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

Chapter 258 Yuan Jia hastily and hastily looked north!
In short, you are pessimistic about the outcome of the Northern Expedition and your own future, and reality has indeed unfolded as you wished...

In the 220th year of the Shaoxing reign, thanks to your reckless charges, the imperial court swiftly removed a group of pro-peace veterans, led by the "Four Generals of the Restoration," and slapped a long list of accusations on each of them, such as "stealing imperial wine," "embezzling 30,000 catties of coal," and "drinking white flour buns with white sugar"...

Anyone with eyes could see that these charges were nonsense, but Zhao Gou acted as if he were blind, letting Yue Han and his cronies pin the blame on him!

First, they labeled and imprisoned people. Then, using the pretext of "investigating and confiscating the belongings of four generals who were part of the anti-Song clique," they launched a massive purge of key personnel in major military towns in the northern frontier. They then replaced them with newcomers eager to make a name for themselves… After this series of maneuvers, the wave of the Northern Expedition swept across the north and south of the Yangtze River.

Everything is ready, except for the final push!

Upon seeing this, the ambitious and patriotic "Divine Zhao Gou" finally made a grand gesture: a million-strong Song army would launch a full-scale northern expedition!

[Thus, several years after Yue Fei's Northern Expedition from Xiangyang, another large-scale Northern Expedition was launched. Countless soldiers, dreaming of gaining promotions and wealth through military achievements, excitedly strode towards the vast Central Plains...]

However, reports of the defeat quickly reached Lin'an: "Report! The Northern Expeditionary Army in Xiangyang encountered resistance from the Jin army and suffered heavy casualties!"

"Report! The Northern Expeditionary Army across the Huai River has encountered resistance from Jin troops, suffering heavy casualties!"

"Report! The Northern Expeditionary Army in Hanzhong has encountered resistance from Jin troops and suffered heavy casualties!"

【“…”】

[In an instant, reports of defeats at the front lines flooded into the imperial court, interspersed with urgent petitions from various military commanders requesting a withdrawal!]

[Perhaps the various armies were still dreaming of achieving great deeds, but after truly clashing with the Jin army, the bloody battle quickly brought them back to reality: it was simply impossible to win! How could mortals possibly defeat monsters?!]

But the court didn't care about any of that. Zhao Gou, consumed by thoughts of "humiliating the Jin dynasty's female bandits," completely ignored the troops' requests to withdraw. He simply enjoyed this rare moment of pleasure while ordering you to quickly write two articles.

[An article was circulated among the people, boasting to those unaware of the battle situation on the front lines about the "victories" and "achievements" of the Northern Expedition: Our Great Song Iron Army has been winning all the time, annihilating tens of thousands of Jin soldiers; we're practically delirious with victory!]

One article was sent to the front lines, expressing the court and the emperor's condolences to the Song soldiers fighting hard, and inspiring them to fight to the death to uphold the loyalty of the Song Dynasty!

Why think so much, soldier? Just be loyal, that's all...

Holding this order to write an article, even though you were mentally prepared to die for the Song Dynasty, you still couldn't help but shudder: This is clearly a death sentence intended for me!

Don't be fooled by the fact that you're only writing two articles; in reality, both of them are classic death knells...

[Writing "victory literature" for the common people, to put it bluntly, is falsifying war reports and deceiving the people! When accountability is pursued after the Northern Expedition, you will definitely be purged and targeted because of this article!]

[And the "letter of comfort" written to the troops on the front lines was even more significant... Just look at the prompt: "Let the troops die for their country!"]

[This is clearly a losing situation where we can't win at all. Instead of retreating, you're forcing everyone to die for their cause... Isn't this just pushing them to their deaths, indulging in the Japanese "one hundred million die for the emperor" samurai spirit?]

The Song army isn't some brainwashed Japanese samurai. If you really dare to send them to their deaths to show their loyalty, they'll really dare to let you die first...

[If you dare to post this, your death is a foregone conclusion!]

So both of these articles are actually death knells for you... Besides, Zhao Gou definitely won't take the blame, so you'll inevitably be singled out as a scapegoat...

[This was clearly Zhao Gou's doing, but... you had no better choice than to obey and write the document.]

