This Martial Saint's Health Bar is Too Thick!-Chapter 417 - 111: A Sword Casts Down the Azure Mountain

June 17th.

The Central Cabinet announced a piece of news:

The court plans to establish a new university!

Once the news came out, it sent shockwaves throughout the land.

The Central Cabinet had done a good job keeping it secret, with only occasional rumors slipping through, so very few people knew the full truth.

By the time the news was confirmed, many were already late to the game.

In the political arena, striving for something after all the details have been set in stone is simply too late.

The advantages the Lu Family had been laying out for over a decade were now undeniably evident.

As soon as the Central Cabinet announced the establishment of the new university, the Inspector of Feng Province, Lu Wenzheng, submitted a petition to build the university in the provincial capital of Feng Province, listing a series of prepared measures:

A vast amount of Martial Arts Cultivation resources, an extensive reserve of faculty, including the Full Power support of a Martial Arts Sect.

And finally, a Great Grandmaster!

With such conditions on the table, other provinces, unprepared, simply couldn’t compete with Feng Province.

Naturally, the provinces that did not yet have a university were not willing to give up so easily and began to integrate their resources, reporting to the Central Government and giving their Full Power to compete.

However, the Cabinet Ministers who would decide the matter had already been courted and connections had been established by the Lu Family over a decade in advance. freewebnøvel.coɱ

Unless the Emperor or the Chief Minister suddenly expressed strong opposition, the final vote of the Central Cabinet would inevitably favor Feng Province.

After half a month of reviews and discussions, the Central Cabinet announced the final resolution on July 1st:

The new university would be established in Feng Province, and its name was penned by the Emperor himself—

Hongyi University!

...

Feng Province, the provincial capital.

In his office, Lu Wenzheng was reviewing the Central Cabinet’s freshly issued documents about the new ’Hongyi University’.

His face showed a changing expression, apparently not as pleased as one might have expected.

After a moment, Lu Wenzheng set down the documents, his expression somewhat grim:

"Chief Minister, what a clever move."

Indeed, as he had hoped, the new university would be established in the provincial capital of Feng Province, but this university was different from the other twelve comprehensive universities.

Hongyi University would only have the Zhi Ge Department, without the seven disciplines of Literature, Science, Magic, Agriculture, Engineering, Commerce, and Education!

The reason given was that the new university was established to address the deficiencies in the Martial Arts education system of the existing twelve universities; as a ’pilot university’, there was no need to establish other disciplines.

After all, no serious issues existed in other subjects.

Of course, there was nothing wrong with this reason, but it was hard for Lu Wenzheng to accept.

He could accept the drastic changes to the educational system of the new university, could accept the Chief Minister experimenting with various new teaching models within this new university, but he could not accept a ’castrated’ new university.

Even though Martial Arts were revered in this world, it did not mean that other disciplines were unimportant; after all, the vast majority of officials in the court did not come from the Zhi Ge Department.

Without the seven disciplines, it would mean that Lu Wenzheng would have half as many cards to play when he wanted to compete with Wu’an University in the future!

The Chief Minister had probably thought of this point from the very beginning, which is why he agreed so readily to place the new university in Feng Province.

Now looking back, Lu Wenzheng realized that he might have been playing into the Chief Minister’s hands all along.

Ye Ze’an, as the Chief Minister, was seen as having enormous sway over court and countryside, but he couldn’t possibly cover the sky with one hand in the Central Cabinet.

With over five hundred years since the founding of the Da Lan Dynasty, deeply entrenched issues were difficult to uproot, and even the Chief Minister could face a tough battle, with no guarantee of success.

For example, establishing the thirteenth university—if Ye Ze’an had directly proposed this idea a decade ago, and suggested changing the Martial Arts education system, there would have been ample opposition, making success difficult.

But thanks to the plotting of the Lu Family and Lu Wenzheng over a decade, the endeavor was ultimately successful.

Now looking back, Lu Wenzheng realized that over these years, the Chief Minister probably had also been quietly pushing for this, with his family and himself serving as unwitting ’vanguard’.

And to think that it was volunteer service by the Lu Family.

"That Cabinet Minister who questioned the Martial Arts education system of the twelve universities a decade ago must have been arranged by you, wasn’t he?" Lu Wenzheng said with self-deprecating laughter.

He was now almost certain that this was the ’bait’ deliberately released by Ye Ze’an.

Those who are willing fall for it.

And the Lu Family took the bait.

So many years had passed, the Lu Family had cleared all the obstacles for Ye Ze’an, only to be outwitted at the last moment.

The cake that was almost in their mouth was sliced in half.

And yet, the rationale Ye Ze’an provided was very sound, and everyone would agree with it.

At this stage, Lu Wenzheng could no longer step back; even with just half of the cake left, even if the cake might have something else mixed in, he would have to grit his teeth and swallow it.

That’s why he lamented Ye Ze’an’s skillful tactics.

This Chief Minister had been sitting in court for forty-six years, having been promoted to Chief Minister the year the current Emperor ascended to the throne.

Over these forty-six years:

He suppressed the Gate Valve, clipped the power of the nobility, and centralized power.

He reformed the military system, promoted the practice of Martial Arts, and carried out the Mingxin reforms.

Every significant and difficult task, Ye Ze’an ultimately accomplished them all!

To lose to such a person, Lu Wenzheng was extremely upset, yet he also fully acknowledged the defeat.

In the ten major families, several others had been dealt even harsher blows by the Chief Minister; Lu Wenzheng was actually faring quite well.