Chapter 817: A Brief Discussion of Two Points

My apologies, I posted the wrong author's remarks — everyone, please don't subscribe.

1. As for Zhao Kuangyin, the author does indeed hold an appreciative attitude toward him. As a founding monarch who ranks among the greats in history, even Mao ** placed him alongside Qin Shi Huang, Han Wu Di, Tang Taizong, and Song Taizu in his poetry — there's no reason to deliberately disparage or slander him.

His successors were unworthy; many people blame Zhao Kuangyin for the Later Song's subsequent decline, which is neither objective nor fair.

What kind of era was the Five Dynasties? How brutal was the scourge of military provinces? Anyone who has read the historical records of that period should understand. Zhao Kuangyin was able to eliminate old abuses and conquer the various states — his historical status and achievements cannot be erased.

Collecting military power and centralizing authority was also the correct direction; his methods were not wrong. As for overcorrecting — wasn't that only to be expected?

As for the Song army, during Zhao Kuangyin's reign, and even in the early years of Zhao Guangyi's, it could be described as a strong military. Otherwise, could weak troops have pacified the realm? In the early Song, was there a shortage of famous generals?

Although some seeds of misfortune were already planted starting with Zhao Kuangyin, personally I believe the flaws do not obscure the virtues.

Oppressing an orphan and a widow, seizing the state through improper means — perhaps that's a blemish. But standing at the crest of history, the choice to replace Zhou had no real problem either.

Personally, I think so many people despise this point not out of sympathy for that orphan and widow, but out of regret for Guo Rong. After all, many say that if Guo Rong had lived a few more years, what would have happened this way or that — which shows their lament for his early death.

But history has no "ifs." In writing this book, the author is also using imagination to make up for some regrets about this period of history. A small spoiler: at the very beginning, I wanted to write about transmigrating into Guo Rong's body, because I too felt his early death was a great pity.

2. Some readers feel this book is progressing too slowly — it's already two million characters and still hasn't unified the realm. This is a pacing issue with the book; I've filled it with too much other content and padded a lot of words.

But following the book's timeline, with the Great Han established for 11 years, the unification process reaching the step of destroying Shu — that's really not slow, even a bit fast.

You should know, with the foundation laid by Later Zhou over ten years, Zhao Kuangyin still took 13 years to basically pacify the south.

Some people compare the protagonist with Guo Rong. I can only say, Guo Rong could be called a wise sovereign and heroic ruler of his generation, but comparing his achievements with those of the author's "own son" Liu Chengyou — isn't that a bit unfair to him?

And besides, has anyone seriously compared the development of history in this book with official history?

Guo Rong was able, within a few years, to repel Jinyang in the north, take Qin and Feng in the west, pacify Huainan in the south, and then campaign north to Youzhou — Guo Wei's three years of laying the foundation played a huge role.

If in the novel's world Liu Zhiyuan had also given Liu Chengyou three years of foundation, wouldn't the extrapolation be about the same as the current development? It's just that in the book, the protagonist spends his own time on development and reform.

As for following the path of historical development — a choice that has been tested, isn't it worth learning from?

Historical extrapolation has both its inevitability and contingency; strategic choices also have their commonalities. Once the strategy of "south first, north later" was set, combined with the national conditions in the book, the path from Huainan, to Qinfeng, then to Jinghu has a traceable logic.

If, for the sake of being unconventional and differing from history, one changed the order of attack — say, taking Jiangnan first, then Jinghu, then fighting Chuanshu — wouldn't that feel awkward?

Of course, if I fabricated some historical circumstances — such as internal strife in the Southern Tang, peasant uprisings, and so on — to create an opportunity for the protagonist to destroy Tang, that wouldn't be impossible either.

That would be taking a different path, but it's not what I want to write. This is an imagination and extrapolation based on official history.

Well, that's enough for now. As I always say, opinions differ from person to person — however you view it, each of you may keep your own views.