I open a history tutorial class in Daming

Chapter 163: Farming! We need to grow more land!

In the tenth year of Hongwu, Kunning Palace.

Queen Ma felt something was not right.

After returning today, my husband and son were quite silent. This silence was different from the previous ones. It was a bit aggrieved and a bit subtle. It didn't seem like they were scolded or wronged in the tutoring class, but rather like they were irritated by someone.

If this were his own descendants, the husband would definitely start yelling and cursing as soon as he got home, but he didn't do that. He just kept quiet...

Strange!
How weird!

After looking left and right for a long time and realizing that the two of them really had no intention of talking, Empress Ma finally couldn't hold it in anymore.

She asked tentatively:

"What did you talk about in class today?"

As a result, Zhu Yuanzhang, who was usually as fiery as a firecracker, did not say a word. Instead, Zhu Biao, who was usually mild-tempered, spoke first.

Zhu Biao snorted and laughed:
"It talks about the Qing Dynasty that came after our Ming Dynasty."

Queen Ma suddenly realized.

Yes, I heard yesterday that there would be an exchange student coming, named Emperor Shizong of Qing, Yinzhen or something, it’s such a long list of names. Although I knew that the dynasty after Ming was not a Han dynasty, and was a bit similar to the Yuan Dynasty, Empress Ma still didn’t have much idea about it.

Just mentioned, she became interested:
"What's going on? Is it that the Emperor Shizong of the Qing Dynasty today is wrong? Is he another incompetent ruler?"

Even if he is a tyrant, he is not a Han Chinese after all. As long as he is not a descendant of the Zhu family, my husband will not be angry.

But Zhu Biao shook his head:
"He was not a tyrant, but a pretty good emperor. Song Shen spoke highly of him, almost thinking he was the best emperor of the Qing Dynasty."

Queen Ma:
"what???"

Although Song Shen was a bit ridiculous when he made up the excuses for her, he was still very reliable. Recently, he first took out potatoes for Zhang Wei (actually Mao Xiang) to plant, and then reminded her about the things related to Lu and Zhu Yunwen, and really gave her a lot of suggestions.

A person who truly wants the best for the Ming Dynasty and is well-versed in the past two thousand years can speak highly of an emperor of a foreign race. So this Emperor Shizong of the Qing Dynasty must not be much worse.

Then the problem is coming.

Since this new classmate is a good emperor, what is your husband thinking about now?
Could it be that he was unhappy because the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty was surpassed by the Emperor Shizong of the Qing Dynasty?
That's not right. Her husband knows her best. Empress Ma and Zhu Yuanzhang knew each other from humble beginnings. What did she know about the relationship between husband and wife? Although Zhu Yuanzhang was a petty person who loved to hold grudges and had a bad temper, he had one good point, which was that he would never be jealous of others. Moreover, he always pitied the people and liked people who pitied the people.

Since he was a good emperor, the people under his rule should have a good life, so there was nothing to criticize. If there was, it wouldn't be too much.

"Zhongba, what's wrong with you?"

Seeing that her son stopped talking after one sentence, Queen Ma was anxious, but she could only shake her husband's arm and ask:

"If you have any ideas, just speak up. Even if it's something that a woman like me doesn't understand, it's good to have someone else to share your burden with you."

"Don't be depressed, just tell me what you want to say. Isn't Biaoer here?"

Zhu Yuanzhang looked at her and then at Zhu Biao.

Sure enough, the latter's face was full of sarcasm, and it seemed that he had not yet come to terms with what Song Shen had just said.

He sighed and said:
"Biao'er, why do you think we don't talk?"

Zhu Biao did not hesitate for long and answered honestly:

"Isn't it because Emperor Qianlong was too absurd?"

"To be honest, Mr. Song showed us so many figures and many historical account books. I had a headache looking at them, but I saw the amount clearly."

"Yongzheng was a good emperor, but unfortunately he didn't rule for long, only thirteen years. He didn't finish many things before handing them over to Qianlong. Although Qianlong was smart, he was full of evil intentions and made the whole government a mess. He even overturned many of Yongzheng's new policies. If I were Yongzheng, I would chop Qianlong off when I go back today."

Zhu Yuanzhang looked at his son's young and vigorous face and shook his head helplessly.

Seeing this, Zhu Biao was stunned for a moment and asked hurriedly:
"Dad, aren't you thinking about this?"

Zhu Yuanzhang rubbed his forehead:

"Why should we care about the affairs of the Qing Dynasty? They are not from our Zhu family, so why would we worry so much about this matter?"

"Biao'er, I'm thinking that everyone has heard about the affairs of Yongzheng and Qianlong. Let's not talk about the other emperors of the Qing Dynasty for now. As for these two people, their abilities must be good. Qianlong is even stronger than Yongzheng. At least he can survive."

