If one wishes to gain the trust of Emperor Chongzhen, one must first board his pirate ship. However, while it is easy to board, it is difficult to jump off. Xie Sanbin was currently facing this dilemma. He did not want to propose a scheme for selling offices in the Imperial Court and become a scapegoat for Emperor Chongzhen. Yet he also knew clearly that if he did not help Emperor Chongzhen take the fall, he would be purged by him. Faced with the choice between a potential death and an immediate one, he had no choice but to choose the former. Since matters had reached this point, he only hoped that Emperor Chongzhen would not discard him once his usefulness had passed.
A few days later, at the morning audience, when Xie Sanbin publicly proposed the scheme of selling offices, the entire Imperial Court was shocked. The censors in the court were the first to launch an attack.
"Xie Sanbin! You passed the imperial examination in the fifth year of the Tianqi reign; you know full well how difficult it is to study and become an official. It would be one thing if you simply failed to devise ways to help fellow scholars find paths to success, but to come up with such a rotten idea as selling offices—your heart is truly punishable!"
Chapter 825