Chapter 48: The God-Slaughtering Project

[Liu Yizhao?]

[This familiar yet distant name echoed in your startled ears, casting you into a trance and dragging up memories of your childhood...]

[If there was not a second Liu Yizhao of any renown in this world, then this person was evidently none other than the former Grand Coordinator of Shaanxi whom you knew all too well!]

[Back in the day, he and several successive Grand Coordinators of Shaanxi suppressed your provincial examinations for a full eight consecutive sessions. Relying on selling your imperial examination scrolls as a prodigy, they reaped a total of several million taels of silver from you over the years!]

[Building upon that foundation, if you were forced to name a few unforgivable enemies, Liu Yizhao would undoubtedly rank near the top.]

[Ever since you soared to the pinnacle of power as Grand Secretary, you have never forgotten his boundless villainy. You had been plotting to flay him and stuff his skin with straw just to vent the profound hatred burning in your heart!]

[However, due to the overwhelming tide of affairs lately, you truly had no time to hunt him down for a personal vendetta, so the matter was dragged out time and time again.]

[Yet now, his name had actually appeared in a place you would never have expected...]

[For a moment, an infinite sea of questions surged into your mind: Is this person really the former Grand Coordinator of Shaanxi that you know? If so, why would he appear in Yangzhou? Why has he become the leader of the rebels? Were these private armies his doing? Who else is with him? What is his relationship with the Westerners?]

[Countless questions gradually made you realize: This rebellion might not be as simple as you imagined. At the very least, it did not erupt merely in opposition to your New Policies. If they were only opposing the New Policies, then the firearms of these Westerners and the private troops evidently trained specifically for rebellion could not be reasonably explained.]

[Westerners fearless of death, and officials orchestrating revolts... What has happened to everyone? Have they all lost their minds?! Are they truly unafraid of the wrathful Divine Emperor replaying history, crushing them one by one into mushroom clouds and sending everyone skyward one by one?!]

[You simply cannot fathom it...]

[“Screw it! Fight them first and figure it out later!”]

[Feeling utterly perplexed, you shook your head vigorously, your eyes regaining a resolute gleam: No matter what, suppress the rebellion first! Once Liu Yizhao is captured alive, all the underlying reasons will naturally come to light!]

[Brocade-Clad Guard! Mobilize!]

[……]

[In the seventy-fourth year of Chongzhen, February, Left Vice Minister of War Gao Ming led six thousand capital garrison troops to suppress the Yangzhou uprising, but to no avail. Not only did his suppression fail, but he also suffered disastrous losses, leaving a mere thousand or so men out of the six thousand troops. This heavy blow added frost to the snow for the already troop-strapped Ming imperial court...]

[At this critical juncture, you could only accept the mandate amidst defeated armies and take orders in the midst of danger. In your supreme dignity as Grand Secretary, you personally led three thousand elite Brocade-Clad Guards south to suppress the rebellion!]

[Contemporaries universally praised: Though Grand Secretary Zifang temporarily lacks the achievements of the Three Heroes of the Early Han, he already displays the traces of Zhuge Liang at the end of the Han!]

[In early March, the Grand Secretary’s grand army crossed the Yellow River and the Huai River in succession, their vanguard thrusting straight to Yangzhou on the northern bank of the Yangtze River!]

[In mid-March, the Grand Secretary’s forces swept through the rebel strongholds along the route, capturing and executing nearly one hundred thousand rebels of all sizes!]

[The rebel leaders in Yangzhou heard of this and repeatedly dispatched rebel troops to meet the enemy in battle. Yet the Grand Secretary’s army showed not the slightest fear: No matter how many paths you come from, I shall press forward along my single path!]

[The grand army fought and triumphed repeatedly, subsequently capturing and executing another one hundred thousand rebels, cutting through them like bamboo... In less than half a month, they had recovered dozens of prefectures and counties along the way!]

[In late March, the Grand Secretary led his troops directly beneath the walls of Yangzhou, filling the Yangzhou garrison with shock and terror...]

[On this day, the Grand Secretary ordered the grand army to launch an assault on the city!]

[Seeing the Grand Secretary’s forces at the city gates, the ramparts hurriedly unleashed a salvo of heavy cannons. The thunderous roar of Western artillery shook the heavens. Even the Grand Secretary’s elite army dared not face the bombardment with mortal flesh, and thus withdrew from the Yangzhou battlefield to await further developments...]

[……]

[Damned Westerners! Has the tech tree really climbed to this level already?!]

[Having failed in your siege, you could only glare with bitter hatred from afar at the towering city of Yangzhou: This city, once razed to the flat earth by the Divine Emperor, had long been rebuilt, its walls constructed even taller and sturdier than before.]

