Journey to the West: I have Nine Golden Crows Inside Me-Chapter 1358: Nine Two Zero scolds the great Confucian scholar_2

Chapter 1358: Nine Two Zero scolds the great Confucian scholar_2

"As a member of the Human Race, you would dare to rebel, to strike against the Human King?" After revealing his identity, Jiang Chen once again questioned the six men.

"Your Majesty, we dare not," they replied.

Not knowing Jiang Chen’s identity might have been one thing, but now that they knew, the six men dared not to show him disrespect and quickly kneeled in homage.

To strike against the Human King was a grievous sin, tantamount to betraying one’s clan. One only needed to think about it—assassinating the emperor was a crime that merited the extermination of nine kinships, let alone an offense against a Human King, whose status was even more exalted than the emperor’s.

Clan betrayal! This crime was far more severe than treason against a nation. Treason against a nation meant being spurned by one nation, but clan betrayal meant being ostracized by an entire race, living a life unable to raise one’s head ever again.

"The fate of Great Han has already perished, why do you persist in delusion, attempting to extend its life here?" Jiang Chen interrogated the six men as he entered Dongguan.

"We have always been graced by the emperor’s favor and cannot bear to see Great Han’s downfall, nor can we stand to watch our rivers and mountains shattered, our people displaced and homeless," the six men replied in unison.

"Hehe, always graced by the emperor’s favor, may I ask what significant positions you all held?"

Jiang Chen felt like laughing; they spoke of being graced by the emperor’s favor, but if Great Han’s fate had not already ended, requiring the aid of these learned men to extend its life, they would have never been given important roles.

The six men fell silent, evidently not having fared well previously.

"Was the Great Han emperor benevolent and virtuous?" Jiang Chen continued to ask.

The six men fell silent for a moment before one elder spoke up, "His Majesty was just a bit too greedy for wealth, fond of beauty, and additionally liked to engage in foolery..."

As he spoke, even he could not continue. Greedy for wealth, fond of beauty, and prone to foolery—wasn’t that the mark of a foolish ruler?

"Foolery!"

"I think it is you who is engaging in foolery."

"Duke Huan of Qi, Jiang Xiaobai, he too was greedy for wealth and loved beauty, yet how did he become the hegemon of the Spring and Autumn period?"

"There is nothing wrong with being greedy for wealth and loving beauty. Which man isn’t? The saints have said, ’Food and sex are natural human desires.’"

"His mistake was favoring the base and distancing the virtuous."

"You too are mistaken, for seeing an inept emperor and failing to admonish him."

Jiang Chen unapologetically accused the six men.

"We did admonish him, as did all the civil and military officials of the court, but alas, the emperor would not listen, and there was nothing we could do," the six men said helplessly. If admonitions had been effective, the Great Han would not have fallen to such straits.

"What’s the use of mere talk? When a child acts out, a spanking is in order. The same goes for the emperor—give him a lesson so he learns the pain."

"If he still doesn’t change, then depose him! Yi Yin could send Tai Jia into exile, and Huo Guang could enact the deposition and enthronement of a ruler; seeing the emperor’s ineptitude, couldn’t you follow suit?"

In Jiang Chen’s eyes, there were no distinctions of high and low. To him, all beings were equal; if a commoner deserved death for his wickedness, then an emperor even more so.

Ordinary people have limited power; even if evil, they can only harm a few. But an emperor’s power is boundless, and once evil, it affects the lives of people throughout the land. The greater the ability, the more extensive the harm.

"That’s out of the question, out of the question. We, as subjects, how could we rebel and undertake such matters of deposition and enthronement? That is what power-grabbing officials do, not something for gentlemen like us."

Quickly shaking their heads, the six men had never considered deposing their sovereign; mainly because their education never allowed them to entertain such thoughts.

In this era, people still held a profound reverence for imperial authority—it was only Jiang Chen, who in his previous life was imbued with the notion of becoming a successor from a young age, who did not regard imperial authority in the same light.

"It’s all about concern for reputation! This is the difference between you and the saints; you cannot see beyond superficial honor."

"In the eyes of a saint, only the wellbeing of the common people matters. If shouldering infamy meant making the people happy, a saint would do so resolutely, without a second thought, not cower like you do."

