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

Chapter 31: Unspeakable Darkness

"Is this... brainwashing?"

After watching this scene, Zhou Liang couldn't help but frown:

Judging from the existing information, the Ming Dynasty political system under the rule of the Divine Emperor has become a completely deformed monster!
Since the Divine Emperor promoted an extreme theocracy, there was no such thing as "cultivating oneself, managing the family, governing the country, and pacifying the world." The original Confucian political ideals of officials throughout the world had long been completely wiped out, and they became running dogs of the Divine Emperor who only knew how to kneel down and shout loyalty.

With the heart of one person, you can win the hearts of millions!

In this Ming Dynasty designed by Him, there are only two classes:
One is His dog, the other is His sheep!
People? There is no one in this world!

The Divine Emperor doesn't need any ministers with their own ideas. He only needs absolutely obedient dogs. That's enough...

"So if you want to serve under Him, you must be loyal. And in order to maintain the loyalty of officials, every new batch of officials must undergo this perverted education and screening..."

The first step is to inject divine power into the new candidates, so as to screen out the pure waste who cannot withstand spiritual pollution. The rest are naturally qualified recipients of divine power. Only those who pass this "provincial examination" in the true sense are worthy of being the dog of the Divine Emperor!
Those who didn't pass? They were pure trash, not even fit to be dogs. They were chopped off immediately to avoid wasting divine power...

Then came the formal brainwashing, using a bombardment of small advertisements to force the candidates to completely abandon their previous Confucian education and force themselves to accept these obviously fabricated "Chongzhen myths."

What? Why do you have to use these obviously fake myths to brainwash people? Can't you just use more plausible, original myths? Wouldn't that make people more receptive?

Alas! You are judging others by your own standards! If you understand this principle, how could the intellectuals who create myths not understand it?

This is the effect they want:

Precisely because everyone knows that this is fake, and precisely because everyone knows that these teachers are making it up, the more you learn, the greater the mental damage you will suffer!
A normal person can accept normal knowledge, but he will never accept knowledge that is obviously abnormal.

So on this basis, the more you bombard him with ridiculously false news, the more uncomfortable he will feel... However, he knows that he has to learn. In order to become an official and a superior person, he must learn, and even really accept this set of weird logic and knowledge.

Under such long-term contradictory psychology, the trainees will naturally become psychologically abnormal!
And when he really replaced his original normal logic with this weird logic, it means that his personal will has been completely destroyed, he has been completely "domesticated", and has really turned from a human into a dog.

They are truly "dog officials"...

Thinking of the indescribable chaotic malice behind this scene, and the "dog officials" all over the world who can only kneel and kowtow and shout loyalty, even the shrewd Zhou Liang couldn't help but shudder in his heart:
This is the true terror and darkness that shrouds the sky of the Great Ming Dynasty...

For a moment, Zhou Liang couldn't help but feel a strong sense of worry:
"Can he... bear it?"

Now there are only two options before "Zhou Liang":

One reason is that he refused to give in, so he could never pass the imperial examination and never made any progress in his life.

One possibility is that he surrendered and ultimately passed the imperial examination, but… his mind was completely shattered, and he became a lackey of the Divine Emperor, never to be able to rise again…

What will "Zhou Liang" choose?

……

[During this long and arduous study life, you gradually realized the sinister intentions of these examiners and teachers...]

Is this mythological knowledge absurd?

[Of course it's absurd! Every successful candidate knows it's absurd. This so-called knowledge is simply something ripped off from various sources and pieced together haphazardly! It's extremely distorted, extremely abstract, like a patchwork monstrosity cobbled together from various human and animal corpses!]

[But it is this kind of chaotic and indescribable pseudo-knowledge that you are forced to learn and accept...]

This is pure torture!

You have only two choices in front of it: one is to become a lunatic's lackey, clamoring for loyalty from then on; the other is to leave in anger, and from then on climb Mount Shouyang alone, picking wild vegetables and singing songs, ashamed to eat Zhou millet...

[Faced with this simple yet complex choice, your classmates quickly gritted their teeth and made their choice.]

"Why am I studying? To become a superior person!"

"I've endured all these years of hard study, and now success is just one step away. Should I give up?"

They muttered to themselves, then cast their dull eyes upon the "Jinshi Textbook" in their hands, demonstrating their choice with their actions...

This isn't hard to understand. Firstly, it's about self-interest, and secondly, it's because Confucianism itself was already extremely distorted during the Ming and Qing dynasties. During those periods, when imperial power was extremely strong, Confucianism was essentially a lackey, and everything was centered around the emperor. So, what about the literati ideals of family, country, and the world? They were already outdated and outdated!

