I practiced magic in the Three Kingdoms

Wang Jing saw that Guo Jia, who was always free and unrestrained, had an expression that seemed to be hesitant to speak, so he understood what he was worried about. He smiled and expressed his thoughts: "Fengxiao, don't worry. Right now, even if I just claim to be a king, let alone an emperor, I would be courting death. I won't rush for quick success."

When Guo Jia heard what Wang Jing said, he finally breathed a sigh of relief.

At present, Wang Jing has great power in the court, although his official position is not high, he is only a general of the guards.

But his father Wang Yun, uncle Wang Hong, and cousin Wang Ling were all supported by Wang Jing to become high-ranking officials. With Wang Yun, a senior official, sitting in the core of the imperial court and his powerful New Party followers, they handled government affairs in an orderly manner, giving the Northern Army a stable rear base.

At the local level, there were people from the Wang family of Taiyuan, such as Wang Ling and Wang Hong, who protected the capital like the moon surrounded by stars and consolidated Wang Jing's power.

But the premise of all this is that Wang Jing achieved this with the help of the political framework of the Yanhan Dynasty. Once he dared to proclaim himself emperor, the original situation would probably deteriorate immediately.

Not to mention that the surrounding princes would inevitably join forces to encircle and suppress him, even within the court, some old ministers who were about to die would certainly not be able to sit still and would turn against or even break with Wang Jing.

For example, Yuan Wei, Yang Biao, and even his biological father, Prime Minister Wang Yun!
All three of them are already old and have enjoyed wealth and power. All they want now is to leave their names for eternity and be passed down in history.

Even if Yuan Wei had evil intentions, he just wanted to use the Confucian system to suppress imperial power and treat the emperor as a mascot. At least Yuan Wei himself had no intention of becoming emperor.

I'm already old, why bother losing my integrity in my later years?
Now that the Yanhan Dynasty is about to perish, it is difficult for them to turn the tide, but it is still possible for them to be loyal ministers who serve only one master before they die and leave their names in history.

Wang Jing is still so young, just in his early twenties, and at the prime of his life. As long as he waits patiently, it will be a natural thing for him to become emperor in the future. Why must he act impulsively now when he has not yet established a firm foothold, and finally cause the whole world to rebel?

However, Guo Jia was worried that Cui Lie would say something nonsense after he got out: "My lord, a man who is petty is not a gentleman, and a man who is not vicious is not a man. It is better to kill Cui Lie and put an end to it all."

Wang Jing thought about it and shook his head: "It's not appropriate. It's just an economic crime, but it's costing someone's life. This is not the promotion method I want. What's more, even if he goes out and yells nonsense, who will believe him?"

Guo Jia was stunned when he heard this, and then he didn't know whether to laugh or cry: "I was blinded by the light, I didn't expect this."

He mainly didn't expect that Wang Jing, as a local overlord, could be so shameless and disrespectful.

A few days later, Shisun Rui personally tried the case.

Wang Jing didn't even need to use his special privileges. He only needed to order him to handle the case impartially. The court had its own laws on how to judge the case. Everything would be natural and no one could blame him for anything.

When this huge pot was thrown at him, Shisun Rui suddenly felt a splitting headache. He was already old and still had to take the blame for Wang Jing. If he had not been a member of the New Party and a close friend of Wang Yun, he would have quit long ago.

But there is no way at the moment. Even though he is a high-ranking official, he cannot disobey Wang Jing's will. Moreover, the case has become so big now. For the sake of his own reputation, he can only handle it impartially.

Otherwise, where is the credibility of the court?
In order to achieve the greatest deterrent effect, Wang Jing requested that the case be tried in public, and all the people in Luoyang could attend the trial in person.

In the past few years, the Cui family was a first-class family in the imperial dynasty and a prominent family in Boling. Cui Lie himself had served as Si Tu, one of the three highest officials in the country. He had a prominent background and extraordinary family background, and was truly a superior person.

But with such a noble status, he has now become a prisoner. How can the people not be curious?

Therefore, the people of Luoyang were eager to come and watch the fun and see how the big shots who were once high and mighty were being humiliated.

