Chapter 1171: Announcement

Magistrate Huang added, “Every year, there are always conflicts between clans over water and land. Initially, it starts as an individual conflict, but later on, it becomes a family conflict and eventually develops into a clan conflict. Families are meant to protect their clansmen, and the clansmen strengthened the clan, so the two complement each other. It’s just that as the clans grow in power, they constantly toe the borders of the law. When dealing with them, we can neither be too lenient nor too harsh.”

Little Treasure asked, “Is there no favorable solution?”

“After the Sui and Tang dynasties, the power of the aristocratic families has been greatly weakened. After the Five Kingdoms Rebellion, Emperor Shizong ruled the world and tried his best to suppress the aristocratic families which led to the power of the clans weakening. I’m guessing this is the limit.” Magistrate Huang said, “I really can’t think of any reliable way for the Imperial Court to further weaken the power of the clans.”

County Lieutenant Qin nodded as well. “The aristocratic families are nothing to be afraid of now. Considering our Emperor is benevolent, we can’t just use troops to weaken the power of the aristocratic families like Emperor Shizong, right?”

Little Treasure said solemnly, “If the aristocratic family hasn’t committed any crimes, His Majesty naturally won’t do such an unjust thing.”

Magistrate Huang and County Lieutenant Qin sighed as well.

Little Bear looked from one to the other and said in confusion, “If the clan is powerful, can’t we just make them less powerful?”

Little Treasure rolled his eyes at his brother. “Aren’t we thinking about how to weaken the power of the clans now?”

“Isn’t that simple? We can just emphasize individual rights and forbid them from sacrificing so much for their clan, right?” Little Bear said nonchalantly. “Isn’t the reason why the clan is so powerful because they keep squeezing people dry and making them sacrifice for the clan at the expense of oneself? If we can convince people to think more for themselves, how powerful can the clans be without individuals disregarding their personal benefits?”

The other three people at the table were stunned as they stared at Little Bear in shock.

Little Bear stared at them for a moment and asked hesitantly, “Did I say something wrong?”

“No.” Little Treasure revealed a big smile and said happily, “This idea is not bad.”

Hearing the devious idea, Magistrate Huang and County Lieutenant Qin looked at each other in shock. “Erm… by emphasizing individuality, wouldn’t it make people selfish…?”

Smiling, Little Treasure said, “It’s also selfish to emphasize the clan. If you’re really afraid that the people will be selfish, why don’t we emphasize the country? That way, both sides will be covered.”

Magistrate Huang and County Lieutenant Qin were dumbfounded. They felt that they were too old to keep up with the pace of the young people.

Little Treasure waited for Magistrate Huang and County Lieutenant Qin to leave before smacking Little Bear’s head. “You brat, why didn’t you suggest this earlier?”

Little Bear felt wronged. “Because I just thought of it? I told you immediately as the idea came to mind.”

Little Treasure’s eyes lit up. “We have to plan this slowly. If we directly emphasize individuality, the world might not buy it. We have to lead them to come up with the conclusion themselves. If we want people to think, we have to ask questions first. Little Bear, I finally know why Fourth Aunt wanted to start The Great Qi Times. With that newspaper, there’s so much that we can do.”

Little Bear scratched his head in confusion and asked, “What do you plan to do?”

With a smile, Little Treasure said, “Let’s publish what we’ve seen and heard along the way in The Great Qi Times. Isn’t there a section in that newspaper that specializes in publishing all kinds of strange stories? Let’s write a letter to Fourth Aunt and tell her about our intent to publish articles in that section.”

He had thought of these things because of Madam Zhao and her daughter. Even if those people could not think of this, he could raise the questions and plant the seeds for them first. One day, these seeds would germinate and grow into trees.

Little Treasure and Little Bear wrote to Mu Yangling that night. Not only did they ask her for the space in the newspaper, but they also sent the first article over. It was about Madam Zhao and her daughter.

When Mu Yangling received the letter, she was surprised at the sharpness of the two children. In the era she lived in her previous life, after the war and reform, the clans’ power had weakened a lot. At the very least, it was very difficult for them to be above the law.

Although the laws of Great Qi were important now, the power of the clan was everywhere.

It would naturally be good if the two children could further weaken the power of the clans.

Mu Yangling changed the locations and names in the manuscript before sending it out. “Get The Great Qi Times to publish this. In the future, leave that section on strange stories for Little Treasure and Little Bear.”

She then sent the duo a book of strange stories. The two children’s writing was really not very flattering, so she reckoned it’d do them good to learn how other authors wrote stories of this genre.

By the time Little Treasure and Little Bear managed to buy a copy of the newspaper with their article published, it would be a few days later after they had left Qiu County.

At this moment, they were still in Qiu County.

Having woken up, Niuniu respectfully kowtowed to Little Treasure and Little Bear.

County Lieutenant Qin had helped Madam Zhao get hired as a servant in a rich family in the county, earning about 300 copper coins a month. Most importantly, her employer would cover three meals a day, so her expenses wouldn’t be high.

After renting a place to stay in the county, Madam Zhao hid all the money that Zhang Dazhu had left for her, planning to leave it for Niuniu as her dowry.

Little Treasure and Little Bear stayed in the county for two days. Now, Madam Zhao had settled down and it was impossible for Mother Zhang and Zhang Erzhu to leave. Also, the officials who went to the small village back then promised to take care of Madam Zhao and her daughter. Seeing this, the two of them left in satisfaction.

The two of them admired the beautiful scenery on their journey. The strange people they encountered were all written into stories to be published in The Great Qi Times, consisting of both injustices and admirable good deeds.

At first, not many people paid attention to this section in The Great Qi Times. As more and more articles were published, this section became the most popular section apart from the political section. Many people began to look forward to this section.

Little Treasure and Little Bear published an article in The Great Qi Times as traveling students. The readers could guess that the other party might be a teenager, which tempted the traveling students. Since these two traveling students could publish their experiences in the newspaper, could they do the same?

After all, didn’t all scholars pursue fame?

In this ancient era where transportation was inconvenient, it was very difficult to achieve this unless one was an extremely talented or virtuous scholar.

And how many people in this world possessed extraordinary talent and morals?

Seeing as these two people who published travel memoirs in The Great Qi Times had writing skills that paled in comparison to theirs, they felt even more confident in doing so.

They, too, had seen beautiful scenery and experienced many injustices. They had also seen all kinds of bizarre things. Whether it was experience or ability, they were not inferior to these two youths.

Considering The Great Qi Times was published in every county now, having their article published in the newspaper could allow one to achieve instant fame.

Many scholars were tempted. Someone began to test the waters by sending their travel memoir to King Rong’s Residence.

Zhu Liang, who was sorting out the calling cards, was speechless when he saw this article, but he still brought it to Mu Yangling.

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