Chongzhen revived the Ming Dynasty

By clarifying the nature of the Han-Song dynasty, the image of Emperor Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang in the anti-Yuan struggle became clear:

He was a man who inherited the legacy of the martyrs of Yashan, united under the banner of Han Song, and joined the righteous army to fight against the Yuan dynasty.

He always respected Han Song and sent troops to rescue Han Lin'er.

Han Lin'er's death, whether it was a genuine accident or Liao Yongzhong's private act, could not possibly have been authorized by the Taizu Emperor.

To strengthen the reliability of this conclusion, Zhu Youjian stated:
When Emperor Taizu conferred titles upon meritorious officials, he said: "When Yongzhong fought at Poyang, he disregarded his own safety to resist the enemy, and he can be called a remarkable man. However, he allowed his trusted Confucian scholars to try to understand my intentions and seek titles, so I only conferred the title of Marquis, which is not fair."

What does this mean?

Chen Zilong, trying to discern the emperor's thoughts, said:

"Liao Yongzhong made great contributions in the naval battle of Poyang Lake. Later, he made great contributions in pacifying Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi, and Sichuan. Based on his achievements, he was qualified to be ennobled as a duke."

"But he is clearly a suspect in Han Lin'er's death."

"Perhaps it was what Emperor Taizu meant by 'letting trusted Confucian scholars glean my intentions' that led to Han Lin'er's death. He was deceived by the Confucian scholars he trusted and presumptuously guessed the emperor's intentions."

"Therefore, Emperor Taizu punished him by only granting him the title of Marquis of Deqing."

This guess made Zhu Youjian nod, feeling quite satisfied.

Liao Yongzhong's achievements truly warranted the title of Duke.

He and his brother Liao Yong'an were leaders of the Chaohu water fortress, having brought troops with them and established a solid base of support. They were involved in almost every naval battle during the founding of the Ming Dynasty.

In particular, the navy played a crucial role in the key southward crossing of the Yangtze River.

Later, in order to resist Zhang Shicheng in the east and Xu Shouhui and Chen Youliang in the west, they had to rely on the navy.

In the famous Battle of Poyang Lake, Chen Han's general Zhang Dingbian directly attacked Emperor Taizu's boat. Chang Yuchun shot him away, and Liao Yongzhong pursued and fired upon him in a flying boat. It can be said that the two of them together made a great contribution in saving the emperor.

The burning of Chen Han's fleet and the forced surrender of Chen Youliang's son, Chen Li, were also Liao Yongzhong's achievements.

So much so that after he returned to the capital, Emperor Taizu bestowed upon him a lacquered plaque inscribed with the eight characters "His merits surpass those of all generals, his wisdom surpasses that of all soldiers," acknowledging his achievements.

Such a meritorious general and leader of the Ming Dynasty's navy was certainly qualified to be granted the title of Duke.

His elder brother, Liao Yong'an, was captured by Zhang Shicheng. He refused to surrender in prison and was thus posthumously granted the title of Duke of Chu by Emperor Taizu.

At that time, the Ming Dynasty had not yet been established, yet Liao Yong'an had already obtained the title of Duke.

Therefore, Zhu Yuanzhang's words were not a deliberate statement by Liao Yongzhong because he was not qualified to be granted a dukedom, but rather a genuine demotion of his rank.

Zhu Youjian specifically instructed:
"Liao Yongzhong made mistakes, but his achievements are his achievements."

"His merits must be written down to show that he deserves to be granted a noble title."

"Then write about why he made a mistake, trusting the Confucian scholars' interpretation of the emperor's will."

"Little did they know that at that time, how many Confucian scholars were not from Confucian families?"

"They are still thinking about the treatment of former Yuan Dynasty Confucian households and the privileges of exemption from taxes."

“These people naturally look down on Han Lin’er and misled Liao Yongzhong’s behavior.”

They were both angry and sighed at Liao Yongzhong's behavior, believing that this man did not understand politics and had fallen for the trap of intellectuals.

Chen Zilong was so surprised that he opened his mouth wide, not expecting the emperor to say such a thing.

In his memory, Confucian households were discriminated against in the Yuan Dynasty, and there was even a saying that "eight out of ten were prostitutes, nine out of ten were Confucian scholars, and ten out of ten were beggars."

Unexpectedly, the emperor said that the Confucian scholars missed the former Yuan dynasty because they wanted to retain the treatment of Confucian households, which greatly shocked his worldview.

He refuted the emperor's statement, saying:
"This dynasty also has preferential treatment and exemptions, and Confucian scholars will not object to this."

Zhu Youjian then said:

"The preferential treatment in this dynasty was only expanded during the Jiajing and Wanli periods, and it was only for those with official titles."

“The Confucian households are those who are included in this household registration and thus enjoy preferential treatment and exemption. Those who fail to pass the imperial examinations are naturally dissatisfied with this.”

"Emperor Taizu showed enough respect to the civil officials at the beginning of the dynasty, but they did not respect Emperor Taizu."

"Throughout history, those who followed Emperor Gaozu of Han invariably praised the tyranny of Qin, those who followed Emperor Guangwu invariably spoke of the cunning of Wang Mang, those who followed Emperor Taizu of Tang invariably condemned the licentiousness of Sui, and those who followed Emperor Taizu of Song invariably belittled the weakness of Zhou."

