I Have Never Seen

Si Ming looked towards the hall and saw a man standing there. He was the Huaxia general who had commanded the Barbarian Hu to defend the city yesterday. He had luckily escaped being buried when Mu Wu used extreme measures to destroy the city wall, and was eventually captured by the Mu Family Army.

"The ruler is the guide for his subjects; if the ruler is unjust, the subjects will flee to another country. The state is the guide for its people; if the state is unjust, the people will rise up against it. The former Shenzong indulged in wine and women, neglected state affairs, was ambitious and wasteful of resources, and listened to the slander of petty men, which led to my dismissal from office, my being framed, and the destruction of my family. If the ruler is unjust, what wrong is there in me fleeing to another country?"

Di Zhongyi spoke with righteous indignation, remaining fearless even as the other generals in the hall glared at him angrily.

Mu Wu shook his head and said, "The so-called other countries refer to brother countries that share the same language and culture. If you sided with the Su State, Germany, or Nation of Valor, no one would say you didn't. Why do you insist on siding with the Barbarian Hu? To this day, has any country recognized the Barbarian Hu?"

"From nothing to something, it always takes time. As long as the Barbarian Hu take root in the north for a hundred years, eventually, countries will naturally establish diplomatic relations with them for mutual benefit and recognize their status." Di Zhongyi paused, then continued with deep resentment, "That treacherous minister's son coveted my wife's beauty and framed me. I served Shenzong like a slave for over a decade, yet it was all for naught because of a single slanderous word from that treacherous minister. My father died of grief upon hearing the news. How can I let go of such deep hatred? Neither the Su State nor Germany will send troops to Li State. The only way for me to take revenge is to join the Barbarian Hu!"

Liu Yongzhan couldn't help but say, "What you're talking about are all personal grudges. How can you mix them with national affairs? You're sacrificing the greater good for personal gain, neglecting public duty for private matters. Do you know how many people have died because of your betrayal, and how many families have been torn apart because of you? You keep talking about revenge, but what you really want is wealth and glory!"

"The king's private affairs are the affairs of state. He harms me because of state affairs, so I will ruin his state affairs in return," Di Zhongyi glanced at Liu Yongzhan. "You are not the one who has been wronged, nor are your family members the ones who have died, so of course you can say such callous things. I ask you, if one day the emperor of the Southern Court Dynasty issues an edict to kill Commander Mu, what will you do? Will you continue to serve him, or will you avenge the commander?"

Liu Yongzhan was a military general, not skilled in debate, and was stumped on the spot. If the hypothetical situation really occurred, he couldn't think of what choice he would make. Continuing to serve the emperor would be unjust, and avenging the commander-in-chief would be disloyal. He was truly in a dilemma.

Seeing this, Di Zhongyi revealed a smug look and said, "See? Even you can't swallow your anger, so what right do you have to advise others..."

"What's so difficult about that? Go assassinate someone, riot, revolt! Life doesn't give you that much time to talk nonsense. If the emperor harms your whole family, then kill his whole family. Hate society? Take revenge. Resent the system? Revolt! What kind of hero surrenders to Barbarian Hu? Avenging yourself with your own abilities is the true example. If you're not strong enough, then train diligently. If you can't wait that long, then carry a bomb and launch a terrorist attack. At worst, you'll just die. If you're afraid of death, how can you talk about avenging your family? You're just a spineless coward!"

Si Ming stepped into the hall and immediately launched into a tirade of sarcasm, leaving Di Zhongyi completely bewildered.

The military officers present couldn't help but laugh. This kind of simple and crude speech was really to their liking. Unfortunately, they couldn't applaud it. The Mohist School family didn't take the emperor seriously, shouting "Choose the virtuous and capable to be the emperor." They had long since thrown the imperial system into the trash can. They couldn't Li State. If they agreed, it would be a great disrespect to the emperor.

