Chapter 657 Zhu Yuanzhang’s Frankness!! Chen Han's sudden move made Zhu Yuanzhang feel a little shy involuntarily. I don’t know why, even though the old man is an emperor, he still feels a little uncomfortable with Chen Han’s approach. The moment he couldn't pull his hand out of Chen Han's hand, he knew that Chen Han was not playing tricks this time. Zhu Yuanzhang couldn't help but say, "What are you going to do, you little monkey? I'm not a shy person. You're a man. What are you going to do by holding my hand?" In fact, what Chen Han didn’t know was that the old man himself was even more shy. In his life, the old man’s hand had only been grabbed by Empress Ma. At the same time, these hands were only used to kill people. With a single wave of his pen, he killed countless people. He even chopped off the heads of his enemies with a knife. Zhu Yuanzhang didn't know why Chen Han suddenly became so emotional at this time. In fact, it was because the moment he saw these hands, he understood in his heart that these hands not only held the world in his hands, but also belonged to an ordinary old man and a person who was also afraid of death. Once upon a time, these hands were able to hold the world in their hands and decide all important matters, but today, these hands still tremble, still feel that they have not done well enough, and still feel that they will tremble when they are about to leave. So for some reason Chen Han was so excited now. He had thought about it before. If he faced such an emperor, would he suddenly get angry and lose his temper at him? Because from the historical knowledge he had learned, he always felt that even though Zhu Yuanzhang was a very good emperor, his policies might not necessarily make the people live a particularly good life. Under his governance, even though the people enjoyed the so-called attention of the emperor, his methods could not prevent the people from being exploited by officials, so everyone had a lot of opinions about him.

Many people think that the Ming Dynasty was the darkest dynasty, and many people think that Zhu Yuanzhang was a tyrant and there was nothing worthy of praise about him. But after Chen Han came to this dynasty, he discovered that some things were not as simple as written in later history books. Some things are not as everyone guessed, as if the emperor wanted to deliberately anger all the officials and wanted the people of the world to remember his own contributions. It can only be said that the Ming Dynasty was too special. The previous Yuan Dynasty was filled with cholera, which changed the memories of most people. Zhu Yuanzhang had to build a new country in the ruins, which was no less difficult than making everyone live a happy life in a new place. This was the biggest challenge in itself, but Zhu Yuanzhang still did it. So his method is a bit extreme, and his original intention was not really to make every ordinary person live a particularly good life, but his goal has been achieved. Under his governance, the Ming Dynasty prospered. Under his governance, he led the Ming Dynasty through a rather muddy road, but finally reached the end. No matter how you evaluate such an emperor, it is not an exaggeration. So there are always some people who think they are very powerful, think they can see through the world, and think they have a good understanding of history, so they speak nonsense. He will never realize that his little cleverness means nothing in the eyes of an emperor. So when Chen Han saw those comments, he always felt both amused and annoyed. What do you know? Although he himself didn't know anything, he had a point of view, which was that you could never judge the ancient emperors based on subjective conjecture. You may even be unable to understand them because a lot of the education we receive now has been westernized. We use modern concepts to fit the ideas of the ancients, which is like talking to a deaf person. Since these ideas and practices are wrong, why must they be imposed on Zhu Yuanzhang and others? Just like the cultural differences between China and the United States, you cannot understand the way Americans think, just as ancient people had no way of understanding the way modern people think, and modern people have no way of guessing why ancient people did that. There are always some people who think that there has been no cultural interruption in the past five thousand years, so we can use the concepts of modern people to predict ancient people. But I have to say that although the culture has not been broken, the way of thinking has actually changed a long time ago. This is because modern people have received much more knowledge than ancient people. The illiteracy rate of ancient people was percent, while the illiteracy rate of modern people is only 1 percent. The comparison of illiteracy rates shows that the reason why people today think about ancient times in this way is because you have some knowledge and you think you can make predictions. But you don’t know how people in ancient times could understand the policies of the court when the illiteracy rate was so high. How could they have other ideas? In fact, because ancient people had to put a lot of energy just to survive and to fill their stomachs, they had no time to think. For a qualified emperor or a qualified ruling class, as long as they can ensure that the people below have enough food to eat, it is already very good.

