What If All of Huaxia's Emperors Swapped Dynasties at Random? Would History Still Have Regrets?

"Biao'er, I understand why I didn't appoint that rebellious son Zhu Di after you died, and chose Yunwen instead," Zhu Yuanzhang said. "I must have seen later that Zhu Di was a good-for-nothing, and that's why I let Yunwen succeed me."

["As soon as Zhu Di returned, Arughtai came surging back, repeatedly raiding the Ming Dynasty's borders. Zhu Di was furious."]

["In the twenty-first year of the Yongle reign, Zhu Di personally led an army of three hundred thousand on his fourth northern expedition. In the end, it turned into another sightseeing trip."]

["The hundreds of thousands of troops wandered around, only to learn that Arughtai had long since vanished in a puff of smoke."]

["Zhu Di saw that he'd set out in July and it was now November. The weather had turned cold, so he went home to rest."]

["The following year, Arughtai once again came knocking at the gates of the border towns. By then, Zhu Di was already ill. The country, too, was sick from his years of warfare, but he ignored his ministers' objections and embarked on the fifth and final northern expedition of his life."]

["Once again, he led three hundred thousand troops on a tour of the grasslands, roaming from April all the way to July without finding a trace of Arughtai."]

["With his provisions exhausted and his illness growing severe, Zhu Di had no choice but to lead his army back east. He ultimately died of illness at Yumuchuan."]

["To sum up, from a strategic standpoint, Zhu Di's five expeditions north of the Gobi did suppress and weaken the Mongol tribes to a certain extent. Of course, Zhu Di also used warfare to concentrate power and gradually consolidate the legitimacy of his rule. But compared with the enormous expenditure of manpower, material resources, and money caused by years of warfare, the gains from his five expeditions north of the Gobi were indeed hardly worth the cost."]

Emperor Chengzu of Ming's plane.

Zhu Gaochi had long wanted Zhu Di to stop his northern expeditions. Seizing the opportunity, he hurriedly urged him, "Father, I know you want to establish unparalleled achievements and prove that you inherited the throne from Grandfather Taizu, but everyone under heaven already knows about our family's affairs. We can't keep fighting north of the Gobi. The northern expeditions have achieved very little at enormous cost, and the grassland tribes can see the heavenly screen too. If they want to hide, we won't be able to find them. Once our national strength has been drained far enough, the grassland tribes might even counterattack our Great Ming!"

Zhu Di said nothing and nodded helplessly.

In the past, if Zhu Gaochi had tried to persuade him like this, he would certainly have taught his eldest son a lesson.

[The investment in the five expeditions north of the Gobi was completely out of proportion to the returns. They can't compare with Wei Qing and Huo Qubing of the Han Dynasty, or with the Heavenly Khagan Li Shimin.]

[So this was the real history! Those TV dramas got my blood boiling, and those novels too, saying how incredible and imposing Zhu Di was, going on five expeditions north of the Gobi and sealing the wolf on Mount Juxu. I always believed them.]

[If you had an army of five hundred thousand, you could be that incredible and imposing too.]

[Exactly! If you had five hundred thousand elite troops in modern times, all equipped with advanced weapons, and took them into Northern Myanmar, would anyone dare stop you? You could do whatever you wanted.]

[The grassland people aren't idiots. When Zhu Di came marching against them with a vast army, why would they throw eggs against a rock? All they had to do was hold out until the Ming army ran out of provisions, and they'd win.]

Grassland people: Right, right, right, we're not idiots!

[Zhu Di was better at fighting civil wars than foreign wars!]

[Zhu Di's wars emptied the national treasury.]

[If Zhu Di had really managed what Huo Qubing did and beaten the grassland tribes so badly they couldn't recover for decades, I'm sure Crown Prince Zhu Gaochi would have supported him even if it cost him everything he had.

The problem is, Zhu Di didn't have Huo Qubing's ability. His five northern expeditions didn't seriously cripple the grassland tribes at all. It was a completely losing deal. He had fun anyway and didn't care how much manpower and material it cost to take hundreds of thousands of troops wandering around the grasslands for half a year at a time.]

