Chapter 457 — Everything Arranged Down to the Last Detail
Blade of Dawn · Page 2 of 3
Only then did Gao Yang breathe a sigh of relief, and he quickly directed the mechanical scholar beside him: "Then check the machine—"
Not a single person present thought there was anything wrong with what Gao Dai had said...
Hetty glared at Rebecca with a look of helpless exasperation, but remembering that she had been praising the girl a moment before, she swallowed the reprimand in the end and changed the subject to Gao Yang instead: "Ancestor, you just tossed those nobles aside?"
"The meeting was over the moment they signed," Gao Yang said indifferently. "I explained all the follow-up arrangements to them clearly; it didn't take long. Of course, to celebrate their freedom and their becoming part of Cecil, I arranged a small banquet for them... but in what frame of mind they'll attend, that I leave to them."
With that, Gao Yang waved a hand: "Set all that aside for now—has the 'photograph' been printed? How did it come out?"
"Ah, forgive me, Ancestor, I've already had it sent off," Hetty said with a small exclamation, then reported, "It came out very well. Printing an illusion spell onto paper produces something quite different from the traditional 'shorthand' spell, but it feels more real."
"Good, as long as you've reviewed it," Gao Yang nodded in satisfaction, then glanced at Rebecca, still wiping her tears and sniffling nearby. "Silly child, does it still hurt?"
"It doesn't hurt," Rebecca said, craning her neck and flushing red, but then she shook her head. "It's just still buzzing a bit in my skull..."
Seeing the girl's forced composure, Gao Yang could only sigh with a mix of tears and laughter: "Alas—you'd best protect that head of yours. If you knocked a mind that fine into foolishness, the loss would be far too great."
Hetty wore much the same expression of helpless amusement. She gave a small sigh and turned to Gao Yang: "Ancestor, do you think those nobles who signed will settle down properly?"
"Honestly, I have never trusted them, whether before they signed or after," Gao Dai said very directly, since there were no outsiders present. "But I don't need them to support me or oppose me from the heart—neither means anything. We must remain vigilant against them and maintain surveillance over them, at least until they and their first generation of descendants are all dead. And even after those two generations are gone, we must keep watch on the conduct of their descendants—only the surveillance will grow gentler."
Gao Yang raised his head and looked toward the assembly hall. His gaze seemed to pass through walls and door panels, straight to those Southern March nobles now departing in bewilderment.
"Remember: the nobles who signed here today, and their first generation of direct descendants, may not enter politics, may not hold any post in the Council of State, and may not enter the education system or the news and media system—not even as the lowest clerk, substitute teacher, or assistant editor. If capable and steady men truly emerge among them, they may go into business, they may become investors; I even permit them to open factories. So long as they have the brains, they may use these means to live far more comfortably and prosperously than they did as landed nobles. But in the Council of State, the schools, the newspaper offices... there is no place for them."
"Yes," Hetty nodded gravely in acknowledgment, but she was still somewhat worried. "But in doing so... we may miss out on some talent. The direct descendants of the nobles are the finest intellectuals on this land at present. Most of them may be destabilizing elements, but among them there are still those worth winning over and educating..."