Chapter 46 Doubt, Understanding

Page (1/3)
[Defeated?]
[Defeated?!!!]
[Clutching the frontline battle report, your eyes bulged wide, and your overwhelming shock and boiling rage almost made you crush the paper into dust right then and there!]
[This battle report could no longer be looked at; one more glance and you would simply explode...]
[“How the hell did they manage to lose this?!!”]
[Six thousand! Six thousand! A full six thousand men! And these were elites meticulously selected from the Imperial Garrison! The only reason you made such a grand display of force was to settle the fate of the realm in a single battle, using a clean and decisive victory to herald the launch of the New Policies and establish unbreakable prestige for the reforms to follow.]
[In your mind, although the Imperial Garrison elites were inferior to the Brocade Guards, they were still undoubtedly second to none across the entire Great Ming. Deploying six thousand Imperial Garrison elites to suppress a mob of newly incited rabble in Yangzhou—wasn't this... supposed to be as easy as taking candy from a baby?]
[Yet these six thousand men somehow managed to drop a massive turd right in your hands...]
[I finally trusted you guys for once, and you let me lose this thoroughly... What a bunch of incompetents!]
[At this very moment, your raging self only wanted to slap some sense into the commander, Gao Yiming: Are you even human? You could lose even with a dragon riding right into your face! Did the matchmakers of Honor of Kings assign you a quest to drag down my win rate as a veteran player, is that it?!]
[But soon, a second battle report was delivered... From the phrasing, you could tell how terrified Gao Yiming was. He dared not shirk responsibility and even actively took the entire blame for the defeat upon himself, begging the Prime Minister to appease his wrath first...]
[And only after shouldering all the blame did he cautiously begin to report the true cause of the failure.]
[“...Our army was outmatched by the rebels. While this was partly due to our troops being long unaccustomed to battle and our armor being outdated, the primary reason lay with the rebels themselves!”]
[“Although most of these rebels are merely incited rioters, there are unexpectedly quite a few elite fighters among them! This subordinate witnessed with my own eyes that quite a few among the rebel forces possessed the ability to attack and defend with divine golden light... This subordinate dares to boldly speculate that there must be a large number of local officials mixed in among the Yangzhou rebels! Judging by the scale of their divine light coverage, it is at least the handiwork of a Prefect-level figure!”]
[“Although no supreme powerhouses were seen taking the field in person, there must be more than one Prefect involved!”]
[“Furthermore, this subordinate also spotted Western matchlocks and Western cannons among the rebel forces, which are far superior to our lightly equipped and rapidly marching army! This subordinate also dares to boldly speculate that Westerners are likely involved in this...”]
[The reasons for failure were as stated above. At the end of the report, Gao Yiming also cautiously asked for instructions, inquiring whether he should continue to reorganize his troops and launch a punitive expedition, or first return to the capital to face punishment?]
[This posture could be described as humble to the extreme, perfectly fitting the persona of a minor character who had just poked a gigantic hole in the heavens upon first joining the faction...]
[Yet after reading it, you did not reply immediately. Instead, you fell into a deep, doubtful, and uneasy contemplation: “Prefects or even higher-ranking officials are involved?! And there are Westerners mixed in?”]
[Misfortunes never come singly; whatever you dread the most is precisely what happens!]
[Before dispatching troops this time, you had already considered the possibility that high-ranking local officials might secretly participate in the rebellion. To ensure foolproof success, you had purposely sent out the elite Imperial Garrison, and sent a full six thousand of them at that!]
[As for why you didn't use the Brocade Guards? That was because the Brocade Guards were the Emperor's personal troops; how could one constantly use the Emperor's personal troops like a fire brigade? Besides, you also wanted to take the opportunity to train troops and cultivate a reliable elite force of your own!]
[After all sorts of considerations, you decided to use the men from the Imperial Garrison, and yet...]

