Dark Sand: My Players Are All Actors
Chapter 409 - 243: Die, Dog Emperor! (8000 words, soliciting monthly votes)_5

Chapter 409: Chapter 243: Die, Dog Emperor! (8000 words, soliciting monthly votes)_5

And this succession had sown the seeds of an internal struggle between father and son.

In the eyes of Emperor Qihui, the throne was relinquished to the Crown Prince by his own edict. As the Supreme Emperor, how could his words not carry more weight than those of his own son?

Thus, Emperor Qihui had shirked responsibility yet did not wish to relinquish power, always scheming to establish a small court in the south to interfere with state affairs. Moreover, after the Jin soldiers’ first invasion was repelled, he swiftly returned to Bianliang, the intent behind his actions needing no explanation.

As for Emperor Yingzong, he was certainly not foolish; he could sense his father’s displeasure with him as well as the threat his father posed to his own authority.

After all, most of the court officials were appointed by Emperor Qihui. How could the new emperor rest easy?

So, after the Jin retreat and a brief period of safety for the capital, a fierce power struggle erupted between father and son. Not only was Li Boxi ousted from the court, but the Yellow River defense lines, which were promised to be rebuilt, were left in shambles, and even the gathered loyalist troops were disbanded.

A series of utterly foolish moves ultimately led to the Jingping Incident.

After the Jingping Incident, the Third Prince was taken north along with other imperial kin and died a couple of years later, overwhelmed by grief and anger.

...

After hearing Chu Ge’s explanation, Li Hongyun suddenly realized,

"So that’s how it is!

"Most of these inept emperors in history were those who never received proper imperial education as children. Thus, as they grew up, they retained the foolishness and arrogance of their prince days, and their characters were set in stone, impossible to change...

"By that logic, the Prince Nine who later ascended to the throne also fits this profile.

"I understand that killing Emperor Yingzong could have allowed the Third Prince to succeed. But why would the Third Prince definitely do a better job than Emperor Yingzong?"

According to the line of succession at the time, with Emperor Yingzong’s death, it would have been the Third Prince’s turn.

Whether it was Emperor Qihui’s intention or the established order of succession, no one else was entitled.

But would the Third Prince’s ascent to the throne enable them to pass through the Trial Illusion? Would it have a significant enough impact on history at the time?

What if the Third Prince himself was also inept?

Given the level of unreliability of Emperor Qihui, it was quite possible that all his princes were no better than a batch of misshapen fruits...

Chu Ge explained, "Historically, the Third Prince never truly became emperor and died shortly after the Jingping Incident due to overwhelming grief. Therefore, whether he could have been a good emperor remains a question mark.

"However, judging from various details, it is highly probable that he would have been better than Emperor Yingzong.

"Firstly, he had less grievance with his father, Emperor Qihui, who favored this son the most, so there wouldn’t be as much mutual suspicion and severe internal strife between father and son.

"Of course, there would most likely still be struggles for power, but not to such an unmanageable extent.

"Secondly, Emperor Yingzong himself was a ruler who lowered the bar. During the Jingping Incident, he committed several stupendously foolish acts.

"He first used the ’Liujia Divine Soldiers’ to open the gates to the enemy, which led to the capital’s gates being breached by the Jin. Yet even so, the Jin soldiers couldn’t penetrate further into the city. Following that, Emperor Yingzong insisted on going to the Jin Camp himself to negotiate, and then got detained, continuously demanding treasures and valuables from the city through letters.

"Even Emperor Qihui knew that going to the Jin Camp was a trap with no return, but it was Emperor Yingzong’s absurd decision that indirectly caused the entire royal family to be captured.

"In other words, if Emperor Yingzong had stayed in the capital without negotiating, stubbornly holding out, the worst outcome would have been the Jin pillaging the surroundings and then leaving. But Emperor Yingzong’s actions resulted in the Jin looting all the wealth, strongmen, and women from the citizens, and even selling out the entire royal family. Saying he was the Jin’s number one undercover agent wouldn’t be an exaggeration.

"Given that Emperor Yingzong had already broken through the lower limits of human intelligence, even if the Third Prince were equally foolish, he would likely be somewhat better.

"Lastly, it comes down to the traits exhibited by the Third Prince himself.

"He had controlled the Wude Bureau, been on the battlefield, and even secretly took part in the imperial examination and emerged as the top scorer. Regardless of how much gold-plating or backdoor manipulation there was in that, it certainly wasn’t something a fool could achieve.

"This demonstrates that the Third Prince was eager to learn, for even with leniency, he could not have achieved top scorer without studying; besides, he appeared not to be indulgent in pleasure, as he must have devoted most of his time to his studies to perform at that level.

"By contrast, Prince Nine, who later re-established the court, was known at that age solely for having played with his maid until she died... Though born of the same father, sometimes the gap can be greater than that between a person and a dog.

"Therefore, following the original course of history, if it were indeed possible to kill Emperor Yingzong, the impact on the Jingping Incident would likely be mostly positive rather than negative."

Li Hongyun nodded in sudden understanding. With this logic, everything made sense.

And this also meant...

He and Chu Ge had found a way for the assassin and scholar routes to coordinate, which would likely lead them straight through the first stage?