Received detailed information from the west in the early hours of this day, the first of May.

The night of April 30th had just passed, and Li Pin had been discussing current affairs late into the night with several like-minded, up-and-coming Confucian scholars, all of whom were in high spirits. It was past midnight, already May, when he had barely fallen asleep that the steward came knocking on his bedroom door, delivering news of the Battle of Hanzhong.

The night in Fuzhou was clear and bright, and summer had already arrived, making the climate pleasant. After reading the message, Li Pin draped a light robe over himself and sat for a long time under the banyan tree in the courtyard, knowing that on this night, he and many others would likely be unable to sleep.

The situation was still tense. Although a large number of people had flooded into Fuzhou, designated resettlement areas had been established, and the city was still under curfew at night. At this time, those who could receive the information included him, some members of the Princess Royal's府 (Fu) and the Secret Intelligence Division, and of course, His Majesty in the palace would certainly not miss such news.

He could somewhat imagine how the young Emperor would view the information before him.

The Wu Dynasty of the past had taken many wrong paths. According to that Mr. Ning, it owed many debts and left behind countless messes, to the point where it had even reached the brink of nominal existence. Now, only this remnant of "orthodoxy," holding onto a corner of Fujian, remained, and in many ways, it was a result of their own mistakes.

However, since ascending the throne in Jiangning last year and establishing the dynastic title as "Revival," this new Emperor had indeed shown people a glimmer of hope in despair. After arriving in Fuzhou, the young Emperor's actions were unconventional to many conservatives, but in the eyes of more people, the new ruler's numerous measures showed vigorous vitality and a spirit of enterprise.

Here, Li Pin was perhaps one of the people who had followed him the closest and seen the most clearly.

From his bravery in breaking the cauldrons and sinking the boats at Jiangning, determined to fight his way out, to his remorse during the journey, after arriving in Fuzhou, the Emperor personally handled a large number of affairs. He would visit the refugee resettlement sites, inquire in detail about the subsequent procedures, and actively ask the refugees who had moved from other places about their hopes for the future. During this period, he even suffered several assassination attempts.

In April, people built a stone monument on the northwest square of Fuzhou to commemorate the people of Jiangnan who died during the Jurchen invasion. Emperor Wu, wearing armor and white silk, cut open his palm with a long sword and mixed blood into the wine, then bowed three times to worship the dead. These actions did not conform to the regulations of the Ministry of Rites, but Emperor Wu did not care.

After the sacrifice, an assassin attempted to assassinate him. Emperor Wu ordered the captured assassin to be brought before the stone monument, face to face, to state the reasons for the assassination, and then ordered the assassin to be executed.

These approachable or hands-on, or iron-blooded and upright actions could only be regarded as external manifestations. If there were only these, high-ranking officials would not have a high evaluation of him, but what truly made people feel secure was the handling of various detailed matters under this appearance.

After arriving in Fuzhou, the court led by Emperor Wu first conducted a statistical survey of all money, food, and materials below. At the same time, he ordered the original officials of Fuzhou to cooperate with the Ministry of Revenue and the Ministry of Works to submit and review the list of all artisans in Fuzhou. Fuzhou was originally a good port, and the Wu Dynasty's shipbuilding industry was most developed here. Emperor Wu had paid attention to artisans and investigative studies when he was still a prince, so people didn't find it strange at first. But by the end of March and the beginning of April, the Ministry of Revenue officials, after preliminary integration, began a new round of population census and household registration.

In the original Wu Dynasty, the number of scholars was already very large, and there was never a shortage of officials. After Emperor Wu arrived in Fuzhou, while carefully selecting officials to enter the court, he paid more attention to the integration of the clerical ranks.

Since the second half of last year, the Wu Dynasty had been facing disintegration. Emperor Wu broke through from Jiangning all the way to retreat and transfer, and also carried many people with him. Although it was said that the lives of the people were equal, in cases where choices had to be made, Emperor Wu ultimately gave priority to ensuring the lives of those scribes, shopkeepers, and artisans who could write, calculate, and had skills.

After arriving in Fuzhou in batches, the scribes and shopkeepers who could write and calculate were mostly incorporated into the Ministry of Revenue, and the names of the artisans were included in the Ministry of Works. What Emperor Wu did first was to train the local artisans in Fuzhou using the artisan roster as a base. When the clerical ranks were initially integrated, they began to register households and conduct statistics on the people of Fuzhou, especially the refugees. And household registration seemed tedious, but it had always been the most reliable method for a regime to strengthen its control over the lowest levels.

