Hyperdimensional Player

Chapter 372 Great Unification, the Tyrant Takes Over [The End]

The thirty-sixth day of shattering the heavens.

The Battle of Jingzhou ended in a disastrous defeat for the Northern Song Dynasty. Zhao Kuangyin was captured and Zhao Guangyi was killed. The Song Dynasty, which had been established just last year through the Chenqiao Mutiny and the donning of the yellow robe, suddenly became shaky. Originally, Zhao Kuangyin had quelled the rebellions of Li Jun, the military governor of Zhaoyi, and Li Chongjin, the military governor of Huainan, this year, and seemed to have secured his position on the throne.

Unexpectedly, a major battle in Jingnan resulted in a complete defeat, almost wiping out most of the elite troops of the Northern Song Dynasty.

In September of the same year, Duncan promulgated a law in response to the "Huichang Persecution of Buddhism" by Emperor Wuzong of Tang and the "Xiande Persecution of Buddhism" by Emperor Shizong of Later Zhou. He issued an edict to all circuits, prefectures, and counties, stating that temples that had been destroyed could not be rebuilt, while those that had not been destroyed could be preserved.

The entire Buddhist community in the Southern Tang Dynasty suffered a severe blow, but the purge only lasted for one or two months. After the purge, the Buddhist community began to be subject to unified religious management.

In October of the same year, Duncan conferred titles upon the three schools of talismans, unifying the three major talisman systems of Zhengyi, Shangqing, and Lingbao. The Taoist sect thus completed its religious reform, 'unifying the three schools,' and ordered the demolition of all temples and shrines related to the Jade Emperor, the Supreme Jade Emperor, and the Great Jade Emperor within the Central Plains.

It is also the day of the Lower Yuan Festival.

The imperial court officially bestowed upon Ksitigarbha the title of "Namo Great Vow Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva," making him one of the four great Bodhisattvas in Buddhism, and designated Jiuhua Mountain as a sacred site.

February 962 AD.

Qian Chu of Wuyue surrendered his territory, and the Qingyuan Army submitted to the Ming Dynasty.

In June of the same year, Chancellor Zhao Pu surrendered along with Zhao Kuangyin's second son, Zhao Dezhao. From the Chenqiao Mutiny to its formal demise, the Northern Song Dynasty existed in this world for only a little over a year.

In less than three years, Duncan conquered five kingdoms, including the Southern Han, Later Shu, Southern Tang, Wuyue, and Northern Song, pacified Jiaozhi, and subdued local separatist forces such as the Wuping Army, Qingyuan Army, and Nanping Army, thus almost completing the unification war launched by the Northern Song Dynasty in its early period of more than twenty years.

At this time, the unification of southern China was basically completed. After absorbing the national strength of the Northern Song, Southern Tang, and Wuyue, Duncan decisively launched an attack on the Northern Han in August and recovered Yanyun and other places.

Two months later, Jinyang fell, and the Northern Han dynasty was destroyed.

In the same year, Duncan led 3,000 cavalry to a great victory over the Liao reinforcements at Daizhou, north of Taiyuan, killing more than ten Liao generals and defeating 60,000 enemy troops, shocking the world. This was the first time in the history of the Central Plains that someone had defeated tens of thousands of nomadic cavalry with a smaller force on the main battlefield.

At this time, the emperor of the Liao Dynasty was Emperor Muzong Yelü Jing. He disliked women and had no children. He often drank heavily, only sleeping at dawn and waking up at noon. As a result, he neglected state affairs for a long time and was known by the people as the "Sleeping King".

Since his ascension to the throne, the Liao Kingdom has been unstable, disaffected, and ministers have frequently rebelled or fled south to the Central Plains.

In June of 952, Xiao Meigu attempted to rebel against Liao and flee south to the Later Zhou, but his plot was exposed and he was killed.

In July of the same year, Yelü Louguo, Linya Yelü Dilie, and others were arrested and executed for plotting a rebellion.

