How would it help? The Emperor can not oppose the same Eight Sects that control almost all of the economy in the Empire and contribute a sizeable amount to its military forces. He can't support either us or the Fire Cult directly. So what exactly do you propose?
Well, given that our buddy Jixuan Wuni and Shun are both in high positions of power in Tufan and Tang, respectively, they could stand united and make an effort to at least postpone the Eight Sects from going on a cross border excursion on the pretense of avoiding a diplomatic incident.
Fangshi suggested something like this earlier, and that might be a good idea. I mean, we have two powerful people who think that Jing is a good guy and are willing to help us. Of course neither of them can help us openly, but if we can delay the Eight Sects for long enough, the Fire Cult can prepare a proper defense.
Of course, we're probably thinking ridiculously far ahead here. We'll cross that bridge when we reach it.
They don't control all of the economy, though. They do keep order in and around the cities and mountains of where they're established, and they are ridiculously powerful relative to non-pugilists (not to mention that they have a lot of influence among the people and other shadier things) but I think our perception is somewhat colored by the fact that Jing doesn't really care about much that's wholly unrelated to pugilism. He has been looking for a way to curb their influence and while I agree that he probably wouldn't publicly use the military against them or anything on that sort of level were they to try attack the Fire Cult and he knew that we headed it up, there's no reason to think that he wouldn't be providing any sort of support to us. Look to the situation with the Wudu Cult, he can figure out ways to support his friends without succumbing to external pressures.
Where do you think all the money in China comes from? The rural areas bring in taxes and food, and the Eight Sects have done the Empire's job during Taisheng's reign. I'm sure that Emperor Xuande is turning things around, but he's only been Emperor for two years at this point. Gonna take a while to unfuck things:
The next day, he crowned himself Emperor Taisheng.
The continuous battles taking place across the country had exacted a serious toll on the treasury. As a response, the government of the new Emperor began enacting policies to decentralize the bureaucracy, giving the prefects leeway to do what they will as long as taxes to the Imperial Court were paid on time.
This, coupled with the concentration of military power in the Imperial Court’s hands and the summary execution of the entire families of prefects that did not heed Emperor Taisheng’s instructions upon the pretext of corruption, had the effect of galvanizing the prefectures to ensure the taxes were submitted duly in order to avoid the capital’s gaze from falling upon them.
Of course, this only meant that corruption began to take place in other ways…
...
Although the Eight Sects paid homage to His Imperial Majesty’s rule, you get the feeling that it may not be more than lip service. You begin to understand why Shun had been concerned about the pugilists. Though, to be fair, from your observations thus far the government has been rather ineffectual in establishing any semblance of order far from the cities – the central officials only cared if taxes were paid and grain was collected. At least the orthodox sects protected the communities close to them from bandits and other miscreants.
The Eight Sects under the Douchebag Generation could exert a lot of pressure if they want to. In the Frathouse's time, Wang and co. chose not to involve themselves in political matters, but Nie Wuxing has been rather adamant about seeking out political connections. And there's Mao Sanjiao as well.
Shun has been fighting a lot of corruption along the way, and Operation: Immortal probably ensured that he would be able to get his reforms through with very little dissent, but you aren't going to fix three decades of misrule overnight.
