I open a history tutorial class in Daming

Chapter 146 The large-scale debate begins!
The class started on time at 1:00 p.m. the next day.

Everyone was a little surprised that the entry time was not advanced today. After all, they were used to entering early in the past. It was really abnormal to suddenly bring everyone in and put them in their seats.

Li Shimin whispered to Fang Xuanling beside him:

"Could it be because of the test paper? Today is indeed a little special..."

Fang Xuanling coughed softly and winked at the podium:

"Your Majesty, we must be quiet, otherwise this score..."

good good!
Emperor Li II, who wanted to score, was caught in a dilemma on the spot. He turned off the microphone immediately, sat upright and looked at Song Shen on the podium, looking like a good student.

Others also heard their conversation to some extent. Some of those who wanted to communicate with their allies, relatives, and ministers quickly shut their mouths for fear of affecting their impression in Song Shen's mind.

Song Shen found it funny to see them like this.

He knocked on the podium, looked around at everyone, and then said with a smile:
"Why are you so nervous? Just because of the result of this exam?"

"Okay, okay, in that case, I have already said before that this exam does not prohibit everyone from discussing with each other. Now I also want to tell you that the results of this exam will not be judged by me alone."

"As someone who knows the original history, I can tell you who did what and what the results were, but I don't think I am qualified to judge the decisions of Chinese emperors over thousands of years, especially on some things that are still highly controversial thousands of years later. From my perspective, I hope you can put aside your prejudices against each other's dynasties and comment seriously and objectively."

"Objective means putting aside your preconceived impression of the person and only looking at what he has done and what he wants to do. You can debate with each other, and I am only a referee and reference. If your answers and reasons can convince me and others, your score will be high. If your reasons are not sufficient, then the score will naturally not be too high."

"Do you understand what I mean?"

This is Song Shen’s plan.

He didn't think he could judge the merits and demerits of emperors by himself alone. Every era had its limitations. If they took too big a step, they would end up in trouble. So it was better to let them argue among themselves. Even if there was still a gap of hundreds or thousands of years in time and space, at least most of them were among the best emperors, and they were definitely capable of enough brains, political tactics, and vision.

Except Zhu Qizhen.

Everyone was silent for a moment. Although they did not expect this direction, they all nodded in agreement with this model.

Song Shen raised his eyebrows, found the PPT he had been working on on the computer and projected it onto the projector.

"I've put your papers here, open to everyone to see."

"As for who was the first... I think this matter is actually very controversial. Whether it's between you later or in the future, the supporters and opponents of the two sides have their own opinions. It's very suitable to use it to heat up the atmosphere."

"Congratulations, classmate Zhu Di."

Zhu Di suddenly began to sweat profusely.

It wasn't because he was the first to appear, or because there were many famous emperors and generals in history...

He secretly glanced at his father and elder brother beside him, and saw that they were both staring at the screen and began to read the answer sheet. His hand, which had never been unable to hold the sword during his half-life of military service, now tightly grasped the corner of his clothes.

There was no way. After all, his throne was not obtained legitimately. What he had dreamed of all his life was the recognition of his father.

Or in other words, it is the recognition of the eldest brother.

Now that the answer I gave would be publicly executed in front of them, it was really hard for me to face the possibility of being disapproved.

"How is it, have you all seen enough?"

Song Shen waited for a few minutes, which was not too long, because he had reformatted the contents of everyone's papers before putting them into the PPT. The main national policies and plans were listed at the forefront, and the reasons were simplified a lot, or only had keywords. Otherwise, it would take who knows how long it would take to read this group of people's long and eloquent classical essays with gorgeous words.

Seeing that everyone indicated that they had read enough, Song Shen nodded:
"So, does anyone have any questions about Zhu Di's answer sheet?"

Zhu Yuanzhang was the first to raise his hand:
"We have questions."

Zhu Di, who was directly destroyed by his own father: ...

Dad, there are so many people here, please give us some face!!!
Song Shen nodded and said:
"You can say it directly."

Zhu Yuanzhang stood up, looked at the curtain and then at Zhu Di, frowned and asked:
"What do you mean by these two capital systems?"

"If you want the capital in the south, then stay in Yingtian. If you want to go back to your Yanwang base camp, then take your people there. Two capitals, what do these two sides handle? The capital was originally in Yingtian, and you are still handling government affairs in Yingtian. What's the point of the capital in the north? It's not worth it!"

