Sky Curtain: My Great Qin must have an aircraft carrier!

Inside the Daxing Palace of the Sui Dynasty, Yang Jian stared at the inscription "Qin Emperor, Han Emperor Wu, Tang Emperor Taizong, Song Emperor Taizu" on the sky, feeling increasingly uneasy.

"Zhao Kuangyin ended the chaos of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period, and I have also ended the chaos of the Northern and Southern Dynasties!"

"Why can he get in line, but I can't?"

In the end, Yang Jian also felt somewhat aggrieved.

It's not that he's petty, it's just that this ranking really bothered him.

The founding emperor personally wrote a poem, embedding his name into the poem; no one could ignore that.

Dugu Jialuo glanced at her husband but didn't respond.

Yang Yong, who was standing to the side, suddenly blurted out a remark.

"Father, our Sui Dynasty only lasted two generations. Even the founding emperor must have chosen a dynasty that lasted longer, right?"

These words hit the nail on the head.

Yang Jian's face changed from red to green, from green to blue, and finally twisted into a liver color.

"No one will think you're mute if you don't speak! Get out!"

"Fine, then get out."

Yang Yong walked out nonchalantly.

Anyway, Tianmu has already said that Yang Guang is a spendthrift, and his position as crown prince is as secure as Mount Tai, so what is there to be afraid of?

Watching Yang Yong leave, Yang Jian felt a splitting headache and was filled with despair for the future of the Sui Dynasty.

Yang Guang will ruin the Sui Dynasty in the future, but Yang Yong is not necessarily much better off!

Did he say the phrase "died after only two generations" in front of his father?

Yang Jian's head throbbed with worry. He felt that appointing Li Xian wasn't a bad idea, since he couldn't let Yang Guang or Yang Yong become emperors.

-

Many people have no concept of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period, thinking it's just about fighting and being similar to the Three Kingdoms period.

That's overthinking it. At least the Three Kingdoms period inherited the Han system, and people still had basic moral values.

Morality is not precious; once the bottom line is crossed, it will only get lower and lower.

In modern society, people feel that there are many good people and high moral standards when they walk on the street.

That's because the law hangs overhead, instilling a sense of awe, which gives morality a place to be applied.

Unfortunately, the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period was the lowest point in Chinese history in terms of morality, and the law was practically worthless.

It is different from the Northern and Southern Dynasties, which at least had a brief period of stability.

The military generals of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period had no moral compass whatsoever; even Lü Bu could be considered a saint if he were alive.

"If you're going to talk about history, then talk about history. Why bring up your grandfather?"

Outside Bingzhou City, Lü Bu gripped his halberd, pointing at the sky and cursing.

"Ding Yuan was cruel and ungrateful, and Dong Zhuo was a scourge to the country and its people; anyone in their position would have had to take action!"

"To compare Mr. Lü to those cannibalistic beasts is an insult!"

Zhang Fei, who was training his troops in Xiaopei, burst into laughter upon hearing this.

"Hey! That traitor who stole my brother's Xuzhou, does he even deserve to be called a saint?"

"If the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms were even worse than Lü Bu, how despicable would they have been?"

Guan Yu sat beside him, stroking his long beard without saying a word.

He witnessed Dong Zhuo burning Luoyang during the chaotic end of the Han Dynasty, but the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period was even worse.

Guan Yu couldn't help but shiver.

The most distinctive feature of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period was that subordinates overthrew their superiors.

In other dynasties, if an emperor wanted to seize military power, he would simply kill the military general.

For example, when Zhu Yuanzhang of the Ming Dynasty executed Lan Yu, military power naturally returned to the hands of the imperial court.

Even if it were the military genius Han Xin, killing him would still allow one to regain military power.

However, during the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period, becoming a general did not automatically grant you military power.

It was the soldiers below who elected you that made you a general.

Those military governors who held significant military power were often merely spokespeople for their soldiers.

If you can't satisfy the soldiers, they will kill you without hesitation and replace you with someone who can.

In the eyes of these soldiers, the country and loyalty are bullshit; they will be loyal to whoever pays them the most.

Soldiers would desperately incite their commander to wage war or even rebel, all for their own benefit.

For example, the soldiers of Weibo wanted to rebel, but the military governor disagreed and killed them. Then the second military governor disagreed and killed them as well.

