Gao Shengyang's Comments

["At the time, the two emperors Huizong and Qinzong, along with the Song Dynasty's imperial clansmen, princes, ministers, and others, were captured by the Jin army like livestock and even subjected to the Sheep-Leading Ceremony. They had utterly disgraced the Central Plains dynasties."]

["Moreover, the Jin army could be said to have shown no humanity whatsoever toward the people of the Song Dynasty. Whenever they took a city and encountered resistance, they would massacre its inhabitants and strip it of all its wealth."]

["Having suffered such national and personal humiliation, the Song people of the time could be said to have hated the Jin people to the bone."]

["Later, when the Southern Song was first established, it raised the banner of revenge. But because Emperor Gaozong of Song, Zhao Gou, was weak, incompetent, and selfish, the Song people never got their chance at revenge. It was not until the reign of Emperor Lizong of Song that they finally saw an opportunity, because Mongolia had risen suddenly as a new force in the north."]

["In earlier years, the Mongols had also suffered greatly under Jin oppression, so the Southern Song now conceived the idea of joining forces with Mongolia against the Jin State."]

["As for the Mongols, they were going to fight the Jin State anyway. Given an extra ally for nothing, they naturally had no objection."]

["And so, caught between the Southern Song and Mongolia, the Jin soldiers suffered defeat after defeat. Later, after the Song-Mongol allied forces took Caizhou, the reigning Jin emperor, Emperor Aizong of Jin, failed to escape and hanged himself."]

["In addition, the Jin State's last emperor, Wanyan Chenglin, was hacked to death by soldiers in the chaos, and the Jin State fell."]

["Meanwhile, what awaited the Jin people was a frenzy of revenge. The Song-Mongol allied forces' fury at the Jin people could be said to have driven them almost out of their minds. They carried out a policy of indiscriminate purging, reducing seven million Jin people to a mere hundred thousand. It was practically no different from wiping out the entire people."]

["Moreover, their methods of dealing with the Jin people were deeply humiliating. Captured Jin men were lined up and beheaded one by one, and their severed heads were kicked around like soccer balls. Jin women became their playthings and were killed once they tired of them. Even the Jin empress was humiliatingly depicted in a 'Tasting the Empress' picture for people to view."]

["Even then, they still had not vented their anger, so they cut Emperor Aizong of Jin's corpse in two, each side taking half home to continue spitting on it."]

["From this, one could see just how ruthless the Southern Song's revenge against the Jin State was. To call it even more humiliating than the Humiliation of Jingkang was no exaggeration at all."]

["That said, the rulers of the Jin Dynasty got what they deserved. It was only the people of the Jin Dynasty who suffered."]

"Damn the Song people! Damn the Mongols!" A Jin man let out a furious roar as he saw the Jin people's miserable fate when the Jin State fell.

On another plane, a nobleman living at the height of the Jin State's power spoke with a twisted face and a frenzied voice. "We can't let the Song people off! We can't let the Mongols off either! Not a single one of them!"

Seven million Jin people had been slaughtered until only a hundred thousand remained. The men had been lined up and beheaded, the women had been... Even the empress... Such humiliation! They could never accept it!

"Good! The Jin people finally got their just deserts!"

"The people of later generations were right. The wheel of fortune keeps turning!"

Unlike the people of the Jin State, the Song people were overjoyed!

[Women suffer the most in war!]

[Everyone suffers. In an age when wars break out everywhere, massacring cities is as common as eating and drinking.]

[The Manchu Qing were Jurchens, right?]

[That's right. Didn't the video say so? Seven million Jurchens were slaughtered until only a hundred thousand remained. Those hundred thousand Jurchens should have been the ancestors of the Manchus. After living through the Southern Song, Yuan Dynasty, and Ming Dynasty, the Jurchens gradually got a chance to catch their breath.]

[The Song Dynasty kept making mistakes. First it joined the Jin State to destroy the Liao State, then the Jin State drove it south. After Mongolia rose, it joined Mongolia to destroy the Jin State, only to be destroyed by Mongolia afterward. It fell in the same place twice.]

[Was there ever a person who lived in the north and first fought the Northern Song alongside the Liao State, then fought the Jin State alongside the Liao State, then fought the Liao State and Northern Song alongside the Jin State, and finally fought the Southern Song alongside Mongolia? Was there such a person?]

[No such person existed. After all, those countries spanned a long stretch of time, and nobody could have lived that long. If you're talking about a family like that, there probably was one!]

On a certain urban plane.

Bohai City, downtown.

"I've seen this video before. If I broadcast it to those historical worlds, I should be able to get quite a few Emotion Points."

Inside Villa No. 18 in the villa district of Cloud Dream Court Residential Complex, Gao Shengyang found the video and comments appearing on the television familiar. He immediately remembered that he had watched the video a few days ago and even left a comment.

Sure enough, he spotted his own comment in the comments section.

[My ancestors lived in Hebei for generations and came from a prestigious family. Their branch of the family fell on hard times, so they weren't killed by that failed examination candidate turned salt peddler, who used the family registers to hunt people down. To survive better, my ancestors changed their names and fought the Northern Song alongside the Jin people, then fought the Jin State alongside the Mongols. They held noble titles under both dynasties. They visited the Laundry Bureau, and in the final years of the Jin State, they also slept with the emperor's consorts and princesses.]

Seeing Gao Shengyang's comment, emperors, officials, and commoners throughout the ages all wanted to know who this man's ancestors were.

The Song and Jin states in particular had been struck in the ribs by his comment. They wished they could wipe out all nine generations of his family, leaving him no chance to be born.

Others wanted to know who the failed examination candidate turned salt peddler was.

[Who were your ancestors?]

[My ancestors were descendants of Gao Huan and came from the Gao Clan of Bohai. Precisely because they were Gao Huan's descendants, our branch was in an awkward position within the Gao Clan of Bohai. So they changed their names, passed themselves off as orphaned survivors of the Xianbei, and entered the service of the Jin State and then Mongolia. After all, both were nomadic peoples.]

"Descendants of Gao Huan?!"

"Most of Gao Huan's descendants had Xianbei blood. No wonder they passed themselves off as orphaned Xianbei!"

Even Gao Huan himself was stunned. His descendants' descendants were also his descendants, weren't they?

Gao Huan's sons were discussing which of them the man from later generations was descended from.

As for why Gao Huan's branch was in an awkward position within the Gao Clan of Bohai?

The answer was simple.

Gao Huan's descendants had offended many people and had Xianbei blood themselves. On top of that, they had no chance to gain power, so their standing within the Gao Clan of Bohai continued to fall, and they gradually became a collateral branch.

Gao Jiong of the Sui Dynasty, Gao Shilian of the Tang Dynasty, and Gao Huaide of the Song Dynasty all understood.

[Gao Huan got his start eating soft rice. Was your ancestor really handsome?]

[Handsome! Pure-blooded Han people have single eyelids, but everyone in our family since Northern Qi has had double eyelids, big eyes, and fair skin. When my ancestor served in the Jin State, a Jin noblewoman threw herself at him, and he got to eat soft rice just like his ancestor Gao Huan. When he visited the Laundry Bureau, the women of the Northern Song imperial family's eyes lit up at the sight of him.]

After reading this comment, people throughout the ages reacted in different ways. Some roared with laughter, some were envious, some were jealous, and others were furious.

The Song Dynasty's imperial family lost face.

Gao Huan felt depressed. Descendant of mine, you don't need to keep talking about how I, your ancestor, ate soft rice. I really don't like that expression!