After returning to West Zhou, Ji Chang did not initiate sweeping reforms. He was a pragmatic and down-to-earth person, and his first step upon returning was to vigorously develop production, while occasionally delivering speeches on the "Taiping Heavenly Book."
Ji Chang already had considerable prestige in West Zhou, and as production began to deliver results, he started persuading the nobles: "Look, if you follow my lead, everyone profits. The way you've been treating these slaves like livestock—it's astonishingly inefficient. Isn't my method proving more effective?"
The nobles knew this approach was essentially wrong, but Ji Chang was the ruler of Xiqi and a widely regarded sage. Since this new method didn't harm their interests, they had no grounds to resist and obediently handed over most of their slaves.
