He fiercely criticized the Manchu scholar clique and the twelve emperors of the Qing Dynasty.

The atmosphere in the lecture hall seemed to have subtly changed.

Yan Chongnian's remarks on "united front" and "great power rivalry" accurately captured the natural blind obedience of young students to macro-politics within this closed space.

There's no need to verify the specific account details; as soon as people hear "in exchange for a century of peace," their psychological defenses immediately shift to the side of pragmatism.

Soon, a boy wearing black-rimmed glasses in the front row stood up. He didn't look at Zhao Shuyao, but faced Yan Chongnian and bowed slightly to show respect.

"I completely agree with Professor Yan's point of view." The boy's voice was filled with rational confidence. "The conflict between the Central Plains dynasties and the nomadic peoples of the grasslands has been a headache for emperors throughout the millennia."

"If simply building a few palaces and spending some of the national treasury's money can bring both sides to the table to negotiate and resolve this irreconcilable conflict, I think this deal is not only appropriate but also extremely politically farsighted."

The boy pushed up his glasses, turned around and scanned the entire room: "This approach has objectively accelerated the ethnic integration of the Manchus and Mongols. The value of this integration cannot be measured by money alone."

This sentence became the catalyst for breaking the deadlock, and several other postgraduate entrance exam candidates around immediately nodded in agreement.

On the left aisle, a girl with a ponytail stood up. She spoke quickly and with a strong desire to express herself: "Regarding the question that classmate Zhao Shuyao just mentioned about the southern tour and building gardens in Jiangnan."

"I think this was also a political tactic that was forced upon us. We must acknowledge the objective facts: in the early days of the Qing army's entry into the pass, they did indeed commit a lot of killings in the south. The anti-Qing sentiment among the Jiangnan literati persisted until the Qianlong era."

She looked at Zhao Shuyao with the sharpness of an academic discussion in her eyes: "The South was not stable at all at that time. The Southern Tour was essentially a political action that combined military deterrence with cultural appeasement. The construction of the imperial palace and the inspection of water conservancy were all for the purpose of appeasing the people of Jiangnan and consolidating the rule. This was completely understandable given the historical limitations at the time."

The two men's remarks were like stones thrown into water, and a slightly overweight boy in the back row immediately chimed in: "I think everyone is right. As long as there is no war, that is the best life for ordinary people."

"At the end of the Ming Dynasty, the land was ravaged by war, and people resorted to cannibalism. The ultimate victims of war are always the most ordinary people under heaven. As long as war can be avoided, it is much better for the emperor to spend some money to enjoy himself than to conscript a million able-bodied men to die."

Various voices echoed throughout the classroom, and the tide of public opinion completely turned. Within minutes, the students achieved a logical self-consistency, using modern people's concept of peace to find a perfect and comforting excuse for the exploitation by the privileged class hundreds of years ago.

Yan Chongnian sat upright behind the podium, the tension on his face disappearing. He picked up his thermos, unscrewed the cap, and took a sip of water. He didn't need to do anything; these young academic talents would automatically patch up his shortcomings.

Yang Wei sat in his seat, his back covered in cold sweat. He looked up at Zhao Shuyao, who was standing straight in front of him. This scene of being refuted by hundreds of peers with advanced theories was more despairing than facing an old professor alone.

"Old Zhao..." Yang Wei tugged at Zhao Shuyao's clothes, his voice low in his throat.

Zhao Shuyao didn't turn around. He listened quietly to everyone's speeches, his gaze sweeping across the faces of the boy, the girl with the ponytail, and the chubby boy before finally landing on Yan Chongnian on the podium.

Zhao Shuyao put his left hand into his pocket and raised the microphone with his right hand.

"I strongly agree with the points raised by the students just now regarding the importance of peace for ordinary people."

After the first sentence was spoken, the hostility in the room lessened slightly.

Zhao Shuyao changed the subject, a hint of barely concealed amusement in his voice: "But regarding the relationship between building palaces and uniting the grasslands, I really can't agree. When we do academic research, we emphasize seeking truth from facts."