"The reason you gave was that you originally wanted to move the capital to the north, but because you knew that your descendants would not live up to expectations, you were worried that there would be another emperor like Zhu Qizhen, or an emperor like Zhu Youjian who would be driven into the capital and die for his country. For the sake of the safety of future emperors, you decided to implement the two capitals."

"The reason why we want to put government affairs in the south is because you heard from the teacher that it was just before the Age of Exploration. You didn't want to give up such a vast maritime trade, and you didn't want to give up the gold, silver, copper, iron and other things you gained from expanding your territory. So it would be more beneficial to make Yingtianfu the actual capital."

"Then we have to ask you - don't you want the north anymore?"

"Back then, we gave you three brothers fiefs in Shaanxi, Shanxi and Yan. Wasn't it because we wanted you to teach the people of the north for Yingtianfu in the south? Have you forgotten that we made it very clear to you after we gave you fiefs that when you go to the fiefdoms in the future, in addition to arming and fighting the Northern Yuan Dynasty, the most important thing is to let the people know that this world will belong to our Ming Dynasty and the Han people!"

"No matter who they were originally, as long as they have settled down here, established a family and a career, speak Chinese and wear Chinese clothes, and feel that they are not the Mongols who once treated the Han people as sheep, they are all Han people!"

"Especially you, Old Four!"

"The Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun have been lost for so many years. If no one goes to the north to stabilize it, won't our Ming Dynasty end up like the Song Dynasty? Zhao Kuangyin's capital is still in Kaifeng, which is much farther north than Yingtian. Why were they forced to live in a corner in the south? It's all because of the Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun!"

"We handed Yan territory to you, and you're going to do this? You only set up the two capitals in name, but there's no one to control the north. Apart from me and you who have been the King of Yan for decades, who the hell would recognize the next emperor in the south? Zhu Qizhen, this rubbish, can't defend your Beijing city. Do you think there will be a few emperors in the future who will fight from the south to the north like us? You decide!"

Zhu Yuanzhang became a little impatient at the end.

Everyone knows that it is not the same difficulty to fight from south to north as it is to fight from north to south. At least going back to the tenth year of Hongwu, the only person who accomplished this was Zhu Yuanzhang.

When Zhu Qizhen went to battle at Tumu Fortress, the Ming Dynasty was strong and its military force was abundant and elite. Even if we exclude Emperor Jianwen who rebelled in the middle and Zhu Gaochi who was emperor for only one year, there were only three generations of emperors from the founding of the country to him, so he was the fourth generation.

Even if you have a good start and can beat the opponent to pieces, why do you expect another Zhu Yuanzhang or Zhu Di to appear among your descendants?
Because the Zhu family is so powerful?
Stop bullshitting!

Zhu Di was questioned and reprimanded by his father. Zhu Di, who was already a man who knew his destiny, felt a little embarrassed.

He refuted Zhu Yuanzhang for the first time:
"No, Father, didn't you see that I mentioned other national policies below?"

"I want all the royal and clan children to train for several years after they grow up. If necessary, they can go to the battlefield to gain experience. This will make them know how to fight, especially the crown prince and the eldest grandson of the emperor!"

"The future plan for the two capitals system is that the emperor himself will be in the north. As the saying goes, the emperor guards the country's borders. Of course, matters related to the north will still be handled in the north, but matters related to the south and sea transportation will be handed over to Yingtian. The prince will stay in Yingtian for half a year every year."

"Just as you now trust my elder brother to handle all the important government affairs, the Crown Prince was also in charge of government affairs when I was away on the expedition. To put it bluntly, he had more things on his hands than I did, and he worked harder than I did, acting more like a de facto emperor."

"Future emperors will certainly not all trust the crown prince as much as we do. Some people will be afraid that the crown prince will become too powerful, so they won't give them the opportunity to gain experience. But as long as this rule is established, we can preserve the respective responsibilities of the two capitals in the north and south, and let the crown prince get familiar with government affairs as soon as possible. Most importantly, the south is prosperous and wealthy. Even if the government has been clean and honest for decades, people's hearts will eventually rot in the future."

"Since we cannot guarantee that every emperor is smart, let the emperor be in charge of the north, and the crown prince be in charge of the south. The crown prince will personally deliver the tax silver from the south to the north."