Jiang Chen sneered, the scholars of modern times valued fame over life itself, even more than life. Between fame and life, the vast majority would definitely choose fame rather than life.

Similarly, was it really impossible for them to replace a foolish emperor?

This was the Prehistoric World, where there were plenty of ways if one was willing, it was just that they were too concerned about their reputations to act, none wanted to bear the infamy.

Yi Yin and Huo Guang were both capable ministers, but their reputations were tarnished after death, all of their accomplishments were erased, just because they had affronted the rulers’ power.

Future emperors, which one of them wouldn’t fear their ministers learning from Yi Yin and Huo Guang, undertaking the act of deposing and replacing, and thus have themselves deposed? It was precisely because of this fear that they thoroughly defamed these two men, fearing that future generations would emulate them.

"The common people are just too weak, if they had the ability to rebel just like you noble families, then there would be no foolish rulers in this world."

"If you dare to be a foolish ruler, I dare to rebel, drag you down from the throne, and send you to the execution platform. Only thus will the emperor fear and know that the common people should not be trifled with."

"Likewise, if the common people possessed the strength to rebel, it could also bring pressure to bear on the emperor, so that he wouldn’t dare to slack off but strive diligently to govern the world."

"Do you really think that by becoming emperor, you can commit crimes and not face death? What a joke, the emperor’s position is not a life-saving charm, but a death-bringing talisman. Doing poorly, one could live a life worse than death."

"Now, the six of you, write for me, record all the absurd deeds of the Great Han emperors throughout these years."

"Commoners rebel simply because they cannot survive, and why can’t they survive? Is it due to great disasters, or great epidemics? Neither, it’s the fault of the damned emperor and officials in the court."

"Who says that suppressing the rebels must involve dispatching a massive army? Kill the damned emperor and officials, announce it to the world, list their crimes, then confiscate their properties, transforming them into food and land to distribute to the common people, believe it or not, over ninety percent of the rebels would lay down their weapons, becoming good citizens?"

"As for those who still refuse to surrender, they definitely have ulterior motives, harboring wicked intentions. Dealing with them, there is no need for mercy, they should be destroyed with the swift and decisive force of thunder."

Jiang Chen stood up and delivered a speech on rebellion. The commoners couldn’t just be obedient subjects; being too submissive made it easy to be taken for granted.

They had to stir up trouble from time to time, to remind those in power where their authority came from. Only then would they not dare to overstep their bounds.

"Your Majesty, this must not be done, if we kill the emperor and officials, who will govern the court? Wouldn’t the world fall into chaos?"

Upon hearing Jiang Chen’s words, the six of them were greatly shocked and hurried to advise against it.

Whenever commoners rebelled, an army was dispatched to quell them, or officials were sent to coax them into submission. There was no precedent for executing the emperor, killing the ministers, and apologizing to the commoners.

There was no such logic in the world.

Without the emperor and the ministers, could the court still be considered a court? Would the world not be thrown into utter chaos?

In the end, they simply did not take the common people seriously.

If the common people were replaced with noble families, which would they choose to protect, the noble families or the emperor? Certainly, the noble families, for it had always been so; dynasties lasted for hundreds of years, noble families for thousands.

"Ha, how do the noble families of the world compare to the clans of Ancient Times? How do the emperors of Great Han compare to the Innate Saints, and what about the Demon Clan’s demon masters?"

Jiang Chen sneered and questioned them.

The six were silent once again; for all their bluster, they did not dare claim that the noble families of Great Han could rival the ancient clans, for those were the descendants of early sages, carrying an inheritance of one million years, almost equal to Gods, how could noble families compare?

As for the emperors of Great Han, they could not be compared with Innate Saints at all, there was no comparison; fireflies to the sun and moon.

"I could even annihilate ancient clans, dare to kill Innate Saints, would I not be able to destroy your Great Han?"

"Confucian Dao is ruined at your hands, focusing your sights from one clan to one nation, how could such narrow-mindedness ever produce a Saint? No wonder Confucian Dao of the present age has only reached the level of great scholars."

"Between Heaven and Earth, no one is unkillable, nor is there anyone whose departure would stop the world from turning."

"The emperor’s life is a life, the commoners’ lives are not? I would like to see if I cut him, whether he knows pain, whether he will die!"

Jiang Chen was determined to cut the Gordian knot and quickly pacify the rebellion in the Nine States.