Chapter 336 Administration
Zhou Tieyi leaned back in a comfortable position and looked at Li Jianhu. "I just met He Qigong. Are you not as angry as you thought you were about this person who set up a trap to harm you?"

Li Jianhu was stunned when Zhou Tieyi asked this.

Indeed, Zhou Tieyi's words just now revealed a lot of information, including He Qigong's setting of the trap, Prince Ning's easy use of the lives of thousands of students from Huxin Academy to set up the trap, and Zhou Tieyi's indifference and acquiescence.

With his previous personality, he would have rushed up to question without caring about anything.

Zhou Tieyi continued to ask, "Did He Qigong kneel in front of me just now, trembling and uneasy, make you feel secretly happy? This kind of power in hand, the feeling of life and death, even the people standing next to you will feel proud, and your previous questions and ideals in your heart will be corrupted unconsciously in the face of this kind of power."

"What you think of as justice is just the only weapon you can wield against those in power before you gain power."

Zhou Tieyi finished his work, and there was a teasing tone in his voice.

Li Jianhu's secret joy after being exposed by Zhou Tieyi was only a normal human emotion at the moment, but now that it was exposed so clearly, he couldn't help but feel a little ashamed and angry on his face.

Fortunately, Li Jianhu had truly realized his true nature and was no longer the same as before. He answered seriously, "No, Zhou Hou has his own morality. Shouldn't we be allowed to have our own morality?"

Zhou Tieyi was silent for a moment, then smiled again, "That's a good answer, but I will see if you are as good as you say. Before that, you should at least listen to the theory of a 'bad guy' like me."

Cui Yu, who had been silent the whole time, bowed on behalf of Li Jianhu and said, "Lord Zhou, please speak."

Zhou Tieyi used the lid to fiddle with the tea bowl. "There are problems with the Shantong Mansion, from top to bottom, but this cannot be solved by investigating the case. I cannot guarantee justice in this process. It is inevitable to sacrifice the interests of a small person like you, but it is also temporary."

After hearing this, Li Jianhu felt aggrieved. He seemed to understand something, but due to his age, knowledge and ideals, he still interrupted and asked, "Why?"

Zhou Tieyi replied, "Because no matter how problematic a system is, it still represents order, which is far better than breaking all the chaos you imagine. To use a poem to describe it, it is 'I would rather be a dog in prosperous times than a man in troubled times'. You have risen from the bottom and have the opportunity to change your fate by swinging your fist, but that doesn't mean others have the same opportunity. You have to let others know that they have this opportunity first, drive away their ignorance, and then give them practical skills and a direction to move forward. This is what I think is fair, so I let He Qigong start a newspaper first."

Li Jianhu calmed down. Although he didn't like Zhou Tieyi's theory, he knew that he should listen carefully and learn it seriously first, then he would have a chance to refute or even change Zhou Tieyi's theory.

Zhou Tieyi looked at the mine. "Besides, although the administration of officials in Shantong Prefecture seems very poor to me, it is not very bad compared to this era. This means that most of the officials here actually have basic abilities. I need officials to govern the people, so I have to win the trust of the people and the officials at the same time. I need them to give me resources and do practical things to help me realize my ideals and grow a new system from the old one, just like a fruit farmer who finds a dead old tree and does not choose to cut it down by the roots, but grafts new branches to make it bloom and grow again."

Cui Yu pondered for a moment and pointed out the flaws in Zhou Tieyi's theory, "But if the bad branches of official corruption are not removed, even if new buds bloom, they will not grow good fruits and may even die halfway."

Zhou Tieyi smiled and said, "So I have to gain the trust of the clerks, not the officials. It's just that I need to use the officials to tell the clerks below my ideas, so that the clerks can follow my ideas and gain new power and benefits. Once the clerks are used to doing things this way, I can throw away the officials. Without the constraints of the officials, I can clean up the tangled aristocratic families in Shantong Prefecture and clean up the worst branches. Only then can I ensure that under the rule of the officials, cleaning up the aristocratic families will not cause chaos at the bottom."

Cui Yu's pupils shrank slightly, and he understood what Zhou Tieyi meant.

The aristocratic families are deeply rooted and the vast majority of officials in Shantong Prefecture are from aristocratic families. If one wants to clean up the aristocratic families, the officials will certainly obstruct.

But officials and clerks are different.

No matter how many people there are in the aristocratic families, they are still the smallest part of the people. Because their descendants are too ambitious, they will only aim at 'official positions' rather than 'clerk positions'. However, the people who really do the work are the lower-level clerks. With clerks, Zhou Tieyi does not have to worry about the aristocratic families holding the people hostage when they are eliminated, or that there will be no one to govern the people.

