Dark Sand: My Players Are All Actors
Chapter 282 - 212 This Way is Impassable_3

Chapter 282: Chapter 212 This Way is Impassable_3

From the emperor’s perspective, it all became clear.

Wenchuan keeps talking incessantly about making the country prosperous and the military strong, but where is the money? Not only was no money brought in, but it was being spent like running water.

It’s one thing to spend money, but the key is you’ve made a good name for yourself. Who knows if those who are harming the public to benefit themselves and making predatory loans with the green seed loan grains are your people? Aren’t quite a few of them from the New Party?

Damaging the national interest, gaining a good reputation for yourself, and profiting your own New Party...

Do you think you can reach the sky?

Is it a revolt that you want?

If even the Emperor could tolerate this, then there really would be something fishy.

...

After an entire analysis, the song of Chu felt a great frustration.

Because he realized that, after all his scheming, he had circled back to the old path of Wang Wenchuan.

Wenchuan’s method, although cursed throughout the world and having led many farmers to ruin, had at least been maintained intermittently for ten years and managed to fill up the national treasury.

After the treasury was replenished, they managed to win a few battles in the northwest, recapturing some land.

Although the lands were later returned by the conservative faction currently in power, the money and grain in the treasury did indeed prolong the Qi Dynasty for a while.

And what about Chu Ge?

His operations were ferocious like a tiger, but within a year he’d been stripped of them, and it didn’t bring any revenue to the state, instead benefiting that group of scoundrels.

The only possible benefit was that the farmers at the bottom weren’t cursing him, but... reform was supposed to attract criticism. If it didn’t, could that really count as an achievement?

The key was still to get the job done.

"If we carry on like this, won’t we be falling into a vicious cycle?

"Providing interest-free loans and not conducting performance reviews end up with the national treasury even emptier and the country’s grain lining the pockets of various vermin, hardly reaching the farmers;

"Set a relatively low interest rate, and the officials will always find a way to raise it;

"Set a 20% interest rate, adding some risk control, although indeed the Green Seed Law loans can be recovered and add income to the state, it will inevitably lead to some officials over-enforcing it, causing numerous farmers to end up in ruin...

"There are no solutions!"

Chu Ge’s current feeling was like walking alone on a night path. Seeing a fork in the road, he took the path that didn’t say "No Entry," only to find it was a dead end as well.

"So, where exactly is the crux of the problem?

"No matter the policy, once it gets to those below, there will always be people who twist it.

"Wang Wenchuan’s original policy was already very suitable after considering various factors. If every official could act strictly according to the regulations like Wang Wenchuan, then every county would be well-governed.

"If every county is well-managed, wouldn’t the new law be deemed successful?

"But officials with the integrity and capability of Wang Wenchuan are very rare within the entire Qi officialdom. Or to put it more dramatically, there’s only him.

"Since this road is blocked, it’s time to think of another method."

Chu Ge was very disheartened. After much thought, he had once again mapped out two new paths.

"To solve this problem, in the long term, it fundamentally comes down to reforming the officialdom.

"No matter how well the new law is crafted, if the governance is not clear, those below will always twist the rules. Even if I, as the head of government, create the best rules, those below will still find loopholes to exploit.

"In the end, I’m the one who has to take all the blame.

"If I could reform officialdom within ten years, eliminate a group of people, and arrange for some idealistic, capable individuals who support the new law to take on local official roles, then there might be a chance for the new law to succeed.

"This aspect was not thoroughly explored by Wang Wenchuan at the time. Whether it was because he was unable to see his own faults, overlooked this, or for some other reason, it remains unclear.

"Anyway, this is worth a try."

"If reforming the officialdom proves to be impossible, then there’s only one last method.

"That is to follow in Wang Wenchuan’s old footsteps.

"Wang Wenchuan’s method, even though it was excessively levied by officials at all levels, causing many poor and wealthy households to go bankrupt, at least filled the state’s coffers with grain and money.

"At the very least, it could help me win the battle at Niu Zhu Pier ten years from now.

"...It’s unimaginable that in the end, I will have turned into the very kind of person I loathe the most.

"’Let the common folk suffer a bit more with me bearing the brunt of the blame,’ right..."

Chu Ge let out a self-deprecating laugh.

He actually despised the second method.

In many historical dramas he’d seen before, many high-ranking court officials used the excuse of "the common people should consider the court" to justify excessive levies, leaving the people destitute.

Officials from every dynasty used the argument of "making the people suffer a bit" to continue their injustices, one after another, nonstop.

Of course, Chu Ge was critical of this and opposed to it.

But when the time came to play the role of Wang Wenchuan, he realized that thinking was one thing, doing another.

In this historical moment, what would happen if he couldn’t push through with the new laws?

The outcome would be the Jin soldiers crossing over from the north, and without Zhao Binfu, even with Yu Jiaxuan there, it would be impossible to stop the Jin with a bankrupt Qi Army at Niu Zhu Pier.

At that time, it wouldn’t just be the bankruptcy of a few poor or wealthy households—it would be the annihilation of the entire Qi Dynasty.

With this in mind, Chu Ge began the game anew.

This time, he changed his strategy.

The content of the new law would still be executed according to Wang Wenchuan’s original planning.

But this time, Chu Ge’s amendment mainly involved adding provisions for "reforming officialdom" in the new law.

The first action was to strengthen the performance assessment of officials, determining promotions and demotions based on performance rather than by seniority, tenure, or background. It was strictly dictated that serving as a capital official or in a core department required a certain amount of grassroots work experience.

The second action aimed at reducing the hereditary privileges of officials: any desire for ennoblement had to be justified through examination.

Chu Ge had initially wanted to add several more rules, but after thinking about it, accomplishing these two would already be an achievement.

As he expected, if everything went smoothly, within five years the entire Qi Dynasty’s officialdom would improve, and if true capable officials were selected, then pushing the Green Seed Law in the following five years should yield satisfactory results.

Ten years is neither long nor short.

Chu Ge pondered, dividing the decade into two segments of five years: the first five for reforming officialdom, and the next five for enriching the country and strengthening the military. Add to that Yu Jiaxuan’s line of military training, winning the battle at Niu Zhu Pier shouldn’t be a big problem.