Let me address a few things I've been getting flamed for lately.
First, the personal expedition south. Some people said deliberately losing battles and screwing over his own army was a flawed idea.
It was indeed a little flawed. At the time, I wanted to explore some fresh hooks. The protagonist won't personally lead armies again.
But the book already said fallen soldiers were promoted straight into the Heavenly Soldiers and Generals. Even setting that aside, all the protagonist did was hold his troops back and surround cities without attacking. He basically avoided head-on combat entirely. Who did he screw over? If he'd recklessly sent people to their deaths, there'd be something to discuss. Does avoiding battle warrant slapping him with the label of sacrificing his teammates?
Second, the chain of rebellions. People said a group inside the city was already about to attack the Imperial Palace and capture the protagonist's wives, yet he was still calculating his pitiful Foolishness Value instead of caring about them.
Who knew it was a chain of rebellions? Leaving aside that this was Jiang Ziya's scheme, which nobody had seen through beforehand, Xiao Zhen also acted in secret to strengthen Xiao Yin's resolve to rebel. The rebellion inside the city originally posed no real threat. With Deng Chanyu, Long Ji, and a whole bunch of immortals there, anyone looking at it would have assumed everything would be fine.
The problem was that the Chan Sect intervened. With our god's-eye view, we knew the Imperial Harem was in danger. But from the protagonist's perspective, who could have known the Chan Sect would intervene so shamelessly? The Investiture of the Gods hadn't even begun. Who could have predicted the Chan Sect would suddenly act?
This was the central conflict, and the very reason the protagonist wanted