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

Chapter 228 Yue Fei’s Northern Expedition!

[Quietly, a great momentum was stirred by Yue Fei's invisible hand...]

[Of course, the general trend is the general trend, and the individual is the individual... Unlike the powerful Yue Fei and others who are concerned about national affairs, as an ordinary low-level officer, you don't think so much. You only care about reputation!]

[You understand that if you want to get the promotion you dream of, you must gain widespread fame within the army. To achieve this, you must devote yourself to it to achieve the best results...]

So, ever since you started lecturing on "The Story of Yue Fei" during your training, you've been using it to strengthen your ideological influence on the soldiers: Doesn't the imperial court favor "loyalty to the emperor and patriotism"? So, you're automatically catering to this official mainstream ideology!

As long as your story sticks closely to the mainstream ideology of the Song Dynasty, Yue Fei and the others won't forbid you from telling your story to everyone, even if they know you're using it as an excuse to advance your career. After all, under the core feudal values, even Yue Fei wouldn't dare go against the tide. If word got out to the Lin'an court, it would be a serious problem!

So Yue Fei would at most complain about you being "too eager to advance" and "trying too hard to get ahead," and he'd also have some complaints about you using him as material for your story. Otherwise, he wouldn't really do anything to you...

【And your story isn’t without merit! 】

Although the story contains a lot of fictional elements, you have captured the core of "loyalty to the emperor and patriotism" very well, making the entire story a perfect propaganda tool for the values ​​of the Song Dynasty. In addition, you have made drastic changes to the "cool culture" of "The Story of Yue Fei", which makes the story greatly cater to the long-suppressed thoughts and feelings of the soldiers and civilians of the Song Dynasty, making it widely accepted!

[And in this way, the modified version of "The Legend of Yue Fei" has essentially become a piece of official ideological material with extremely universal applicability. The key point is that this propaganda material was created by you on your own initiative. For the Song Dynasty officials, it is completely free...]

[The pens paid lavishly by the officials are unable to produce a single word, while a loyal and honest Song official has already written a first-rate book at his own expense... This is truly a blessing in disguise. If you truly build up a reputation known to the military and civilians of Xiangyang, the imperial court will undoubtedly write a paean to you, making you a renowned "Song-loving Gold Medal Lecturer" known throughout China and abroad!]

[Then he went on the show: "Listen to Zhou Chi: This is the Great Song Dynasty!"...]

[By then, will you still be worried about not getting promoted? ]

This is the effect of reputation. Although it is indeed inferior to swords and guns under certain conditions, as long as the court is normal, then reputation can allow you to ride on the court's coattails and gain fame and fortune that a lifetime of serving as a soldier could never achieve!

[On the other hand, Lin Chong, who can only be an ordinary martial arts instructor, even if he can swing his spear to the point of sparks as the instructor of the Imperial Guards, can never catch up with you, a golden lecturer who can tell the "Story of the Great Song Dynasty" in the military camp...]

Of course, your circumstances are also influenced by the current reality of the Song Dynasty, and even more so by Marshal Yue Fei, who governed the army with skill and valued talent. It is precisely because of these multiple objective conditions that you have been given a good platform to display your talents... This proves that a person's life depends not only on personal struggle, but also on the consideration of the course of history...

【…】

In the 209th year of Shaoxing, you, while serving as a captain, also served as a spear and stick instructor. To seize the opportunity to build your reputation, you diligently maintained your primary job of training soldiers, while also taking a different approach and, under the guidance of your father-in-law, continuing to educate the soldiers!

After teaching them basic literacy and arithmetic, you then, under the guise of popular science, teach these soldiers a general historical perspective, telling them stories of various dynasties.

[These stories include both real historical allusions and novels adapted by you.]

[Of course, since your main goal in telling stories is to instill the core feudal ideology of loyalty to the emperor and patriotism in everyone, you've carefully considered the specific novels you're going to include: Of the Four Great Classical Novels, only Romance of the Three Kingdoms can be connected to loyalty to the emperor and patriotism. The remaining novels, Journey to the West, Water Margin, and Dream of the Red Chamber, are all irrelevant. Some of them are even "anti-books" related to rebellion, so they can't appear...]

Therefore, you chose "The Story of Yue Fei" to adapt, and it was a huge success!

