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

Chapter 93 The God Emperor's Freeloader Strategy

【Commander-in-Chief of the Imperial Guards?】

[Even after you left the palace, you were still dazed and unable to react...]

You certainly know that this trip to the capital to meet the Emperor is a good thing, not a bad one. After all, judging by your thirty years as Prime Minister in your previous life, the Divine Emperor still has a lot of humanity in him. Since He didn't immediately arrest you during the Shaanxi incident, it means He has a different opinion of you.

[In His eyes, you aren't some daring second-in-command, Li Chuang, but more like a passionate young man loyal to his country... a passionate childhood!]

This is obviously due to the good image you have deliberately established in Shaanxi.

[Based on this, it is actually quite normal for Him to repeat His previous life's fire line pulling behavior on you.]

[However, what you didn't expect was that this time, He actually granted you the position of "Commander-in-Chief of the Imperial Guards"...]

[It's not that this position is too high. After all, in your previous life, you were directly promoted to "Prime Minister" after rushing the tower in front of the Baohe Hall. Compared to the Prime Minister, a supreme official position second only to the emperor, "Commander-in-Chief of the Embroidered Uniform Guard" is obviously not enough!]

[What surprised you was the hidden meaning behind this official title...]

[The Jinyiwei were the personal guards of the Son of Heaven. They were notorious even before the Divine Emperor ascended to the throne. Especially during the reigns of the two powerful Emperors, Taizu and Chengzu, the Jinyiwei directly monitored the every move of all officials. Any abnormal behavior of any official would be secretly reported to the Emperor!]

If the emperor was dissatisfied with a minister's recent behavior, he could simply send the Imperial Guards to confiscate his property without going through legal procedures...

After the Divine Emperor ascended to godhood, this power was infinitely strengthened. The Imperial Guards truly gained the power to monitor all officials and civilians, and even had the power to temporarily make arbitrary decisions. When necessary, they could arrest and execute local officials without the Divine Emperor's consent, and even suppress peasant uprisings!

[This is the true act of killing first and asking for permission later, a special authorization granted by the emperor!]

[There is no doubt that the Jinyiwei was a violent organization directly responsible to the emperor. Ordinary laws had no meaning to them.]

Therefore, the Jinyiwei Commander-in-Chief must be absolutely loyal to the emperor, and the emperor would not appoint an untrustworthy person to this position... In other words, the Jinyiwei Commander-in-Chief can be incompetent, but he must be loyal!

【Loyalty is the commander's greatest characteristic.】

[And now, this important position has unexpectedly fallen directly upon you... What does this mean? Could it be that you were born with the appearance of a loyal minister, and that's why the Divine Emperor chose you at first sight?]

[You feel strange: This shouldn’t be possible…]

[Thinking of this, you recall the Divine Emperor's words just now: He decided to appoint you as the Commander-in-Chief of the Imperial Guards because you were able to gain divine power by teaching the common people to whip the vested interests.]

So, His purpose becomes...

[“Freebie?!”]

Your eyes widened in sudden realization: According to past lives, the Divine Emperor has been trying to save divine power. To this end, he constantly utilized the traditional skills of the Ming Dynasty to repeatedly reduce divine power salaries, from distributing 100,000 Jinyiwei-level divine powers annually to 80,000, and then to 50,000...

[By the 73rd year of Chongzhen, when you served as Prime Minister in your previous life, the Divine Power salary had been reduced to only 20,000 every three years, and even continued to decrease thereafter, with no payment made for over a decade.]

[This pay is owed, even the old bastard Wanli has to kowtow to Him...]

The main reasons for the Divine Emperor's reduction of divine power salaries were, firstly, the "Sage King Psychology" in his nature had kicked in, and he was no longer willing to harm the people of the world for his own selfish interests. Secondly, the divine power required to maintain his own lifespan was too much, so he was forced to cut the salaries of his subjects.

[And now, you, a miraculous talent who can generate your own electricity, have suddenly caught His eye. How could He not be delighted?!]

[With you leading the Jinyiwei, He can get it for free. He no longer needs to pay the tens of thousands of Jinyiwei the divine power salary!]

[What? They're owed wages?] [No problem, just let Commander Zhou lead everyone in playing spinning tops... Self-production and self-sufficiency, self-sufficiency, voluntary unpaid work and overtime... Is there anything more satisfying than this?]

What? Loyalty?

If you can help your boss feed tens of thousands of starving minions for free, then you are truly the most loyal minister of the Ming Dynasty!

[Cost reduction and efficiency improvement? No, this is nonsense: cost-free efficiency improvement!]

[After you figure this out, you can't help but sigh deeply: He is indeed still the god-level, stingy emperor who was willing to shut down all the post stations across the country just to save tens of thousands of taels of silver...]

【But... this seems to be exactly what you want! 】

[Excitement gradually ignited in your eyes: "Just when I was worrying about the low efficiency of punishing the local tyrants and evil gentry, now the Divine Emperor has directly granted you the special authority to monitor all the palaces... Doesn't this mean that from now on, all the civil and military officials in the court will become your pawns?"]

[They're both spinning tops, but aren't officials much more powerful than the local tyrants?]

【Powerful! Dominant!】

[Beyblade Warriors, make their grand appearance! ]

【…】

In the fifty-first year of Chongzhen's reign, the eight-year-old you were summoned by the Divine Emperor. During the interrogation in the palace, the Divine Emperor was delighted. The delighted Divine Emperor immediately replicated his story of promoting Yuan on the spot, promoting you directly from an unofficial candidate to the commander-in-chief of the Embroidered Uniform Guard, leading the Emperor's orders to oversee all officials!

[So, with the ambition of becoming a full-scale Beyblade Warrior, you headed directly to the Fengtai Camp where the Imperial Guards were stationed, bearing the Emperor's order...]

【A young man has arrived from the Imperial Guards! 】

[As soon as you took office, the Jinyiwei were shocked and discussed: How did this eight-year-old kid become the commander-in-chief?!]

Some speculate that you're His Majesty's illegitimate son, while others speculate that you're the grandson of the Prime Minister... After all, this is too much of an exaggeration. Gan Luo wasn't even appointed Prime Minister until he was twelve, and you're already a commander at eight! If you weren't a royal relative, this would be incomprehensible!

[Of course, some people have more devious thoughts: Could this guy be selling sex to His Majesty?... No, I haven't heard that His Majesty has such a hobby. After all, He is the Divine Emperor, not a priest...]

[But no matter what, you put on the specially made small-sized Flying Fish suit in front of everyone's gaze, and accepted the ivory waist badge while the former commander-in-chief looked reluctant...]

【From then on, Commander Zhou came to his loyal Jinyiwei camp! 】

However, you didn't immediately start playing top spinning with this group of Jinyiwei. Instead, you first assigned the twenty Shaanxi Yuancongs you brought with you to important positions at various levels. After a transfer of power, you were able to barely gain initial control of the most powerful violent organization in the entire Ming Dynasty.

[Then, once you're fully prepared, you'll need to teach them the theoretical basis of "class hatred." After all, without this, you won't be able to instill in them a genuine hatred for officials and other vested interests, and there's no way you can even develop divine power.]

【But you suddenly paused because you thought of something. 】

The theory of class hatred is certainly good, but it was taught to ordinary people who were deeply oppressed by the Ming court. Only victims of their class would harbor a natural hatred for the Ming ruling class.

[But the Jinyiwei seem to be the most loyal feudal fighters of the ruling class. Talking to them about this is like talking to a cow...]

[You realized that this matter was not simple and frowned.]

……

(End of this chapter)