Dark Sand: My Players Are All Actors
Chapter 195 - 183: The Risks of a Powerful Minister Usurping Power? (Large - , Seeking Monthly Votes!)_2

Chapter 195: Chapter 183: The Risks of a Powerful Minister Usurping Power? (Large Chapter, Seeking Monthly Votes!)_2

Chu Ge didn’t think much, so he leaned back and dozed off.

However, just as he had closed his eyes, his spirit seemed to drift out of his body and float into the air.

The young eunuch stepped forward incredulously, "Your Majesty? Your Majesty!

"His Majesty has passed away..."

Chu Ge: "..."

Good heavens, he had died before he could even notice it!

The role-play had ended so unexpectedly; he was completely unprepared mentally.

However, this was also reasonable considering that Emperor Taizu of Sheng was, after all, over seventy at that time and was still maintaining such a high-intensity work rate; his passing could indeed happen at any time.

What concerned Chu Ge more was, after all his dedicated and hard efforts, how many more years the Great Sheng Dynasty would be able to last.

Previously, after handling the Blank Seal Case, he had heartlessly executed a batch of officials and also applied some modern knowledge to give a relatively more careful method of dealing, giving the Great Sheng Dynasty a slight extension of a couple of years in its reign.

Though not much, the game mechanics stipulated that surpassing two hundred and thirty years was considered a successful completion.

Chu Ge was still full of expectation.

However, as system prompts appeared before his eyes, Chu Ge was stunned.

[Calculating the reign of the Great Sheng Dynasty based on all case outcomes.]

[The Great Sheng Dynasty lasted: fifty-nine to one hundred seventy-eight years.]

["Emperor" role-play failed!]

Chu Ge, looking at the lines of information before him, was dumbfounded.

What happened?

He had already dealt with the Southern and Northern Ranking Case and the Blank Seal Case, and also processed numerous other government affairs during the review of memorials.

Previously, when checking on the longevity of the Great Sheng Dynasty, it had been well above the passing line.

But the previous examination of the dynasty’s longevity focused only on the impact of major cases like the Southern and Northern Ranking Case and the Blank Seal Case on the longevity of the Great Sheng Dynasty.

In the end, with the passing of Emperor Taizu of Sheng, the shown longevity of Great Sheng Dynasty was the result of all cases combined.

Chu Ge furrowed his brows, lost in deep thought.

"Indeed, clearing this role-play is not so easy, I’ve encountered a serious problem...

"Why is that?

"I must have overlooked a very important case, which led to this outcome.

"What did I miss? I can’t remember at all.

"And why is the reign fluctuating? The lowest was fifty-nine years, and the highest was one hundred seventy-eight years; isn’t this gap a bit too large?

"If calculated based on the minimum of fifty-nine years, wouldn’t that be nearly equal to the dynasty falling in the second generation?

"That’s outrageous, what kind of events could lead to a dynasty falling in the second generation?

"...A conspiracy to usurp the throne?"

Upon analyzing, Chu Ge immediately felt there was a vast amount of information hidden here.

Emperor Taizu of Sheng was a long-lived emperor, surviving till seventy years old, meaning that his rule ended before he could pass the throne to his grandchild, and the Great Sheng Dynasty had ended already.

To suggest it was due to a peasant revolution or a foreign invasion?

Neither seemed likely.

Firstly, during the establishment of the Great Sheng Dynasty, the entire lower class had essentially been reorganized once. In the early years of stabilization and recuperation, the likelihood of a large-scale peasant uprising breaking out was very low.

Even if there was a revolt, it wouldn’t likely be enough to overthrow the Great Sheng Dynasty.

On the other hand, Emperor Taizu of Sheng had essentially no foreign troubles in his later years.

Just like Zhao Haiping was playing, during Emperor Taizu’s prime, he had driven the Northern Barbarians far into the Desert North several times, who did not dare to invade the Great Sheng Dynasty’s borders.

Even if the Northern Barbarians regained their fierce combat strength on the grasslands and united, posing a renewed threat to the Great Sheng Dynasty, at most they would invade and plunder; saying they could cause the immediate fall of the Great Sheng Dynasty was absolutely impossible within a short period.

Perhaps, rebellion by a Vassal King was a possibility.

But no matter how much a Vassal King rebelled, he was ultimately a descendant of Emperor Taizu, and whoever became emperor would still continue under the name of the Great Sheng Dynasty; it wasn’t about changing dynasties.

So, after analyzing back and forth, there seemed to be only one possibility.

That was the usurpation by a powerful minister.

And the reason why the dynasty’s longevity had such great elasticity, ranging from fifty-odd to over one hundred seventy years, was because the usurpation by a powerful minister was not a guaranteed event but bore a substantial amount of unpredictability.

The difficulty of a powerful minister taking over was high, but the probability was not zero.

If a particular powerful minister served diligently by the emperor’s side and harbored no treacherous thoughts till his death, then after his death, other ministers would naturally rise to positions of power. His descendants and affiliates, even if they could continue to wield some influence within the court, would eventually dissipate.

But if this minister harbored a determined rebellion in his heart during his tenure, then he could do a lot more.

For instance, while hiding his ambition, he could continue to place his relatives and confidants secretly within the court, have his children hold some key positions, and continuously eliminate those who opposed him.

If afterward, the succeeding young emperor was easy to manipulate and didn’t suspect him, or if he did suspect but couldn’t deal with him...

Then the script of a powerful minister usurping the throne might not be entirely unworkable.

The successors of Emperor Taizu of Sheng would indeed face such a situation.

Or rather, every emperor who lived too long would encounter this situation.

Returning to the previous question, the average life expectancy in ancient times was quite low, many emperors died around the age of fifty. But because of his strong physical condition, Emperor Taizu of Sheng lived till over seventy, the likelihood of him outliving the Crown Prince was actually quite high.