"They are not the founders of the country, but it is quite good to have such ability. They are much more powerful than those bastards behind the Zhu family. But after these two people took charge, the Qing Dynasty was finally defeated. Biao'er, why do you think that is?"

It was quiet in Kunning Palace.

Empress Ma did not speak. She always knew the importance of things. Although she was curious about her husband and son's experience and experiences today, and even more curious about who the so-called Yongzheng and Qianlong were, it was obvious that Zhu Yuanzhang wanted to talk about business now. She could wait until the father and son finished talking before asking questions. There was no need to interrupt now.

Zhu Biao didn't say anything either.

He was stunned for a long time before hesitantly answering his father's question:
"Because of……"

"As Mr. Song said today, Kangxi and Yongzheng spent decades taming a fierce horse, but after Qianlong took over, he relied on his own ability to untie the reins and let the horse run wild. However, he did not consider whether his descendants would be able to be like him."

"What's scary about officialdom is not the temporary evil tendencies, but once they are allowed to grow wildly, it will be extremely difficult to correct them. Yongzheng was able to correct the corruption during the reign of Kangxi because he was the one who stood out among the nine powerful princes. He had the skills and ability, and he hated corruption and was determined to rectify it, so he was able to sweep away the officialdom."

"And Qianlong lived to be in his 80s or 90s. Perhaps he regretted it when he was no longer energetic in his later years. But by then, he had no better way or idea to do it, so he just passed the mess to his son."

"After that, the Qing Dynasty never had another emperor like Yongzheng. Once the government became corrupt and corruption became rampant, it would soon become rotten to the core. One wrong step would lead to another... This was the beginning of the Qing Dynasty's demise."

Song Shen talked a lot today, and in the end he was already criticizing the Qing Dynasty. These people from the previous dynasty all felt ashamed for Yinzhen when they heard him. One of the Qing emperors who was being talked about, Yinzhen himself, blushed so much that he didn't know how to defend himself, and Song Shen had no intention of letting him defend himself.

Thanks to him, only Yinzhen suffered, but the others heard about the so-called Europeans who lived in the same period as the Qing Dynasty, heard about the famous Heshen, and even heard about a pen pal of Qianlong... It was truly an eye-opener.

Zhu Yuanzhang took a sip of tea and wanted to speak, but he didn't know how to tell his son.

He was silent for a moment, then asked:
"In the history of the Ming Dynasty, apart from the two emperors, me and the fourth one, have you ever seen Song Shen speak highly of anyone?"

"When he first talked about it, he always said that the emperors of the Ming Dynasty were all weird. Weird was not a good word in his mouth. Think about what kind of people the few smart emperors of the Ming Dynasty were."

"That Jiajing did not attend court for decades. Although he did not give up government affairs like the Wanli Emperor, he just handled them in a different way. But was he a good emperor? 'Jiajing Jiajing, every family is clean', wasn't corruption rampant during his reign?"

"Zhu Qiyu was a good candidate, but he died young. He died before he could survive Zhu Qizhen, the bastard. He had the ability but no life to cure him, so let's not talk about him." "Zhu Houzhao was unruly and absurd, but he was more suitable to be a general than an emperor. Or, in other words, he had the idea of ​​using eunuchs to check and balance civil officials. He had some courage, but he couldn't carry it through, and finally died young."

"Too many."

"Biao'er, think about it yourself. They are all smart people, but either they died young or, in order to live longer, they let those sour scholars under them make the situation chaotic. Those who have the means are not ruthless, and those who are ruthless enough and dare to kill have all been killed early."

"If there is a guy like Qianlong in there, who is ruthless, smart, and strong-armed, haha, it would be a good thing."

Zhu Biao was terrified when he heard this.

His father talked for a while, but it seemed that he didn't say anything clearly, just scolded the descendants of the Zhu family for not living up to expectations...

But he has been following his father for many years and has been influenced by him, so how could he not understand what he meant?

Zhu Biao held it in for a long time, and finally asked:

"Dad, do you want to move the civil servants?"

Zhu Yuanzhang just looked at him quietly without saying anything, as if signaling him to continue.

With this attitude, how could Zhu Biao not understand?

He sighed and continued:
"I know what you mean. Both Yongzheng and Qianlong were ruthless. The former was trying to implement new policies for the benefit of the people and the court officials, while the latter was motivated by his own selfish desires and to maintain the stability of the Qing Dynasty. Although the latter was more disgusting, his methods were more sophisticated."

"The reason why official corruption exists is because there are too few emperors like Yongzheng."

"It is difficult for an emperor not to care about his own evaluation in history books. If he investigates corruption and implements the land-based tax system like Yongzheng did, he will definitely not have a good reputation, because he killed civil officials and harmed the literati."

"How many emperors in this world would dare to do such a thing?"

