Spoiling History: Starting from the Three Kingdoms

【At the beginning of 1283, Kublai Khan finally remembered Wen Tianxiang, who had been imprisoned for three years.

The Yuan emperor condescended to personally summon Wen Tianxiang and persuaded him to surrender. He also called out Song Gongdi, who surrendered when Lin'an City was captured.

Kublai Khan's meaning was very clear. Your emperor has surrendered and is still eating and fat, and is about to marry a Mongolian wife. No one will say anything if you surrender.

However, Wen Tianxiang's answer has always been simple:

"Why should I serve two surnames? I am willing to grant you one death."

And this time, the matter was also straightforward. Seeing that things had come to this point, Kublai Khan still refused to surrender, so he beheaded him.

The persuasion to surrender failed on the first day, and the execution order was issued the next day.

Wen Tianxiang had also made preparations long ago. He kowtowed to the south several times on the execution ground and said "I have done my job", and then died generously without changing his face.

Seven hundred years have passed, and the death of Prime Minister Wen is now being discussed again. Wang Yanwu, who came from Wen Tianxiang's shogunate, has been criticized for his actions.

However, it is well known that the most basic point of reading history is that you cannot use the sword of today to kill the officials of the previous dynasty.

After Wen Tianxiang died, his family buried his body and found a page of his last work, now called "Yidai Zan", in his pocket. The last page clearly reads:

What do you learn from reading the books of sages? From now on, I will be worthy of it!

From this, it can be seen clearly what Wen Tianxiang pursued, but he only wanted to be worthy of what he learned and the position he held, rather than various conspiracy theories.

The "Book of Rites" in the Five Classics of Confucianism clearly states that the king dies for the country, the officials die for the people, and the scholars die for the system.

In the Confucian righteousness spectrum, people of different identities have different responsibilities. The higher the position, the heavier the responsibility, just like the Book of Rites never asked the people to die for the country.

Compared to his life, Wen Tianxiang obviously valued his integrity as the prime minister, the top scholar, the leader of the literati, and the head of the literati in the Southern Song Dynasty more, so he went to his death calmly without regrets.

Some choices may not be necessary in today's view, but standing on the other side of the gulf of 700 years, it is not a bad idea to respect his choices.

But in any case, in the year when Wen Tianxiang died, the Song Dynasty finally withdrew from the stage of history. 】

"Song has Wen Tianxiang, I wonder who in our Ming Dynasty can die without sparing his life?"

The ministers of Yingtian Prefecture all knew that the emperor respected Wen Tianxiang, who was determined to resist the Yuan Dynasty, very much, so when they saw this young man talking about Wen Tianxiang, they were also quite solemn.

Seeing the emperor sighing, the crown prince comforted him:

"Daddy swept away the Yuan Dynasty and restored China, and the Han people of later generations also respect you."

"The foreign countries have entered China again, and it is possible that those who restore China in the future will imitate you."

"In this case, my Ming Dynasty will not lack ministers who are willing to sacrifice their lives! There will also be no lack of rulers who will die for the country!"

Zhu Biao is very confident in this inference. After all, he has experienced the turbulent times and knows his father's skills.

Now, when hearing the future generations talking about the shortcomings of the Ming Dynasty, it is not difficult to hear the complex feelings of the future generations towards the Ming Dynasty.

Of course, there is more important. The existence of this light curtain may be to help Dad correct the shortcomings and establish the prosperous Ming Dynasty. All of these show that the Ming Dynasty founded by my father has many desirable features!

As for the ministers related to the late Ming Dynasty, Zhu Biao mentioned one person:

"The Li Zicheng mentioned by later generations in the late Ming Dynasty seemed to be very concerned about the fate of our Ming Dynasty."

"It can be said that he is also a person with the integrity of the Ming Dynasty."

Zhu Yuanzhang nodded slightly. He believed what Zhu Biao said, but every time he thought that his Ming Dynasty was not as good as the two Song Dynasties, he felt a little upset:

"So in the ninth year, we built a temple for Wen Tianxiang next to the Beiping Prefecture School."

"This move is to let Wen Tianxiang see that we Han people have finally cleaned up our own mountains and rivers. This Prime Minister Wen is still alive, so there is nothing to worry about."

"Old Four!"

Zhu Di was startled by the sudden name, but he had always He also knew what to say at this time, listening with his ears erect:

"When I arrive in Beiping, I will definitely offer sacrifices for my father!"

Nodding slightly, Zhu Yuanzhang was silent for a while and then thought:

"Wen Tianxiang was born in Jiangnan and died in Beiping. Although he cannot be buried in his hometown, fortunately, both places are now under the rule of the Ming Dynasty."

"When the fourth son arrives in Beiping, you must remember to offer sacrifices in spring and autumn with formal rites, and never abandon them every year, so that the scholars in the north will remember that the Ming Dynasty has now returned to unity without distinction between the north and the south."

"The scholars in Jiangnan should be willing to bury their bones in Beiping, and the scholars in Beiping who have achieved success in learning should also be able to regard Jiangnan as their hometown."

Empress Ma slowly smiled, and the kings, ministers, and Jinyiwei also bowed their hands in agreement.

However, Zhu Yuanzhang still felt a little unsatisfied when he said this, because from the bottom of his heart, he felt that if he wanted to balance the rule of the north and the south, it would be imperative to move the capital.

Otherwise, the south has both a large population and mulberry fields and waterways, and is close to the capital, but what about the north? There are only severe cold and Hu enemies on the border, and it is very far from the capital.

Whether it is from the short-term goal of governing the north and the south, or considering the future enemies at sea and the most important thing about the Japanese strategy, the matter of moving the capital needs to be taken into consideration.

But this matter is too important to discuss it in a big way here.

And thinking of this, the emperor of Ming Dynasty also has a question:

In the history books that this young man has read, has he never thought of moving the capital?

So did he not move it or did he move it in the end? If not, why?

And if it was moved, some of the previous inferences about Ming history seem to need to be rethought.

…

Now it is Zhao Kuangyin's turn to feel empty in his heart.

The fall of Lin'an, the destruction of Yashan, and the death of Wen Tianxiang were far less tragic than the Jingkang Shame.

However, it is still hard not to feel sad to hear the sentence "The Song Dynasty has completely withdrawn from the stage of history".

China has been around for thousands of years, starting with the Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors, and it is still slowly advancing to the later generations.

But all the things about him, Zhao Kuangyin, stopped here.

From then on, China was magnificent, but it had nothing to do with Song and him, Zhao Kuangyin.

When people in the future mention Song, they will still remember that he bullied orphans and widows, that it was difficult for Song to recover Yanyun, and all kinds of regrets, and they will also remember that these regrets were finally settled by a man named Zhu a hundred years after the fall of Song.

But looking back, when he, Zhao Kuangyin, returned to Bianliang from Chenqiao wearing a new robe, he was also full of ambition.

When he visited Zhao Pu and talked about the world with warm wine on a snowy night, he was also determined to finally unify the chaotic world.

He once said in private that he wanted to be a wise ruler like Emperor Taizong of Tang who did not whitewash his merits or faults, but only recorded his achievements in history.

Why should others solve these regrets and shames?

Later generations said that the country was in misfortune but the poets were fortunate, but were the poems and lyrics of the heyday of the Tang Dynasty also due to the misfortune of the country?

And he was obviously not the only one who had similar ideas.

"Emperor Zhao, when will the Northern Expedition set off?"

"I grew up in the south of the Yangtze River, but now I want to follow the army to the north and take a good look at the mountains and rivers of China!"

"The Tang people wrote the heroic poems on the frontier, so why can't I, Li Yu, write them?"