eurekapd Chapter 651: The Emperor and His Ministers Discuss the Future
Chapter 651: The Emperor and His Ministers Discuss the Future
Hearing Tai Shiying say this, Li Che joked:
"That's not something a stone like you would say. Aren't you historians the most disdainful of flattery? How could you think of exonerating me?"
Taishi Ying lowered his head and remained silent.
Why? Of course, the succubus's physique was taking effect again.
Tai Shi Ying came from a family of historians, which can be seen from his surname.
During the Spring and Autumn Period, there was an official named Taishi who was in charge of astronomy and calendar. His descendants took their ancestor's official title "Taishi" as their surname and called themselves the Taishi family.
These officials who were responsible for recording the weather were the earliest group of historians.
However, even though the Taishi family served so many generations of kings and recorded the lives of dozens of emperors, Taishi Ying had never seen a monarch like Li Che in his family records.
Kind, wise, young, brave, diligent...it seems as if the will of the ancient wise kings is concentrated in him alone.
Such an emperor should not have any stain.
It’s okay to have private morals, after all, no one is perfect.
Since ancient times, even the most demanding historians would never judge the merits and demerits of an emperor based on his personal morality.
However, attacking Japan is not an option.
Attacking a country based on one's own likes and dislikes and attacking a country in the name of justice are two completely different concepts.
While Taishi Ying was still in a daze, he heard Li Che say calmly: "Besides, my achievements can't be written down in just a few pieces of paper?"
"Thousands of years of public cases have turned into clouds and rain, hundreds of acres of fertile land have become dirt fields, and the head of the blank stele is engraved with words, merits and demerits, right and wrong..."
Li Che grinned and looked at Tai Shiying in front of him: "Future generations will judge!"
Regardless of Wu Zhao's achievements, her act of leaving behind an inscriptionless stele for future generations to evaluate her achievements does indeed show the style of an empress.
Tai Shi Ying stared at Li Che in a daze, but his heart was already filled with turmoil.
Is there a king in this world who doesn't care about his reputation in history?
But it didn't take long for Taishi Ying to come to his senses.
That’s right, if it weren’t for His Highness, a rare and heroic ruler in history, it would have been impossible for the impoverished Feng Kingdom to reach its current position.
Tai Shiying slowly put away the paper and pen in his hand, and a smile appeared on his usually expressionless face:
"Your Highness, I have a question."
"Huh?" Li Che looked at Tai Shiying in surprise, "What?"
Tai Shiying carefully considered his words and said slowly:
"I have observed that Your Highness has governed the army and government, and has adopted a policy of appeasement towards the Mohe, Khitan, Shiwei, and even the Suolon tribes that have surrendered to him, treating them with great kindness. However..."
He paused, his voice lowering a little: "However, Your Highness's attitude towards Japan, Korea and the other three countries seems completely different."
"The Japanese pirates provoked him, and Your Highness was furious. He spared no effort to conquer them across the sea. He also pressed on to the Goryeo, driving them like dogs and horses."
"I am ignorant and do not understand the deep meaning of this. We are all different races, so why do you... only treat countries like Wa, Goryeo, Silla, and Baekje..."
"Or rather, why are you so...harsh towards the Japanese and Koreans?"
For a qualified historian, such words should not come from his mouth, but now that no one is around, he is really curious...
As for His Highness's attitude towards foreigners, it has actually never been very good.
But for people like the Mohe, Khitan, and Shiwei, as long as they surrender sincerely and pose no threat, they will at least have no problem living a stable life in Fengguo.
Even the Mohe tribes could graze sheep and horses in the territory of Feng State and live a good life.
But only the Japanese and Koreans...
Judging from the current situation, His Highness has no intention of keeping them here. His Highness must destroy their country and their race.
Li Che did not answer immediately, but looked outside the tent, gradually becoming absent-minded.
The deep gaze seemed to penetrate time and look into a distant and heavy time and space.
After a long while, Li Che slowly said, "Have you ever heard of the story of Zhuangzi dreaming of a butterfly?"
Tai Shiying was slightly startled, then nodded:
"Zhuangzi's "On the Equality of Things" records, 'Once upon a time, Zhuang Zhou dreamed he was a butterfly, flitting about like a butterfly, and thought he was content. He did not know he was Zhuang Zhou. Suddenly, he woke up, and found himself still Zhuang Zhou. I wondered if he had dreamed he was a butterfly, or if the butterfly had dreamed it was Zhuang Zhou.' This is the philosophical reflection of the ancient sage on the oblivion of self and other, and on the question of reality and illusion."
