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

Chapter 73: Even if you jump into the sea, you are still a hero!
【The East China Sea is surging, its waves are blue and boundless.】

Your spirit stood in the void facing the setting sun, staring blankly at the great ship sinking in the waves of the East China Sea...

You waited for a long time, but the souls of your former subordinates never emerged. Seeing this, you finally gave up your last hope: they are not you after all, and neither do they have the ability to be reborn, nor can they continue to exist in the form of souls.

[In this Ming Dynasty, you are undoubtedly an outlier, and have always been...]

[Regarding this, you don't know what exactly makes you different from others. You only know that since your last death, you have possessed the ability to remain in the world for a long time. Even if your physical body dies, you will not be able to restart immediately. Instead, you will have to wait until the power of your soul dissipates before you can restart.]

[This is equivalent to giving you a "second life," allowing you to continue living in the world from the perspective of an observer. From this perspective, you can see the changes that occurred in the Ming Dynasty after your death...]

"Then, let's take one last look at this world..."

[You sighed softly, and a ghost began to wander the sky of this ancient land...]

【…】

In the 104th year of Chongzhen's reign, Prime Minister Zhou Liang and officials from the six ministries suddenly left the imperial court in the capital and sailed away to the East China Sea.

[That year, the emperor re-established the six ministers of state, ordering them to continue the old system of prime ministers, emulating the Han Dynasty's "Xiao Gui Cao Sui" to benefit the world!]

[Thus, the Ming Dynasty remained stable, and did not fall into chaos due to the departure of the Prime Minister and others...]

However, the Prime Minister's prestige was still too high, and this "defection" was full of bizarre tinges, which made the people wonder: Was it because the tyrant emperor hated the Prime Minister that he resorted to trickery, forcing him to flee overseas? Or had he been killed by the tyrant emperor?

Amidst serious doubts, many local officials and local troops, who had been deeply indebted to the Prime Minister, spontaneously raised the banner of rebellion, seeking revenge for the Prime Minister!

However, due to a lack of evidence and the fact that the court still maintained the old system of prime ministers to gain popular support, this uprising did not gain the approval of the majority and was far from spreading like wildfire.

[The Divine Emperor showed no mercy to these rebel forces and personally suppressed them!]

[The following year, the Divine Emperor crushed all the rebel forces with ruthless force, and peace returned to the world...]

[Although the rebel army is gone, the discussion among the people about the Prime Minister's whereabouts has never stopped!]

Some people agreed with the court's statement, believing that the prime minister and his men had fled to a deserted island overseas to enjoy their old age.

Some people believe that the Prime Minister went to Japan, married and had children, and lived a rare leisurely life.

Some also believe that the Prime Minister traveled with the missionaries to the distant Western Vatican and succeeded as Pope... Of course, those who hold this view are generally Western missionaries, whose purpose is to facilitate their preaching. This is just like when they were preaching in the southwest of the Ming Dynasty, they lied about Zhuge Liang being a brother of He Ge...

As the saying goes, "If you're not from the same family, you'll be able to enter the same door." Since foreign missionaries have already taken action, it's inevitable that local charlatans will also get a piece of the pie!

“In fact, the Prime Minister did not live in seclusion overseas, but met Guanyin Bodhisattva overseas!”

“The Bodhisattva said that the Prime Minister is the reincarnation of a disciple of the Buddha, and that he came here to cultivate merit… Now that the Prime Minister has completed his merit, the Bodhisattva has taken him to the Western Paradise to enjoy the Buddha’s teachings…”

The monks are so profound and unfathomable.

[The Taoist priest sneered: "What nonsense!"]

"The Prime Minister is clearly the reincarnation of the Emperor of Donghua! The Emperor of Donghua was once reincarnated as Lü Zu, who was once the master of the Eight Immortals Crossing the Sea... This time, the Prime Minister, accompanied by the six ministers and Commander Zhu, is crossing the East China Sea, a re-enactment of the Eight Immortals Crossing the Sea. His past life's wisdom was awakened on the boat, and all eight of them ascended to the immortal realm together!"

[Each Buddhist sect held a different view, and in heated moments, they even resorted to violence, each intent on stitching Zhou Xiang into their own mythology system...]

【…】

[Watching all this, you can't help but sneer: These charlatans always like to do this... It seems the methods used to punish them back then weren't harsh enough!]

[Then, a thought struck you. The Buddha and the Taoist priest, who were arguing fiercely, suddenly froze. Then, in shock, they stretched out their hands and, in front of countless onlookers, slapped each other in the face...]

