Chapter 301
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Chapter 301: Troubling Situation
The night passed without incident.
The next morning, after breakfast, Luo Ji’s brows furrowed into a clear ‘川’ (river) character as he listened to Luo Jin’s report.
What he had always worried about had indeed happened.
Due to the atrocities committed by Zhou Dongnan’s army in West Plains City, his people, especially those in West Plains City, held deep hostility towards the newly assimilated population.
This was an intractable problem, because from the perspective of the people of West Plains City and other cities, the Great Zhou army had pillaged, burned, and committed all sorts of evils in their cities, even killing their family and friends.
It was only natural for them to be hostile towards the people of Great Zhou!
Conversely, from the perspective of the Great Zhou populace, the previous pillaging and burning were orders given by Zhou Dongnan, and those who committed these acts were soldiers, not them.
In fact, the 5,000 soldiers who devastated West Plains City had long been completely wiped out by Luo Ji.
Not only those 5,000, but almost all of Great Zhou’s soldiers had been killed by Luo Ji.
So, facing this situation, they were quite innocent!
Undoubtedly, this was a matter where right and wrong were indistinguishable, and precisely because of this, it was difficult to solve.
But if this situation were allowed to continue, the conflict would certainly escalate, which would not be good for Luo Ji.
Thinking this, Luo Ji pondered for a moment, then quickly spread out a piece of paper and began writing.
The content on the paper mainly described the atrocities of Emperor Zhou Dongnan of Great Zhou, thereby highlighting the arduous lives and desperate plight of the Great Zhou commoners.
In short, it was to arouse sympathy among his own people, to let them know that the people of Great Zhou were also pitiful, and thus cease their hostility towards them.
After writing, Luo Ji handed the paper, filled with text, to the two assistant secretaries beside him.
“Copy several copies based on the content on this paper, then distribute them.”
“Post one on the public bulletin board of each city, and find a few literate scholars to read and spread the message.”
After giving these instructions, Luo Ji turned his attention to Luo Jin.
“Issue an order to the patrol teams in all cities. If they find anyone verbally or physically conflicting with the Great Zhou populace, they must intervene promptly. Remember, appeasement should be the primary approach.”
For this matter, Luo Ji’s solution was simple, appeal to reason and emotion.
With this as a prerequisite, even if some people still harbored grudges, they should at least restrain themselves.
One by one, the announcements were quickly posted.
As one of Luo Ji’s important means of disseminating information in this era, the public bulletin boards in each city undoubtedly attracted significant attention from the people.
Before the announcements were even fully posted, a whole crowd had already gathered.
“Make way, make way! Mr. Zhang is here!”
Hearing this, the common folk turned around to see a young man, appearing to be 27 or 28, dressed in a linen robe, slowly walking through the crowd.
Within the civilization, although Luo Ji did not deliberately promote scholars, educated individuals still earned everyone’s respect.
Upon seeing Mr. Zhang, the crowd parted, allowing him to reach the bulletin board.
“Mr. Zhang, what does the bulletin board say?”
“Yes, Mr. Zhang, what did His Majesty say?”
“Mr. Zhang…”
Listening to the urging voices of the common folk behind him, Mr. Zhang pressed his hands down, gesturing for quiet.
“Everyone, please be quiet. I’m reading.”
After Mr. Zhang finished reading the content of the announcement, his face immediately flashed with indignation, and he quickly relayed the content to the people behind him.
A commotion instantly rose from the crowd.
“I can’t believe that Zhou Dongnan was such a terrible person!”
“If what this announcement says is true, then the people of Great Zhou are indeed a bit pitiful.”
“What do you mean ‘if what this announcement says is true?’ Would His Majesty lie to us?”
“The reason we can all eat well and dress warmly now is thanks to His Majesty!”
“That’s right, if it weren’t for His Majesty, we wouldn’t have our lives today. His Majesty couldn’t possibly lie to us!”
“Old Zhang, you accidentally broke your leg at the construction site last month and couldn’t work. His Majesty knew about it and ordered people to bring you half a month’s worth of food, and also found a doctor to treat your injury, and finally gave you a new job. What you’re saying is a bit heartless!”
“That’s right, the enemies who invaded West Plains City have all been killed by His Majesty, and that Zhou Dongnan is dead. Those people of Great Zhou are also pitiful. We don’t need to target them anymore, do we?”
This small incident was enough to demonstrate Luo Ji’s high prestige among the populace.
Luo Ji did indeed remember the incident with Old Zhang.
It was precisely after this incident that he immediately perfected an entire ‘work-related injury system’ to ensure that personnel in various departments had no worries.
And undoubtedly, the introduction of the ‘work-related injury system’ elevated Luo Ji, who already enjoyed extremely high popularity among the people, to a new level.
Getting back to the main topic, within the crowd, as people were discussing this topic, a discordant voice suddenly emerged.
“Am I the only one who thinks His Majesty is absolving those Great Zhou commoners of their guilt?”
“After all, aren’t the Great Zhou commoners and Great Zhou soldiers both from Great Zhou? People from the same place are no good!”
Similar incidents occurred in many cities and quickly reached Luo Ji’s ears.
Luo Ji, currently dizzy from the mountain of work reports before him, upon hearing the exact verbatim remarks, his first reaction was.
“Go tell that guy, he’s the only one! He is the essence of all creation, the missing piece of history, the lost treasure of civilization! Not only that, he’s a limited edition, a sole, unique specimen, the chosen one, the last supper, he is electricity, he is light, he is the only idiot!”
After speaking, seeing a somewhat bewildered Luo Jin, Luo Ji, realizing his outburst, vigorously rubbed his temples.
He never imagined that his civilization already had these cancerous oddities like ‘contrarians’ and ‘agitators.’
Such nuisances might be late, but they’re never absent.
Indeed, no matter the era, such people exist.
However, Luo Ji always felt that something was fishy.
After all, these contrarians and trouble making jerks appeared a little too conveniently.
Thinking about it, his original people were quite simple and honest, never causing any trouble.
And while Great Zhou was a former enemy, after their defeat, the conflict seemed to escalate too thoroughly and too quickly.
Thinking this, Luo Ji immediately realized that someone was stirring up trouble behind the scenes.
Just as he was about to say something, he unexpectedly found that Luo Jin, usually quick-witted, was now dumbfounded by his previous remarks.
For a moment, his mind couldn’t wrap around it.
“Tha-that, Your Majesty, what you just said was too fast, your subordinate couldn’t remember it. Could you please say it again…”
“…”
