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

Chapter 104 Shouldering the responsibilities of the two capitals and thirteen provinces!
In the 59th year of Chongzhen's reign, at the age of 16, you were granted the title of "Prime Minister," thus finally ascending to the pinnacle of power again. From then on, you were second only to the emperor and above everyone else, becoming the "uncrowned king" who actually managed the affairs of the Ming Dynasty!

[When this decree was issued, the court was shaken and the people were astonished!]

[After all, you haven't achieved any real political achievements in your life. Your sudden ascension to the position of Prime Minister is truly baffling to everyone, leading to widespread discussion throughout the land...]

You're the only one who's not surprised by this.

[In fact, there's really nothing to be surprised about. You've experienced these things in your past lives before. This life is just a repeat of them...]

[Now that you're well-versed in government, you're no longer as flustered as you were in the early days of your previous life. As soon as you ascended the throne, you immediately began to sort out all the affairs of the court.]

[Corrupt officials should be executed and imprisoned. Then, the imperial examinations will be held, and young and righteous officials will be selected from the newly graduated Jinshi. This will then lead to a major reshuffle of the court...]

[After some renovations, the Ming Dynasty court suddenly looked brand new! ]

[However, unlike your previous life, you didn't stir up any political unrest this time. This is because, after enduring the dual torture of the Divine Emperor's "corruption under imperial order" and the Imperial Guards' "spinning tops," the officials have long since become mentally disturbed!]

[For them, being arrested and imprisoned or beheaded is a rare relief, which is simply pleasant...]

"Thank you, Prime Minister, for your great kindness!"

"The Prime Minister's kindness is not over yet!"

"There is no two suns in the sky! In my heart, there is only one sun, the Prime Minister!"

[At Caishikou, the officials who were being held in front of the stage awaiting beheading shouted excitedly, but their cries were not for mercy or insults at all, but rather sincere gratitude for your great kindness!]

[Executioner: …]

【Onlookers: …】

[Fuck! This is insane! He's almost beheaded, and he's still thanking me!]

[Sitting on the execution platform, you couldn't help but twitch your eyes...]

You turned your head again and looked at the large group of officials nearby who had not been sentenced to death, but had been sentenced to several years in prison.

"Quack! Seeing such a great execution of justice is worth the price of admission, even if I die!"

"The Prime Minister's kindness is higher than the sky! The Prime Minister's kindness is deeper than the sea! The Prime Minister's kindness is endless!"

【"loyalty!"】

[They were also yelling and shouting, their faces filled with tears of excitement, jumping and clapping...]

【you:……】

[This is crazy, I really can’t stand it! ]

[From this, we can also see how serious the persecution and alienation of the people caused by the God-Emperor's perverse actions are...]

[“Fortunately, it’s all over…”]

[At this moment, even you can't help but mutter to yourself, as if today's verdict is the long-awaited doomsday judgment. From now on, you will completely bury all this madness and alienation in the grave of the old era, and put a heavy end to this era...]

【"Um?"】

You suddenly let out a soft "hmm" and looked at Yu Anmin and the other Jinyiwei beside you... You could clearly see that they were writing something with great energy.

So you ask them curiously, “What are you writing about?”

Everyone looked up quickly, seeing you were asking, and excitedly handed you their work...

[First article: "Prime Minister Zhou prayed for the salvation of 100,000 corrupt officials at Caishikou!"]

[Part 2: "Prime Minister Zhou Uses Memorials to Inspire the Tyrannical Emperor!"]

[Chapter 3: Prime Minister Zhou Recreates His Enlightenment at Longchang in Imperial Prison!]

【you:……】

[Well, the absurd era is not over yet, it just accompanies you in a different way...]

【…】

[But no matter what, after your rectification, the abstractness of the Ming Dynasty has been greatly reduced. At least, the unbelievable thing of "corruption under imperial order" is no longer possible.]

[Afterwards, you began to gradually take over the power of the two capitals and thirteen provinces...] [This time, your process of taking over was no longer as complicated as in your previous life. There were no local corrupt officials to obstruct you, nor were there any wealthy merchants and landlords rising up in rebellion. The Yangzhou incident from your previous life was completely gone this time!]

[You were a little confused at first, but after the local information was reported, you finally understood.]

Why didn't the wealthy landlords rebel?

[Because there are Jinyiwei in the local area! ]

[Because you sent tens of thousands of Imperial Guards to the grassroots level in the provinces, requiring them to personally experience the hardships of ordinary people and punish corrupt officials, wealthy merchants and landlords for the people... This brought a devastating disaster upon the evil forces in various places!]

[Although the Jinyiwei have been demoted to the grassroots, their divine power is still strong. Putting them in the grassroots is like putting a player with maxed-out divine equipment in the novice village to slaughter children...]

[The result was naturally no surprise... The reason the Jinyiwei hadn't previously taken action against these evil forces was simply because the Divine Emperor deliberately prevented them from doing so.]

