I open a history tutorial class in Daming

Chapter 147: Shi Jingtang, the Eye-opening

Seeing that the debate was about to turn into a quarrel, Song Shen had to step out temporarily to maintain order.

He knocked on the table and said to the Zhu family:
"Can you guys calm down? He is Emperor Taizong of Tang. So many years have passed since the Five Dynasties and the Ten Kingdoms and the Song Dynasty. How can he know how the Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun were lost and what happened after they were lost?"

"To him, the Turks were the more threatening. At that time, there was no one in the Northeast who could compete with the Tang Dynasty."

Then, Song Shen turned to look at Li Shimin:

"You too, you only know that after the Tang Dynasty came the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms, the Song, Yuan and Ming dynasties, but you don't know what happened in these hundreds of years."

"Zhu Yuanzhang established his capital in Yingtian, but he risked the disadvantages of enfeoffment by sending his capable and obedient sons to the north. He must have his own reasons. Later in history, Zhu Di also moved the capital to Beijing, wanting to implement the so-called Son of Heaven guarding the country's borders. Don't you think there is something wrong with that?"

"We don't have to use the Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun, but we can't do without it. Otherwise, we will end up like a fish on the chopping board, at the mercy of others."

After Song Shen came out to mediate, both sides calmed down a little.

The First Emperor Ying Zheng also spoke at this time:

"It seems that from the Qin Dynasty to the Tang Dynasty, the enemies of the Central Plains have always come from the northwest, so the capital has been near Xianyang for hundreds of years. The Chang'an you are talking about should be the area around Xianyang, right?"

"The Qin dynasty has been based in Xianyang for generations, but the location of the capital in later generations seems to have its own reasons. Only by choosing the right location can the dynasty be stable..."

"Why don't you tell me more about these sixteen states of Yanyun, and what happened to them after the Tang Dynasty?"

Song Shen secretly gave Ying Zheng a thumbs up.

Although Zheng Ge is very arrogant, he can become the greatest emperor in history, so his qualities in all aspects must be online. As a polygonal warrior, his emotional intelligence is definitely very high.

It's so appropriate to bring up the topic when everyone is arguing so loudly!

"Okay, I'll put the map here so you can take a look."

Song Shen projected a map of the 21st century onto the projector, and then drew a circle on the North China Plain with a laser pen:

"This territorial map is from about a hundred years after the Central Plains fell to the bottom and rose again."

"The area I have circled is the Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun, or the Sixteen Prefectures of Youyun."

"It extends from Yunzhou, Xuanzhou and Shuozhou in the west to Shanhaiguan in the east, from Wuzhou, Ruzhou and Tanzhou in the north to Dingzhou and Cangzhou in the south. This is roughly the area."

"In the past two thousand years, the territory of our country has been constantly changing, but the Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun have been part of the territory at least since Qin conquered the six kingdoms."

"So everyone actually has an idea of ​​what this area is. I won't go into detail here. I'd like to focus on how it was lost."

"After the fall of the Tang Dynasty, the Central Plains entered the chaos of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms. There were continuous wars for years, and almost anyone with troops could occupy a place and become emperor. So the so-called Five Dynasties refers to the five separatist dynasties that controlled the Central Plains, namely Later Liang, Later Tang, Later Jin, Later Han and Later Zhou, as well as the ten regimes that did not obey the control of the court at all, namely Wu, Wuyue, Former Shu, Later Shu, Fujian, Southern Han, Nanping, Chu, Southern Tang and Northern Han."

"The Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period lasted for several decades. During this period, there was an important person who was nailed to the pillar of shame in the torrent of history for thousands of years and has never been forgotten. His name was Shi Jingtang."

"At that time, Shi Jingtang was still a military governor with his own army. You can understand Ying Zheng, Liu Che and Li Shimin as semi-kings. He had troops in his hands, and the emperor suspected that he was going to rebel, so he simply went all out and handed over all the Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun to the Liao Kingdom in the north - please note that this was not a Han Chinese, but a foreigner."

Li Shimin's eyebrows trembled when he heard this.

Hearing this, he couldn't help himself and raised his hand immediately:
"Is he sick? If he wants to rebel, then he can rebel. Why would he hand this place over to the barbarians? Did he get kicked in the head by a donkey?"

Zhu Yuanzhang was weird:

"He's not stupid, he's very smart."

