The film and television world begins with the battle for the throne in Kowloon

Chapter 1190 Li Yan's Enlightenment (Part )
Surrender is only a matter of time, but they need a decent turn. They can't be like a prostitute, which is too despicable, right?
This is not only a matter of face for the blasphemer, but also a matter of the character of the Ming Dynasty. Giving them a way out is also to maintain the dignity of the court. The court is full of people who are greedy for life, afraid of death, and curry favor with the powerful. Even the emperor would be embarrassed!
Zhu Di could have completely learned from Li Shimin, been humble and open-minded, accepted advice with an open mind, moved the emperor with the sincerity of a wise ruler who visited him three times at his thatched cottage, and asked him for the welfare of the people, the country and the world. The two sides would have reached a tacit understanding, each getting what they needed, and set an example of a wise ruler and virtuous ministers.

Whether you are a minister or a king, your name will be recorded in history and passed down through the ages. Why not do it?
If it were Li Yan, he would never kill Fang Xiaoru, no matter how fierce his words were, how firm his position was, or how bad his attitude was towards him, Li Yan would not kill him. Firstly, he was indeed a vassal king who was rebelling, and he was not in the right.

No matter how hard you try, the order of succession will not be recorded in the history books. They are right. It is easy to kill people, but difficult to bend the law. It is even more difficult to stop the gossips.

Secondly, what he wants is the benefits of the world. Once he has the throne, those civil officials will sooner or later come to work for him.

Their roots are the integrity of the entire nation, and I must do everything I can to maintain it. This is the core strength that has allowed the Han Dynasty to last for so long, and no matter how many times it has risen and fallen, it can always rise again and stand at the top of the world. I will never allow it to be destroyed in my hands.

Such a person can give up ten clans to protect the old master, and one day in the future, he will naturally be loyal to himself. If the court in the future is full of such stubborn people who would rather die than surrender, it will be extremely difficult for foreign races to surpass China.

Even if the Ming Dynasty perished, they would learn from the Southern Song Dynasty and would rather jump into the sea carrying the little emperor than abandon their king and country.

The greater the disadvantages, the greater the benefits, but Zhu Di could not see this truth clearly.

The benefits Wei Zheng brought to Li Shimin and the Zhenguan era far outweighed the harm he had caused him.

He should be more patient with Fang Xiaoru. This respect is not for him alone, but for all the scholars in the world, and it will benefit himself in the end.

Let him insult if he wants to insult you, let him scold if he wants to scold you, let him speak shamelessly.

Wait until he is tired of talking, and then use the country, the people and the people to deceive him. After a long time, he will naturally give in.

To put it another way, even if Fang Xiaoru could not be won over, the emperor's repeated requests could have the effect of buying a horse's bones with a lot of gold. Even if Fang Xiaoru could not be moved, other scholars could be moved.

In the end, even if there was one less Fang Xiaoru, there would be countless more Fang Xiaoru in the court.

Moreover, as time went by and the number of times increased, the civil officials, military officers, common people and scholars would also know how much the emperor had sacrificed for the country and the people. The emperor's repeated bowing to Fang Xiaoru was a model of the emperor's regard for the world.

Fang Xiaoru, however, relied on his seniority and refused to give in, clinging to his shortcomings.

The whole public opinion will turn, and people will think Fang Xiaoru is too arrogant. It is not the behavior of a wise minister to use his minister to suppress the emperor. The people will also turn to the emperor, and the whole public opinion pressure will be placed on Fang Xiaoru, leaving him in a dilemma.

If Fang Xiaoru did not bow his head in the end, he would be separated from the scholars and the people of the world whom he represented.

At this time, Fang Xiaoru had lost the support of the people behind him and was no longer possessed by the gods.

He would become an ordinary minister, and it would not matter how he was dealt with or not. And the people's hearts and integrity would not be destroyed by killing him alone. Isn't this more effective than Zhu Di's killing of his ten clans?

Eliminate its disadvantages and take its advantages. No matter how you calculate it, the emperor will not lose.
Zhu Di led five expeditions to the northern desert in his life, and spent most of his time in the military camp. He died on the battlefield, wrapped in his horse's hide.

Perhaps he himself knew that the civil officials disliked him. Even in film and television dramas, he was often seen wearing armor or a casual robe staying in the harem or temple. He seldom held court in the main hall or discussed state affairs with his officials.

The relationship between the monarch and his subjects was indeed somewhat tense.

The ministers gathered around Da Pang, which, from a certain perspective, was a veiled expression of their disapproval and rejection of Zhu Di. Yes, being forced to eat rice from a rice field and still saying it was delicious, who the hell could stand it?
Zhu Di knew this very well. As a military general, he did not like these civil officials, but he could not do without them to govern the country.

Therefore, Zhu Di often led his army to wander outside in the name of conquering the barbarians, because he did not want to stay in the capital.

In Li Yan's opinion, Zhu Di's years of wars were just that, and did not bring about earth-shaking changes to the Ming Dynasty. He did not expand the territory, nor did he increase the income of the court. The benefits brought to the Ming Dynasty were not as great as those brought by his voyages to the West.

The biggest benefit was probably that he won a good reputation for himself after his death and slightly washed away the notoriety of usurping the throne and treason.

Zhu Yuanzhang joined the Red Turban Army led by Guo Zixing in the rebellion against the Yuan Dynasty at the age of 25. By the time he was 40, he had defeated Zhang Shicheng and Chen Youliang, crushed various peasant uprisings, proclaimed himself emperor in Yingtian Prefecture, and founded the Ming Dynasty.