[And now, your order to go to the countryside is clearly meant to force them to take action. If they don't quickly and diligently spin the top, they'd be fools!]

[So after you came to power, you inherited a Ming dynasty that had been plowed by tens of thousands of Jinyiwei for six or seven years...]

[Corrupt officials were beaten to the point of mental collapse, never daring to engage in corruption again. Landlords and wealthy businessmen were beaten to the point of kneeling and begging for mercy, willing to offer up all their wealth to save their families!]

[So, as soon as you came to power, you were able to concentrate the nation's manpower and material resources. Relying on these material foundations, you wielded your tangible hand with great force.]

"Equalize land use! Reduce taxes!"

[With a single command, the Ming Dynasty's state machinery, dormant for years, finally roared into life...]

In the fifty-ninth year of Chongzhen's reign, you stepped out of the Imperial Prison and quickly became Prime Minister, beginning to replicate the reforms of your previous life!

In the sixtieth year of Chongzhen's reign, the grand new policy of equalizing land ownership and exempting taxes was implemented. This measure was welcomed with cheers from all over the country. From the landless tenants and refugees to the tortured landlords and wealthy merchants, everyone happily shouted, "The Prime Minister's kindness is not over yet!"

[The brand-new bureaucratic system is efficiently implementing your new policies that benefit the country and the people. Subsequently, water conservancy construction and disaster relief and resettlement efforts are being rapidly implemented!]

In the sixty-first year of Chongzhen's reign, you organized a large amount of manpower and material resources to rebuild the Yellow River and the Yangtze River, strengthen the dikes, and remove silt.

In the sixty-second year of Chongzhen's reign, several provinces in the Central Plains suffered a severe drought. While providing relief to the victims, you also organized the migration of those from the northern provinces to Liaodong, settling down on this prime land, which was practically uninhabited... From then on, during every disaster year, you would organize similar migrations to reclaim wasteland, doing your utmost to maintain a relatively prosperous era despite natural disasters!

In the sixty-third year of the Chongzhen reign, after careful consideration, you ordered the abolition of the "Weisuo System" that had been in place for over three hundred years in the Ming Dynasty, returning millions of beggar-like Weisuo soldiers across the country to civilian status. The Weisuo soldiers then wept in gratitude for your great kindness...

After abolishing the "Weisuo System," you declared: From now on, there will be no more mortal soldiers in the Ming Dynasty. The "Jinyiwei" will become the Ming Dynasty's only armed force!

[Everyone was surprised by this order: Just relying on the Jinyiwei? Is that enough?]

Your answer is: Absolutely enough!

[This plan is one you've discussed countless times with the Prime Minister's staff: because for the Ming Dynasty today, mortal soldiers are no longer cost-effective...]

Mortals are difficult to train, and the cost of training them is extremely high. Whether equipped with cold or hot weapons, it's actually not very cost-effective... This is mainly due to the Jinyiwei being there to provide a contrast.

In your previous life, you considered abolishing the ordinary soldiers and replacing them with the Imperial Guards. Because the Imperial Guards were so useful, each one an Astartes, invulnerable to weapons, water, or fire. Unless bombarded with massive artillery, the Imperial Guards would simply be a massacre in the current world!

[The Jinyiwei are capable of both small-scale beheadings and large-scale combat. You really can't think of any obvious weaknesses they have.]

[In your previous life, you gave up this tempting idea because of the limitations of divine power: the Divine Emperor didn't have enough divine power to pay them military salaries...]

[But this life is different. Your Jinyiwei are now self-sufficient, so the time is ripe to use them to replace ordinary soldiers!]

[In the sixty-fourth year of Chongzhen's reign, you recruited a hundred thousand Jinyiwei at once. After granting them a small amount of divine power seeds, you ordered them to be stationed in the two capitals and the thirteen provinces. You punished corruption and cracked down on the gentry to accumulate divine power...]

[In this way, the Ming Dynasty, from people's livelihood to military affairs and political affairs, has completely changed its appearance! ]

In the sixty-fifth year of Chongzhen's reign, after six years of your large-scale reforms, you finally transformed the Ming Dynasty into a prosperous feudal society.

[Next, you will formally discuss with the Divine Emperor the reasonable way to balance His immortality with the peace and prosperity of the Ming Dynasty...]

[This is also your most important step. If you truly achieve perfection in both aspects, you will be able to create a flower in the role of "paperhanger," achieving a happy ending where humans and gods coexist!]

[On the contrary, once you fail to balance both, all your previous efforts will be declared bankrupt, and you will be forced to slide into the abyss of despair...]

【One step to heaven, one step to hell.】

The fate of the people of the two capitals and thirteen provinces of the Ming Dynasty rests firmly on your shoulders. If you cannot bear it, you will inevitably fall to pieces!

……

(End of this chapter)