Shuli Go Stories Vol. 7: Benefits of a Classical Education

Part 6

Zemin's speech was cut short by a sudden and sharp yawn, which was quickly followed by another from Shuren. Lian had forgotten that of course they'd marched all day and they needed rest more than she. Before she took her leave though, she still had one question that all the theoretical talk hadn't answered.

"I'll take my leave, young gentlemen," both of whom shook their heads in embarrassment – yawning in front of an older stranger was considered bad form among the genteel class to which they belonged. "But first I have one simple question: what will you ask, if you kneel in front of the Empress?"

The two men shared a quick glance, indicating that they had not expected the question at all.

"What do you mean?" Zemin queried back.

"Well alongside the highest ranking member of the aristocracy involved in a petition, three individuals are chosen at random to receive an audience with the Empress. If it's you who gets chosen, what will you say? What will you ask for?"

Usually peasants involved in a petition would receive strict indoctrination about what to say should they be chosen to plead their case to the Celestial Throne. By tradition it took the form of three questions each, for a total of nine requests that the petitioners could ask, along with a tenth posed by the aristocrat. Zemin and Shuren's long stare at each other gave Lian some indication: this was not a usual petition, and there was no consensus about what specific requests the petitioners would ask when they arrived.

"Everyone marching has agreed that they are free to present whatever they believe best reflects their understanding of our present troubles," Zemin confirmed.

"Ok. And I'm asking what you'll say, if it's you who is chosen?" She stared at them both, but they avoided her look. "Surely you've thought about it. You've been on the road for weeks already, right? You're laying there, prostrate, fifty paces away from the Celestial Throne and the Empress herself. What do you ask?"

Zemin and Shuren looked at each other one final time, before they both turned their eyes on Lian. Shuren, his eyes somewhere about Lian's chest, spoke first. "We have talked about it. Almost every night."

"And even we can't agree completely," Zemin added with a slight chuckle. "Shuren wants to focus on moral rehabilitation. Closing brothels, reforming the family laws, that sort of thing. I think banditry and taxes are more of a priority. But there is one thing we both agree on. Which almost everyone here agrees on."

"And what's that?"

"We all agree that we need to return to the strict rules of the Ten Tiers of Society."

"I... see." Lian said. But she did not see. The Ten Tiers of Society were a strict hierarchy of roles and responsibilities, with the number of individuals available to serve each role increasing by a factor of ten as you descended the tiers. The Empress sat at the top. Then the ten Kings and Queens. Then the 100 Dukes, and so on and so forth down to the laborers who supposedly numbered 100 million.

Technically the Ten Tiers of Society still existed and everyone was supposed to operate within them. But the firm boundaries between the different levels had faded away as the Apologists lost influence. Now the Ten Tiers were more indicators of social standing: criminals at the bottom, laborers above them, merchants and tradespeople above them, and so on and so forth. Lian knew many people who had started in the lowest rungs of the Tiers and worked all the way into the Imperial court itself. It was an old way of looking at the world, and Wong Xieren had indeed been given credit for its creation, so it didn't surprise Lian to hear them speaking its praises. But like Wong Xieren himself, it did surprise her that they were seriously considering it a solution to the problems of the Central Empire.