If You Had 100,000 Cavalry in the Late Ming, Could You Save the Great Ming?
[Huang Chao fought his way into Chang'an without meeting any resistance. He proclaimed himself King Huang, ordered the rebel army to give money to every poor person they saw, and declared himself the king of the poor. Most of those left in Chang'an were ordinary civilians, and they soon settled down. After taking Chang'an, Huang Chao proclaimed himself emperor in Daming Palace, named his state Great Qi, and announced that all officials of the third rank and above would be killed.
Later, armies from across the Great Tang marched on Chang'an and surrounded Huang Chao. The Tang forces cut off all traffic, making it difficult to transport supplies. To solve his army's food shortage, Huang Chao, who had promised to be the king of the poor, turned his butcher's knife on the poor—the well-known historical episode of using people as army rations.]
[Ironically, many civilians had already fled Chang'an and hidden in the mountains and wilderness, only to be caught by the deranged Tang soldiers and sold to the rebel army. Many people made windfall fortunes from this.
After fighting their way back into Chang'an, the Tang troops raped and plundered everywhere.
When Huang Chao heard this, he led his troops back to the city overnight. The Tang army rushed into battle and quickly found itself at a disadvantage.
After retaking Chang'an, Huang Chao unleashed a bloodbath upon the city, slaughtering every last man.]
Li Shimin could not bear to watch any longer. The Great Tang's army represented the imperial court and legitimate rule, yet the Tang soldiers of later generations had sold civilians to the rebels as army rations and raped and plundered in Chang'an. For an army like that, for a Great Tang like that, it would have been against the laws of heaven not to fall!
[Huang Chao and his army did eat people, but it wasn't as exaggerated as the history books describe.]
[Throughout the dynasties, whenever natural disasters or man-made calamities struck, there were records of people eating people or using them as army rations.]
[There's a rumor that Huang Chao and his army ground up millions of people and ate them. I don't know if that's from official history or unofficial accounts. It's too fake. Just think about it—it's impossible. Grinding up one person takes time and effort, and if you don't pick the bones out of the meat, the bone fragments could choke someone to death. Try grinding a chicken or duck into mince and eating it, and you'll see how hard it is to swallow.]
[The ancient aristocratic clans couldn't all be killed off. He only killed the ones at the very top. Besides, they were called aristocratic clans, so they all had branch families to some extent.]
[Once new aristocratic clans emerged, they didn't want to publicize someone who slaughtered clans like that.]
[The aristocratic clans did survive. After the Tang Dynasty, they were called landlords and gentry.]
Gao Shengyang had posted that comment. From his avatar and username, the people of ancient times immediately realized that the person behind it was a descendant of Gao Huan.
Gao Shengyang's username was Holy Light Descends.
[Huang Chao: Fighting my way into Chang'an was a lot easier than passing the exams to get into Chang'an!]
An Lushan: I can vouch for that. It really was easier.
[Your ancestors were generally either from humble families or nobility. The poor can't stay poor for three generations, because after three generations of poverty, their family line dies out.]
Seeing that comment, the poor people of every dynasty felt heartache, despair, and helplessness.
Holy Light Descends [Huang Chao's massacre of the aristocratic clans did accelerate their demise, but by then they had long been in decline, like a spent crossbow bolt at the end of its flight.]
Holy Light Descends [At the height of their power, the aristocratic clans held vast tracts of land and influenced millions of people. They could easily raise a powerful army, so they weren't people you could just decide to slaughter.]
Holy Light Descends [After the Sui Dynasty was founded, Emperor Wen of Sui, Yang Jian; Emperor Yang of Sui, Yang Guang; Emperor Taizong of Tang; Emperor Gaozong of Tang; and Wu Zetian all worked to weaken the power and influence of the aristocratic clans. Emperor Yang of Sui was simply too radical.]
