Dark Sand: My Players Are All Actors

The portal appeared, and at the same time, the surrounding area gradually became shrouded in white mist.

The fun for tonight ended here.

Although somewhat reluctant, Chu Ge had to admit that the progress of this instance had been unexpectedly fast.

Was it possible that in just one night of time, he had cleared the first stage of the instance?

This was really… a bit too fast.

According to the usual pace, the fastest time to clear a large instance was about four to five days, and the first stage often took at least two days.

It's true that Chu Ge's luck during this process was indeed good, seemingly having a touch of Li Hongyun's lucky emperor trait. In the roles of Zhang Chengfan and Zheng Tian, he almost skipped all the trivial details and went straight to the theme…

But no matter how you put it, such a speed of clearing the instance was indeed a bit exaggerated.

Back to reality, Chu Ge opened the forum to check immediately.

Sure enough, the vast majority of players were still struggling in the first stage.

"Darn it! The role of Zhang Chengfan is too hard, guarding Tong Pass with thousands of people, without even food; I've never fought such an impoverished battle!"

"But it seems that playing Zhang Chengfan isn't compulsory, right? If you die, you just go play Zheng Tian."

"However, according to what Zhao Haiping—the great player—shared, if you play as Zhang Chengfan and hold out at Tong Pass for three days, you can activate a talent skill. Could this be another key to clearing this segment of the instance?"

"How exactly do you clear the instance as Zheng Tian? Until now, I've tried all the talents that can persuade others, and not a single one has been useful…"

"Right? According to historical records, these generals should be easy to convince!"

"Poor me, I can't talk eloquently at all; even with the talent, it's useless… Maybe I should just go back to Tong Pass and stick with Zhang Chengfan's character. Perhaps I might find an easier route to clear the instance than playing Zheng Tian…"

Clearly, the players were having a tough time with this instance.

This was normal, after all, the difficulty of Dark Sand during the pioneering process was utterly unreasonable, and many of the puzzles were completely speechless.

The same was true for this puzzle.

Who would have thought that the key to clearing the instance lay in the piece of music "Lord Qin Breaks the Formation"?

If the players couldn't think of this, then trying to clear the instance would be a great effort. But if the players knew this, clearing it would become overly simple.

As always, Chu Ge immediately shared his experience of clearing the first stage with the players.

And upon learning this, the players were shocked.

"Lord Qin Breaks the Formation? The key to clearing is to perform 'Lord Qin Breaks the Formation' at the banquet?"

"I'm shocked… My silver tongue, along with the Persuader's smooth-talking talent, was actually outdone by a simple piece of music?"

"A simple piece of music? That's the spiritual support of Liang Dynasty's people!"

"So that's it! No matter how much you try to persuade these generals, it's useless, because Zheng Tian is just an ordinary official. The righteousness he espouses can be somewhat convincing, but to make all generals willing to risk their lives and shed their blood for the cause, it's still not enough. Only Emperor Taizong of Liang could evoke the yearning and nostalgia for the entire dynasty!"

"Think about it from the perspective of modern people. What comes to mind when we think of the Liang Dynasty? Is it the muddle of local warlords at the end of the Liang? Or the tragedy of the Liang Dynasty transitioning from prosperity to decline during the An and Shi Rebellion? Or is it the unparalleled poetry in the literary world? Perhaps it's all of these, but what most represents the Liang Dynasty is still the man Emperor Taizong!"

"Indeed, just like the people of the Great Sheng Dynasty all reminisce about Emperor Taizu of Sheng, the people of the Liang Dynasty also miss Emperor Taizong... That's the influence of a once-in-a-millennium emperor on future generations!"

"Now that I think about it, I can hardly wait. I really want to go back to the game now and see for myself what the grandeur of the ancient 'Lord Qin Breaks the Formation' was really like!"

After a short moment of astonishment, the players were shocked by the way the first stage of the instance was decrypted.

The key turned out to be a piece of music!

This piece of music not only uplifted spirits but also had the power to break formations and defeat enemies. It was no longer just a purely literary work, but a concentrated spiritual force, which could even have a profound impact on reality!

The spirit of Emperor Taizong of Liang, even after more than two hundred years, at the very end when the Liang Dynasty was about to be extinguished, still inspired people and made its final flourish.

Such a method of overcoming the challenge was something none of the players had ever considered.

However, some people raised questions similar to those Chu Ge had earlier.

"Isn't this method of overcoming the challenge a bit too hasty?"

"Yeah, just clearing by playing a piece of music makes all the other attempts by players seem dull…"

"Moreover, there is still a lot of content that could be displayed, right? Huang Xianzhi didn't get defeated all at once. In actual history, Zheng Tian did defeat Huang Xianzhi's army of fifty thousand, but Huang Xianzhi still had many troops left. And besides, Huang Xianzhi and the official army repeatedly sawed back and forth around Chang'an city… Aren't these parts not shown in the instance?"

"Right? Shouldn't there be more content involving battles with Huang Xianzhi?"

Seeing these discussions among the players, Chu Ge considered for a while and quickly offered his explanation.

"When I first saw the portal to enter the second stage, I also had similar doubts.

"But after having thought it through for a moment, I roughly guessed the designers' intention.