"The Chengde Mountain Resort, from beginning to end, was a private resort built by the Qing emperors for their own comfort and enjoyment in the summer. It had absolutely nothing to do with strengthening the connection with the grasslands."

The boy in the front row with black-rimmed glasses immediately retorted, "What do you mean it doesn't matter? The story of Mulan Qiuqi is an undeniable historical fact!"

Zhao Shuyao ignored the boy's excitement. He took a step forward slowly and stood to the side of the podium, making sure that everyone in the classroom could see his expression.

"Let's all recall our textbooks. From Nurhaci establishing the Later Jin dynasty to Huang Taiji, what was the core method by which the Manchus and the various Mongol tribes on the grasslands resolved their conflicts?" Zhao Shuyao asked rhetorically, throwing out the answer before anyone else could reply: "It was through marriage alliances."

He raised his right index finger and pointed in the air: "The Manchu imperial family had an unshakeable rule: they would marry their daughters, sisters, and princesses from the imperial clan to Mongolia one after another, and then they would marry Mongolian princes and nobles in return."

The classroom fell silent. Arranged marriages were commonplace in ancient history and didn't seem to prove anything.

Looking at the slightly bewildered faces below, Zhao Shuyao suddenly burst out laughing, his smile revealing a mischievous and teasing tone.

"Since you don't usually read the rigid Qing Dynasty history manuscripts, I'll use the TV series that everyone is most familiar with as an example." Zhao Shuyao switched to an extremely relaxed tone, "You've all seen the Qing Dynasty dramas, right? There's an absolute top character in them, Dayuer, who is also Empress Dowager Xiaozhuang."

Upon hearing the name Da Yu'er, the girls in the back row immediately perked up.

"Dayuer was a woman from the Khorchin Mongols. She married Huang Taiji. Not only did she marry him, but her aunt Zhe Zhe also married Huang Taiji, and later her sister Hailanzhu also married Huang Taiji." Zhao Shuyao spread his hands, looking like he was discussing the plot.

"Of course, the most frequently depicted story in period dramas is the ambiguous love story between Dayuer and Dorgon. Although there is some controversy in official history about the Empress Dowager's marriage, unofficial histories and TV dramas believe it without a doubt."

"This story was originally just a fictionalized account." Zhao Shuyao's smile widened. "But after researching historical materials over the years and calmly reflecting on it, I feel that those messy ethical relationships depicted in movies and TV dramas are probably true."

Upon hearing this, the students in the front row were stunned, and the student council member gaped open.

Zhao Shuyao shook his head and said in an extremely tolerant yet mischievous tone, "Don't forget, both the Manchus and the Mongols were nomadic peoples at the time. Before entering the Central Plains, they made their living on horseback for many years."

"The living environment was harsh, and cultural education was scarce. In modern sociological terms, their system at that time was actually in an uncivilized stage."

As soon as the words "uncivilized" were uttered, Yan Chongnian, who was on the podium, slammed his thermos cup on the table with a thud.

Zhao Shuyao pretended not to hear and continued: "How could an uncivilized tribe possess the moral, ethical, and moral values ​​that we Han people have inherited for thousands of years? When a brother dies, his brother succeeds him; when a father dies, his son succeeds him. They not only inherit the property, but also the wife."

"In their minds, this is for the purpose of reproduction and resource preservation. Therefore, it is perfectly normal for three women, an aunt and her niece, to marry the same man, or for a younger brother-in-law and his sister-in-law to have something going on. In their survival logic, this is nothing out of the ordinary."

Zhao Shuyao waved his hand, perfectly capturing that sarcastic tone: "Please don't mind, the ethical analysis in the previous few sentences was just my personal wild guess."

The boys in the back row who understood this veiled criticism bit their lips hard, afraid of laughing out loud. This way of using academic analysis as a guise to directly attack royal ethics was just too malicious.