[Such "haunted incidents" occur every day throughout the Ming Dynasty. Besides making the charlatans slap each other in the face, you also often punish evil and promote good, including but not limited to preventing crime, rescuing the injured, helping the elderly... and so on!]

[This is also the use of power that you gradually figured out. During these years of wandering, you discovered that although you cannot be seen by others, you can still interfere with reality to a certain extent.]

This force is approximately two to three hundred kilograms. It's not much, but it's enough for you. With this power, even if you, the red ghost, are in your most powerful state, you can still contribute your little bit to this world...

[At this moment, you are quite like the "immortals" in mythological stories, soaring high and low, controlling all things, punishing evil and promoting good, without revealing your face, mysterious and compassionate!]

[However, this amount of power is clearly no match for the Divine Emperor, so you didn't attack him pointlessly. Instead, you tried to do something beneficial within your power before dissipating...] [Yes, before dissipating.]

Although you're much stronger this time, you can still sense that you won't be able to stay in this world for long. You can only stay for a few more years at best.

[So you cherish this final time even more...]

【…】

In the 106th year of Chongzhen's reign, the world was completely stable. Although the court was not running smoothly without the Prime Minister, under the careful governance of the officials appointed by the Divine Emperor, they were still able to maintain this huge institution.

[It was only because of the Divine Emperor's desire for immortality and the lack of self-control among court officials that corruption was inevitably tolerated by the Divine Emperor!]

Besides the imperial court's corruption, there was also the land issue... The land distribution policy was ultimately only a temporary solution. With the population increasing, and natural disasters forcing farmers to abandon their land, even with the court's meticulous efforts, the problem of refugees was inevitable...

The number of landless refugees is increasing, and with no end in sight to the relentless natural disasters, people's complaints are growing.

"If the Prime Minister were still here, we wouldn't have come to this!"

Everyone began to curse the imperial court. People forced into desperate situations had no choice but to take risks, and uprisings were common.

【You can only sigh at this. 】

What you're actually saying is: as long as the Ming Dynasty, with its small-scale peasant economy, hasn't entered industrialization, it will inevitably face a conflict between population and land. There's no permanent solution to this situation; at best, you can rely on disaster relief and population relocation to alleviate the situation...

【But how difficult is industrialization? 】

"Back then, when you asked the Ministry of Industry to research steam engines, you were planting the seeds of industrialization. However, those seeds never blossomed..."

[It's strange to say, this time the Divine Emperor clearly didn't interrupt the Ministry of Industry's scientific research, but up to now, the Ministry of Industry still hasn't produced any effective results!]

This puzzles you: it's just a steam engine. You don't know the specific technology, but with the Ming Dynasty's national strength, you should have been able to produce it long ago. How could it be so difficult?

[Is it that the Ming Dynasty's technology is not good enough? Or is someone deliberately doing something bad?]

[You don't know. You only know that the steam engine is still just a theoretical product. Its practical use is a long way off...]

【…】

In the 113th year of Chongzhen's reign, after ten years of wandering in the human world, you finally felt a wave of weakness deep within your heart. For a moment, you felt a mixture of emotions...

【“It’s finally time to leave…”】

You don't know whether you're sad or happy: If you're sad, you feel like you've lived enough, that it's time to be free. It's time to abandon this failed world and search for true salvation in the infinite future!

[But if you say you're happy, you can't say it, because you're about to leave this world you've poured your life into forever. From now on, you'll never be able to return, and you'll never see the people in this world again... Starting over is good, but behind it is such cruelty.]

[After all, you are still a mortal, unable to understand the separations in life...]

[In the final moments, you returned to the East Coast and stood at the port where you had sailed.]

This place is now even more prosperous than it was back then. Countless people who admire the Prime Minister's kindness instinctively want to make a "pilgrimage" here. After all, it was here that the Prime Minister once set sail... Therefore, people come and go here, and boats fill the sea.

[You look at these beautiful sights and can’t help but feel emotional! ]

[After lamenting, you suddenly felt playful, so you randomly found a huge rock on the beach and skillfully carved clear words into it with your telekinesis...]

[“After singing along the river, I turn eastward, using my profound knowledge to help the poor!”]

"Ten years of facing the wall to break through it, even if it's not rewarded, one is still a hero by jumping into the sea!"

[After writing a poem, you laughed a few times, and the ghost gradually dissipated in the sunset that had not yet set.]

[From this point on, Prime Minister Zhou of the Great Ming Dynasty no longer appeared in the world...]

……

(End of this chapter)