Spoiler History: Starting from the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 776: Emperor Gaozu of Tang
[Influenced by Zhu Yuanzhang's guiding ideology, the ruling class of the Ming Dynasty later picked up the view of the God of Chariots that "although the king conquers the country with military prowess, he must ultimately rule with civility and virtue."

Of course, it is undeniable that there was also a considerable influence from the Jingnan Campaign.

The combination of these factors eventually led the Ming Dynasty rulers to focus on domestic stability, and as a result, the Ming people did not have the same expansionist ambitions as the Tang people.

Under such circumstances, the Ming Dynasty inevitably neglected military training after the foreign enemies retreated and the country was stabilized, and the morale of the soldiers also declined.

Without the need to expand borders, the emperors of the Ming Dynasty would naturally not be as "eager to military affairs" as the emperors of the Tang Dynasty. It would naturally be difficult for polo to become popular, let alone give rise to stories like Emperor Xuanzong personally playing polo to win glory for the country.

But its negative impact actually goes beyond this. During the reign of Emperor Xuande, the protagonist of "Emperor Xuanzong's Pleasures", the horse policy of the Ming Dynasty began to deteriorate.

"Ming History Horse Policy" records that "after Xuande, the ancestral system was gradually abolished, especially the military, and horse policy was one of them."

Yang Shiqiao, a Jinshi in the Jiajing period, wrote in "Records of Horse Administration" that "no horse administration was as detailed as that of the Ming Dynasty, nor as corrupt as that of the Ming Dynasty", which shows that the horse administration in the Jiajing period was in name only.

Basically, it only lasted for more than a hundred years, and the "891,280 horses in total" during the Yongle period of the Ming Dynasty, which was a period of prosperity in horse administration, basically became history. The Ming Dynasty fell into a dilemma of having no good horses available.

Therefore, it is no wonder that the emperors of the entire Ming Dynasty did not play polo, and the common people did not play polo either. Polo thus degenerated from a military training method into a special performance that only appeared during festivals such as the Dragon Boat Festival and the Double Ninth Festival. Therefore, in "Emperor Xuanzong's Pleasures", polo has a performance attribute more than a competitive attribute, which is enough to give us a glimpse of the decline of the martial ethics of the Ming Dynasty.

Another work that can also give us a glimpse into the horse politics of the Ming Dynasty is "Journey to the West". The author of the novel, Wu Cheng'en, lived during the Jiajing period when the horse politics of the Ming Dynasty was completely corrupt. The official position that Monkey King was recruited to by the Heavenly Court, Bimawen, was exactly the one in charge of horses.

We all know that this official position was of a very low status, and Monkey King was ashamed of it for the rest of his life.

But in fact, ancient times did not have various mechanical means of transportation like modern times. After all, horses were the most important strategic materials and means of transportation at that time. The rise and fall of horse policy was related to the strength of the country, and the rank of horse-raising officials could also reflect the degree of corruption of the government's horse policy at that time.

The disdain of the gods in heaven for Bimawen in the novel is precisely a reflection of the social reality of the neglect of horse administration during the Jiajing period.

Zhu Yuanzhang didn't play polo, but that didn't affect his excellent riding skills.

He also understood that this young man was using a painting of Ming Dynasty pleasures to talk about polo, but in fact he was just using this as an excuse to talk about horse politics.

Horse racing flourished during the Tang Dynasty, which led to the rise of polo. Li Longji, who was praised for bringing glory to the Tang Dynasty through polo, was also one of the emperors who revitalized the horse racing industry during the Tang Dynasty.

But... "We have said it many times before, horse politics is of great importance to the country!"

"How can an official in charge of horse affairs be ashamed of his position?"

Zhu Yuanzhang spoke with a heavy tone, turned around, and his words were full of confusion:

"How could our descendants, who are able to follow the teachings of our ancestors, neglect the horse policy that we have repeatedly emphasized?"

