It can be imagined how difficult it is to refute the emperor.
If we are in a modern society where everyone is equal, it is not difficult to refute the emperor. After all, 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 pile of old papers.
If someone dares to oppress others like an emperor in modern society, they will only receive endless eye rolls and a sentence: "Who are you sending?"
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 minister cannot rebel against the monarch. The emperor is also known as the "king and father", and how many fathers can patiently listen to their sons' reasoning?
It is almost impossible for the emperor to admit his mistakes, so if the emperor issues an imperial edict, it will be recorded in the history books.
In this era, all moral principles are used to protect the emperor.
Violating this rule will not only be beheaded by the emperor as a matter of course, but will also be spurned by the rules of the entire society.
If Chu Ge were to use modern thinking to crack this copy, it would not be too simple, and he would be able to scold the emperor bloody.
But that won't clear the level, it will only make you die ugly.
Because he plays Yang Yan, if you want to clear this dungeon, you must stand in Yang Yan's position and use the existing game rules of this world to win.
To be honest, Chu Ge didn't like this kind of rule, but it was understandable.
Modern people will not understand the foolish loyalty of the ancients, but as a student of the history department, Chu Ge knows one thing very well: when playing or evaluating a historical figure, one cannot go beyond the limitations of his era, and cannot use the values and ideas of future generations to harden his character. We cannot copy our predecessors and ask them to use their thinking hundreds of years later to deal with problems.
Therefore, Chu Ge still tried his best to find a solution that he thought was the most reasonable in the context of the time.
After a moment of silence, Emperor Wei Zhao, who was wearing black robe, spoke.
"Your Majesty has already read your memorial to the great scholars in the Hanlin Academy. Each of them has already written a refutation of you.
"However, with so many people refuting you alone, I'm afraid you won't be convinced. So Your Majesty asked me to come, not to ask you these people's words, but to ask you to answer a few of His Majesty's questions in person.
"If you are confident, you can deal with it face to face. If you are not confident, it doesn't hurt to think about it for a couple of days."
Chu Ge said calmly: "Since it is His Majesty's will, I will naturally return to my humble position."
Even though Emperor Wei Zhao said he was very tolerant, Chu Ge had already had a confrontation with him and knew that this man had a great face and was definitely not very big-hearted.
If Emperor Wei Zhao asked a question and he couldn't answer it, he would be deemed to have been rendered speechless, causing the copy to fail.
Therefore, no matter how calmly Emperor Wei Zhao asked what kind of questions, he had to face the difficulties and must refute the emperor into silence, otherwise it would not be considered a success.
Moreover, Emperor Wei Zhao made a nice statement, saying that he did not tell Yang Yan about the rebuttals of the Hanlin Academy scholars because he "does not bully the minority with the more." In fact, in the final analysis, it was because he had seen the rebuttals of the great Confucians and felt that these rebuttals were It is simply not enough to refute Yang Yan.
Because Yang Yan's memorial itself has blocked most of the roads from the perspective of a saint. The great Confucians are always struggling to play from this perspective, so how can they possibly refute Yang Yan?
Therefore, Emperor Wei Zhao wanted to refute Yang Yan from another angle.
And this perspective is the perspective of statecraft.
Emperor Wei Zhao was confident. He had been in power for more than 40 years and had far more experience than a small official like Yang Yan.
This kind of thinking is somewhat similar to Wang Chong's previous method. He couldn't refute Yang Yan in a righteous way, so he tried to put the debate on his home court.
The first time, Chu Ge was really speechless when he was asked and suffered a big loss.
Emperor Wei Zhao paused for a moment and said: "Your Majesty, I want to ask you, the water of the Yangtze River irrigates the fields in 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 and rules over all nations. Naturally, you cannot favor water because it is clear, and you cannot favor water because it is turbid. This has been the case since ancient times.
"Whether it is the Yellow River or the Yangtze River, once it overflows, it must be controlled. So whether it is you, Wang Chong, or He Xueyi, use it when it should be used, and discard it when it should be used.
"In your memorial, you told His Majesty to use the Yangtze River instead of the Yellow River. What's the point?"
