Spoiler History: Starting from the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 739 The Closed Coffin
[The History of the Yuan Dynasty gave Tuotuo a high evaluation, saying that he:

He made great contributions to the country without boasting about it, held the highest position among the ministers but remained unconceited, did not care about money, and stayed away from fame and fortune... He always remained loyal to his country... How could one go wrong?

The reason why a Mongolian could receive such high praise from the historian Song Lian, apart from the fact that he was indeed capable, the most important reason, of course, was that Tuotuo's behavioral logic was in line with the Han Dynasty's code of loyalty to the emperor.

Just when Emperor Shun of Yuan was enjoying his lewd party, a man named Zhang Shicheng from Jiangsu also responded to the Red Turban Army and started a rebellion.

Moreover, Zhang Shicheng made a big move. Taizhou, Gaoyou and Yangzhou were successively captured. He even directly proclaimed himself King Cheng and named his country Da Zhou.

Everything else was fine, but Zhang Shicheng's capture of Yangzhou was tantamount to directly cutting off the Grand Canal from Beijing to Hangzhou, which had just been built not long ago.

As a result, the richest provinces in the world, Jiangsu and Zhejiang, were unable to transport tax grain to Dadu. This was too serious for Emperor Shun of Yuan Dynasty, so he quickly ordered Toghto to go and quell the rebellion.

Things were normal at this point. The Yuan Shun Emperor said in his edict that "I and the Prime Minister will rule the world together", giving Tuotuo the power to command the kings and the military forces of various provinces.

Tuotuo was also very moved. General Dong led a million-strong army and was determined to change the fate of the Yuan Dynasty.

The prime minister led an army of one million to fight a private salt dealer. Zhang Shicheng was naturally no match for him. After retreating to Gaoyou in a panic, he began to defend it to the death.

Tuotuo was not in a hurry. After besieging Gaoyou, he began to slowly clear out the Red Turban rebels in the surrounding area, and successively defeated many Red Turban soldiers who came to rescue. To put it bluntly, he used the classic tactic of besieging a point and attacking the reinforcements.

After all, the Red Turban Army was spread all over the world at that time. Even if there were a million troops, if they took the initiative to sweep them bit by bit, they would probably starve to death along the way. Attacking them and forcing them to come to the Yuan army was indeed a feasible approach from a tactical point of view.

This move was indeed very effective. The Gengshen Waishi written by Quan Heng in the late Yuan Dynasty and early Ming Dynasty commented that at that time "people near and far were in awe, and the (Yuan) national power was gradually expanding."

But this was ultimately just a flash of light, and what happened next was not only not surprising, but could even be said to be quite cliché.

Three months later, Hama began to flatter Emperor Shun of Yuan Dynasty. In fact, he was still using the same trick of holding an army to gain power. He said that Tuotuo "used all the national wealth for his own use and had half of the court officials as his followers."

As for Emperor Shun of Yuan Dynasty, although he could shout "I and the Prime Minister govern the world together", he was more forced by the situation. After all, a king who "men and women live naked in the palace, or the emperor and his ministers share a bed" and who built the Muqing Pavilion "where women are taken from every household" was actually not wise.

First, Tuotuo's younger brother in the court was stripped of his official title, and then the imperial edict depriving him of his military power was sent to the front line.

It is said that at that time, Tuotuo's subordinates all advised him not to accept the imperial order for the time being, on the grounds that a general in the army could not obey the orders of the emperor, otherwise the situation would be hopeless.

But Tuotuo insisted that he was "favored by the emperor" and if he did not obey the emperor's order, what would be the loyalty between the emperor and his subjects?

After handing over power in accordance with the imperial edict, he was first placed under house arrest in Huai'an Road, and later exiled to Dali, Yunnan. However, Hama was worried about another incident, so he sent an envoy to order Tuotuo to drink poison and commit suicide by forging an imperial edict. The last ray of glory of the Yuan Dynasty thus sank, and he died at the age of 42.

This brilliant move by Emperor Shun of Yuan Dynasty directly saved the Red Turban Army, which was almost silenced at that time. The change of generals before the battle caused the millions of troops to be in chaos and scattered, and a considerable number of them directly defected to the Red Turban Army on the spot.

