Chapter 818: This Is the Author's Note

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 ** listed him alongside Qin Shi Huang, Han Wu Di, Tang Tai Zong, and Song Tai Zu in his poetry — there's no reason to deliberately disparage or smear 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. That Zhao Kuangyin was able to eliminate old ills and conquer the various states — his historical standing and achievements cannot be erased.

Reclaiming military power and centralizing authority was also the correct direction; the approach was not wrong. As for overcorrecting — isn't that only to be expected?

As for the Song army, during Zhao Kuangyin's reign and even 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 trouble were already planted starting with Zhao Kuangyin, in my personal opinion, the flaws do not obscure the virtues.

Oppressing an orphan and a widow, seizing the state through improper means — that may be a stain. But standing at the crest of history, the choice to replace Zhou was not problematic.

In my personal view, so many people despise this point not out of sympathy for that orphan and widow, but because they feel regret for Guo Rong. After all, many say that if Guo Rong had lived a few more years, things would have turned out this way or that — which shows their lament over his early death.

But history has no "what 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 a transmigration into Guo Rong's body, because I too felt that Guo Rong's 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 timeline in the book, the Great Han has been established for 11 years, and the process of unifying the realm has reached the step of conquering Shu — that's really not slow, even somewhat fast.

You should know that even with the foundation laid by the 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 that Guo Rong was truly a wise ruler and heroic sovereign of his generation — but comparing his achievements with those of the author's "favorite son" Liu Chengyou, isn't that a bit unfair to him?

Moreover, has anyone seriously compared the development of history in the book with actual official history?

Guo Rong was able, within a few years, to push back 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 foundation-building 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 roughly the same as the current development? It's just that in the book, the protagonist spends the time himself on development and reform.

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

The extrapolation of history has both its inevitability and contingency, and strategic choices also share 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, and then to Jinghu has a traceable logic.

If, for the sake of being unconventional and differing from history, one were to switch the order of conquest — say, taking Jiangnan first, then Jinghu, then attacking 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 extrapolation and deduction based on official history.

Well, that's enough discussion for now. As I always say, benevolence sees benevolence, wisdom sees wisdom — however one views it, each person may keep their own opinion.