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

Chapter 37 Thirty-year agreement!
"Huh? What do you mean?"

The situation changed so quickly that Zhou Liang, who had already made preparations to reopen, was caught off guard, his face filled with questions.
"The Divine Emperor didn't kill him... but instead asked him about politics?"

No way! This is the God-Emperor who kills without blinking an eye!

"Something's wrong, something's very wrong..."

Zhou Liang couldn't help but frown:
Given the God-Emperor's Khorne temperament, how could he not kill him? And let alone the God-Emperor, any emperor in history who had been attacked face-to-face would have been furious!

For example, during the reign of Emperor Jiajing of the Ming Dynasty, an old Taoist priest boasted of a pure heart, but Hai Rui's "Memorial on Public Security" completely broke his guard. With a line like "Jiajing, Jiajing, every family is clean," and another like "People in the world have been disloyal to Your Majesty for a long time," the old Taoist priest nearly had his entire clan executed by Hai Duan...

For example, Emperor Taizu of Song was so angry at a minister that he threw an axe at him, knocking out his teeth...

For example, Emperor Taizong of Tang, a model of a wise ruler, prided himself on being able to accept advice with an open mind. However, after Wei Zheng once attacked him, he was so angry that he ran back to the harem and cursed, "I must kill this peasant!"

Even these emperors, whose tempers were far better than the Divine Emperor's, couldn't stand direct criticism, and you think the Divine Emperor could tolerate it? What a joke!
But this joke happened to come true. The Divine Emperor really endured it. Not only did he endure it, he was even scolded and cried. While crying, he displayed the demeanor of an unprecedented wise ruler. On the spot, he imitated Emperor Wen of Han's Xuanshi Questioning and humbly asked the madman in front of him about the method of world peace...

Honestly, Zhou Liang found it hard to accept, and a ridiculous thought even popped up in his mind:

"The Divine Emperor won't be possessed by someone else, right?"

But on second thought, Zhou Liang couldn't help but twitch his eyes:
"No...it seems this character is more like the Chongzhen in history..."

The topic returned to the analysis of Chongzhen himself:
The Divine Emperor... What kind of person is Chongzhen?

This question can actually be explained in one sentence. He was an ambitious monarch who wanted to support the Ming Dynasty and save it from decline and return it to a peaceful and prosperous era!

However, his high expectations and low skills make people nervous...

His eagerness for quick success, his inability to govern the country, his paranoia, and his suspicion and anxiety killed countless loyal ministers and generals, and made him miss too many opportunities... In the end, he succeeded in driving the Ming Dynasty, which could have survived for a few more decades, into the gutter.

There's a saying that goes, even if Sima Zhong had been in his place, the country wouldn't have been destroyed so quickly. However, Chongzhen did destroy the country, and his role in supporting the Ming Dynasty was negative...

However, before his death, he dared to shirk responsibility and put all the blame on his ministers, thinking that he was a pure and innocent little white flower:
"If you are not the ruler of a ruined country, then all your ministers are the ministers of a ruined country!"

and also:

"Let the thieves split my corpse, don't hurt any of the common people!"

I guess Li Zicheng must have laughed out of anger when he saw his last words:
Well! You are a great and selfless king, and I have become a thief who harms the people...

Who raised the taxes in Shaanxi? Didn't you force millions of rebels to rebel by imposing taxes on them? Are you blaming me?

Pure Daming non-stick pan! I have never seen such a shameless person!
The first hero of the founding of the Dashun Dynasty and the first Baturu of the Qing Dynasty to enter the Pass, he deserves the title...

But you have to admit that Chongzhen's original intention was actually good, but the execution was bad.

He raised taxes not to make elixirs or build palaces like the old Taoist priest, but to pay the elite soldiers on the front line so as to achieve the strategic goal of pacifying Liaodong.

He himself was even broke, having emptied the national treasury and his personal coffers. He was frugal in his palace expenses, and his frugality was probably comparable to that of Emperor Daoguang of the Qing Dynasty...

So the same sentence:

Your Majesty has the whole country in your heart!
Too bad I can only fit a little bit...

"So, if the current Divine Emperor's nature is still the same as that of the Chongzhen Emperor, then his desire to be a wise and benevolent monarch is not difficult to understand..."

Zhou Liang thought carefully:

"But because of the blow he suffered that year, after ascending to godhood, he only sought the loyalty of his subjects. To achieve this, he was willing to brainwash them and even condone their corruption. After ascending to godhood, he considered the consequences of corruption far less important than his subjects' loyalty..."

“But the more this happened, the more He realized how dark the world was and how much suffering the people were suffering…”

"The Divine Emperor has always been aware of the chaos he has caused. He knows he has committed many evil deeds and that the officials are corrupt and treacherous... But he doesn't know what he should do to change this."

"Which is more important, the loyalty of officials or the well-being of the people? He didn't know, so he asked candidates to write him a letter of advice during the palace examination, trying to get the answer."

"But how could there be any normal people among the candidates He selected for the palace examination? They are all crazy, only able to sing praises and proclaim loyalty. It is impossible for them to write anything sharp for Him."

"But this time is different. Finally, there's this outlier who managed to sneak into the palace examination and even dared to write him a fierce and vehement admonition..."

Thinking of this, Zhou Liang's thoughts suddenly became clear, and he couldn't help but clap his hands:
"If that's the case, then this [Baohedian Questioning] may have truly stimulated the Divine Emperor's will to rule wisely, causing him to wake up and embark on the path of a wise ruler from now on..."