"Except for the effort and trouble, isn't everything else good?"

"In the north, the emperor is handling things there, and the military power is in his hands, so there is no need to worry about chaos. With the support of tax money from the south, we can also expand in the north. In the south, the prince is handling the complicated taxation, so there is no need to worry about the scholars and wealthy merchants in the south taking advantage of the emperor's distance to engage in corruption. We can also take advantage of the situation to start sailing—"

"Is that okay?"

Zhu Yuanzhang remained silent for half a minute.

Of course he understood what Zhu Di meant, but this simple matter of the pros and cons of choosing the capital had been made too complicated. He needed to carefully weigh the pros and cons of the complete two-capital system.

Zhu Biao was also wondering whether this system was reasonable.

Although my father had not mentioned it in the court, he was the eldest son of Zhu Yuanzhang after all, so he certainly knew more than others. As my father said when he was angry just now, since ancient times, there was only Zhu Yuanzhang who could conquer the country from south to north, so it was obvious that it was inappropriate to put the capital in the south.

Call it feng shui or dragon veins, or historical culture, or whatever, the fact that there has never been a long-lived southern regime in history is enough to illustrate the problem.

However, there are too many factors to consider in moving the capital. My father hasn't even said anything about it until now. And judging from the subsequent historical development, it is clear that when my father passed away, the capital was still in Yingtian Prefecture...

It’s difficult!
At this moment.

Emperor Li II, who had been listening to the discussion between the father and son, suddenly moved.

He raised his hand to signal, and after Song Shen's approval, he asked in confusion:
"Where exactly is Yingtianfu, the capital of the Ming Dynasty, that you are talking about, at this time?"

Zhu Biao had been thinking about this, so he answered him casually:

"It used to have many names, including Jiankang, the ancient capital of the Six Kingdoms, Jinling, Jiangning, and many other names. Later, when my father founded the country, he named the capital Yingtianfu."

Li Shimin couldn't hold it any longer:
"Since you know that Jiankang is the ancient capital of these six kingdoms, you should also know which six dynasties they are, right?"

"Dongwu, Jin, Song, Qi, Liang, Chen, these... which one can last long? It's obvious that there's something wrong with the location. It can't be the capital! Old Zhu, why did you want to make this crappy place the capital?"

"What's so good about Jiankang? If we want to deal with things at sea, can't we just send a bunch of people there? Why do we have to put the fate of the country on Jiankang?"

Although it is said that the truth may be rough, Li Shimin's words were a bit too rough.

Zhu Yuanzhang was quite unhappy to hear this, and for a moment he could not think of anything to refute him. All he could think about was what problems Zhu Di had just had with his idea of ​​the two capitals system.

However, even if he didn't want to fight, Li Shimin, who had finally gotten a good deal, was unwilling to give up.

His Majesty Li II grinned and looked at Zhu Di and Zhu Biao again, and asked:
"Why do you only consider Beijing and not Chang'an?"

"I now have a general idea of ​​the history that followed. After the Tang Dynasty, there were many years of chaos, not counting the dispersal. Then came the Song Dynasty, whose capital was Kaifeng. After the Song Dynasty, there was the Yuan Dynasty, and then there was you. I won't talk about the dynasties that followed, but at least at this time, Chang'an is already the ancient capital of thirteen dynasties. There must be a reason to choose this place as the capital."

"As for the emperor guarding the country's borders, Beijing is just empty talk. If Chang'an Town wasn't here, how could the country be stable? Isn't the northwest much more dangerous than your Beijing?"

This time, after Li Shimin finished speaking, someone spoke.

From Zhu Yuanzhang to Zhu Biao, Zhu Di, Zhu Qizhen, and Zhu Youjian, a group of old Zhu family members all looked over and shouted at him:
"fart!"

"wrong!"

"What nonsense!"

"The Northeast is much more dangerous than the Northwest!"

"We must hold on to the Northeast and never let go!"

Emperor Li II was so frightened by this wave that he almost couldn't catch his breath.

After he recovered, he belatedly realized the huge absurdity of the situation.

Forget about others...

Zhu Qizhen actually yelled too? How dare he?
Li Shimin gritted his teeth and glared at Zhu Qizhen:
"Okay, okay, the Northeast is important, the grassland is important, you want the emperor to guard the country's borders, then how did you fight the Battle of Tumubao? Did you hold it?"

(End of this chapter)