Chapter Fifty: Securing Yangzhou! Raging Down the Famous City!

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[Joining them? Join my foot!]

[You rolled your eyes right then and there... They were crazy, but you weren't. Why join them? To court death?]

[You are not like them; you harbor no delusions of transcending mortality or achieving eternal life. Your greatest wish in this lifetime is to rectify the realm and bring all the evil in the world to justice!]

[As for killing the Divine Emperor... Although you certainly wished for His death in the past, your cool-headedness has always been maintained by the reality of power. You know that your own strength is insufficient to slay Him, so no matter how monstrous His crimes, you must turn your gaze away from Him; otherwise, it would be pure suicide...]

[After all, you are no longer that naive greenhorn who just arrived. Having matured, you will no longer knowingly walk into the tiger's den just because tigers live there. Rather than dying a meaningless death, it is far better to preserve your useful body for the future.]

[Furthermore, now that you have become the Grand Chancellor appointed by the Divine Emperor, you genuinely bear the heavy burden of the hundreds of millions of ordinary people across the two metropolitan areas and thirteen provinces. Even if only for the sake of the people's future, you cannot make a rash choice on a whim...]

[If you were truly to move against the Divine Emperor, there would be only two possible outcomes: either you lose, or you win!]

[If you lose, you and the Yangzhou rebels would undoubtedly be crushed to dust by the enraged Divine Emperor, and the New Deal that the common folk of the world had anticipated for so long would be cut short instantly, leaving the world to continue living under the Divine Emperor's iron fist...]

[And if you win, you could certainly kill the Divine Emperor, but what would you do after His death?]

[The current Great Ming is a tangled mess. The only reason this zombie of an empire—which should have perished long ago—can barely maintain its stable existence is entirely due to the personal efforts of the Divine Emperor alone. He truly shoulders the burden of the two metropolitan areas and thirteen provinces... Once this single pillar collapses, the accumulated ills of over three hundred years of the Great Ming will erupt all at once, blowing this thoroughly decayed corpse into ashes and dust!]

[By then, amidst the intertwining internal and external conflicts, no one can say how many people would have to die before order could be restored...]

[Therefore, in your rationality, you will never commit such a grave mistake. Let alone the fact that you cannot kill the Divine Emperor; even if you could, you must not!]

[However... your imagination still runs wild: Can the divine might of the Divine Emperor truly ever be exhausted?]

[Though you find it hard to believe, Liu Yizhao has presented too much evidence, making it genuinely difficult for you to casually refute this argument...]

[Ding! Faced with the mystery of divine might, you feel both curiosity and the anxiousness of one whose judgment is clouded by concern, as it relates directly to the Divine Emperor. Driven by these complex emotions, while you could never agree to join Liu Yizhao, you still feel it necessary to probe the true strength of the Divine Emperor... You choose: (?)]

[A: Let's give it a try! Although you do not wish to finish off the Divine Emperor at present, His crimes will inevitably be reckoned with in the future. Probing Him in advance can be considered knowing both yourself and the enemy...]

[B: Give it a try and perish! The Divine Emperor stands supreme above heaven and earth, unique in His sovereignty. Should He suspect that you are also a rebel, you will likely find yourself in a world of trouble...]

...

"Multiple-choice question?"

Looking at the options that suddenly popped up, Zhou Liang did not make a choice immediately. Instead, he fell into contemplation over another issue:

Was there any need for "Zhou Liang" to worry so much about an invasion by Westerners?

"Obviously not... In the early 18th century, Westerners simply lacked the capability to launch a trans-oceanic expedition against a massive empire!"

After all, the bystanders see clearly while the ones involved are lost in the fog. Zhou Liang, who had been observing the overall situation from a third-person perspective in the simulator, shook his head:

"The kid's judgment is clouded by his own anxiety; he's scaring himself..."

In the early 18th century, the West was still far from being the formidable imperialist power it would become by the end of the Qing dynasty. They did not even have steam engines, and their warships were not ironclads—at most, they were wooden sailing vessels equipped with cannons, possessing very weak troop transport capabilities.

On the original historical timeline, even the most powerful Dutch colonizers at the time merely took advantage of the political turmoil during the late Ming dynasty to establish a small colony on Taiwan, with a troop strength of at most ten thousand men.

