Dark Sand: My Players Are All Actors
Chapter 183 - 178: Not Sharing the World with the Scholars (Extra - , Seeking Votes 7)

Chapter 183: Chapter 178: Not Sharing the World with the Scholars (Extra Chapter, Seeking Votes 7)

Fang Shiyong’s expression changed, he opened his mouth, but still could not think of anything to say.

Chu Ge’s words were very clear, making it difficult for him to refute.

The operation of the Blank Seal Case was originally a bad practice left by the Northern Barbarians.

The governance by the Northern Barbarians was essentially a very loose model, epitomized by the saying "excess leads to the loss of the world."

The Northern Barbarians didn’t mind the local authorities messing around as long as they regularly paid a certain amount of tax. Thus, under such extremely lenient conditions, local officials creatively came up with the operation method of the "Blank Seal."

In this way, it was no problem for local authorities to levy taxes oppressively and excessively, as long as they contributed the required portion to the court.

This was why, after a few decades, the Northern Barbarians were driven back to the Desert North and why many local influential families still considered themselves vassals of the Northern Barbarians at this time.

It was because under the rule of the Northern Barbarians, they were, in reality, too comfortable.

At the beginning of the establishment of the Great Sheng Dynasty, many local officials had been vassals of the Northern Barbarians.

Due to ongoing military operations in the north and numerous issues needing attention locally, the Great Sheng Dynasty also generally continued with some of the systems from the Northern Barbarian era, as they could not overturn everything immediately and had to proceed gradually.

Gradually, they formulated various rules and regulations and implemented them nationwide.

However, clearly, the Blank Seal Case’s tacit rules were not among them.

Many local officials still stubbornly used the old methods, mainly because the decades of rule by the Northern Barbarians had allowed these officials to live too loosely and lawlessly, hence these problems arose.

The Blank Seal Case was specifically aimed to curb these malpractices.

Fang Shiyong was still not convinced, he thought about it, and then said, "But Your Majesty, ever since the founding of our nation till now, there has never been any law specifically against the Blank Seal; the departments and Prime Minister are oblivious of such a crime, and now if suddenly arrested and executed, how can those executed accept their fate willingly and without objection?"

His intention was clear—there was no prior legislation by the court, no law to reference.

Since there had never been any law stipulating how to handle the Blank Seal, and relevant departments didn’t know how to charge a crime, therefore, no crime should be charged.

Chu Ge looked at Fang Shiyong and nodded slightly.

Finally, this third point had some potency.

However, for him, refuting this point was still not difficult.

Chu Ge countered by asking, "It is true that the law does not specify how to deal with the Blank Seal, and it seems your point does have some merit.

"Then, let me ask you, when setting regulations, how should accounts be created, how should they be compared, are the details clear?

"The operational steps that are regulated, compared to the operational methods of the Blank Seal, do they share any similarities?"

Fang Shiyong was stunned, "This..."

Chu Ge spoke very clearly, indeed the law did not specify penalties for the Blank Seal, but how local accounts should be set up, how they should be submitted to the Ministry of Revenue for data verification, and what should be done if issues arise during verification, were clearly explained.

After all, if these matters weren’t clear, it would be difficult for officials to operate according to the regulations.

And the operational methods of the Blank Seal, clearly, did not comply with the previously specified, clear demands of account setup and verification.

Emperor Taizu of Sheng had already regulated that each level must truthfully report the tax amounts paid, and only after being verified by the Ministry of Revenue could it be stamped. Then, if the Blank Seal method were used, what would be the point of truthfully reporting figures at each level?

In the end, wouldn’t it suffice for localities to agree on some figure with the Ministry of Revenue after seeing how much was submitted?

That is to say, although it was not explicitly specified how to punish the act of using the Blank Seal, this act obviously violated the regulations strictly, and there was no doubt about it, irrefutable.

Chu Ge continued, "You say the Blank Seal is but a trivial matter, as there is no law prescribing what crime should be attributed to its use, hence there should be no prosecution, don’t you find that absurd?

"Let me ask you, as an official, should one act only if the law does not forbid, or is it that action cannot be taken without specific mention in the law?"

Fang Shiyong paused briefly, "This... naturally, one should act if the law does not forbid..."

Chu Ge’s expression grew cold, slapping the table forcefully, "Nonsense!

"Act if the law does not forbid? There are a countless number of laws, how is it possible to encompass every action of an official? If officials are allowed to act only if the law does not forbid, wouldn’t they just come up with various reasons to exploit the people? Wouldn’t that be outrageous?"

Fang Shiyong remained unpersuaded, saying, "Your Majesty! Since ancient times, governing the world has been the tradition shared between the emperor and the scholars..."

Chu Ge coldly replied, "I do not govern the world with the scholars, I govern the world through the scholars! Should the scholars be incapable of governing the world, I can govern it myself or find others to govern it!"

Fang Shiyong was taken aback, and after a long while, he exclaimed in shock, "Your Majesty’s words, aren’t they tantamount to a dictator?"

Chu Ge slightly shook his head with a hint of disappointment, "Take him away!

"Issue a decree, regarding officials involved in the Blank Seal Case, execute the chief officers and banish the deputy officers after caning them!"

After the dust settled, a series of images flashed before Chu Ge like a revolving lantern.

Hundreds of officials were executed, and hundreds more were caned and banished.

Among those caned and banished was Fang Shiyong.

And among these officials involved in the Blank Seal Case, many indeed had little corrupt activity and, by ancient moral standards, could be considered good officials, like Fang Shiyong.

Those supporting Fang Shiyong were not few, and it is foreseeable that, in time, many scholars will advocate for Fang Shiyong, labeling the Blank Seal Case as a miscarriage of justice.