Many people watch TV dramas. When they see the so-called prosperity of the Tang Dynasty and the greatness of Li Shimin, they actually see Emperor Wu of Han. Wei Qing and Huo Qubing, his subordinates, beat the Xiongnu in the north and made them miserable. When they see the Song Dynasty capital, the incomparable prosperity of Bianliang, they actually see the Qing Dynasty and the awkward relationship between the emperor and his concubines in the palace. Therefore, they believe that there must have been endless prosperity in ancient times, but this prosperity may not be the same as the modern jungle of cement, red bricks and steel bars, but is filled with ancient-style carved beams and painted buildings. It's because they have watched too many TV dramas. The cities created for them in the TV dramas are basically all clean streets with green pavements, neat houses, rosy faces of the people and ancient mountains, and everyone looks peaceful. So it is basically concluded that life in ancient times was actually very good, except for the Ming Dynasty. They think that the Ming Dynasty was a dynasty full of spies, everyone had to keep their heads down and not speak, and everyone was exploited, so they believe that the Ming Dynasty was the most miserable dynasty and the darkest dynasty. People who say this basically position themselves as officials of the Ming Dynasty. Instead of positioning himself as an ordinary person of the Ming Dynasty. Because they have always felt that even if they traveled back to the Ming Dynasty, they would be high-ranking officials, and they would be able to show their unique talents and influence the world. But they don't think about it. In fact, everyone is an ordinary citizen. Some people can't even pass the civil service exam in modern society. But they dream of going back to ancient times. How can they show their talents? Then they put themselves in the shoes of officials. They think that the spy system of the Ming Dynasty is too strict to monitor officials, so they think that the Ming Dynasty is a dark dynasty. But they don't think about it. Even the spy systems of the Ming Dynasty were investigating officials. To put it bluntly, in the eyes of the emperor and the ruling class, you ordinary people are nothing. Why should I monitor you? Why should I spend so much effort to monitor you? I just need to build up the officials. Even many of the common people who read history don’t think about the fact that since ancient times, officials would eat people if they were not properly supervised. The Song Dynasty supported so many officials. All day long there are TV dramas, movies, and even novels that are asking about the GDP of the Song Dynasty. But if Chen Han were here, he would have to say that even if the GDP of the Song Dynasty accounted for half or 80% of the world's total at that time, what does it have to do with the common people? You have to know why the Song Dynasty was so rich. It was because it was absolutely ahead of the rest of the world in terms of tax collection. Their bureaucrats treated the common people like leeks to be harvested and did not truly regard the common people as human beings. The treatment of officials in the Song Dynasty was indeed ridiculously good. People say that high salaries keep officials honest, but in the Song Dynasty, no matter how high their salaries were, those officials would still engage in corruption and accept bribes, and there were even quite a few who were extremely corrupt. There is a very famous plot in the Water Margin called Byte’s Birthday Gift. What is the Birthday Gift? In fact, it was just money. Cai Jing's son collected a large amount of money from the local area and gave it to his father for his birthday. The salaries of officials in the Song Dynasty were already very high. Could it be that they were still short of this little money for food expenses? No. However, they still continued to embezzle money, and even used the imperial army to escort the birthday gift. From this perspective, high salaries cannot ensure integrity. From a historical perspective, Emperor Yongzheng was a very powerful person. In his opinion, even though he implemented so many economic policies, he was also very harsh on corrupt officials. But he had to compromise, which was to come up with the "maintenance silver", which was actually giving a part of the gray income to officials. But does this produce truly honest officials? No, after Qianlong inherited his father's estate, he squandered it lavishly, and in the end, he ended up raising a corrupt official like Heshen for the court. So from this perspective, it is indeed worthy of criticism that Zhu Yuanzhang set very low salaries for officials. However, it must be said that high or low salaries cannot prevent officials from engaging in corruption. This can only be attributed to the social environment where officials are the most important. Once officials have power in their hands and the people have deified their social status, they may reach out to the people for benefits. Zhu Yuanzhang rose from the ranks of the common people, so he understood these principles very well, and he was ruthless to those officials, so he left behind a lot of infamy. But when Chen Han came to this world, he understood why Zhu Yuanzhang did this, because some officials were really too outrageous, and they did not make the world a better place at all. They only think about how to pass on their status and how to gain more benefits, no matter whether it is fame or money. This is the reality that Chen Han sees. This is why Chen Han must make these guys pay the price. This is why Chen Han hates those officials. He finally understands Zhu Yuanzhang. So this time he held Zhu Yuanzhang's hand and said, "Your Majesty, when you were in modern society before, I never understood why you had to be so cruel to those officials, but now I understand it very well." Zhu Yuanzhang chuckled when he heard Chen Han say that. "Don't speak so highly of me. The reason why I acted so harshly against these corrupt officials is mainly because I hate them. If it weren't for these corrupt officials, would my parents and I have lived such a miserable life? "So we have to act dirty. We have to let those people know that I am the emperor. If they dare to exploit the common people, we will kill them. It's that simple.

"And just like you said, you think I am a selfless person, right? If I am selfish, what is my selfishness? "We also want the Ming Dynasty to last forever, just like Qin Shi Huang said, hoping that the Qin Dynasty would last for a thousand years. We also hope that the Ming Dynasty will last for a thousand years. "But I also know that it's impossible. But I just want my descendants to live a good life. I'm just an ordinary citizen. I just think that since I conquered the world, I have to let my descendants live a better and more comfortable life. This is my selfish desire, and I don't hide it at all." Seeing Zhu Yuanzhang speaking with such confidence when he said this, Chen Han actually wanted to laugh. This is why many people say that Emperor Zhu Yuanzhang is very interesting. He is very frank and he does not seem to have any selfish motives that he dare not express. Just as he said, I do have selfish motives. I do want my descendants to not suffer the same pain I did. Perhaps this is the most simple thought in the heart of an ordinary person, that is, if they have suffered, they must not let their descendants suffer like this again, because after they have suffered such suffering, they feel that it is too bitter and they must not let their descendants suffer the same as themselves. After figuring out Zhu Yuanzhang's psychology, Chen Han felt even more that the old man was a very open-minded person and he didn't have so many twists and turns. What Chen Han hated most was an environment like Jiajing's, a riddle-maker who never explained things clearly to you every day. Perhaps because Emperor Jiajing rose directly from a vassal king to the throne, he needed to maintain a certain sense of mystery. However, Emperor Zhu Yuanzhang was different. He won the world on foot, and he single-handedly launched the Ming Dynasty and established the Ming Dynasty, so he did not need to pretend hypocrisy... (End of this chapter)