Chapter 506: Chapter 454: A Subordinate God? Yan Weizhong’s Perception!

“The separation of divine position and authority is indeed a good idea.” Pei Xuanjing nodded in approval.

He made a suggestion: “But these ninth-grade Enfeoffments can win over countless officials, but what about those junior officials?”

The so-called officials, both high ranking and junior ones, are not the same. Officials can be promoted, but many of those junior officials spend their entire lives stuck in one place. They carry out much of the important work of supporting the administration, and their roles are often passed down through generations.

This would have been acceptable before, as even if promoted, everyone was mortal, eventually facing death, so there was at least fairness in regard to life.

But now that the Divine Dynasty has risen, officials who receive the enfeoffment of divine position can gradually get promoted, gaining a long life, while those junior officials are left to spend their generations continuing their previous work, which could result in widespread discontent.

Although Pei Xuanjing knew that these junior officials at the bottom constituted the majority of the populace, and they held heir positions for generations, exploiting the system top-down and bottom-up, they were accomplices to the corrupt officials.

But undeniable is that countless such junior officials form the basis of the dynastic rule.

Hence, thoroughly excluding them may cause tremendous turmoil.

In Pei Xuanjing’s view, it’s better to give them a chance for advancement and thereby stabilize their positions.

“What Master Pei has pointed out is something I had not considered,” said Zhu Houji, furrowing his brows and speaking slowly.

As an emperor who has control over the court, Zhu Houji didn’t think about this before. After being reminded by Pei Xuanjing, he realized that this term “Officials” includes both high-ranking officials and junior ones.

Although there are many high-ranking officials in the court, many things still require the assistance of junior officials. Regardless of how capable official is, they can’t manage everything by themselves.

He looked at Pei Xuanjing and asked, “Since Master Pei brought up this issue, surely, you must have some solution to it?”

Even though Pei Xuanjing had never held an official position, he believed that if someone could perceive and understand this issue, they must have some solution to it.

Pei Xuanjing smiled and said: “These are merely my humble opinions. If Your Majesty finds them useful, feel free to adopt; if not, you may disregard them as delusions.”

“Please speak, Master Pei, I am all ears,” Zhu Houji said with a light smile.

Pei Xuanjing nodded and voiced his thoughts.

His solution was straightforward: Confer divine positions equivalent to their duty positions. So these junior officials, like auxiliary gods, would be attached to the officials, just as the auxiliary gods are attached to the main god.

In his view, the Great Ming Divine Dynasty is like a large tree. The countless citizens are the roots, the emperor is the trunk, the officials are the branches, and the junior officials are the small twigs on the branches.

With such a system of enfeoffment, they could provide opportunities and hope to others, simultaneously allowing officials to keep junior officials under strict control and better execute orders.

Zhu Houji pondered for a moment upon hearing this. “Master Pei’s words, they’re like an enlightenment, a revelation to me.”

Pei Xuanjing merely laughed without a word.

With the general outline of their strategy in place, the two of them began to discuss other detailed issues, exchanged their views, and further refined the emperor’s method of separating divine positions.

For example, currently, whether they are the royal descendants, the honored noblemen, or the court officials of Great Ming, though they all possess divine positions, they can only function within the scope of the court, and their authority is simply borrowed.

Only officials of fourth-grade or above can refine the divine position for their personal use, while all others can only use the authority given by their official seals and Enfeoffments. Once they lose their position, they are left with only the Qi Luck from the Golden Book and Jade Scroll, without any real power at hand.

The two of them also estimated that in order to refine the divine position, the strength of the person should be at least fourth-grade realm or above, so that they will not consume too much Qi Luck.

The Divine Dynasty has just started, and if they enfeoff too many divine positions at once, it will consume too much Qi Luck, which would not be beneficial to the development of the Divine Dynasty.

At the Ministry of Rites Manor.

Among the six ministries, regardless of how the ranks fluctuate, the Ministry of Personnel, which holds the power of promotion for all officials, is undoubtedly the first among the six. Even the current Ministry of War, controlled by Wang Qiong, can only just keep up, barely surpassing it.

Let’s not mention the Ministry of Works ranked at the bottom or the Ministry of Criminal Affairs which has a slight advantage over it, the third place among the six ministries should generally be the Ministry of Revenue, which manages finances, territories, etc.

However, after Yan Weizhong assumed the position of Minister of the Ministry of Rites, due to his status as the emperor’s favorite, the status of the Ministry of Rites has risen rapidly, becoming almost as prominent as the Ministry of Personnel and the Ministry of War.

Currently, this favorite of the emperor, who is about to be enfeoffed, the Minister of the Ministry of Rites, has received countless pleas for meetings, but he has blocked everyone outside his door, paying them no heed.

“Father, why won’t you meet anyone when so many people are seeking an audience?” A young Yan Deqiu asked in confusion.

He is currently studying at the Imperial Academy and hasn’t officially entered politics, but having a father who is the Minister of the Ministry of Rites and being naturally smart, he is very interested and keen on what happens in the court.

During the rise of the Divine Dynasty, many officials have been bustling about, trying to lay out a good future for themselves.

This time, many people were submitting letters of respect, but why was his father keeping them outside at such a crucial moment?

“Ha-ha. You’re too young,” Yan Weizhong, who had only recently come of age, looked at his wise but still somewhat naive son and said with a sigh.

As an old fox who has weathered ups and downs in officialdom for decades, Yan Weizhong had a keen understanding of much of its intricacies. Even though his rank had fluctuated, this experience had made it so. Therefore, he knew better how to handle the current situation in the imperial court.

He asked his son, disapproving of his grievances, “Tell me, who now rules the world?”

Yan Deqiu frowned slightly and thought for a moment before saying: “Today, after the Great Ming became a Divine Dynasty, although the emperor controls it, Master Pei Xuanjing, who is considered the best in the world and has the support of the Taoist School behind him, manages the Golden Book and Jade Scroll supplement. I’m afraid even the emperor has to defer to him in that).

This is Yan Deqiu’s perception, which is also the perception of many people.

The successful promotion of the Great Ming to the Divine Dynasty has significantly increased the strength of Great Ming. Especially the Emperor Zhu Houji, who stepped into the Spirit Realm by doing so, controls the Golden Book and the Jade Scroll, and possesses the Qi Luck of the Golden Dragon. He has become one of the most powerful people in the world.

However, Pei Xuanjing was able to kill a strong man at the sixth level of the Spirit Realm all by himself, which left many people in shock.

Up to now, some people who love sensationalism have divided the world’s strong men into two grades: Pei Xuanjing alone in one, and the rest in another.

Such a statement is heard all over the world. But hardly any strong people refute it. Instead, they seem to accept it.

That’s how powerful Pei Xuanjing has become.

Having heard his son’s words, Yan Weizhong showed a smile that was hard to understand on his face. “Your answer is both right and wrong.”

Obviously, he wasn’t entirely convinced by this answer; he had his own judgement.