George Washington said in surprise.

"Who wouldn't be?

I'm also curious—why would he need to borrow silver?"

Edward Clark said.

The two of them really had a lot in common.

"Let's not mention such useless people again. Just thinking about it is depressing. What kind of barbarians are they, the remnants of Yuan?"

George Washington said.

"No, they call themselves Jurchen."

Edward Clark said.

"Jurchen? They're just wild Jurchen savages, barely surviving in the forests northeast of Liao. A few years ago, some even came to pay tribute and beg for protection from me. How could they possibly destroy my Great Ming? That's simply absurd. If you're going to make up stories, at least make them believable. Even if you said the remnants of Yuan were revived, I'd find that more plausible than wild Jurchen savages."

George Washington sneered.

Edward Clark smiled slightly—believe it or not, it was up to him.

"My million military households—how could they possibly live worse than dogs? They have land, money, and food, all provided by the court. Even if the world is peaceful in the future and there are no more wars, with these things, they would never go hungry or cold. How could their lives be worse than a dog's?"

George Washington continued to ask.

"Do you have officers embezzling military rations nowadays?"

"I do. Previously, more than a dozen people including Henry Baker, a Qianhu of Xiangyang Garrison, embezzled soldiers' monthly rations. I exiled them to remote regions."

"Then how can you guarantee that your descendants will be as strict as you?"

Edward Clark said.

George Washington immediately fell silent.

Clearly, he knew that Edward Clark was right.

"Do you have officers enslaving soldiers nowadays?"

"I do. Previously, Samuel Grant, a commander of Shizhou Garrison, and David Brooks, a commander of Xunan Garrison, privately used soldiers as labor. I had them executed."

"Can you guarantee your descendants will execute them as you did?"

Edward Clark said.

George Washington again fell silent.

"Do you have officers extorting money from military households nowadays?"

"I do. Previously, William Thompson, a Baihu of Datong Qianwei, and others extorted and harmed soldiers under various pretexts. I sent them to remote regions as soldiers themselves, so they could taste the hardships of ordinary troops."

"What about those who casually beat military households to death?"

"I do. Charles Foster, a Baihu of Baotao Garrison, and several other officers killed soldiers over trivial matters. After it was discovered, I had them executed to pay for the soldiers' lives."

"You see, even while you're alive, they dare to do these things. How can you guarantee that after you're gone, they won't go even further? If all the officers in the land are like this, or even worse, then wouldn't your military households truly live worse than dogs? At least dogs have owners to feed them—your military households wouldn't even have that. Do you expect such an army to fight bravely to protect the Zhu family's empire? Isn't that a joke? Back then, you knew you were starving to death and decided to risk everything—so why wouldn't they, when so oppressed, also rise up and fight?

Most of those who rebelled were your military households.

By the way, the common people even made up a song to welcome those who led them in rebellion.

'In the morning, seek promotion; in the evening, seek union.

Lately, it's hard for the poor to survive.

Open the doors early to greet Chuang Wang,

And everyone, young and old, will rejoice.

Slaughter cattle and sheep, prepare wine and brew,

Open the city gates to welcome Chuang Wang.

When Chuang Wang comes, no more taxes are collected.'

Doesn't that sound a bit like when those poor people followed you to rebel and seize the world?

It's said you skinned corrupt officials and stuffed their skins with straw, but after you were gone, the Ming dynasty was still full of corrupt officials. One of your descendant emperors' grand secretaries reportedly owned four hundred thousand mu of land, kept thousands of slaves just to spin yarn for profit, and civil officials were valued over military ones—the best generals called themselves mere lackeys before the grand secretaries. Those scholars even wrote you as a tyrant, saying you slaughtered meritorious officials and persecuted scholars. In short, they compared you to Emperor Yang of Sui, and your descendants were fooled into believing it, ruling the country in ways completely contrary to yours.

Oh, and they even painted a portrait of you, making your face look like a pig's kidney, and told future generations that's what you looked like.

And your face was covered in pockmarks."

Edward Clark said.

George Washington took a deep breath and suddenly raised his gun.

Edward Clark also raised his gun at lightning speed.

George Washington let out a cold laugh...

Then he put his gun down again.

"Your Majesty, let's both be rational. You wanted me to tell the truth, so I did. Not a single word I said was a lie. Believe it or not, I've already told you my true identity. I'm just someone who, for some inexplicable reason, was thrown here from over six hundred years in the future. I'm a soldier too, but just an ordinary one. Everything I have on me is from over six hundred years later.

By then, there were no more emperors.

The barbarians who destroyed your Great Ming ruled for nearly three hundred years. They were the last emperors. After that, there were no more emperors.

In our era, there is no hierarchy or nobility—everyone is equal. So your 'Son of Heaven' means nothing special to me.

I'm not afraid of death.

There's nothing about your era that I like.

Living in your time is actually worse than dying for me. There's nothing here worth my attachment—no family, no friends, nothing I'm familiar with. You'd better not push me too hard. At worst, it's a life for a life. If I can take an emperor with me, it won't be a wasted trip.

Let me show you something interesting."