My players are all actors

Chapter 32 Refuting the Emperor
One can imagine how difficult it is to refute the emperor.

If it is in a modern society where everyone is equal, it is not difficult to refute the emperor. After all, various modern ideas have already completely deconstructed the rationality and legitimacy of the "divine right of kings", and those old ideas have long been swept away. Into the old paper pile.

If someone dares to oppress people in the way of an emperor in modern society, they will only receive endless blank stares and a sentence: "Who are you sending to?"

But in ancient times, this was not the case at all.

The divine right of kings has natural justice, and loyalty and filial piety are regarded as the highest moral standards. A son cannot rebel against his father, and a courtier cannot rebel against the monarch.The emperor is also known as "jun father", and how many fathers can patiently listen to their son's reasoning?
It is almost impossible for the emperor to admit his mistakes, so the emperor issued an edict of guilt, which can be recorded in the history books.

In this era, all moral codes are used to protect the emperor.

Violating this rule will not only be beheaded logically by the emperor, but will also be cast aside by the rules of the entire society.

If Chu Ge were to use modern thinking to decipher this dungeon, it would not be too simple, and the emperor would be scolded bloody.

But that won't pass the level, it will only make you die ugly.

Because he is playing Yang Yan, if he wants to clear this dungeon, he must stand in Yang Yan's position and use the existing rules of the game in this world to win.

To be honest, Chu Ge didn't like this rule, but it was understandable.

Modern people will not understand the stupid loyalty of the ancients, but as a student of the history department, Chu Ge is very clear: when playing or evaluating a historical figure, he must not go beyond the limitations of his time, and he must not use the values ​​and ideas of later generations to force him. If you follow the example of the predecessors, you cannot ask the predecessors to use the thinking of hundreds of years later to deal with problems.

Therefore, Chu Ge tried his best to find a solution that he thought was the most reasonable under the background of the time.

After a moment of silence, Emperor Wei Zhao in black robe spoke.

"Your Majesty has already shown your memorial to those great Confucians in the Imperial Academy. Each of them has already written a rebuttal to you.

"However, if so many people refute you alone, I'm sorry you won't be convinced. So His Majesty asked me to come here, not to ask you what these people said, but to ask you to answer a few questions from His Majesty yourself.

"If you have self-confidence, you can play it right face to face. If you don't have self-confidence, just think about it for two days, it's okay."

Chu Ge said calmly: "Since it is His Majesty's will, the humble positions that should be returned will naturally be returned."

Don't look at Wei Zhaodi's tolerant words, but Chu Ge has already confronted him, and he knows that this person has a very good face, and he is definitely not very big-minded.

If Emperor Wei Zhao asked a question and he couldn't come back up, he would be deemed speechless and the dungeon would fail.

Therefore, no matter how calmly Wei Zhaodi asked what kind of questions, he had to face up to the difficulties, and he had to refute the emperor into silence, otherwise it would not be considered a success.

Moreover, Emperor Wei Zhao said it nicely, saying that he did not tell Yang Yan about the rebuttals of the great Confucians in the Imperial Academy because he "does not use more to bully the less". Not enough to refute Yang Yan at all.

Because Yang Yan's memorials have already blocked most of the roads from the perspective of a sage, and the great Confucians have always been struggling with this perspective, so how could they refute Yang Yan?
Therefore, Emperor Wei Zhao wanted to refute Yang Yan from another angle.

And this angle is the angle of statecraft.

Emperor Wei Zhao is confident that he has been in power for more than 40 years and has far more experience than a small official like Yang Yan.

This way of thinking is somewhat similar to Wang Chong's method before. They cannot refute Yang Yan in a righteous way, so they try to put the debate on their own home court.

The first time, Chu Ge was really speechless when asked, and suffered a lot.

Emperor Wei Zhao paused for a moment and said, "Your Majesty asks you, the water of the Yangtze River irrigates the fields of several provinces on both sides of the river, and the water of the Yellow River also irrigates the fields of several provinces on both sides of the river.

"Your Majesty is the Son of Heaven, who governs all nations. Naturally, you can't use it just because the water is clear, and you can't use it because the water is turbid. It's been like this since ancient times.

"Whether it's the Yellow River or the Yangtze River, once it floods, it must be treated. So whether it's you, Wang Chong, or He Xueyi, use it when it should be used, and discard it if it should be discarded.