In October 953, Yelü Wan, son of Yelü Honggu (Yelü Lihu), and others plotted a rebellion, but were arrested after the plot was discovered.

In July of 960, Yelü Shouyuan, the Minister of State Affairs, and Chu Abu, the Grand Protector, plotted a rebellion, but the plot failed and they were executed.

In October of the same year, Yelü Xiyin, the son of Yelü Honggu, plotted a rebellion, but the plot failed and he was arrested. Because his confession implicated Yelü Honggu, Yelü Honggu was imprisoned and died.

During this period, the entire Liao Dynasty was plagued by constant rebellions.

Anyone who has played even a little strategy game knows that a newly established nomadic state, constantly plagued by rebellions, could be easily destroyed with the slightest opportunity. However, the Central Plains seemed to have lost its destiny. Chai Rong of the Later Zhou Dynasty had a chance to reclaim the Yan and Yun regions, but he suddenly died of illness on his way to the Northern Expedition.

Although the Northern Song Dynasty was capable of fighting, Zhao Kuangyin was short-sighted and lacked the decisiveness of Chai Rong. The Northern Song's national policy was to tackle the easy problems first, which gave the Liao Dynasty time to develop and allowed it to survive its most turbulent period.

This reveals a person's overall perspective.

The territories of the Later Zhou and Northern Song dynasties almost overlapped. Chai Rong focused on the Northern Expeditions, but eventually died of illness on the way. The Northern Song, on the other hand, fought small-scale battles. By the time they had finally accumulated strength, the Liao dynasty had gradually become powerful. Then Zhao Guangyi launched the Northern Expeditions, and the Battle of Gaoliang River resulted in the loss of hundreds of thousands of elite troops from the Central Plains, directly cutting off the possibility of a unified Central Plains.

Duncan's games are basically a draw whenever he's in action.

In May 962 AD, the western army led by Li Fengji destroyed Dingnan, and Lu Shanjun captured Xiazhou and recovered several prefectures including Xia, Sui, and Yin.

In July of the same year.

Master Bujie returned from the Western Regions, bringing with him a secret letter from the Guiyi Army.

The Tang Dynasty has been gone for so long.

Surprisingly, there is still an armed force in Dunhuang and other places. The current military governor of the Guiyi Army is Cao Yangong. After Master Bujie went on a killing spree in Tibet and other places, he was pursued by the masters of the Vajra Sect. He then fled to Gaochang Uyghur and other places. When he passed through Shazhou in Guazhou, he was rescued by Cao Yangong's subordinates.

Upon unexpectedly learning that Master Bujie had a connection with Duncan, Cao Yangong immediately prepared to lead the Guiyi Army to surrender to the Central Plains. Without the support of the Central Plains dynasty, life for these Han people in the Western Regions became increasingly difficult.

In August 962 AD, Duncan launched the Northern Expedition with the full strength of the nation.

In the same year, rebellions broke out among various Mongolian tribes, and many tribes on the grasslands launched uprisings in the name of the Eternal Heaven. The Liao Dynasty was preoccupied with internal strife and had no time to deal with its own problems. Yelü Jing led tens of thousands of troops to personally lead the expedition, but was personally beheaded by Duncan on the outskirts of Yanjing. Subsequently, the Red Army took advantage of the victory and pursued the enemy directly to Liaodong. The vanguard cavalry fought all the way to the foot of Changbai Mountain.

In October 962 AD, Duncan led 10 cavalrymen to a great victory over the remnants of the Liao Dynasty on the Mongolian steppe. In the same year, he conquered various Mongolian tribes and was hailed by the steppe tribes as the "Son of the Eternal Heaven".

In February 963 AD, Pan Mei, a general who had surrendered to the Northern Song Dynasty, pacified the Dangxiang.

A month later.

The Guiyi Army raised 8,000 troops and attacked the Ganzhou Uyghurs together with Pan Mei. By the time Duncan returned after destroying the Liao Dynasty, Pan Mei and his generals had already reached Yizhou, which is the place that is now known as Hami. At this time, they marched westward along Lop Nur and came to a place with a name that everyone knows: 'Kucha'.