Holy Light Descends [Before the Yang and Li families took the realm, one claimed descent from the Yang Clan of Hongnong, and the other from the Li Clan of Longxi. Although they were aristocratic clans themselves, once they became imperial families, they stood in opposition to the aristocratic clans. Imperial authority was supreme, and letting the clans grow powerful meant letting them chip away at that authority and forcibly snatch power from the emperor's hands. No emperor could stand by and watch them grow ever stronger.]
Holy Light Descends [By the time of Huang Chao's rebellion, those clans no longer had troops in their hands. Their demise wasn't far off.]
Holy Light Descends [But even a starving camel is bigger than a horse. Even after falling into decline and being slaughtered by Huang Chao, the descendants of those top aristocratic clans still lived very well through the Song, Yuan, Ming, and Qing dynasties. Some became chancellors, some became generals, and some married princesses. They simply weren't as illustrious as they had been under the Wei, Jin, Sui, and Tang, and their influence wasn't nearly as immense.]
"What Gao Huan's descendant says is quite right!"
"Hmph! The Gao Clan of Bohai is also one of the great aristocratic clans. As Gao Huan's descendant, he naturally sees it clearly."
Gao Shengyang's comments were like a fuse, rupturing the false balance between certain emperors and the great clans and showing them clearly that imperial authority and the aristocratic clans could not coexist.
[You know all this so clearly. Which family are your ancestors from?]
Holy Light Descends [My ancestors did indeed come from a distinguished family, but it had fallen into decline before the Sui and Tang. They kept a low profile during those dynasties. At the end of the Tang, they weren't sitting at the table—they were among those who flipped it over.]
Holy Light Descends [Not only did my ancestors escape Huang Chao's massacres, they even concealed their origins and surname and joined him in killing aristocratic clans and seizing their money, grain, and women. They also killed imperial sons-in-law and snatched princesses.]
[Brother, your ancestors were that fierce?]
Gao Shengyang had posted those comments on purpose. Both he and the system had noticed that the people of ancient times experienced quite a few emotions after reading his comments.
And here he was again, harvesting Emotion Points!
"Which branch do these descendants of Gao Huan belong to, anyway? How hateful!"
"Barbarian blood, fickle and faithless."
"This person from later generations is quite a character! He doesn't hide a thing about what his ancestors did."
"Emperor Shenwu's descendants really do take after one another. During the Tang Dynasty, they snatched the Great Tang's princesses. Under the Jin State, they married noble ladies and slept with the Great Song emperor's consorts and princesses. At the end of the Jin State, they also slept with the Jin emperor's consorts and princesses. Truly impressive!"
"Gao Huan's descendants were so unruly. They probably didn't do anything good under Mongol rule either, did they?"
Even emperors and ambitious warlords who had been old lechers in history, such as Liu Bang and Cao Cao, felt envious.
Even Gao Huan, the ancestor of Gao Shengyang's branch of the family, could not help sighing. My descendants know how to seize an opportunity. They take after me in that.
[If you were given 100,000 cavalry in the late Ming, could you save the Great Ming?]
Seeing the title, Zhu Yuanzhang sighed. "There are still people in later generations whose hearts are with the Great Ming! That comforts me greatly!"
Chongzhen, in the late Ming, said, "If I had 100,000 cavalry at my command, I would surely destroy the rebel Chuang and the Jurchens and pacify the realm!"
The common people of the late Ming, already numb, did not want anyone to save the Great Ming, still less did they want the Jurchens to rule the realm. They hoped someone could deliver them from their sea of suffering.
["Why should I save the Great Ming dynasty? My surname isn't Zhu. I have 100,000 cavalry, including 20,000 heavy cavalry. As the sixty-sixth-generation descendant of Emperor Gaozu of Han, can't I restore the House of Han?"]
["Before you stands the descendant of the eastern divine dragon, son of heaven, favored of the fire god, nightmare of wild boar hides, destroyer of dynasties, conqueror of barbarians, the last prophet, pilgrim to Mecca, eternal master of Jerusalem, hand of God, and protector of the Vatican. Yet you ask me whether I can save the Great Ming?"]