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

Chapter 62 It’s time for a showdown!
Throughout history, few powerful officials wanted to usurp the throne, such as Wang Mang, Dong Zhuo, Cao Pi, Huan Xuan, and others. Some succeeded, while others did not. However, regardless of success or failure, their reputations in later generations were not very good.

[Among the very few powerful officials who did not usurp the throne, many, due to family reasons, ended up with a damaged moral character or even a ruined reputation after their death...]

Representative figures include Huo Guang, Huan Wen, and Zhuge Liang. Huo Guang's wife and children poisoned the empress and attempted rebellion, leading to the execution of nearly their entire family by Emperor Xuan of Han. Even though Emperor Xuan, out of nostalgia, didn't deliberately discredit Huo Guang, Huo Guang's posthumous reputation remains unsavory.

Huan Wen's son Huan Xuan later usurped the Eastern Jin Dynasty, but was ultimately pacified by Liu Yu and his colleagues, a "loyal minister of the Great Jin." This not only ruined Huan Xuan's reputation, but also disgraced the old man Huan, who had long since passed away...

Zhuge Liang was a classic example. He himself was a loyal and righteous man who would live forever, but his son and grandson were completely incompetent. They didn't rebel, but they were truly treacherous... This became the biggest stain on Zhuge Liang's life. If these two hadn't died with such dignity, Zhuge Liang's reputation would have dropped significantly...

The above examples fully demonstrate a truth: if you want to achieve a completely flawless reputation during your lifetime and after your death, then you'd better have a group of reliable family members, or even better, have no family at all and follow Batman's example...

[You understood this principle deeply, so after becoming Prime Minister, you ruthlessly cut ties with your relatives back home!]

As for your parents, you try your best to teach them not to cause trouble and to always consider themselves ordinary people... Your parents clearly understand your intentions, so they have always lived in seclusion in the capital, trying not to cause you any trouble.

[In the end, all that's left are your wife and children... You decisively refuse this, and even if your parents try to persuade you, you won't leave yourself any room for error!]

How many heroes have fallen for their wives and children? Better to be completely perfect than to leave flaws!

[Perhaps others will think that you are not even human because normal humans are not perfect. Therefore, extreme perfection naturally means abnormality...]

"But what if you're a pervert? You only have one life anyway. When you start over, you'll have plenty of opportunities to marry and have children. Why cling to this life?"

[Besides, even if you are perverted, it was forced upon you by the Divine Emperor. It was He who alienated and distorted your personality by using the extreme feudal etiquette between monarch and subject!]

[No matter what, this world has never been normal! Under the control of the chaotic spirit of the Divine Emperor, whether it's the common people in the fields or the bureaucrats in the officialdom, they are all crazy!]

[You are simply the most insane one, so insane that everyone in the world thinks you are abnormal, so insane that even the Divine Emperor himself finds you indescribable...]

[Yes, in fact, you have guessed quite a bit about the God-Emperor's mental state. The reason He insisted on letting you rebel and reveal your true colors, besides certain necessary reasons of His own, is also largely because He doesn't understand you... He thinks you are sick! He thinks you are abnormal!]

As a living person, you've spent your entire life studying dull, boring books, and serving as a powerful official. Your body and mind have been subjected to unimaginable torture and distortion... Normally, you should have unlimited desires, always wanting to indulge in one of the three: wine, sex, money, and anger.

"But since you ascended the throne, you've never sought personal gain, nor have you ever committed any bad habits. You're a model of extreme self-cultivation. Besides your basic salary, you accept nothing. You've never formed cliques or abused your power for personal gain. Your integrity is so upright that it would put even Zhuge Liang to shame!"

[You are so extreme that you don't even have the most basic sexual desire. You are over fifty years old, and you have neither a wife nor concubines. You have no children, and you don't even have any young servants at home. You only have a few old servants brought from your hometown in northern Shaanxi...]

[No... What are you trying to achieve? This is outrageous! Even Hai Rui couldn't reach your level!]

[Aside from governing the country, you usually just eat, go to the toilet, and sleep... You even rely on your supernatural powers to skip sleep, reviewing memorials from one morning to the next... No, even Emperor Taizu, the most diligent worker in Ming history, wasn't as outrageous as you back then!]

[You are like a programmed, simulated robot born to lead the Ming Dynasty to rise. Mortal emotions and desires are completely insignificant to you...]

