Chapter 98: The Meeting (2)

“The administrative system of the Cube Kingdom is excellent! Military affairs, state management, supply reserves, talent training—every department has a clear goal, all in good order,” Minister of Human Resources and Internal Affairs, Fu, said proudly.

“But those are just for the present,” he went on, his tone turning grave. “For now these departments are enough, but once the kingdom grows and the population increases, things will change.”

Through years of debating with Mofangyuan, Old Fu had absorbed many advanced ideas. With his own shrewd mind, he understood well the importance of a functioning government apparatus and institutions.

“From a long-term perspective, our state organs are already broken and chaotic,” he said bluntly. “In other words, their purpose is to help the ruler govern the kingdom more effectively.”

“If the organs of state cannot operate normally, then the entire kingdom is doomed.”

Seen through a modern lens, the Cube Kingdom’s administrative structure was indeed terrifying.
There was no mutual supervision; one bout of high-level corruption could make it collapse outright.
There was no real concept of duty or accountability, and some departments did not even know where their authority began or ended.
So many problems remained.

It could be said plainly: if Mofangyuan died and on top of that one high-ranking official betrayed the realm, the Cube Kingdom would disappear into history before the monster hordes even came in force.

“That is a serious problem indeed!” Mofangyuan felt a chill. In his former life, the great unified empires of Huaxia had mostly fallen to internal strife, barring one peculiar exception.

For a long time, his focus had been only on population and monster power, ignoring everything else.
Only now, after hearing Fu, did he realize how grave it was.

“Political systems, institutions...” he muttered inwardly. In his former life he had been only a student. He was no all-knowing literary hero with answers to everything.
Politics? Who even knew about that?
If pressed, he could name only the Three Departments and Six Ministries, the separation of powers, and the feudal hierarchy of Western Europe…
But none of those could be applied directly to the Cube Kingdom. The environment simply would not allow it.

Still, knowing nothing did not mean they could do nothing. If they did not act, the kingdom could declare itself dead in spirit soon enough.
To develop, they had to fix their polity and institutions. If they chose to remain undeveloped, the monsters would finish them.

“Each of you is a pillar of this kingdom. Share your opinions,” Mofangyuan said. He clearly did not understand this field, so he looked around for any help he could gather.

Lao Dun: “I’m not familiar with this.”

Lingyun Zhang: “Same here.”

Linye: “Not familiar—no comment.”

Fangzhi: “I’m only a research type.”

Yali: “What is this? Can it be eaten?”

Everyone fell silent. Indeed, none of them had a clue.

“This is far too complicated, something we in this moment cannot build,” Old Fu said, disappointed. “So my suggestion is to proceed from small to large—start with the simplest and work upward.”

He had hoped someone in this room could offer practical advice, and now even the king, who had the broadest theoretical knowledge of all, seemed genuinely at a loss. So he offered his own plan.
In short: they could not build a full system at once. In the short term no one could. They should begin by reforming grassroots administration, establish a solid base-level management framework, and gradually build higher structures.

“It seems a little off,” Mofangyuan thought, confused. “This sounds like administration, not a form of government.”

“Isn’t a regime supposed to be oligarchy, classical democracy, monarchy, something like that?”

“All right!” he said at last. “This is important. We’ll hold a separate meeting tomorrow.”

Since the king could hardly produce anything useful and was no more versed in political systems than a layperson—hardly a beginner who could guide policy either—this had to suffice.

“Anyone else with comments?”
Yali stayed silent. Mofangyuan’s Three-Three system and military structure were already excellent in her eyes; even now they could not think of any obvious point needing change.

Mofangyuan himself muttered that at least he was still a true son of Huaxia. He had carried the Three-Three structure and the legion-combat doctrine in his blood; even reduced to dust, he would remember them.

“Your Majesty,” Fangzhi said nervously, pushing his glasses up his nose as if to restore his scholarly composure, “I need more monsters to test the combat performance of the Iron Automatons.”

He had no concern for preserving his cool, erudite persona now. He only wanted to get out of this meeting; after all, he was a scientist.

“We can handle that through the Night Watch Department,” Yali said, lifting a hand. She knew her business and accepted the task.

Because Old Fu had raised the issue of an “institutional crisis” right at the meeting’s start, the remainder of the session passed in near silence.
By the end, the Cube Kingdom’s first high-level meeting ended without conclusion.

【This meeting was far-reaching in significance. Its convening marked the first attempt of the Cube Kingdom to establish a structured regime, and the beginning of its transition from a primitive tribal society to a more advanced monarchy-and-equality system. From then on, the kingdom entered an entirely new era; it became a crucial milestone in the progress of Cubian thought. It is later known as the “White Snow Conference” in the Comprehensive History of the Cube Kingdom.】

A history teacher from the future is said to have said: “Remember this! This is key material. It has a high chance of appearing on the entrance examinations!”

An anonymous netizen added: “Three exam fears: first, advanced mathematics; second, the synthesis stream; third, Grand Ancestor Mo!”

Mofangyuan had no way of knowing how this meeting would be judged in later generations. Had he known, he probably would have said, “I didn’t think so deeply at the time.”

Back in his office, Mofangyuan sank down heavily.
A polity? He truly did not understand it.

“It seems we can only borrow from the wisdom of the ancestors,” he thought. If he could not create one himself, he would have to study their systems.
Monarchy, popular democracy, and so on.
With history full of forms of government, one of them must work—if not, then mix and adapt them.

“Political forms, again,” Linye thought with visible distaste.
She remembered a king she had met in the Trial Space, the kind who seemed to think with only his lower half of the body—always staring at her with a filthy look, saying things like, “What a good feeling.”

“The countries in the Trial Space…” Although she had not been there for a while, she still clearly remembered their types.
“Kingdoms, republics, empires… dynasties?”
She knew only that a republic had no king, a kingdom had one, and an empire was vast in territory.
As for everything else, she did not know.

In truth, she could have gone back to the Trial Space, observed their systems, and reported them to Old Fu and the king to adapt them into forms workable in the Cube Kingdom.
But the Trial Space is not accessible at any time; one must complete an advanced trial to enter.
And that particular trial—to please the opposite sex—she knew in her heart she could never complete in this lifetime.

“Shh, shh...” Linye drew paper and a quill from her box and began recording what she remembered, hoping Old Fu and His Majesty might draw inspiration from it the next day.

The office of the Minister of Human Resources.

On Minister Fu’s desk were stacked countless scratch sheets and books.
The notes recorded the living conditions of the Cube Kingdom’s people, work data between departments, and the kingdom’s current objectives and dangers.
The books were volumes of Cubian history.
In the Cube Kingdom, no one could deny that Fu understood governance better than any of them.

“Ugh,” he sighed, patting his smooth bald head with a frown.
He did not even know where to begin with the work he had set himself.