Is there anything in this world that could make people happier than seeing the wealthy and powerful, who were not subject to criminal punishment, getting into trouble and being sued?
When Cui Lie saw that a bunch of peasants were able to attend the lecture, he was so angry that he vomited blood and fainted. Before he fainted, he was still yelling, "Wang Jing, you bastard, you are not a human being! You are not a human being!"

"Wow, you vomited a lot of blood?"

"Is he poisoned?"

"I guess he was angry. If it were me, I would have been too embarrassed to face anyone."

"Ah? I haven't even finished my night fragrance yet and he's already here to line up. The trial hasn't even started yet. Could he be dead just like that?"

"If it were me, I would rather die on the spot after such an embarrassing situation."

When the people around saw this, they immediately started talking about it. After Wang Jing's rectification, the security situation in Luoyang City has improved a lot, and the playboys no longer dared to be arrogant.

The people who had been timid before now dared to raise their heads and speak. There were even many people at the scene pointing at Cui Lie who had fainted, and commenting on him, as if they were buying vegetables in the market.

Shi Sunrui got a headache just by looking at him, fearing that Cui Lie had really died in the government office, so he quickly ordered his attendants: "Send him to the doctor quickly!"

The term "doctor" originated in the Tang Dynasty, when medicine had become a complete and independent discipline with students specializing in studying it.

However, Wang Jing's funding for Hua Tuo to establish a medical system ahead of time did allow the profession of doctor to come into being hundreds of years earlier.

At present, there are academies specializing in teaching medicine in Luoyang City, and Hua Tuo is also organizing and compiling medical points. When he finishes compiling the "Qing Nang Book", it will be time for him to officially join Wang Jing's army.

An elderly doctor was soon invited over. He was one of the instructors at the medical school and was good at acupuncture. He was quite skilled in it. After five needles, Cui Lie regained consciousness.

"Is the person awake? Then let's continue the court session."

Ye Ying stood by and watched. He had no sympathy for Cui Lie at all. Although there were no major villains in the Cui family of Boling, there were many minor villains. They deserved it now.

Cui Lie had just woken up and almost fainted when he heard these words.

Unfortunately, there is no such thing as medical parole in the imperial dynasty, and prisoners have no human rights. Wang Jing clearly wanted to use Cui Lie and the entire Cui family of Boling to establish his authority. It was already quite polite of him not to deliberately kill Cui Lie in the cell. Why would he care about his thoughts or the attitude of the Cui family?

As long as the person is not dead, the case must continue to be tried!
In fact, there was nothing to judge. The evidence, witnesses, and testimony were all prepared by the secret guards long ago. They provided the Cui family with irrefutable evidence of their guilt.

The common people didn't know so much. They only knew that the Cui family had broken the law. They immediately felt disgusted with Cui Lie: "These wealthy families are really irresponsible. They are so rich, but they still have these crooked ideas all day long."

"Isn't it? My boy is taking classes at the Mohist Academy. I've heard everything from him. The reason why the world is in such a mess today is because these aristocratic families have annexed land and persecuted the people, which has finally made life miserable for the people."

"This man really deserves to be killed!"

"Yes, he deserves to be killed!"

The crowd roared with excitement, that was the cry from the oppressed people.

Analyzing from the perspective of the blood feud theory, whether it is the imperial court, or the aristocratic and powerful families, in essence they are all sucking blood from the people.

After collecting taxes, the imperial court at least did something about it, such as providing disaster relief in years of famine, building water conservancy projects, and forming armies to fight foreign invasions.

But what did the noble families and wealthy clans do?
At most they would build some bridges and roads as a show, but most of them were too lazy to even do the pretense. Instead, in order to make money, they hoarded goods, artificially created food shortages on the market, drove up prices, and used various means to transfer the taxes that they should have paid to ordinary farmers, forcing ordinary people to sell their children and their families to fall apart.

Don’t think that reselling grain is done only by cunning merchants. In fact, during the ancient feudal dynasties, most of the grain was controlled by landlords.

Where do merchants get food?

The common people think it is too expensive, and the merchants also think it is too expensive. It is all just the orders of the landlords.