In June 963 AD, the Liao Dynasty fell, Dali became a vassal state, and various Tibetan tribes sent envoys to pay tribute.

At this time, the Central Plains had basically completed its unification.

The only thing limiting Duncan's ability to perform was the terrain surrounding the Central Plains. He wanted to conquer the Angkor Dynasty, which is now Vietnam, from Jiaozhi in the south. However, because the distance was too far, he would need to use sea transport to complete the logistical support.

In 964 AD, the year of Jiazi, the world was blessed with great fortune.

Duncan led several thousand elite cavalry on a long-distance raid to pursue the remnants of the Western Liao. In the same year, he conquered the remaining Mongol tribes, sealed off the Wolf-Dwelling Mountain, and watered his horses at Lake Baikal.

It wasn't that he didn't want to fight any further, but rather that the Far East was truly a barren land in this era, and there was absolutely no value in conquering it. His great expedition was essentially forcibly halted due to geographical factors.

Above the dimension.

Duncan's consciousness had returned to his body, and in front of him was the projection page of the fifth human host. With a slight thought from him, it immediately split into three, revealing three completely different places.

The first projected page is the real world, Yanjing, which is the capital city in later generations. Duncan's human form is preparing to establish the capital in Yanjing. Since the country has been named the Great Ming, the emperor must also inherit the responsibility of guarding the country's gate. Managing Liaodong is a major direction for the future.

The second projection page is the Heavenly Court, which can only be considered a blessed land. After all, it is a plane of origin evolution, and its mythological attributes are not strong. Everything comes from nothing, and the influence of mythology on the real world is limited.

The third projection page is the underworld. From the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period to the present, countless people in the Central Plains have died or been injured. There are too many wronged souls and evil spirits. Hell is almost overflowing and they all need to be cleared out. In addition, the Central Plains has been at war for years, and it is necessary to perform rituals to release the souls of the dead in order to stabilize the Yin and Yang worlds.

"Destruction is always easier than construction."

Duncan rubbed his forehead, first opening the third projection page, and then issuing an order to the primordial spirit that had differentiated from the human body inside—"Sign the Five Ghost Emperors and suppress the Six Paths of Reincarnation."

For Duncan to fight was as easy as eating and drinking; he fought all the way to the shores of Lake Baikal without taking a break.

But if Duncan were to govern and handle political affairs, sorry, he'd like to go back to Mrs. Blossom for a while longer.

Whether in the East or the West, Duncan disliked governing the country.

So there were no surprises.

A foolish ruler abdicates, a wise ruler ascends.

Duncan directly entrusted his human form to the dimensional space, and not only his human form, but also his two primordial spirit avatars in Heaven and the Underworld.

He owed the Heavenly Dao a huge amount of high-interest loans, so naturally he had to rely on a trusteeship to repay them. How could he possibly work hard himself to pay off the debt?

Don't even think about it.

With that kind of free time, he might as well open a new account and go out and have some fun. Wouldn't it be better to have a harem of beautiful women lying around all the time?
—"Establish the Heavenly Court's orthodoxy and perfect the mythological system."

Duncan lay lazily on the soft sofa. With a thought, a glass of fine wine appeared out of thin air before him. He was quite skilled in creation techniques at the dimensional level, but apart from his own body, the dimensional space could not accommodate any other life.

At the dimensional level.

In an instant, the sofa where Duncan was lying transformed into a magnificent hot spring pool. Then, with a thought, the world outside changed as well. The original luxurious mansion became like a resplendent Roman palace, and amidst the rising mist, fine wines and delicacies floated to his face along with the gushing hot spring.

He swiped his hand, and a series of projected pages appeared before his eyes. After a moment of contemplation, Duncan entered the command on one of the pages: "Issue the deities of the Thunder Department, and allow virtuous people in the mortal realm to attain the position of the Thunder God."

