“Puhaman did great.”
A look of approval came over Meng Lei’s features. As the saying went, “There is sequence in the mastery of fields, and different people specialize in different fields”. As expected, specialized tasks should be left to the specialists.
“I’ll have to reward Puhaman properly when I get back.”
Meng Lei and the other three arrived at the Dragon God Empire’s Imperial City more than two hours later. Compared to before they had departed, the current Imperial City was obviously a lot more peaceful and harmonious.
Shoppers walked about leisurely.
Laborers worked hard and honestly.
Diners were full of smiles as they ate.
The fear and panic from a year ago as if doomsday was impending was gone, and things had been restored to what it was like prior to the Dragon Emperor’s death. In fact, it was even better than before.
Bubbles marveled and commented, “Master, there’s been a great change in the imperial city!”
“Let’s go to the imperial palace.”
Law and order had also been restored in the imperial palace. The palace maidservants and the eunuchs busied themselves with their respective tasks while the guards and sentries’ gazes stayed focused in front of them...
Everyone carried out their respective duties, forming an orderly and well-guarded sight.
Meng Lei found Puhaman in one of the side palaces of the imperial palace. Rather than handling official business matters, the fellow was hiding in an underground basement and carrying out human experiments instead. It seemed like he was trying to craft Undead Knights.
“Puhaman!” Meng Lei called out.
“Master!”
Puhaman jumped in shock and hastily left the underground basement. He came up to Meng Lei, bowed in greeting, and said, “Greetings, my noble Master!”
“Rise!”
Meng Lei landed on the ground. He said, “You’ve done a pretty good job at putting the Dragon God Empire into order. Tell me, what have you done?”
“Everything is thanks to Master’s great blessings!”
At once, Puhaman launched into an unceasing report. “Master, I’ve made quite a few reformations in the Dragon God Empire during the past year or so. They are mainly the following four aspects...”
Meng Lei perked up a little and listened up closely. Bubbles and the other two cocked their ears.
“Firstly, I’ve abolished the Four-Classes Stratification System and dismissed the nobles from their positions. I confiscated the Dragon People nobles’ financial assets and land and distributed all the land to the slaves and humans that don’t own any.”
A smug smile appeared on Puhaman’s countenance, and he went on. “There isn’t a single Dragon Person noble left in the current Dragon God Empire. In fact, there are also only a few pitiful human nobles. Almost everyone’s a freed slave or a commoner now.
“Of course, if Master is willing, you can also appoint a new batch of human nobles anytime you wish.”
“It’s not necessary.”
Meng Lei waved off the suggestion. “Nobles are parasites that leech off the blood of the commoners at the bottommost tier of the hierarchy. Whether or not nobles will be appointed can be discussed later, but even if they are, they won’t be given any territory.”
“I understand Master’s intentions now!”
Puhaman nodded lightly.
Meng Lei praised, “You did great by distributing the land. The people at the bottommost tier of the hierarchy are the true foundation of the empire. Only by distributing the land to them and giving the farmers their own fields will the foundation of the empire be firm and secure!”
Then, he said, “But there’s one thing which you didn’t enforce sufficiently!”
“Master, you mean...”
A look of puzzlement came over Puhaman’s countenance.
“You have to pass a law that forbids people from buying and selling land, and also forbids forced acquisition and seizing of land, as well as any other form of land mergers!”
As a tip, Meng Lei reminded him, “Don’t forget, the Dragon People nobles might have certainly fallen from power, but what about the human nobles? What about the wealthy merchants? Would they also covet the plots of land that the people have just gotten?”
“How wise, Master! I have indeed overlooked that!”
Enlightened, an ashamed look appeared on Puhaman’s visage. He understood what Meng Lei meant, of course.
In Heaven’s Vault Continent, land was a symbol of one’s status and identity. Whoever owned larger territories or more land would also enjoy a higher status.
Therefore, everyone would do their best to acquire more land, such that they would own more.
Yet a huge bunch of powerless slaves and weaklings without any background or people backing them up had received large amounts of land at this point?
Who wouldn’t hunger for it? Who wouldn’t be envious?
One could easily see just what would happen next—like what his Master had said, various forms of land mergers would definitely take place.
When that happened, many slaves and commoners who had only just received their plots of land would lose them once more.
Everything that he had done would only act to the human nobles’ and wealthy merchants’ benefit.
“Master’s wisdom is just like the boundless starry skies that take my breath away! I am humbled!”
A look of shame came over Puhaman’s countenance. At the same time, a strong sense of respect for Meng Lei also welled up in him. The issue about land mergers indeed hadn’t occurred to him previously, yet Meng Lei had pointed it out straight away.
From this, one could see a thing or two about the difference between the two of them. He couldn’t not take his hat off him.
“You’ve already done great.”
A smiling Meng Lei patted Puhaman on the shoulder. Then, he changed the subject and said, “With that many Dragon People nobles in the Dragon God Empire, you must have met with great resistance when you stripped them of their titles and confiscated their properties, right?”
“Yes! It’s no ordinary level of difficulty!”
Puhaman licked his lips, a bloodthirsty smile coming over his features. He said,
