“The realm does not belong to a single person, but to all the people of the realm. Those who share the benefits of the realm with the people will gain the realm; those who monopolize the benefits of the realm will lose the realm.”

Upon learning that the Liang clan of Anding had installed the King of Dai to rebel, and had issued a manifesto to the entire realm under the pretext of executing a foolish ruler and a treacherous minister, Huo Yan gathered an army of three hundred thousand troops to march on the State of Dai to suppress the rebellion. At the same time, he had Yin Shuhuai write a letter to persuade or intimidate the King of Dai into surrendering.

Fearing that the various regional lords might respond to the Liang clan’s denunciation manifesto, Huo Yan also used the Emperor’s name to aggressively collect ritual gold and rare treasures offered by local lords and powerful families. He sold government offices and noble titles, frantically amassing wealth. He used all of this money to forge dark armor and weapons, rapidly raising a force of one million soldiers, or so they claimed.

Perhaps seeing the imperial court’s determination to crush the rebellion through Huo Yan’s various actions, or perhaps terrified by the letter of surrender that suddenly appeared in his arms upon waking up, the King of Dai, who was only eight years old, acted with the assistance of his prime minister. They executed every single one of the Liang remnants sent to lobby them. The King of Dai immediately submitted a formal memorial admitting his guilt, stating that the State of Dai was remotely located and poorly informed. He claimed that the entire state had no prior knowledge of the Liang clan’s treasonous motives, and upon learning of their rebellion, they immediately captured and publicly beheaded them, hoping Your Majesty would forgive them.

“The State of Dai has been loyal for generations and harbors absolutely no intention of rebellion. Our State of Dai is willing to act as a shield between the Yin Dynasty and the Xiongnu nomads. As long as Dai does not fall, the Great Yin shall endure forever.”

Yin Shuhuai located the State of Dai on the map and knew instantly that the King of Dai was talking nonsense. The founding emperor had merged the two commanderies of Taiyuan and Yanmen to form the State of Dai, granting it to his fourth son as the King of Dai. While the State of Dai was indeed very far from Sishui Pass, saying they did not know about the Anding Liang clan’s armed rebellion was completely lying through their teeth. One had to remember that when the Prime Minister executed the entire Liang family for treason, it was proclaimed to the whole world. The Anding Liang clan had twice distributed manifestos to every province and county, and had even gathered a coalition army of one million men to march on Luoyang, or so they claimed. Over the course of several months, the commotion had been so immense that even the Xiongnu probably knew about it, so how could the State of Dai be ignorant?

However, a wise man submits to circumstances. Since the King of Dai knelt so quickly, the imperial court could not say much more. Huo Yan used the charge of poor judgment and harboring bandits to strip the State of Dai of three counties as a punishment. He then ordered several generals defending Sishui Pass to lead their troops out of the city under the cover of night, launching a surprise attack on the coalition army of the seven great noble families stationed outside the pass.

After a night of fierce fighting, the coalition army suffered countless casualties. The leader of the coalition and the remnants of the other six great noble families fled in panic under the protection of their personal guards, disappearing without a trace.

Afterward, when Huo Yan was teaching Yin Shuhuai military strategy, he explained it this way: “Now that the seven great noble families have raised troops against the Yin, although their manifesto claims to execute a foolish ruler and a treacherous minister, such a justification cannot actually hold ground. The regional lords of the world all know they are rebelling to settle a personal grudge, so no one will risk their lives to join them. Even so, we must still offer substantial benefits to the regional lords and powerful families. First, it is to appease them so they do not act rashly. Second, it is to use the treasures, money, and grain they present to strengthen ourselves, uprooting every single force that dares to rebel against the imperial court.”

Huo Yan’s logic of behavior was simple and brutal. Since the imperial court lacked the ability to mobilize the armies of the various vassal states and could not touch the local powerful families, he would find every way possible to drain their wealth. He would use the wealth of the entire realm to nurture the capital region, which was the meaning of “those who share the benefits of the realm with the people will gain the realm.”

Yin Shuhuai did not agree with this: “The realm naturally belongs to the people of the realm. But right now, the Prime Minister only shares benefits with the lords and powerful families, completely disregarding the ordinary citizens. In order to earn back the money they spent to buy their offices, those lords, powerful families, and local officials will definitely levy exorbitant taxes and exploit the commoners to the limit. When the people can no longer survive, they will raise troops to rebel.” The peasant uprisings that had continuously broken out over the past few years were clear examples.

Huo Yan said candidly: “Even if we do not collect this money, can Your Majesty stop the regional lords and powerful families from levying heavy taxes, seizing land, and oppressing the commoners?”

Yin Shuhuai said, “No, I cannot.”

Huo Yan added: “Is it better to let the lords and powerful families amass wealth, train soldiers, and watch the imperial court like hawks in their respective regions, or to grant them empty titles and claim the world’s wealth for our own use? Has Your Majesty not made a decision on this long ago?”

What Huo Yan spoke of naturally referred to the past incident where Yin Shuhuai had taken matters into his own hands, granting the title of Duke of Yan to Shentu Yang in exchange for fifty million coins. Later, Yin Shuhuai poured all fifty million coins into resettling displaced people and improving farming tools and weaving looms. Huo Yan was actually inspired by Yin Shuhuai, realizing that things could be done this way.

