Things like "The rich wine and dine while meat rots," and "Warriors half dead at the front lines," were not far from directly pointing at the emperor's nose and calling him a foolish ruler.
The one on the dragon throne expressed that his head was spinning!
Although what you say is true, you can't express it openly in public.
I'm a grand emperor, supreme among men, do I not have any dignity?
The whole world under the heavens belongs to the king, yet these scholars, relying on their bits of learning, insist on grinding the royal family's supreme face into the dirt.
Today they can compose poetry to mock and remonstrate, tomorrow they dare to gather crowds to petition. In the long run, where is the authority of the monarch?
If all the scholars under heaven were like these talented ones, wantonly mocking and recklessly discussing state affairs,
denigrating the emperor's governance strategies as worthless, treating the court's statutes as if they were nothing.
