang Shuo had a clear understanding of this. The two were never contradictory and could go on the same track.
Under the premise of the rule of law, the implementation of dictatorship was the best explanation for the new generation of monarchical power.
Acting in this way was not only Ouyang Shuo's self-restraint, but it was also a form of restraint towards the Imperial Family, the civil and military officials, and his successor. It caused him to be unable to act unbridled and establish the foundation of the Imperial Dynasty.
Throughout China's five thousand years of history, a royal family that constantly centralized power without any restraint, a dynasty that treated the world as the royal family's private property and treated the commoners like pigs and dogs would not be able to maintain long-term stability.
China's thousands of years of history was just a cycle of feudal dynasties. There was no progress in society, and there were even a few regressions in a certain period of history.
In the end, China was torn to pieces by the western powers that had risen to power less than two hundred years ago.
What a painful lesson it was!
If not for the extraordinary resilience and tolerance of the Chinese civilization, how could they achieve the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation in a short hundred years in modern society?
Ouyang Shuo had to learn from the mistakes of the past.
Ouyang Shuo was not arrogant enough to think that he could single-handedly recreate a feudal dynasty on Planet Hope. At the same time, he could ensure that the dynasty would never wither.
He had not yet been blinded by victory and corrupted by power.
The chief justice of the Supreme Court was appointed by Ouyang Shuo as the dean of the Faculty of Law of Jingshi University. Han Feizi, a master of legalism and one of the great legalists, was a second-class official.
The position of Dean of the Law School was taken over by Vice Dean Shen Dao.
As a master of legalism, Han Feizi was deeply involved in the drafting of the Code of Great Xia. Moreover, he was not interested in politics. He stayed away from politics and maintained a neutral stance. He was the best candidate for the chief security officer.
Apart from the chief security officer, there were also four security officers.
Ouyang Shuo had personally appointed the five Grand Secretaries. In theory, as long as Ouyang Shuo did not remove them from their positions, their tenure would be unlimited, until they died or voluntarily applied for retirement.
…
Although a lot of work had been done in the early stages, the establishment of the Supreme Court of Great Xia still caused quite a stir in the imperial court, and the imperial court fell into chaos.
It would take some time to calm the storm.
Because of this, Ouyang Shuo wasn't in a hurry to make personnel changes and carry out a purge. He was waiting for an opportunity.
Three months passed, and the opportunity that Ouyang Shuo had been waiting for finally arrived. On the 3rd of March, Meng Tian led the troops to conquer South Sudan. On the 5th, Bai Qi led the army to conquer Kenya.
Great Xia's first military operation in East Africa achieved a great victory.
Once the news came out, the entire world was shocked.
Great Xia successively conquered two countries in East Africa, which greatly stimulated the European and American dynasties. Without exception, they all stepped up the pace of their invasion of the African continent. The entire African continent was plunged into the smoke of war.
Compared to the global shock, the aftermath of Great Xia's actions was orderly.
On the 10th of March, the imperial court issued an edict to promote the North Africa Garrison to the African Protectorate. The former North Africa Garrison Envoy, Mu Lanyue, was naturally promoted to the African Protectorate, becoming the third Border Protectorate of the dynasty.
In addition, South Sudan Province and Kenya Province were also established.
With the establishment of the two major provinces, a series of personnel changes followed. This was the opportunity that Ouyang Shuo had been waiting for for a long time.
The officials who were blacklisted in the court incident were taken advantage of by Ouyang Shuo to kick them to the African continent.
The imperial court issued an edict to relieve Pei Yun of her position as the head of the Civil Affairs Bureau and transfer her to the Governor of South Sudan Province. Pei Yun seemed to have been promoted from a minor rank three official to a major rank three official, but she was actually demoted to the remote African continent.
This was also a blow to the Pei clan by Ouyang Shuo.
The one to replace Pei Yun as the head of the Civil Affairs Bureau was none other than Zhang Bangxin, the son of Elder Zhang.
