Dark Sand: My Players Are All Actors
Chapter 327 - 224: Group Possession? (8500 words, asking for monthly tickets)_5

Chapter 327: Chapter 224: Group Possession? (8500 words, asking for monthly tickets)_5

As for whether officials of the new faction had a lot of dirty laundry?

Of course they did, but by now the players had entirely replaced the new faction’s officials, naturally, there was no point in tripping over their own feet.

The impeachment by the Imperial Censor along with Wang Wenchuan’s appointment and removal orders caught these old faction members off guard, leaving them completely unprepared.

In the midst of the chaos, Wen Jun still clung to a last shred of clarity, and he turned to pin his hopes on the Emperor high above.

Logically, the Emperor should not have supported such blatant, openly unmasked suppression of dissenters.

Because that’s a factional struggle!

Which Emperor doesn’t fear factional struggles?

The detrimental effects of factional struggles not only manifest as a serious exacerbation of the entire political situation within the court, leading both sides to start criticizing people rather than addressing issues and significantly diminishing the court’s governing ability. But more importantly, the outcome of factional struggles inevitably leads to the emergence of powerful ministers, the division of imperial power, and even the Emperor being sidelined.

Therefore, if the Emperor were wise, he should be well-versed in the art of balance at this time.

Even if he wanted to implement reforms, he should still leave a way out for these old factions, giving them a chance to make a comeback.

Otherwise, what if one day the Emperor had second thoughts but realized that the court was filled with new faction members and he couldn’t employ anyone from the old faction anymore? What would he do then?

However, just as Wen Jun intended to speak up, he heard the Emperor casually utter a few words.

"Not bad, if the ministers have no objections, then let it be done as such.

"Dismissed."

Having said this, the Emperor swept away his sleeves and left, with an even more careless attitude than going through the motions.

Wen Jun stood there stupefied, his face a picture of bewildered uncertainty.

He suddenly felt as if the world had transformed overnight, and even his decades of political experience seemed utterly incomprehensible...

Wenchuan, on the other hand, smiled slightly at him, "Wen Jianyi, don’t overthink, just focus on writing your book."

...

Ministry of Industry.

Cui Huowang, who had already taken over as the Minister of the Ministry of Industry, now obtained the blueprints of various powerful weapons in the Qi Dynasty’s military, and summoned several senior officials of the Ministry of Industry, as well as some top craftsmen.

These craftsmen were terrified, never expecting to be summoned by a big shot like the Minister of the Ministry of Industry one day.

Yet what they didn’t expect was that this Minister, typically immersed in court politics, appeared to be very amiable and approachable, without the sort of officialdom they had imagined.

The officialdom was astounded to find that the Minister, who usually indulged in court politics, seemed quite interested in these blueprints, even offering some suggestions.

Most of these blueprints were weapons used by players in the Battle of Niuzhu.

These included the sea minks, Divine Arm Bows, bed crossbows, as well as infantry armor and firearms, among others.

The Minister of the Ministry of Industry, particularly interested in the matchlock gun, even took up a pen to draft a new design for the matchlock.

According to him, this new type of matchlock gun would be called a flintlock gun.

And the entire Ministry of Industry’s goal was to develop the flintlock gun step by step over the course of ten years.

The officials of the Ministry of Industry listened, stunned, and after a long while said, "But this new type of matchlock gun seems to be very expensive to produce; surely the officials won’t allocate funds..."

Cui Huowang looked at them and chuckled, "Don’t worry about the money, we’ll have enough!"

...

That night, in the residence of Wen Jun.

Several senior officials of the old faction gathered together.

And their topic of conversation was clearly singular.

It involved the sudden and massive upheaval at today’s court assembly, from the Emperor to Wang Wenchuan, to the Imperial Censor, then to the Ministry of Industry, and to other officials of the reformist faction; they all wore an expression as if saying, "No more pretenses," and flipped the table.