At the beginning of the year, Tie Sanwu controlled the Fuzhou regime. Zhou Pei, Cheng Zhouhai, and others secretly acted, uniting local forces to cut off Tie Sanwu's head and easily take over Fuzhou. Speaking of which, the local gentry and armed forces naturally had their own demands for the new court. In everyone's imagination, with the Wu Dynasty collapsing to this point, the newly ascended young king would inevitably be eager to counterattack, and in such a situation of being besieged on all sides, he would actively win over all parties, greatly rewarding his supporters in order to buy bones with gold.

But when they started to re-count and register households, people realized that the seemingly radical new king was actually adopting a style of chewing up one place and digesting it completely. In Fuzhou in April, there were many refugees pouring in from all over the place, transported by fleets, and the work of statistics and resettlement was very busy. Occasionally, there were also chaos and assassinations, but the troubles caused were not great. In the end, it was because the new king and his team had treated these things as training, and had prepared plans for everything, so that there was a response once something happened.

Therefore, in the eyes of those who were interested, Fuzhou was currently in a busy, complex, yet relatively well-organized atmosphere. The new king's control over the city was expanding every day, and for anyone who sincerely expected a wise ruler and was loyal to the Wu Dynasty, the scene before them would only make them feel gratified.

And even if some people were unwilling, it didn't matter. Emperor Wu had carried out strong military reorganization after breaking through and transferring from Jiangning. Now, more than 100,000 elite soldiers were controlled by generals such as Yue Fei and Han Shizhong. Although a large part of the Wu Dynasty's territory had collapsed, Emperor Wu still had more than enough strength to swallow a Fuzhou, or even the entire Fujian, with these remaining forces.

While integrating the Ministry of War, rectifying military discipline, training officials of the Ministry of Revenue, and starting household registration, the reform of the Ministry of Works was also being carried out vigorously. At the upper level of the Ministry of Works, several active-minded artisans were promoted to be chief officials. For the artisans who had followed the investigative studies academy in Jiangning, Emperor Wu promoted anyone who had made great contributions, and even granted titles to two of them, and publicly promised that as long as they could make great achievements in the development of investigative studies in the future, he would not be stingy with official positions and titles.

In the past, the ranks of the Wu Dynasty were scholars, farmers, artisans, and merchants in that order. In the past few years, merchants had used the power of money to slightly improve their position, but after all, it had not been recognized by the regime. Emperor Wu did not have such power when he was a prince, but now, he was actually going to substantially raise and recognize the status of artisans.

Some old Confucian scholars and old ministers who followed Emperor Wu south had more or less expressed their opposition, and some had only vaguely reminded Emperor Wu to think twice and not be so radical. But now that the army was in Emperor Wu's hands, the officials below were available, intelligence was assisted by the Princess Royal and the Secret Intelligence Division, and Li Pin's newspaper was available for publicity. Although these great scholars and old ministers could more or less connect the forces of the local gentry and clans in various places of the Wu Dynasty, when Emperor Wu was determined to eat one piece at a time, the influence and restraint of these ministers on him gradually decreased to the lowest level.

Under the influence of these methods, conservative Confucian scholars might have had some criticisms about the new Emperor's rebelliousness and "lack of stability," but for a large number of young Confucian scholars, such a king was undoubtedly exciting. In recent days, a large number of Confucian scholars had come to Li Pin, and when talking about the new king's methods and strategies, they were all excited and full of praise.

Yes, as long as Fuzhou could be thoroughly digested and mastered, the role it could play would be far greater than hastily restoring the entire Fujian or obtaining a Jiangnan that was not of the same mind. Once the new king's control over Fuzhou became meticulous, the entire world could be well-organized when it was promoted in the future. Under this premise, the situation of local gentry and powerful families only caring about themselves and being weak could also be reformed.

Looking at history, which dynasty could achieve this kind of control over the bottom level that was not the image of a Martial Emperor?

While praising Emperor Wu's actions, people also began to reflect on many things in past Confucianism. In the past two months, the most discussed topic in the Confucian circle of Fuzhou was the ranking of scholars, farmers, artisans, and merchants. In the past, it was believed that these four types of people were ranked from front to back, and were inferior to each other. Now it seemed that this concept must be changed, and the status of the artisan and merchant classes must be valued.