The Ming princes behind him were all a little timid at the sight of their father's majestic look. Several brothers lowered their heads and exchanged glances. In the end, it was Prince Qin Zhu Chong who stood up and said:

"Dad, we brothers are not the crown prince, so it's useless for Ma Zheng to tell us about our sons and grandsons..."

The words were still full of meaning, but the implication was very clear - what does the later emperor of our Ming Dynasty have to do with us vassal kings? Dad, if you are angry, don't go in the wrong direction, you should go to the eldest brother.

Although it was his first time to see the light screen, Zhu Gang was able to clearly understand the relationship between them in a short period of time, so he could even follow suit and advise:

"Daddy, please don't blame me too much. The affairs of future generations are not something I can control. It's my fault that future generations only listened to and ignored your wise words and didn't understand their meaning and logic..." After hearing what the third brother said, Zhu Di, Zhu Zhen and others buried their heads deeper, while Zhu Biao couldn't help but smile bitterly.

As expected, the Emperor of Ming Dynasty became even angrier when he heard his son say this, and he almost slammed the table and yelled:
"We made you kings to protect the Ming Dynasty and defend the country! Not to raise pigs!"

"When the country is in danger, you should fight and die in the front. If your descendants see that the Ming Dynasty is biased and incompetent, you should also submit a petition to correct its policies and orders. How can you sit back and watch the Ming Dynasty sink?"

Zhu Gang felt a little aggrieved after being spit on in the face for no apparent reason.

After all, intuitively speaking, if he had told his father before today that he would let his descendants do this, he would most likely end up being spitted at, and one could even guess what kind of insults would be leveled at him, most of which would be about how could the descendants sitting in the court, holding the precious teachings in their hands, possibly act in a biased manner?

But after all, the arm is no match for the thigh, and all Zhu Gang can do is swallow his pride.

Zhu Biao could understand his father's anger a little better. People in later generations used a painting to make a point, so wasn't his father also using a painting to vent his anger?

He was still young and therefore could take his own life and death lightly, but that did not mean he did not understand how much his father valued and cherished him. Therefore, he could also understand his father's heart-wrenching feeling every time he saw the word "Yongle" - his father probably hoped so much that he was really the Yongle Emperor.

But unfortunately, this was not the case. In later history books, he was just a crown prince who died young.

But since his father had calmed down, Zhu Biao also tried to persuade him:

"Father, since the comment on the Sui Dynasty made our Great Ming invincible and peaceful at home, why not abolish the military..."

The meaning of this statement is very clear; his son came here for his ancestral teachings!
"Let us think about it again."

Zhu Biao was a little discouraged when he heard this:

"Dad, you said last time that you would discuss it again, but three months have passed and you still haven't discussed it."

Zhu Yuanzhang immediately glanced at his eldest son:
"Why rush? We can still live for another twenty years. We have plenty of time to consider and slowly make changes. Besides, why rush to make changes that will cause trouble a hundred years from now?"

However, this statement was not logical and not very strong, so Ming Tianzi quickly changed the subject:

"What do you think about the Jingnan Campaign, Biaoer?"

Zhu Yuanzhang was silent when he heard this. Seeing this, Zhu Yuanzhang snorted coldly:

"I know you love your brothers and don't want to talk about it, but I can see clearly now that the situation a hundred years later will be determined by three parties: the words of the ancestors, the opinions of the officials, and the Jingnan event."

"Since we are trying to maintain peace and order within the country, it is obvious that this trouble arises from within. It is possible that the disaster arises from within the family!"

Zhu Yuanzhang had been thinking about this matter in his spare time for the past three months, and at this time he had already vaguely deduced a general idea:
"This disaster must have been caused by Biao'er's misfortune, so some of my sons have become beastly."

"You want to take advantage of my old age and make me the Emperor Gaozu of Tang!"

The brothers in the Huagai Palace were all startled.

(End of this chapter)