Chapter 4: You'll Have to Pay for the Button
Eastern Jin.
Jiankang.
Liu Yu's head snapped up.
A rush of heat flooded through his limbs.
"What's happening?"
Liu Muzhi, the general at his side, said in astonishment.
"General, there's golden light around you."
Liu Yu tightened his grip on his long saber.
"The Celestial Screen has granted me the power to fight the barbarians."
"It wants me to win everything back for the people of Huaxia!"
Liu Muzhi cupped his hands in salute.
"General, this is the will of heaven."
"The Sima Family has lost all virtue. The world is hungry for change."
"The general should step forward."
Liu Yu's eyes blazed.
"Good."
"Since the Celestial Screen has chosen me, Liu Yu."
"I will not fail this world."
"Beifu Army, hear my command."
"Ready the troops. We march to reclaim the Central Plains."
The soldiers roared as one.
"Yes, sir!"
The cry shook the heavens.
Western Jin.
Luoyang.
Sima Yan stared at the golden light descending on Jiangnan, his heart dead as ash.
"Celestial Screen, Celestial Screen! How could you do this!"
"Not only do you rank me, you have to find someone to replace me."
"I am the emperor of a unified realm!"
"Why treat me like this!"
The reign of Emperor Hui of Jin.
A flash of fervor lit Jia Nanfeng's eyes.
"Replace the Sima Family? Fight the Hu?"
"The Celestial Screen says anyone can."
"Then why not me?"
Sima Zhong remained utterly lost.
"Empress, what replace and fight?"
Jia Nanfeng sneered.
"Your Majesty need not know."
"You only need to—"
"obediently do as I say."
Yang Jun collapsed to the floor.
"It's over."
"All over."
Meanwhile.
Across the various fiefdoms.
The princes all looked up.
Prince of Runan, Sima Liang, his gaze flickering.
"Legitimacy has been cut."
"Then this throne—can anyone sit on it?"
"This buff—can anyone claim it?"
"At worst, we just stop being named Sima!"
Prince of Chu, Sima Wei, gripped his sword hilt.
"If the Celestial Screen says so, why can't I contend for it?"
The late Yuan Dynasty.
Zhu Chongba, still a rebel leader.
Was somewhat curious at this moment.
"This buff—is it not limited to the Western Jin period?"
"Then if we take down the Yuan Dynasty, can we get it too?"
Great Qin.
Ying Zheng nodded.
"Good."
"This Celestial Screen is truly fair."
"The Sima Family lost virtue, so they deserve this retribution."
"If Liu Yu has the ability, let him replace them."
Early Han.
Liu Bang let out a yelp.
"This whatchamacallit buff, impressive."
"If we'd had this good thing back then, how would we have been surrounded by the Xiongnu?"
The reign of Emperor Wu of Han.
Liu Che was somewhat displeased.
"Why can it only be placed in times of crisis?"
"If this buff were given to me, I could completely annihilate all the foreign tribes!"
"Then later generations of Huaxia—how could they suffer from foreign tribes again?"
Wei Qing bowed.
"Your Majesty need not mind."
"Presumably the subsequent Ranking will have rewards as well."
Only then did Liu Che nod.
"Then the Celestial Screen still knows what it's doing."
Northern Song.
Zhao Kuangyin's gaze was grave.
"The Celestial Screen can actually remove a dynasty's legitimacy?"
"I must be even more cautious. Great Song cannot fall into such a state."
Zhao Pu said.
"Your Majesty, our Great Song governs through culture, so there should be no such worry."
Zhao Kuangyin shook his head.
"We cannot be careless."
Great Ming.
Zhu Yuanzhang laughed heartily.
"What a buff."
"Martial Emperor Liu Yu—I think highly of him."
"Humble origins, winning the world through his own ability."
"Back then, my Northern Expedition route was very similar to his."
"Pity he failed."
Great Qing.
Kangxi's face was ashen.
"Is this Celestial Screen targeting Great Qing?"
Yinzhen hurriedly said.
"Imperial Father, our Great Qing already holds the world, so naturally we are the legitimate Huaxia."