Page (2/3)
[“Prefects... Exactly which prefects are these? To lock horns with me like this, do they truly not fear death?!”]
[You couldn't help gritting your teeth: It seems the resistance to the New Policies and reforms is far greater than you had imagined...]
[“And Western guns and cannons... Why are the Westerners sticking their noses into this as well!”]
[This news made you even more furious: Weren't they saying earlier that all the Western nations were practically falling over themselves to kowtow to the Divine Emperor? How is it that the moment the words left your mouth, they are already here?!]
[Damn it! They are all unruly mobs! They are all rebellious traitors!]
[For a moment, beside yourself with rage, you only wanted to immediately dispatch the Brocade Guards, rush to Yangzhou, and chop off the heads of these vermin to use as footballs to kick around!]
[Because after this defeat, the momentum of your New Policies instantly deflated: the elite Imperial Garrison being crushed by local miscellaneous militias had straight-up become a joke...]
[You knew you had to ruthlessly execute a wave of heads immediately to deter those within and without, and regain face for the New Policies!]
[However, before that, you still needed to enter the palace first...]
[......]
[Within the imperial palace, the Divine Emperor sat loftily upon the dragon throne, quietly listening to the frustrated Prime Minister report the details of this defeat...]
[“Zifang means to say that Prefects or even Provincial Administration Commissioners are involved, along with Westerners?”]
[You gritted your teeth and nodded: “Your Majesty, this defeat is entirely this minister's fault. This minister is willing to accept punishment...”]
[The Divine Emperor, however, merely smiled and shook his head.]
[“Zifang need not worry. Since We have granted you thirty years to govern the realm and bring about peace, We naturally will not punish you over such negligible and trifling matters.”]
[“During these thirty years, supreme authority over the realm rests entirely in your hands... We mean what We say.”]
[“Moreover, regarding this military defeat, what fault does Zifang have? It is merely the unruly rabble of Yangzhou...”]
[Saying this, the Divine Emperor's expression turned cold: “It seems We have not taken action for many years, causing the unruly mob of Yangzhou to forget the events of years past... Since that is the case, We shall grant their wish, just as in the old story...”]
[Ah?!]
[Hearing that the Divine Emperor intended to take action, you were instantly alarmed, and the terrifying memories of the illusion from back then flooded your mind once more...]
[No! Absolutely not!]
[You hurriedly kowtowed, expressing that Yangzhou was not entirely composed of rebellious rabble, that the rebel bandits were merely a small fraction, and that the majority of the people were innocent—truly not worth His Majesty personally descending with divine might...]
[Saying this, you gritted your teeth: Since this military defeat was this minister's disgrace, then this minister shall wash it away in person!]

Page (3/3)
[Hearing this, the Divine Emperor could not help gazing at you for a long time...]
[In truth, after placing as a metropolitan graduate, you should have been bestowed with a vast amount of divine might. However, because tyrannical divine might inherently carried a probability of plunging the recipient into a state of permanent mental collapse, the Divine Emperor had never proactively sought to grant you divine might.]
[Coupled with the fact that you were now the Prime Minister managing the affairs of the Great Ming, if any accident were to befall you, what would happen to the New Policies? Where would He ever find another upright reformer with both the courage and ability like you?]
[Therefore, the day you were to receive the divine might was postponed again and again. Besides, as the Prime Minister who managed affairs daily in the capital, you had nowhere to use divine might anyway.]
[But now, you had proactively brought up this matter...]
[Under such circumstances, although the Divine Emperor racked His brains and still didn't want to let you take risks, that aura of grievance on you—as if you wanted to tear every enemy to pieces—mysteriously touched His long-sealed memories... Thinking back to those years, He who had just struggled free from the hanging rope had also been filled with such boundless fury!]
[Back then, He used divine might to exact a great revenge, and now, you also wished to use divine might to wash away your past shame. This made Him empathize, stirring a momentary sorrow...]
[“Very well!”]
[The Divine Emperor sighed deeply, reached out to press upon the crown of your head, and a vast, surging torrent of golden divine might continuously poured into your body!]
[And you, brimming with a baleful aura, slowly closed your eyes to welcome the massacre illusion that once again surged into your mind. Only this time, for some reason, you no longer chose to be hostile to the Divine Emperor in the sky; instead, you crazily joined Him, fiercely and heavily striking out against the unruly rabble of the realm!]
[Tyrannical divine might is born of tyranny, and naturally breeds tyranny in return...]
[From questioning the Divine Emperor, to understanding the Divine Emperor.]
[You are transforming toward an extreme, at a speed you yourself have not even noticed...]
[......]
[In February of the seventy-fourth year of Chongzhen, Zhou Liang, the Prime Minister of Great Ming, carrying an undisguised, towering golden light, led a force of three thousand elite Brocade Guards on a "personal imperial expedition" to suppress the Yangzhou rebels in person!]
[You, the Prime Minister of Great Ming who had previously suffered a resounding slap to the face, decided to wash away the disgrace of your defeat with the blood of all the rebels!]
[“The Imperial Garrison are already the elites of Great Ming, yet the people of Yangzhou do not even fear the Imperial Garrison... These are no longer ordinary rebels; hesitation is no longer an option. We must strike with heavy blows!”]
[Brocade Guards, move out!]