Simulates history, but Chongzhen is the Divine Emperor at the beginning

Chapter 257 A Momentary Thought

"Yuanjia hastily sealed the wolf's lair, only to win a hasty retreat northward..."

Sitting beneath the old, crooked-necked tree, the Prime Minister, looking as youthful as ever, slowly recited this ancient poem by Xin Qiji… its meaning is self-evident.

[But you didn't react to it at all, only taking out a smooth bronze mirror and quietly looking at your increasingly weathered face...]

Yes, weathered and worn.

[You are no longer young; at thirty-five, you have already passed half a lifetime for an ordinary person… In this extraordinary world where the primordial spirit is used to prolong life, there is no significant difference between the physical bodies of cultivators and mortals. Even if your primordial spirit is extraordinary, you cannot escape the cycle of birth, aging, sickness, and death of the physical body!]

Therefore, you often sigh about it...

"It seems you're not worried about the outcome of the Northern Expedition."

After reciting his poem, the Prime Minister turned to you and smiled... You slowly put down the bronze mirror and calmly said to him, "What is there to worry about? Are you worried that the Song army will win?"

Your words were utterly calm, as if you were speaking ordinary truths… Perhaps they truly were ordinary truths, because you never believed the Northern Expedition could be won.

The balance of power between the Jin and Song dynasties is obvious. Unless the Southern Song dynasty can mass-produce extraordinary individuals, or unless the mutated Jin soldiers suddenly return to normal, this northern expedition is doomed to failure...

No matter how many large armies Zhao Gou sent for the Northern Expedition, it wouldn't change this fact; in fact, it would only breed resentment from the people due to his aggressive military campaigns!

Therefore, the outcome of this Northern Expedition was predetermined from the start... Zhao Gou would not achieve victory; he would only suffer a hasty retreat northward, much like the "Yuanjia Northern Expedition."

However, this wasn't entirely a loss, because Zhao Gou's goal wasn't actually to succeed in the Northern Expedition, but rather to use the Northern Expedition against the Jin Dynasty to fulfill his audacious desire to "violate the Jin Dynasty's female bandits"...

Therefore, for Him, the success or failure of the Northern Expedition was unimportant; what mattered was that the Southern Song army actually invaded Jin territory and caused massive casualties!

[Once this goal is achieved, Zhao Gou can make a fortune from it, acquiring an extremely considerable amount of divine power from lust... By repeatedly invading the Jin state, he will eventually accumulate the massive amount of divine power he needs, and use this power to realize his dream of unifying the north and south...]

"His dream has come true, but who will fulfill the dreams of the Jin and Song people who lost their lives as a result?"

Thinking about it, you couldn't help but sigh and ask your father, "Father... do you think what I'm doing is right or wrong?"

[“Zhao Gou chose to sacrifice countless innocent people for divine power and his great cause, and I, in order to obtain the information I wanted, chose to collude with him and openly advocated for him in every way… I…”]

The Prime Minister shook his head: "This isn't your fault."

"Because whether you choose the positive or the negative path, it won't affect Zhao Gou's ability to implement his strategic plan!"

"Since Zhao Gou possesses both the power of lust and the desire to restore the Central Plains, even without you, he would have chosen to launch a northern expedition because he couldn't bear the loneliness... The four generals of the restoration would inevitably be imprisoned, and a large-scale northern expedition would inevitably occur. This has nothing to do with you."

"This is just like how Zhao Gou in history ultimately made peace with the Jin. As long as Zhao Gou's peace strategy remained unchanged, even if Yue Fei annihilated more and more Jin soldiers on the front lines, it would still be to no avail..."

[What the Prime Minister said was certainly not without reason, but even as you listened to these words of comfort, you still said bitterly, "So... am I actually still playing the role of Qin Hui?"]

"Of course not!"

The Prime Minister said earnestly, “Qin Hui is infamous for all time, not just because he curried favor with the emperor, but more so because of his constant surrenders and the murder of Yue Fei and his son… So, although your current position is somewhat similar to Qin Hui's, as long as you don't do as many bad things as he did, you'll at most be considered a sycophantic villain, not a truly heinous criminal…”

So, am I still a villain? You smile helplessly… but a moment later you realize: this false identity was created specifically for this purpose; you're simply following the plan. What's there to blame yourself for?

[Since you're already playing the protagonist in this simulation, this kind of pointless sentimentality is only harmful to you...]

So you composed yourself and changed the subject: "Prime Minister, since the Northern Expedition is a predetermined strategy that Zhao Gou will definitely execute, do you think he will ultimately succeed?"

The Prime Minister pondered for a moment, then nodded: "If there are no other variables, then based on the current information, Zhao Gou's success is inevitable!"

"The reason is simple: if He can truly obtain the divine power He desires by invading the Jin Kingdom, then with each of His northern expeditions, His divine power will naturally increase... Over time, He will eventually strengthen to the point where He can destroy the Jin Kingdom."

"It should be said that this was the direction the development should have taken: Zhao Gou would have killed all the people in the Central Plains, then relocated the population from Jiangnan to the Central Plains, until he unified the North and South and completely destroyed the Jin Dynasty."

"In this way, there will be no more Jin people who are ashamed of the Song people, no more Jin intruders who wantonly kill people in the Southern Song, and no more humiliation like the Jingkang Incident... All the abnormal phenomena caused by the celestial upheaval that are detrimental to the Song Dynasty will be completely wiped out by Zhao Gou."

【"but……"】

But what will be the price?

Silently, you completed the words your father hadn't finished saying: The price was the complete extermination of the people of the Central Plains!

[Zhao Gou's strategy cannot be said to be wrong; in fact, from the perspective of the Southern Song Dynasty, it was correct! What's wrong with the Song Dynasty recovering the Central Plains, unifying the country, and eliminating foreign invaders?]

[But from the perspective of the people of the Central Plains, this is utterly absurd: the people of the Central Plains followed the Northern Song Dynasty for nearly two hundred years, only to be led astray by these two abstract figures, Emperor Huizong and Emperor Qinzong, becoming subjects of a fallen nation, suffering endless humiliation at the hands of the Jurchens—they were incredibly unlucky!]

Finally, the Jurchens began to behave themselves, and people's lives gradually improved, although not much better than in the Northern Song Dynasty, at least they could survive.

But at this time, Zhao Gou in the south wanted to send everyone who was alive and well to their deaths, under the guise of "restoring the Central Plains"...

This isn't just bad luck, it's complete nonsense!

Therefore, as long as you still regard the people of the Central Plains as human beings, Zhao Gou's strategy will definitely make you feel extremely uncomfortable...

But you are powerless to offer Zhao Gou a better solution, nor do you have the strength to stop him from implementing his established strategy... You have always been just a nobody, only able to drift with the tide, using the trends set up by these big shots to seek the unknown information you crave.

[Initially you relied on Liu Dutou's influence, then you piggybacked on Yue Fei's popularity, and now you're riding on Zhao Gou's coattails... Faced with this vast and unknown world, you feel utterly powerless.]

The only solution to this matter is for you to gather as much information as possible about it, and then in your next life, avoid all misfortune and live a fulfilling life...

"The next life, the next life..."

You muttered to yourself.

[For you, the next life is not far away, because if things continue this way, your current life may end very soon...]

After all, emperors always have to cut ties with treacherous officials, and your role in this game will eventually come to an end.

……

(End of this chapter)