However, Li Hongzhang and Cixi's response disappointed Zhu Yuanzhang.
They don't have the determination to fight to the bitter end, let alone the courage to fight in a bloody battle.
They chose to cede territory and borrow troops.
This seemed extremely stupid to Zhu Yuanzhang.
Because what they will lose by doing this is dignity and courage.
But this is the most important thing for an army, a political power, and a nation.
This was what he despised the most about the Manchu Qing regime.
Perhaps they have never integrated into this land and understood what the core spiritual pillars of the people on this land are.
More than two hundred years later, they are still the same group of barbarians who originated from the frontier.
They don't understand what it means to throw one's head and shed blood, they don't understand what it means to fight for every inch of land in the Han family, they don't know what it means to serve the country with loyalty, and what it means to be the backbone of the nation.
They can't understand either.
Because in their eyes, the Han people have always been just domestic slaves.
A group of domestic slaves talked about the family, the country and the world, and the backbone of the nation.
Domestic slaves are meant to be enslaved.
This is the tragedy of this era.
In Zhu Yuanzhang's view, it was not the Manchus who caused the tragedy of this era.
In the final analysis, this regime just happened to happen. Maybe even they themselves can't figure out how they came to occupy the Ming Dynasty.
But Zhu Yuanzhang understood that he personally experienced the late Ming Dynasty and understood that the reason why the Manchus and Qing Dynasties were able to dominate the world was largely because the gentry in the world chose them.
They needed the Manchus to help them solve the growing peasant uprising.
This is also the reason why when the Manchu Qing Dynasty went south, the southern gentry hardly resisted, and almost every city was determined by transfer.
In the end, the only people who chose to resist the Manchus were peasant rebels like Li Dingguo and Sun Kewang, and the pirate Zheng Chenggong.
Of course, this was before the hair-cutting order was issued. As for after that... what's the use? It's already too late!
Every time he saw the real history of the late Ming Dynasty in this aspect, Zhu Yuanzhang would feel a strong sense of irony.
Because these gentry were raised by the national policies he formulated when the Ming Dynasty was founded.
The various preferential treatment policies for scholars that he formulated in the early Ming Dynasty not only failed to make scholars appreciate the Ming Dynasty, but instead became the bane of the Ming Dynasty's downfall.
They are too greedy.
This is why he was so determined to wipe out the gentry in the world in the late Ming Dynasty and now in the late Qing Dynasty.
Because he understands very well that these people are the real cancer in this country.
This is a huge cancer that has grown in this nation through the imperial examination system.
Perhaps the system sent him to the late Ming and Qing Dynasties to make up for the mistakes that the Ming Dynasty had made.
"Bo Wen, if you were Li Hongzhang, how would you deal with the Ming Dynasty's hundreds of thousands of troops?" Zhu Yuanzhang suddenly felt something in his heart, and calmly handed the information sent by the Jin Yiwei to Liu Ji next to him.
"If we consider it solely from a strategic perspective, there is nothing wrong with Li Hongzhang's idea of borrowing troops from Tsarist Russia."
"Of course he has not done enough. If I were him, I would send his most trusted confidants southward at the same time. The gentry in Anhui, Henan, Shanxi and other places have just been subdued by the Bingfeng. It is when the people's sentiments are floating. If
If someone goes to lobby, they might be able to persuade the local gentry to rebel and threaten His Majesty's food supply."
"Since then, the attack in the front has been frustrated and the food road in the rear has been unstable. Maybe we can force His Majesty to withdraw his troops."
Liu Ji stroked his beard and spoke. When he said this, he glanced out of the corner of his eye and noticed that Zhu Yuanzhang was still expressionless, staring at him with bright eyes.
According to Liu Ji's understanding of Zhu Yuanzhang, he immediately concluded that this was because his performance did not satisfy Zhu Yuanzhang.
This made Lao Liu feel excited all over, and his brain instantly began to work at high load.
"But there's one big problem with this move."
“The Manchu Qing Dynasty’s move undoubtedly sought the skin of a tiger and lured a wolf into the house.”
"Those Tsarist Russians are willing to send 100,000 troops into the customs to fight to the death with us, not just for the tiny land north of the Ussuri River. They are interested in the entire Northeast, and even Xinjiang and Mongolia."
"So, after this battle, regardless of victory or defeat, the Manchu Qing Dynasty will become a puppet regime of Tsarist Russia controlling the Northeast."
"Your Majesty must make plans for this in advance!" Liu Ji said loudly.
"I see!"
"You go down first!" Zhu Yuanzhang waved his hand.
Liu Ji walked out of the hall with a puzzled look on his face. He felt that there was nothing wrong with his performance!
Why does Lao Zhu seem a little unhappy?
After Liu Ji left, Zhu Yuanzhang stood up, frowned and paced back and forth in the hall, thinking silently.
"Liu Ji is smart, but he is an old minister of the Yuan Dynasty after all. When he thinks about problems, he is actually the same as those gentry. The first thing he thinks about is profit and loss. There is no national or national justice at all!"
"In other words, the country and national interests are also part of the gain and loss of interests in their eyes, and they can be discarded or traded."
"This is the most fundamental understanding in the subconscious mind of most scholars."
"The so-called family, country and world."
“Family first, then country, then the world.”
"Family comes first. This family is not a small family, but a family."
"When family interests conflict with national interests, 90% of scholars will choose family interests, or be forced to choose family interests and abandon national interests."
"As long as the interests of the family are not destroyed and the survival of the country is at stake, what does the gain or loss of interests mean?"
"This is also the fundamental reason why the Ming emperors perished."
"This kind of thing would have been basically unsolvable in the past!"
"Because even if you can kill all the gentry in the world, a new class of gentry will still gradually form over time.
"Unless the state can break the family's control over family members and completely eliminate the gentry as a class!"
"This kind of control is reflected in all aspects, but in the final analysis it is based on the word filial piety."
"The root of filial piety comes from Confucianism and Taoism."
"This is the common choice of rulers in all dynasties since Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty deposed hundreds of schools of thought and only respected Confucianism!"
"In other words, if we want to completely eliminate the gentry class, the first thing to be eliminated is Confucianism."
"But Confucianism was the foundation for the unified and effective rule of rulers in all dynasties, especially after the Sui and Tang Dynasties began to implement the imperial examination."
Zhu Yuanzhang figured out all the joints, and a light suddenly flashed in his eyes.
Things that emperors of all dynasties did not dare to do, or were unable to do, did not mean that Zhu Yuanzhang could not do it.
After all, the Ming Dynasty is currently experiencing an industrial revolution with great development of productivity.
The future Ming Dynasty will be a brand new era.
In such an era, perhaps it would be inappropriate to govern the country solely with filial piety and establish the country solely with Confucianism!
"Family, country, and world, family, country, and world!"
"Maybe it's time to redefine this sentence." Zhu Yuanzhang murmured to himself.