[Loyal minister? It's more like a human-machine!]

[With a human-machine loyalty of this caliber, how can you convince the Divine Emperor that you are truly a loyal subject?!]

[How the hell can this be true?! Huh?!]

[From the perspective of an emperor's mindset, all ministers should have selfish desires, and only ministers with selfish desires can be controlled by the emperor... If a minister has never expressed any desires, it means that you have greater desires!]

[All claims of having no desires or requests are just a pretense, the result of intense self-suppression! If one can endure what ordinary people cannot, then the desires within one's heart are naturally stronger than those of ordinary people!]

The more you try to appear pure and innocent, the more hypocritical you will appear to Him. Add to that His inherently suspicious nature... In the eyes of the Divine Emperor, you are not a loyal and righteous person, but the most hypocritical villain in the world!

[You dummy! You must have some ulterior motive! You must have evil intentions! You must want to harm me!]

[He seems to be an extreme psychopath, who is determined to expose your disgusting true face beneath the mask!]

[And you also happen to be an extreme psychopath, filled with feudal values. Relying on the fact that you can reopen, you use inhuman perseverance to demand yourself to reach an inhuman state, causing your mind to become twisted beyond description!]

[Two indescribable and extreme evil gods clashed with each other, fighting to the edge of the universe, even obliterating the Great Dao...]

【…】

[This goes on day after day, year after year.] [On the surface, you are both wise rulers and good ministers, but in reality, you are secretly at odds with each other. Two of the most nagging wits are arguing with each other. Let's see who will give up first!]

[Over time, the advantages of your youth will gradually become apparent...]

"After all, you are a junior who is almost sixty years younger than the Divine Emperor. You are only in your fifties now, and you still have divine power to nourish your body and mind. Under normal circumstances, you can live another forty or fifty years without any pressure!"

[On the other hand, the Divine Emperor ascended the throne at the age of sixteen and served as emperor for nearly a hundred years. Without divine power to support him, he would have collapsed long ago.]

[Plus, He aged incredibly quickly during the decades you've been ruling the country. Although I don't know the specific reason, or whether it's true or not, it certainly doesn't look like an act.]

[So, in this contest of attrition, it was He who finally gave in...]

【…】

In the 103rd year of Chongzhen's reign, the Divine Emperor, lying on the Dragon Bed, had already grown old, his hair white, and his body emaciated. Time seemed to have accelerated upon him... But even so, his immense power still caused all the eunuchs and imperial guards in the palace to tremble on the ground, afraid to show any sign of disturbance.

【He is just old, not dead! 】

【But He couldn't bear it any longer.】

Lying on the bed, he no longer possessed the previous anger and resentment. Only calmness remained in his cloudy eyes, a calm so deadly, so terrifying...

[“I lost…”]

[He muttered to himself, but no one knew what he said.]

Finally, He calmly gave the order: "Go and deliver the imperial edict to the Prime Minister. I want to celebrate my 119th birthday."

【One hundred and nineteenth birthday?】

Everyone was baffled: "Why would an elderly person celebrate a birthday like this? Don't they usually just celebrate birthdays with round numbers?"

Only one old man in the field shuddered, as if recalling some distant memory...

[And the Divine Emperor, seemingly intentionally or unintentionally, called out his name: "Zhu Zhongcheng..."]

Zhu Zhongcheng, former commander of the Imperial Guard and former Minister of War, shuddered and quickly replied, "I'm here!"

“I’ll leave this imperial edict to you. Be sure to hand it to the Prime Minister personally…”

[“As you wish!”]

Zhu Zhongcheng, who was over seventy years old, responded respectfully, then asked, as if possessed by a strange force: "Where will Your Majesty's birthday be held?"

[The Divine Emperor smiled.]

[“Tell him it’s still that place, the Changchun Garden that he gave me that year…”]

Zhu Zhongcheng instantly felt a chill down his spine...

【…】

On December 24, the 103rd year of the Chongzhen reign, the emperor invited the prime minister to a birthday banquet and ordered Zhu Zhongcheng, the former commander of the Imperial Guard, to be the envoy.

[Original cast, original location, meticulously reproduced one-to-one, fully demonstrating the craftsmanship of great craftsmen! ]

[A conspiracy you once used has now been used against you in the same way. The blatant malicious intent has caused panic among all those who know about it!]

【Finally, the time for showdown has arrived...】

……

(End of this chapter)