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

Zhao Shuyao shifted his gaze from the lengthy, thousand-word essay, removed his right hand from the mouse, and rubbed his aching neck.

There are two hours left until midnight, the time he promised.

Using words to argue, Zhao Shuyao quickly went through this option in his mind and then decisively rejected it. Words were too dry and too easy to be taken out of context. Moreover, to compete with such a public intellectual who had played word games for half his life was tantamount to giving up his own advantageous position.

Video, only video, can deliver the most intuitive logic, the pauses in tone, and even every penetrating micro-expression directly into the viewer's mind. This is the most efficient nuclear weapon in the era of self-media.

He pulled over the metal stand, secured his phone, opened the camera app, switched to front-facing video recording mode, and adjusted the angle of the lamp to softly illuminate his face, ensuring he looked relaxed and composed in the video.

Taking a deep breath, Zhao Shuyao pointed his index finger at the red record button in the center of the screen.

The three-second countdown has ended.

"Hello comrades, I am Zhao Shuyao." Zhao Shuyao smiled gently. "It is 10:50 a.m. I am here to fulfill my promise from last night and officially reply to the long article that Teacher A posted yesterday."

Leaning slightly forward with his elbows resting on the table, he adopted an extremely relaxed, casual posture, as if he were chatting with someone.

"After reading Professor A's article, I found that your biggest point is that everyone has different standards for wise rulers, famous ministers, and famous generals." Zhao Shuyao spoke calmly and pronounced his words very clearly. "In a very broad context, I agree with this point. However, Professor A, you seem to have misunderstood a very basic premise."

He tapped his fingers lightly on the table twice, making a crisp sound.

"History is not a literary creation, not a novel. Don't try to confuse people with the saying 'There are a thousand and one Hamlets in a thousand people's minds.' Hamlet is fictional and can be interpreted in any way, but history is the reality that truly happened on this land, built with the blood, sweat, and bones of ordinary people!"

Zhao Shuyao looked directly at the camera, his smile fading slightly.

"I believe that any historical figure who can be included in our discussion of 'wise rulers and famous ministers' must cross a very basic red line. If you don't cross this red line, you are not qualified to sit at the table and participate in the evaluation."

"What defines a wise ruler?" Zhao Shuyao held up one finger. "The standard is very simple. It doesn't depend on how well he writes poetry or how much he collects antiques. Domestically, does he govern diligently and care for the people? Does he reduce taxes and corvée labor?"

"Do they dare to strike back against the powerful and wealthy, bringing a better life to ordinary people? Externally, do they have the backbone to resist foreign enemies and safeguard national unity?"

Raise your second finger.

"The same applies to renowned generals. Did they demonstrate exceptional military talent in adversity? Did they achieve remarkable victories against foreign invasion, protecting the borders and the people? As for renowned ministers, they are even more straightforward: the people come first, they do not shy away from powerful figures, and they even dare to challenge imperial authority!"

Zhao Shuyao lowered his hands and leaned back in his chair.

"With this extremely clear standard, let's look at that outrageous theory you often put forward in previous programs. You said that the Ming Dynasty was a 'three-no dynasty': no ​​wise ruler, no famous ministers, and no famous generals. I strongly disagree with this extremely absurd conclusion."

"But the Qing Dynasty, which you admire and even frequently glorify, I can borrow your term—that was a completely worthless dynasty!"

Having said all that, Zhao Shuyao didn't stop. The theoretical framework was in place, and the next step was to fill it with enough historical material to kill someone.

"Since you've brought up the criteria for a wise ruler, let's discuss that today. Let's talk about the founding emperor of the Ming Dynasty, Emperor Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang. Would you consider him a wise ruler?"

Zhao Shuyao tilted his head slightly, his eyes revealing an undisguised mockery.

"Perhaps in your mind and in the mind of your circle, he is definitely not considered one. Why? Because he was too harsh on officials, because he was extremely strict, because he made corrupt officials afraid to embezzle or accept bribes. You, standing from the perspective of feudal scholar-officials, naturally think he is cruel."

His tone suddenly changed, breaking the previously steady rhythm. Zhao Shuyao's voice rose half an octave, and the suppressed emotions in his chest for the sake of historical truth began to burst forth.

"But why don't you put yourself in the people's shoes and tell us how he treats them?"

Zhao Shuyao stretched out his right hand and pointed at the camera, as if he had directly poked the nose of that public intellectual.

"You have to understand, the Ming Taizu (Emperor Hongwu) started out as a beggar monk. If you look through the history books, among the hundreds of emperors in history, is there anyone whose starting point was lower than his?"

"Emperor Gaozu of Han, Liu Bang, was at least a village head, with some meager land, and lived a fairly comfortable life. In his youth, he even served as a retainer under a chivalrous hero in the state of Wei. But Emperor Taizu of Ming? He started with nothing but a broken bowl!"

