Chapter 216: A Declaration of Loyalty to the Emperor

After undergoing this ideological transformation, Chuge suddenly felt enlightened.

As the saying goes, "It's hard to learn to be good, easy to learn to be bad."

Being a virtuous official always involved too many constraints. Many tactics couldn't be used and many bottom lines couldn't be crossed.

But, once he abandoned the idea of being a virtuous official and all the moral constraints he imposed on himself, and looked at the issues from another angle, he found that many problems were not without solutions.

In the end, being a virtuous official was like swimming upstream, with me in the light and the enemy in the dark.

Take Wang Wenchuan, for instance. Was he a virtuous official? Certainly.

No matter how the old faction attacked him, they couldn't deny his personal virtues.

Wang Wenchuan was known for his integrity and incorruptibility; he didn't even have any hobbies except for writing books, making speeches, and implementing reforms for the country.