Chương 53: Chapter 2

Shanti paused as they passed a group of workers, only to resume once they were out of earshot.

"As the Founder foresaw, the rearrangement of the contract conditions has triggered a wave of protests and negotiations. Under the previous multi-generational contract length, the previous owners enjoyed near-total management autonomy under the condition that they would meet quotas. The current Clans only very rarely failed in the latter, and so they claim it's unjust for the Sect to revise the clauses, or to put the standards of their operations under the control of the Department of Inner Affairs."

"Do they now?"

"Not with these words, Ancestor. But the gist is clear."

"They'll have to swallow it. The Ancestor demands it. If they have problems with my rule, they're free to bring their protests to me."

"Your secretaries, mistress. Incidentally, I wish to inform you that they're overburdened."

"Don't get cheeky with me, girl. It's their job."

"My apologies."

"Mm-mh. What about the other thing?"

"As the Founder ordered, seventy percent of the production facilities regarding spirit herbs, spirit beast parts and spirit stones have been declared of national interest and turned into Sect property, to be administered directly by Sect officials. The same for twenty percent of the industrial base. Internal Affairs is currently busy running a complete inventory of the leftover infrastructure to start proper management. The remaining percentage was handed over under the new contracts or left to private initiative."

"The reaction?"

"Furious, Founder. The Clans argue that most of the infrastructure didn't come with the lease, and was built by their families along the centuries. As such, they claimed that the Sect was robbing them of their livelihood."

"And you told them what I told you to."

"…Yes, Founder. It placated them somewhat. As you ordered, Internal Affairs and the Secretariat offered the Clans managerial positions, and the liberty to retain all previous workers. Government bonds, reduction in future taxes and hand-outs in spirit stones have been offered, as well as replacement lands in the Domain and additional financing for their development or rebuilding. Noble titles have also been distributed or promised based on the depth of work each individual Clan has promised to impart."

"And then… these." Shanti produced a slip of paper.

"These… shares, as suggested by the Founder, have been handed out to the various Clans. They were quite surprised that the Ancestor would give them a slice in the Sect industries." Wu Zetian glanced her way.

"The result?"

"Impressive, Ancestor. Junior Clan members were skeptical at first, and still are, but the patriarchs and matriarchs have agreed and now offer their support. They believe that this new system will allow them to be part of something wider than anything their previous single domains could create." Mph, leave it to the old vultures to understand which way the wind blows. She didn't mind bringing economic unity in a fragmented world. That the end result would be greater production and efficiency was a given.

Basic economics, though? Considering she was dealing with old people, you'd guess they'd have gone around to them by now. Yet again, this wasn't her old world. In the previous system, each Clan and institution was its own thing, with logistics, treasuries and production lines, fiefdoms big and small that were brought to account only in meeting quotas. Each optimized only where it interested it, and that meant patchwork improvements that ended weighing on the whole system.

No Clan busied itself with great works, as they preferred to keep to their own, and lacked the means or vision to engage in centuries-long projects. Single Clans retained skilled labor, which limited industry expansion, and solved the same problems again and again by refusing to specialize. A dispute between Clans could bog down supply chains or enforce artificial scarcity on the market as each contender struggled to create leverage.

The worst of all, the Clans argued, and wasted resources that could have instead been invested. Each little project could end bogged down in endless bickering. By centralizing, she was creating a single, giant Clan that had the means and the breadth to bring improvements everywhere at once. Before, the Sect's government wasted its energies mediating between Clans and bringing them to heel. No more.

Now, the Sect would start investing in the system that it once only exploited, and by funnelling the resources of the whole Sect, it would have been able to do so to a larger, better extent than any single Clan. Through the central government, a rational approach could be enforced, producing higher outputs and higher standards, reducing wasteful competition and with better long-term planning. In time, it would also allow the Sect's economy to scale up.

Through reliable statistics and constant surveillance, her new Sect would become more prosperous, pacific, stable and far, far harder to disrupt. She intended to create a system that could endure even without an Ancestor breathing down on everybody's neck. Not like she didn't enjoy it. The kind of systemic change she was enforcing would have required thousands of meetings, endless wrangling and likely more than one generation in her previous world. Here?

