Chapter 1254: Investigate to the End (4)
Frowning, Mu Yangling said, "Qin Fang was indeed a treacherous official and no one can deny that. However, he was not the only one who made Great Zhou what it was. Even without Qin Fang, with descendants like Gaozong and Emperor Jingyan around, Great Zhou would’ve landed in such a state one day. You have to know that Qin Fang only took over the power after the Imperial Court went south and obtained Emperor Jingyan’s favor."
"He’s not the reason why Great Zhou lost half of the northern territory."
"But General Yuan had already taken back half of the land. It was because of his slander and his advice to make Great Zhou bow down in front of Great Jin, that caused Great Zhou to return the recovered territory. In addition, Great Zhou even gave up two extra cities, agreed to pay an annual tribute and signed humiliating clauses such as admitting subservience to Great Jin. It’s his fault that the commoners and soldiers of our northern border had to suffer and live in chaos!" Qi Haoran was furious. Even now, he still remembered the grief and indignation he felt when he heard the news. Although he was still young at that time and hadn’t understood the meaning of his country, this didn’t stop him from hating someone called Qin Fang from now on.
This was also one of Qin Fang’s main crimes.
Mu Yangling said calmly, "I know that Qin Fang was a wicked person. Considering my family was in Xingzhou Prefecture then, I hated him as much as everyone else. But I do know that even though Qin Fang was the one who suggested the idea, the one who ultimately made the decision was Emperor Jingyan. Qin Fang was a treacherous prime minister, as well as an extremely wicked person. As a general and a prime minister, he didn’t do his duty. But what about Emperor Jingyan? Has he fulfilled his duty as the Emperor to protect the country and the people? What about the generals in the court? Where were the other generals apart from General Yuan? What about the imperial censors? It is the imperial censors’ duty to supervise the officials, and the prime minister is also among those they should supervise. In the entire Jingyan Dynasty, how many imperial censors impeached Qin Fang consistently? Which of the six ministries did right by the people of Great Zhou?"
Qi Haoran opened his mouth before shutting it.
"Now, everyone in the world only attributes the destruction of the Great Zhou to Qin Fang. Although he was indeed a treacherous official, I still don’t agree."
"Then what do you want?"