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

Chapter 105: Korea surrenders! Conquer Japan!
[In this vast palace, only you and the Divine Emperor are sitting there.]

You looked at Him, who looked to be in his early thirties. After a moment's silence, you asked, "How much life do you have left, Your Majesty?"

[How long can the emperor live? This has always been a slippery slope that cannot be touched in every dynasty!]

[Whether it was the Qin Emperor, Han Wudi, Tang Taizong, or Song Taizu, they would never tolerate their subjects asking them such questions, as it was a blatant provocation. The more tightly the emperor clung to power, the more taboo this kind of question would be.]

Just like when King Zhuang of Chu in the Zhou Dynasty asked the emperor how heavy the Nine Cauldrons were, if the impoverished Eastern Zhou emperor hadn't been unable to defeat the powerful King Zhuang of Chu, the emperor's six armies would have definitely stormed Yingdu and killed him in one go...

[So, no matter how you think about it, your question and the way you ask it are completely wrong. If the Divine Emperor becomes angry about this, your fate will be unpredictable.]

However, the Divine Emperor showed no sign of anger. He simply smiled and said, "Thanks to the Prime Minister, I've saved a considerable amount of money... To be honest, Prime Minister, if I didn't have to spend any divine power at all, I could still hold on for at least another fifty years!"

Fifty years?

[Do the math: It's the sixty-fifth year of Chongzhen's reign now. Fifty years from now it will be the one hundred and fifteenth year of Chongzhen's reign... That's a full ten years longer than the one hundred and thirty-third year of Chongzhen's reign in the previous life!]

[These extra ten years or so must be what you saved Him over the years...]

[Understanding this answer, you can't help but feel relieved: Fortunately... I have so much more time than in my previous life. Even if I ultimately fail and fall to pieces, it's enough to extend the peaceful years for another decade or so. This is also a good thing for the people of the Ming Dynasty.]

Relieved, you ask again, "I have one more question. Your Majesty, can't you change the target of your revenge to someone from another country?"

You asked Him this question in your past life, but His answer was too brief. He simply said: "The Gentiles are not as "noble" as the people of the Ming Dynasty, so even if you kill them, they will not have any divine power..."

This ridiculous answer is truly baffling to you, so now that you finally have the chance, you must ask Him in detail.

[But what you didn't expect was that He didn't understand the underlying principles either, and could only helplessly reply, "It can only be used on the people of the Ming Dynasty. Foreigners cannot provide me with divine power."]

"Otherwise, why would I inflict suffering on my people? If it truly worked, I would have gone to foreign lands and started a massacre!"

"As for the reason behind this, I'm not entirely clear. I only know that the people of the Ming Dynasty are indeed more noble than foreigners, so this is effective..."

This answer makes you wonder: "The Ming Dynasty is more noble than foreign nations? What does Your Majesty mean?"

"Is it bloodline? Household registration? Or region?"

You're confused: How can humans be any different? What's the standard for judging?

[“I don’t know…”]

He said helplessly, "I only know that the people of the Ming Dynasty are indeed different from foreigners... As for whether it's their bloodline or nationality, I truly don't know."

[This answer...is equivalent to no answer.]

You pondered for a moment, then said seriously, "Since Your Majesty doesn't know either, then let me experiment a bit."

【…】

[The first thing you suspect is bloodline! ]

In reality, humans across all continents and countries are all "late Homo sapiens" evolved from "Australopithecus." The stories of Nuwa creating humans and God creating the world are all fabricated myths and legends. All humans are ordinary creatures descended from the same lineage.

[Even leaving aside humans, all living things, including animals, plants, bacteria, fungi, etc., are actually evolved from the original ancient life. There is no such thing as "outside demons" in the world. We are all the same kind in a broad sense!]

[There shouldn't be any so-called differences in bloodline status in the world, and the "bloodline theory" in fantasy novels is completely false.]

[But now you are not sure whether these settings apply to this "Lostbelt Daming" dimension, so even though you don't believe in the bloodline theory, you still have to test it out first...]

