Since the Accounting: A Chronicle of the Roman Khanate

Chapter 609: Wu Clan Factions
After dealing with these lawsuits, it was already noon. King Wu and others had a quick meal, then went their separate ways and went about their business.

As more and more people came to seek refuge, the work of the King of Wu's palace became more and more arduous. In particular, the newly recruited staff were often unfamiliar with these administrative tasks, and many things had to be taught by the ministers, and even the King of Wu himself had to do it. Once the operation started, there was no time to rest.

Fortunately, the administrative structure of the Wuwang Palace has gradually improved. Therefore, the pressure is not as great as in previous years. Now the most important work has shifted to training officials, instead of having to do everything by himself.

The organization of the Wu Palace was based on the "Book of Zhou Rites".

On the one hand, Zhu Yunwen himself was very enthusiastic about this set of rules and regulations, and so were his civil officials. On the other hand, there was no bureaucratic system or organizational method to refer to in this place. Qi Tai had only served in the six ministries in the central court and had no local experience. Huang Zicheng had only worked in the Hanlin Academy. Zhu Yunwen himself had never received any professional training. Apart from basic general education, his administrative experience was basically zero. Everyone combined could not even come up with a complete set of theories, let alone organize an experienced team.

Therefore, everyone can only come up with a set of rules based on the rules and regulations in the piles of old papers and their own memories of the Ming Dynasty system - perhaps with a lot of understanding and thinking.

In theory, Zhouli should be the etiquette of the Zhou Dynasty, but in fact, most of its content was compiled by Han Confucianists, which is basically an idealized imagination of the Zhou Dynasty by Han Confucianists. It is already very behind the times when put in today's context.

The situation in Europe was much more backward than that of the Han Dynasty. If a system was too advanced, people would not be able to adapt. Zhouli included a lot of ancient political experience, and even a lot of it involved the feudal era. Moreover, it was an idealized narrative after all, so it was very attractive to the locals; it was not too difficult to understand, so it was easy for everyone to accept, and therefore very popular.

After the Zhou rituals were clearly raised, the appeal of the King of Wu and others was further enhanced. Some people who had knowledge and martial arts but lacked opportunities to display them also came to join them.

Even if more priests and nobles did not come to support directly for the time being, they began to try to obtain Eastern classics and use them as a basis for their thinking and further discussion.

The ideas of these people were not as radical as those of the common people. They generally did not want to overthrow the Alemanni king and the nobles and re-establish a new order as the fanatical followers of the Hussites or King Wu did. However, even some of the upper-class priests and scholars with a relatively high level of education were still dissatisfied with the status quo.

Now, the church was fighting against each other, and there had been a long-term internal struggle without any bottom line; the secular lords were fighting each other all day long, especially the Alemanni side, where there was almost no peace. The chaotic situation made people nervous all day long, and even the upper class people like them had no guarantee for the safety of their lives and property.

Therefore, they naturally did not want this situation to continue, so they began to study Confucius' teachings, hoping to find experience from Eastern etiquette.

According to this group of people's theory, the current chaos in the Mediterranean world is caused by the lack of order.

If humans want to organize into a society, as long as the scale is large, they must have managers at different levels; if the organization is to operate normally, managers must be given enough authority to ensure orderly command. If authority fails and order is chaotic, it will inevitably cause problems like the current ones. The Zhou Li provides a complete set of legitimacy narratives and a strict order system. In this system, different levels have clear requirements. Everyone has his or her own position and is content to be on duty. In this way, there will be a solution to the current chaos.

On the other hand, Confucius also said that the selection of personnel and the determination of their ranks should also be based on their abilities. Those who can display their talents can hold official positions, and those who are incapable should be dismissed. In this way, adjustments can be made in a timely manner, allowing those who are of noble birth but lack the ability to withdraw with dignity, while those who are capable can display their talents.

In this way, the ritual and music levels are fixed, but the people on the levels are flexible. This can prevent the collapse of order and form a stable social environment; it can also select the most capable people, improve efficiency, and avoid corruption. This balanced system is the best choice now.

This theory was summarized by an abbot of Nuremberg, and then spread rapidly among various monasteries and universities, gaining support from many people. There are even rumors that the reason why it spread so quickly is because the bishops of Nuremberg and Mainz privately agreed with this theory. After all, the world is too chaotic now, and if someone can stand up and restore order, everyone will definitely support him. And the reputation of the Ming Dynasty may be better known to these upper-class people than the lower class.

Many priests and scholars come from aristocratic families. Although the church provides a channel for common people to receive education, it is a very rare case for someone like Father Hus to rise from an ordinary self-employed farmer to a university president. Only people with extraordinary talents can achieve this level. The entire industry is still dominated by children of nobles. But on the other hand, except for some people who have been particularly interested in theology since childhood, most people enter the church to find a job. In the Alemanni region, in order to prevent the division of property from leading to family division and decline, many nobles would choose to let only one son inherit all the family business, and send others to the church to learn knowledge, or simply "release" him to be a free mercenary and work to support himself.