"Why did Your Highness mention this?"
"That's right, I forget myself and the world, what's real and what's unreal." Li Che's voice deepened. "This king... I also had a dream, a long, cold nightmare, soaked in humiliation."
He closed his eyes slightly, as if resisting the recurrence of the nightmare, but then opened them again.
Tai Shiying's body trembled suddenly. It was the first time he saw this look in Li Che's eyes.
He didn't know how to describe it, it was like a kind of... sorrow and hatred that penetrated his soul.
"In that dream, I saw many, many years from now. By then, the land of China was no longer as powerful as it is today, having fallen into an unprecedented state of weakness."
"War... ensues."
Li Che's speech speed increased, and every word seemed to carry the smell of rust and blood:
"The invaders came from that Japanese island. They used the culture, skills, and knowledge they learned from China to sharpen their claws. They took advantage of the rulers of this land being weak and incompetent, and pounced on us like ravenous wolves!"
"And the first place these vicious wolves tore at... was the land that I, the king, had built with my own hands."
"This band of bandits used Fengguo's fertile land as their rear granary, spreading into the heartland of China. Wherever they passed... no grass grew, and rivers of blood flowed!"
"They have no regard for humanity and no sense of shame, and treat the Chinese people like pigs, dogs and grass!"
Li Che stood up suddenly and paced around the tent: "Not only did they occupy my land, but they also massacred the city and the defenseless people at will, even women, children, the elderly, and infants!"
"They don't just want to conquer and rule, they want to annihilate us, annihilate the very foundation of China, destroy our clothing, sever our cultural heritage, and wipe out our race!"
Tai Shiying's face turned pale in an instant.
He imagined the hellish scene and felt a chill running down his spine.
Li Che continued to describe the nightmare with deep hatred:
"The Japanese pirates kidnapped our compatriots and even treated them like livestock, using living people as coroners."
"They disemboweled and dismembered living bodies, just to satisfy their greed for so-called 'knowledge of the human body'."
"Even worse, they deliberately unleashed various vicious plagues in many places, allowing those poisons they themselves could not control to wreak havoc, just to see the land of China suffer widespread grief and to weaken our resistance."
"Hundreds of thousands of innocent civilians died tragically from the plague. Their corpses piled up like mountains, and wild dogs couldn't keep up the pace to devour them!"
Li Che suddenly stopped, his back to Tai Shiying, his shoulders trembling slightly:
"Every single incident was horrifying. Even in my dreams, looking at the devastation and hearing the endless wailing, I felt my heart ache and my body burned!"
"I want to roar, I want to draw my sword and kill the enemy, I want to cut those beasts into pieces!"
"But, in this dream, I am just a spectator, a powerless spectator."
"That feeling of powerlessness that goes deep into my bones, the pain of watching my homeland sink and my compatriots slaughtered without being able to stop it..."
He took a deep breath, his eyes bloodshot, staring intently at Tai Shiying:
"Taishiqing, that feeling... I will never forget it in this life, the next, or eternity!"
Tai Shi Ying was so shocked by the scene described by Li Che that he was speechless. He only felt a tightness in his chest and his blood was boiling.
As a historian, he had seen too many bloody records in history books, but what Li Che described was an extreme brutality that was beyond his cognition.
His lips trembled as he spoke with difficulty, "These Japanese pirates are truly so cruel. It's truly... appalling and inhumane!"
Li Che didn't say anything, but just sat down again and calmed down.
Tai Shiying hesitated for a moment, but still expressed his doubts, "But, after all, it was just a dream. Dreams... can't be trusted?"
Li Che's face showed a complicated expression when he heard this.
"Yes, for Daqing, it was just a nightmare."
His tone suddenly turned stern: "But, look at now, look at what's in front of you!"
Li Che pointed outside the tent, as if pointing towards the Tsushima Strait:
"Are the people of Japan learning the laws and regulations, written etiquette, and craftsmanship of our Daqing?"
"They're even using what they've learned from us to collude with local corrupt officials, plotting to undermine Fuzhou's lifeline and harm the people of Fengguo!"
