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

Chapter 295 Prelude to the Embroidered Uniform Guard (Second update, but combined into one, to be continued tomorrow!)

"Class, in this context, refers to the division of people into different groups based on real differences in their power, status, wealth, and other tangible factors... People of the same class, even if from different ethnic groups, should unite because of shared interests, thereby pooling their collective strength to fight for their due benefits from a more powerful class..."

"This process of different classes vying for interests is called class struggle..."

[In the Jin army camp, you diligently explained this foreign knowledge, taught by your father, to the members of the "One Heart Society."]

Although the crowd didn't quite understand this new knowledge, they listened with great interest... especially when you talked about the exploitation of the poor by wealthy merchants and landlords, and the abuse of the working class by the powerful and wealthy. Even the slowest soldiers couldn't help but feel indignant!

Although they lacked profound education and were not exceptionally intelligent geniuses, they had truly climbed their way up from the bottom. No one understood the ugly faces of the powerful and wealthy landlords better than those who had experienced it firsthand!

Moreover, compared to the "ethnic conflicts" you mentioned before, this class conflict is clearly more likely to provoke public anger. This is because most people may have never seen many Jurchens in their lives, nor have they personally experienced being attacked by Jurchen nobles, but they are all too familiar with the landlords and bureaucrats who are also Han Chinese!

Given the current escalation of internal conflicts within the Jin state, if it weren't for Wanyan Wuzhu's ability to manipulate people's thoughts and minds, the streets would likely have been littered with the bones of high-ranking officials long ago...

Therefore, your ideological education work proceeded very smoothly. Before long, these "One Heart Society" members, whom you had carefully selected, naturally accepted your new ideas!

[And what you need to do next is to start implanting the seeds of divine power into everyone who has laid the foundation, so that they can officially become Imperial Guards.]

But as the saying goes, plans can never keep up with changes. Just when you thought everything was going smoothly with the Embroidered Uniform Guard plan, an unexpected event occurred...

【…】

[You intended to implant the seeds of tyrannical divine power into everyone, but you soon discovered that every time you unleashed that power, the opposing Jin soldiers would immediately mutate, transforming from humans into mindless monsters!]

Even if you forcibly infuse them with divine power, they won't return to normal; instead, they'll become even more insane. Only when you actively dispel this violent divine power will they slowly return to normal...

Faced with this unexpected turn of events, you were filled with confusion and doubt... But then, a thought suddenly occurred to you!

[In your previous failed attempt to enter the capital, you accidentally discovered that not only the power of lust can cause mutations in the Jin people, but also the power of tyranny! For example, during your previous clash with Jin Wuzhu, Wuzhu and his men mutated due to your power of tyranny.]

[In that case, you naturally won't be able to implant the divine power seed into the Jin soldiers, meaning your Jinyiwei plan is doomed to fail before it even begins...]

You are very upset about this: Why do these deadly accidents keep happening?

At this rate, when will you ever defeat Jin Wuzhu?!

You are extremely disappointed and unwilling, but since things have come to this point, you can't think of a new solution for the time being. So you can only continue to indoctrinate everyone with your class hatred ideology: whether it works or not, let's just do it for now... what if it comes in handy later?

You let out a long sigh...

Just when you were feeling devastated by the setbacks in reality, your father-in-law pondered for a long time before slowly suggesting a potentially feasible direction: "Perhaps you could change the test subjects from ordinary Jin soldiers from the Central Plains to others..."

You were startled: "Who?"

"A member of the Wanyan clan!"

【You: Huh?】

The Prime Minister said earnestly, "Haven't you noticed? Take Wuzhu and other members of the royal family as examples. Even if they mutated, they wouldn't actually lose their minds, because the Wanyan bloodline naturally resists the dementia caused by mutation!"

"And in that case, aren't they the most suitable candidates for the Embroidered Uniform Guard...?"

After your father's reminder, you suddenly realized: it seems... it really is true!

The Wanyan clan members are naturally resistant to the dementia caused by mutations. Even if you implant a seed of divine power into them, they will still retain their sanity, making them perfect candidates for the Embroidered Uniform Guard!

[However, you still hesitate because this method has a major flaw: the Jin soldiers were able to quickly accept class ideology because they generally came from humble backgrounds, most of them were poor peasants who couldn't even afford to eat, and the rest were at most self-cultivating farmers. In the Jin dynasty, where internal contradictions were extremely sharp, they were all class brothers who suffered endless oppression and humiliation from the upper class!]

[But the Wanyan clan members...]

