I was a conman in the Ming Dynasty.

Chapter 736 Sitting on the mountain and watching the tiger fight

Chapter 736 Sitting on the Mountain and Watching the Tigers Fight

Wang Wenzhou hugged Da Yu'er and kissed her, explaining, "The first point is about the poverty of ordinary people, soaring prices, and social decay. Why are ordinary people poor? Because wealth doesn't flow to ordinary people; the state and the people compete for profit. All the wealth is concentrated in the hands of the powerful and officials. Although the hardworking people do their best, their earnings are insufficient to make a living, leading to severe polarization."

This is why the Ming Dynasty was engulfed in constant warfare. Even if I hadn't provided Li Zicheng with six million taels of silver, I believed he could still rise again. Now Li Zicheng is in Shaanxi, with over 100,000 troops in a desperate situation.

Gao Guiying quickly ate a piece of orange and fed it to Wang Wenzhou. She complained in her heart, "You rascal, can't you stop mentioning Li Zicheng in front of people?"

Wang Wenzhou continued to explain: "Good deeds cannot be promoted, evil deeds cannot be suppressed, benefits cannot be developed, and harms cannot be eliminated. Goodness is transformed into greed, and learning is turned into theft. This passage means that those who do good are not praised, and those who do evil are not stopped, leading to the moral decay of society. Although there are many officials, they are inactive, busy with eating, drinking, gambling, and accumulating wealth."

Good and evil are separated by a fine line. No one is purely good or purely bad. Once a society's morality declines, even those who want to be good are forced to do evil.

Take my younger brother for example, sister-in-law, you've also been to Hanshan. In the hearts of the people of Hanshan, I'm truly a just and upright official! But after I arrived in the capital, I had to do some despicable things.

"How did I manage to meet Zhu Youjian by chance? It was because I was trying to curry favor with the powerful figures in the capital, giving them gifts, that I ran into Zhu Youjian at Tian Wan's residence."

Speaking of this past event, Wang Wenzhou thought of his babies Wang Ying and Chen Yuanyuan, and for a moment, he felt a pang of heartache.

My baby died, which is almost like breaking up. I'm no longer with my baby, but I always find myself thinking about all the little things we shared, and my heart aches every time I do.

Gao Guiying rolled her eyes at Wang Wenzhou. "You rascal, you think you're a good person?"

Empress Zhou nodded. What Wang Wenzhou said made sense; the line between good and evil was indeed very thin. If she had been more persistent back then, she wouldn't have been slept with by her enemy, and she wouldn't have gotten pregnant with his child.

Wang Wenzhou continued, “In the palace, in the mansion, in dreams, in this crying, in that laughing, in the midst of outsiders’ spying, in the midst of petty people’s machinations.”

Amidst the weeping, there is laughter. Who is weeping? Of course, it is the people who are weeping! Sister-in-law, I have been to Shaanxi and Sichuan, where the rebel army was stationed. What shocked me the most was the plight of the local people; they were truly living in misery.

There are some things you might not know. There are some shameless local officials who arbitrarily levy taxes, some even extending the "three taxes" (likely referring to a specific tax collection method) to twenty years in the future! As a result, countless people have been displaced. Why then do bandit armies, like weeds, keep coming back one after another? Isn't it simply because the people can't survive?

People are afraid of death, but when faced with death, no one wants to die. When people are not even afraid of death, what is rebellion?

Amidst the watchful eyes of outsiders and the machinations of petty villains, the Ming Dynasty faced both internal and external troubles. Externally, the Tartars were eyeing it covetously, while internally, the Donglin Party members were engaged in factional infighting and vying for power.

With a nation like that, it would be strange if it didn't fall!

"Hoo..." Empress Zhou took a deep breath. No wonder! No wonder Wang Wenzhou often said in front of her that Zhu Youjian would be a ruler who would bring about the downfall of the country. Now it seems that the Ming Dynasty is indeed in grave danger.