"Only those ministers who followed the Ming dynasty harbored nostalgia for the former Yuan dynasty."

“These people only have the privileges of the former Yuan Dynasty in their minds, but they have forgotten that in the former Yuan Dynasty, they were just fourth-class Southerners.”

“They don’t even understand the distinction between Chinese and barbarians, no wonder the Taizu Emperor wanted to get rid of them.”

Zhu Youjian angrily berated those who longed for the former Yuan dynasty, truly unable to understand their thoughts. The founding emperor's establishment of the dynasty and the rebuilding of China was an immense achievement.

Some people, however, are willing to be fourth-class citizens, just like the peasants of later generations.

Chen Zilong lowered his head upon hearing this, and instead of fiercely refuting the emperor, he said tactfully:
"What Your Majesty has said is far too sensational."

"I believe that Confucian scholars are still loyal to the emperor and patriotic!"

Upon hearing this, Zhu Youjian chuckled and said:
"Loyalty to the emperor and love for the country are valid, but at that time, who was the emperor and who was the traitor?"

"In the biography of Toqto'a in the History of Yuan, it says, 'He dispatched troops to pacify the six regions, and the rebel forces were greatly weakened.' Who are the rebels mentioned in that biography?"

"According to the Veritable Records of Emperor Taizu, he was in charge of governing the six kingdoms at that time."

This statement shocked Chen Zilong to the core.

He never expected that the "History of Yuan," compiled by the Ming Dynasty, would call Emperor Taizu a thief.

This finally made him understand why the emperor wanted to compile the "History of the Mongol Yuan Dynasty".

If we don't cover it up with new history books, wouldn't we be allowing this kind of error to spread?

The entire Ming Dynasty court could not afford to lose face like this!

From this perspective, the Confucian scholars who remained from the early Yuan Dynasty were not necessarily loyal to the founding emperor; they were still loyal to the Yuan emperor.

Chen Zilong felt uneasy when he thought about this.

He worried that the emperor would doubt the loyalty of the Confucian scholars, and argued:

"The History of Yuan Dynasty was written in a hurry and there may be omissions."

"This should not be the editor's original intention."

Zhu Youjian snorted and said:

"Whether it was their original intention or not, the person involved knows best!"

“Song Lian’s ‘Collection of Hanyuan’ had two old officials write the preface. One of them not only refused to serve the Ming Dynasty, but also proudly signed his former Yuan official title as ‘Zhongshun Dafu, Secretary of the Imperial Secretariat’.”

"One can easily guess what's on someone's mind when they associate closely with such a person."

"After the founding of the country, Emperor Taizu also fought against the former Yuan officials and the old customs and systems left over from the Hu people, which led to the Empty Seal Case."

“Those people, even under the clear system of the new dynasty, are still secretly using the old system of the former Yuan dynasty. You can imagine how unscrupulous they are.”

"What is Han Lin'er? In their eyes, he's nothing more than a nobody."

"Han Lin'er is dead, and they are satisfied. This prevents the Taizu Emperor from inheriting the Han Song dynasty and forces him to acknowledge the former Yuan dynasty. The fact that the old officials served the Mongol Yuan dynasty is no longer considered a disgrace."

"The Red Turban Army, which opposed the Yuan Dynasty, was falsely accused of being thieves and became what they called demons."

“You must not write your ‘Biographies of Heroes’ like this, and you must not slander the ancestors who made contributions to driving out the barbarians.”

"They are all heroes who have made great contributions to China and the Han people. This is the greatest virtue and integrity!"

"On the contrary, those who are loyal to the barbarians have truly wasted their time reading the classics."

He sprayed a lot of people with his breath, and Chen Zilong was terrified.

The fact that even the current emperor said this made him fully aware of the unpredictable and turbulent situation at the beginning of the dynasty.

Unlike the natural loyalty of subjects to the emperor after the Ming Dynasty stabilized, the Taizu Emperor's uprising was seen as "rebellion" by Confucian scholars.

Therefore, they were unwilling to take up the position of thief, and those who held official positions felt that their positions were not worthy of respect.

This led to the practice of using Yuan Dynasty official titles as signatures, as they believed that such court titles were more prestigious.

The only way to change this situation is to inherit the Yuan dynasty and completely replace the previous Yuan.

Therefore, it is quite possible that the former dynasty's loyalists manipulated and killed Han Lin'er, preventing Emperor Taizu from inheriting the Han-Song legal system.

Moreover, they possessed sufficient power, as evidenced by the numerous former Yuan dynasty officials in the early Qing court. The Empty Seal Case further demonstrates that many still harbored nostalgia for the former Yuan dynasty.

Before founding the dynasty, Emperor Taizu was forced to acknowledge the former Yuan dynasty. After founding the dynasty, he expelled former Yuan officials and even massacred officials who used the former Yuan system.

After figuring these things out, Chen Zilong quickly came up with a complete plot.

In this story, the image of the founding emperor is absolutely glorious and righteous. Not only is he not suspected of killing Han Lin'er, but he also avenged him and completely wiped out the former Yuan dynasty loyalists.

This fits well with the novel's narrative, and Chen Zilong decided to refine it. (End of Chapter)