Yin Shuhuai’s handsome face turned red, and he explained rather guiltily, “That was different.” He had been certain that Shentu Yang would go fight the Xiongnu, which was why he enfeoffed Shentu Yang as the Duke of Yan. The fifty million coins was just an extra addition because he had been desperate to relieve the disaster victims back then and was severely lacking funds.

“It is all the same,” Huo Yan said indifferently. In his eyes, the ordinary citizens could not be considered human at all; they were merely tools to be driven by the lords and powerful families. They were just like horses and oxen, sometimes even less valuable than horses and oxen. If sacrificing the commoners of the realm could make the imperial court’s rule as stable as a mountain, Huo Yan would not hesitate for a single second.

If the commoners everywhere could not endure the oppression of the local powerful families and rose in rebellion, that would be even better. If the people did not rebel and the displaced masses did not flood into the capital, where would the imperial court get the chance to absorb these refugees and expand its army?

Having tasted the sweetness of resettling refugees, the Prime Minister expressed that it was excellent for the refugees to rebel everywhere. What he wanted was exactly for the powerful families to force the people into rebellion.

“Be that as it may, the water that bears the boat can also capsize it,” Yin Shuhuai shook his head. “The Prime Minister should be a little better to the citizens, even better, and they will reward you. Conversely, if the Prime Minister blindly exploits the people, even if you gather hundreds of thousands of troops in the capital region, disaster will surely strike.”

Huo Yan had always disliked Yin Shuhuai’s soft-heartedness. Hearing Yin Shuhuai speak this way, he knew the Emperor was about to cause trouble again: “What does Your Majesty want to say?”

Yin Shuhuai pulled him over to the hanging map, pointing at it as he said: “From the beginning of spring until now, it has not rained for more than three months. The people Zhuang Wuwei sent to the imperial estate to teach and offer free medical care returned to report that the commoners in Luoyang have noticed the river levels dropping. Merchants coming from the Guanzhong region also say that the Jing and Wei rivers are nearly dried up, even exposing the riverbeds. I am worried that if this continues, there will be a severe drought this year.”

Huo Yan took a deep breath: “Get to the point!”

Yin Shuhuai spoke rapidly: “I want to have the Palace Workshops build waterwheels and hand pumps to help the citizens irrigate their farmland.”

Yin Shuhuai knew very well that with Huo Yan’s character of never waking up early unless there was a profit to be made, if he simply mentioned digging wells to help the citizens survive the drought, Huo Yan would not even listen. But if he brought up the autumn harvest, the Prime Minister would definitely take it to heart.

As Yin Shuhuai spoke, he motioned for Zhuang Wuwei to bring over the blueprints of the waterwheel and hand pump he had drawn earlier, holding them with both hands to respectfully present them to Huo Yan.

Huo Yan glanced at the Emperor, who always showed excessive politeness when he wanted something, and frowned with deep annoyance.

The waterwheel was manageable. Although it looked complicated to make and massive in shape, it was made of wood after all, so he could just send people up the mountains to cut timber. However, that hand pump was actually made of iron.

The more Huo Yan looked at it, the angrier he became. He could not help but shout furiously: “What time do you think it is? The weapons for our soldiers are not even enough, and Your Majesty still wants to waste the imperial court’s limited iron supply?”

Setting aside how much iron it would take to forge a single pump head, Huo Yan could not accept those iron pipes that could easily be several yards long. A single iron pipe could be used to forge so many weapons. He truly did not know the value of resources since he was not the one running the household.

“I think this waterwheel is very good. We can have the Palace Workshops build more waterwheels to distribute to the various commanderies and counties, letting them build their own waterwheels to help the citizens irrigate their fields. That will be enough.”

“It is not the same.”

Seeing that Huo Yan thought little of it, Yin Shuhuai began to explain the working principles of the hand pump to him, along with why iron pipes and an iron pump head were absolutely necessary.

Huo Yan listened expressionlessly as Yin Shuhuai babbled about the principle of levers, atmospheric pressure, and piston movement.

“Once the land cracks and the riverbeds dry up, the water we draw from underground might be the citizens’ only way to survive.” Yin Shuhuai waved the blueprints of the hand pump, trying his hardest to lobby Huo Yan, his entire aura as passionate as a top salesman. “As long as we can endure until autumn and achieve a massive harvest, the harvest grain can supply the army and the imperial court. No matter how you look at it, it is a win-win situation.”

“It only requires a tiny bit of iron to build a few more hand pumps. This is a massive act of merit that will save countless lives, Prime Minister! The citizens will definitely set up ancestral plaques for your long life!”

Under Yin Shuhuai’s extravagant pleading, Huo Yan ultimately agreed to let the iron officials forge the hand pumps. However—

“There is no need to cast the lever of this pump head out of iron, right? Just leave an opening to stick a wooden pole in, save wherever we can! And this water outlet…” The Prime Minister held the blueprints and raised a massive list of suggestions, cutting corners to the absolute limit before reluctantly giving his consent.

Seeing his goal achieved, Yin Shuhuai immediately pushed his luck further: “Can we have the imperial court proclaim to the realm, telling the citizens how to make the waterwheels and hand pumps, as well as how to locate underground water sources? Let every region hurry up and build them.” After all, natural disasters do not wait for people.

Hearing this, Huo Yan fell silent for a moment, then said impassively: “Your Majesty can rest assured. This old servant will handle this matter.”