So you gathered many people: northerners, southerners… Han Chinese, Mongolians, Jurchens… descendants of the sinicized Xianbei, descendants of the sinicized Khitan… people from Qin, people from Qi…

[In short, you found all kinds of people in the Ming Dynasty according to various standards, and made sure they were the exploiting class. Then you let the Jinyiwei, who had been eager for a long time, start to beat their spinning tops!]

After a series of howling cries, the still-unsatisfied Jinyiwei report the test results to you. ["Prime Minister, southerners are just like northerners; they all react to the attack with divine power! Han, Mongolian, and Jurchen people all react as well! The same goes for the Sinicized Xianbei and Sinicized Khitan..."]

[“Liao, Jin, Xia, Song, Yuan, Dali; Tang and Bohai, Tubo, and Turks; Northern and Southern Dynasties and the Sixteen Kingdoms; people from the former territories of the Seven Kingdoms of the Warring States Period; people from the Zhou and Shang territories…”]

[“They’re all the same! They can all generate divine power!”]

【Um? 】

You gaze at the throng of screaming people in the Imperial Prison and fall into deep thought: Every bloodline in the country has reacted... so it seems bloodline has nothing to do with it.

Next up is nationality...

[You once again recruited a large number of people to serve as experimental subjects based on various criteria.]

There were Ming people, Koreans, Japanese, Annanese, and Western missionaries… There were foreigners who had just acquired Ming citizenship, foreigners whose parents had naturalized but who themselves had not yet, people who still held Ming citizenship but had been abroad for years… There were also Han, Mongolian, and Jurchen people who had been stripped of their Ming citizenship… and there were also pure barbarians who had never had a state…

[The vicious Jinyiwei whipped their spinning tops again! The Imperial Prison was filled with ghostly howls and wolves' cries once again!]

"Prime Minister, most people who are not from the Ming Dynasty have no reaction to the divine power. Only Koreans have. People from Japan, Annan, and the West have no reaction..."

[Hmm? North Koreans have it?]

You were stunned for a moment, but you seemed to understand. Since Korea was considered an internal vassal state under the Ming Dynasty, it wasn't hard to understand why they were considered Ming citizens.

【Wakoku, Annan, and the West were never considered internal vassal states, so it's normal that they couldn't generate divine power.】

[So, the ability to generate divine power is actually linked to nationality?]

As soon as you thought this, the Imperial Guard said, "Prime Minister, those Ming people who have withdrawn from citizenship can also possess supernatural powers, but those foreigners who have become citizens and their descendants do not..."

【Um? 】

You're confused: Are those without official citizenship permitted? But those with official citizenship are not permitted?

【Isn’t it because of the household registration? 】

[This experiment not only failed to resolve your doubts, but made you even more confused...]

After much thought, you think there might be something wrong with your experiment: isolated individual cases are not credible, so it’s not too late to conduct a large-scale experiment before drawing conclusions!

[So, a large-scale experiment focusing on nationality was quickly launched...]

【…】

In the sixty-fifth year of Chongzhen's reign, at the age of twenty-two, you gradually realized that the country was becoming richer and the military was stronger, so you decided to use military means to acquire more territory for the Ming Dynasty!

[That year, the Prime Minister sent an imperial edict to Joseon, and the King of Joseon was shocked!]

[But there was no point in being alarmed. Due to the huge disparity in national strength and military power, and the fact that Korea's resistance to the Ming Dynasty was not strong, the King of Korea was forced to submit...]

[In the 66th year of Chongzhen, the King of Korea respectfully requested to submit to the Ming Dynasty!]

The Prime Minister readily agreed, and Joseon annexed the country. The Prime Minister established the "Joseon Provincial Administration Office" in the area and appointed Ming officials to take up the posts immediately!

In the sixty-seventh year of the Chongzhen reign, the Prime Minister issued an edict declaring war on Japan, citing the fact that Japan had invaded Korea during the Wanli reign and was hostile to the Ming army.

[The war against Japan has officially begun! ]

……

(End of this chapter)