563: Chapter 562 A traitor who serves three masters, utterly shameless!

"Exactly, he voluntarily surrendered to King Chuang Li Zicheng."

563: Chapter 562 A traitor who serves three masters, utterly shameless!

"Exactly, he voluntarily surrendered to King Chuang Li Zicheng."

Chief Designer Bai Yannian nodded.

"Zhao Ming used his knowledge of the capital's defense layout to draw a detailed city defense map. He then took the initiative to contact the top brass of the Great Shun Army, using this map as a pledge of allegiance, allowing King Chuang Li Zicheng to occupy Yanjing City without a single drop of blood."

"He thus became a high-ranking official of the Great Shun Dynasty."

Watching this utterly shameless operation, General Yun Feijie twitched his mouth in anger, completely speechless.

Chief Designer Bai Yannian ignored everyone and continued operating the screen, pushing the timeline forward rapidly.

The scene shifted.

The Qing Army entered the pass, their iron hooves crushing Li Zicheng's Great Shun empire.

"Wu Sangui invited the wolf into the house, and Dorgon's army swept through like a hot knife through butter. Li Zicheng was defeated at Shanhai Pass and fled in panic."

"At this moment, Zhao Ming once again displayed his astonishing intuition."

Chief Designer Bai Yannian's tone was very calm.

"He surrendered again, and he surrendered very shrewdly."

"Not only did he offer Dorgon the Imperial Jade Seal he had stolen from Li Zicheng, but he also took the initiative to offer strategies, helping the Qing Army quickly stabilize the situation in the Central Plains."

"Relying on this heaven-shaking merit, Zhao Ming transformed from a surrendered official of the previous dynasty into a favorite under the new dynasty's throne."

"Damn it!"

At this point, even the usually steady Long Jianjun couldn't help but curse.

"He is simply Lü Bu reincarnated, a three-surname slave, shameless to the extreme!"

A chorus of agreement echoed in the conference room.

Everyone felt that this Zhao Ming was simply hopeless.

However, Chief Designer Bai Yannian remained expressionless, continuing to play out the rest of Zhao Ming's life.

"Relying on his ability to play both sides, Zhao Ming was like a fish in water in the officialdom of the early Qing, rising rapidly through the ranks, eventually becoming the Senior Grand Secretary, with power that shook the court and the public."

"It was only after becoming the Senior Grand Secretary that Zhao Ming's life truly began."

"He drifted through the officialdom for seventy-one years, serving through the reigns of Huang Taiji, Shunzhi, and Kangxi, and finally, he was able to pass away peacefully at the age of ninety-nine."

"The most outrageous thing is that even in his old age, Zhao Ming never suffered any suspicion for having merits that overshadowed the master."

Speaking of this, Chief Designer Bai Yannian paused.

His gaze swept over the stunned faces of everyone present.

There was an indescribable expression in his eyes.

No one in the conference room spoke.

To remain at the center of power in a feudal dynasty for seventy years without being suspected—this had never happened in the entire five thousand years of Chinese feudal history.

"This... how is this possible?"

General Li Jingwu frowned, posing the question in everyone's mind.

"Accompanying the emperor is like accompanying a tiger, especially in the high-pressure environment of the early Qing. As a Han official, and a surrendered one at that, how could he possibly achieve this?"

"That is also what I want to know."

Chief Designer Bai Yannian's tone became somewhat complex.

He pulled up another data analysis report. It contained detailed records of the various decisions Zhao Ming had made during this lifetime using his power and influence.

"During his tenure as Senior Grand Secretary, Zhao Ming, from the perspective of a transmigrator, introduced high-yield crops like sweet potatoes, potatoes, and corn as staple foods in advance for reform, and used administrative means to promote them nationwide, greatly solving the food crisis of that time..."

"He used his position to secretly fund and protect a group of Han scholars and craftsmen from the Jiangnan region, allowing many books and techniques that were on the verge of being lost to be preserved..."

"Utilizing his knowledge of historical trends, he used extremely superb political maneuvering to persuade the Kangxi Emperor and the civil and military officials to vigorously develop a Han-led naval force, introduce Western advanced ship and cannon technology, and carry out a Han-led Westernization reform..."

"And there is more..."

After listing more than twenty key national policies that Zhao Ming had actively guided, Chief Designer Bai Yannian took a deep breath and continued.

"And what was the result?"

"The result was."

"In the year he passed away, in the China on that historical timeline."

"The Han population actually exceeded 300 million, the naval strength even surpassed the then-Empire on which the sun never sets, and the entire Southeast Asia became a vassal state of China!"