[If Zhu Di had really solved the grassland problem, Zhu Qizhen wouldn't have been dancing on the grasslands twenty-five years later.]

Zhu Qizhen: If you're talking about Taizong... Chengzu, then talk about Chengzu. Leave me out of it.

[What if all of Huaxia's emperors swapped dynasties at random? Would history still have regrets? #Huaxia #history]

"Emperors swapping dynasties? People of later generations really have imagination!"

"If emperors really can swap dynasties, please let Emperor Wendi Taizong of Great Tang come and save these chaotic times!"

"If they really do swap, whatever you do, don't send Yang Guang here!"

["What if all of Huaxia's emperors swapped dynasties at random? Would history still have regrets?"]

["That day, the Forbidden City was suddenly shrouded in white mist, and immediately afterward, the whole of Xianyang Palace appeared out of thin air. When Ying Zheng arrived in the Qing Dynasty and saw the unequal treaties before him, he fell deep into thought."]

Qianlong: Why send Ying Zheng to my Great Qing?

["Meanwhile, Zhu Yuanzhang looked at the black robes he was wearing and nearly laughed himself into a stomach cramp. Starting off with the accumulated might of six generations of rulers? Old Zhu had never fought a war with such abundant resources in eight lifetimes! He immediately summoned Meng Tian and set out at once to launch a blitzkrieg on Europe."]

Zhu Yuanzhang: I really have never fought a war with such abundant resources!

["Meanwhile, outside Xuanwu Gate, Zhao Gou gazed at the approaching carriages and horses and fell deep into thought. Brother Li, Brother Li, can I get a guide to Xuanwu Gate? It's urgent, waiting online! But he waited a full two and a half hours without a reply from Li Shimin."]

Li Shimin: What a Xuanwu Gate guide.

Zhao Gou: Becoming Emperor Wendi Taizong of Great Tang wouldn't be bad either!

["For his soul had transmigrated into Adou's body. Amid the flames of war raging across the land, he showed what he could do. Drawing on the abilities of a man from a later age, he went on to take Eastern Wu and defeat Cao Wei, not only restoring the Han but also unifying the realm."]

"People of later generations really have rich imaginations. If Your Majesty could transmigrate into the body of Later Han's last ruler, you would surely be able to restore the Han!" The speaker was Zhangsun Wuji.

Li Shimin smiled and said, "If I really could transmigrate, I'd like to see Chancellor Zhuge with my own eyes."

["However, just as he was preparing to reward his subjects according to their merits, Zhuge Liang declined his titles and rewards. Before dying, he asked only one question: 'I only wish to ask, though Your Majesty need not answer: where has that good-for-nothing emperor of mine gone?'"]

[No matter how they swap around, they all have the feudal system and ideas of an emperor ruling the realm, as well as backward cold weapons. The ancients were never exposed to New Democracy or Marxism, nor did they have any concept of social equality, so their thinking was destined to lag behind Europe's.]

[You can't say that. One who understands the times is a true hero. I don't know when that saying first appeared, but the ancients definitely weren't stupid, especially Ying Zheng.

Besides, the Qin Dynasty rose through reforms. Those reforms made the Qin State rich and powerful, giving it the strength to sweep away the Six States.

If Ying Zheng really could transmigrate to the late Qing, he would certainly choose reform, then use the national treasury's money to buy advanced Western weapons, whatever the channel, whether legitimate trade or smuggling. To make the country strong, Ying Zheng would certainly get his hands on those technologies.]

[Don't say the Qing Dynasty was poor. The Qing government wasn't poor; it was the common people who were poor.

Think about all the silver paid out in indemnities in the late Qing, the money spent on Cixi's birthday and daily expenses, and the money spent on renovating the Summer Palace.

It wasn't that the Qing Dynasty had no money; it just didn't spend it in the right places.

Japan introduced Western technology and rode the wave of industrialization, developing in just over twenty years.

Great Qing had vast lands, abundant resources, and a large population. If it had spent the money on industry and trained talented people along the way, crushing Japan and dominating Asia would have been no problem.]

[Sadly, history has no "ifs"!]