"Wretched ruler! Wretched ruler!!"
Sima Zhao hammered the desk before him several times, crying out through gritted teeth, his heart filled with fury.
Du Yu and Zhong Hui sat before him, each wearing a different expression.
"This wretched ruler is going to destroy our Great Wei!"
"Does he care so little for this realm?!"
"Just look at everything he's done since taking the throne!"
"First, he cleared Xiahou Xuan's name, trying to remove the ropes binding the ministers, and even publicly proclaimed that punishment should not extend to a man's clan!"
"Then he announced that he would lavish titles upon the ministers, stirring greed in every petty man and putting us under tremendous pressure!"
"He cozies up to eunuchs, holds banquets for his amusement, colludes with outside officials, showers people with rewards, and drives a wedge between the Empress Dowager and her kin. I hardly care to speak of all that, but now he wants to provoke a dispute over Classical Studies!!"
"Does he resent our Great Wei for not having fallen yet?!"
Sima Zhao finally stopped concealing his feelings and launched into a tirade against the emperor before his two most trusted aides.
At first, when he discovered how absurdly the emperor behaved, Sima Zhao had been rather pleased, thinking his great undertaking had a chance.
But as the emperor kept stirring up trouble, Sima Zhao suddenly realized something.
Oh no, I've fucking become Zhuge Liang!
The emperor, who ought to have been restoring Great Wei to glory, kept trampling its interests, propping up the great clans, favoring petty men, and alienating the Empress Dowager, racing down the road of a benighted ruler with no intention of turning back.
Meanwhile, the two Sima brothers, who ought to have been usurping the realm and doing wicked things, were now stemming