Dark Sand: My Players Are All Actors
Chapter 288 - 216: A Declaration of Loyalty to the Emperor

Chapter 288: Chapter 216: A Declaration of Loyalty to the Emperor

After undergoing this ideological transformation, Chuge suddenly felt enlightened.

As the saying goes, "It’s hard to learn to be good, easy to learn to be bad."

Being a virtuous official always involved too many constraints. Many tactics couldn’t be used and many bottom lines couldn’t be crossed.

But, once he abandoned the idea of being a virtuous official and all the moral constraints he imposed on himself, and looked at the issues from another angle, he found that many problems were not without solutions.

In the end, being a virtuous official was like swimming upstream, with me in the light and the enemy in the dark.

Take Wang Wenchuan, for instance. Was he a virtuous official? Certainly.

No matter how the old faction attacked him, they couldn’t deny his personal virtues.

Wang Wenchuan was known for his integrity and incorruptibility; he didn’t even have any hobbies except for writing books, making speeches, and implementing reforms for the country.

But his reforms meant that Wen Junshi and the old faction could use every method to attack him.

If any problems occurred during the reforms, the old faction could pin the blame on him; even if there were droughts or locust plagues, they would claim that it was because Wang Wenchuan messed up the reforms, causing the heavens’ wrath and the people’s resentment.

This phenomenon made Chuge think of a saying, "Keyboard warriors are invincible."

Those who actually did the work always had to deal with various contradictions and consider a series of issues, while keyboard warriors could remain undefeated as long as they kept exploiting others’ weaknesses.

But what if those keyboard warriors were actually put in charge? Things would only become more chaotic.

This was the exact problem Wang Wenchuan faced.

Since he was a doer, and the emperor was not firm in his resolve, he was bound to be defeated under the relentless attacks of the old faction.

But what if Wang Wenchuan changed his thinking?

If he didn’t push for the reforms wholeheartedly but tried to protect himself instead, the situation would have changed.

When the old faction took action, he could attack them ruthlessly and without limits, instantly reversing their positions.

Once Wang Wenchuan became a keyboard warrior too, his destructive power would certainly not be weaker than Wen Junshi.

Many people attacked Wang Wenchuan, accusing him of engaging in factional politics.

Some even claimed while studying history that Wang Wenchuan’s reforms initiated the factional struggles in the Qi Dynasty, planting the seeds of its destruction.

But in reality, this was clearly a misunderstanding.

In Chuge’s view, Wang Wenchuan was far too kind during the reform process.

Although the old faction constantly criticized Wang Wenchuan for forming cliques, in reality, using his own people to push the reforms was perfectly justifiable. Did they really expect him to reward the old faction with high positions and great wealth while they blatantly opposed him?

Wang Wenchuan merely expelled these old faction members from the capital and demoted them to other regions. Yet, he didn’t banish them to barren lands like Lingnan nor did he dig up dirt on them for revenge, incarcerate them, or punish them. He even pleaded on behalf of some wrongfully accused members of the old faction, showing considerable leniency in the political struggle.

In contrast, after Wang Wenchuan was ousted, Wen Junshi and the other members of the old faction who took power immediately abolished the new laws and demoted all members of the new faction to Lingnan, directly igniting an intense and prolonged factional struggle.

No matter how you look at it, it was not Wang Wenchuan who initiated this conflict.

This might be because both Wang Wenchuan and Wen Junshi, as prominent ministers at the time, still had their limits. Although their political views were completely incompatible, their personal morals were commendable, and they even held a mutual respect for each other.

However, after reflecting on this, Chuge felt that Wang Wenchuan’s kindness was ultimately pointless.

From the perspective of the future, the struggle between the old and new factions was inevitable.

Political struggle is inherently a matter of life and death; Wang Wenchuan’s kindness would not alter the future political course of the court.

And his kindness toward the old faction directly led to their relentless attacks on the new laws from the provinces, their refusal to cooperate, and even blaming natural disasters on the new laws.

The prolonged factional struggles were precisely because neither the new faction nor the old faction could completely eliminate the other. What if one side had completely eradicated the other? Then there would have been no issue of factional struggles at all.

Therefore, Chuge decided to be thorough if he was going to act.

Take Yan Maoqing from the Great Sheng Dynasty, for example. When had he ever shown leniency towards his political enemies?

Hadn’t he always concocted some crime to utterly destroy them?

Of course, it could be argued that Wang Wenchuan’s approach had its benefits.

Although Wang Wenchuan ultimately resigned in despair, at least he didn’t face severe retribution. Compared to other high officials whose reforms failed, he indeed met a relatively good end.

Thus, his kindness did form a good karma for him, sparing him and his family from a tragic fate.

But for Chuge at the time, this was meaningless.

Thus, Chuge quickly determined his preliminary course of action.

Since he had decided to be a villainous official, he had to be clear on two points, First, to hell with integrity and bottom lines. I must protect myself shrewdly. I must resort to any means. I must emerge as the victor in political struggles!

Second, I must show absolutely no mercy to my political enemies. At any opportunity, I should utterly exterminate them. If I don’t suppress my political enemies to death, how can it even be called forming a faction?

Having confirmed these two points, Chuge suddenly realized that his future seemed much brighter.

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