"When Shi Jingtang rebelled, the emperor would definitely send troops to suppress the rebellion. Since he couldn't defeat them, he sought an alliance with Emperor Taizong of Liao in the north, saying that when he destroyed this place and became emperor, the Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun would be handed over directly to the Liao Kingdom."

"How could Emperor Taizong of Liao not do something? The entire Liao Kingdom has put all its efforts into helping him! Who do you think is a fool? They are not stupid, they are just pure evil!"

"Moreover, Shi Jingtang did not control the Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun at the time. He was the governor of Hedong and stationed in Taiyuan. This was a business of getting something for nothing. It would be a waste if we didn't do it."

Song Shen nodded in agreement:

"Yes, that's it."

"But Shi Jingtang himself probably didn't expect that after he handed over the Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun, this place could not be taken back for more than 300 years. Of course, he himself was not a Han Chinese, so he didn't care about these things at all."

Below the podium.

From Ying Zheng to Liu Che and then to Li Shimin, the three emperors clenched their fists, wishing they could catch this bastard named Shi Jingtang, beat him up and then torture him to death.

No ambitious emperor could tolerate foreign invaders taking away the land of the Central Plains.

Song Shen looked at the emperors whose cheeks were as hard as fists due to anger, and sighed secretly.

Even a stupid and bad guy like Zhu Qizhen, when he led the expedition to Tumu Fort, he wanted to emulate Zhu Di to prove himself, or to fight foreign enemies. It is a bit insulting to compare Zhu Qizhen with Shi Jingtang, or to compare him with Wanyan Gou.

At least the God of War of Tumubao still has some ambition.

Song Shen sighed:

"It is precisely because the Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun were given to Emperor Taizong of Liao by Shi Jingtang, the puppet emperor..."

Liu Che finally couldn't stand it anymore and raised his hand and asked:
"Sir, what is a child emperor?"

Song Shen suddenly realized.

It turns out he hasn’t mentioned this yet!
"Oh, I forgot to mention that later Shi Jingtang succeeded in his rebellion and became the emperor in the Central Plains. He was made the Emperor of Jin by Emperor Taizong of Liao. He gratefully called Emperor Taizong of Liao his father, and not only presented the map and household register of the Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun to him, he also pledged his loyalty to Liao and offered 300,000 pieces of silk as tribute every year."

"At that time, Shi Jingtang was 45 years old, and Liao Taizong Yelü Deguang was only 34 years old, so later generations called him the Child Emperor."

Ying Zheng's hand changed from a fist to a sword, and he just wanted to chop people. Liu Che looked up at the ceiling of the lecture hall, wondering whether he should send Huo Qubing to lead the troops to plow the northwest and northeast in advance.

Li Shimin closed his eyes and felt that his headache, which had not recurred since he entered the tutoring class, had recurred and he began to feel phantom pain in his temples.

Zhu Yuanzhang put his hands in his pockets and said sarcastically:
"Yes, the son doesn't feel bad for selling his father's land. Shi Jingtang didn't conquer the world by himself, nor did he inherit it. He got it by rebelling. Why should he feel bad? Ever since this child emperor gave the Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun to others, it was not until we fought from south to north that the Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun really returned to the hands of the Han people."

"Let's do the math. The Five Dynasties lasted 50 to 60 years, the two Song dynasties lasted 319 years, and the Yuan dynasty lasted 80 to 90 years."

"Even if the Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun were ceded during the Five Dynasties, these fifty years don't count. The Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun have been lost for four hundred years!"

"If we don't take this area back, the consequences will be the same as the Song Dynasty, which could only establish its capital in Kaifeng to resist the barbarians from the north. But the Song Dynasty failed to take it back. How could Kaifeng, in the heart of the Central Plains, be so strategic? They came south to plunder like it was a piece of cake! In the end, we can only be driven south and wait for the Mongolian cavalry to come south and trample all over our Han mountains and rivers."

"Now, let's talk about it. Is the Northeast important? Are the Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun important? Do they need someone to guard them?"

Everyone was silent.

During the Ming Dynasty, all emperors knew the importance of the north. The northwest was certainly important, but due to the loss of the Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun hundreds of years ago, everyone naturally paid more attention to the issue of education to reconcile the north and the south after years of division.

After learning about the historical factors of the Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun, the three emperors of Qin, Han and Tang no longer had any doubts about Zhu Di's original plan to move the capital to Beijing.

"To be fair, there should be no problem with the feudal system originally established by Zhu Yuanzhang."

Ying Zheng spoke in a calm and peaceful tone:

"You mentioned before his strategy of enfeoffment of the vassal kings, which is to assign the oldest sons except the crown prince to border areas, so that if there is an invasion by foreign enemies, the others can provide timely support."

