Chapter 55: The Red and Warm Emperor Hongwu
Zhu Yuanzhang’s serious look on the stage made Yang Chen feel a little helpless and said:
“Your Majesty, there is nothing to say about the fall of the Ming Dynasty.

I have made it very clear to Her Majesty the Queen that the root of our destruction began with the ancestral precepts established by Your Majesty.

When the Ming Dynasty comes to an end in the future, it will naturally perish in accordance with the will of heaven.

Your Majesty should know that since ancient times, the fall of every dynasty is inseparable from the people, so do I need to say more about these things?”

Zhu Yuanzhang’s chest was shaking up and down like a bellows, and he was beginning to feel filled with anger.

Yang Chen’s words made him very dissatisfied.

The demise of the Ming Dynasty was possible, but you can’t say it so easily in front of him, or say it was a demise in accordance with heaven’s will. If that was the case, why did God give him the opportunity to establish the Ming Dynasty?

The purpose of building it is to destroy it in the future?

After a few minutes of silence, Zhu Yuanzhang squinted his eyes, stared at Yang Chen, and said intriguingly:

“What a great way to follow the will of heaven. If I remember correctly, you said that the Ming Dynasty fell due to internal and external troubles, and these all originated from the ancestral teachings of our princes.

You must tell us what happened to the Ming Dynasty that led to the internal and external troubles that destroyed the country. You must explain it to us clearly. “

Zhu Yuanzhang leaned forward, his beard standing up, and spoke solemnly.

Facing the oppressive atmosphere, Yang Chen seemed very open.

His original intention was not to let Zhu Yuanzhang know how tragic the last years of his dynasty were, but since the other party asked to know.

Then he naturally chose to help others achieve their goals.

“Okay, since Your Majesty wants to know about the internal and external troubles, then I will explain them one by one. First of all, I must make it clear that we must admit that the ancestral precepts are indeed the root of the trouble. This is undeniable.”

“Humph! I don’t want to hear this. Just tell me what happened here.”

How could Zhu Yuanzhang not be angry when he heard that his ancestral teachings were the culprit that led to the demise of the Ming Dynasty?

It was as if everything was his fault.

You have to know that Zhu Yuanzhang was a person who would not accept defeat. Apart from Empress Ma, no one was allowed to point out his faults, not even Zhu Biao could be so direct.

Only Yang Chen was not afraid of death, if Empress Ma had not repeatedly warned him.

I’m afraid Zhu Yuanzhang didn’t even know what inhumane thing he would do after losing his mind after hearing Yang Chen’s words.

From the reaction of Zhu Yuanzhang, the old Korean, Yang Chen knew that this guy’s temper was well-deserved.

So he didn’t waste any words and went straight to the point.

“The order in which the Ming dynasty fell in the last years was exactly the same as that of the other dynasties, but then again.

The order of the demise of each dynasty has not changed, that is, the people could not survive and had no food to eat, so in order to avoid starving to death, they had to rebel.

But the situation in the Ming Dynasty was different. When facing the rebellious people, even some Ming soldiers joined in the rebellion.”

“What did you say? It’s fine if the common people are rebelling, but why are the Ming soldiers also joining the rebellion? What on earth happened to our Ming Dynasty?”

On the stage, Yang Chen’s soft voice fell into his ears, but it caused a shock like thunder.

The angry emperor instantly lost all color.

He could understand why the people were rebelling, perhaps there was some misunderstanding.

After all, it is common for subordinates to cheat frequently. As long as the people who deceive their superiors are found out, the rebellion can be resolved.

Zhu Yuanzhang never expected that the Ming soldiers would join the rebellion. The system he had established with great difficulty was destroyed in the end, and it was destroyed by his own hands.

“Why are these rebels rebelling? We have already established household registration, allowing soldiers to become military households, which can be passed down from generation to generation. As long as there is a boy in the family, he can farm the land in the garrison where he is stationed, and he will never go without food.

The people rebel because they can’t eat, so why do they rebel?”

Eager to know the answer, Zhu Yuanzhang quickly told about his masterpiece, the household registration system.

Yang Chen still maintained his calm demeanor and said indifferently:

“I know that Your Majesty is very confident in your household registration system, but if you ask me, these methods of Your Majesty are as unreliable as the ancestral teachings.

Your Majesty, I actually don’t understand why Your Majesty always thinks that you, a person who has not read many books, can come up with a solution that will solve the problem once and for all?

Your Majesty, think about it, in order to ensure that your descendants have enough food to eat, you established the ancestral precept of supporting the princes.

Later, in order to ensure the stability of the Ming Dynasty, the household registration system was proposed, which divided the people into three types of household registration: civilian households, military households, and artisan households.

In addition to the three types of household registration mentioned above, there are also stove households in coastal areas, right? They are people who specialize in assisting the imperial court and merchants in the production of salt.

But Your Majesty, what you have done will not only fail to help the Ming Dynasty in the future, but will cause a lot of trouble.

It’s just like the common people. If you want the people to become honest farmers, the prerequisite is that they have land to farm. However, in the future Ming Dynasty, there were too many princes.

These princes did not have to pay taxes, and even used various methods to seize the people’s land, causing serious land annexation and military households.

If you ask me, this military household policy is a very bad one.

The duty of a soldier is to safeguard national security and maintain social stability, but under the regulations of the Ming Dynasty Household Registration.

Military households were hereditary and had served as soldiers for generations. Their status was very low, and local guards far away from the imperial court would often withhold military pay.

Do you know why I just said that when the Ming soldiers faced the uprising of the people, they not only did not suppress them, but also joined them?
It was because of the example of the Ming army failing to collect salaries and being suppressed by others through trickery.”

Yang Chen kept talking about how outrageous Zhu Yuanzhang’s policies were.

He didn’t notice at all that Zhu Yuanzhang had stood up from sitting.

The expression on his face changed from being cold as ice at first to being completely flushed. The flushed face gradually turned into deep red, and he was ready to explode at any time.

“Anyway, I know that Your Majesty is doing this for the good of your descendants, but you are inexperienced and too confident, and you are making more mistakes.

In the end, those ancestral teachings not only failed to help later kings, but instead became a cage for treacherous ministers and corrupt officials to bind the kings.

As a result, those officials found loopholes and exploited them to control the emperor and seek benefits for themselves, which led to the demise of the Ming Dynasty. “

Feeling thirsty for a moment, Yang Chen stopped and walked to Zhu Biao.

“I’m really sorry, Prince. What I just said was a bit off the cuff. I hope you won’t get too excited.”

After saying that, he poured himself a cup of tea. Just as he drank it, he saw Zhu Yuanzhang’s eyes narrowed into slits above him.

His face turned green and red, and he said with a smile:

“Okay, okay, our Ming Dynasty is terrible, and everything we do is wrong. Come on, go on.

Don’t blame me for not giving you a chance. We are giving you a chance now. Go on. We are listening.”

(End of this chapter)