Subsequently, various theories emerged. The two most representative theories were: The relatively conservative one believed that scholars, as the managers and coordinators of this world, should be in the first rank, and then farmers, artisans, and merchants each had their uses, and should be treated equally and encouraged to develop; while the more radical idea was that scholars, farmers, artisans, and merchants should all be treated equally, belonging to the same level, with no distinction between high and low. Of course, the reason why this statement was radical was because it was stuck on the question of how farmers could be treated equally with scholars. For example, people could grant official positions and titles to artisans and merchants to show their status, but how should farmers be commended and encouraged? Because of this question, most people thought this idea was good, but it was mostly impossible to implement.

The new king's wisdom and vigor, and the changes in the world, could encourage some young people. Li Pin often communicated with these people, guiding them to do some practical things on the one hand, and vaguely feeling that the emergence of Neo-Confucianism might have reached a possible key point.

Of course, for him, the perception and emotions towards the current events and changes were more complex.

Young people who had not seen much of the world, or Confucian scholars who had seen much of the world, might all feel encouraged by the changes happening here - indeed, the turmoil that the Wu Dynasty had experienced was too great. Now that the country was broken and fragmented, most people realized that without thorough reform and change, it seemed that the Wu Dynasty could not be saved.

Therefore, even some old-fashioned bureaucrats who followed Emperor Wu south, seeing Emperor Wu carrying out reforms with great fanfare, and even doing things like cutting his palm and kneeling in blood during the sacrificial ceremony, might have had criticisms in their mouths, but in essence, they did not make much resistance. Because even the old people knew that following the rules could only preserve the old, and if they wanted to open up, they might really need Emperor Wu's out-of-line actions.

From a historical point of view, an emperor like Emperor Wu, who had enthusiasm in his chest, methods in his hands, and even seen blood on the battlefield, might qualify as a restorer in any dynasty. At least in this starting point, with his feedback and the assistance of Cheng Zhouhai, Wenren Buyi, and others, it could be called perfect. If he placed himself at any moment in past history, he would indeed be overjoyed by such an emperor.

But at the moment, in the sincere expectations, praise, and commendations of those Confucian scholars, there was always an emotion rising in the depths of his heart, suppressing his joy, and questioning him.

-- At this historical moment, how does our effort compare to that one in the southwest?

-- Does a strong and wise restorer have a chance to win against that one in the southwest?

In the eyes of those who came to him to discuss the Way, and many of them were capable and knowledgeable young Confucian scholars, the answer to this question was beyond doubt. But only on Li Pin's side did he even not want to answer such a question in the depths of his heart. He understood that this already reflected his inner measure and answer.

So, when every Confucian scholar felt excited and encouraged, only he was always calmly smiling, able to pinpoint the other's problems and guide their thinking. This situation made his reputation in Fuzhou even greater.

In the early hours of May 1st, not long after he finished his discussion with several Confucian scholars, this question in his heart was delivered to him again through intelligence.

On April 24th, without Ning Yi's reinforcements arriving, Qin Shaoqian led 20,000 soldiers of the Xia Seventh Army, and directly defeated the attack of Zongwang and Xiyin's 100,000 troops, and even personally killed his son, Wanyan Yema, in front of Zongwang. From then on, Zongwang's two most accomplished sons, Great Prince Zhenzhu and Great Prince Baoshan, both died at the hands of the Xia Army in the southwest battle. Zongwang and Xiyin led their remnants in a panic and fled east...

Back then, during the Jurchen's second invasion of Bianliang, which caused the greatest humiliation to the Wu Dynasty, the Jingping Humiliation, Zongwang, Xiyin, Great Prince Zhenzhu, and Great Prince Baoshan were all involved. In addition, Yinshuke, Balisu, Yu Yu, Dalai... these cruel Jurchen generals were all mortal enemies in the hearts of conscientious Wu Dynasty people, who wanted to kill them with all their might. This time, they were killed one by one in the southwest.

Originally, he should be happy...

But more complex emotions rose up, entangling him, questioning him... These emotions made Li Pin sit under the big banyan tree in the courtyard for a long time. The night wind came gently, and the banyan tree swayed. He didn't know when, a Confucian scholar who was staying overnight came out of the room, saw him, came over to salute and ask what had happened. Li Pin just waved his hand.

"Nothing."

The Confucian scholar went back to sleep, and Li Pin turned his gaze to the direction of the palace, and sighed.

He then summoned a servant.

"Prepare the carriage, enter the palace."

This was news that the entire world would cheer for. Whether it could be released was something that needed to be discussed.

Soon after, in the palace, he saw Zhou Pei, Cheng Zhouhai, Wenren Buyi, Tie Tianying, and...

The Emperor, who was the only one unreservedly expressing his excitement...