After returning to her residence in the government office, Xiao Bai sat cross-legged on the bed and cultivated with two pieces of spiritual jade in her hands.
Li Mu took out the Ice Silk Soft Armor and the Earth-rank flying sword that the Empress had bestowed upon him. He walked to the bedside and said, "You can wear this soft armor. You can also change that sword from before …"
Xiao Bai shook her head repeatedly. "No, no, this is a gift from Her Majesty to Benefactor."
Li Mu said, "Be good. Just take it when I tell you to. I have better things."
Liu Hanyan and Wanwan were on Mount Baiyun and did not lack treasures. Xiao Bai only had the sword that Li Mu had given her from the government office.
The Empress's reward this time was just enough to help her upgrade her equipment.
Li Mu took out Xiao Bai's previous sword and swung it at the Earth Grade Flying Sword. The Earth Grade Flying Sword was undamaged, but a chip appeared on the previous sword.
The difference in quality of magic treasures was very difficult to make up for with nurturing.
Xiao Bai obediently put on the soft armor and put away the Flying Sword. She said, "Thank you, Benefactor."
Li Mu sat on the bedside and patted her head. He said, "We're family. There's no need to thank me."
Xiao Bai rubbed her head against Li Mu's hand. Li Mu sat cross-legged on the bed and cultivated with her.
Before the Inner Guard had news, all he had to do was wait. During this time, he planned to use the mental power in his body to cultivate.
By now, Li Mu had a deep understanding of mental power.
This power existed in his body and could increase the speed at which he guided Spiritual Qi. Whether it was guided from heaven and earth or absorbed from spiritual jade, it was several times faster than when he did not use mental power.
In other words, this was using hard work to make up for the lack of innate talent.
Some cultivators with mediocre aptitude and no special constitution could cultivate as fast as those with Pure Yin, Pure Yang, and Five Elements Bodies if they were supported by a large amount of telekinesis.
There were many ways to obtain psychokinesis. Buddhists could enlighten the world, Daoists could exterminate demons and devils, the imperial court could govern the country, or like Li Mu, punishing evil and upholding justice for the people, they could obtain psychokinesis from the people.
There were also some heretical sects that established their own sects. They obtained psychokinesis by fooling the common people and recruiting believers. In the end, psychokinesis was just a kind of subjective emotional power produced by humans. If the common people were brainwashed and became fanatical believers of the heretical path, the psychokinesis they produced would be several times or even dozens of times that of a normal person.
These Corrupt path believers were the most dangerous. With just the slightest bit of enticement, they would disregard their own lives and do some extremely dangerous things.
Therefore, the imperial court had always spared no effort to exterminate this kind of Heretical Cultivation.
Under the urging of psychokinesis, the spiritual jades were absorbed by Li Mu at a speed visible to the naked eye and turned into dust.
Li Mu had entered the Spirit Concentrating Realm for some time now. His magical power had also increased by quite a bit compared to the beginning.
However, he was still very far away from the Fourth Realm.
The magical power needed to advance to the next level was like a bottomless pit. With Li Mu's constitution, it would take several years for him to cultivate normally, and this was under the condition that he had the support of spiritual jades.
If he were to dual cultivate with Liu Hanyan, this time could be shortened to a year.
If he could obtain psychokinesis from the common people of Luoyang, the time it would take would be even shorter.
After a small increase in his magical power, Li Mu tried the Nine Syllables Mantra again and discovered that he could already use the "Swordsman" formula.
Of the first four words of the Nine Syllables Mantra, the "Confrontation" formula was a thunder technique. With Li Mu's Spirit Concentrating Realm cultivation, he could at most release a few bolts of "Heavenly Purple Thunder". Under normal circumstances, only Transcendent Realm cultivators had the opportunity to come into contact with thunder techniques. The Heavenly Purple Thunder was an advanced thunder technique used by Fifth Realm cultivators in the Destiny Realm.
A dao technique that could surpass two levels was considered superior among all dao techniques.
Although this type of purple thunder could not cause much damage to Fifth Realm cultivators, it was enough to crush Fourth Realm cultivators in terms of level.
Li Mu had already mastered the "Army" formula and the "Fighting" formula. Now, he could also easily use the "Swordsman" formula to directly mobilize the power of Heaven and Earth to recover his magical power. When he was in the Prefecture City, Li Mu had already experienced the last few moves with the help of Chu Jiang Of Gojoseon's Great Formation of Eighteen Yin Prisons. However, to truly use his own magical power, he would probably have to wait until he reached the Transcendent Realm.
Early in the morning, Li Mu brought Xiao Bai and patrolled the Luoyang as usual. When they passed by the Palace City, they could not help but take a few glances inside.
Without any special circumstances, the Great Zhou Court Assembly was held once every three days. He wondered what the situation was like in the court today.
Ziwei Palace.
Today's court assembly was still a stage for the old party and the new party. After the officials from both sides engaged in intense debate regarding several court matters, each side gained something and each side lost something.
