Dark Sand: My Players Are All Actors-Chapter 482 - 262: Who Says There Must Be a Prime Minister?_3

Chapter 482: Chapter 262: Who Says There Must Be a Prime Minister?_3

The Wude Bureau in place, fabricating a charge and throwing an official in jail was easy, no single official could resist.

But what if all officials could advance and retreat together as much as possible? Then, even if the royal family executed one or two officials, they wouldn’t be able to change the status quo—the decrees would still not be carried out.

On the contrary, the more they killed, the more chaotic the court would become, and the royal family would naturally back down due to the difficulty.

Thus, faced with the threat from the Jin people, the royal family would have to stabilize the internal situation first and grant some leniency to these old ministers.

Therefore, what officials like Zhang Jingbang and Wang Shiyong were thinking at this time was not about seeking death or going against the emperor but merely taking the last possible path to self-preservation.

As for whether it’s possible to get all officials to move in unison?

Although it is difficult, there is still such a possibility.

Which of the officials at the court didn’t have some skeletons in their closet?

Serving under Emperor Yingzong of Qi, many of them had done things for the Jin people, whether it be looting money, abducting women, suppressing civil unrest, or going to the Jin Camp to seek peace...

If you delve deep, none of their behinds are clean.

Moreover, there is a tradition in our dynasty not to kill scholars and officials. Yet this new royal family doesn’t care at all, not only did they directly kill the current Prime Minister Tang Qin, but they also used the Wude Bureau to monitor officials, and even vaguely planned to raise the status of the military, to be on par with or even surpass these civilian officials.

How could this be tolerated?

If these military men get above them, would the royal family then reduce the officials’ salaries, eliminate redundant personnel, cancel grace privileges, and reform the civil examination?

In fact, it seems that this new royal family has already started to revoke the grace privileges of officials, which is a very bad sign.

These scholar-officials, although not particularly talented, are not stupid. ƒreeωebnovel.ƈom

They are all smart and can see the situation clearly.

At this time, the series of actions of the new royal family is obviously aimed at cutting down on their entire group. If they do not resist now, do they intend to give up these benefits, to give up the good policies that have suppressed the military with the civil since the beginning of the Qi Dynasty?

So, although Zhang Jingbang’s method is just a temporary measure, it will definitely be effective.

After all, as they see it, there are only so many ministers in the court. People like Li Boxi have already been excluded, and it would be difficult for the current royal family to support one group and suppress another in a short time.

And even if they reform the civil examination and seek ways to promote some new officials from the common people, it will still take time and cannot be done overnight.

And this interlude is their best opportunity to act.

If not now, then when?

Do they really want to wait until this new royal family drives away the Jin people and places the executioner’s knife on their necks before they start to regret?

Wang Shiyong clenched his teeth, "Alright, Prime Minister Zhang, I’ll go do it! I just don’t know if I can hide it from the ears of the Wude Bureau."

Zhang Jingbang replied, "Act as low-key as possible, hide it if you can, but if you can’t hide it, there’s nothing to be done. The royal family will know about this sooner or later, but for us, it’s an open conspiracy.

"We’re betting that the royal family can’t manage the court without us. As long as that remains unchanged, it doesn’t matter whether the royal family finds out sooner or later, we can still cling to life!"

Wang Shiyong deeply agreed, paid his respects, and left Zhang Jingbang’s mansion. He got into his sedan chair to visit other ministers.

...

Fan Cun looked at the latest report from the Wude Bureau and was not surprised.

Because all of these things were within Emperor Taizu of Sheng’s expectations.

"This Zhang Jingbang, he really won’t give up until he reaches the Yellow River," Fan Cun remarked.

Emperor Taizu of Sheng snorted coldly, "He’s run out of tricks and has no choice left!

"He knows well that he’s bound to die sooner or later, and his current desperate struggle is just to fight for a chance of survival.

"If it were an emperor without much means, he would really be driven into a corner by this move, turning it into a dead end."

Fan Cun nodded because he had seen this scenario before.

In the last Trial Illusion, the emperor who presided over the reforms led by Wang Wenchuan faced exactly such a situation.

Although it wasn’t as intense, the meaning was similar.

Wen Jun’s ability to silence the emperor with a single sentence, "For sharing the world with the scholars, we must have people push your policies," was because the emperor realized that he indeed couldn’t manage state affairs independently of these scholars.

Initially, he wanted to rely on Wang Wenchuan, but Wenchuan couldn’t control the local officials effectively, which led to widespread discontent during the reform implementation. And because the emperor’s views differed from Wenchuan’s, he felt that his imperial power was undermined by the prime minister and thus wanted to reclaim some power.

But after all the fuss, the emperor found that even after reclaiming some power, many of his decrees still couldn’t be carried out.

After such turmoil, the emperor naturally became disheartened.

The relationship between the emperor and his ministers is very complex.

Although the Qi Dynasty is also an authoritarian regime with the emperor holding absolute initiative—just like how Emperor Qihui and Emperor Yingzong, these two incompetent emperors, were able to bury the entire dynasty—the emperor is not omnipotent.

When facing individual officials, the emperor has many methods at his disposal.

However, if the emperor offends the interests of the entire bureaucracy and scholar-official group, those officials can also use nonviolent non-cooperation to prevent the emperor from achieving anything.

Wen Jun is a typical representative, having endured for so many years, he still led the Qi Dynasty back to the old ways of ancestral laws.

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