But for Chu Ge or indeed the true Emperor Taizu of Sheng, it was no longer significant.

In front of Chu Ge, a line of text appeared.

[Great Sheng Dynasty’s Rule: Two Hundred Eighty Years]

Upon seeing this line, a smile finally appeared on Chu Ge’s face.

Effective!

Compared to the true historical length of reign, it extended just a tiny bit.

Although the extension was limited, it was an extension nonetheless.

During the previous case of North-South Ranking, Chu Ge also made every effort to manipulate, but the reign of the Great Sheng Dynasty did not increase at all.

Several times knowingly making wrong manipulations, the reaction of the reign was very real, cutting it directly in half.

This shows that all those manipulations he thought useful were just minor details, essentially meaningless in extending the reign.

But this time was different.

Chu Ge’s handling of the Blank Seal Case was generally similar to that of Emperor Taizu of Sheng, but some adjustments were made in details. This might be the key to the slight prolongation of the reign.

"I formulated a strategy to return the excess to the public, which, compared to the taxation methods during Emperor Taizu of Sheng’s time, is evidently somewhat advanced. However, even the best strategies will inevitably become distorted over a century.

"Moreover, this conversation I had with Fang Shiyong should also have a certain impact.

"Because the words I speak as Emperor Taizu at this moment can to some extent represent Emperor Taizu’s thoughts on governance, and this will influence the ruling concepts of future emperors.

"Although incompetents will still emerge, this subtle and imperceptible influence should slightly extend the reign a bit.

"It seems, playing the role of the emperor is indeed as I expected.

"How these cases are handled is important, but more crucial is to clarify the early court situation of the Great Sheng Dynasty, to understand why Emperor Taizu did what he did, and then answer according to the specific circumstances of the time.

"If I hadn’t figured this out, I would have run out of words while rebutting Fang Shiyong.

"If I can’t convince Fang Shiyong, it naturally means that Emperor Taizu’s concept of governance isn’t clear enough, and the reign would definitely be significantly reduced."

Chu Ge became increasingly convinced in his analysis.

His argument with Fang Shiyong actually centered on two key issues.

The first was whether the emperor understood the grassroots situation well enough. If not, it was easy to be misled by officials. Just like what Fang Shiyong mentioned about "journeys taking years back and forth," if the emperor wasn’t aware that these places actually only required less than a month to reach the capital, then it would be easy to be spun into their preferred method of handling matters.

Although it would make things easier for officials, over time, how big a loophole for corruption would this "convenience" carve out behind it? That was hard to say.

The second issue was, with whom did the emperor share the world?

Is there a problem with saying, "the emperor shares the world with the scholars"?

There is indeed a big problem.

When many discuss this issue, they frame it as a choice between "the emperor shares the world with the scholars" and "the emperor shares the world with the common people."

But actually, neither choice is correct.

Sharing the world with the common people sounds nice, but in reality, it goes against basic principles. The common people are the ruled class, and both the emperor and the scholars are the ruling class. How could the emperor share the world with the common people?

That’s impossible.

So many scholars blatantly cry out "the emperor shares the world with the scholars," trying to deceive the emperor.

If ruling the country is like harvesting leeks, then the scholars and landlords are demanding that only the poor can be harvested, not them.

For the emperor, believing this would likely mean that the country wouldn’t last many years. After all, the poor don’t have much property to begin with; landlords harvest, then the country harvests. Isn’t stirring up rebellion the only outcome?

So, for a clear-headed emperor, it has never been about sharing the world with scholars. Dynasties that can’t act on scholars are not far from destruction.

Every reform attempted through history fundamentally meant harvesting these scholars, making them spit out some of their vested interests.

Some dynasties failed because the entire bureaucratic class of scholars, unified from top to bottom, was too powerful. The emperor couldn’t touch or affect them, so they continued to oppress the common people together until the country collapsed.

The correct approach should be "the emperor uses scholars to govern the world," meaning scholars are just tools for ruling. If scholars become too powerful and severely oppress the common people, then as the emperor, it’s necessary to cut down these scholars to allow the citizens to recuperate and live better, thus stabilizing the country.

As a feudal emperor, Emperor Taizu viewed the common people as his private property, and could not possibly have had thoughts of freedom and equality. However, compared to other feudal emperors, he was more aware of the hardships of the common people and understood better the importance of letting the common people rest and live well.

If he really let these scholars run wild and truly shared the world with them, the Great Sheng Dynasty absolutely wouldn’t have lasted over two hundred years.

But unlike other emperors who wanted reforms but couldn’t effect change, Emperor Taizu had a method.

For other emperors, facing non-cooperation from bureaucrats only meant one thing, which was to yield.

If everyone killed could no longer work, what could be done? They’d just have to make do.

But for Emperor Taizu, this wasn’t a problem.

Non-cooperation? Then execute them!

Even if killing all these officials meant none were left, I could handle it all by myself!

Thus, officials who defied an emperor with overwhelming governance ability and boundless energy ended up facing such a fate.

For the officials and landlords, of course, they were dissatisfied. Throughout all dynasties, we’ve been the masters, exploiting the local people together. Why should we be subservient in your Great Sheng Dynasty?

Emperor Taizu’s response was: If you don’t act subservient, then the common people will have to relive the tragedy of exchanging children for food!

Thus, in Emperor Taizu’s mind, he of course did not consider himself an ordinary citizen. As a representative of the ruling class, the emperor could not truly stand with the common people.

But this method of governance indeed led to the common people living relatively better lives.

The cost, however, was that the scholars with pens would surely describe this as a dark dynasty ruled by a despot, unprecedented in history.

Chu Ge shook his head slightly and continued to bury himself in the mountain of memorials, searching for the next case.