With just this handful of people, even with some technological advantages, they were of little use when facing the onslaught of a Central Plains dynasty's grand army... Take, for example, Koxinga's campaign to recover Taiwan. Koxinga's army consisted of troops withdrawn from the anti-Qing battlefields, whose combat effectiveness was inferior to the peak Manchu armies that entered the Shanhai Pass; yet even so, Koxinga successfully captured Taiwan and drove out the Dutch colonizers.

Therefore, "Zhou Liang" clearly grossly overestimated these distant enemies:

They were incapable of stirring up a scramble for partition reminiscent of the late late-Qing era. Even if they emptied their treasuries, they could not dispatch tens of thousands of regular troops!

The so-called "allied aid" would at best amount to sending a few military instructors to help train the New Army, alongside selling a large quantity of firearms and artillery to Yangzhou at cheap prices.

Thus, even if the Divine Emperor were to perform so poorly that He was slaughtered by mortals, the Great Ming would merely descend into a new free-for-all battle royale, lasting until a new dynastic sovereign emerged to pacify the realm.

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Westerners? They wouldn't reap any great benefits.

And "Zhou Liang" was evidently triggered into a state of PTSD by the notion of "foreign invasion." As a governing official, he was far too sensitive at this moment, so upon hearing relevant matters, he subconsciously projected the circumstances of the late Qing dynasty onto the Great Ming...

However, one cannot be too harsh on him for this; after all, the pressure he was under right now was immense. As the heavyweight champion of the Great Ming, his sole focus was on swiftly producing results through reform and innovation. Any slight disturbance at this moment would prompt him to forecast the worst possible outcome.

"Sigh..."

Zhou Liang couldn't help but sigh for him:

"So be it... May you truly fulfill your wish this time and transform the Great Ming into a prosperous era of peace..."

Yet, on second thought, whether the Great Ming could truly become a peaceful and prosperous era depended not only on the micro-management skills of "Zhou Liang," but even more so on the Divine Emperor!

As the sole pillar holding up the sky for the Great Ming, every move made by the Divine Emperor would trigger massive chain reactions. It could be said that the safety and peril of the entire world rested upon His shoulders alone.

When He chose to let the world shout "loyalty" in unison, the hundreds of millions of ordinary people of the Great Ming could only struggle in a bottomless quagmire, making Him the source of all worldly suffering...

And when He chose to loosen the visible grip of power and allow "Zhou Liang" to forge a peaceful realm, He instead transformed into "Zhou Liang's" greatest backing and the sole savior of the hundreds of millions of common folk...

Truly a god or a demon with a single thought!

Perhaps Honor of Kings should release a Divine Emperor skin for Li Xin...

Therefore, whether the Divine Emperor—who currently chose to play the role of a good person—could endure for long had become the utmost priority!

"Will the Divine Emperor be killed? Will His divine might be exhausted?"

After a brief frown, Zhou Liang resolutely shook his head:

"Obviously not! At least not before the ninety-ninth year of Chongzhen!"

Why? Because Zhou Liang had lived here all the way until the ninety-ninth year of Chongzhen, and he still hadn't seen anything happen to the Divine Emperor!

Facts speak louder than words; those worms in Yangzhou had entirely miscalculated regarding the Divine Emperor.

"They seized upon the facts that the Divine Emperor rarely took action in person over the years and that He gradually reduced the stipends of divine might as evidence, concluding that the Divine Emperor would be consumed and weakened... But in truth, this is untrustworthy."

"Although I do not know whether the Divine Emperor's divine might would wane due to years of dispensing stipends, I do know that divine might is not a non-renewable resource; it can actually increase!"

The advantage of information is the greatest advantage of all!

While Zhou Liang might not know other things, when it came to the matter of divine might, he was clearly much better informed than those worms.

"Back when the simulated avatar was subverting the officialdom of Shaanxi, he once discovered that divine might might be generated through acts of violence, though the evidence at the time was too scarce to jump to conclusions... But regardless of whether this conjecture is correct, the natural growth of divine might is clearly an indisputable fact."

"Therefore, the reason the Divine Emperor curtailed the stipends of divine might and tried His best not to act personally is not necessarily due to a decline in divine might; there could very well be other reasons..."

"And right now, I naturally need to find a way to unravel these suspicious points, so as to gather as much critical information as possible, awaiting the day when I eventually have a falling out with the Divine Emperor..."

