After broadcasting the ancient times live, I handed the system over to the state.

"Having overcome numerous obstacles, you became a court official. Looking at the paltry sums the court bestowed upon you, you angrily exclaimed, 'With so little every month, whose ruler am I loyal to? Whose country do I love?'"

"Insolence!" Zhu Yuanzhang roared.

"How dare you!" Zhao Kuangyin was furious.

Li Shimin slammed his fist on the table, exclaiming, "Outrageous!"

"Nonsense!" Many emperors, civil and military officials under the sky cursed angrily.

Whether there are corrupt officials among these people is another matter entirely; after all, one must still have the right attitude.

Despite their cursing, they kept their eyes glued to the sky.

"And so you transformed into a corrupt feudalist warrior!"

"When you travel back to ancient China, bribery, selling official positions, and extortion are all the lowest and most unsophisticated methods of corruption. For someone like you who vows to become a notorious corrupt official recorded in history, elegance, safety, and rapid advancement are your true paths to power!"

[I'll definitely need to use this when I travel back in time.]

[These kinds of things are usually written in the Criminal Law.]

[Get higher and higher~]

[Four words gradually appeared behind the curtain of sky—'human blood buns'.]

The contrasting black and white colors create a somewhat somber feeling.

"The simplest solution, of course, is disaster relief!"

[Especially when you are just a minor official, if your prefecture or county is suddenly hit by torrential rain and floods, as the local official, you certainly cannot watch the people drown; you must immediately report to His Majesty the Emperor.]

For some reason, the people under the sky found the words "Great Emperor" rather jarring.

If someone were truly great, they wouldn't be deceived by such corruption.

[During disaster relief, the lack of transparency between superiors and subordinates became a way for you to make money. To prevent peasant uprisings, you learned from the methods used by Song and Ming dynasty military generals to fraudulently claim military supplies, fabricating household registrations out of thin air, some in small amounts and others in large ones.]

[Later generations satirized you, saying, "You started by acquiring wealth, but ended up with a name only in the register of ghosts."]

[Why does he look so familiar?]

[I see, the Ten-Complete Old Man, the son of Yongzheng and father of Jiaqing, right? Haha]

[You're just a minor official; after layers of exploitation from above, there's probably not much left for you. If you really don't want to incite a riot, there's basically nothing left to embezzle.]

Looking at the sky, Qianlong's face was dark. The sky was definitely not talking about his dynasty!

That's all nonsense!

Zhu Yuanzhang felt that corrupt officials were like leeks in the field, growing one crop after another, impossible to eradicate. Now they even embezzle this little bit of food money, what kind of prosperous era is this!

In the Song Dynasty, many meritorious officials wiped their sweat. The Song Dynasty was notorious for its three excesses, one of which was the excess army. It was said to be an army of hundreds of thousands, but who knew how many people were actually in it?

The fact that soldiers were paid without working and that the emperor was willing to let them die was actually something that Emperor Taizu had done by releasing them from their military power over a cup of wine... and no one else dared to say it.

You drink the blood of soldiers, but I won't. You command troops and have a reputation for benevolence and righteousness. What are you planning to do? Before long, an axe or poisoned wine will arrive. Which will you choose?

That must be because they drank the soldiers' blood!

"Of course, the imperial court will not believe your one-sided account and will definitely send someone down to verify the facts."

"Although regulations stipulate that officials must personally visit disaster areas to assess the damage and go door-to-door, you know perfectly well that these pampered, feudalistic warriors would never actually go to see for themselves."

"Most of them are low-ranking officials sent by subordinates. Of course, it's not that no official is willing to go to the countryside. They either bribe the officials or bring them on board to share the spoils. Generally speaking, at this stage, there's an 80-90% chance of success."

What should you do if you encounter Hai Rui?

[If you encounter someone so stubborn, just take them down, otherwise you're doomed. But how many Hai Ruis are there in thousands of years?]

If you don't take it, and I don't take it, how dare anyone else take it?

"Dealing with an uncooperative honest official is also easy. Either poison him, or have his subordinates take him to the most severely affected and difficult-to-access areas to delay him. Since he can't possibly travel to all the disaster-stricken areas, he'll mostly believe the data fabricated by your subordinates. That's how the imperial relief funds are disbursed."

"You replaced the government grain with coarse rice and pocketed the price difference. You still have a conscience, after all, it's still rice, right?"

[That's considered having a conscience. If it were me, I'd just put in some porridge water—no, not even porridge water, just mud and incense ash.]

[The corrupt official upstairs is of pure blood, case closed!]

[You're so greedy, haha! Isn't this just to avoid inciting a popular uprising?]

[Any investigation will uncover that this has triggered a popular uprising.]

After years of hard work and rapid advancement, once you become a mid-level official, there are countless ways to make money. You can't possibly be as greedy as a dog scavenging for a meager reward.

Elegance, safety, and continuous advancement should always be your guiding principles in officialdom!

We won't steal the emperor's money, because that would be disloyal; we won't steal the poor man's money, because that's unjust (not enough). So we'll just steal from Huang Silang, thus achieving both loyalty and righteousness.

[Downwards, you sell worthless local specialties, forcing your subordinates to voluntarily buy them at high prices; you acquire rotten ginseng and worthless jade bottles at low prices; and you tacitly allow your servants to abuse their power, extort money, and forcibly seize land from the people.]

Of course, safety is your top priority. If you are unfortunately caught, your first choice is to abscond with the money, and your second choice is to cut off your arm to save your life. You only need to say that you will take care of your wife and children, and your servants will definitely confess on behalf of the master and say, "This matter was done by the sinners themselves and has nothing to do with their master!"

Finally, maintain your complete ignorance and project an image of innocence, kindness, cuteness, and naivety.

The result was that no matter how much they investigated, they found nothing. If they couldn't find anything, then the matter didn't exist.

You have proven your ability to amass wealth and protect yourself; you will continue to rise in rank.

The higher you rise in rank, the more important your own talent becomes, but what the emperor values ​​even more is your loyalty. At this point, you need to understand what kind of loyalty the emperor requires.

If the emperor is ambitious and eager to achieve great things, then cater to his tastes; if he is pleasure-seeking, then cater to his tastes as well.

[You need to roll it up, first of all, as tribute. Tribute has always been an excellent cultural tradition worldwide. You need to offer local specialties as tribute, not only on the Empress Dowager's birthday and the Emperor's birthday, but also on various festivals. The tribute has evolved from local specialties to antiques, gold and jade, and calligraphy and paintings by famous people.]

[Under your leadership, this trend has swept through more and more officials, allowing you to line your own pockets under the guise of offering tribute.]

Among all the ministers, the emperor particularly admired you, praising you repeatedly for your 'loyalty to the country.'