“Isn’t what happened at Fuzhou Port a living reality?!”
"That dreamlike scene may be distant, perhaps illusory. But the inherent greed and cruelty of the Japanese, their servility to the strong and their wanton abuse of the weak, are real and true, both in ancient times and today!"
"What's the difference between the nature of the Japanese I saw today and those butchers and beasts in my dream?!"
Tai Shiying moved his lips, but in the end he could not find any reason to refute.
Just as Li Che said, the Japanese in the previous life were in non-human form, and the Japanese people today can at most be considered to have begun to take human form.
Not to mention that they have never provoked Daqing, they just don't dare, not that they don't want to.
Li Che's eyes became more determined, and he said sternly:
"So, I don't care whether the dream is true or false, and I don't care whether it will come true in the distant future!"
"This king knows only one thing: these ruthless beasts, these thieves who fear power but not morality, these scoundrels who imitate our glorious teachings but seek to destroy our race, must be completely eradicated before they can fully develop their wings!"
"While I am still alive, I will root out this poisonous seedling and kill this evil fetus in its cradle!"
"This isn't just my personal preference, it's for the sake of Daqing, for the sake of our country, and for the millions of Chinese descendants who will come after us!"
Tai Shi Ying was shocked by Li Che's murderous aura and was speechless for a moment.
After a long silence, Li Che snorted coldly, his tone full of contempt:
"As for the three kingdoms of Goryeo, they were nothing more than a bunch of monkeys in human form, fence-sitters."
"They plagiarized Chinese clothing and cultural relics, even worse than the Japanese. They called themselves 'Little China', but they lack the backbone of China. Today they can rely on me, but tomorrow they can turn to others!"
"Their hearts are despicable, and their behavior is vulgar. If the Japanese are openly armed bandits, then they are hyenas who take advantage of the situation and beg for mercy."
"Taking care of them is just a matter of convenience. This time, using them to explore the way and squeeze out every last bit of their value is already a mercy from the king."
Finally, Li Che's voice became low:
"Conflicts of interest between people can be reconciled, but conflicts between nations, between civilization and barbarism..."
He paused slightly and said word by word:
"It's a life-and-death struggle, there's no possibility of compromise!"
"I would rather Daqing betray all the countries in the world than allow any country in the world to betray Daqing in the slightest!"
After walking out of the tent, Taishi Ying was still in a trance, and felt that Li Che's words were deafening.
He took out a pen and paper, and just as the tip of the pen touched the paper, he pulled it back as if he had been electrocuted.
Taishi Ying knew clearly that the conversation between the emperor and his ministers today could not be recorded in history books.
But he had already remembered Li Che's words firmly. Although they were not recorded in the official history, he kept them firmly in his heart.
[Historic official Ying served at Taizong's side and observed that Taizong treated the northern tribes with leniency, but was particularly harsh towards the Japanese and Goryeo. This struck him as strange, and he once asked him the reason out of personal friendship.]
Taizong summoned his attendants and sighed, "I too once had a strange dream. It wasn't about a butterfly or me, but rather a vision of a catastrophe for China a hundred years from now. War raged across China, and powerful invaders advanced from the East. They were none other than the wolves from the Japanese islands! Their actions were inhumane, slaughtering the land indiscriminately, including women and children. They left cities in ruins, intent on destroying our ancestral temples and treating our compatriots like pigs and dogs... The horrific scenes in my dream are still vivid in my mind. My heart aches, yet I am powerless to stop them. This heart-wrenching pain is unforgettable!"
Upon hearing this, Ying's blood vessels swelled, and his fists nearly cracked. He hesitated and said, "Of course... this was all just a dream."
Taizong said, "Today's Daqing, this is only a dream. However, looking at the Japanese today, aren't their actions the beginning of a nightmare? Regardless of whether this dream is real or not, I must first eradicate the root of this evil ambition!"
He then said coldly, "I would rather Daqing betray the whole world than allow the foreign races to betray Daqing in the slightest!"
[I listened attentively to the king's instruction, carefully recording his words and hiding them in a secret box.]
(Ying's note: This record involves prophecies and dreams, and fearing criticism, I burned three copies as soon as the manuscript was completed. This is the only copy left, hidden in the stone chamber at Nanshan.)
——From "The Remaining Stories of the Historian"