"This is the kind of person who crawled out of the mud at the very bottom and built an empire." The more Zhao Shuyao spoke, the clearer his thoughts became, and he didn't even need to look at the prepared outline.

"If you have a spare moment, take a look at historical maps and see when Shi Jingtang ceded the Sixteen Prefectures of Youyun. Do the math—the Sixteen Prefectures of Youyun were separated from the central government of China for over four hundred years!"

"What does over four hundred years mean? It means the sense of identity of several generations has been eroded. How long have the Southwest, Northwest, and Northeast been outside the central government's jurisdiction?"

Zhao Shuyao pounded his fingers on the table, making a loud thumping sound.

"It was Emperor Taizu of Ming who dispatched troops on a northern expedition, using the most unyielding spirit to forcibly piece together this homeland, which had been fragmented and lost for hundreds of years, back into the map of China! He also pulled those people who had been enslaved by foreign tribes back into the Chinese identity system. Just for this achievement of establishing the country, you call him an unwise ruler?"

Only Zhao Shuyao's explosive voice echoed in the dormitory. He looked at his own cold and stern face on his phone screen, took a deep breath, suppressed his intense emotions a little, and turned to more convincing micro-historical materials.

"Let's talk about the system of people's livelihood that he established. I know that many systems were not implemented in the mid-to-late Ming Dynasty for various reasons, but when he first established the country, he had the people in his heart. No one can deny or erase this fact."

Zhao Shuyao pulled up the documents on his computer. Even though he knew the contents by heart, he still made a gesture of looking at the documents to convey a rigorous academic attitude to the audience.

"The Great Ming Code clearly states that local officials must take in widows, orphans, the lonely, and the disabled who are unable to support themselves. In that feudal era with extremely low productivity, it provided the most basic right to survival for the elderly, the disabled, women, and children. It even stipulated that local officials who concealed or failed to provide relief would be punished with sixty strokes of the cane!"

Zhao Shuyao looked at the camera again, a signature sarcastic smile playing on his lips.

"I'd like to ask Professor A, who is extremely knowledgeable, about the Qing Dynasty that you often praise. It seems that they didn't care so much about the lives of ordinary people, did they? When those Manchu nobles were seizing land and treating Han people as bondservants, what kind of enlightened rulers were they?"

After saying this, he didn't give the other person any chance to catch their breath and immediately moved on to the next topic.

"Having discussed wise rulers, let's talk about famous generals. Xu Da, the number one hero who drove out the Manchus and restored China, everyone is familiar with him, right? And then there's Li Wenzhong, this ruthless man who specifically targeted certain people, specifically chasing after those so-called ancestors of your Manchu Qing dynasty and beating them to death, forcing them to the northern deserts where they didn't even dare to turn their heads back. Wouldn't such achievements qualify him as a famous general?"

"Finally, let's talk about a famous minister." Zhao Shuyao crossed his arms in front of him. "Hai Rui, who brought his coffin to court, pointed at the Jiajing Emperor's nose and cursed him, saying, 'The people of the world have long been dissatisfied with Your Majesty.' For the sake of the people, he was willing to give up his own life and that of his entire family, and he was willing to die to restrain imperial power. In your eyes, doesn't this count as a famous minister?"

Zhao Shuyao stared silently at the camera for a full five seconds.

"Teacher A," Zhao Shuyao concluded, "reading a lot is a good thing, but if you read only to find excuses for the oppressors, or just to show off your hypocritical sense of superiority to the people, then you've wasted your time reading."

"History has its own standards, and the people have their own scales. You can't turn black into white by just waving a folding fan and blowing blindly."

Zhao Shuyao revealed that gentle smile again.

"That's all for today. Thank you for listening, everyone. I've finished recording the video and will release it soon. I hope Teacher A can watch it with a calm mind. See you next time."

He extended his index finger and pressed the stop recording button with remarkable decisiveness.

The red dot disappears, and the image freezes.

Zhao Shuyao leaned back in his chair and let out a long breath. The ten minutes of high-intensity output he had just experienced had given him an extremely refreshing mental workout.

I unplugged the phone's data cable, skillfully exported the video to my computer, imported it into editing software, and just like last night, manually typed out rows of extremely conspicuous large subtitles.

Half an hour later, the video was processed.

Open the Toutiao creator backend, drag the video into the upload box, and add a concise title:

Not everyone is qualified to sit at the table for a meal: A refutation of a certain public intellectual's "Three-No Dynasty" theory.

In the main text description, he still precisely "@" Teacher A's official account, and then clicked the publish button.

The green progress bar quickly filled up, and the page refreshed.