[And what made matters even more fatal was that towering cannons from the West were arrayed one after another atop the towering walls. As long as their ammunition never ran out, your Brocade-Clad Guards simply could not break through!]

[It is not that the combat effectiveness of the Brocade-Clad Guards is lacking. In fact, these three thousand Brocade-Clad Guards absolutely possess the capability to annihilate any cold-weapon army, and could even breeze through low-powered firearms without injury. Protected by divine power, they have no fear of matchlocks whatsoever.]

[Yet not fearing matchlocks does not mean they do not fear heavy cannons, especially since the Western cannons atop the ramparts fired exploding shells. To be directly bombarded by these would result in severe disability at best, and instant death at the very worst!]

[The thing you feared most has finally happened: The Ming Empire, which is neither a high-fantasy superpower nor a technologically advanced nation, has been caught right in this awkward middle ground, squeezed into a state of agonizing torment...]

[If we speak of supernatural power, the strongest Brocade-Clad Guards in the world cannot reach a level where they can directly face the cleansing fire of Western artillery. If we speak of technology, the Ming army, which has stagnated for sixty years, has not only failed to progress but has actually regressed. They cannot even master flintlocks, let alone hope to clash with Western firearms and artillery.]

[After all, this world remains a normal historical plane; the only true transcendent has always been the Divine Emperor. Strip away the Divine Emperor, and the Ming Empire can only reveal its true form.]

[This is merely a backward feudal agricultural nation, its politics corrupt and dark, its economy dominated by smallholder farming, its military inferior to serfs, its technology stagnant for ages, and its ideology facing absolute suppression... Coupled with frequent natural disasters, prying Westerners, and...]

[Today's Ming Empire is simply a corpse propped up by sheer force of will from the Divine Emperor; in every other aspect, it is utterly worthless!]

[Thus, it desperately needs a true revolution, but reality will not afford it so much time, because...]

[“The seventeenth year of Chongzhen is the year 1644 of the Western calendar... Now it is the seventy-fourth year of Chongzhen, which means the year 1701...”]

[Converting the dates, you cannot help but wear a bitter smile: No wonder... According to the original historical timeline, the Qing dynasty's Kangxi would be kicking the bucket soon, let alone the West... If the Ming Empire were to go to war with them, saying it is Earthlings fighting the Trisolarans might be an exaggeration, but it certainly wouldn't go any better than the Qing fighting the Opium War!]

[“...Following conventional tactics, if I wish to take Yangzhou with my current strength, it is basically virtually impossible...”]

[This is not self-deprecation on your part, for the facts are indeed as such: If Yangzhou were merely filled with ordinary soldiers trained by Westerners and wielding Western firearms, then relying on your elite Brocade-Clad Guards—whose physical prowess far exceeds ordinary men tenfold—even if you couldn't defeat them in broad daylight, seizing the city under the cover of night would not be entirely out of the question!]

[But now, the rebels within the city are most likely high-ranking Ming officials. Though they cannot defeat an organized force of Brocade-Clad Guards, with them operating the firearms and assisting in the city's defense, their combat effectiveness will skyrocket!]

[At the very least, you truly lack the capability to wrest the city of Yangzhou from their hands.]

[If that is the case, does this mean you can only drag it out? Drag it out until they exhaust their supplies and ammunition?]

[Internal struggle begins to tear at your heart, because you are currently at a critical juncture of the New Policies and reforms. You simply have no time to waste with this bunch of rebels; they can afford to stall, but you cannot...]

[“Shall I... return to the capital and ask the Divine Emperor to intervene?”]

[Having run out of options, you can only stubbornly pin your hopes on the Divine Emperor... Though your reason tells you that once the Divine Emperor takes action, it will inevitably engulf the innocent, right now you truly have no other choice...]

[However, just as you are agonizing over this, an unexpected visitor interrupts your thoughts.]

[……]

[The newcomer appears to be around seventy or eighty years old, already a tottering old man. Even so, you recognize his identity at a single glance!]

[“Liu Yizhao?!”]

[Your eyes widen, and without a second word, you order the Brocade-Clad Guards to bind him!]

[You are hardly an idiot; failing to exact vengeance upon encountering one's mortal enemy would mean something is wrong with your head! Furthermore, he is the leader of the rebels; capturing him alive offers a chance to make Yangzhou surrender voluntarily!]

[Yet Liu Yizhao offers no resistance throughout; he simply smiles and says, “That the Grand Secretary still remembers this old wretch is truly my utmost honor... But might you grant this old man a hearing?”]

[“What do you have to say? No matter what you utter, I will never spare you!”]

[You say with absolute finality, your eyes flashing with a dangerous light...]

[“Oh? What if this old wretch speaks of a plan concerning how to kill Zhu Youjian?”]

[He smiles with a mysterious air.]