This caught them entirely off guard.

But after the initial confusion, it was time to think of countermeasures.

Among these high-ranking officials of the conservative faction, many were veteran statesmen, holding high positions and great power, with expansive influence. How could they give up so easily?

"Wen Jianyi, in your opinion, when exactly did Wang Wenchuan lay this trap?" An official from the old faction still didn’t understand.

Wen Jun had barely shaken his head, "I don’t know either."

The other officials could not help but sigh. Faced with a situation where everyone from the Emperor to the reformist faction seemed to be possessed, no matter how many storms they had weathered in the imperial court, facing this, they could only wring their hands in despair, at a loss for what to do.

It was Wen Jun’s next statement, however, that brightened the conservative officials’ outlook and reignited hope.

"Although I am clueless about the reason behind His Majesty and Prime Minister Wang’s change, I do know how to resolve this matter."

The officials’ eyes lit up, "How? Please enlighten us, Wen Jianyi!"

Wen Jun solemnly said, "Wait!"

The crowd was puzzled, "Wait? Wait until when?"

Wen Jun’s face revealed a confident smile, "The new laws are truly disastrous for the state and harmful to the people. His Majesty is merely temporarily misled. Over time, He will certainly realize the shortcomings of the new laws.

"The flaws of the new laws not only lie in Wang Wenchuan’s competition with the people for profit but also in contravening the principle of ’sharing the world with the scholars and gentry’.

"His Majesty shares the world with the scholars and gentry, not with the common people; in the end, it is all about who carries out the policies.

"Even if the new laws can accumulate wealth from the people for a time, the wealth of the world is finite. It is nothing but depleting the people to enrich the officials. Can this last for long?

"Once there is a change in the world, and refugees rise up, our opportunity will naturally come."

The officials finally understood.

In later generations, many people knew that Wen Jun had said, ’sharing the world with the scholars and gentry, not with the common people,’ but what they didn’t know was the following line: ’It’s all about who carries out the policies.’

The translation is that the Emperor shares the world with the scholars and gentry, why? Because every policy of His Majesty, in reality, needs the scholars and gentry to execute it on his behalf.

If all the scholars and gentry refuse to carry it out, won’t the Emperor’s decrees be nothing but empty words?

At that time, His Majesty’s connection with the common people would be completely severed.

Is someone who has lost the support of both the common people and the scholars and gentry still an Emperor?

In this sense, Wen Jun’s view did have a certain rationale. Under the court conditions of that time, the Emperor indeed had no ability to rule the country without these bureaucrats and scholars.

After all, not every Emperor could possess Emperor Taizu of Sheng’s exemplary work ethic and comprehensive governance experience from the grassroots to the top level, nor did they have the courage to execute all officials.

Wen Jun’s method was exactly the same as what history had shown.

In the end, it boiled down to one word: delay!

At that moment, with Wang Wenchuan favored by the Emperor and the new laws set to be implemented, the old faction, even if they wanted to oppose, found it difficult to have any significant effect.

Given the circumstances, the best strategy was to adopt a stance of seeming withdrawal as means of advance.

Wen Jun believed that Wang Wenchuan’s new laws were doomed to fail because they depended on their execution by others—in other words, the officials below would not genuinely enforce the new laws. No matter how well-planned, the outcome would be the same.

On this point, Wen Jun saw clearly. So his solution to the three redundancies problem of the Qi Dynasty was to do nothing at all because anything attempted was bound to be fruitless. Everyone should just slack off, and that would suffice.

Since Wang Wenchuan’s new laws were destined to fail, all the old faction had to do was patiently wait until the new laws caused great chaos and widespread public grievance. Then they could step in, restore order from chaos, and it would all seem perfectly reasonable.

The officials nodded in agreement, "Wen Jianyi is indeed far-sighted! Then let us watch closely and see how Wang Wenchuan uses these new laws to bring disaster upon the state and harm the people!"

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