The third unlucky guy, Shi Xiancheng, saw that things were not going well and tried to escape by climbing over the wall, but he was caught by the soldiers. The soldiers threw a bloody head on him and looked at him with a grin.

Left with no other option, Shi Xiancheng, with tears in his eyes, led the rebellion.

The generals from all different time periods fell silent after hearing this.

They forced the commander to rebel, and if the commander refused, they killed him.

This isn't an army, it's a bunch of armed robbers.

Zhu Yuanzhang clicked his tongue in disbelief, exclaiming, "Damn it, what kind of army is this? They're worse than bandits!"

In all his years of leading troops into battle, Old Zhu had never seen such an arrogant and thuggish soldier.

If the Ming army dared to do such a thing, they would be skinned alive and their entire clan exterminated.

Therefore, many military governors had no choice but to desperately curry favor with their soldiers in order to save their lives.

But the question is, where does the money come from? Where does the grain come from? It all comes from squeezing money from the people.

When the people saw that farming was a dead end, they decided it was better to join the army.

The more soldiers there are, the greater the consumption, and the more the people are exploited. When the people can't survive, they join the army, and then there are even more soldiers...

The challenge Zhao Kuangyin faced was how to control these soldiers.

This isn't a problem that can be solved by killing a few generals and replacing them with a few others.

Upon seeing this, Lu Li felt a chill run down her spine.

He previously thought that the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period was just a chaotic era, and that as long as you had soldiers and food, you could easily sweep through it.

But after Tianmu finished telling the story of the Wei Bo soldiers, he realized how wrong he had been.

The real difficulty is not the chaotic world, but the countless human hearts and desires.

If you were Zhao Kuangyin, what would you do in the face of these lawless soldiers?

Bribing them with money and grain?

That's what those military governors who were killed did; their soldiers' appetites grew bigger and bigger, it was like drinking poison to quench thirst.

Using military law is even less likely to work; they dare to kill their commander, so why would they care about you?

Zhao Da, how exactly did you break this deadlock?

Not only Lu Li couldn't figure it out, but Li Shimin was also troubled, feeling it was quite a difficult situation.

This isn't just a problem with one or two generals; the entire system is rotten, rotten to the core.

Soldiers are no longer the nation's weapons, but have become armed groups.

If you treat the soldiers from Hebei well today, the soldiers from Hedong will dare to cause trouble tomorrow.

You may be able to subdue one place in a short time, but can you subdue all the beasts in the world who wield weapons?

Li Shimin was also curious about how Zhao Kuangyin solved this problem.

So, what methods did Zhao Kuangyin use to end all of this?

Was the "releasing military power over a cup of wine" really as simple as just summoning military generals over for a meal?

Emperors, generals, and ministers from all times and spaces were all invigorated.

Here comes the real, useful information!

How do you tame a tiger that has broken free of its reins and has tasted blood and flesh?

Ying Zheng looked at Fusu, who had just returned, with a serious expression. "Come and see for yourself. Learn from others' methods."

"This Emperor Taizu of Zhao in later generations had something quite useful, far more useful than the dragon-slaying techniques those Confucian scholars talked about."

After learning that Huhai would succeed to the throne, Ying Zheng understood.

Even if Fusu was incompetent and liked to contradict him, he was still much better than Huhai.

Fusu looked at his father's profile, somewhat surprised.

Since the appearance of the Heavenly Canopy, Father has indeed changed; he is no longer so serious and cold.

He began to think about people's livelihood, began to pay attention to the future, and even began to teach himself.

Fusu bowed to Ying Zheng and said, "Yes, Father."

Liu Bang beckoned to Liu Ying, "Ying'er, come and see. Tianmu is telling you something good. Listen over there."

Liu Ying glanced at his mother, and Lü Zhi nodded, gently nudging his back.

Liu Ying then moved to Liu Bang's side and sat down properly.

"What are you afraid of? Your father doesn't eat people."

Liu Bang reached out and ruffled Liu Ying's hair, his tone casual yet serious.

"Tianmu is talking about how to seize military power. You should learn this as soon as possible; you'll need it later."

Among the founding heroes of the Han Dynasty, Han Xin, Peng Yue, and Ying Bu, which one was the most troublesome?

With me keeping them in check, these people won't dare to act recklessly for the time being.

But Liu Bang knew his own body was in poor health and estimated that he wouldn't last more than a few years.

The Han Dynasty would have to face the issue of taking away military power sooner or later.