To put it in the words of the textbooks, the Battle of Gaoyou, in which the Yuan army collapsed without a fight, enabled the various peasant uprising armies to turn from being passive to active, and was a turning point in the peasant war at the end of the Yuan Dynasty.

At this point, the coffin lid of the Yuan Dynasty has been completely closed. 】

At the Xuchang government office, Zhang Fei poked Cao Cao next to him again:
"Lao Cao, Lao Cao, if you were Prime Minister Tuotuo, how would you choose?"

Either call him by his name or his courtesy name, or address him by his official title or rank. What kind of address is Lao Cao?
Although he was bothered, Cao Cao also knew that protesting to Zhang Fei would be futile, so he could only stare at him to express his protest for the time being, and then he subconsciously fell into deep thought:
Holding a large army, controlling the grain transport, the emperor is incompetent, and all the people are rebelling. Isn't this...

No, Cao Cao was alert instantly:
This black guy with thick eyebrows and big eyes is setting a trap for us, Cao!
"What about you, Zhang Fei? If you were in this position, how would you decide?"

As a result, Zhang Fei laughed heartily:

"I, a Han Chinese, am the prime minister and I lead a million troops? Then I would like to ask why Emperor Shun of Yuan Dynasty had such rebellious intentions." Cao Cao was stunned, then he laughed and shook his head repeatedly, envying Zhang Fei's pure mind without any distractions.

Guan Yu, who was sitting at the top, also stroked his beard and shook his head, rebuking in a tone that was neither too light nor too heavy:
"Third brother!"

So Zhang Fei immediately looked very obedient:

"Brother, I'm just thinking about it, I can't do it for real."

"If Tuotuo had read the history books about Prime Minister Cao carefully, he might have thought that..."

Cao Cao decided to take back what he had just said. What pure intentions and no distractions? None of that was true. These butchers were very cunning!
Liu Bei, who was at the top, ignored the noise and just commented to the military advisor beside him:

"Although he is a Mongolian, he is actually a Han Chinese."

Kong Ming was silent for a moment and replied:
"If the people of Meng respect the rule of Xia, then they can also be called the Xia."

The distinction between Chinese and barbarians was something that had already been debated by the sages of the pre-Qin period, and it was not new to Kong Ming.

The invasion of the Naxi people into Xia was also not a surprising event.

Haven’t you seen Zhonghang Shuo, the Huns’ minister during the Western Han Dynasty?

Haven’t you seen Jin Midi, Marquis of Ji, the minister to Emperor Xiaozhao?

Among these two people, who is Chinese and who is a barbarian?
With this precedent, Kong Ming and others were quite open to discussing this issue, and having one more Mongol Han prime minister was not a big deal.

……

"This later generation has made a brilliant summary."

In the Huagai Palace, Zhu Yuanzhang commented with a smile.

He was also in the midst of the chaos at the time, so he knew very well that the Yuan Dynasty was doomed to fall and it was irreversible at the moment when Tuotuo's military power was stripped away.

Now when talking about old times, Zhu Biao couldn't help but be curious:

"Dad, did Tuotuo really lead a million people at that time?"

Upon hearing this, Zhu Yuanzhang immediately uttered a "huh":
"At that time, the grain transport was cut off, and the only way for food and grass was to rely on the north. Emperor Shun of the Yuan Dynasty wasted money and food on pleasure, and all the food and grass were raised by Tuotuo."

"If we can only rely on a few plots of land to support a million troops, you and I, father and son, would not have to stay in Yingtian Prefecture to rule the country. It would be better for us to get up early tomorrow and start farming to support the people."

In the seventh year of Hongwu, the Capital Guard Commandery was established. In the eighth year, the Capital Guard Commandery of the thirteen provincial governments was changed to the Capital Commandery, and temporary Capital Commandery was established in Xi'an, Datong and Jianning. Although the total number of troops and horses exceeded one million, this was under the condition that there were sixteen military headquarters spread all over the country and all of them were engaged in farming.

Not only did Tuotuo cultivate land in Hebei, but he also had to share a portion of the grain he produced with Emperor Shun of Yuan Dynasty. He absolutely did not believe that he could have enough to support an army of one million with just this.

Zhu Di pointed curiously:

"Then when Daddy made a strategic retreat, wasn't he surrounded and attacked by this Tuotuo?"

(End of this chapter)