After a moment's thought, he continued issuing instructions: 'Monitor the changes in spiritual energy tides. If the mythology revives, immediately activate the Heavenly Dao monitoring system.'

The entire Heavenly Court was practically devoid of deities; the divine positions were all empty. — "The Heavenly Court Pantheon (Powerful Divine Power)!"

—"God King: Heavenly Emperor - Shao Hao (Human Appearance)".

—“Main Gods: Thunder Department, Fighting Department, Fire Department, Plague Department, Wealth Department, etc.”

—“Deities: Underworld officials, City God, Earth God, etc.”

There are many gods in the East. Even if Duncan simplified it slightly, many gods are actually just otherworldly attendants. There are very few true gods who are formed from incense and faith in the entire Heavenly Court system. Most of them are reserve gods.

"We need to complete the main god first, but since the spiritual energy tide hasn't erupted yet, we probably don't need so many gods to manage things," Duncan pondered to himself, resting his chin on his hand.

The only element that the Heavenly Court's Doubu (Battle Department) needs to be directly supplemented is the large-scale invasion of the real world by extraterrestrial demons.

The prerequisite for the Heavenly Court's Thunder Department to immediately fill the vacancies is that a large-scale surge of spiritual energy in the mortal realm will cause all sorts of demons and monsters to appear, requiring the Thunder God to strike some of them dead.

As for the Fire Department, Finance Department, Plague Department, etc., it doesn't matter if they are left a little empty for now.

"Anyway, the laws of Heaven will operate on their own."

After dealing with the two primordial spirit incarnations, Duncan turned his attention to Yanjing.

In fact.

His recapture of Yanyun and even the pacification of Liaodong were easier than he had imagined. Especially after defeating the Liao emperor Yelü Jing, almost all the Han people in the north rose up in rebellion. Apart from fighting a few tough battles against the Liao elite, Duncan's victory was basically no different from a swift sweep.

The reason is also very simple.

The Han people in the north today still remember the glory of the Han and Tang dynasties. When Duncan had the ambition and strength to unify the world and restore the territory of China, the Han people in the north immediately rose up in response.

This is the power of the human heart.

The psychological changes among the Han people in the north occurred in several periods. The first period was during the establishment of the Liao Dynasty. When Chai Rong of the Later Zhou Dynasty launched his northern expedition, the Han people in the north responded enthusiastically, remembering the traditions of the Han and Tang dynasties. The second period was during the Northern Expedition of the Song Dynasty. Although twenty years had passed and a generation had changed, many Han people in the north still responded to Zhao Guangyi, until the Northern Song army suffered a major defeat at the Gaoliang River, with hundreds of thousands of deaths and injuries.

The third period was a hundred or two hundred years later. If it weren't for Zhu Yuanzhang's conquest of the land, the Han people in the north would have lived for more than ten generations and would have forgotten everything from the past.

Duncan's timing in reclaiming the North was perfect.

The Han people in the north still remember the Tang Dynasty. In their eyes, the Ming Dynasty established by Duncan is the legitimate continuation of the Han and Tang dynasties, because only those who can fight are legitimate.

At this time, Duncan's human form had fought for several years and had almost restored the territory of the unified Central Plains dynasty.

—"annexed Yunnan and carried out land reforms on the various barbarian tribes."

—"To manage the Western Regions and to control the Tibetans."

Duncan has already fought almost all the battles he can. After destroying the Gaochang Uyghurs, it's not impossible for him to fight westward, but he simply can't digest the territories he conquers. Instead, it would drag down the finances of the entire Central Plains.

Anyone who has played the Europa Universalis series knows that conquering remote and inaccessible lands is pointless if it doesn't provide economic value; it can even cripple your economy and bankrupt you.

The best approach is to simultaneously manage immigration and expand territory, transforming it into a core region (a claim made since ancient times). Only then can there be fiscal revenue, allowing for steady and solid progress.

"I keep my word."

"Include the 'Potala Palace Debate' in the resolution on religious reform."

