The video takes us to ancient times; Li Er transforms into the Tongtian Emperor of Shu Han.

"Old capital?"

"You're saying that Xiang Yu has already captured the old capital, and the Jurchens have been defeated?!"

"How could it be so fast!"

When the urgent message arrived, Zhao Gou's eyes nearly popped out of their sockets.

He was even thinking that after finding out Xiang Yu's whereabouts, he would send a large army to encircle and annihilate him!

Who would have thought that this Hegemon-King of Western Chu would act so unpredictably!

The old capital—that was Jurchen territory!

Even if he wanted to send troops to encircle and suppress them, he probably couldn't do it!

"Your Majesty, I have a solution!"

Qin Hui's eyes darted around, and a wicked idea immediately formed in his mind.

"My dear minister, just say it: as long as you can get rid of Xiang Ji, you will have accomplished a great feat. Whatever you want, I will give you!"

Zhao Gou was overjoyed.

"Xiang Ji captured the old capital, which was a slap in the face to the Jurchens. The Jurchens will never let this go!"

"We can first submit to the Jin people and provide them with some silver and food support, then use them to eliminate Xiang Yu!"

Before Qin Hui could finish speaking, the screen outside the sky was already filled with question marks.

What are you talking about?

They submitted to the Jin dynasty and provided them with food and supplies.

Could this idea be any more outrageous?

Zhao Kuangyin: "...Maybe I should just wipe out this lineage. There's really no need for such descendants to continue."

If you had simply recruited your own soldiers and mobilized a large army to besiege Xiang Yu, they would all acknowledge you as a real man!

You kowtow to the Jurchens, submit to them, provide them with food and silver, and let them go, all while calling it "using someone else's knife to kill someone."

"Forget it, we shouldn't have had any expectations for these two things in the first place; they've long since lost all shame."

Old Zhu sighed deeply.

How can you expect ivory to come out of a dog's mouth!

It's his fault now!

In the sky, Zhao Gou nodded without the slightest hesitation.

"No problem, we'll do as you say, my dear minister. How much silver do you think is appropriate?"

Zhao Gou didn't even try to negotiate the matter of pledging allegiance.

Forget about submitting; as long as Xiang Yu could be wiped out, he wouldn't hesitate to kneel and kowtow!

In response to his question, Qin Hui held up three fingers.

Thirty million taels? Isn't that a bit too much?

Qin Hui: "..."

He meant to say three million taels, but Zhao Gou added a zero himself.

Don't miss out on this windfall!

"Your Majesty, if we don't offer substantial rewards, I'm afraid it won't be enough to get the Jurchens to go all out. You can't catch a wolf without risking your cub!"

Zhao Gou gritted his teeth.

"That's right!"

"Furthermore, my dear minister, you should discuss this with the Ministry of Revenue. With such a sudden expenditure of thirty million taels of silver, next year's taxes will have to be heavier."

"According to the order."

Qin Hui turned and left.

After withdrawing the silver notes from the Ministry of Revenue, he casually stuffed half of them into his pocket.

As a middleman in the negotiations, it's perfectly reasonable for me to take a cut of the price difference, right?

Seeing the two men's words and actions, he withdrew 30 million taels of silver from the national treasury and increased the people's taxes by 30% for the following year.

Old Zhu was so angry his nose almost crooked.

Absurd, utterly absurd!

"Why hasn't Xiang Ji cooked these two yet!"

"We can't wait any longer, Immortal! Let us go too! We don't want any reward, we don't want anything! We just want those two dead!"

Not only was Zhu Yuanzhang furious, but most of the emperors, and even many who had been lying low, were also brought to the surface.

"Can we pause this challenge, kill Zhao Gou and Qin Hui first, and then continue? Is that alright?"

"I've never seen an emperor kneel so readily before. He has disgraced the title of emperor!"

"Heh, so the so-called rich Song Dynasty is built on the blood and sweat of the people, right? That's truly an eye-opener!"

"Can we fast forward? I can't stand it anymore, let these two die already!"

Late Northern Song Dynasty.

Seeing the screen full of comments, Zhao Ji panicked a little.

"Prime Minister Cai, what's going on? Did Zhao Gou do something wrong?"

"I think he did nothing wrong. Aren't the people's money the court's money too?"

As Zhao Gou's father, Zhao Ji naturally wanted to protect his son.

However, Zhao Gou had now angered the public, so he dared not speak on the sky and could only look at Cai Jing.

"Of course, there's no problem. Those lowly people are able to contribute to the imperial court; this is a blessing they've earned through three lifetimes of good deeds!"

Cai Jing said this as a matter of course.

He also couldn't understand why the other emperors on the celestial screen reacted so strongly.

It's just raising taxes, isn't it?

Those lowly people should be grateful and accept it. When did this become something to be angry about?

"Then why did they react so strongly?"

"Perhaps it's just feigned aloofness?"

Cai Jing thought for a moment and said.

At the same time, the images on the sky changed.

There was no Xiang Yu, nor Zhao Gou, but countless ordinary people who made up the scenes.

"Dad, I'm hungry. I want to eat steamed buns."

"Sweetie, drink more water. Daddy will go out later to see if he can dig up some wild vegetables."

……

"The imperial court is going to increase taxes again. This year's harvest is also bad. I'm afraid we'll have to use some of our stored grain after the autumn harvest to make up for the taxes."

"Mother, the imperial court has given us no way to survive. Why don't we go and seek refuge with the Jurchens? At least they'll give us some food!"

……

"This damn emperor doesn't treat us like human beings at all, brothers. I'm going to starve anyway. Becoming an outlaw is the only way to survive. Are you in?"

"Done!"

"We've been out of food for a long time, brother. I was going to say it even if you didn't bring it up!"

"I know a blacksmith. Let him forge weapons and rebel against that damned imperial court!"

……

“Husband, our little girl hasn’t eaten rice for two days. We can endure it, but we can’t let her eat clay with us.”

"I...I'll go out and sell myself into slavery tomorrow, and see if I can get some food in return."

……

Each scene reveals the true living conditions of the lower classes in the so-called wealthy Song Dynasty!

The powerful officials at the top were all fat and bloated, while the common people below either became outlaws or starved to death!

"Fu Song, what a Fu Song! It turns out that all this wealth was squeezed out of the people!"

Old Zhu was so engrossed in watching that he almost ground his teeth to powder.

Looking at these people, he inexplicably thought of his past self.

His family starved to death at home, leaving him to survive by begging.

To survive, he begged for food, became a monk, and a bandit.

And this so-called rich Song is not even a fraction better than the Mongol Yuan!

"If you were like Old Zhu, squeezing every last drop of profit from powerful families, I would respect you as a true man. But you have cut off the livelihood of ordinary people?"

"Zhao Gou, another crime has been added to your list of crimes punishable by death!"

Li Er was tired of cursing, and now all he wanted to know was how long it would take for Xiang Yu to put Zhao Gou in the pot to cook!

Such scum is wasting air every second they live!

At this moment, all the emperors were united as never before.

Even Liu Shan couldn't help but speak up.

"My father taught me to be kind to others, and my father told me not to do evil even if it is small, but I really can't stand it anymore."

"That Zhao dog doesn't even deserve to be called a human being!"

"If that bastard were in Sichuan, I would make him suffer all kinds of torture!"