I bet all the smart people were like "dude, do NOT ride that horse!", demonstrating how intelligence can impede the progress of the human race, if what we need to progress is something really stupid.

We just have to come up with one really big lie, to get everyone to love the truth...

Don't worry, later Emperors ended up embracing Confuscian thought, which surely made them all super virtuous and never use brutality and fear to enforce their rule...surely...

It is actually funny sometimes how much property relations determine people's ideas. Like billionaires can read all the philosophy they want, they will always find a way to side with the police, for "reasons". Or how landlords will always manage to convince themselves that it is actually bad for society in general if rent goes down. Humans are amazing animals.