But Zhao Shuyao's trump card had just been laid out. He toned down his playful tone and his voice became sharp and cold: "While it may be wishful thinking, the data doesn't lie. This kind of intermarriage relationship did not stop just because they entered the pass and became the masters of the Central Plains. Instead, it continued until the fall of the Qing Dynasty."

He looked at the boy with black-rimmed glasses: "Go check the imperial genealogy of the Qing Dynasty. In the hundreds of years of Qing history, how many daughters of imperial relatives and nobles stayed peacefully in Beijing?"

Zhao Shuyao held up two fingers: "Very few! More than 90 percent of the Manchu princesses were used as bargaining chips to marry into the sand-swept Mongolian tribes. At the same time, the Manchu harem was filled with women from various Mongolian tribes. This is an extremely stable and extremely closed bloodline loop."

Zhao Shuyao leaned forward and gave his final conclusion: "Your so-called 'relying on Mulan Qiuxie to maintain united front work' is a complete reversal of priorities."

"What truly kept the grassland tribes from making any rash moves and maintained a semblance of stability was the constant sending of women by the Manchus. In ancient Han Chinese parlance, this was called 'marriage alliance,' but considering that it was a two-way operation and occurred very frequently..." Zhao Shuyao paused, staring at the podium with a penetrating gaze, "This kind of behavior is more commonly known as 'exchange of marriage' in folk parlance."

The phrase "marriage exchange" is like a sharp carving knife, tearing apart the magnificent illusion of "all nations paying tribute" that Yan Chongnian had just established.

"Think back, what kind of family environment would lead to such frequent marriage swapping?" Zhao Shuyao posed the question to the entire audience.

"It was those extremely poor groups who couldn't afford to marry, or those who were extremely closed off and afraid of their wealth flowing out. The Manchu imperial family controlled all the wealth in the world, yet they still maintained this extremely closed-off custom of exchanging wives."

Looking at Yan Chongnian's pale face, Zhao Shuyao raised his voice again: "Between the Manchus and Mongols, through hundreds of years of intermarriage, a complex and inextricable network of kinship has long been formed."

"We're all close relatives, distant aunts and uncles. Even without the Chengde Mountain Resort, would the Mongolian princes disown their own daughters and grandsons?"

"So," Zhao Shuyao spread his hands, "what is the point of spending millions of taels of silver, occupying more than five million square meters of land, and building a so-called United Front Center? Is it just to make the host family appear more wealthy when relatives visit? Is packaging the construction of the garden for enjoyment as a necessary expense to appease relatives? Is this what you call the might of the Eight Banners army?"

An eerie silence fell over the lecture hall.

The students who had just spoken out against Zhao Shuyao all lowered their heads. Zhao Shuyao didn't bother arguing with them about whether it was "worth spending money" at all; instead, he simply overturned the entire chessboard.

If both sides had already bound their core interests together through a "marriage exchange," then the only reason for building the palace would be the simple "desire for pleasure."

Yan Chongnian was panting heavily. He couldn't refute the fact of "marriage alliance" because it was the basic consensus in the study of Manchurian history. But he never expected that this young man would deconstruct the serious Manchu-Mongol marriage alliance in such a despicable way using a theory of "exchange of brides" that was almost like something out of a marketplace.

"You...you're blaspheming history!" Yan Chongnian could only resort to this phrase again after struggling for a long time.

"I wouldn't presume to call it blasphemy. I'm simply taking things off the altar and putting them in the sunlight so everyone can see the materials clearly."

Zhao Shuyao, holding the microphone, slowly retreated from the side of the podium back to his seat.

He looked at the girl with the ponytail, his tone becoming very calm, yet carrying a sense of impending storm.

"Now that we've sorted out the situation in the north, let's follow this female student's train of thought and talk about their southern tour, including building palaces and inspecting water conservancy in the prosperous Jiangnan region." Zhao Shuyao smiled slightly. "Let's see whether this forced political action stabilized Jiangnan or drained it of its vitality."