Li Shimin: I would rather kill a thousand by mistake than let one go. Cruel! Emperor Yongle is very cruel!
Zhu Yuanzhang: Fourth child? You killed people without getting to the bottom of the matter, and you killed thousands of people just because of women. You are really capable!
Kangxi: Zhu Yuanzhang, don’t you think Zhu Di has completely inherited your decisiveness in killing? Especially at the beginning of his accession to the throne, he was very cruel and ruthless in order to eradicate dissidents and strengthen his exclusive imperial power. He is very much like you.
Zhu Yuanzhang:......
"What's Zhu Di's crime? The word 'cruel', his cruelty also happened in one incident."
"Zhu Di was both excited and frightened when facing the results achieved after years of forbearance and bloody battles."
"Even under the banner of "Qing Jun Side", what he did was tantamount to treason. Not only did he violate the ancestral system, but he would also be stabbed in the back by everyone in the world."
"In order to consolidate his rule and silence the public, he lied that he was the legitimate son of Empress Ma. In addition, he also killed the ministers left over from the previous dynasty. The core figures of Emperor Jianwen's ruling group, headed by Qi Tai and Huang Zicheng, all He was brutally murdered."
"Zhu Di did not even let their family members go. Fang Xiaoru, who swore to follow Zhu Yunwen to the death, was put into prison and sentenced to death, and the ten clans were killed."
"Although it is very common for new emperors to deal with ministers who are not loyal to them when they ascend the throne, there are still a few who are as cruel as Zhu Di."
"More than 800 people were killed because of Fang Xiaoru's incident alone, and the number of people who were exiled and guarded the border is even more numerous."
"Zhu Di seems to hate Zhu Yunzhen so much that he would rather kill three thousand people by mistake than let one go. Anyone involved with him will end badly."
"At the same time, Zhu Di also abolished all reform policies of Emperor Jianwen and restored the strict rules, regulations and laws of the Ming Taizu period."
"From an outsider's perspective, this series of suffocating operations makes Ming Chengzu Zhu Di look like a tyrant."
Qin Shihuang: No one is perfect, who can have no faults?
Wu Zetian: Who can have no fault? What is a wise king? What is a tyrant? Being diligent and caring for the people, working hard to govern, and selecting talents to open up the world is a wise king who feeds the people. Ruling the country with torture, trusting slander and appointing villains is a tyrant, and Zhu Di's fault was nothing but cruelty!
Zhu Di: Tyrant? Do I care? As a person, I admit that I am not a good person, but as the emperor of a country, am I not a good emperor worthy of the name?
Fan Zhongyan: It is difficult to be a pure good person, and it is even harder to be a good emperor respected by all people. However, no matter what, Emperor Yongle was still a courageous and accomplished emperor.
"The taxes are too high, which wastes money and people. Isn't it your fault, Emperor Yongle?"
Zhu Di: Alas! You know us, and you should understand that I have also reformed agriculture. Why am I called the "Emperor on Horseback"? I just wanted to defeat the Mongols, but I had no support in the war, which caused the suffering of the people in the end. It's really shameful. Do you know whether you are doing the right thing in these five conquests of Mongolia?
"Alas! I don't understand you either. Fighting for the war has made the people suffer. If we don't fight, the people will be peaceful. The consequences may lead to the destruction of the country. I can't see clearly."
"No matter how you look at it, this agriculture is what every dynasty wants to develop."
"In ancient times, the self-sufficient small-scale peasant economy was very fragile. If there was a natural disaster, farmers might be on the verge of bankruptcy."
"But in ancient times, agriculture was the basic prerequisite for social development. Ensuring agricultural production was a task that every emperor needed to face. Obviously Zhu Di, the founder of the Ming Dynasty, gave a satisfactory answer."
"Zhu Di grew up in a military camp and learned to lead troops in war under many famous generals. He is brave and strategic and is a rare military genius."
"In the four years after launching the Jingnan Campaign, he personally led his troops in a desperate struggle against Emperor Jianwen's hundreds of thousands of troops."
"Years of combat experience told him that the army's food and grass supplies are very important."
"Whether it is for the sake of the people's livelihood or the strengthening of national defense, agricultural development should be strongly supported."
"So he encouraged farmers to reclaim wasteland and supervise production. In order to prevent farmers from going bankrupt, he often provided some subsidies and sent people to control floods."
"This series of measures greatly promoted agricultural production, and the grain taxes collected by the state also filled the national treasury. At that time, farmers' tax payments reached their peak in the Ming Dynasty."
"On the premise of simultaneously improving the farming system and attracting merchants to provide food, sufficient food and wages have been prepared for the army on the border."
"It is good to have a stable and sufficient source of food, but it is useless if it cannot be transported out. Therefore, he began to build canals and dredge waterways to ensure the convenience of transportation."
"Although his original intention was to ensure the food supply of the capital and the transportation of military supplies, it also invisibly promoted economic exchanges between the north and the south."
"You see, even in modern times with advanced science and technology, the emphasis on agriculture has only increased. From this, it seems that Zhu Di is still very far-sighted."
"His support for agriculture is even greater than that of Zhu Yuanzhang, who was born as a farmer."
"Confucianism has been highly praised since the Han Dynasty, and the Ming Dynasty was no exception."
"The selection of talents through the imperial examination system achieved a certain degree of fairness and played a positive role in the construction of all aspects of the Ming Dynasty."
"This is beneficial to the people, but it is a pity that later because of the war, we began to waste lives and money, and increased taxes."
Zhu Di: The Yuan Dynasty is a pimple in my heart. I can't let go of some remaining power and let them grow up. Isn't the Song Dynasty a lesson learned from the past?
Liu Che: If it were me, I would keep fighting. What I said before is correct. Zhu Di is not a good person, but he is a good emperor.
Meng Yi: Instead of looking at immediate interests, the emperor should have deeper thoughts and look further ahead, the better.
"Emperor Yongle's faults are basically the same. They are just unfairness and cruelty, but he is a good emperor."
"Finally, let's talk about Zhu Di's management of religion."
"Buddhism was prevalent at the beginning of the Ming Dynasty. Excessive propaganda of Buddhist ideas is very detrimental to social stability and cannot inspire people's enterprising spirit."
"In order to change this situation, Zhu Di began to rectify Buddhism, but he did not adopt a "one-size-fits-all" policy and was able to relax and adjust freely in the process of restricting its development."
"In this way, religion can not only be used by him, but also become an important tool to maintain his rule, truly killing two birds with one stone."
"The religious management policies he adopted were highly recognized and followed by subsequent rulers."
"During the Chengzu period of the Ming Dynasty, politics, economy, and culture all reached their peak. For a time, they were "mighty and virtuous, and guests from all over the world were convinced", attracting many overseas countries to come to worship, hoping to establish friendly relations with the Ming Dynasty."