As the saying goes, "When the ruler commands the subject to die, the subject has no choice but to die!" Since you've decided to wear the villain's disguise to the very end, you certainly can't change your persona at will... Loyal traitor, that's your persona!

[Based on this character setting, even if you know that Zhao Gou intentionally wants you to take the blame, you absolutely cannot resist, because the price of resistance is being labeled "disloyal," at which point your life or death will be uncertain!]

So you sighed deeply, then respectfully obeyed the order and began earnestly writing these two articles that were destined to send you to your death...

【…】

[Soon afterward, your articles were finished, and immediately placed before "God Zhao Gou"!] [After carefully reading your two articles, His eyes flickered, as if He were pondering some important question.]

However, He ultimately said nothing, only distributing these two absolutely loyal articles to the people and the army...

And so, a storm immediately began to brew!

First, there were the common people. Upon hearing your "win, win, win," their passion and fervor only intensified! They cheered for the soldiers at the front and lauded the court's Northern Expedition strategy: "Indeed, the Emperor's kindness is inexhaustible! As long as everyone unites closely around Emperor Zhao as the core and opposes the conservative and stagnant figures like Yue Fei, then the Song Dynasty can keep winning until it is completely wiped out..."

Secondly, the soldiers at the front lines, upon seeing your insane "Bushido Gyokusai" (samurai's code of honor) statement, immediately began to curse you as a traitor!

[It's obvious the Jin army is difficult to defeat, yet you first claim they're weak, and then incite everyone to go and die pointlessly... This can't just be called a treacherous minister; this should be called a monstrous scourge that brings disaster to the country and its people!]

Driven by this outrageous sentiment, the troops at the front gritted their teeth and decided: to withdraw!

[So, following Yue Fei's forced withdrawal, the Northern Expeditionary Army once again chose to defy the imperial order and retreat... However, this time was different from the last. This time, the retreating army felt they had been deceived and, in their fury, desperately needed a scapegoat!]

And you, naturally, are the perfect target for my anger...

In the 221st year of the Shaoxing era, the heavily wounded Northern Expeditionary Army fled back to Song territory in disarray. After months of fighting, the enraged survivors turned their anger directly on you, the number one traitor!

As propaganda spread about the withdrawal of troops, ordinary people quickly learned of the disastrous defeat at the front, and were greatly shocked: Didn't the court say we were winning all along? How come the battle reports and the actual battle situation are different?

Upon closer examination, everyone suddenly realized the truth, and then their emotions flared up...

Before long, memorials from all over the country flooded the imperial court, all demanding an explanation from the court!

[And what exactly does it mean? It means punishing traitors like Zhou Hui...]

What? A decree for the emperor to issue a self-reproach edict? Or a purge of corrupt officials from the court?

"That's unlikely. After all, the Emperor is a well-known god among men. Rebelling against Him is something you can't win... Rather than pursuing an impossible dream, it's better to find a scapegoat to take the blame..."

[If you take the blame, all the problems can be solved, and everyone will get an acceptable result!]

Everyone thinks this way, including yourself. Having prepared yourself mentally for this, you can only sigh helplessly: Oh well, I guess I'll just have to take the initiative...

The following day, as the "Imperial Censor," you voluntarily submitted a memorial taking full responsibility for the failure of the Northern Expedition and requested the emperor to grant you death!

However, to your utter surprise, Zhao Gou, who should have severed ties with you, did not back down. Instead, he merely stated indifferently: "The Northern Expedition was orchestrated by me; if anyone is to blame, it's me!"

As for Censor Zhou... since it's not his primary responsibility anyway, let him stay in the imperial prison for a while!

The news shocked everyone...

[But regardless of what others thought, Emperor Zhao had already issued the "edict of self-reproach," adopting a "what's done is done" attitude: scold me if you want, I've already apologized, whether you forgive me or not is your business...]

[And right after this unsettling "edict of self-reproach" was issued, you quickly faced a "judgment of justice," being imprisoned in the imperial jail by the Zhao Emperor... However, this punishment was as good as nothing; you continued to enjoy a life of luxury in the jail, with constant feasting and drinking.]

This is less of a punishment and more of a cover-up!

Faced with such an unusual situation, you couldn't help but fall into deep thought in your luxurious cell...

What exactly is Zhao Gou trying to do?

……

(End of this chapter)