Previously, Ouyang Shuo had accepted Jiang Shang's suggestion and extended an olive branch to Zhang Bangxin. As expected, this person wasn't as patient as his father. He was quite moved, but he had some misgivings.
Under Ouyang Shuo's repeated invitations, he finally agreed to take up the post.
Zhang Bangxin had gone from an "outsider" to an important official in the imperial court. This caused many people to be envious. Ouyang Shuo's actions were firstly to pry open the doors to the elite class, and secondly, to buy a good bone with a thousand gold.
Ouyang Shuo didn't believe that the others wouldn't be moved by Zhang Bangxin's good start.
Just like that, Ouyang Shuo had beaten the Pei clan and "exiled" the troublemaker Pei Yun. He had also won over the hearts of the elite class. It could be said that he had killed two birds with one stone.
Even Jiang Shang couldn't help but sigh in admiration.
The imperial court issued an edict relieving Cao Can of his post as Yunnan's governor and transferring him to Kenya's governor. Doubtlessly, Cao Can was the provincial governor who had caused the most trouble among the local officials.
After the incident, Ouyang Shuo had also analyzed why Cao Can had the guts to impeach Jiang Shang. Moreover, his words were fierce and incisive.
In the end, there were two reasons.
Firstly, Cao Can was a meritorious founding minister of the Western Han Dynasty. Deep down, he still adhered to the Spring and Autumn and Warring States Period doctrine of "not punishing a great official". As such, he was instinctively opposed to the establishment of the Great Xia Supreme Court.
The most important reason was probably the second reason. Cao Can was arrogant because he was an old subordinate of Lingxi City and the most capable assistant of the current Southern Border Protector-General, Baihua.
Otherwise, so many officials could not understand why Cao Can, a person who did not have a violent personality, dared to have the guts to discuss the political policies of the imperial court.
Cao Can had probably forgotten who it was who had pushed him into the position of Yunnan's governor.
If it wasn't out of consideration for Baihua, Ouyang Shuo wouldn't have just sent Cao Can to Africa. He would've fired him to the end and made an example out of him.
The one who had replaced Cao Can as Yunnan's governor was the former Somali governor, Pei Ju.
Pei Ju was also from the Pei clan and was one of its most representative characters. Ouyang Shuo was suppressing Pei Yun while promoting him. This was truly puzzling.
The reason was actually quite simple.
First, even if it was to avoid arousing suspicion, Pei Ju had to leave Africa. Otherwise, if both Pei Ju and Pei Yun were governors of the African Protectorate, there would be a major problem.
Secondly, Pei Ju hadn't stepped out to cause trouble during this storm, regardless of whether he was truly farsighted or had hidden himself deeper than Pei Yun.
To Ouyang Shuo, this was enough.
Add to that the fact that Pei Ju was an old subject of the imperial court and had served as the Guilin County Governor, Star Prefecture Governor, and Somalia Governor with outstanding contributions, it was reasonable to summon him back from Africa.
This could also split the Pei clan apart, so why not?
As for the Somali governor position left by Pei Ju, Ouyang Shuo didn't appoint anyone because the imperial court had already decided to merge Somaliland Province into Ethiopia.
The Great Xia's expansion in Africa had only just begun, and they would conquer one country after another in the future. They couldn't establish a province for every country they conquered — that would be too bloated.
Hence, a reasonable annexation was the general trend, just like the imperial court's strategy in Southern Border.
In addition to the governor-general appointment, the imperial court decided to transfer a batch of officials from the imperial court and other provinces to supplement the newly established South Sudan and Kenya provinces.
There was no doubt that a large portion of these officials who had been transferred were the ones who had stirred up trouble in this storm. All of them had been sent to the African continent.
That was because this kind of adjustment was very obscure, and it was difficult for outsiders to see anything fishy.
As for those "sent" officials, some of them should be well aware of the situation. Even so, they could only obediently obey orders. Otherwise, they could forget about establishing a foothold in the Great Xia.
The Great Xia Code had a clear punishment for those who didn't obey orders.
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