Isn't the choice I'm making now about taking this path to its extreme? What's there to worry about?

[They silently persuaded themselves like this...]

【And you also silently persuade yourself. 】

[“Bear, must bear…”]

[You've already paid too much to get to this point. Now you're only one step away from success. How can you give up?]

[No matter how many grievances you have, or how many dissatisfactions you have, you'll have to wait until you reach that step...] [As someone who restarts their life, your opportunities are endless. You only need to gather as much information as possible before this life ends. Don't worry about anything else... We'll deal with everything in the next life...]

You and your classmates mutter to yourself, then throw yourself wholeheartedly into this absurd "study," enduring this torture that would drive a normal person insane.

[“I must endure…”]

【…】

【Time flies by in your painful study.】

[One day, three days, one month, three months...]

Finally, in February of the following year, the "Examination" that you all look forward to and fear will begin!

The Imperial Examination, also known as the "Spring Examination," was usually held in the capital in February of the year following the Provincial Examination. It was organized by the Ministry of Rites and was open to all successful candidates.

[However, although the exam was not held until February, since the capital was quite far from various parts of the country, candidates from each province often had to leave early, and the time of advance departure varied.]

[For example, in areas like Lingnan, which are the farthest away and have the most complicated transportation, I heard that you need to leave at least six months in advance to catch the exam, and there's not even enough time for pre-exam training...]

[Although Shaanxi, where you are, is quite far from the capital, transportation is relatively convenient because the route passes through the flat Central Plains. You can have more time before departure, and even have enough time to hold a pre-departure banquet...]

"Fellow examinees, I wish you all success in the imperial examinations!"

The day before your departure, Ning Bufan, the governor who never met outsiders, specially arranged a banquet for you. At the banquet, he smiled and raised his glass to wish you well.

[You, the scholars who have been almost stupefied by studying for the past few months, were stunned for a moment before you realized what was happening. Then you immediately raised your glasses to the Governor in a gesture of gratitude...]

"This cup is for His Majesty!"

He said seriously.

【His Majesty? ! 】

[As soon as you heard the key words, your muscles immediately reacted and you all shouted in unison: "Loyalty! Sincerity!"]

“Good! Good! Good!”

Your loyalty made Ning Bufan laugh with immense satisfaction: "The Ming Dynasty is fortunate to have you here!"

【"loyalty!"】

Amidst the unanimous shouts, a suffocating atmosphere of loyalty suddenly filled the entire Governor's Office...

【…】

In the seventy-third year of Chongzhen's reign (1700 AD), the Gengchen year of the lunar calendar, the Ming Dynasty's imperial examinations were officially held!

[This year, you are exactly thirty years old...]

In February of that year, you rode in a horse-drawn carriage, traveling along the Central Plains official road and successfully arrived at Shuntian Prefecture in the capital.

For the other newly admitted scholars, this was their first time leaving Shaanxi and their first time arriving in the heart of the Ming Empire. Consequently, they were filled with curiosity along the way, exclaiming in amazement wherever they went, feeling a bit like Granny Liu entering the Grand View Garden...

[The same goes for you. Although this isn't your first time in the capital, the last time you came, you were only five years old. Furthermore, you were a "prisoner of the emperor," meaning you had no chance to explore the city. Upon arrival, you were placed in the Heavenly Prison. After spending a few months in prison, you were finally imprisoned under the same hemp rope bestowed upon you by the Emperor. It's like you've never been here before...]

[So, this is your first chance to observe this ancient city carefully.]

[No... It's not ancient. It's very young, no more than fifty years old at most. Back then, it was shattered by a single blow from the enraged Divine Emperor, along with a hundred thousand bandits who had just invaded the capital, and reduced to ashes... The city we see today was rebuilt later.]

[Although this place was once a ruin, after more than fifty years of reconstruction, the capital has long since regained its original appearance. Only a few traces that cannot be cleaned away still record the "natural disaster" of that year...]

You had hoped to find more of these historical traces to deduce the true extent of the disaster, but unfortunately, the officials from the Ministry of Rites quickly took you away and ordered you to live in a special place with the candidates from other provinces, quietly waiting for the examination to begin.

[After a few days, the imperial examination you've all been waiting for finally begins...]

[When you sat in the cramped exam seat and took the test paper, you only had to glance at it before you smiled in relief.]

[Because the examination questions were unexpectedly simple, there was only one question, and it was very straightforward, so straightforward that it was even a bit rude...]

“Please write an article titled ‘Loyalty’!”

……

(End of this chapter)