Having straightened out his logic, Zhou Liang looked back at the multiple-choice question on the simulator:

"One option is to take a risk and probe, the other is to play deaf and dumb... Clearly, I should choose to probe!"

Anyway, dying just meant restarting. As long as key information was gathered, it wouldn't be a loss; worst case scenario, he'd just start a new run...

Having made up his mind, Zhou Liang made his choice:

"Select A!"

[Ding! You have chosen Option A: Let's give it a try! Although you do not wish to finish off the Divine Emperor at present, His crimes will inevitably be reckoned with in the future. Probing Him in advance can be considered knowing both yourself and the enemy...]

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[...]

[After much deliberation, you decide that once matters are settled and you return to the capital, you will find a way to make indirect inquiries with the Divine Emperor, thereby preparing an informational reserve for the moment of future reckoning!]

[As for this bunch of Yangzhou rebels attempting to recruit you into their fold... you sneer coldly in your heart...]

[“Chancellor, have you made up your mind?”]

[Seeing you silent for a long time amidst your deep thought, the aged Liu Yizhao immediately perks up: There's hope!]

[Thus, he begins to recount the foundation of his own faction of his own accord, hoping to add weight to the scales and sway you toward Yangzhou...]

[“You needn't fear the Chancellor knowing, but in truth, we have already prepared a fallback option. Various foreign nations and vassal princes have all promised to find us distant lands to settle down in, and for Zhu Youjian to track us down would be practically impossible...”]

[“As long as you can spare my life and then fly far away together with us, once Zhu Youjian's divine might is exhausted, wouldn't it be a simple matter for us to return and slaughter our way back?”]

[“Furthermore, Zhu Youjian is fast approaching ninety years old this year. Whether divine might can help prolong his life is anyone's guess—what if he grows old and dies of natural causes in a few years?”]

[“Besides, given Zhu Youjian's mediocre administrative talent reminiscent of a ruler of a fallen state, if he were to lose an official like you who is both incorruptible and capable to assist in governance, his erratic, manic temperament would throw the realm into total chaos in no time... By that time, should he wish to suppress popular rebellions, he would have no choice but to take the field himself or increase the divine might stipends for his officials and soldiers, further depleting his already meager divine might...”]

[He laughs with the smug confidence of one who holds victory in his grasp: “Zhu Youjian is bound to repeat the fate of a fallen dynasty! At that time, the world will be ours!”]

[“Chancellor, as long as you utter the word, why worry about lacking wealth and glory in the future? There is no need to serve as a righteous and incorruptible running dog under Zhu Youjian...”]

[The more he speaks, the more excited he becomes, as if he has already foreseen a bright future. But right at that moment, a sharp pain suddenly strikes his neck, followed by a surreal sensation of flying into the air, and then he incredulously beholds a headless corpse spurting blood...]

[Thud!]

[With a muffled sound, the body crashes to the ground.]

[With a cold and stern expression, you sheathe the imperial sword in your hand. The majestic golden light of divine might upon the blade lingers for a long time, bearing witness to the immense force with which you struck!]

[Before the dismembered corpse of the rebel and the assembled Embroidered Uniform Guard in the tent, the reigning Grand Chancellor declares with chilling severity: “Yangzhou rebels, spreading heresy and deluding the masses!”]

[“With a clear and upright conscience, what more is there to say?”]

[“All forces hear my command—continue the siege!”]

[The entire host trembles in awe: “By the Chancellor's command!”]

[...]

[In March of the seventy-fourth year of Chongzhen, Grand Chancellor Zhou Zifang leads three thousand elite Embroidered Uniform Guard to sweep through two hundred thousand Yangzhou rebels and lays siege to the city of Yangzhou!]

[That same month, the rebel chieftain and former Shaanxi Administration Commissioner, "Liu Yizhao," is beheaded!]

[In June of the seventy-fourth year of Chongzhen, following a two-month siege compounded by multiple feigned attacks led by the Chancellor to exhaust the ammunition within the city, the garrison of Yangzhou finally exhausts its provisions and is forced to surrender...]

[That same month, the Chancellor relocates two hundred thousand innocent commoners from Yangzhou city, settling them separately across various regions of Jiangnan, distributing fields and houses, and providing oxen and seeds so that all may live in peace...]

[The following month, the Chancellor slaughters Yangzhou! Ten thousand perish, corpses pile up like mountains within the city! And the city walls are razed!]

...

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