Dark Sand: My Players Are All Actors
Chapter 116 - 111: Immortals Battle, Mortals Suffer

Chapter 116: Chapter 111: Immortals Battle, Mortals Suffer

Li Hongyun was stumped by a series of questions from Chu Song.

His brows tightly furrowed, he pondered deeply before saying, "If your speculations are correct, then this problem is essentially unsolvable!

"The secret letter from Yan Maoqing talks about breaching the dike to flood the rebels, but in reality, flooding the rebels is false, breaching the dike is the true objective. Governor Lin is a clever man; he must also be able to guess Chief Minister Yan’s real intentions.

"So you’re saying, the secret exchanges between the two seemingly discuss ’flooding the rebels,’ but in reality, every phrase revolves around ’flooding the fields to amass wealth’?

"Yan Maoqing has already calculated everything clearly, using the common people’s good lands to exchange for the silver in the hands of corrupt officials and wealthy merchants. Only with the silver can he extend the life of his position as Grand Secretary, hence he must accomplish this no matter the difficulties.

"That’s why Lin Xiangmin is so hesitant.

"He knows that he absolutely must not defy this, because his position as a governor also depends on Chief Minister Yan. If Chief Minister Yan gets angry, any trivial reason could be used to replace him, such as ’inefficiency against rebels,’ etc.

"But if he follows through, then the problem is also significant. Innocent fields submerged, commoners displaced, it could easily trigger a civilian uprising. Even if he arranges for others to secretly breach the dikes, leaving no evidence behind, once a civilian uprising occurs, he as the governor cannot escape responsibility.

"Not to mention, carrying out such unscrupulous deeds that go against one’s conscience is something a person with even a shred of humanity could not do. The flood would drown countless civilians.

"If he considers his own position, he would have to take the risk of inciting a civilian uprising and follow Chief Minister Yan’s wishes; if he is loyal to his duties, then he can only wait to be dismissed by Chief Minister Yan. By then, someone else might take over, and the dike could still end up being breached, and one can completely give up on the idea of eradicating the bandits.

"Delaying might be able to hold things off for a while, but ultimately, one cannot escape these two outcomes."

Now, Li Hongyun finally understood why Lin Xiangmin seemed so worried; this truly was an unsolvable deadlock.

"Then... is there a possibility like this?

"Assassinate Yan Maoqing?

"If the matter of breaching the dike to flood the rebels is exposed, can Yan Maoqing be brought down?"

Li Hongyun thought it over and realized that with Yan Maoqing above him, almost nothing could be accomplished.

And historically, Yan Maoqing indeed fell, and Gu Qingzhang became the new Grand Secretary.

If Yan Maoqing could be removed, and the Emperor would confiscate his assets, then there wouldn’t be a short-term concern about silver.

With Gu Qingzhang as the Grand Secretary, most of the military supplies needed for the eradication of the bandits would likely be allocated.

Chu Song shook his head, "Of course not!

"If Yan Maoqing doesn’t fall, Governor Lin truly has no recourse; but if Yan Maoqing really does fall, do you think with Governor Lin’s prior dealings with Chief Minister Yan, he could escape unscathed?

"Yes, he is currently in charge of the anti-bandit campaign, but when the nest is overturned, how can any egg remain unbroken? Once Chief Minister Yan is overthrown, he will inevitably be overthrown as well.

"Reporting the breaching of dikes? Easier said than done, where is the solid proof to show that Chief Minister Yan instructed him? If the breaching really occurs, such a significant event, would a governor really not be held accountable?

"How do you think, after exposing this, the Emperor would trust an elder who has been by his side and heavily relied upon for decades, or a local governor? Especially when this governor was promoted by that elder, who has shown him kindness.

"What do you think the Emperor’s opinion on you will be? Noble justice over family loyalty, or betraying one’s master and sullied lineage?

"Fine, even if Chief Minister Yan falls, would the new Grand Secretary, Gu Qingzhang, tolerate you? You were promoted by Chief Minister Yan’s hand; it’s as if you’ve already chosen your side. Would Gu Qingzhang keep using you?

"If Lin Xiangmin were to be pulled down from his governor position, how could he continue with the campaign against the bandits?"

Li Hongyun felt a bit dizzy: "So you mean to say... Yan Maoqing needs to fall, but only partially, not completely?"

Chu Song nodded, "Exactly.

"You can’t uproot Chief Minister Yan completely, as that would also implicate Governor Lin. It’s necessary for Chief Minister Yan’s position to be weakened, and at the same time, Governor Lin needs to gain favor in the eyes of the Emperor, better yet be appreciated by the Emperor. Only in this way could there be a chance to coax out the military funding needed for the campaign from the Emperor.

"Do you still remember what Governor Lin said to General Deng? Meritorious deeds will come naturally with military funding.

"In short, there are only two ways to get money: one way is to ask Chief Minister Yan, which clearly is no longer feasible, as Chief Minister Yan himself is anxious about funds; the other way is to try directly asking the Emperor.

"But the Emperor himself is irresponsible. He won’t think any failure of the campaign is due to insufficient military funds; instead, he will think it’s because of your inadequate capabilities. Hence, Governor Lin isn’t intentionally withholding General Deng’s funds; he genuinely cannot secure sufficient funds.