"From a strategic point of view, if those princes have the ability to lead troops in battle, they are very reliable. The fact that Prince of Yan Zhu Di was able to successfully prevent his nephew from ascending the throne is enough to show his ability."

"But the problem with this feudal system is also quite obvious, which is the rebellion I just mentioned. Even if Zhu Biao himself is quite outstanding, capable and prestigious, no brother would dare to rebel against him, but you can't guarantee that his son will be as outstanding as him."

"In other words, even if Zhu Biao's son is as capable as him, there may be other powerful sons of other princes who have been at the frontier for a long time and are unwilling to be inferior to others and thus cause trouble. No one can guarantee these unexpected situations."

"This question is also very inspiring to me. I will think about it carefully, but before that, I want to ask——"

"Sir, you just said that this map of the territory was taken about a hundred years after the Central Plains fell to the bottom and rose again. Or maybe, two thousand years later? Where was the capital in that dynasty?"

"I see that the territory at that time is quite large, and there are some places that I have never heard of, including Baiyue. You also said that it is rising again, so its strength should not be weak, so I would like to refer to it. Moreover, you said that the Ming Dynasty lasted for more than 200 years, and Zhu Di had already moved the capital at that time. So many years must be enough to bridge the previous problems. I am very curious, what will be the focus of attention when the capital is to be established in the future?"

Song Shen was a little stunned.

He didn't expect Ying Zheng to be so perceptive and asked directly to the key point -

Where is the capital in the 20th and 21st centuries?

He was silent for a moment before saying:
"To talk about this, there will be a lot of content that needs to be popularized."

"You don't need to mention the early Qing Dynasty, but you must know about the late Qing Dynasty and modern history. Otherwise, you can't understand how destitute the country was back then, nor how difficult it is for it to rise again."

"It is even more impossible to know how miserable the Northeast was at that time, and how important it was..."

"Of course, after such a long class, you all know that there have been many uncomfortable times in the two thousand years of Chinese civilization. The end of every dynasty was a time of cannibalism. Everyone says that it is better to be a dog in prosperous times than a human in troubled times."

"But in such a long history, it is this period of history that makes me cry the most and makes me reluctant to read it carefully."

"I am still like this, are you sure you want to listen now?"

The students looked at each other, and no one could answer Song Shen for a moment.

It has been a while since the classes started, but they have never seen Song Shen look so serious.

The last time Song Shen became serious... I think he mentioned a little bit about the late Qing Dynasty?

It seems to be related to this history.

They all knew Song Shen's temper quite well now. He was a bit lazy and often acted like he didn't want to attend class, as if he had to teach them for some reason. But recently this situation has improved a lot. Song Shen almost always answered questions after getting to know them. Most of the time, he taught with a smile or listened to their arguments, and rarely was he as serious as he is now.

just like……

It seems that if we don't present that history with such an attitude, it would be extremely disrespectful.

Whenever Song Shen talked about any emperor who brought disaster to the country and the people, he would always do so with ridicule and abuse, but there was not much real sadness.

"Sir, may I ask how many people died at that time? If it is impossible to count, then it is okay to say it was a relatively large war."

In the end, it was Zhu Biao who spoke cautiously.

Everyone agrees with this way of asking the question, because the best way to judge how tragic an era is is to count the casualties, or to judge from the scale of the war.

Song Shen pursed his lips, wiped his face and said:

"How many people died? No one knows, tens of millions, hundreds of millions? There were babies who were cut out of their mothers' wombs and poked for fun, there were children of several years old who died on the way to deliver letters for our army, there were unknown women in the brothel who died for a group of female students, there was a city where 300,000 innocent people were massacred in one month..."

"There are too many battlefields and too many deaths. I don't know how many people died on a particular battlefield, let alone how many soldiers sacrificed in this war that has lasted for decades."

"Because when the country was in crisis, many nameless people helped others in their own way, and then died. Many of them did not have household registration. How do you calculate it?"

"Back then, the Northeast was occupied by Japan, which is the Liaodong area you know. The last emperor of the Qing Dynasty was abducted there and became a puppet emperor. So I want to correct one thing. I said in the first dynasty song that there was no emperor after the Qing Dynasty."

"At that time, this land no longer needs any emperor. Everyone is his own master. With that said, can you understand why the last line of the Dynasty Song is 'The dynasty ends here'?"

(End of this chapter)