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

After Lin Jing raised the question, the focus of both cameras was firmly locked on Zhao Shuyao's face. This was an extremely dangerous topic, and also a banner that Manchu remnants and nihilists on the Internet liked to raise the most—to lay the foundation for a vast territory.

Zhao Shuyao did not speak immediately.

His brain was racing, and the data from his past life, including the "Collected Statutes of the Qing Dynasty," the account books of the Court of Colonial Affairs, and the "Collected Statutes of the Ming Dynasty," converged in his mind.

Once the information comparison is complete, he doesn't need a lengthy macro-narrative; he only needs to dissect the underlying management logic of the two.

Zhao Shuyao shook his head repeatedly, a mocking smile playing on his lips.

"Editor-in-Chief Lin, your question, or rather the viewpoint promoted by those influential figures online, is precisely the kind of smokescreen they love to use to distort the truth." Zhao Shuyao placed his hands, fingers interlaced, on his abdomen, his tone extremely calm.

Lin Jing paused slightly, her hand holding the pen moving with a look of inquiry.

"First of all, everyone needs to understand a very crucial issue." Zhao Shuyao raised his right index finger and gently drew a circle in the air. "That is, the Ming Dynasty and the Manchu Qing Dynasty had fundamental differences in their systems of governance for the frontier regions."

He withdrew his hand and leaned forward slightly.

"The Ming Dynasty adopted a tributary system," Zhao Shuyao explained. "The underlying logic of this system is very simple: if you submit to me and accept the investiture from our orthodox Chinese system, your status as the supreme leader will be recognized by me. As long as you don't cause trouble, I will not send heavy troops to directly interfere with your internal management."

"This is an extremely confident policy of appeasement. I believe this. People may not be very clear about this. Many people think that if officials are not directly sent to collect taxes, the territory is not considered part of the territory. This is trying to apply the concept of a modern country to the tributary system of an ancient feudal dynasty. It is completely like trying to find a sword by marking the boat where it fell into the water."

Lin Jing wrote the words "tributary system" on the outline, then looked up and asked, "But some people online say that the Ming Dynasty's control over the north was always weak, especially when facing the remnants of the Mongol forces."

Zhao Shuyao let out a soft chuckle.

"The number one threat to the Ming Dynasty at that time did indeed come from the Northern Yuan forces in the north." Zhao Shuyao frankly admitted this historical fact. "We also know that those tribes who made their living on horseback all year round were extremely mobile and indeed very powerful."

"But what was the result?" Zhao Shuyao asked rhetorically, his tone revealing an undisguised arrogance. "Although the Ming Dynasty suffered a major setback in the mid-Ming period, such as the Tumu Crisis, the Ming Dynasty did not back down. Later, Emperor Chenghua, Zhu Jianshen, directly sent troops to wipe them out and forced them to submit to the Ming Dynasty once again."

Zhao Shuyao's gaze sharpened: "What did the Ming Dynasty rely on? It relied on firearms, military formations, and the submission earned through real battles on the border!"

Lin Jing nodded repeatedly; this period of history was indeed filled with the spirit of iron and blood.

"But what about the Manchu rule over the north?" Zhao Shuyao changed the subject, his arrogance subsiding and replaced by a deconstructive calmness.

Lin Jing leaned forward, her body brimming with curiosity: "What are the fundamental differences between the Ming and Qing dynasties' rule over the north?"

Zhao Shuyao spread his hands and revealed an extremely vivid smile.

"It's actually very simple." Zhao Shuyao's voice carried a storytelling humor. "When we watch those dramas with long queues flying everywhere, we can see the clues as long as we pay a little attention to the plot."

He held up two fingers.

"The Manchu Qing dynasty maintained peace on the northern frontier through two main methods. The first was to sacrifice women of the clan in exchange for peace, which is what we commonly call 'marriage exchange'. The second was to implement a super-version of the Han dynasty's 'Decree of Grace'."

A hint of confusion appeared in Lin Jing's eyes. She could understand the term "marriage exchange," but the imitation of the "decree of favor" made it difficult for her to make a logical connection.

Seeing Lin Jing's bewildered expression, Zhao Shuyao put down his hand and began to dissect this massive political scheme in an extremely easy-to-understand way.

"Reporter Lin, think about this." Zhao Shuyao gestured a large square above the coffee table. "The Manchus first divided the vast grasslands into many small tribes, making it impossible for them to form a unified force."

He slashed his hand through the air a few times, cutting the large cube into pieces.

"Then, the Manchu imperial family transformed into a large-scale transnational marriage agency, marrying their princesses and noblewomen to the Taiji of these small tribes as wives in a systematic way."

Looking into Lin Jing's eyes, Zhao Shuyao posed a soul-searching question that struck at the heart of human nature: "Reporter Lin, let's put ourselves in their shoes. If you were one of the illegitimate sons in those tribes, or another powerful general, and you saw a Taiji marry a Manchu princess, with the entire Qing army standing behind her, how would you choose sides?"

Lin Jing's eyes lit up instantly; her journalistic instincts allowed her to grasp the core of the system immediately.

"I will definitely side with the Manchus." Lin Jing answered without hesitation, "Because the children born to the princesses are legitimate sons. With the Manchus as their backing, no one else can compete with them. This is equivalent to the Manchus placing their representatives in every tribe."

"Absolutely right!" Zhao Shuyao snapped his fingers, his eyes flashing with admiration. "This is what you call a deep entanglement of interests. So, in my opinion, the Manchu Qing dynasty only had a nominal, formal rule in the north."