Mu Wu gave a helpless bitter smile and said, "Such a approach is too radical and unacceptable. When the country is in crisis, we must consider the overall situation, put aside our grudges, and not seek personal pleasure at the expense of causing the people to be displaced. Zigong asked, 'Is there one word that can guide one's conduct throughout life?' Confucius said, 'Perhaps it is forgiveness! Do not do to others what you would not have them do to you.' Since you have tasted the bitterness of losing your family and loved ones, you should not let that pain spread to innocent people."

"Who is harming the people? Shenzong was tyrannical, the people suffered, and uprisings broke out one after another. Although the Barbarian Hu were ruthless, they were not necessarily more ruthless than the oppressive government. Even if all the people who died under the Barbarian Hu' swords over the years were added together, it would still be far less than the number of people who were forced to their deaths by the oppressive government."

"They are ultimately Barbarian Hu; how can they be judged in such a general way?"

"The Huaxia people were not civilized from the beginning. Although the barbarians are crude Barbarian Hu now, they may well be able to educate and establish their own schools of thought in the future. General Mu, you have studied poetry and books since childhood. Do you dare to say that every Huaxia emperor was a good ruler? Were there no cruel and inhumane emperors among the Huaxia emperors? Looking at the founding emperors in history, which one did not emerge from Mountain of Corpses and Sea of Blood, stained with the lives of countless compatriots? It can be said that one general's success is built on the bones of ten thousand! The Barbarian King also has the aura of a human emperor. He may well be able to usher in a prosperous era and protect the people's well-being."

Di Zhongyi pointed at the crowd and shouted, "And what about you? You keep saying you're thinking of Huaxia people, but do you know what they want? Nothing but peace! The sooner this chaos ends, the sooner the people can enjoy peace. Right now, the north is strong and the south is weak; unifying the south with the north is the right path! Yesterday, when the city fell, many Huaxia soldiers died at your hands. If you truly cared about the people, you should have helped the Barbarian King unify the world, instead of resisting stubbornly and letting this chaos continue endlessly!"

After he finished speaking, the hall fell silent. The soldiers either glared angrily or looked puzzled, wanting to refute him, but they also vaguely felt that what he said made some sense.

After delivering his impassioned speech, Di Zhongyi's breathing became slightly rapid, but his face was filled with determination and awareness, like a martyr who had sacrificed himself for the truth, firmly believing that he was right.

At that moment, applause erupted in the hall, accompanied by mocking remarks.

"Excellent! What a powerful and inspiring argument! Truly, traitors to China are justified, and selling out one's country is not a crime!"

Chapter 186 I've Never Seen It Before

Di Zhongyi did not know that Si Ming came from Su State, but based on his statement just now, "If the emperor kills me, I will kill him," he had already guessed his identity. No matter how audacious the Li State, they would not dare to say such a thing.

In the past, Di Zhongyi could have followed the old custom and cursed the other party as "treasonous and disloyal," but now that he was a rebel, he had no right to say such things and could only remain silent.

Si Ming pointed at Di Zhongyi, and rebuked him with righteous indignation. "You were born in Li State and registered in the government. You have never gone through the procedures to renounce your citizenship, so you are still a citizen of Li State. However, you helped the Barbarian Hu attack your motherland, conquering cities and seizing land, poisoning the people, aiding the Li State in their evil deeds, and willingly becoming their lackey, causing your motherland to lose half of its territory. As a citizen of Li Kingdom, you betrayed the interests of Li State. No matter how much you argue, it cannot change the fact that you are a complete traitor!"

"I am not a traitor! That tyrannical emperor caused my family to be destroyed and my life to end, I had no choice but to..."

"Shut up! Traitorous Chinese collaborators and national sellouts!"

Si Ming immediately accused the other party of three labels. He used to frequently debate with netizens on forums and had accumulated a lot of experience in arguing.

Rather than reasoning and presenting facts, it's more important to occupy the moral high ground. Once you have a moral high ground, you'll naturally have the upper hand. Even if someone is just being unreasonable, you can still come up with a reasonable argument. Others will even stand by your side and pave the way for you for free. That's truly a situation where "who is kneeling below the court, and why are they accusing this official?" It's hard to lose.