After finalizing the major policies for the next few years, Duncan then turned to the national page to handle some minor matters, such as national decisions on 'establishing an imperial examination system,' 'the secret police system,' and 'improving the cabinet system.'

Duncan was already very familiar with these national decisions; once he clicked "confirm," the human host would automatically complete the process, even selecting suitable personnel.

However, Western management systems differ from those in the East, and many countries have different policy decisions.

Even their political systems are different.

The political system of the Second Roman Empire that Duncan established in the West was an 'empire', while the Ming Dynasty he established in this world had a political system of 'Celestial Empire'. On the political system page, you can also specify the future direction, such as constitutional monarchy, aristocratic republic, mental empire, revolutionary empire, revolutionary republic, and so on.

—"Promote Neo-Confucianism." (National Resolution)

—"Suppress Neo-Confucianism." (National Resolution)

—"Yangming's Philosophy of Mind." (Unfulfilled)
These are all fairly standard national resolutions.

Basically, the country page is similar to what Duncan saw before, except that some parts of the Eastern plane are different, and some evolutions are unique to the Eastern world.

—"Divine Martial Great Ming (Not Achieved): Prerequisites include: activating a high-martial civilization, exploring other planes, completing a great expedition, establishing a cross-plane Ming colony, and establishing a complete martial arts cultivation system, etc."

—"Immortal Dynasty (Not Achieved): Prerequisites: Activate the cultivation civilization, achieve spiritual energy revival, explore other planes, establish the cultivation system of immortals and gods, suppress the destiny of the Nine Provinces with the authority of the Heavenly Emperor, control at least 3 minor worlds, and have cross-plane immortal colonies, etc."

—"Spiritual energy tide (not achieved): Prerequisites: plane upgrade, energy tide surge, restart the mythological era."

hiss.

As expected, after completing the game, the country that became the first human host followed the same path, ultimately determining the future direction of civilization.

Duncan rested his chin on his hand and pondered to himself, "How many years would it take to achieve that?"

"Is it possible?"

"Am I destined to be an emperor for hundreds of years in this human form?"

"wrong."

"If a celestial dynasty were to truly be established, then it would be quite normal for the emperor to live for one or two thousand years, wouldn't it?"

But what if the emperor really lived for one or two thousand years?

What about the entire mortal realm?
How many people would seek immortality and the path to eternal life?
It can be said that the emperor who lived for a thousand years was the guiding light of the entire cultivation civilization, and because of his existence, countless people longed for the path of immortality through cultivation.

"If he is both the Heavenly Emperor and the Emperor of the Mortal Realm, then wouldn't that mean severing the connection between Heaven and Earth?"

Duncan was lost in thought and decided to stop thinking about it.

"Someone is coming."

"Prepare the carriage and return to the palace."

Duncan merely gave a subtle change in his gaze, and Lu Qiongxian immediately understood. She arranged for someone to summon Lady Huarui, Zhou Ehuang, and the other ladies. Her Majesty must be overworked with state affairs and needs to rest properly. She had recently secretly sent people to select beauties to enter the palace, and after some time of training, it would be a good opportunity for Her Majesty to have a taste.

No wonder emperors throughout history have favored treacherous officials. Duncan originally planned to return his consciousness to another dimension, but suddenly changed his mind. It wouldn't hurt to go back a little later.

Anyway, he has already arranged all his human incarnations, so going back is just a matter of entrusting them to someone else.

Before discovering new dimensions, Duncan was merely macroscopically controlling the direction of various human beings within a dimension.

Duncan now has quite a few human forms.

Some of the human hosts who have been successfully nurtured are now in a state of seclusion, basically no longer paying attention to worldly affairs, just like background figures in mythology, only activating when Duncan needs them.

The founding of the Ming Dynasty, the thirty-sixth day.

Nothing much to do today, so I'll visit the harem.

The imperial examinations were held on the third day.

Nothing much to do today, so I'll visit the harem.

The cabinet reshuffle, day five.

Nothing much to do today, so I'll visit the harem.

………………

(End of this chapter)