[Aren't they the ruling class?! These royal descendants are always the ones bullying others, never the ones being bullied.]

How could someone with such a background possibly endorse rebellious ideas like class revenge, which are detrimental to them?

Therefore, you are not optimistic about this...

[But the Prime Minister told you a story: "At the end of the Ming Dynasty, although the Ming Dynasty's finances were stretched thin by the enormous imperial family, which was said to number in the millions, there were simply too many members of the Zhu imperial family for the Ming Dynasty to support. Therefore, a considerable number of members of the Zhu imperial family ended up as commoners, or even worse off than commoners. It was not uncommon for members of the Zhu family to return to their ancestral home of begging..."]

"This was especially true in the late Qing Dynasty. Many of the so-called Eight Banners descendants ended up with their families ruined and lives destroyed, and some even joined the revolutionary army to overthrow the Aisin Gioro family's destiny..."

"Now, the Jin Dynasty has lasted for nearly three hundred years. The internal chaos has been suppressed only by Wuzhu and others. It's highly unlikely that the Wanyan clan members who are not close relatives of the royal family can generally live a good life... So if you search diligently, you should be able to find quite a bit."

【this……】

The Prime Minister's words were not without reason, and they made you, who were initially skeptical of the matter, reconsider its feasibility.

Ultimately, you decided to give it a try first...

[However, you certainly can't go looking for people yourself, because you are, after all, a Han Chinese. Not only would it be difficult for you to find Wanyan clan members who meet the criteria, but it would also be difficult to gain their trust: even a starved camel is bigger than a horse, and a fallen royal family member is still a royal family member. A Han Chinese general who is not related to you suddenly wants to seek out a fallen Jurchen royal family member to conspire in class struggle... It's all too abstract to even think about!]

So you found your brother Wanyan and asked him to use his status as a prominent member of the Wanyan clan to recruit some down-on-their-luck Wanyan descendants... Moreover, in order to gain your brother's trust, you even went so far as to reveal many of your personal secrets: such as your theory of class struggle, your tyrannical divine power, your plans for the Embroidered Uniform Guard, and so on...

[Brother Wanyan was still feeling disappointed about refusing to go to the capital to ascend the throne, but after hearing your theory of class struggle, as well as your tyrannical divine power and the plans of the Embroidered Uniform Guard, he was completely dumbfounded!]

[Then, he slowly recovered from the shocking information you had given him, his gaze filled with complex emotions...]

"So, you want me, a prominent member of the Wanyan clan, to rally my fellow clansmen to plot the overthrow of the Jin dynasty?"

【You nod.】

[Brother: ...Laughing!] [He was so angry he laughed. Although he wanted to question whether you'd lost your mind, he finally took a deep breath and said in a low voice, "Give me a reason!"]

[You thought about it: Should you tell him that the Jin Dynasty was destined to perish, or should you tell him that class struggle is the will of the people?]

You thought about it for a long time, but in the end you didn't say anything, instead you started talking about the current situation of Daikin...

[From the corruption of the Jin dynasty to the hardships of the common people, from Wanyan Wuzhu's forced brainwashing of the people to the massive expenditures in the Mongol-Jin wars... finally, you spoke of the plight of the Wanyan clan.]

"The Jin Dynasty's fortunes are declining day by day, and the burdens imposed on its people are becoming heavier and heavier. The people are suffering greatly, and everyone hopes that the Jin Dynasty will be smashed to pieces!"

"And if the common people are like this, how can the Wanyan clan be spared? The descendants of the Wanyan clan today are no longer as glorious as they once were. Just like the Liu imperial family of the Han Dynasty in the past, the more people there are, the less valuable they become. Sooner or later, countless descendants of the Wanyan clan will end up like Liu Bei, reduced to weaving mats and selling shoes..."

"Moreover, the Great Jin is now in a state of utter decline. If our family falls to the level of commoners, I fear our lives will be even more difficult than those of ordinary people in normal times... Even if it's just to allow the Wanyan descendants, who will ultimately end up as commoners, to live in normal times, elder brother, you should heed my advice and let's all destroy the Great Jin dynasty together..."

[You didn't mention anything about the Taixu (a concept in Chinese mythology), but simply stated clearly the predicament that the Wanyan clan would eventually face: since the number of royal descendants will continue to increase, most of them will eventually fall into commoner status!]

So, is it better to be a commoner in normal times, or in this dying, decaying Jin dynasty?

[The guy was speechless...]

But he countered, "Since you mentioned Liu Bei, isn't there other members of the Wanyan clan who, like Liu Bei, rose to wealth and power again after their families fell into decline?"