"Since the current Emperor dares to employ Yan Maoqing as the Grand Secretary for decades, this shows that he is an Emperor who is insatiable when amassing his own wealth and extremely stingy when it comes to the national treasury. It’s normal not to be able to get funding; if you do get it, it means the Emperor has a very high opinion of you!

"Thus, the only way is for the Emperor to place greater importance on Governor Lin, to believe he is a worthy official, trusting that providing him with funding will indeed pacify the rebels. As long as this can be achieved, then with a word from the Emperor, the military funds could somehow be squeezed out.

"That’s what is commonly called ’reach the Emperor’s ears.’

"Only, these four characters are easy to say but hard to actualize."

After this round of analysis, Li Hongyun was completely baffled.

He and Chu Ge were both history students, and their grasp of historical materials might not differ much, but when it came to analyzing specific problems, there were gaps.

That was precisely why Chu Ge could achieve a first clear of the scholar instance, while Li Hongyun could not.

However, fortunately, after this round of analysis, the two had at least managed to straighten out the current situation.

In simple terms, it was: walking on thin ice, utterly perplexing!

Above, the emperor, Yan Maoqing, and Gu Qingzhang, these three immortals, were contesting with one another, while below, Lin Xiangmin was striving to hold up the situation in the southeast, General Deng was persisting in sweeping away bandits despite insufficient military supplies.

Now, the only "immortal" Governor Lin Xiangmin could rely on was Yan Maoqing, but the problem was that Yan Maoqing had no desire to eliminate bandits; he only wanted to amass wealth.

Thus they were in a deadlock.

And to break this deadlock, one had to cautiously enter the circle where the immortals vied against each other; it was tantamount to dancing on a tightrope. One misstep and extermination of one’s entire family would be considered light punishment.

Li Hongyun felt somewhat dejected; these instances were indeed challenging and couldn’t be cleared just by a slap to the forehead.

Chu Ge, on the other hand, was quite indifferent, "There’s no need to be dismayed. Our progress is actually quite fast.

"Although every new instance is different and the difficulty keeps on increasing, players are also improving, and solving them is becoming more and more smooth.

"At least for this instance, we have already grasped its general direction on the first day. After a few more tries, clearing it is just a matter of time."

The two had breakfast together, then went about their own business.

As usual, Chu Ge shared his analysis on the forum for other players to see.

Meanwhile, Li Hongyun mulled over the "battle of immortals" in the instance, considering how he ought to advise Lin Xiangmin in his role as a staff officer.

At the very least, he needed to clarify the situation for Governor Lin so that he could impress him, and in doing so, the instance could continue to progress.

This time, the staff officer route was quite friendly to Li Hongyun.

Strictly speaking, playing the role of a staff officer didn’t require particularly brilliant acting skills; clear thinking and an accurate grasp of the situation were enough. By conducting the necessary analysis, that would suffice.

...

At this point, players on the forum were also engaging in a heated discussion about the "Becoming a Lord Was Never My Intent" instance.

"The bandits in the new instance have been upgraded! I encountered a battle-hardened bandit in the first fight and got knocked out cold!"

"Yeah, they’re much stronger than the bandits from the previous instance. I thought that after training so much in the last instance, I’d breeze through the new one, but it turns out I still have to struggle!"

"The equipment of these bandits is too sophisticated; I can’t accept it! When I reached the second stage and we attacked Puning Port, they even had muskets!"

"Aren’t the bandits supposed to be refugees and destitute soldiers? How come they have so many muskets? This is totally unscientific!"

"It’s perfectly normal. According to historical records, many of these bandits were battle-hardened veterans from the regular army. You could even regard the bandits entrenched in Puning Port as a formidable army of Eastern Barbarians."

"This group represents the strongest among the bandits, basically emblematic of the top combat capabilities of Eastern Barbarian bandits at the time, and are incomparable to the ones who infiltrated a small county before."

"The only good news is that on the side of the Sheng Army, we have War God General Deng. Without General Deng, relying solely on these useless soldiers, who knows how we’d fight this war!"

"I tried the staff officer line and got completely stuck... The governor asked me questions I couldn’t answer at all; then he kicked me out, and the mission failed..."

"You should check Chu Ge’s analysis posts on the forum for the staff officer line; they are quite thorough. But even now, reading the historical materials still doesn’t lead to a precise solution; we can only hope that these experts will figure out a standard answer."

"Has anyone advanced in the instance to obtain talent upgrade skills?"

"I worked all night and got one! It indeed upgrades the original talent abilities, but as of now, it seems not so urgent. The scholar talent I got further loosens the restrictions on using Righteous Qi. Now, even if I don’t recite poetry, simply expressing a similar sentiment can trigger the Righteous Qi. I’m not sure about other classes."

...

Chu Ge browsed the forum discussions, paying particular attention to the difficulty upgrades of the four newcomers’ trial instances.

Indeed, one could upgrade exclusive talents, but as of now, it only slightly boosted combat abilities and did not offer a significant advantage in solving new instances. It was not an urgent matter.

Waiting to achieve a first clear of the new instance before trying was not an issue either.

Thinking this, Chu Ge, like Li Hongyun, continued to read historical materials and analyses by scholars concerning the political situation at the time, pondering strategies for Lin Xiangmin to break the stalemate.