Family Cultivation: My entire family are Villains

Chapter 336: 180. The Changing Winds and Clouds, The Situation of the World (Part II)_2

With these three families taking the lead, the rest had little objection and the alliance was signed.

In all seriousness, the signing of this alliance could be said to be the most talked about event among the commoners of The World since the fall of the Great Yu Dynasty, and also the most important event in over thirteen hundred years.

The historical records called it the Jin Capital Alliance.

The cause of the Jin Capital Alliance was the internal struggle within the Great Jin Dynasty. After Emperor Yuwen Hongzhang of Jin had swallowed up Fenzhou, he wanted to continue and annex Bingzhou. Fearing the rapid expansion of Great Jin, the Eight Great Sacred Lands formed an alliance and pressured him in Jin Capital, which led to the preliminary conditions for the Jin Capital Alliance.

The process of the Jin Capital Alliance was that the Eight Great Sacred Lands agreed to Yuwen Hongzhang's proposal of demarcating state boundaries and ceasing war for recovery, which led to the result of Great Jin not continuing their assault on Bingzhou.

And the outcome of this alliance was the "Jin Capital Alliance Pact"!

The Jin Capital Alliance Pact meticulously defined the borders of all adjacent states, set aside some areas of contention temporarily as no-man's-lands, and decreed that neither side should station troops there. Furthermore, it stipulated that the grand powers of each Sacred Land, without the other's permission, should not cross borders, effectively halting the border conflicts and truly ushering in a period of recuperation.

We must mention that originally Yuwen Hongzhang, as the former minister in close attendance to Wuzong and a traitor to the Great Yu Dynasty, did not have a good reputation despite the rising sun status of the Great Jin that he founded.

Furthermore, because he initially served Wuzong and then resorted to extreme flattery towards Zhao Yulong, the Grand Marshal of Soldiers and Horses, and also took a master as his teacher shortly before his defection, he was given the title of "Servant of Three Surnames" by The World.

However, due to the affairs of the Jin Capital Alliance, Yuwen Hongzhang's reputation soared overnight. He managed to clear his name of past infamy and became a wise ruler in the eyes of many Martial Artists pursuing peace and ninety percent of the common people.

To this day, the term "Servant of Three Surnames" is rarely mentioned; instead, Yuwen Hongzhang is praised as a wise and visionary ruler, a pioneering emperor, and is spoken of with great admiration.

From this, it is evident that the biggest winner of the Jin Capital Alliance was not the Eight Great Sacred Lands, nor the Blood Spirit Demon Sect that narrowly survived, but rather the Great Jin Dynasty.

The second year after the Jin Capital Alliance, which was the year 901 in the New Yu Era, Yuwen Hongzhang designated Crown Prince Yuwen Dongdu as regent, and although he retained the imperial throne, he stepped back, focusing on deep cultivation, and entrusted all the substantive power of Great Jin to his eldest son.

It was as if the Yuwen Clan was favored by fate, or as though the nation's luck of Great Jin had arrived. In some ways, the regency of Yuwen Dongdu surpassed that of his father, Yuwen Hongzhang.

After Yuwen Dongdu took over as regent, he spent thirty years using a great army to completely clear the demons from the wilderness within the Great Jin territory. Initially, people did not understand his actions, but once they saw the demons being eradicated, and the citizens of the Yu, You, and Fen states under Great Jin's rule could freely trade with each other, they instantly understood.

With the free flow of Martial Artists and private forces amongst the three states, Great Jin's economic and trade exchanges surged exponentially. Following suit were the rapid growth of Great Jin's Martial Arts, economy, culture, and the Cultivation of Martial Artists, as well as the swift rise of influential forces.

The northern population has always cherished martial valor, and as their strength expanded so rapidly, their ambitions naturally grew incrementally as well. In Great Jin's territory, there were seven heaven-level major forces, making it the hardest to govern among all ten Sacred Lands in The World.

It must be said that when commerce first opened up in the three states, Great Jin, as the governing body, despite its governance model not keeping pace, actually profited less than those smaller forces below, especially the seven heaven-level major houses that even showed signs of uniting against Great Jin.

Seeing that the situation in the three states was getting out of hand, Yuwen Dongdu's next move came swiftly. He first established Beiting Si, tasked with managing all influential forces within the three states, and strictly ordered the seven heaven-level major houses to not only send core heirs to take office but also to contribute one grand power level Martial Artist from each family to serve as the seven Commandants of Beiting Si.

On this basis, Yuwen Dongdu decreed that tax rates and revenue from trade between the three states would be determined and collected by Beiting Si. With that, all seven heaven-level major forces were taken by surprise; they were now responsible for setting tax rates and collecting revenue, essentially doing all the dirty work.

Could the seven heaven-level major forces refuse?

Of course not, because the tax rates and profits from this commerce were split between Great Jin and the seven houses at a ratio of sixty-forty, with Great Jin only taking forty percent and they, sixty percent. Thus, even though they knew Great Jin had deftly passed the burden onto them, the seven heaven-level forces still compromised, because after all, no one wants to be on bad terms with money...

Yuwen Dongdu's strategy stunned both insiders and outsiders of Great Jin and made The World take a fresh look at this founding crown prince!

Secondly, he founded Wind Cloud Pavilion, spending a fortune to buy up information networks and compiling the rankings of New Stars, Demon Heads, and Giant's Demon Path on behalf of Great Jin.

It was clear to any discerning person that these rankings were a move by Great Jin to incite infighting among Martial Artists in the six states and even among minor forces. Nevertheless, most people could not resist the allure of fame. Once the three rankings were released, they drew Martial Artists from the Demon Path across the six states and even some influential forces, all vying for the honor of being listed.

With these two powerful institutions, Yuwen Dongdu, as the regent crown prince, firmly secured his position. And it enabled his father, Yuwen Hongzhang, to entrust the command of the loyal Conglong Guard to him in the year 1200 of the New Yu Era, solidifying his right to succession and dashing the hopes of his other seven sons.