Chapter 1572: Questioning An Emperor
The Hall of Supreme Harmony was praised as the greatest Hall in Chu. It was where the emperor of Chu and his ministers held court. It was tall and massive, luxurious and splendid. That was why the people also called it the Hall of Golden Chimes.
Right now, Emperor Jing Run was sitting on his throne and listening to his ministers reporting on the military and national affairs in various places.
On the surface, it looked like Emperor Jing Run was listening attentively. In reality, he did not care. Well, that wasn’t quite right. It was more like he had grown numb after listening to the same melody for the umpteenth time.
He didn’t even need to listen to know the gist of it. It was either a terrible Stranger had appeared at a certain city, or a terrible storm of fire had broken out at a certain town, or the foreign armies were growing restless at the borders, or a rebellion had broken out in certain places. This was the kind of matter he heard and handled the most ever since the Heavens’ Eye was stolen.
Worse, there was nothing he could do about it. More accurately, he had already done absolutely everything he could do to remedy the situation. He had mobilized the troops, allocated food and wealth to the appropriate places, punished the evildoers and eliminated the evils, provided disaster relief to the people and more. He had done everything, but the incidents continued to sprout endlessly like weeds. Not only did the situation not improve, it became more chaotic and serious than ever before.
Although he was the one who singlehandedly brought his empire to his knees, he did not think he was in the wrong. After all, he was the ruler of this nation and the master of the world. How could he be wrong? In fact, everything he did was to fulfill the grand dream that Chu had not been able to fulfill despite countless years of trying, to make the empire wealthy and strong, and to foster prosperity and good health among the people.
What crime had he committed, pray tell? The real crime was the incompetency of his ministers. They wore tall hats, received ample payments, lived in large residences, slept with beautiful wives and concubines, and spawned enough grandchildren to fill up entire houses, but not a single one of them was good enough to shoulder his burden. They so often claimed that their civil talent could singlehandedly bring peace to the realm, and their martial might could pacify all dissidents and evils, but a boast was just that, a boast. If they were even a-tenth of who they claimed to be, they would have wiped out Nanjiang, taken the Earthly Sovereign Bell, or repaired the Heavens’ Eye already. They would not be in this situation right now.
Now, the situation had just gotten a little bad, and these people were already panicking and growing afraid. Not only did they reflect on their own incompetence, they even pushed all the blame on him. They dared to accuse him and blame him for this state of things. They thought themselves wise and educated, but they were really no different from the commonfolk, foolish and traitorous.
To be honest, he was becoming more and more annoyed with these people as of late.
He was so annoyed he only wished he could kill them all.
For now though, he still needed them to maintain the stability of the court and ensure that his orders were carried out properly. So, he couldn’t kill them yet. He could only pretend to listen and feign civility with them.
Of course, this was only temporary. Once his plan succeeded, then all of his problems and troubles would be resolved. He would fulfill a grand ambition that would be remembered for a thousand autumns and become an emperor of the ages. The people would sing his praises, and history would remember his name for eternity.