"In your memorial, what is the reason for telling His Majesty to use the Yangtze River instead of the Yellow River?"

After speaking, he looked at Yang Yan with confidence in his eyes.

Chu Ge did not answer immediately.

It can only be said that Emperor Wei Zhao is worthy of being a well-known intelligent emperor in history, and he is indeed at the pinnacle of the emperor's mind.Although this kind of cleverness is just a little cleverness, it still brought unimaginable difficulties to Chu Ge in this kind of face-to-face confrontation.

Compared with Wang Chong's remarks, Wei Zhaodi's remarks are obviously more difficult to refute.

Because Wang Chong talked about it, his own butt was not clean.He embezzles and collects money, condones the extravagance of the king's party, and seeks the people's fat and anointment. After all, he is not compatible with the mainstream moral standards of this era.

But Emperor Wei Zhao was different.

In this era, the whole world is the emperor's private property, all the officials are the emperor's domestic slaves, and the common people are the emperor's livestock.

On many issues, the emperor has the final right to interpret. It is absolutely unfeasible for Yang Yan to attack the emperor's private morality, which is against the moral norms of this era.

Moreover, the emperor used both corrupt officials and upright officials, and selected the most suitable capable ministers to deal with them according to different situations.If only an upright official like Yang Yan is used, not to mention Emperor Wei Zhao, there is indeed no emperor in the past dynasties who can do it.

Therefore, the words of Emperor Wei Zhao are indeed very confusing. If it is just an ordinary literati, it is indeed easy to be speechless when asked.

Before this time, Chu Ge had tried several times, but the results were not good.

It cannot be completely based on the idea of ​​loyalty to the emperor of this era, nor can it be completely based on the norms of modern society.The former will fall into a dead end that Emperor Wei Zhao had already prepared, while the latter will jump out of the basic rules of this dungeon, which will lead to failure.

Chu Ge calmed down and asked, "My lord, what does Your Majesty mean by 'flooding'?
"Water flooding the hills is considered flooding, and water flooding the flat farmland is considered flooding? If Wang Chong's power is overwhelming and threatens His Majesty, it is naturally considered flooding, but if Wang Chong is only cultivating party members and collecting people's wealth, he is still loyal to His Majesty." Second, is it flooding?

"I am afraid that in His Majesty's eyes, the flooding of the Yangtze River and the Yellow River is actually a threat to His Majesty's authority. If it does not threaten His Majesty's authority, then even if the Yellow River floods thousands of hectares of fertile land, making tens of millions of people homeless and having to eat their own children, it will be a threat to your Majesty." Not exactly flooding, right?
"Wang Chong is very powerful, and the royal party spreads all over the government and the public. They embezzle the food relief funds and exploit layers of taxes, causing the treasury to be empty and the people to be poor. However, His Majesty still does not think that they are 'proliferating' and that they need to be governed.

"Does this mean that what His Majesty said about the flood is not about the life and death of the common people, but about whether anyone dares to offend His Majesty's authority?

"I'm afraid His Majesty didn't kill Wang Chong, but he wanted to kill me. He didn't think it was Wang Chong's 'flooding', but he thought it was me. It's also because of this reason!"

Emperor Wei Zhao changed his face instantly: "You! Yang Yan, you actually said such rebellious words without a father or a king!"

Chu Ge's expression was still firm: "My lord, there is a saying that if you eat the king's salary, you will have a minister's position. There is also a saying that if you eat the king's salary, the king's father is the father. I, Yang Yan, always treat your majesty like a father, so why not talk about it?" No father?
"The people of the world at dawn, are they not the people of His Majesty, and they do not regard His Majesty as their father. But how did Your Majesty treat the people of the world as his people? Not only sit and watch the royal party grow, but also impeach the loyal officials of the royal party. In the prison, let the Confucians of the Imperial Academy refute a letter of remonstrance that weeps blood every word!
"Has Your Majesty ever observed the sufferings of the people, and never thought that tens of millions of people have a king but no father, and officials are like robbers! Have you ever heard that bandits are like combs, soldiers are like grates, and officials are like shaving?
"Since Your Majesty only regards himself as a high-ranking 'jun' and never regards himself as a 'father' who loves his people, why should all officials and common people regard His Majesty as a father?"

(End of this chapter)