Zhou Tieyi looked into the distance, "In this process, I will definitely have to connect with other forces, and even promise many things that you think are unjust, but everything is for the greater good."

······
It was almost noon when Li Jianhu returned to his home with mixed feelings. Seeing his home, which had been completely renovated after more than a month away, Li Jianhu smiled silently.

During this time following Zhou Tieyi, he learned a lot of things, things that even Mr. Cui, a gentleman, didn't know.

But these things undoubtedly reflect the current situation.

For example, without knowing it, you are actually getting further and further away from the "people" in your heart. What qualifications do you have to question those in power from their perspective?

"I have become a beneficiary of power without realizing it."

Li Jianhu sighed to himself. He really wanted to tear down the courtyard wall in front of him that was painted like the ones of wealthy families. However, the moment he walked in, he saw his brother's smile and his mother's slightly worried but proud expression. He couldn't say it, nor could he do such a thing.

"The adults asked you to come back. How was your father's problem finally resolved?" Li's mother looked proud and a little worried. As a housewife of an ordinary family, Li's mother only hoped that her son could make a name for himself and leave the mine. In this process, she could not see most of the problems. She only knew that since her son went to Lulin Academy, the Li family's relatives helped them paint the door and walls, which showed that her son was indeed promising, although this was achieved through complaining.

"Ah."

Li Jianhu responded subconsciously, then thought of his father and the powerlessness he felt facing a Wu family manager a few months ago. His eyes became firm again.

Then he looked at his mother and said, "I'm a little tired. I want to take a rest first. I'll tell you the whole story later."

Mother Li nodded repeatedly, "Then go and rest quickly."

As she said that, she turned to look at her youngest son, "Why don't you go and pour the hot water from the stove into the bucket for your brother, add some cold water and let him wash up."

Li Hongyi shouted happily and immediately went to the kitchen to fetch water.

Seeing this familiar scene at home, Li Jianhu smiled.

After washing up, Li Jianhu lay on the bed. He entered into a dream and used the Taixu illusory surface to contact the old man "Panda".

Before entering Tianjing, Mr. Panda specifically reminded him that there were many hidden talents in Tianjing and there were too many people who could recognize the power of dreams. He told him not to contact people through dreams easily and to wait until it was completely safe and there were no important people around before making contact.

After going through so many things, Li Jianhu naturally knew the importance of the situation, so he had been enduring it until he was sure that the big shots would not monitor or use him as a chess piece for the time being, and then he contacted Mr. Panda again.

In the hazy dream, Mr. Panda was still shrouded in mist.

Seeing the 'old man' who had been guiding him from the beginning, Li Jianhu did not show innocent joy this time, but bowed seriously, "Thank you for your help during this period. I have an appointment with you and I still owe you a few requests. I wonder if you have anything to entrust me with."

At first, he was naturally naive and proud, thinking that he was the son of destiny in operas and novels, so he got help from Mr. Panda, Xiaobai, the teacher, Mr. Cui and others.

But as his knowledge grew, he could see clearly the intentions of many people, but the intentions of Mr. Panda remained a mystery, especially since Mr. Panda was involved with the Realm of Illusion and had great powers. He could descend from a distance and even interfere with the battle between the three grades.

This made Li Jianhu come up with a new guess: what if the old man "Panda" was a god?
Am I also part of Mr. Panda's plan? If so, then I should prepare early.

Zhou Tieyi looked at Li Jianhu and said with a smile in the tone of an old man, "Not bad, kid, you have made progress."

Then Zhou Tieyi continued, "But there is no free lunch in the world. Have you forgotten the requirements we agreed on before?"

Li Jianhu gave a bitter smile. The agreement between the two was that as long as he didn't kill his brother and mother, he would agree to everything else.

"I dare not forget, but I have experienced a lot of things during this period of time, which makes me a little confused."

Zhou Tieyi sat cross-legged in the void of dreams. Li Jianhu was a sword in his hand, and its value had been proven, so he had to polish it well.

It is not enough to just reason with Li Jianhu from Zhou Tieyi's identity, because if you reason with the same person too much, it will be different from the original cognition. Either he will completely break free from the shackles like Mei Juncang, or he will fall into confusion like Li Jianhu.

And Zhou Tieyi doesn't need Li Jianhu to follow Mei Juncang's path. He really hopes that Li Jianhu can take a new path to supplement his own path and speak up for the justice that he cannot see and cannot do.

So he needs to guide Li Jianhu from another identity.

As Zhou Tieyi, he taught Li Jianhu the cognition of the superiors in the world, and as the old man "Panda", he strengthened Li Jianhu's self-cognition.

Allow him to learn from his own cognition without having to be exactly like himself.

Double PUA, double the happiness!

(End of this chapter)