"Moreover, Great Qing's rule is stable—how could the Sima Family compare?"
Kangxi snorted coldly.
"I know."
"But this Celestial Screen makes me uneasy."
"Someone, continue increasing the intensity—control public opinion!"
Southern Song.
Zhao Gou's expression was not good.
"Is this Celestial Screen inciting the Northern Expedition?"
"Absurd! The Northern Expedition cannot possibly succeed!"
"Coexisting peacefully with our Jin brothers is the right way!"
"My dear Minister Qin, hurry and recall Yue Fei for me!"
Qin Hui hastily said.
"Yes, Your Majesty!"
Modern era.
The Bald One's eyes were displeased.
"The Celestial Screen won't directly grant me the reward? How blind!"
Madam Song said arrogantly.
"Kaishen, don't worry. We are the legitimate Huaxia, sooner or later we'll get the Celestial Screen's reward."
Only then was the Bald One satisfied.
"Indeed. Our party-state is not something mud-legged peasants can compare to!"
The Japanese bandits.
The Japanese general was furious.
"Baka! What does this Celestial Screen want! Damn it!"
"Someone, telegram all major armies! Be sure to speed up the attack!"
"I want the Chinamen to know what true fear is, and who the true legitimate power is!"
The Northwest.
The soldiers' blood boiled.
"Sir, will we also get Celestial Screen rewards in the future?"
The sir smiled.
"What we want is not the Celestial Screen's reward."
"What we want is the people's support."
"That is the best buff."
Across the various timelines.
The Celestial Screen flowed on.
[Next episode.]
[The Ranking officially begins.]
[Number ten in the gold content of Huaxia's dynastic foundings.]
[Please look forward to it.]
Western Jin, Luoyang.
Sima Yan watched the gradually dimming Celestial Screen, murmuring to himself.
"I am number eleven."
"I can't even make the Ranking."
"My legitimacy has been cut by the Celestial Screen."
"How much longer can my empire hold?"
Sima Zhong remained bewildered.
"Imperial Father, what is a Ranking?"
"Can you eat it?"
Sima Yan closed his eyes.
A single tear slid down onto the dragon robe.
The Celestial Screen dimmed completely.
But everyone's hearts.
Could not calm down.
Blue Star.
In the rented room.
Lin Fan had taken a nap.
He got up and looked at the backend data, dumbfounded.
[Heat across all timelines: one million.]
[Real-world reward received: 100,000 yuan.]
Lin Fan was thrilled beyond measure.
"This is just the Western Jin."
"When it gets to the Red Founding."
"What kind of heat will that be?"
"And the Celestial Screen even worked in the rewards and punishments I casually wrote."
"This could even change the fate of Huaxia's dynasties—I've got to keep working on editing videos!"
Lin Fan began working again.
And across the various timelines.
As time flowed differently.
The number ten Ranking finally began.
[Number ten in the gold content of Huaxia's dynastic foundings.]
[Great Qing.]
[Founding difficulty: Top-tier.]
[Founding quality: Utterly rotten.]
[Evaluation: Won the world by being less rotten, ruled entirely through slaughter!]
Across the various timelines.
Everyone was shaken.
Great Qin.
Ying Zheng frowned deeply.
"What does 'won the world by being less rotten' mean? Doesn't one win the world by fighting?"
"Could it be that their rule—they weren't killing enemies, but the common people?"
Great Tang.
Li Shimin's expression was very dark.
"What kind of dynasty is this? Could it be worse than Yang Guang?"
Great Ming.
Zhu Yuanzhang didn't know why.
Seeing the two words "Great Qing" made anger surge straight up.
"This dynasty—why does it feel even more hateful to me than the Yuan Dynasty?"
"Could this be the dynasty after Great Ming?"
"If later descendants—"
"let this Great Qing seize the world."
"I'll hack them to death!"
Hearing Zhu Yuanzhang's words.
Zhu Biao felt his heart skip a beat.
Surely his own descendants couldn't be so trashy as to let a brutal regime seize the world?
Also Ming Dynasty.
