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

Chapter 3 Me and My Animal Friends
"Has it been that long?"

Looking at the self in the simulation who was astonished by his first understanding of the Ming Dynasty, Zhou Liang sighed and couldn't help but recall the past:

Thinking back, I was indeed just like this simulated character, shocked by the collapse of the late Ming Dynasty history.

The starting point of the historical collapse was the autumn of the seventeenth year of Chongzhen's reign...

The original history should be that Li Zicheng, the King of Rebellion, captured Shuntian Prefecture, the capital of the Ming Dynasty, in this year, forcing Emperor Chongzhen and the eunuch Wang Chengen to hang themselves on the old crooked tree on Coal Hill. The Ming Dynasty, which had lasted for 276 years, was declared extinct.

Later, Li Zicheng sent troops to Shanhaiguan to attack Wu Sangui, the Ming Dynasty's Shanhaiguan defender. As a result, Wu Sangui was forced into a corner and shaved his head overnight and surrendered to the Qing Dynasty outside the pass, which attracted the rescue of Dorgon's army and formed the "Ming-Qing Allied Forces"!
The peasant army, whose goal is to fight against oppression, is about to start a war with the coalition forces of the two feudal dynasties of Ming and Qing!
As a result, Li Zicheng was caught off guard and was quickly defeated by the Ming and Qing coalition forces in the "Battle of One Stone". He had no choice but to rush back to Shuntian Prefecture and eagerly indulge in the emperor's addiction:

He founded the "Dashun" dynasty, named the reign "Yongchang", and officially proclaimed himself emperor!

Then came a swift defeat. The Qing army outside the Great Wall took advantage of the situation and marched southward, driving out the newly proclaimed Emperor Yongchang and forcing the Qing Emperor Shunzhi to proclaim himself emperor again in Shuntian Prefecture. From then on, the Qing Dynasty began its war of national unification...

Those who are familiar with the history of the Ming-Qing transition should have known this by heart long ago, but the problem is that in this world line, Emperor Chongzhen did not hang on the old crooked tree and become a sunny doll as in the original history, but was resurrected not long after being hanged, and became a god!
No one knows how it happened, but Chongzhen truly did resurrect and become a god. And after becoming a god, he deliberately struck a blow, shattering the original history into pieces. From then on, history shifted like lightning, holding onto the broken bones and weeping as it walked, embarking on another, unimagined path...

The resurrected Chongzhen's temperament changed drastically. Originally, he was just a novice emperor without any imperial skills, and he might even be considered a good person. But after becoming a god, he suddenly became very Khorne!
Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong, the two leaders of the peasant uprising who had an irreconcilable feud with him, were the first to be attacked. He quickly crushed them, but not satisfied with his hatred, he also killed all the enemies he regarded as "traitors":

For example, the people of Shuntian Prefecture who welcomed the King of Rebellion, the people of Luoyang who participated in the cooking and killing of the King of Fu, the people of Yangzhou who violently resisted taxes, and the people of Zhongdu Fengyang who failed to resist the bandits and caused the tomb of his Zhu family ancestors to be dug up...

For example, the people in Shaanxi, Li Zicheng's hometown, and the people in Shu ruled by Zhang Xianzhong.

For example, Hong Chengchou, Zu Dashou, and all the officials in the court.

What? You mean bring it clear?

Uh, the entire Liaodong region has been plowed by the Divine Emperor. There are basically no living people left there...

He doesn't care what reasons the other party has, or what kind of people they are. Anyone who doesn't do what he wants will be crushed to pieces!
The bad guys died, the good guys died, and before the God Emperor, all beings were equal.

But the most fatal thing is not these massacres, because in history, the Qing Dynasty also carried out massacres when it entered the pass, and the massacres did not affect the arrival of the prosperous era. As long as the subsequent rulers were capable of governing the country, they would create a prosperous era that was no less than that of Kangxi and Qianlong.

The truly fatal thing was that Chongzhen's political ability hadn't grown along with his personal strength. He was still as weak as before. Not to mention comparing himself to the pockmarked grandfather and grandson, who were both highly ranked in history, he didn't even reach the passing line for the profession of emperor...

As a result, countless villains and flatterers took advantage of the situation and successfully occupied high positions in the court by talking about "loyalty" and "gratitude". They had almost no ability to govern the country, but were excellent at making money and gaining power, causing chaos in the world.

And capable people who truly wanted to do something for the Ming Dynasty were often demoted and exiled by the suspicious Divine Emperor because they angered him, or even turned into Yuanji Roast Duck, or even had their property confiscated and their entire family exterminated, with ten or even nine generations of their clan being executed...

The people, who were already unable to survive the natural disasters and man-made calamities, were forced to rebel again. However, once they rebelled, the Divine Emperor would suppress them with an iron fist!

As a result, the world was in dire straits and the people were living in misery...

"The Ming Dynasty should have perished long ago, but the damn Divine Emperor insisted on leaving this zombie behind... That's naturally the most tyrannical of tyrannies, and a corrupt government is more ferocious than a tiger..."

Zhou Liang sighed helplessly. This was the fundamental reason for his failure in this life, and also the reason why he believed that simulation alone could not solve this problem. After all, Emperor Chongzhen was an invincible mechanical deity, and it would be useless no matter what he did.

"So, is that abstract title given by the system really useful?"

Zhou Liang was very skeptical, but he couldn't help but feel a little more anticipation for it:
After listening to your parents' story of "Rebirth: I Became the Divine Emperor in the Ming Dynasty," you were completely bewildered.