"They did not establish absolute control through actual warfare, but through marriage alliances and division, which resulted in them not forming substantial absolute dominance."

Lin Jing quickly jotted down this brilliant analysis on the outline. But she still had doubts.

"Zhao," Lin Jing pressed again, her tone tinged with doubt, "if there was no actual absolute rule, why was the North able to remain so stable for over two hundred years? You know, this has never happened before in the thousands of years of feudal dynasty history."

Upon hearing this question, Zhao Shuyao picked up the water glass on the coffee table, took a slow sip, and felt the warm water slide down his throat. He knew that the facts he was about to reveal would completely shatter many people's illusions about the so-called golden age of the Qing Dynasty.

Setting down his water glass, Zhao Shuyao let out a soft sigh.

"The reason is actually very simple." Zhao Shuyao's lips curled into a mocking smile as he looked directly at Lin Jing. "They take the real gold, silver, and grain collected from the Central Plains and the Jiangnan water towns and send them as tribute to the northern grassland tribes, using money to shut them up."

The air inside the suite seemed to freeze instantly.

The cameraman next to her suddenly looked up, staring at Zhao Shuyao in disbelief, while Lin Jing's fingers, which were holding a pen, froze in mid-air.

"Of course," Zhao Shuyao added, his tone dripping with sarcasm. "According to their official Qing dynasty documents, and the lines in those period dramas, this isn't called tribute; it's called 'the emperor's boundless grace and reward.'"

Lin Jing took a deep breath, feeling that her worldview had been greatly impacted.

Looking at Lin Jing's incredulous expression, Zhao Shuyao's smile softened; he understood her feelings perfectly.

"Isn't it extremely surprising?" Zhao Shuyao's tone was calm, as if he were conducting a cognitive adjustment session. "This is an angle you've never learned about in history textbooks or seen on television since you were a child, right?"

Lin Jing shook her head repeatedly, her voice even a little hoarse: "This is really too surprising to me. I believe that when the program airs, many viewers will be as shocked as I am. I have never heard an expert put forward this view, and I have never thought about it in this way."

"That's normal." Zhao Shuyao crossed his hands on his knees, displaying an all-knowing erudition and composure. "Everyone is busy with work and life. How many people would bother to look through those obscure and tedious Qing Dynasty archives and the accounts of the Court of Colonial Affairs? Most people's understanding of the history of the Manchu Qing Dynasty comes from various fictionalized accounts and embellished Qing Dynasty dramas."

Zhao Shuyao's tone was as steady as a radio broadcaster devoid of emotion.

"In those plays, the emperor generously bestows thousands upon thousands of taels of silver, which looks extremely impressive. But if you peel back this impressive facade and look at the underlying accounts, you will find that this so-called reward is essentially no different from the 'annual tribute' that the Song Dynasty paid to the Liao and Jin Dynasties. They are all just paying peace protection fees."

Lin Jing drew a heavy line on the paper: "Payment! This is an extremely shameful historical term."

Then, Zhao Shuyao's smile vanished completely, he sat up straight, and his gaze became more stern than ever before.

"Reporter Lin, we can't just watch them put on a show of brotherhood and harmony, of Manchuria and Mongolia as one family." Zhao Shuyao's voice rose an octave, carrying an undeniable seriousness. "We need to find out where this money came from!"

He stretched out his finger and pointed to the ground.

"They are enslaving ordinary Han Chinese people in the Central Plains to the extreme! The textile industries of Jiangnan, the taxes of Guangdong and Guangxi, and the food that the farmers of the Central Plains dig out of the soil!"

"They drained all the blood and vital essence from the body, then took it to their in-laws in the north as offerings, hoping to secure stability for their Aisin Gioro family!"

Zhao Shuyao stared directly into the camera, conducting a historical trial spanning hundreds of years.

"If we push the timeline back to the Han Dynasty, the Tang Dynasty, or even the Ming Dynasty, I believe any orthodox dynasty in the Central Plains would have done a better job and achieved more short-term peace than the Qing Dynasty if they had done this."

Zhao Shuyao spread his hands and uttered a resounding question.

"So I've never understood why such a shameful thing, such a weak act of using the blood and sweat of ordinary people to buy peace, is something to be proud of?"

Lin Jing held her breath, completely overwhelmed by this aura.

"According to the principles and values ​​of our orthodox Chinese dynasties," Zhao Shuyao said in a low, heavy voice, "such a great humiliation should be recorded in history, and then we should endure hardship and bide our time to seize the opportunity to get it back with interest!"

"The rules were already established in the Gongyang Commentary on the Spring and Autumn Annals." Zhao Shuyao straightened his back and uttered the ancient adage that has been passed down for thousands of years: "Even a grudge nine generations later can be avenged, instead of packaging shame as a prosperous era to numb everyone's senses, as is the case now."

The suite was so quiet you could hear a pin drop.

Zhao Shuyao leaned back against the sofa chair, glanced at the shocked Lin Jing, and once again curled his lips into a meaningful smile.

"Moreover," Zhao Shuyao's voice became extremely soft, yet it was like a bomb about to explode, throwing out a fatal question, "if they really had established such an indestructible and vast territory as they boasted, then have you ever considered why, in the late Qing Dynasty, when facing the great powers, they lost this beautiful land so drastically that they had nothing left but their underwear?"

Zhao Shuyao looked into Lin Jing's eyes.

"Reporter Lin, do you know what the true mindset of the Qing Dynasty's supreme rulers was when those humiliating treaties were signed?"