【You would absolutely not make such a foolish mistake.】
【The Great Jing Dynasty, already in its twilight years of decay, is definitely not your main opponent. You only need to wait for its slow demise. At this moment, the emerging force on the grasslands, the Great Jin, is definitely your strongest future rival. You must strike before they unify the grasslands. You must nip this force in the bud before it matures.】
【Another more important reason is that attacking the grasslands to the north can secure a strategic resource.】
【What is most important in the age of cold weapons? Horses! Whoever has horses has the strength to dominate the world. You must take advantage of the Great Jin's weakness, while the grassland forces are divided. You must sweep across the entire grassland and bring all the horses under your control. This way, you can build a large cavalry.】
【At that time, unifying the world will be much easier for you. Otherwise, if you turn around and fight Yunzhou and the Great Jing Dynasty, fighting for five or six years, and then the Great Jin unifies the grasslands, wouldn't that repeat the mistake of Li Zicheng? You and the Great Jing are both injured, and the Great Jin builds up its cavalry outside, and finally unifies the world after crossing the border.】
【Therefore, not attacking Yunzhou, but turning north to the grasslands, is definitely your best strategic choice.】
【This is the kingly way. Old Zhu did the same back then. When Zhu Yuanzhang launched the Northern Expedition, the south was not yet unified. Sichuan and Yunnan still had heavy troops. At that time, his subordinates advised Old Zhu to unify the south first, and then launch the Northern Expedition to fight the Mongol Yuan to the death. But Old Zhu was a strategic genius. He saw at a glance that the Mongol Yuan in the north was his strongest opponent, and that warlords in places like Sichuan and Yunnan were not to be feared.】
【Old Zhu rejected his subordinates' suggestion to take the south first. He led 200,000 elite soldiers to swear an oath for the Northern Expedition, taking Dadu directly, recovering the Central Plains, and sweeping away the Mongol Yuan forces! Lin Changqing is doing the same thing now, which is to go north to the grasslands first and sweep away the Great Jin and the grassland forces.】
【In the third month of the twenty-first year of Xuandi, you led 60,000 elite soldiers from Youzhou to begin the Northern Expedition to the grasslands.】
【At this moment, the world was shaken. No one expected that you, a rebel king, would not attack Yunzhou, but would instead go north to the grasslands. The Great Jing Dynasty breathed a sigh of relief, and the other rebel kings laughed at you for being a fool. After all, not attacking the populous and wealthy Yunzhou, but turning to attack the cold grasslands, in their opinion, this is definitely a fool's choice.】
【You ignored these rumors. You led elite troops deep into the grasslands. The several fragmented tribes on the grasslands were completely stunned by your attack, including the Great Jin. None of these tribes engaged in infighting expected that you would suddenly advance into the grasslands to attack them.】
【Thus, the Northern Expedition to the grasslands proceeded with some surprises but without major risks. You spent six months sweeping away the grassland forces, and the Great Jin, which had not yet matured, was nipped in the bud by you!】
【At this moment, you are filled with pride. With the horses of the grasslands, you can build another 100,000 cavalry. The whole world is a smooth road for you.】
【In the eleventh month of the twenty-first year of Xuandi, you led your troops back to Youzhou to recuperate. After two years of rest, you drew horses from the grasslands and built 100,000 cavalry.】
【You decided it was time to unify the world.】
【In the tenth month of the twenty-third year of Xuandi, you led 80,000 elite soldiers and 100,000 cavalry, claiming to be an army of 200,000, and began to implement the Southern Expedition, preparing to unify the world.】
【You advanced triumphantly, first taking Yunzhou, then Weizhou, and finally directly surrounding the capital of the Great Jing Dynasty. Then, in the third month of the twenty-fourth year of Xuandi's reign, you captured the capital of the Great Jing Dynasty, declaring the destruction of the Great Jing Dynasty.】
【At this moment, the world was shaken. No one expected that the Great Jing Dynasty would be destroyed so quickly. You seized the time and led your troops to attack everywhere, and finally spent another two years unifying the entire world.】
【You established the country name as Great Zhou, becoming the founding emperor of the Great Zhou. At this moment, you are not yet thirty years old, and you are full of vigor.】
【But soon an accident happened. Not long after you unified the world, you accidentally fell while riding a horse and fell into a coma. After the treatment of the imperial physicians, you woke up, but you felt extremely weak.】
【You felt that you didn't have many years to live. You looked at the empress crying by your bed, and a young child next to her. That was the crown prince who had not yet grown up, only ten years old. You suddenly felt very panicked. This world has just been established and is not yet stable. If you die, what will happen to the crown prince who is still young? Can he deter those arrogant and brave generals? You looked at Ergouzi and Sanhuzi kneeling in the distance. These two people followed you all the way in battle, and now they are both great generals and dukes.】
【You narrowed your eyes. There was a murderous aura in your heart. You were wondering if the crown prince could deter these two people after your death? Ergouzi and Sanhuzi started with you. These two people have too much prestige in the army, and the crown prince will definitely not be able to compare with these two people.】
【You were thinking about how to get rid of them, but in the next moment, you were in a daze again, because you saw that Ergouzi and Sanhuzi were very excited and happy when they saw you wake up. They called you Your Majesty, saying that they were scared to death during the days you were in a coma.】
【Ten years of southern and northern wars, these two people went from villagers to dukes with you. How could there be no feelings? You hesitated, but after a moment, you hardened your heart again. You looked at the young child by your bed. For the sake of your son, the crown prince, you must cruelly kill these two people. You must clear away all future troubles for the crown prince.】
【After a month of recuperation, you could barely get out of bed, and at this moment, you also began your purge plan. You first fabricated crimes and made people falsely accuse Ergouzi and Sanhuzi of treason, and then you used thunderous means to imprison these two people, and finally found an excuse to kill some of the ministers and generals you thought the crown prince would not be able to suppress in the future.】
【In this way, after three months of cleansing, you killed Ergouzi and Sanhuzi, the two people with the highest prestige in the army. You breathed a sigh of relief. At this moment, you were even weaker, but you still didn't dare to die. You had just subdued the grasslands in the north for less than ten years. Only you could deter this group of barbarians. If you died, the young crown prince would definitely not be able to deter them, and they would definitely rebel.】
【Therefore, you braced your body and decided to pull out the last thorn for the crown prince. You gathered 100,000 troops and began the last Northern Expedition in your life.】
【You led the army to the Northern Expedition to the grasslands. Those grassland leaders were very surprised. They had completely surrendered to you, the emperor, and didn't know why you were killing them, but you didn't explain. You adopted a bloody method and killed all the grassland leaders and some of the formed forces.】
【After doing these things, you breathed a sigh of relief. You had done everything you could do. You had cleared away everything that would affect the crown prince's future power.】
【But after this Northern Expedition, your body was even worse. You coughed up blood every day. You knew that your days were numbered, but you still didn't dare to die. You still had to hold on for a while. You had to drag your body back to the capital. You had to set up regents for the crown prince and find a few reliable important ministers for the crown prince. Only after watching him ascend the throne could you die in peace.】
【A month later, you returned to the capital and found good regents for the crown prince. Three months later, you died.】
【In this way, your second life illusion trial ended.】
【Next, in the third life trial, you lived your life as a merchant. In the fourth life, you lived your life as a doctor. In the fifth life, you lived your life as a soldier...】
【Soon you passed all the hundred lives of the illusion trial. You officially passed the illusion test!】
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