"The tyrannical emperor wronged you, so you should seek revenge. Why drag the country into this and harm innocent people? Even bandits know that grievances should be directed at the perpetrator and that one's family should not be implicated. Yet you try to pin all the blame on the emperor. How shameless! You have a grievance, so you can be a traitor? Can't those robbers and bandits also say that they kill and rob because they are too poor? Does being broke give you the right to rob, and a grudge give you the right to betray your country? You still think you're right? You hypocrite, I spit on you!"

Si Ming spat directly in the other person's face, inflicting a double insult, both physically and mentally.

Di Zhongyi trembled with rage. "I am no longer Li State. From the moment I surrendered to the Barbarian Hu, I abandoned my citizenship of Li State."

"You think you can just renounce your citizenship like that? Have you even read the legal provisions? You're supposed to be an official, how come you have no legal knowledge at all? Let me teach you. The conditions for renouncing citizenship are similar in all the countries in the Sea Continent. Either you transfer to another country and acquire its citizenship, which is considered an automatic renunciation of your original citizenship, or you apply to the government and obtain approval from the relevant departments before your citizenship can be revoked. Which of these two conditions do you meet? You're not going to say you don't know, are you?"

Si Ming feigned surprise, and without waiting for a reply, he automatically arrived at the answer. Then, in a contemptuous tone, he cursed, "You traitorous traitor! You only claim ignorance after the deed is done. Do you think anyone will believe you? Bah! You fraudster, a spineless dog, dares to bark and howl in this Hall of Loyalty and Righteousness! I have never seen such a shameless person!"

"You, you—I didn't..."

"Shut up! Traitor, lackey, sellout! You despicable, shameless Old Wang bastard! I find it disgusting to even say another word to you!"

Si Ming's series of online insults left Di Zhongyi speechless, his face turning red and his fingers trembling.

Doesn't Di Zhongyi know the legal provisions regarding changing nationality?

Nine times out of ten, they don't know, and even if they do, they probably don't care.

This is not surprising. If you asked a Qing Dynasty official about the nationality of the Qing Dynasty, he would be completely baffled.

The level of social development in Li State is not much different from that in the late Qing Dynasty and early Republic of China. Not to mention Di Zhongyi, there are very few people in the whole country who have a deep understanding of the concept of nationality. Most people think that this thing is dispensable and no one cares about it. But now Di Zhongyi is being relentlessly attacked by Si Ming because of this point.

This is the technique of online forum debate. When the other party has presented a long and detailed argument, there is no need to refute each point. Instead, find the point with the most obvious flaw and the biggest weakness, and concentrate your firepower on that single point of attack.

Was Si Ming wrong?

No, legally speaking, Di Zhongyi is indeed still a citizen of Li State.

Although the Barbarian Hu had actually occupied the northern lands for more than ten years, dividing the Li State along the Yangtze River and claiming to establish the Jin Dynasty, none of the various schools of thought and states recognized them. No one was willing to establish diplomatic relations with the barbarians, so there was no Jin State in the international community.

The Barbarian Hu chose the name "Jin" for their country, which had nothing to do with their surname, their title, or their place of origin. They simply felt that gold was precious and that using "Jin" as their name made them seem exceptionally noble.

Such nouveau riche behavior was even more despised by the various countries of the Sea Continent. If it weren't for the danger of encountering Demon Beast on the sea route, which would hinder large-scale troop transport, other countries would probably have come to the Confucian School Continent to give the Barbarian Hu beating and thus get a share of the Li State's legacy.

Si Ming is not wrong; the only one who is wrong is Di Zhongyi, unless he acts arrogantly and claims he is being unreasonable.

But once he admits it, he can no longer righteously say that he is not wrong. Given his current situation as a prisoner, losing his morals would mean certain disgrace and ruin, and he wouldn't even be able to "die a noble death."

Seeing that he was at a loss, completely disoriented, yet still gritting his teeth and persisting, Si Ming felt that one last blow was needed.