Zhu Di started his rebellion at the age of 40. After seizing the throne, he led his troops to conquer the northern desert many times and fought countless battles for the rest of his life.

Zhu took 15 years to conquer the Ming Dynasty, but Zhu Di took 20 years to conquer the Ming Dynasty without any real achievements. In the end, he died in Yumuchuan, which was very tragic. From the actual effect, the grassland should still be in turmoil.

After five large-scale campaigns, the major forces on the grassland became stronger and stronger. When Emperor Xuanzong of the Ming Dynasty came to power, he had to continue to send troops. During the reign of Emperor Yingzong, the emperor was even captured. The Tatars approached the capital and plundered the capital. The Ming Dynasty was almost on the verge of extinction.

The wars fought by Zhu Di were all ruthless, and seemed passionate and heroic.

In fact, they were all fought for the sake of fighting, with no intention of serving politics. Every time Zhu Di went on an expedition, he described his actions as inevitable, as if if he didn't fight this battle, the barbarians would invade and the Ming Dynasty would be destroyed.

But the fact is, the more he fought, the stronger the enemies became, the more there were of them, and the weaker the Ming Dynasty became. There was no such effect as one battle could bring decades of peace.

It is not wrong to say that he is warmongering. War requires timing and effectiveness. The purpose of war is to achieve peace, not just for the sake of fighting.

Zhu Di never enjoyed the honor of an emperor in his entire life. He had always been guarding the border for the country, fighting in many battles and doing a lot of work, which was more than what the Four Sage Kings did. However, he worked hard but received no credit. Until he died on the way to a conquest, he had never achieved any brilliant achievements that would go down in history and be passed down through the ages.

At the moment of his death, Zhu Di must have been filled with unspeakable grief and resentment.

He would rather die on the way to charge for his country like Zhuge Wuhou who died of illness in Wuzhangyuan, putting a tragic end to his eventful life. This shows how this hero was unable to let go of his life.

Was it really necessary to fight these wars during the Yongle reign?

Without considering the overall political perspective, it would be meaningless to simply take the army to the grassland to kill tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of Hu people.

Ming Xuanzong and Ming Yingzong followed Zhu Di's example, which led to one death and one injury, and the dynasty was filled with many uncertainties. No emperor of the Ming Dynasty launched large-scale expeditions in later generations, and Wanli did not attend court for 30 years and stayed in the harem for his entire life.

Didn’t the Ming Dynasty last for nearly two hundred years? It can be seen that the situation in the north was not so serious during the Yongle period.

As the Right Wise King, Li Yan was very clear about this. The population of the grasslands in the north of the Tang Dynasty was estimated to be five to six million. All the nomadic peoples were soldiers, except for the old ones who could not walk and the young ones who had not yet learned to walk.

Even women and children can ride horses and shoot arrows skillfully and kill enemies in battle.

Excluding the old, the weak, women and children, the young and strong cavalry that can be mobilized now is about one million. If the middle-aged and elderly people who are younger and older and can also participate in the war are included, the number can reach two million. Even if the Tang Dynasty kills half of them, the loss will be between five hundred thousand and one million people.

As long as there are women and children, and vast grasslands, the lost half can be replenished in just 10 to 20 years. And the replenishment will be young people with blood feuds, just like the grassland burned by a fire, it will recover after the spring rain next year.

Therefore, simply killing people is meaningless.

Although the national strength during the Yongle period was not enough to pacify the grasslands, it was definitely more than enough to retreat and defend the country.

As for completely solving the problem of northern barbarians, Qin Shihuang thought about it, Emperor Wu of Han also thought about it, Cao Cao, Yang Guang, Li Shimin, and the Zhao brothers all had such a grand ambition. But the fact is that since ancient times, only northern barbarians have entered the Central Plains, and no Central Plains dynasty has ever truly ruled this vast land.

In the era of cold weapons, the grassland could not be conquered at all, and the problem could not be solved forever. It was an unsolvable problem.

Zhu Di has been keeping a close eye on the north and sending troops frequently, intending to solve a problem that so many brilliant emperors, such as the Qin Shi Huang, Han Wudi, Tang Taizong and Song Taizu, and so many powerful empires since ancient times have been unable to solve. Isn't it really puzzling?

Excessive war and aggression, which wasted national strength, were probably the reasons why this emperor with lofty ambitions could never compare with the Four Sage Sovereigns!
A war that does not serve politics is meaningless.

Based on Li Yan's many years of experience as a superior and the perspective of the current Emperor of Tang, it is certain that even without Zhu Di's continuous conquests, the Ming Dynasty would be able to protect itself and would not be much worse than with continuous conquests!
Zhu Di's work was basically useless, and these wars could have been avoided.
Li Yan has been a leader on the grassland for many years and knows that the vitality of the people on the grassland is equally strong. Just like the weeds on the ground, they can never be completely burned by wildfires and will grow again in the spring breeze. As long as there is grassland, they can never be eradicated.

It is even more difficult to achieve unification on the grassland.

It can even be said that unification is actually a disaster for the grassland tribes. In order to maintain the great unification, the previous Jie Li and the current Right Wise King have done countless things that destroyed their own great walls and martial arts.

How many unruly, brave and ambitious tribal leaders were killed by them personally, just to maintain the whole.

(End of this chapter)