The so-called businessmen are nothing more than white gloves in the hands of the powerful. Many times, they are abandoned after being used and killed as sacrifices.

In the crowd, Sima Yi changed into servant's clothes and hid in a corner to listen. He looked at Cui Lie, who looked as pale as death, and turned back to Sima Lang and said, "Alas, after this disaster, the Cui family of Boling is finished."

This scene before our eyes is not very harmful but extremely insulting, and can be described as a large-scale social death scene.

Cui Lie was interrogated, convicted, and criticized by the people. His reputation was ruined from the root. How could the entire Cui family hold their heads up high in the future?
Wang Jing's move was not only to make an example of someone, but also to kill someone and destroy his soul.

Sima Lang was also a little scared when he saw this: "Although Qi Hou's action did not kill anyone, it was heartbreaking."

For a family, reputation is often more important than life. Once it is lost, it would be worse than death.

Unless Cui Lie can be like Dong Zhuo, holding a large army and having great power, he can ignore some of the unspoken rules in the upper class circles. But do Cui Lie and the Cui family have the capital and ability to do so?

The subsequent penalties were lackluster.

However, the people were somewhat disappointed when they learned that Cui Lie would not be beheaded.

Don't think they are cruel. In fact, this is an era where civilization and barbarism coexist. The lives of the lower-class people are mostly miserable, and the only entertainment is occasionally seeing people being beheaded or cut in half in the vegetable market.

The most popular "abandonment of the city" these days is to execute criminals in crowded downtown areas in order to achieve the purpose of deterrence.

Those who die are often important figures; ordinary people don't get this kind of treatment.

But only the common people were disappointed. The sons of powerful and wealthy people in the crowd, such as Sima Yi, felt their scalps tingling when they saw this.

Cui Lie and the entire Cui family of Boling were treated like this, it was completely humiliating. What difference was there between this and death?
I might as well have died just now!
Shi Sunrui looked at his former colleague, now the criminal, with a lot of emotion in his heart, and read out the final sentence: "According to the latest decree issued by your majesty, the Cui family has infringed on the relevant patent rights of Qiqiao Pavilion. Within half a year, they must pay 10 million yuan in compensation."

The people who were listening at the scene were immediately boiling with excitement after hearing these words.

"God, ten million? Did I hear you right?"

"This is crazy, this is crazy, what kind of world is this!"

The annual income of an ordinary family of three is only about 12,000 coins, and this is the treatment that only self-employed farmers who own land can get. For tenant farmers who work for wealthy families, forget it, as even having enough food is a luxury.

But even for self-employed farmers, after deducting living expenses, they actually don't have much money. In years of disaster, they may even have to mortgage their land and take out loans in order to survive.

Farmers are so miserable, even more miserable than migrant workers.

But through this case, Wang Jing made the people understand what a patent is.

The explanation of the term is too complicated, and the poor people who cannot read a single word may not understand it, but when patents are equal to money, it is equal to a large sum of money, equal to 10 million yuan.

As long as patents are linked to money, even the dumbest people will understand it immediately.

Is there any other promotion that can compare to this method?
The desire to get rich is a human survival instinct, and Wang Jing made the concept of patents popular through just one case without much effort.

Even if it is of no use at the moment, once this awareness takes root in the hearts of the people, it will have a subtle influence on them and even their descendants.

After all, when people are born, they have class attributes and are divided into different levels.

In the past, aristocratic families and wealthy clans were always high and mighty, and the promotion channels for ordinary people were blocked. Even if they were talented, they had few opportunities to stand out.

Whether you want to be an incorruptible official or become an official, if you don’t have a family background, don’t even think about it!

But patents are different. Inventions and research require knowledge and talent, and rely on ability and luck.

As long as you work hard, as long as you strive, and have good luck, you will have the opportunity to change your humble fate. Not only can you get rid of poverty, you may even pass the court's assessment and become an engineer!
"Making use of the topic and taking advantage of the situation, Qi Hou played this move very cleverly."

In the crowd, although Sima Yi was young, he had a deep gaze and saw many things that his peers could not see.