The Yongle era.
Zhu Di felt his eyelid twitching.
A very bad premonition in his heart.
"This so-called Great Qing."
"Could it be..."
The Celestial Screen progressed.
[Year 1583 AD.]
[Among the white mountains and black waters of Ming Liaodong.]
[Nurhaci raised troops with only thirteen sets of armor and a few dozen followers, unified the Jurchen tribes under the pretext of revenge, and later established the Later Jin regime to stand off against Great Ming long-term.]
[In 1626, Nurhaci died of severe injuries. Hong Taiji succeeded as ruler of Later Jin, and used ten years to establish Later Jin's dominant position in Liaodong, suppress Great Ming, and recover the remnants of the Mongol Yuan.]
[In 1636, Hong Taiji ascended the throne and proclaimed himself emperor, changing the state title to Qing. Great Qing was officially born.]
[Afterward, Ming and Qing confronted and seesawed for twenty years.]
[During this period, the Qing court nearly collapsed several times due to geographical disadvantages.]
[But fortunately, the utterly rotten Great Ming provided all kinds of assists.]
[Ultimately helping the Qing court complete the great enterprise of entering the pass.]
[In 1643, Hong Taiji died suddenly. Fulin ascended the throne, with Dorgon as regent.]
[In 1644, the Chuang King entered the capital. Chongzhen hanged himself in martyrdom. That same year, the Manchu Qing entered the pass.]
[After entering the pass, Great Qing defeated the Chuang King's Dashun regime, took the north, and preliminarily became a nationwide regime.]
[And this was not the end—only the opening of Great Qing picking up the world.]
[The following fifteen years.]
[The Manchu Qing engaged in long-term chaotic warfare with three regimes: Dashun, Daxi, and Southern Ming.]
[Especially with Southern Ming, they waged a seesaw battle for many years—two utterly rotten regimes rolling in the mud.]
[During this period, the national hero Li Dingguo, who spontaneously resisted the Qing, twice routed famous princes and shook the world, dealing a huge blow to the Qing court.]
[Coupled with national hero Zheng Chenggong's three Northern Expeditions that once reached the gates of Nanjing, people across Huaxia spontaneously resisted the Qing.]
[The Manchu Qing, having entered the Central Plains, nearly fell into a state of collapse.]
[The corrupt and decadent Qing court even considered dividing the realm by the Yangtze and retreating beyond the pass.]
[Yes, you heard right.]
[A regime formally established for barely twenty years.]
[Had not yet taken the world, and was already beginning to rot.]
[It was even nearly directly overthrown by civilian resistance forces.]
[But very fortunately, the utterly rotten Southern Ming regime continuously offered loyalty to Great Qing.]
[At the same time, they struck hard at their own allies and the people of Huaxia, helping Great Qing firm its confidence and survive the difficult period.]
[In 1659, the last emperor of Southern Ming, the Yongli Emperor, fled to Burma. The Qing court preliminarily controlled the Huaxia mainland—only then could it be considered as formally taking the world.]
[And at this time, Great Qing had actually not yet fully secured the realm—the crisis of collapse still existed.]
[It was not until 1683, when Great Qing's fourth emperor Kangxi pacified the Three Feudatories and recovered the curved island.]
[That the Manchu Qing completely swept away all hostile forces.]
[Unified the entire territory of Huaxia.]
[Truly became a unified legitimate dynasty.]
[And at this time.]
[A full hundred years had passed since Nurhaci raised his troops.]
[A full hundred years—Great Qing relied on being less rotten, and finally secured the world.]
Bullet comments surged.
[Good heavens, if I hadn't seen it I wouldn't have known, and seeing it gave me a fright—I thought the Manchu Qing replaced Ming as soon as they entered the pass, but they fought for a hundred years?]
[Great Ming was too rotten, which gave the Manchu Qing their chance. Whether before or after entering the pass, it was essentially all about picking up scraps.]
[To put it plainly, Great Qing is the champion of the less-rotten contest. Being at the bottom of foundings is well-deserved.]
At this moment.
Across the various timelines.
Everyone erupted.