Dark Sand: My Players Are All Actors
Chapter 291 - 217 Conspiracy and Intrigue

Chapter 291: Chapter 217 Conspiracy and Intrigue

The point Chu Ge found was precisely that phrase, "to govern the world with scholars and officials."

This phrase had been used before in an instance during Emperor Taizu of Sheng’s reign, and now, it was being used again.

Coincidentally, it was exactly what Wen Jun had said.

This matter took place shortly after Wang Wenchuan’s reforms, during an imperial court debate.

At that time, the debate between the new and old factions moved from national affairs to the details of the reforms and finally devolved into a verbal firefight. In the end, the emperor, who was wholeheartedly supporting the new laws, couldn’t take it any longer and stepped down.

The historical record described the incident as follows:

Wen Jun also said, "The ancestral laws are all in place; there is no need to introduce changes that will lose the people’s hearts."

The emperor said, "Changing the laws indeed displeases the scholars and officials, but what inconvenience does it cause the common people?"

Wen Jun said, "The emperor governs the world with the scholars and officials, not with the common people."

The dialogue was actually quite easy to understand.

Talking about reform, Wen Jun said that the ancestral laws were already perfect and didn’t need to be changed; to change them would mean losing the people’s support.

The emperor was puzzled: Reforming the laws certainly made the scholars and officials quite unhappy, as it undermined their interests; but why should the common people be unhappy? What was there about losing the people’s support?

Wen Jun said: It is the emperor who governs the world with the scholars and officials, not with the common people.

The result of this dialogue was a powerful move by Wen Jun, leaving the emperor completely speechless.

At the time, the emperor stammered, "Not all scholars and officials are opposed, are they?"

This weak counter-question had no effect whatsoever and proved that the emperor had actually been stunned by Wen Jun.

It could be said that Wen Jun was indeed a very straightforward person and had spoken a great truth that had been held for thousands of years.

In the eyes of the people of that era, both the emperor and the scholars and officials were the ruling classes of the country. The common people were the ruled class. The emperor wanted to maintain his rule, so he had to keep the scholars and officials satisfied; otherwise, the emperor would not be able to continue ruling.

In other words, when Wen Jun said, "There is no need to introduce changes that will lose the people’s hearts," the "people" he referred to were specifically the scholar and official class.

As for the common people?

They were the governed sheep and cattle; could they even be counted as people?

Since they were not considered people, they could be deceived without worry and sheared at will, so they could be completely ignored.

Only considering the emperor and the scholars and officials, reforming the laws would affect the interests of the scholars and officials and naturally would lead to instability in the state.

In fact, it wasn’t just Wen Jun; most of the other ministers basically thought the same way.

And precisely because the scholars and officials had such a consensus, reform was nearly impossible to succeed. After all, it meant being enemies with the entire bureaucratic group, and the only somewhat useful emperor was also very confused about this.

But it was this very dialogue that provided Chu Ge with a breakthrough.

At the time, the emperor was indeed rendered speechless.

But that did not mean the emperor accepted Wen Jun’s argument.

On the contrary, the emperor was filled with indignation because of it and began to rack his brains in the future, thinking about how to avoid feeling so frustrated.

The "Yuanfeng Reforms" clearly showed that the emperor simply couldn’t get over this hurdle.

Actually, this was the reaction a normal person should have.

Who could refuse power?

For every emperor, the pursuit of absolute centralized power was their lifelong pursuit. As for the ministers, it was to do everything in their power to refuse the emperor’s demands, even to wrest power from the emperor’s hands.

So, just because the emperor hadn’t thought of a solution yet didn’t mean he didn’t want to change the status quo.

What Chu Ge now had to do was to provide the emperor with a solution.

Thinking this, Chu Ge said, "Your servant thinks that the royal family doesn’t govern the world with scholars and officials but uses scholars and officials to govern the world.

"The matters of the world are decided by the royal family. If the scholars and officials support what the royal family wants to do, then everyone is happy; if the scholars and officials don’t support it, then the royal family can naturally replace them with people who do.

"The scholars and officials shepherd the people on behalf of the Son of Heaven; who has ever heard of scholars and officials shepherding the people in place of the Son of Heaven?

"If the royal family wants to act but is constantly thwarted, haven’t you heard Emperor Taizu’s words: ’How can I allow someone else to sleep soundly beside my bed?’"

After hearing this, the emperor’s eyes became even brighter.

Clearly, Chu Ge, playing the role of Wang Wenchuan, threw out many shocking and sensational arguments. Although they would have caused great commotion if other ministers had heard them, they were as pleasant as heavenly music to the emperor’s ears.

Chu Ge’s meaning was simple: Why listen to Wen Jun’s nonsensical blabbering, Your Majesty?

On what grounds should scholars and officials share power with the emperor?

You’re the emperor; you do whatever you want. Ancient officials were called ’state shepherds,’ which meant that they shepherded the people on behalf of the Son of Heaven. But would they dare to claim they were shepherding the people in place of the Son of Heaven? That would be rebellion.

So, no matter what, in the end, the emperor has the final say.

If even the emperor cannot decide, what kind of emperor would that be?

These words truly struck a chord with the emperor.

Wasn’t this exactly what he thought?

In fact, part of the reason the emperor and Wang Wenchuan went their separate ways historically had to do with this.

Wang Wenchuan himself was a very stubborn man, liking to take charge of everything. And the emperor, standing behind him, always felt a bit uncomfortable.

Many things were done by Wang Wenchuan himself, and if the emperor had different ideas, he had to consider Wang Wenchuan’s opinions, often with compromise.

Over time, the emperor naturally felt that Wang Wenchuan and people like Wen Jun were no different, and there was a certain distance between them.

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