It was only then that Sima Lang suddenly realized, "So this is Marquis Qi's purpose. Before, I thought he was just taking this opportunity to take revenge on Cui Lie and the Cui family. It seems that I was too narrow-minded."

Sima Yi sighed quietly, "Once this precedent is set, the trend will be unstoppable. From now on, whether Marquis Qi wants to implement patent protection laws or establish the Imperial Academy of Technology, no one will be able to stop him."

When profit is the most important thing, some people are willing to risk their lives for the sake of profit.

What's more, the benefits involved are so great that even wealthy families would be tempted when they see it.

Sima Lang looked at his overly clever brother and asked quietly, "What should our Sima family do next?"

Sima Yi tilted his head, with a matter-of-fact expression: "Since we can't beat them, then we can only join them, right? The tide is sweeping in, and if the Sima family wants to continue its glory, the last thing they can do is go against the tide, they should go with the flow."

"Alas, I don't know whether this change is good or bad."

Although Sima Lang also studied at Mengjin Academy and even developed a strong interest in Mohism at one point, he was essentially a traditional aristocrat, and the family interests of the Sima family were always the first priority in his heart.

Family, country and the world.

Family, country, and the world!

In the eyes of the gentry, which is more important, family, imperial court, or the people of the world? Just look at this ranking and it is very clear.

Sima Lang's liking for new things does not necessarily mean that he likes the world to change, especially in a social system where aristocratic families are respected. Once a change occurs, it means that the class he belongs to will soon be broken by powerful external forces.

It is just like during the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, when the nobles were high and mighty and unified the country under the Qin Dynasty. Under the imperial power, everyone became an ant, and then the whole world rebelled.

The tyrannical Qin Dynasty, which the six kingdoms could not overthrow together, was destroyed in the second generation due to the desperate counterattack of the remnants of the six kingdoms.

Were the six former nations too weak, or were their remnants too strong?
All I can say is that unless it is a life-and-death situation, people will not risk everything and choose to fight to the death.

The current situation is the same. When Wang Jing first implemented the reforms, some people stood up to oppose it, such as Zhong Ji and Wang Fu. They even plotted to rebel.

However, most of the wealthy and powerful families chose to remain silent and wait and see. They are not yet aware of the need to put up a desperate resistance.

Because Wang Jing still gave them a chance to survive, as long as they were willing to bow their heads, they would still benefit and gain.

Sima Lang was worried: "When Marquis Qi really shows his true colors one day, will we, the nobles, still have the strength to resist?"

Sima Yi smiled softly, "Brother, you are still worried about this? How tyrannical was the Qin Dynasty in the past? In the end, it harmed the noble families of the world, but it also disappeared in the blink of an eye, didn't it? How can the power of a family be compared with the concerted efforts of the noble families of the world? Now that Wang Jing is powerful, the Sima family must not confront him, otherwise the fate of the Cui family of Boling will be a lesson for us."

"Alas, this is the only way."

Sima Lang calmed down and apparently accepted Sima Yi's consolation.

Sima Yi reminded him, "Brother, you should go to the Mohist Academy and hang out with Wang Jing as usual. You have talent and he is eager to recruit talents. This is an opportunity. Everything is for the benefit of the family. Please bear with me."

"Ah, what kind of grievance is this? I'll just go."

Sima Lang did not refuse. After all, the Sima family was not strong enough. If they wanted to survive, they had to please both sides and bet on both sides.

Whether standing on the side of the gentry or following Wang Jing to implement reforms, as long as there are still people in the Sima family standing in key positions, they are destined not to decline and will become the final winners.

This is the vision that people who achieve great things should have.

The Sima family will never risk their lives for justice, because justice is just a tool for the Sima family to seek benefits. They are like ivy, seemingly weak, but actually extremely tenacious. What they are best at is clinging to the strong, and then secretly absorbing nutrients to strengthen themselves.

By the time you noticed them, the Sima family's influence had spread throughout the court and the country, just like ivy climbing up high walls.

Sima Yi was not in a hurry at all, because he knew that now was not his time. Being young, what he lacked the least was time and patience.

(End of this chapter)