"I would like to hear the details."
Cao Mao said earnestly, "First, about that Monarch losing his virtue. What I have heard is that it is not the Monarch who loses his virtue, but those who govern."
"Since Xia, Shang, and Zhou, it has never been the Monarch alone who governed the people. These people are called those who govern."
"When the realm falls, it is the fault of those who govern, not the fault of the Monarch alone. However benighted a Monarch may be, he cannot single-handedly seize all the people's farmland and leave them homeless. However cruel he may be, he cannot personally confiscate the people's seed grain and arbitrarily raise their taxes. However wicked he may be, he cannot single-handedly deny every humble family in the realm any chance to rise."
"Of course, the wisdom of many surpasses the wisdom of one. But these 'many' are not truly the many. Theirs is still the rule of one, still gate-and-household private interests. How can they be called the many?"
"What difference is there between them and the Monarch?"
Wang Xiang said solemnly, "A worthy man once said: ministers all emerge through tempering, possess extraordinary abilities, and are seldom incompetent. The ministers quell external enemies and deal with internal troubles. How can they not be called the many?"
"Hahaha! It is the armored guards who quell external enemies, the farmers who reclaim land and build irrigation works, and the merchants who transport supplies everywhere. If we are to speak of the wisdom of many, then armored guards, farmers, merchants, and artisans should govern the realm. That could be called the many."
"They are merely people whose hearts are smoked black by profit, whose eyes see nothing but personal gains and losses, without regard for the people of the realm.