She only had to be careful about it, snap her fingers, and could have both a new world and people happy to live in it. Having the Clans backing her up was good: you never knew when someone like Li Zi could emerge, and she needed them to face the other Immortals.

"All in all, it's proceeding apace, Founder," Shanti said, cutting off her line of thought.

"The Clans are adapting remarkably well, and there are many who already praise the Founder's genius and will in bringing the Sect into a new era of cooperation and prosperity." This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there. Wu Zetian glanced at her.

"And what do you think, Shanti?" The woman bowed.

"It's not my place to judge. The Shadowed shall follow the Ancestor, no matter what."

"A good answer." If you weren't picky, but what could you do? Two guards pushed open the doors, stepping aside to let them pass. The throneroom was moderately crowded at the moment. Three of her endlessly harried secretaries were going through their drudge. They sat at three ornated desks before the throne, chewing through a mob of nobles waving documents and shouting. Because agreeing with the general gist didn't mean that the Clans didn't intend to squeeze any advantage they could from the change.

The yelling ceased abruptly as the herald announced her presence.

"We offer our loyalty to the Founder!" was the near-unanimous shout as every soul in the hall bowed, offering their clutched fists. Even the three secretaries stood up, but, to show the main branch's primacy, their bows were shallower.

"At ease," Wu Zetian said pleasantly.

"You gentlemen carry on with your business. I have my own." That was all they needed. They thundered their respect again, and back they were to their queing and shouting. Wu Zetian approved. All this was to lighten her burden and make the Sect less reliant on her presence. That they didn't bow and scrape and swamped her with their requests was the result she wished. And the type of bother she wished to avoid. As she moved toward the throne, her robes trailing behind her, a young man approached her.

Wu Ji was Wu Nenqin's cousin, and a member of the Main Branch of the Wu Clan. While inheriting a diluted version of the True Night Bloodline, he still was a valiant Formation Establishment, more than strong enough to trump the average of his Realm. Watching him sweat in the Grand Secretariat's robes, with his youthful, harried expression, you wouldn't think that.

"F-Founder…!" He half gasped, using what looked like paperwork to wipe his forehead.

"It's… quite the day." Wu Zetian tilted her head, watching him. No matter how harried he was, there was shy kindness in that smile of his.

"Good morning, nephew." Ji jumped, then hurried to offer his greetings as well. He wasn't rude, just a bit scatterbrained. From what she heard, the family pulled him from a stable, where he was enthusiastically taking care of the Sect's growing collection of Shadow Beasts.

"M-my apologies, Ancestor. I… I guess I am a bit busy." He pulled off his cap, brushing a hand through a disorderly mass of ebony curls. His eyes flickered, and he looked overwhelmed.

"Good. It means that the Main Branch is working as intended."

"W-well, yes! Just… err, it's a bit too much? Maybe? Between having to deal with ceremonies, being high commissioners and working as Clan mediators, the family is a bit, erm, taken?" Wu Zetian arched an eyebrow, smiling.

"Do you mean to tell me something with this, boy?"

"Nononono!" The document flapped furiously as Ji gesticulated.

"It's just… it would be nice to have a break? A few less duties? A trip to the stables?" His voice and his shoulders lowered as he spoke, until he was one step from melting into the floor. Shanti's cold glare would do that. As for her tone, you could have used it to cut a window.

"Honored Secretary, I'd like for you to be appreciative of your role. Especially in front of the Founder. The Wu spirits of old weep before such ingratitude."

"I am… I just… I…" Whatever Ji wanted to say ended as a mumble. Wu Zetian didn't roll her eyes. She didn't. The Main Branch wasn't endless. The Clan had been hit hard by the Civil War. All parentage included, it didn't count above the two hundred. With the mass of duties she heaped on them, anybody short of the infants had needed to take the field. Not like they complained: the Wu Elders were in heaven.