This reimagined, refreshing novel, "The Legend of Yue Fei," truly hits the mark: for both civilians and soldiers, it's the undisputed "Song Dynasty Fantasy"! The Song Dynasty triumphs in every way. Under the united leadership of the great "Divine Emperor Zhao" and "War Marshal Yue," the Northern Expedition Army storms the Jin Empire's Huanglongfu, avenging the humiliation of the Jingkang Incident and ending the North-South divide that had existed since the coexistence of the Song and Liao dynasties. It even surpasses the Han and Tang dynasties!

[Yes, it far surpasses the Han Dynasty and the Tang Dynasty, rather than the "Northern Han" and "Southern Tang"...]

[And for the authorities, your "The Story of Yue Fei" is also free, high-quality promotional material, and its dissemination will be extremely beneficial to the feudal ideology of the Song Dynasty!]

[Thus, you not only gained a great deal of fame among the lower-level soldiers, but also easily entered the sight of high-ranking officials like Yue Fei. Even if Yue Fei wanted to complain about you, as long as he had the opportunity, he would not hesitate to use his power to reward you accordingly...]

[In short, you are leaving the level of a grassroots officer and making rapid progress towards the upper echelons of the Song Army as a "Gold Medal Lecturer"!]

【…】

In the 212th year of Shaoxing, your fame spread throughout the 300,000-man army in Xiangyang. Everyone in the army was chatting about the classic stories of "The Story of Yue Fei" and "The Romance of the Three Kingdoms." And while they were discussing the works, they naturally couldn't help but talk about you, the author.

As your fame grew, your deeds quickly spread: how you were nearly a juren (imperial scholar) in the imperial examination, how you provided free education to illiterate soldiers. [How you were a master of martial arts, able to fight a certain young general to a draw, how you were strict in military discipline, diligently training your soldiers even when there were no battles, how you cared about your soldiers, often proactively resolving their physical and mental problems...]

[This is just like a replica of "Hu Baoyi"! ]

[Since then, your role has progressed from Wu Song to Lin Chong, and then to Song Jiang. This is truly a tremendous improvement...]

In the 213th year of Shaoxing, the wonderful stories of "The Story of Yue Fei" and "The Romance of the Three Kingdoms" gradually spread from the army to the people of Xiangyang, and soon sparked a craze for storytelling among the people. Storytellers, sensing a business opportunity, took advantage of the situation and set up stalls in the streets and alleys to tell stories of "The Story of Yue Fei" and "The Romance of the Three Kingdoms"!

[This is just like in the military: after everyone finishes eating a delicious egg, they naturally become curious about the hen that laid it: which great writer wrote this gold medal-winning Song Dynasty masterpiece?]

[With this curiosity, your image as the "Song Army's Golden Lecturer" gradually spread among the people, thus gaining even greater traffic...]

[Seeing this surge of traffic gradually sweeping across Xiangyang, you, the person at the center of the storm, can't help but feel a little puzzled: This doesn't seem like normal transmission efficiency!]

[Even if your story is good, it shouldn't be so popular, right? ]

[Clearly, there must be an invisible force behind this traffic! And who this force is, there's no need to guess...]

“It’s Yue Fei!”

The Prime Minister sat under the old crooked tree with great interest and said, "In Xiangyang, the only one capable of doing such a thing is him."

"Since he's willing to support you at all costs, he must have a purpose..."

【As for what this purpose is...】

Your somewhat dull mind raced for a long time before gradually forming a rough guess: "Marshal Yue couldn't possibly be so kind to me out of thin air. He must have a political agenda... and considering his lifelong pursuits, this political agenda isn't hard to guess..."

"It's the Northern Expedition!"

【As your thoughts click, your eyes suddenly light up! 】

Since the Shaoxing Peace Agreement, Yue Fei has not led a Northern Expedition for nearly two hundred years. If his ideals have not faded, he will sooner or later lead another Northern Expedition!

[And your appearance may have given him an opportunity to dispatch troops...]

[Once Yue Fei restarts the Northern Expedition, it means that the promotion and military merit you have been waiting for for many years will soon arrive! ]

Your heart is burning with excitement: the opportunity to leap over the dragon gate is right before your eyes...

【…】

【really! 】

In the 215th year of Shaoxing, just as the popularity of "The Story of Yue Fei" was being swept up by an invisible giant, even spreading beyond Xiangyang and sweeping across the country along the Yangtze and Han Rivers, the mastermind behind the scenes, Yue Fei, finally stepped forward!

[That year, Yue Fei submitted a memorial to Lin'an, requesting that troops be dispatched to the north to attack Huanglong!]

[That year, the imperial court approved the request! ]

[Thus, a vigorous Northern Expedition began to be mobilized in Xiangyang! ]

……

(End of this chapter)