After much discussion with the editor, I decided to put it on the shelves early tomorrow morning. The main reason is that my update speed is a bit fast and the publishing time is a bit late. As a result, I have not finished the recommendation process before January 1st, which happens to be today. It’s going to Sanjiang, so I might as well just put it on the shelves. It doesn’t matter if it’s a week longer or a week shorter.
I had some vague ideas for this book before writing my last book. I had basically never set foot in the field after the Qing Dynasty before, and I have been writing forward. But I have also always wanted to write a book. A rather grand story.
The further back in time I write, the more I write about domestic ones, there is basically nothing to write about abroad. In those days, foreign countries were all grass-roots teams. It was equivalent to defeating a big boss and then fighting small monsters, which was quite boring. , so it can only be cultivated intensively in China.
But it was different after the Qing Dynasty.
Western Europe is developing rapidly, its national power is also very strong, and there are more and more famous historical figures. For example, this book fits the Napoleonic era in Europe, which was a turbulent era. It is worth writing about, including domestic affairs, diplomacy, and military affairs. All very interesting.
Even if you look at it separately from the Western European perspective, it is still worth writing about.
Qianlong Lao'er, He Shen, Fu Kang'an, Fu Heng, and Hailancha were all famous figures at that time, and they also had many jokes. I thought it was very interesting to write about them.
But there are some things I also want to say.
I am by no means a clear-seller, nor a clear-seller. I think there is nothing to brag about these dynasties. From a modern perspective, they are just worse than others.
But what must be made clear is that the late Ming Dynasty and the late Qing Dynasty were both equally bad. There is nothing to say about this. But before that, in the early middle Ming Dynasty and the early middle Qing Dynasty, the national power still had considerable merits.
Of course, for some well-known reasons, people today generally have a better attitude towards the Ming Dynasty than towards the Qing Dynasty, but I think it is okay to hate a dynasty and its rulers, and think that they are evil and very bad. people, but they should not be considered fools for this reason.
They are indeed bad, but they are definitely not stupid. On the contrary, they are very smart.
Just like He Shen, he was a corrupt official and everyone shouted at him to beat him, but his financial management ability, his learning ability, and his way of dealing with others, at that time, he was definitely a T0 level player.
Hongli did a lot of crazy things, but the territory of the Qing Empire was finally consolidated in his hands. For example, the battle he launched against Junggar and the many battles against the northwest and southwest regions were all objectively maintained. territorial integrity.
Everyone says that they are most afraid of laymen commanding experts, especially in the military. It is an absolute military taboo for laymen to intervene in micro-management. However, in all the battles during the Qianlong period, Hongli's keen sense of frontline military news was also an important factor in the Qing army's victory. reason.
The most typical example is the war against the Junggar tribe launched by Hongli in the 20th year of Qianlong's reign.
Before this war, because of the defeat of Hetongbo during the Yongzheng period, the Qing court generally held a certain fear of the Dzungar Khanate. They felt that they should live in peace if they could live in peace and not start a war to avoid encountering the Hetongbo war again. defeat.
Even though the Qing government knew clearly about the civil strife in the Junggar tribe at that time, because the peace that lasted for more than two decades was hard-won, almost everyone opposed the war. Only Fu Heng in the entire decision-making circle supported Hongli's opinion. It is said that the reason why this war was launched was Hongli's insistence, and few people in the entire court were optimistic about this war.
Including the critical moment when Junggar launched a counterattack after winning the first war and caused the war situation to collapse, it was also Hongli who made the right decision to relieve the Qing army's worries at the diplomatic and logistic levels, and saved the war situation in time.
As far as the profession of emperor is concerned, Hongli can be regarded as a first-tier professional emperor no matter which dynasty he is placed in.
I think it is unobjective to deny his personal abilities because of the things he did to strengthen his rule. Rather, it would be better to say that it was precisely because of his excellent personal abilities that he was able to do those crazy things, including the Literary Prison.
If you ask Sima Zhong to do those things, can he do it?
Can't do it.
There is also a saying that has been widely circulated on the Internet, saying that the feudal army will collapse if it cannot withstand 10% of casualties. This statement is also completely divorced from reality and purely based on numbers. It has been criticized by many people.
If you think about it carefully, you will know that the commander and the top soldiers do not have a God's perspective on the battlefield. How can they know the specific number of casualties of their own army?
Could it be said that there is a person with a God's perspective on the battlefield who always pays attention to conveying his own casualty rate to both sides of the battle?
He would also shout, "Our army's casualty rate has exceeded 10%, it's time to collapse," and then everyone would collapse together?
This statement first appeared on the Internet more than ten years ago. The original statement came from the Internet. According to research, it was around 2008 and 2009. It said that the US military would withdraw from the battlefield if the casualty rate exceeded 30%. Then the Chinese Internet at that time began to deduce based on this the casualty rate that the ancient army could withstand before collapsing.
But this statement is unreliable no matter how you think about it.
In the third year of Yuanshou, Li Guang led 4,000 cavalry and was surrounded by the Xiongnu. Although he suffered more than half of the casualties, he still maintained his formation, continued to fight, and finally succeeded in escaping.
In the Battle of Xiaohe during the Ming Jingnan War, the main force of the Ming Central Army, which probably had no more than 100,000 troops participating in the battle, lost about 20,000 people on the battlefield, and finally succeeded in recapturing the bridgehead position on the south bank and blocking the Yan army from crossing the river.
In the Battle of Jiangyin at the end of the Ming Dynasty, 100,000 Jiangyin people faced 240,000 Qing troops. More than 97,000 people died inside the city and more than 75,000 people died outside the city. After the city was broken, Jiangyin still fought desperately in the streets. Historical records record "No one surrendered."
Even the generally despised leader of the Song Dynasty, the defeat of Haoshuichuan, was finally defeated with a casualty rate of 40%. Before the defeat, several troops fought hard to lose more than half or even the leader was killed.
The battlefield is never a fixed design process, and anything can happen. It can be said that the average ability of ancient armies to withstand casualties is not as good as the average of modern armies. However, when it comes to a specific war or a certain army, there is never a fixed casualty rate. statement.
During World War II, the British Army in Burma and the American Army in the Philippines included Italian troops. They were modern armies, right? The results of it?
Modern armies are not that capable of fighting, and ancient armies were not that weak. We look at specific problems in detail. Mathematics cannot calculate the entire human society. Otherwise, the rulers of human society should be mathematicians.
Okay, that’s all.
The main reason I write this acceptance speech is to express my gratitude to everyone who is willing to support me.
There are many readers who have been reading my books since Wanli 1592 and Xiao Xiongzhi in the late Eastern Han Dynasty. I have always been very grateful to everyone. Because everyone is willing to read my books, I can continue to write until now. I even like writing books. Treat things like a career.
I should keep writing in the future until everything I want to write is finished. I will also take every book seriously and hope to be worthy of everyone's support.
After it is released tomorrow morning, I will update ten chapters, with a guarantee of ten chapters. Then, from the 1st to the 2nd, I will add one chapter for every thousand monthly votes, and two chapters for every additional leader. As long as If you are willing to support me, I will update all the saved manuscripts.
For a book, the most important thing is to subscribe, especially the first subscription. I hope to get your support and give me more motivation to write. Thank you everyone~
above.
