Volume One: The Overseer and the Candidate Chapter Forty-Two: Dark Clouds or Blazing Sun?

Huang Ming’s argument would be considered mere clichés in later generations; who hasn’t heard a few analyses and perspectives on the Three Kingdoms story online? Both the discovery and study of various related historical sources, and the wild conjectures that have arisen from them, are far beyond what scholars of centuries past could have imagined.

Thus, when these words were spoken in the imperial lecture hall and reached the ears of both ruler and ministers, they struck like thunder, as if an alien invasion had occurred. Everyone was stunned by such heretical remarks, momentarily forgetting to even attempt a rebuttal.

Indeed, even if someone wished to object, it would be hard to find a reasonable angle from which to do so in such a short time.

Huang Ming continued, “Your Majesty, there is another point that can serve as proof for my deduction—who is truly loyal and who is treacherous can be seen from their later choices and outcomes.”

“Oh? Let’s hear it,” the Emperor Jiajing’s interest was immediately piqued, and he couldn’t help but respond. As a young man himself, he was more receptive to views diverging from the mainstream—especially when the proponent was also young. Even an emperor is not immune to such inclinations.

“The Ten Attendants ultimately protected the young Emperor Liu Bian as he fled, remaining loyal until death. Even when there was no way out, they dared not harm the young emperor in the slightest; after bidding him farewell with tears, they all drowned themselves.

“Their actions are not so different from Lu Xiufu, who carried the young emperor of the Southern Song into the sea at the dynasty’s end.

Huang Ming glanced at Yang Shen, “But what about the so-called loyal and virtuous ministers, the Yuan family who served as Four Generations Three Dukes and received generations of imperial favor, and the likes of Kong Rong?

“They fled, then raised armies under the banner of punishing Dong Zhuo, but when real opportunity came, they held onto their troops, carving out their own domains… Compared to them, even Cao Cao, viewed as the archetype of a treacherous minister by later generations, is far better.

“At least Cao Cao was sincere for the court in the beginning, and later he brought the emperor to his side, caring for him, never betraying his duty as a subject. Yuan Shao and his ilk could not even do that!”

Huang Ming finally paused, but the hall remained silent.

Everyone’s expressions were shifting and uncertain, as if they wished to speak yet could not find the words.

They turned their gaze toward Yang Shen, discovering he looked just as perplexed as the rest.

Yang Shen was regretful; he had truly underestimated the young man before him.

He had assumed Huang Ming would merely stir up confusion, at most using tales from the popular Romance of the Three Kingdoms, and that he had a hundred ways to lead him into disgrace.

Instead, it was he who was shamed, his previous arguments completely overturned, and for the moment, he could not refute them.

More troubling was the apparent effect Huang Ming’s words had on the emperor.

Standing atop the shoulders of giants, Huang Ming looked at the reactions before him and felt a surge of confidence.

Excited, he pressed on, “Regarding the previous statements from Lord Yang and the other two about virtuous ministers, I also hold a different view.

“Take people like Yang Zhen, whose stories of uprightness and integrity have indeed been passed down. But is that the whole truth?

“No, the truth has long existed in the history books, but has simply been selectively ignored.

“What kind of family was the Yangs of Hongnong? They were an even greater clan than the Yuans, the Four Generations Three Dukes. Their family was so powerful locally, they could rival the feudal lords; saying they owned hundreds of thousands of acres would be an understatement.

“Your Majesty, do you think that such a pillar of a great aristocratic clan would really care about the annual salary of two or three thousand bushels?”

This question gave Jiajing pause, and all the officials inside and outside the hall fell into contemplative silence.

Huang Ming laid it bare, “A local aristocrat with vast estates—neither he nor his descendants ever need worry about money. That’s why someone like Yang Zhen could afford to be lofty, accepting only half or even a third of his salary, and was lauded as incorruptible by contemporaries and posterity.

“But behind this, how many humble families and poor souls were ruined, driven to hunger and cold by their exploitation and land grabs?

“In my view, what truly plunged the Eastern Han into chaos were these seemingly upright, high-minded so-called virtuous ministers. They left the common people with no way to survive, forcing them to follow the likes of the Yellow Turbans and rebel. In the end, their descendants blamed all the sins on the eunuchs, whose influence was not even a tenth of their own.

“Even more shameful, when the state was on the brink of destruction, they continued to seize benefits for themselves, manipulating men like He Jin into making ever more disastrous choices, dragging the Eastern Han into an abyss from which it could never recover.

“If such people are considered loyal and virtuous, then who in the world could be called a villain or a traitor?”

This thunderous question left the hall in utter silence.

Huang Ming took a deep breath and said, “Your Majesty, I believe that compared to these men, the Ten Attendants, for all their faults, were truly the loyal subjects to Emperor Ling and the young emperor, and to the Han court.

“At the very least, when they were present, they could restrain the local aristocracy and the imperial officials. But once they died, the young emperor was deposed, Emperor Xian became a puppet time and again, the court was left in peril…

“That is why I dare to say that Lord Yang’s words are gravely mistaken, a deliberate reversal of right and wrong, exonerating the true culprits!

“I offer these heartfelt words, hoping to set the record straight, and beseech Your Majesty to discern the truth!”

It was a long moment before the ministers recovered from their shock.

Huang Ming’s argument was simply too earth-shattering, too heretical for the present day, and its emotional impact was like a nuclear explosion.

They needed time to sort through the logic, and for a while, everyone was left dumbfounded.

How had the Ten Attendants, always viewed as treacherous villains, been exonerated, while those praised for centuries as loyal and virtuous were denounced as evil men?

They had no reference point, for they had never experienced the age of the great internet.

In that era, any historical figure could be exalted or dragged through the mud, disparaged as worse than beasts… For Huang Ming, standing on the shoulders of giants, this was merely a minor demonstration.

Yet it was enough to move Emperor Jiajing. He thought of his own situation, and of some hidden thoughts he had never dared to confess.

Indeed, leaving aside Gu Dayong and the rest for now, men like Huang Jin had followed him from Anlu to the capital and were reliable, yet in the eyes of these ministers, they were condemned as unforgivable criminals—how similar this was to the judgment of the Ten Attendants through history!

His mind turned, and a smile of approval appeared on his face. “Huang Ming, your words are most reasonable. They have benefited me greatly, and you shall be rewarded!”

Without hesitation, he removed a dragon-embellished jade pendant from his waist and ordered a nearby eunuch to deliver it.

The ministers were once again astonished by this, while Zhang Bi’s heart stirred: “Is he the cloud that obscures the moon’s brilliance? No, he is the blazing sun in the sky, and beneath its light, how could moonlight exist at all?”