""

"This instance combines two slices of history. According to the script, we, the Order Restorers, were originally supposed to head straight for Emperor Taizong of Liang as our anchor point, breaking through numerous obstacles to reach the core of Liang Dynasty's historical slice."

"However, demons hastily pulled over Huang Xianzhi's slice of history, blocking our path."

"So, from this setup, there must be shortcuts. That is to say, there are more convenient methods as well as more cumbersome ones."

"And 'Qin King breaks the battle formation music' is the point that resonates most with Emperor Taizong of Liang, so it's the more convenient route to that historical slice."

"As for the more complicated methods, I think they exist too. For example, one could play as Zhang Chengfan guarding Tong Pass, recruiting the Divine Strategy Army, or engage in a more complex confrontation with Huang Xianzhi's massive forces to the death..."

"But in this game, there clearly isn't any balance between the simplistic and the complex approaches."

"As to why all the highlights are concentrated in 'Qin King breaks the battle formation music', while most other content is largely omitted..."

"I speculate that this is likely due to two reasons."

"First, after all, this is Emperor Taizong of Liang's instance; other characters, including Zhang Chengfan, Zheng Tian, or Huang Xianzhi, are just supporting roles, so there's no need to focus on them;"

"Second, aside from this section, the rest of the content really doesn't warrant spending too much ink on..."

"This was the final highlight for the entire Liang Dynasty, and afterwards, whether it was the demise of Huang Xianzhi, the fall of the Liang Dynasty, or the ensuing chaos of warlord factionalism that lasted until the Qi Dynasty, no truly heroic figures emerged again."

Under Chu Ge's explanation, many players who were not very familiar with this part of history gradually understood the ideas of the Dark Sand production team when designing this segment.

In other historical slices, players often had very clear stances and goals.

For instance, in the instance of the Great Sheng Dynasty, eradicating bandits and resisting the Northern Barbarians;

In the instance of the Qi Dynasty, preventing changes during Jingping, being eager for reforms, and saving the masses.

But in this historical slice at the end of Liang, players couldn't find a clear exit or goal.

Should Huang Xianzhi be overthrown?

Yes.

Although he led the peasant Rebel Army, carrying the inherently correct attributes and representing the figure who rose up against the tyranny of the dim-witted Emperor and his vile courtiers at the end of Liang,

He was unable to restrain his subordinates, indulging in looting and killing within Chang'an, soon losing the will to advance. While he became the gravedigger of the decaying dynasty, he also wreaked immense havoc on society.

Moreover, Huang Xianzhi himself was not a peasant; he was an unschooled private salt merchant from a well-to-do family, adept at riding and archery, who liked to cultivate desperados, and harbored great ambitions since his youth.

If he truly had the people's support, could he have met with destruction after having stormed into Chang'an when the situation looked most promising?

Should the Liang Dynasty be overthrown?

Even more so.

In fact, the Liang Dynasty then in its last years was even more outrageous than Huang Xianzhi.

Multiple military governors attacked Chang'an, Huang Xianzhi's subordinates defected one after another, forcing Huang Xianzhi to withdraw from Chang'an.

And the civilians who welcomed the imperial army were met with another wave of plundering and killing by the imperial forces and various military governors' armies.

Robbery followed by extortion, looting followed by thorough combing—this was no mere saying.

At the time, Zheng Tian ordered two generals to attack Chang'an, but Huang Xianzhi's withdrawal from Chang'an was just a feigned defeat. Greedy for glory and underestimating the enemy, these two generals allowed their soldiers to loot upon entering Chang'an and didn't even notify Zheng Tian's rear army to follow up.

Hence, Huang Xianzhi used this opportunity for a counter-attack, wiping out the two generals of the Liang Army and forcing Zheng Tian to retreat. Later, the military governor of Fengxiang rebelled, and when Zheng Tian was attacked on his way back, he, unwilling for his men to fight among themselves, relinquished his command and left in dejection, passing away later in his life from illness.

After Huang Xianzhi had re-entered Chang'an, he directly slaughtered the civilians within the city.

The reason was simple; he could not understand why, despite his kindness to the civilians of Chang'an, when the imperial army came, these same civilians did not support him and only welcomed the Imperial forces instead.

No matter how one looked at it, it was the fault of these churlish civilians!

Therefore, once embittered, Huang Xianzhi naturally veered further down the wrong path, racing towards extremity.

As for the various military governors who ultimately ended the chaotic era at the end of Liang...

They did indeed end the Liang Dynasty, but quickly thereafter, they plunged the entire Huaxia into an even greater period of turmoil.

If some historical periods had been marked by rising heroes and shone brightly like a cluster of stars, the end of Liang was like a flock of mediocre birds pecking at each other, a scene of utter chaos.

In such a situation, who could the players pledge allegiance to?

Huang Xianzhi? The Liang Dynasty? Or the other various military governors?

Perhaps the only way was to roll up their sleeves and get to work themselves.

So, 'Qin King breaks the battle formation music' was the final highlight in this era of mediocre strife.

It seemed to say to all players:

Stop this aimless squabbling, come with me, and let's see how Lord Qin dealt with a tumultuous world!