You've read plenty of Ming Dynasty stories about Chongzhen's cheating in your past life. While you've always felt that a politically weak, suspicious, and ungrateful Chongzhen wasn't even worthy of support, and you've always found it ridiculous for young people raised under the red flag to work so hard to keep the decadent feudal dynasty alive, it's still okay to read them occasionally for fun.

[However, I have never seen a Ming Dynasty novel that dares to turn Chongzhen into a deus ex machina...]

【What kind of crappy cool story is this? 】

[Putting a true god in a historical text, this... this is bullshit! ]

The True God-Emperor struck history to pieces with a single blow. Li Zicheng, the leader of the peasant uprising who was supposed to have destroyed the Ming Dynasty, died a brutal death in the Forbidden City. Zhang Xianzhong, the Chosen One of Khorne, was no match for the God-Emperor Khorne himself, who descended to earth. The Southern Ming Dynasty ceased to exist from the outset.

[Clear? This is probably a real account cancellation...]

[Today, in the Ming Dynasty, there is no second sun. The people only have one sun, the Divine Emperor. The Chongzhen era has also continued to the non-existent "Chongzhen 43rd Year". In this year, you were born in a small town in northern Shaanxi and officially got to know this ridiculously distorted "Divine Emperor Ming Dynasty"...]

[However, although you learned these things from your parents, they actually had no impact on you at the moment, so you spent a wonderful childhood in this relatively warm home.]

You played and frolicked every day, just like any other child your age, until you were three years old... Your family came from a poor peasant background. Although they had acquired a hundred acres of land thanks to the Divine Emperor's "favor," they had only managed to amass a small fortune over the decades. It was still far from a path to social advancement, so your parents placed their hopes on you, their only son.

In the Ming Dynasty, ordinary people had only one way to rise above poverty: study, take the imperial examination, and become an official! So when you were three years old, your parents wanted to spend money to send you to school to learn...

"It's enlightenment..."

Seeing this passage, Zhou Liang couldn't help but recall the past:

Back then, I was also sent to school by my parents when I was three years old. Back then, I was full of ambition and decided to use the wisdom and knowledge of a time traveler to become a child prodigy, then pass the imperial examination and become an official... Actually, becoming an official or not is not important; the main thing is that I want to serve the people of the Ming Dynasty...

And he was indeed a child prodigy. He even passed the imperial examination and became a scholar at the age of nine, which surprised his teacher and parents. They once thought that he would pass the imperial examination and become a Jinshi, bringing honor to his family and leaving his name in history!
But the result...

Thinking that he would only be a scholar for his entire life, Zhou Liang was so angry that he gritted his teeth, because he didn't understand why he couldn't pass the imperial examination. It was obvious that his level was not worse than those who passed the examination, but in the end he failed.

He kept taking exams until he was eighteen, when he finally broke down and never took exams again... He turned around and followed the example of Huang Chao, forming an anti-Ming society [the Pig Killing Society], until he drank poison and died thirty-eight years later in the ninety-ninth year of Chongzhen.

"Am I going to make the same mistake again?"

Zhou Liang frowned, because going to school was the starting point of his misfortune in life.

But the system obviously wouldn't let him make the same mistake again, so he soon encountered an unexpected change...

When you were three years old, your parents, full of hope, brought you to a government-run school and arranged your enrollment.

[This matter itself is very simple. The Ming Dynasty officialdom has long been corrupted. As long as you are willing to pay more, there will be no problem in getting admitted. If you pay more, the teacher will even give you special treatment. This is an unspoken rule...]

[But when the official saw you, he suddenly let out a soft "hmm" and inexplicably found you pleasing to the eye...]

"Little boy, what's your name?"

Under your parents' surprised gaze, the usually arrogant clerk unexpectedly smiled at you kindly and asked.

You were a little confused, but your adult instincts helped you react quickly, and you replied docilely, "Sir, my name is Zhou Liang, and I'm three years old."

["Zhou Liang...Liang..."]

He seemed to ponder this ordinary name for a moment, then smiled gently and said, "What a nice name! You'll obviously be a well-behaved and sensible child... How about this, could you write a poem for me? If it's good, I'll admit you to school!"

【what? 】

[At this moment, you are stunned, your parents are stunned too, and then a sudden thought hits your heart: Maruna!]

How can a three-year-old, who can't even read a few characters, possibly compose poetry? Even the Song Dynasty prodigy Fang Zhongyong didn't compose poetry until he was five. Asking a three-year-old to compose poetry... isn't that clearly putting it in a difficult position?

You and your parents cursed silently, pondering how you had offended this idiot... Was he using this as an excuse to extort a bribe? But this was too outrageous. Even getting into school was like this, what was going to happen in the future...

Ok?
Zhou Liang was stunned:
"This... I don't remember this part?"

I clearly remember that everything went smoothly when I enrolled in school. There was no such thing as the registration clerk making things difficult for me!
So this can only be an unexpected new plot... But so far, the experiences of myself in the simulation and in reality are the same, so there shouldn't be any butterfly effect, right?

"Could it be... a title?"

Zhou Liang couldn't help but look at the abstract title he had received earlier:

"Me and My Animal Friends" (Title): Wearing this title grants you natural favorability towards all non-human animals, applicable in both real life and simulation!

Animal friends? Natural affection?

Zhou Liang narrowed his eyes, as if he had discovered some remarkable new information...

……

(End of this chapter)