vrcanaries Chapter 21 Dragon and Phoenix Pig
Chapter 21 Dragon and Phoenix Pig
Lin Ke suddenly fell silent, paused for a few moments, and then spoke again, her voice filled with sorrow.
"Do you know what a Jingguan is? It's a high mound made by covering corpses with earth."
"At the end of the Qin Dynasty, Zhang Han led 200,000 Qin soldiers to surrender to Xiang Yu, but Xiang Yu turned these 200,000 Qin soldiers into a mound of skulls."
"Some say it was retribution for Bai Qi turning the 400,000 surrendered Zhao soldiers into a mound of skulls during the Battle of Changping."
The First Emperor's chest heaved with rage. They were all subjects of his Great Qin, surrendering yet treated this way! It was all his fault! He shouldn't have listened to those treacherous men! He had destroyed the Great Qin in an instant!
"Other dynasties also had similar practices, which I won't go into detail about here. What I want to mention is Emperor Yang of Sui's three campaigns against Goguryeo. Goguryeo turned the captured and dead Sui soldiers into a mound of skulls, while the survivors were enslaved and used by them."
"Some of them sought help from Emperor Taizong of Tang, Li Shimin. Emperor Taizong believed that the Sui army was also one of his own and could not bear to see them treated like this, so he personally led an expedition and defeated Goguryeo. In the end, these corpses were properly disposed of."
"Erfeng isn't the main character here, we'll talk about her next time!"
Li Erfeng of the Tang Dynasty (proud face): I did it!
"How wealthy was the Sui Dynasty? Unlike the Qin and Han emperors of the pre-Qin period, the Sui Dynasty saw a certain improvement in people's living standards after the succession of previous dynasties."
First Emperor, Ancestral Dragon: ...
Big Han Liu Zhuzhu: ...
"In the ninth year of the Kaihuang era, the taxes levied by the Sui Dynasty were enormous, and even the national treasury was not enough to hold them. The finances were piled up outside the warehouse. Emperor Wen of Sui was overjoyed and, with a wave of his hand, exempted the collection of taxes for that year."
"Even the sheer number of granaries at that time was astonishing. More than 20 years after the fall of the Sui Dynasty, the Sui Dynasty's granaries were still not used up. In particular, a granary discovered in 1969, more than 1,300 years after the fall of the Sui Dynasty, still contained 500,000 catties of grain."
"During the reign of Emperor Wen of Sui in 598 AD, the population reached 8.7 million households, a total of over 40 million people. However, by the time of Emperor Gaozu of Tang in 624 AD, the population had dwindled to only 2 million households, a total of over 15 million people. One can imagine how many people died during the forced labor during the reign of Emperor Yang of Sui."
"Here I would like to say that with this level of prodigal son ability, even Qin Er Shi Hu Hai, who suffered the same fate, and our Emperor Zhu Qizhen are nothing more than his underlings in front of Yang Guang."
Hongwu period
Zhu Yuanzhang pointed at the small screen and cursed, "Is this 'spendthrift' thing going to get you down? Fourth son, it's all your fault! Get over here!"
Little Zhu Di wasn't going to listen to that; he wasn't stupid, so he simply turned and ran.
Liu Che stood up abruptly, pointed at Lin Ke, and asked incredulously, "You mean he squandered the wealth of over 30 million people? I didn't hear you wrong, did I?!"
Wei Qing nodded, then clicked his tongue in amazement: "If only I had so many men! Our Han Dynasty could conquer anywhere! The Xiongnu! Just you wait!"
During the reign of Emperor Wen of Sui
Yang Jian had just drunk a large bowl of medicine, and now he seemed numb to these words. What was there that he couldn't do, you unfilial son!
Seeing this, Dugu Jialuo said, "These two children are ruined. Lin Ke said that Li Shimin was really a good emperor. Otherwise, he wouldn't have gone to war against Goguryeo and buried the Sui army. Why don't we go to Taiyuan in the next couple of days?"
Yang Jian nodded, glancing at Yang Guang's bruised and swollen face, as if he had made a decision, his expression resolute.
"Alright, that's about all for Yang Guang. Now, let me briefly mention his name."
"This involves some humorous remarks made by later generations about our ancestors."
"For example, the name 'Big Han Liu Pig' comes from a story."
"It is said that in the story of Emperor Wu of Han, before Liu Che was born, his father Liu Qi dreamed that Emperor Gaozu of Han, Liu Bang, told him that this child was born extraordinary and named him Liu Zhi, with Zhi meaning pig. However, because he was not in the line of becoming emperor, he was later named Liu Che."
"As the saying goes, it takes only a mouth to spread a rumor, but it takes a lot of legwork to refute it. This story was so vivid that many people read it, so the name has been passed down. In later generations, some people will call him Emperor Pig, and he is also a great emperor of all time."
Zhu Houzhao, the number one mischievous child of the Ming Dynasty: Hahahaha, this is too funny... Pfft! Your Majesty the Pig!
Big Han Liu Zhuzhu (death stare): Guess why I'm not laughing.
"Ahem, the next one is also a great emperor of all time, and I personally think he's number one!"
All the people saw was Lin Ke's eyes shining with reverence as he loudly proclaimed, "My ancestor Ying Zheng, whom I've never met, is handsome and charming. He is 1.98 meters tall, has a deep voice, a high nose, and a pair of captivating phoenix eyes. He doesn't want the stars in the sky; he just wants immortality!"
For some reason, the First Emperor always felt a sense of awkwardness, like his toes were digging into the ground. Although he was happy to learn that he was the first emperor of all time, why was this introduction so...
Liu Che muttered to himself, "Why do later generations praise the First Emperor so much? I don't think he's any bad."
"The remnants of the six states probably never imagined that the descendants of those states would spend money to come to Xianyang to see Qin Shi Huang!"