As usual, Her Majesty, the Empress, whose figure could only be vaguely seen behind the curtains, still did not speak. The court assembly was still hosted by her personal female official.
At this moment, the officials were discussing a memorial.
This memorial was from a minor official in the Luoyang yamen. It bypassed the Minister of Governmental Affairs and passed directly to Her Majesty through the Inner Guards.
Generally speaking, officials of the fourth rank and above were qualified to pass memorials directly to Her Majesty. Those below the fourth rank would first pass memorials to the Minister of Governmental Affairs. If necessary, the Minister of Governmental Affairs would then pass them to Her Majesty.
However, there were also some officials who would take advantage of the situation and pass memorials directly to Her Majesty through various methods, hoping to gain Her Majesty's appreciation and take a shortcut to the officialdom. They would reach the heavens in one step and soar to the clouds.
The memorial was written in hopes that the court would abolish the law of using silver in lieu of crimes in the Great Zhou's law. This matter was occasionally raised by officials in the court, but in the end, it was left unsettled.
After all, for most people in the court, this law was beneficial to them. Even if a portion of them agreed to abolish it, they would still remain silent after considering their own interests.
A few officials from the Censorate were the first to step forward.
"Your Majesty, I believe that the law of using silver in lieu of crimes encourages unhealthy practices and should be abolished a long time ago."
"I second the motion. If a violation of the law can be pardoned with silver, where is the dignity of the law?"
"If this law can be abolished, the hearts of the people will be more united, and the country will benefit …"
…
After this topic was raised, several officials immediately stepped forward and expressed their agreement.
Not long after, an official from the Ministry of Revenue stepped forward and said, "A portion of the revenue of the national treasury comes from silver in lieu of crimes. If it is abolished, I'm afraid the national treasury will be tight …"
The first official to step forward said, "Lord Wei, don't you think that using silver in lieu of crimes will cause the court to lose the hearts of the people?"
The official from the Ministry of Revenue did not deny it. He said, "Although this law has lost some of the hearts of the people, it has been implemented for so many years, and the court has always been stable. Governing a country is not settling cases. It cannot be purely based on right and wrong. It has to be balanced. If the national treasury loses this portion of revenue each year, where will the repair costs of the Imperial City's yamen, the salaries of the officials, and the disaster relief funds allocated to the various prefectures come from?"
The official opened his mouth but did not know how to refute.
At this time, another official from the Ministry of Rites stepped forward and said, "The silver in lieu of crimes was created when the late emperor was still alive. After several modifications, it has already eliminated the majority of serious crimes. It not only ensures the hearts of the people, but also increases the revenue of the national treasury. Do the officials think that you are more wise than the late emperor?"
With these words, the officials who had just agreed were immediately silenced.
They could refute the reason of the official from the Ministry of Revenue, but who would dare to refute the words of the official from the Ministry of Rites?
Even the person behind the curtain could not say that she was more wise than the late emperor, let alone them, the officials. Whoever dared to admit it would be disgraceful.
An official from the Ministry of Revenue and an official from the Ministry of Rites blocked the mouths of everyone in the court.
Whether it was the new party or the old party, those who could be called "party" in the Divine Capital belonged to the upper echelons. Silver in lieu of crimes was beneficial to them. With these two taking the lead, people quickly stepped forward one after another.
"I oppose this proposal."
"I also oppose."
"I second …"
…
Beside a pillar in the corner of the Crape Myrtle Hall, a charming woman held a book in one hand and a brush in the other. She wrote unhurriedly, "The Minister Counsellor of the Ministry of Revenue, the Minister Counsellor of the Ministry of Rites, the Minister Counsellor of the Ministry of Justice …"
When Li Mu returned to the yamen, he saw that Mr. Mei was already waiting for him there.
Li Mu walked forward and asked, "How is it?"
"Like before, too many people oppose this proposal. We can only put it aside for now." Mr. Mei shook his head and handed him a book. "The leaders of the opposition are all written here."
Li Mu inquired about the situation in the imperial court today from her, and also learned some detailed information.
The Ministry of Revenue's reason was not based on any evidence. As long as the punishment was combined or the amount was increased, the problem of the national treasury's revenue could be solved.
The problem with the silver in lieu of crimes was not that the punishment was silver, but that only the punishment was used for crimes.
Since those people did not care about the silver, they might as well punish them more. The national treasury's revenue in this area would not decrease but increase.
As for the Ministry of Rites' reason, it was purely baseless accusations.
If the rules set by the previous emperor could not be changed by the descendants, then society would not be able to progress. These were all excuses they came up with.
Mr. Mei said, "Actually, this is not a big deal. Most of the officials above the fourth rank do not care and did not participate. The ones who really oppose are the fifth and sixth rank officials. Their positions are not high, but they are very difficult to deal with. Do you have any ideas?"
Li Mu thought for a moment and said, "I do have an idea, but it will cost more silver. I wonder if Your Majesty can reimburse me?"
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