They didn't stop heaping praises on her for raising the Clan's influence to heights unseen since, well, her entrance into seclusion. She had made princes out of them, and they wouldn't ever, ever forget it. Even if it meant that they had to use someone more used to the stable than to playing secretary, like Ji. Thankfully, his colleagues had more savour-faire. The boy could pull his weight by sheer efficiency. There were few able like him in wearing down a stubborn noble, or in the volume of paperwork produced.

A bit rough around the edges he may be, he was still a good fit for the role. Even if he was currently busy withering under Shanti's lecture.

"It's fine, Shanti," Wu Zetian sighed.

"But, honored Founder…!" The closest thing to shock gleamed in the woman's eyes.

"To show such insolent disobedience as to complain about the grace you bestowed. In your honored presence, no less. I must insist you allow the Order to sanction this behavior. I will gladly take up the charge, if you only so wish. That a member of the Main Branch would be such an ingrate cannot be allowed to go unpunished, lest discipline suffer."

"Shanti."

"Yes, Founder."

"Are you lecturing me now?" The woman went through the equivalent of a visual heart attack. Her jaw dropped, but nothing came out. Wu Zetian chuckled.

"Nothing to it." She threw an ironic glance toward Wu Ji, the boy flinching like a startled rabbit.

"You can go to the stables when the paperwork is finished, boy. Not using it as a rag may be helpful to that." Wu Ji squeaked, startled, realizing that, yes, the wet rag in his hand was an important document. He hurriedly excused himself and ran for a new scroll and brush. Chuckling, Wu Zetian let him go. The platform upon which the Sable Wing Throne stood was kept aside from the ruckus. A cordon of guards kept concerns away, making sure that only those with permission could approach.

They wore a different uniform from that of the Hand. Their armor was heavier, made out of stony scales over a metal cuirass, each a piece of black obsidian that reflected the light and threaded with gold. They wielded heavy glaives, and a pennant of red feathers crested their helmets. They bowed to her, and she nodded, satisfied. The Night Guard was another of her projects: a group of promising sons and daughters who would be loyal only to her and were charged with guarding the palace.

The Clans didn't receive any part in it; the Guard recruited exclusively through merit. Apart from her, only the Main Branch could command them, and it was meant to be used as the hammer with which they would impose their decision as necessary. She had supervised the forging of her weapons personally. They wouldn't hold against a Nascent Soul, but against Core Formation? They would hold the line, giving even a Foundation Establishment the chance to exchange blows with an Elder for a brief time.

Together, they were a force to be reckoned with. Now, she only needed to do the same about the maids, and she may have something fun in her hands…

"Founder, my greatest apologies. I shouldn't have dared to presume."

"It's fine."

"Your grace is boundless, Ancestor, but truly, I should be taken into account for my actions."

"It's fine," Wu Zetian sat on the throne with a small sigh. Resting her chin on a hand, she smiled mildly at the woman, who was doing her best to disappear in the floor.

"Honestly, Shanti. If I had to get angry about any lapse in respect, I would have mice running into the cracks every time I entered a room. And we don't want that, mh?" The woman bowed, bangs covering her features.

"I bow before your wisdom," she said, a tremor in her voice that told her she did anything but. Wu Zetian didn't sigh. She was already above the quota for the day as much as she was concerned. Instead, she gazed upon the crowd making a ruckus in her throneroom. She would allow it. This once. It was work to be done, and the setting made sure the Sect would get the best deal.

"Returning to business," she mused.

"I trust that the foundation for our latest department has begun." Shanti rallied from her slump like a switch had been pulled up.

"Of course, Founder," she said, pulling a scroll from her apparently inexhaustible supply. This one had a single, brief phrase written on it. Ministry of Industry.

"Ministry…" Wu Zetian tasted the word. Maybe it wasn't the time yet for such a grandiose name. Office, maybe, or department. And yet, it gave her a special pleasure. She was building something greater than a Sect after all. What she was looking at was a kingdom. And then, maybe, an Empire. Why put a limit to one's effort?