Indestructible God King - Chapter 132.2
Chapter 132.2 Thousand Elderly Feast (2/2)
The elderly officials had different faces when they saw Wang Ke approaching. Such a person was a newfound target to unleash all their grievances built up during that period, and they started pointing their fingers at him.
Wang Ke stood at the forefront, smiling as he saw the elderly officials. “So many strange faces. Of course, there are many familiar faces too; it’s a pity that all of them look tattered and weak!”
“Wang Ke, you called us over just to criticize us?” said the Vice-minister of Revenue with staring eyes.
“Vice-minister of Revenue? Heh, it’s been a long time!” Wang Ke smiled and said, “I remember when you just joined the Ministry of Revenue, all that occupied your mind was to help the refugees in your hometown. You risked losing your post with your funds request to rescue your people! It was all done while wholeheartedly serving the people! You rebuked me firmly when I rebelled, calling me a treacherous villain! Heh, you’re an official with such integrity and loyalty! But then you were promoted several times with the help of Zhu Yan after I left, and stopped submitting any papers to the imperial court on behalf of the people. Instead of that you scoured the whole place for money so that Zhu Yan could squander it! An official with a clear conscience sadly fell into a streak of excessive greed. You ignored the lives of the common people, just to protect your status as an official? Good! Very good! Is the old you still alive?”
“You… You!” The Vice-minister of Revenue raged.
Still, everything that Wang Ke said was true; he didn’t know how to defend himself.
Zhu Yan looked frustrated. Wang Ke’s painting me as a horrible emperor. Damn, I’m already a Golden Core cultivator now! I can kill you any time!
Zhu Yan looked around to see if there were other powerful cultivators present. After all, the righteous disciples would identify him and go after his life once he made a move.
“Vice-minister of Revenue, Minister of Rites, and also…!” Wang Ke pointed to the officials.
Wang Ke denounced more than ten old officials without a pause, recounting each and every one of their crimes.
All those officials were angered by the verbal abuse.
“Wang Ke, is this why you invited us to the Thousand Elderly Feast? Just to insult us? I cannot stomach such a treatment, goodbye!” said the angry Vice-minister of Revenue.
“Me too!” A group of old men also stood up.
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Wang Ke laughed coldly, though, overturning the table in front of him with a kick.
“Baaaaam!”
The table and chairs fell, which shocked all those who were about to leave.
“Stomach? I also feel disgusted, treating people like you to a feast! You are the pests of the state, greedy officials who take the state’s money but do nothing. You are the enemies of the common man, robbers who sit on the people’s shoulders to absorb their fat and drink their blood! The Great Qing Empire is dead because of you! The ordeals of the empire’s people are riding on your shoulders! It’s all because of you that the Great Qing is now destroyed. How disgusting! Who would treat you to a feast!” Wang Ke berated them nonstop.
His offensive words caught the raging attention of those officials.
“Wang Ke, how dare you slander me!”
“Wang Ke, I’ve been an official for many decades. No one has ever dared to call me greedy!”
“Wang Ke, who are you to rebuke us!”
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The old men were furious; they started arguing with Wang Ke, unafraid of any forceful reprisal.
“Okay, okay, sure. If that’s the case, I, Wang Ke, will talk things out with you guys! Let me ask you! Why did you become officials in the first place!” Wang Ke asked, while looking at them dead in the eyes.
“Why did we become officials?” The old men frowned.
“Vice-minister of Revenue, do tell, why did you become an official? Do you still remember why you followed this vocation when you were young? Do you still remember your original intention?” Wang Ke asked.
“I…!” The Vice-minister of Revenue frowned, unable to answer.
Wang Ke’s question was simple, but difficult to answer. They had worked as officials for many years and their hearts changed.
An old man reminisced, “Back then, my family was very poor. I wanted to change our fate, so I studied really hard…!”
“Change your fate?” Wang Ke mocked the speaker, “Changed from being oppressed and exploited by officials to becoming an official yourself, to oppress and exploit other commoners? Minister of Rites, have you realized that you became the person you hated the most!”
That old man’s face went red with shame, then, pale as a sheet. “No, it’s not that!”
“I had a big dream to help the suffering people back then!” said a frowning old man.
“So, did you do that? Great Qing has gone through so many natural and man-made disasters in all these years! How much have you done? Instead, you wised up and saved your own skin, huh? You took the salary and enjoyed yourself, ignoring those who suffered! Minister of Punishment, what did you do?” Wang Ke said with a mocking tone.
“I…!” The old man was overwhelmed by embarrassment.
Everyone was disarmed in a flash; none of them knew how to explain themselves.
“We wanted to do good too, but our hands were tied by circumstances. It was Zhu Yan, the previous emperor’s rule. We could not…!” an old man said bitterly.
“Yeah, you can’t blame us. The previous emperor did whatever he pleased. I did submit proposals to him!”
“Me too! I too feel helpless! Zhu Yan was overly ambitious and unrealistic. He was obsessed with wine and women! The only thing occupying his heart was to find a prettier concubine. He spent all the budget intended to help the state. We…!”
Zhu Yan’s face was contorning while he stood among the guests. How did this become a meeting to criticize me? I was the one who raised you to your position, and now you are scolding me? Where’s your conscience?
Wang Ke looked at them and said, “Everyone, no amount of blame-shifting will change the fact that Great Qing is done. The heart of the matter is that you have been officials for many years, and yet you still can’t figure out the reason why you became officials. What is an ‘official’? What is an official supposed to do? Do you know?”
The old men looked at Wang Ke. We’ve been officials our entire lives. We don’t know… But do you?
Wang Ke answered intently, “As officials, you are supposed to uphold the conscience of heaven and earth, secure life and fortune for the people, continue the lost teachings following the steps of past sages, and establish peace for all generations!
“Have you done any of that? That’s what it means to be an official!”
Those are the tasks of an official?
The old bureaucrats shivered as they looked at Wang Ke, immediately feeling utterly ashamed of themselves.
Only someone who has reached that state of mind can say those words; the words themselves are proof of his virtue, while they also reveal how dirty we are as officials.
Wang Ke continued to criticize them, “Think about it! When you just became officials, didn’t you have the same thoughts? Didn’t you? Look at all those years you’ve worked as officials. What have you done? Was it really all Zhu Yan’s doing? It’s because of you! You forgot who you are! You were led astray by your selfish desires and forgot your responsibility as officials!”
Tears started welling up in the eyes of the more sensitive attendees, feeling great shame for all their deeds over the years. They were reminded of how they once vowed to do something for the people when they had just become officials; alas, they merely went with the flow in the end.
Wang Ke saw the tears of guilt on some of the stubborn old men, which made him feel surprised and happy.
Damn, I still have an arsenal of cool-sounding quotes from Earth to brainwash you into supporting the Wang Clan! But you guys can’t take it after the first round?
