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

Chapter 282 The Jin Kingdom, Jin Soldiers!
[Ding! Returning to the starting point...]

【…】

On a certain day of a certain year and month, you split your soul and passed through a mysterious golden gate. After a dizzying journey beyond your comprehension, you successfully arrived in an unknown world...

You look up at the sky and see only a solitary moon hanging high in the sky.

You look around and see nothing but desolation.

Then, countless memories flooded back, past events flashing through your mind like drifting clouds... You understood everything from your past life, and were filled with profound emotion.

After regaining your memories and sanity, you recalled what your original self had told you through the simulator not long ago: your son did not die at the hands of the Jin soldiers; he is still living a normal life in the Central Plains, and even has a memorial tablet for you, his biological father whom he has never met!

Furthermore, after unifying the Southern Song Dynasty, the Jin Dynasty did not carry out a particularly horrific massacre. The overall process was similar to the Sui Dynasty's conquest of the Southern Chen Dynasty; while bloodshed was inevitable, it was largely a normal war of unification. The people of Song territory were treated fairly by the Jin Dynasty afterward, and there was no bizarre attempt to divide the country into North and South.

In short, whether it's matters of the greater good or matters of your own family, everything has reached a point where you can find solace, and from now on you have no regrets about your past life...

However, the experience of the Great Ming Dynasty tells you that this feudal dynastic order dominated by the Jin ruling class was not the best choice. The world merely escaped the predicament of Jin-Song division, but instead fell into another kind of predicament.

[Perhaps the initial benefits of unification would satisfy everyone, but as the Jin ruling class consolidated its interests and various social contradictions accumulated among the people, the unified Jin Dynasty would gradually move towards an extremely sharp stage of struggle... And without Zhao Gou's divine power, how could ordinary people possibly defeat the Wanyan family, who possessed divine power?]

Therefore, this seemingly beautiful, one-sided, unified ending is not actually a perfect ending; on the contrary, it is a terrible ending that means people will be doomed forever...

Furthermore, you didn't find your quest item in this ending... You are ultimately an explorer burdened with a quest, and until you find a way to ensure the continuation of the Ming Dynasty, none of your endings can be considered perfect...

After your reflections subsided, you began to seriously consider the direction you would choose next.

"Firstly, based on my past experiences, if I were to develop my career in the Southern Song Dynasty step by step, I would simply be choosing between two different personas—one positive and one negative—to use in this life. Ultimately, whether I held the position of prime minister under the positive persona or governed the country under the negative persona, I would be unable to transcend the limitations of my previous life."

"After all, the problems I face cannot be solved by governing the country..."

Thinking about this, you can't help but feel troubled, because if you want to enter the Song Dynasty, you have to solve the problem of the division between the Jin and Song Dynasties. There are two solutions to this problem: one is to have the Jin Dynasty conquer the Southern Song Dynasty, just like in your previous life, and then the divine Zhao Gou would cross the river to Australia, leading to the Jin Dynasty unifying the world! The other is to do as Zhao Gou wishes, allowing Him to accumulate divine power through northern expeditions against the Jin Dynasty until He completely destroys the Jin Dynasty!

The problem is that both options are inherently bad outcomes. A Jin unification with a Song dynasty would lead to a "divine Jin dynasty," while a Song unification with a Jin dynasty would lead to a "divine Song dynasty," and the method to achieve the latter would be far more bloody...

In other words, as long as you still intend to engage in parliamentary struggles under Zhao Gou, your life is ruined; neither of the two unification plans is acceptable to you!

[But then again, if you don't want to engage in a parliamentary struggle where you're subservient to Zhao Gou, then you need to possess the power to be on equal footing with Zhao Gou before you can even think of a way to resolve the Song-Jin split... but you don't have that kind of power.]

Zhao Gou's illusions mean you can't defeat him using conventional methods!

Thus, the problem reached a stalemate...

At that moment, the Prime Minister, who had remained silent until now, suddenly spoke slowly: "If this place doesn't want me, there are plenty of other places that will..."

"Since you can't get through the Southern Song Dynasty, why not try your luck in the Jin Dynasty instead?"

[Go to the Jin Kingdom?]

You couldn't help but pause in surprise...

Honestly, although you don't have any particular sense of national identity or legitimacy, the Southern Song Dynasty, as a Han Chinese regime, naturally holds a special attraction for you. Conversely, the Jin Dynasty, established by the Jurchen Wanyan clan, naturally evokes a sense of resistance in you... Therefore, based on this, you never actually considered developing your career in the Jin Dynasty.

[But since the Prime Minister has said so, you can't help but start to consider its rationale: would you be better off in the Jin Dynasty than in the Southern Song Dynasty?]

