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

Chapter 231 The chariot starts!
“No…that’s not right!”

Just as you were facing the Jin village and falling into self-doubt, you suddenly remembered the Jin soldiers who had crossed the border with you in the past: those guys were completely mad, and when they saw the Song people, they just rushed over and slaughtered them indiscriminately, howling. Even you were killed once!

[From this perspective, the Golden Man is indeed the stereotypical brainless monster...]

[But doesn't this conflict with the normal village in front of us? They can't possibly live normally without a brain, right?]

You can’t help but fall into deep thought…

Naturally, your contemplation yielded no results. To obtain more comprehensive information, the best way was to ask the people involved... So, after much inquiry, you found several wounded soldiers who had faced the Jin army head-on in the village and interviewed them.

When the wounded soldiers heard you were the "gold medal lecturer," they immediately became as excited as fans meeting their idol. They answered all your questions without hesitation...

[Thus, you gradually learned from them detailed information about the vanguard operations.]

"...We scouts were stunned. We had no idea the Jin people could actually farm, build houses, and weave... The village looked exactly like the ones in the Song Dynasty!"

[Wounded Soldier A grimaces and says, "Even the Jin people look like us..."]

[Huh? They look similar?]

You were completely stunned: How could they possibly look similar? It's not like I've ever seen a golden man before. How could that monster look like a human?

Seeing you stunned, Soldier B assumed you didn't believe him, so he continued, "Master Zhou, don't be so unconvinced. The Jin people we first saw actually looked pretty much like us. There were men and women, young and old. Some were farming, some were washing clothes, and the women even brought meals to the men in the fields..."

“We didn’t even think of them as Jin people at first, but rather Song refugees crossing the border, so we tried to approach them and ask them about the Jin people…”

[In this regard, the wounded soldier's words actually reflect the strict discipline of the "Yue Family Army". Under Yue Fei's supervision, they were able to, to a certain extent, "freeze to death but not demolish houses, starve to death but not plunder"!]

When they encountered the Jin people, their first reaction was not to attack, smash, or rob them, but to ask questions in a friendly manner.

[Judging from the background of the feudal army, they had indeed done a very good job, so under normal circumstances, it would be unlikely for the two sides to fight... However, judging by the subsequent massacre of all the Jin villages, something unexpected must have happened in the meantime...]

【This is indeed the case! 】

"Just as we were about to start a conversation, those golden men suddenly howled and mutated!"

Injured Soldier B said in fear, "We didn't react at the time. The Jin people suddenly attacked and chased us. Many of our scout brothers were killed. Only a few of us ran fast and returned to General Yue Yun's command..."

"General Yue Yun then, without a word, led over a thousand elite soldiers to attack the village. First, they launched a volley of crossbow fire, then set fire to the village, and finally entered to harvest the heads... But even with such thorough preparations, we lost over a hundred men before we managed to kill all the over 200 Jin soldiers in the village!"

Speaking of the bloodbath, even though it had been several days, several wounded soldiers couldn't help but look terrified: "Those mutated Jin people may not have much brains, but they're not afraid of swords and guns, running swiftly. Even if they were hit by powerful crossbows, they couldn't be killed!"

[“In the end, I had to painstakingly chop off their heads one by one, and only then could I truly kill them…”]

You agree with this: Indeed, the Jin people you encountered were like this. They wouldn't die even if they were stabbed by swords or spears. They could only die if their heads were cut off. They were just like zombies...

[However, unlike the slow-moving zombies, they are swift and powerful, and their strength has been greatly enhanced. To ordinary people, they are no different from invincible monsters!]

"But the strange thing is, after we chopped off their heads, they transformed back into their original human form. The bodies of men, women, and children were scattered all over the village, making it look like an ordinary village where we had just massacred innocent people..."

[Injured Soldier A couldn't help but complain: "I really don't understand what's going on with these golden men. One moment they turn into monsters, and the next they turn back into human form..."]

[Hearing this, you are thoughtful.]

[……] [“It seems that these golden men are indeed strange.”]

The Prime Minister gradually summarized all the known information and proposed his own thoughts based on it: "Clearly, Yue Fei was not the kind of ruthless general who would take human life lightly. He would not call for the killing of ordinary people simply because of their appearance... The fact that he took the initiative to slaughter people proves that the Jin people were willing to inflict unacceptable casualties on the Song people."

"However, the Jin people weren't the mindless monsters people stereotyped them to be...at least not generally. They had normal production and living habits, and were able to maintain the stability of the Jin Kingdom, a northern regime. This shows that they were normal people most of the time."

“So the core of the question is, under what circumstances would a normal Jin person become abnormal?”

You frowned: This...

After carefully considering the information about the Jin people's mutations provided by the wounded soldier, you gradually formed a suspicion: "Is it... because of us?"

The answer is obvious: the Jin people, who had remained normal at other times, suddenly mutated into monsters after a brief encounter with the Song army. The direct cause of the mutation was obviously the Song army!

[But...the two sides hadn't even had time to exchange a single word when they met, and yet the Jin Man suddenly mutated. This is completely baffling... Could it be that whenever the two sides meet, the Jin Man will mutate?]

What's the principle behind this?!

You are baffled...

[But considering that the principle of the Ming Dynasty's tyrannical divine power is also nonsense, you don't dwell too much on the triggering principle of the mutation for the time being, but instead put it down to "Jin and Song cannot meet"! ]

"So, as long as the Jin and Song factions don't interfere with each other, everyone can live their lives normally?"

[You scratch your head: "Then, in that case, the Northern Expedition... doesn't seem to be necessary anymore, right?"]

After all, if the Song Dynasty launches a northern expedition, the two sides will inevitably encounter each other. Once they do, the Jin people will mutate into ferocious monsters, and both sides will fight to the death!

Under such circumstances, a Northern Expedition would be a completely meaningless and disastrous undertaking: the Jin people would be devastated, and the Song people would also suffer heavy casualties. To completely succeed in the Northern Expedition, the only option would be to wipe out the entire Jin Empire and repopulate it with Song people...

[What is this about Americans and Indians?! ]

[So, after realizing this truth, your original desire to achieve great things cooled down: Of course, you wanted to advance through military merit, but if such advancement must be based on the deaths of a large number of innocent people, then this step is not necessary...]

[And when you think about it this way, you suddenly understand: Why did Yue Fei, the resolute marshal of the Northern Expedition, never mention the Northern Expedition again after the peace agreement between Jin and Song?]

[Of course, this was due to the difficulty of the Northern Expedition, but the greater possibility was that he saw the bloodshed that would follow!]

Although Yue Fei wanted to launch a Northern Expedition, it had already become a disaster that harmed the people. Naturally, he could only calm his restless heart and refrain from launching a Northern Expedition for two hundred years.

Otherwise, even if he didn't launch a large-scale Northern Expedition, he would surely have organized countless small-scale Northern Expeditions. The soldiers would have naturally been promoted based on their achievements in the Northern Expeditions, and there wouldn't have been a two-hundred-year period of no war, making promotion difficult for everyone...

[Now that Yue Fei has restarted the Northern Expedition, it means he's going on a killing spree!]

[Whether he likes it or not, the Song army, which has been holding back for two hundred years, will finally start to move for the sake of profit...]

[And you are the spark that sets it in motion, the driving force behind it... Once the arrow is shot, there is no turning back. Now that the Northern Expedition has begun, countless withered bones will be reborn because of you...]

……

(End of this chapter)