After speaking, he looked at Yang Yan with confidence in his eyes.
Chu Ge didn't answer immediately.
It can only be said that Emperor Wei Zhao is worthy of being a famous smart emperor in history, and he is indeed at the pinnacle in terms of emperor's mental skills. Although this kind of cleverness was just a little clever, it still brought unimaginable difficulties to Chu Ge in this face-to-face confrontation.
Compared with Wang Chong's remarks, Emperor Wei Zhao's words are obviously more difficult to refute.
Because after all Wang Chong said, his own butt was not clean. He embezzled money, allowed the royal party to be extravagant and greedy, and plundered the people's wealth. After all, he was not in line with the mainstream moral standards of this era.
But Emperor Wei Zhao was different.
In this era, the world is the emperor's private property, all 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 of interpretation. It is absolutely impossible for Yang Yan to attack the emperor's personal ethics. It goes against the moral principles of this era.
Moreover, the emperor used both corrupt and honest officials to select the most suitable capable ministers to handle the situation according to different situations. This in itself is indeed something difficult to criticize. If we only use upright officials like Yang Yan, not to mention Emperor Wei Zhao, there is indeed no emperor in the past dynasties who can do it.
Therefore, Emperor Wei Zhao's words are indeed very confusing. If you are just an ordinary literati, you will easily be left speechless by the question.
Before this time, Chu Ge had made several attempts, but the results were not good.
We cannot completely start from the idea of loyalty to the emperor in this era, nor can we completely start from the norms of modern society. The former will fall into a dead end that Emperor Wei Zhao has prepared long ago, while the latter will jump out of the basic rules of this copy, both of which will lead to failure.
Chu Ge calmed down and asked: "Excuse me, sir, what does your Majesty mean by 'flooding'?
"When the water submerges the mountains, it is considered a flood. When the water submerges the farmland, is it considered a flood? If Wang Chong is so powerful that he threatens His Majesty, it is naturally considered a flood. But if Wang Chong is only cultivating party members and plundering people's wealth, he is still loyal to His Majesty. Second, is it considered flooding?
"I'm afraid that in His Majesty's eyes, the flooding of the Yangtze and Yellow Rivers actually threatens His Majesty's authority. If His Majesty's authority is not threatened, then even if the Yellow River floods thousands of hectares of farmland, displacing tens of millions of people and exchanging their children for food, then that is Not really flooding, right?
"Wang Chong is so powerful that the royal party is spread all over the government and the public. They embezzle disaster relief food funds and exploit taxes at all levels, leaving the national treasury empty and the people in poverty. However, His Majesty still does not think that they are 'overflowing' and do not think that they need to be governed.
"Does this mean that the epidemic your Majesty mentioned does not actually depend on the life and death of the people, but on whether anyone dares to offend your Majesty's authority?
"I'm afraid that your Majesty won't kill Wang Chong, but he wants to kill me. He doesn't think it's Wang Chong's 'flooding', but thinks it's me who's 'flooding'. It's probably because of this reason!"
Emperor Wei Zhao's expression changed instantly: "You! Yang Yan, you actually said such wild and rebellious words that you have no father and no king!"
Chu Ge's expression remained firm: "Sir, there is a saying that if you eat the emperor's salary, you will have the official position. There is also a saying that if you eat the emperor's salary, the emperor's father will be his father. I, Yang Yan, always regard your majesty as my father, so why not? Father without a king?
"The people of the world are all your Majesty's subjects, and they all regard you as your father. But how has your Majesty ever regarded the people of the world as your subjects? Not only did you sit back and watch the royal party grow bigger, but you also impeached the royal party's loyal ministers and used the imperial staff to invest in them. Boss, let the great scholars of the Hanlin Academy refute a bloody remonstrance!
"Have Your Majesty ever noticed the sufferings of the people? Never thought that tens of millions of people have kings but no fathers, and officials are like thieves! Have you ever heard that bandits are like combs, soldiers are like grates, and officials are like shavers?
"Since Your Majesty only regards himself as a superior 'king' and never regards himself as a 'father' who loves and protects his people, then why do you allow officials and people to regard your majesty as a king's father?"
