Chapter 921: Apex of the Era, Genghis Khan

Time swiftly moves forward.

The entire Kyushu is also progressing amidst development and thorns.

It must be said, the changes Gu Hui brought to Kyushu are indeed substantial.

For the first twenty years after his departure, the great ship of Kyushu continued to sail on its predetermined course, driven by the powerful engine he personally tuned and powered. Without the cautious adjustments of its core designer, in some areas, it showed a more exuberant, even slightly wild expansion stance.

This pushed the “Enlightened Prosperity” to the peak of material flourishing.

— Yes, the peak.

Whether it’s productivity or Kyushu’s vibrant and thriving state, it can all be called the absolute peak.

Institutionally, the framework and vested interest groups left by Gu Hui have already taken shape and have enormous inertia.

After a brief shock, under the leadership of Elder Chen Kang, Yu Yunwen, and other old subordinates of Gu Hui and the new generation of ministers they nurtured, the cabinet largely maintained the decision-making model of “proposals—court discussions.”

Emperor Zhao Bocong, after initial cautious probing, discovered that although he could exert more personal influence, attempting to completely bypass this established routine to rule single-handedly would face immense resistance from the entire civil service system and the still formidable military.

Faced with this situation, he opted for a more ingenious approach to governance.

By respecting the system to ensure stability, while gradually infiltrating and dividing through personnel arrangements and supporting new balancing forces, he quietly expanded the actual scope of imperial power.

Economically, the engines of river transport and maritime trade were operating at full speed.

With the absence of Gu Hui’s comprehensive control and his insistence on the purity of “rules,” development took on an increasingly utilitarian color.

Driven by huge profits, overseas colonization accelerated, with the Gu Clan at the forefront and emerging sea merchant groups everywhere, establishing a tighter network of bases under names like “trading posts” and “sanctuaries” in Lusong, Old Harbor, Ryukyu, and even further in the Spice Islands, exploiting minerals and spices.

This was the continuous influx of wealth that fundamentally ensured the baseline of the entire Kyushu.

Actually, the root cause of chaos in history can be attributed to one thing.

That is the saturation of resources.

In plain terms, many dynastic turmoils were due to insufficient distribution of interests, leading to internal unrest, spreading downwards gradually, affecting the entire world.

In traditional agrarian empires, wealth growth mainly relied on limited growth of land output and population changes.

Once land annexation reached a critical point, a large population would be squeezed out of the production system to become vagabonds, and when the central treasury could not obtain sufficient income from other channels to deliver relief, maintain the military and the bureaucratic system, the system would collapse.

“Resource saturation” is essentially a total outbreak of the contradiction between the exhaustion of “internally distributable resources” and the surge of the “propertyless population.”

And at this moment, Kyushu’s external wealth valve remained open.

Even as domestic land annexation continued, farmers who lost their land no longer only had the options of becoming tenant farmers or wanderers.

They could flock to riverside docks, emerging towns, expanded workshops, or even board ships heading for overseas bases or trading posts.

Although the work was tough and the risks high, this at least provided a channel for absorbing surplus labor and exchanging it for survival provisions.

The vast maritime trade profits and mining taxes filled the national treasury and the private coffers of certain interest groups, giving the court apparently stronger capabilities to conduct public spending and tackle localized crises, thus delaying the point of fiscal collapse.

Meanwhile, the inflow of overseas wealth fostered a large middle class that depended on the trade chain.

Ship owners, sailors, dockworkers, warehouse managers, interpreters, accountants, artisans, and even various vendors serving this system.

This class, although unstable, significantly reduced their association with land; their interests were directly tied to the prosperity of overseas trade, becoming a new force within the social structure that desired stability.

They may not be able to stop land annexation, but their very existence changed the singularity of social conflict, making “losing land” not instantly synonymous with “having no way out.”

And under the system established by Gu Hui.

As long as the balance of powers is maintained and the apparent rules remain fair, this era of prosperity is destined.

Of course, the principle of prosperity leading to decline is an indelible truth.

Especially under the current circumstances.

Struggles for interests; struggles for power; and even so-called reformists with the ambition to “inherit Gu Hui’s legacy.”

Although, within the framework left by Gu Hui, these struggles wouldn’t be as vicious as before, nor will they affect the overall situation in a short time, they still would impact the overall development of Kyushu.

The cabinet has become the stage for power.

The Emperor, factions from all sides, all wish to meddle in it.

And when the balance among the factions begins to break, the advantage of imperial power would be demonstrated in such situations.

The cabinet can indeed limit imperial power.

But imperial power coupled with a few cabinet ministers is enough to turn the tide.

Though all of this seems to be just infighting within the Central Hub.

But don’t forget.

For the current Kyushu, not advancing is tantamount to retreating.

….

Time flies by.

Gu Yi has always been silently watching all this, without interfering too much with the situation.

Of course, during this time.

He naturally also used the “Spirit Communication Jade” to intervene in the actions of family descendants and help the Gu Clan make some critical decisions.