Hiss...this...

Zhou Liang was also a little confused for a moment:
So... that's it?
If the Divine Emperor is willing to change his ways and truly become a wise ruler from now on, then the world will indeed have a great chance of entering a peaceful and prosperous era, because as a human-shaped nuclear bomb, he is equivalent to a deus ex machina in the current era, and his military power is absolutely invincible!
As long as he uses his power to kill all the bugs and replace them with a new and efficient bureaucratic system, with everyone's cooperation, he will definitely be able to create a prosperous era that far surpasses the Kangxi and Qianlong eras!

After all, even during the Kangxi and Qianlong eras, there were a ton of unresolved problems, and the Divine Emperor could solve them all with a single blow, maximizing administrative efficiency… And then there's the matter of divine power. If divine power could be harnessed as productive force, then we'd be sprinting from the feudal era into the interstellar age…

Zhou Liang looked strange:
"Is this... all solved?" Although he thought it was nonsense, if he could really turn the Divine Emperor from an enemy unit into a friendly unit, then the above would actually be somewhat feasible...

But...why don't I believe it?!
It's very possible that the Emperor would defect, but it's also a little unlikely that the Emperor would defect...

One word:

Hang!
"I want to see what the hell this is going to be..."

Simulator, keep going!

……

[Faced with the Divine Emperor's unexpected reaction, you were also confused: What on earth does this guy mean?]

[Are you really asking in the Xuanshi Hall? This doesn't fit the character of the Divine Emperor...]

[However, despite your doubts, you still boldly launched into a bombardment: "Imperial family, nobles, aristocratic families, wealthy merchants, and corrupt officials... If we can eradicate these five pests, the Ming Dynasty will be at peace!"]

"First, the imperial clan. Since Emperor Taizu founded the Ming Dynasty, it has been over three hundred years. There are probably millions of imperial clan members!"

"Admittedly, many of these millions of royal family members share the same status as Liu Bei's Han royal family, and have long since lost their privileges. However, the major vassal kings and their direct descendants still control vast amounts of wealth... Their fields stretch for miles, their shops are countless, and they live extravagant lives, often spending hundreds of thousands or even millions of taels of silver!"

"They have money but refuse to pay taxes, which damages the Ming Dynasty's finances. They leave the poor without a place to live, and even more so, harm the people's livelihood."

"The same is true of the children of nobles. The civil and military nobles who passed down from the time of Taizu and Chengzu are no different from the children of the imperial clan. They are all people with immense wealth but refuse to pay taxes. They are the same parasites as the imperial clan members!"

"The same goes for the aristocratic families. While they've long lost the glory of the Wei and Jin dynasties, they still control a great deal of wealth... and their connections are deeply ingrained in the local communities. It's much easier for their children to become officials and rise in positions of power than for commoners. This has led to the formation of various factions, which not only hinder governance but also squeeze out opportunities for the common people."

"Rich merchants and gentry are also pests. Although they do not harm government administration and have, under Your Majesty's measures, resumed paying taxes, they also seize the land and wealth of the common people."

"These four pests are the perfect embodiment of the inequality between the rich and the poor in the world... The world's wealth is limited, and they take more, while the common people take less. Many propertyless people can only serve as tenants and servants for them to avoid starvation... Coupled with repeated natural disasters, countless bankrupt people can no longer even be tenants. They are forced to sell their children and become refugees, which in turn breeds bandits..."

"And corrupt officials are even more detrimental! They embezzled disaster relief funds from the imperial court, sold grain stored in granaries, and abused their power for personal gain, violating the law. They formed factions and protected those above and below, acting like lawless local tyrants!"

[The Divine Emperor trembled with every word you spoke, especially when he mentioned the corrupt officials at the end, he unconsciously lowered his head...]

[Because He is the backer of all corrupt officials and the greatest protective umbrella in the world...]

"I am...guilty..."

[After you finished speaking, He spoke these words in an extremely dry voice after a long while.]

[But as He spoke, He then asked you a question with an ambiguous meaning.]

"Zhou Liang...if I let you govern the country, could you help me achieve a peaceful and prosperous era?"

[As soon as these words came out, everyone present was stunned, including you.]

Could it be that He meant...?

[You can't help but have an unbelievably absurd thought... But with so much at stake, you don't have time to dwell on it and can only grit your teeth.]

"I can't guarantee it... but I'm willing to give it a try!"

【"good!"】

The Divine Emperor's eyes lit up. "In the past, Emperor Shizong of Later Zhou once set a great ambition: to conquer the world in ten years, to provide for the people in ten years, and to achieve peace in ten years. Today, I grant you thirty years!"

"For the past thirty years, all power in the world has been in your hands. You have been like Yi Yin, Duke Zhou, Huo Guang, Kong Ming, Zhang Taiyue, and others, running the country!"

"I will not interfere with you during this time. I only ask that you use these thirty years to establish a peaceful empire for me!"

"Don't let him down!"

【…】

In the seventy-third year of the Chongzhen reign, Zhou Liang, a candidate from Mizhi County, Shaanxi Province, presented himself before the Emperor in Baohe Hall. Liang enumerated the Emperor's faults, and the Emperor felt deeply ashamed.

[That year, the emperor issued an edict of self-criticism, resolving to start anew with the people!]

[That year, the emperor promoted his son Zhou Liang to the position of "Prime Minister" and allowed him to establish his own government outside the imperial court and establish a new government!]

【Then, the whole world was shocked! 】

……

(End of this chapter)