You shook your head: "Even if I become rich and powerful, what then? With the nation in such a state, even if I become emperor, I'm nothing more than a temporary consumable..."

[As you speak, you tell him everything you've learned in the previous storyline without reservation: becoming emperor means becoming a waste, becoming a commoner means falling worse off than a commoner in normal times, and becoming a middle-to-upper-class noble means facing the threat of being dragged to the throne by Jin Wuzhu and forced to sit on a golden toilet, while watching helplessly as your descendants gradually fall to commoners...]

[Brother: ...]

[Fine! This is clearly a dead end for everyone. If we want the Wanyan clan to live a better life than these three, we have no choice but to grit our teeth and join you in overthrowing the destiny of the Great Jin...]

After a long silence, the older brother gradually made up his mind... He said in a deep voice, "Although I don't know whether what you've said about those mystical things is true or false, I'm still willing to believe you!"

"I will speak to the Wanyan clan myself. I expect many of their fallen members will come, since I am now a well-known figure in the family..."

"However, whether you can train them, who are always so arrogant, to become the kind of people you need is up to you..."

[Having received a deep, resounding response from your older brother, you also bowed respectfully to him!]

Regardless of the outcome, and whatever his true thoughts, he has given you the greatest support he could!

The hope of victory is right in front of you; whether you succeed depends entirely on whether you can seize it…

【…】

In the 217th year of the Shaoxing reign of the Song Dynasty, you, having been given a second chance, quickly adjusted your educational philosophy under the guidance of your original self and your prime minister, upgrading the original goal of "expelling the Jin invaders" to "overthrowing the oppression of the feudal ruling class!"

[Then, with the help of your brother Wanyan, you recruited hundreds and thousands of impoverished members of the Jin royal family...]

These young members of the imperial family are the result of their fathers' and grandfathers' unrestrained indulgence. Some of them continue to bear the surname Wanyan because their fathers are surnamed Wanyan, while others have long since lost the Wanyan surname because their fathers no longer bear it... Just like the increasingly prevalent non-Zhao clan "Song imperial bloodline" in the Southern Song Dynasty, the descendants of both the Jin and Song dynasties are numerous!

However, unlike the bloodlines in the south, because Zhao Gou himself was infertile, none of the Southern Song imperial family members were actually of Zhao Gou's true bloodline... while the Wanyan bloodline was indeed genuine; even though most of them no longer bore the surname Wanyan, they still carried the bloodline of the Jin imperial family.

[For this reason, almost all of these guys are extremely arrogant. Although their families have long since fallen into ruin, just like some Manchu bannermen in the late Qing Dynasty who would smear lard on their lips to pretend to be rich, these descendants of Wanyan also want to put on a show of wealth. When they talk to each other, they often proudly boast about who their ancestors were, how great their achievements were, and how high their seniority was...]

Seeing this, you decided to stop indulging them and simply put them into the army camp to train alongside the rest of your soldiers!

In addition to training, they must also be educated on class ideology, making them fully aware that living with the Jin Dynasty is a crime!

Of course, this kind of forced verbal education is hardly effective; they don't accept it well, and some are even secretly planning to report you for treason...

However, even your brother Wanyan, a high-ranking general on the border, is in cahoots with you, so naturally they have no way to report you... This is a case of collusion between superiors and subordinates!

Even so, my brother still gave you a few words of advice, telling you to be realistic about your abilities and not to get involved if you really can't handle it...

[But you merely smiled, and then quickly bestowed the seeds of tyrannical divine power upon these Wanyan clan members, causing them to mutate, while you led them to the Mongolian grasslands, specifically targeting small and medium-sized tribes.]

[Upon arriving at the Mongol tribe, you immediately captured a large group of Mongol lords and nobles, then gave each of the mutated Wanyan clan members a copper-tipped leather belt, ordering them to whip these Mongol nobles!]

"Whoever can draw upon divine power will be able to return to the Central Plains!"

["If anyone can't draw it out..."]

You gave a cold laugh: "Who doesn't need to go back..."

Sometimes, you just have to push yourself!

【…】

However, as the saying goes, "You may plant flowers with care, but they may not bloom; you may plant willows without intention, and they may thrive..."

Just as you were racking your brains on the vast grasslands to force these royal princes to transfer to the Embroidered Uniform Guard as soon as possible, an unexpected discovery disrupted your plans.

[Because one day, a Mongol slave you casually rescued suddenly spoke to you nervously in broken Chinese...]

"General, it seems I... have mastered the divine power you spoke of..."

……

(End of this chapter)