Dark Sand: My Players Are All Actors
Chapter 442 - 254 A New Attempt at Chu Song (8000 words)

Chapter 442: Chapter 254 A New Attempt at Chu Song (8000 words)

At this moment, within the historical slice where Chu Ge was situated, three years had flickered by in the blink of an eye.

During these three years, he saw the white mist before him separate and merge repeatedly, scenes unfolding like a revolving lantern before him.

He watched as ministers within the court were replaced one wave after another, and the reigning Emperor Gaozong of Qi gradually became more mature and tactful in the whirlpool of political struggles, or rather, increasingly shameless.

This Emperor Gaozong was none other than Prince Nine, the ninth son of Emperor Qihui, whose life trajectory was essentially a series of extreme ups and downs.

Initially, he was just an ordinary profligate, with his only claim to fame being how he once played to death a maid in his mansion.

But after that, his life, and the entire history of the Qi Dynasty, were transformed by the Jingping Incident.

The said Prince Nine first sought peace in the Jin Camp, where his excessively valiant conduct led the Jins to suspect that he wasn’t the real prince, prompting the Qi Dynasty to send someone else.

Afterward, on his second trip to the Jin Camp for peace negotiations, he was intercepted by several venerable elders, which finally left the Qi Dynasty with an uncontested heir to the throne.

One could say that Heaven’s favor towards him couldn’t have been greater.

He didn’t need to do anything; just the fact that he "wasn’t in the capital during the Jingping Incident" was enough to affect the history of the next few hundred years.

It was this very favor, however, that deprived the prince of the courage he had shown in the Jin Camp, turning him into an emperor even more despicable than Emperor Qihui and Emperor Yingzong of Qi.

The reason boiled down to the fact that the prince had nothing to lose at the time and was fearless because he was barefoot; but once he became emperor and realized he could live a luxurious life just by securing his own corner, he started to despise all risks, and his intelligence took a nosedive.

Regardless, he was the emperor of the Qi Dynasty at that time, and for the rest of Li Hao’s life, he was unlikely to see another emperor.

After all, judging from the current emperor’s physical condition, although he had lost the ability to procreate due to the terror inflicted by the Jin’s exhaustive searches, he put great emphasis on health preservation and was likely to live into his seventies or eighties without much trouble.

And for Li Hao, whom Chu Ge was portraying, these three years of his life slipping by had led him to a lot of clarity.

The environment of the entire imperial court was just like that.

For an insignificant Li Hao wishing to make a change, it was extremely difficult.

Because Emperor Gaozong’s legitimacy was beyond question, it was quite unlikely for a change of rulers to happen in the upcoming decades. Therefore, Emperor Gaozong’s preferences directly determined the atmosphere of the entire court.

The future was going to be as murky and troubled as the present.

And then looking at Li Hao’s capabilities...

For him, there seemed to be only one path left.

That was to dive headfirst into this cesspool, swim in it, spawn in it, and reshape the cesspool in his own image.

Chu Ge silently sighed, "So that’s how it is. It’s only now that I truly understand what Qin Huizhi was thinking.

"It seems that it was these three wasted years that caused him to completely abandon all morals and bottom lines, resolving to become a traitor infamous through the ages."

Chu Ge played the role of Li Hao, not Qin Huizhi.

Yet, precisely because of this difference in identity, the Li Hao that Chu Ge portrayed ended up seemingly walking the same old path as Qin Huizhi.

...

Originally, Chu Ge’s understanding of the character Qin Huizhi was rather two-dimensional.

It seemed that he turned into a great traitor, a betrayer of his country, after his return from the Jin camp, but how his inner transformation came about remained a mystery to Chu Ge.

This was normal, after all, who would empathize with a traitor or a grand corrupt official just for the sake of it?

But now, Chu Ge could understand why Qin Huizhi underwent such a transformation.

After assuming the role of chancellor, Li Hao, whom Chu Ge portrayed, had worked diligently and accomplished some practical tasks, but he was still dismissed after three years — and declared permanently ineligible for reappointment.

In history, Qin Huizhi was also dismissed and declared permanently ineligible for reappointment after serving as chancellor for three years for the first time.

The two did different things during their tenures, but the reasons for their dismissal were exactly the same.

— Failing to reach a peace agreement with the Jins.

Chu Ge had the capability to govern the country, while Qin Huizhi did not.

But whether one had the capability or not, Emperor Gaozong did not care. Because the only reason he appointed Qin Huizhi as chancellor was to achieve peace with the Jins.

If that couldn’t be done, then no matter how capable Qin Huizhi was, he too would be dismissed.

After all, was Emperor Gaozong short of capable ministers?

Not at all.

Thus, the capable Li Boxi, after laboring to establish the court framework for Emperor Gaozong, was also ousted, right?

Therefore, the dismissal of Li Hao, whom Chu Ge portrayed, was not because he lacked ability or failed to balance relationships; it was simply because, at that time, he was unable to achieve a peace agreement with the Jins.

This was inevitable, for although Wanyan Chang wielded some power within the Jin faction, he was far from having complete control.

Not to mention the attitude of Emperor Taizong of Jin, the hawkish Wanyan Sheng alone was enough to keep him thoroughly subdued.

Hence, the peace negotiations fell through, and Emperor Gaozong naturally felt deceived, promptly dismissing Li Hao and declaring him as permanently ineligible for reappointment.

These three years were, for Chu Ge, merely a continuous opening and closing of the misty veil before his eyes, as time flew by. Yet for Qin Huizhi, they were a thousand days of torment.