The conclusion of my thinking is: Yes! Definitely!

[The reason is simple: the Jin dynasty lacked a supreme emperor like Zhao Gou, who reigned above all others...]

Although the Jin Dynasty had an unnamed emperor, this emperor lacked independent will, meaning he wouldn't care what you did on its territory, no matter how big the trouble you caused. The strongest force that could directly oppose you was at most the Wanyan clan members like Wuzhu, who possessed divine strength...

Are you scared? Not at all!

Honestly, if you didn't believe that tyrannical divine power couldn't solve the fundamental problem of the North-South division, you could have easily annihilated a million Jin soldiers with a single sword strike in your "Ultimate Ascension" state, instead of ultimately being defeated and killed by the Jin army's offensive!

Therefore, if you shift your focus from the Southern Song Dynasty to the Jin Dynasty, your future prospects will be far better! Furthermore, you might even have the opportunity to uncover the secrets of the Jin emperor…

"Let's do it this way!"

[The more you thought about it, the more confident you felt about your future. With a serious expression, you finalized your strategic plan for the future.]

So, without hesitation, he turned around and flew towards the Southern Song Dynasty in his primordial spirit form...

What? Why did you go to the Southern Song Dynasty when you clearly planned to develop your career in the Jin Dynasty?

The answer is simple: you first need to resolve your identity issue. Since you want to develop in the Jin Kingdom, you certainly can't live in your primordial spirit form. Not only would it easily arouse suspicion, but the moment your main body separated from you, its lifespan was already nearing its end. As a fragment of your weakened main body, you are naturally on the verge of dissipation. In less than a month, you will be gone!

Therefore, you need to be reincarnated once, just like in your previous life, before you can develop in the Jin Kingdom.

[But the Jin Dynasty is not the Southern Song Dynasty. The people of the Jin Dynasty do not have the concept of a primordial spirit, and the Jin government does not offer reincarnation services. Therefore, even though you are determined to develop your career in the Jin Dynasty, you will still inevitably have to take advantage of the reincarnation benefits in the Southern Song Dynasty...]

【…】

[You followed the path of your past life, heading straight for Xiangyang City in the Southern Song Dynasty, and then deliberately disguised yourself as a foolish spirit, just like in your past life.]

[The officials of Xiangyang met you. Although they found your unique spiritual color strange, they still responsibly arranged for you to be reincarnated, hoping that you could use this opportunity to restore your sanity.]

And the parents they're searching for for you happen to be your parents from a past life...

[And so, in the 185th year of the Shaoxing era, you were reborn into the Zhou family in Xiangyang, and your parents, based on your reddish appearance, named you "Zhou Chi," with the nickname "Red Boy"!]

[However, unlike your previous life, where you were caught in the mystery of the womb due to reincarnation, although your consciousness was restored, you lost your memories of the time before reincarnation. If it weren't for your father's constant guidance, you would have truly forgotten everything from your past life… But in this life, because you protected your consciousness with the power of the Western Paradise beforehand, you haven't lost any memories.] [And since you didn't lose your memories due to reincarnation, you naturally can't grow up as carefree as you did in your previous life…]

When you turned six, fully capable of acting independently, you left your parents only a farewell letter and ten taels of silver that you had "borrowed" from a landlord, and then quietly left your warm little home.

[You know, of course, that doing this will hurt your parents, but the situation is serious right now. In order to achieve great things, you have no choice but to leave the pain to your parents, hoping they can accept the cruel fact that their cold son has become warm money...]

All the debts owed can be made up for after you achieve success and fame...

[So, at the age of six, you left your home in Xiangyang alone, and quietly slipped past the eyes of the people and the patrols of the army, gradually approaching the border between Song and Jin...]

Finally, with trepidation, you crossed the Han River using the power of the Western Paradise, setting foot on the land of the Jin Kingdom for the first time in your life!

At first, you had all sorts of wild thoughts: Although your past life's experience proved that the reason the Jin and Song people couldn't meet wasn't because of any fundamental difference between them, but simply because Zhao Gou deliberately used divine power, what if... what if something unexpected happened?

[After all, you're just a six-year-old child with a fragile physical body, and because your primordial spirit is incomplete, you can't mobilize much Western Heaven power. These two weaknesses combined really don't give you the combat strength to fight against the mutated Golden Man... What if the two sides meet and the Golden Man immediately mutates into a mindless monster to attack you? Wouldn't you be blown up?]

Therefore, you are quite nervous about the upcoming meeting.