Due to their rich practical experience and relatively fierce competition, there are actually quite a few capable people among these people. Although they do not want to completely change the current social order, they are also quite dissatisfied with the incompetent people riding on their heads. On the other hand, they are not worried about facing competition from the lower classes, because the education level in Europe is very poor, and even fewer people are well educated. Even if the upward channels become smoother, it will be difficult for the lower class to compete with them.

These people are called the "Nuremberg faction" or the "Zhouli faction". At present, there are not too many of them in the court of King Wu, but they are still the main supporters of King Wu's power.

Since these people generally come from high-class families, are well-educated, and have extensive connections, they can often provide various intelligence to the Wu Wangfu, allowing them to understand the situation at the top. They can also help coordinate and cover up to prevent strategic problems from being targeted by too many powerful nobles at the same time. Sometimes, some people are willing to run to the control area and serve as administrative officials. In short, the role of these cultural people is still quite large.

Of course, what followed was the conflict between them and their old ministers.

Most of the King of Wu's team and close associates were gathered together when he fled Paris and hid on the west bank of the Rhine. The village where little Jeanne was fostered was in that area.

At that time, the King of Wu was still in a very bad state, and those who followed him were basically local civilians. They generally had a low level of education, but those who could persist for so many years were all brave and experienced warriors. Moreover, because they joined the team earlier, they were also deeply trusted. Sometimes, they and the new noble officials would look down on each other and have various disputes.

Moreover, there are more than just these two factions here. For example, one of the sources of income for the King of Wu's Palace is donations from merchants. The palace often moves around, and wherever it goes, it advertises and recruits people, calling on everyone to support the King of Wu. In order to facilitate their movements, they often repair the roads along the way and drive away the bandits and lords who block the road and rob people. Therefore, the merchants who come and go have all been facilitated.

After discovering this pattern, some merchants began to contact the Wu Palace and ask for the pass issued by him. The area controlled by the Wu Palace was not large and was often remote, but even if they took a detour from these places, it was safer than taking the main road. The local lords outside the control area, due to the face of the King of Wu, often did not dare to make things too difficult.

Some people with more ideas saw the value of this road network itself and proposed to join the Wu Wang regime and use their roads to transport materials in a planned manner. While making money, they also met the Wu Fan's own material dispatch needs. The Wu Wang Mansion was indeed very poor, and even lacked special transportation tools and transport fleets. Seeing that some people were so enthusiastic, they began to issue certificates to merchants and hired them to transport a fixed amount of goods. As long as they were transported, they could be exempted from the corresponding road fees. As a result, more merchants came here, and even thought that the roads in the hands of the Wu Wang were too narrow and too short.

For this reason, some big businessmen began to show goodwill and donated money to the King of Wu, hoping that he could speed up the construction. The Chamber of Commerce in nearby cities was also very enthusiastic about this. Because the road was relatively safe, it saved a lot of money on tolls and bodyguards, so they used the money to continue investing, helping to bribe and persuade nearby nobles to take the initiative to help the King of Wu repair the road. The King of Wu was responsible for providing the people, and they could provide the money, as long as the road could be extended to their city, it would be fine.

The two parties hit it off immediately, and the Chamber of Commerce came forward to buy the ownership of the road from the earl who governed several local cities. This area was full of poor villages, so the earl accepted the money and approved it. However, after the road was built, the degree of prosperity exceeded expectations, and the earl began to regret and wanted to take back the road.

The Chamber of Commerce was very angry about this and immediately organized private soldiers and city militia to defend the city. They also contacted the King of Wu and asked him to send troops to help. At the same time, they sent people with money to lobby around and persuade other cities and lords to take advantage of the chaos to target the Earl. The two sides were deadlocked for a while, and the Chamber of Commerce insisted on keeping the ownership of the road, otherwise it would not give in. The Earl could not wait any longer and had to give up.

After this success, the city merchants gained a higher status and had a say in the court of King Wu. They were called the "Road Protection Faction" and were a relatively active emerging force. However, because they rarely participated in administrative affairs directly, they basically focused on roads and commerce, so they were relatively neutral and did not get involved in other people's disputes.

In addition, there are some other small groups, such as mutual aid organizations of local grassroots priests, and loose associations of craftsmen who are always bullied by guilds in the city and have to escape, etc. Since the King of Wu is here, he is forced to start from scratch and often has to unite as many people as possible in order to grow and develop. Therefore, there have always been many such miscellaneous groups.

Of course, although the entire organization is relatively makeshift and looks very rudimentary, other organizations in Europe are not that good either. Moreover, the Wu Wang Mansion has a large number of staff, and they have not yet issued all the staff. The foreman who digs the canal in the village is a seventh-rank official. The entire power is also in the rising stage, and there are all kinds of work to be done every day. At this moment, there is no need to worry about everyone fighting.

(End of this chapter)