"If something goes wrong, he will be labeled a tyrant, and then all natural and man-made disasters will be attributed to the emperor. The scholars will unite as one, get excited and raise their arms to cheer. If things go wrong, he will be overthrown and replaced by the next one."

"If you count carefully, apart from the founding fathers who have made great contributions, few people can or dare to do it."

"The reason why the Qing Dynasty was able to produce three emperors, Kangxi, Yongzheng, and Qianlong, after its founding was not because their bloodline was strong or they were smart, but because they were not Han Chinese. Once Han Chinese literati and gentry dared to make trouble, they dared to kill them. Anyway, when they went south to establish the country, they did even more outrageous things. Why should they be afraid of being cursed in the future? It's good enough if they can suppress it for now."

"But we are not..."

When Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Biao's eyes met, both father and son felt that they understood each other's thoughts.

Zhu Biao believed that his father was like this now because he heard Song Shen talk about the Qianlong period. He heard that his father made a lot of money from the wealthy merchants and gentry in Jiangnan. He also remembered the scenes in the later Ming Dynasty when the emperor was held hostage and oppressed by the civil servants. Zhu Yuanzhang was extremely unhappy, so he also wanted to bleed the civil servants and get rid of those people once and for all.

But are literati so easy to deal with?

It is said that scholars are good for nothing, but once a group of scholars get together, it is hard to imagine how much evil they can do.

What's more, the matter of abolishing the prime minister that my father had considered before was enough to shake the status of the civil servants, and Song Shen had not proposed any other solutions. What else did he want?
But Zhu Yuanzhang laughed.

"Literati must be treated with knives, but Biao'er, do you think we only consider literati?"

He blew a mouthful of tea leaves slowly and said:

"The reason why Song Shen hated Qianlong so much was not because he was so bad, but because he only cared about maintaining his own temporary power, which led to the final fall of this land and its defeat by those foreigners."

"He took the lead in corruption and split the profits with corrupt officials; he was aggressive and spent huge amounts of money on wars; or he targeted the literati and gentry - although we don't like it, it's actually no big deal. An emperor must do whatever it takes."

"But his mistake was that he only cared about his own present, and didn't care about the people and the future at all."

"Song Shen said something today. I don't know if you remember it. He said that in later generations, the division of modern history of the world and modern history of our country is different. In fact, modern history of the world started in the late Ming Dynasty and early Qing Dynasty, while our modern history started in the late Qing Dynasty."

"There's a gap of two or three hundred years."

"Whether it was the emperors of the late Ming or early Qing dynasties, they didn't know what was going on outside. They were isolated from the outside world and didn't know what was happening outside. It was normal for them to be unwilling to accept new things. If I hadn't listened to Song Shen's lectures, I wouldn't have been willing to go overseas. Isn't such a large land enough for farming?"

"But by the time of Qianlong, he had even communicated with the emperor of Europe. He knew that there were many technological developments and changes overseas that could make the country stronger and the people live better, but he was unwilling to accept them because the emperor he was communicating with at that time was beheaded by a rebel, and he was afraid."

"So he wanted to keep the people ignorant, to cover the eyes and plug the ears of the Qing people, to make them live in a corner like turtles, and to dream the beautiful dream of the so-called Celestial Empire."

"Biao'er, do you still remember what Song Shen said about modern history? Are you willing?"

Zhu Biao was stunned for a long time and did not speak.

Queen Ma frowned as she listened. Seeing that they were silent, she simply asked:

"I've also heard you talk about how disgusting modern history is. Not to mention the emperor, even a woman like me can't stand it!"

"Zhongba, if you have any ideas, just tell me now. What does targeting civil servants have to do with modern history?"

"If what you said makes sense, I'll be the first to support you!"

Zhu Yuanzhang couldn't help laughing when he saw his wife, who was still so aggressive at her age and wanted to go to the battlefield to kill the enemy just like she did in the past.

He glanced at the dazed Zhu Biao and said calmly:

"Civil servants are not good enough, so why not just not support them?"

"Let's hold some other imperial examinations, include all those strange and ingenious skills, and let the craftsmen participate as well."

"People who are craftsmen are in charge of shipbuilding, musketry, and water conservancy projects. Aren't they better than those scholars who changed their careers?"

"By the way, we can also start innovating technology earlier than that damn Europe..."

"We Han people are not much dumber than foreigners. We just don't have the opportunity. If we had the opportunity, what would the vastness of the world and the vastness of the oceans mean? We want all the people of the Ming Dynasty to be able to plant their own land. When the land here is divided up, we will go overseas to plant it!"

Zhu Biao's expression cracked a little:

"Dad, you do so many things and say so many things just to plant more land in the future?"

Zhu Yuanzhang and Empress Ma said in unison:
"You know nothing!"

(End of this chapter)