Fortunately, things didn't turn out so badly in the end. As you cautiously approached the Jin people's village, what greeted your eyes wasn't monsters running rampant, but rather a peaceful and serene scene...

【…】

This is your first time setting foot on Jin territory in a private capacity. Thinking back to the last time you were here, you were still on the Northern Expedition with the old Marshal Yue Fei.

That time, you brought bloodshed and slaughter to this land, so much so that you never had the chance to see the daily lives of the people of the Central Plains, but only witnessed ruin and desolation...

This time, however, you witnessed a peaceful rural scene: the people of the Central Plains worked from sunrise to sunset, elders watered fruits and vegetables, children played and frolicked... there were men tilling the fields and women weaving, a simple yet vibrant life!

When the village elders saw you, they were surprised and asked about your background. After all, it was unlikely that a child your age would live alone, meaning you were a lost child.

Faced with the old man's gentle questioning, you cleverly recounted your tragic experiences... You didn't mention that you were from the Song Dynasty, but only said that you were a stranger who had been kidnapped by a beggar, and that you had recently escaped when the beggar wasn't looking, and so on...

In this era, what you say is impossible to verify, and coupled with the inherent deceptiveness of your age, the old man from Jin subconsciously believed you, and thus couldn't help but pity you.

He thought for a moment and then told you: "The village has limited resources and can't help you, a child from out of town, find parents. So, if you don't mind, you can stay in the village for now."

If you're lucky, your parents, who live far away, will eventually find you. But if you're unlucky, you'll have to find them yourself later!

Of course, if you trust those incompetent officials in the government, you can report it to the authorities and ask them to help you find your parents...

After hearing this, you first pretended to cry, and after a long while, you cautiously said: "Then there's no need to trouble the official. I'll find it myself when I grow up..."

Upon hearing this, the old man stroked his beard: "Looks like a clever child. These days, what government has time to help an ordinary lost child find their parents? If you really went to the government, they might just sell you off somewhere to make some extra money!"

And so you temporarily settled in this small border village, doing odd jobs for the villagers in exchange for a meal, while silently waiting for the fabricated "Jin Kingdom parents" to come looking for you...

[But such waiting was, of course, fruitless, so as time went on, you became half a villager, and the villagers gradually accepted your presence.]

【…】

[This goes on day after day, year after year.]

Thanks to this hard-won identity as a member of the Jin Kingdom, you were able to live a normal life in a Jin village and gradually grow up!

As you grew older, you also started practicing martial arts again. Every day, you used a stick as a spear and a bucket of water as weights. Although the conditions were simple, you still tried your best to train your physical fitness and martial arts skills...

Why? The reason is simple.

Since you want to make a name for yourself in the Jin Dynasty, you must have a special skill, just like you did in the Southern Song Dynasty. Either become an official through the imperial examination or join the army with your martial arts skills!

However, given your current status, you certainly won't be able to pass the Jin Dynasty's imperial examinations. Joining the army will be your only path to advancement...

What? Using the power of the Western Paradise?

[That's impossible, because without the power of lust as a consumable, you can't use much of the power of the Western Paradise... and the power of lust can only be cultivated in the Southern Song Dynasty; it's impossible to obtain it in the Jin Dynasty.]

Therefore, in this life, you can only advance through martial arts. Trying to directly use divine power for a dimensional-lowering attack is unrealistic... at least not at this stage.

And just like that, you turned sixteen...

At sixteen, you frequently practiced martial arts, helped villagers with farming, and occasionally went out hunting to improve your nutrition. As a result, you grew tall and strong, which amazed the villagers: "It's truly remarkable that you can grow so strong while living as a dependent!"

Seeing that you are tall and strong, and so hardworking and capable, many families have started to think about your marriage: such a strong man, with a clean background, whom everyone has watched grow up, if they could get you to be their son-in-law, that would be a great deal...

However, you're not interested in marriage; you're only focused on building your career. So, just as everyone is about to start pressuring you to get married, you suddenly announce: Now that I'm all grown up, it's time to find my long-lost parents!

So, amidst everyone's reluctance, you shouldered a large rifle and some simple luggage like dry rations, officially bidding farewell to the small border village where you had lived for ten years, and headed towards the distant Xinye County...

In the 201st year of the Shaoxing era of the Song Dynasty, you arrived in Xinye County of the Jin Dynasty and immediately enlisted in the army!

[Your physique and martial arts skills quickly surprised the recruiting officer. After checking your past and finding no obvious problems, you were immediately accepted into the Jin army camp and officially became an ordinary Jin soldier...]

And it was from this day forward that you strode towards the pinnacle of life you had always aspired to!

And your new name is "Zhou Jinu"!

【…】

(End of this chapter)