Empress Zhou took a segment of orange from Gao Guiying, ate it, and fed it to Wang Wenzhou, saying softly, "Boxin, you are also a citizen of the Ming Dynasty. For the sake of the country and the people, why don't you assist the Emperor in revitalizing the Ming Dynasty? I think if you tell the Emperor these words, he will believe you without a doubt!"

"Why are you here again?" Wang Wenzhou said with a wry smile, "Sister-in-law, Zhu Youjian is such a pig, there's no way to have fun with him!"

Even if he didn't know what a pig was, it would still be very difficult for him to revive the Ming Dynasty.

Don't you see, the once mighty Ming Dynasty has lost all faith, with rampant drinking, gambling, and prostitution; the transfer of benefits from top to bottom; and illicit exchanges of power and sex. Even the Grand Secretary Wen Tiren could send his granddaughter to his young master to play with!

Empress Zhou blushed deeply, feeling extremely embarrassed. After all, she too had been given to Wang Wenzhou by Zhu Youjian for his amusement. Truly, the superiors set an example for the inferiors!

Wang Wenzhou cursed and said, "Among the officials in the Ming Dynasty right now, every single one of them, whether they are members of the Donglin Party or not, is clean. With such a bunch of bastards ruling the Ming Dynasty, the Ming Dynasty is doomed sooner or later!"

Empress Zhou said softly, "Hasn't His Majesty already begun to crack down on the Donglin Party and rectify the court?"

Wang Wenzhou said with a wry smile, "Sister-in-law, even so, how many people in the world are not members of the Donglin Party? When Zhu Youjian first ascended the throne, he forced Wei Zhongxian, whom his brother had left him, to his death, and then launched a massive crackdown on the eunuch faction, which led to the Donglin Party becoming the dominant party and controlling everything."

Without oversight, absolute power breeds absolute corruption. Where did those tens of millions of taels of silver in the national treasury go? Well, most of it ended up in the pockets of Ming Dynasty officials.

"Is the Ming Dynasty truly beyond saving?" Empress Zhou asked.

Wang Wenzhou replied, "It's not hopeless, unless all the officials are replaced. But how is that possible? The officials of the Ming Dynasty have long formed a solid interest group, otherwise the Donglin Party wouldn't exist."

Just like Zhu Youjian is now starting to crack down on the Donglin Party, but it's too late. It's not that I look down on Zhu Youjian, but he's absolutely no match for the Donglin Party.

Empress Zhou thought for a moment and then said, "Boxin, you also have grudges against the Donglin Party, so why are you helping them?"

Wang Wenzhou sneered, "I'll help both the Donglin Party and Zhu Youjian. I'm happy to watch them fight. At first, I thought that if the Ming Dynasty fell, the Tartars would seize power. As a citizen of the Ming Dynasty, I simply cannot accept this reality."

"Haha..." At this point, Wang Wenzhou laughed heartily, hugged Da Yu'er and kissed her, proudly saying, "But I know that Fulin is my younger brother's son. Suddenly I feel that the Qing Dynasty isn't so bad after all!"

"Ah?" This was the first time Empress Zhou had heard the name Fulin. She had no idea that Fulin would become the Shunzhi Emperor of the Qing Dynasty.

Empress Zhou said sternly, "Boxin, you must not act willfully when faced with matters of great importance. Those who are not of our kind will surely have different hearts!"

Wang Wenzhou hugged Empress Zhou and kissed her, saying with a smile, "Sister-in-law, even if the Tartars conquer the world, their emperor is my son! How can he be someone of a different race?"

"Pfft..." Empress Zhou was stunned. She glanced at Da Yu'er thoughtfully and instantly understood that Da Yu'er's son was also the offspring of her nemesis.

Wang Wenzhou said with a smile, "So, I instigated Zhu Youjian to fight the Donglin Party until they were both severely injured, so that my son could lead the Qing cavalry to trample the Ming Dynasty!"

"Hmph!" Empress Zhou snorted coldly and said irritably, "Boxin, even if Huang Taiji doesn't know that Fulin is your son, Fulin's birth mother isn't by his side, and Huang Taiji has more than one son. How could you know that Huang Taiji would pass the throne of the pseudo-Qing dynasty to Fulin?"