Chapter 116 8. The thick and dark history of the emperor

Now we are only left with the last two questions. The ten major feudal towns are eyeing each other. Why did Zhu Wen end the life of the Tang Empire by himself? Compared with many opponents, what advantages does he have?Besides, did the Tang Empire really lose all possibilities? Let me talk about the first question first. The reason why Zhu Wen took the lead and completely ended the Tang Empire is that his advantage is that he has no advantage at all compared with Zhu Fanzhen.In fact, he is the worst condition, but it is precisely this worst condition that has made him and his backrest. Why do you say that?

You must know that Zhu Wen is different from the Zhufan towns. Most of the Zhufan towns are just the imperial court's own soldiers and horses, but they have grown stronger day by day, and finally formed their own forces, and finally they can fight against the imperial court.However, it is for such a reason that they are somewhat jealous of Li Tang's clan.For example, Fengxiang Jiedu envoy Li Maozhen was the first to control Zhaozong, and he could coerce him to command the princes. However, due to his background as an officer and soldier, every step he took to persecute Zhaozong made his image even more unbearable.By the time he set fire to the Chang'an palace and expelled Emperor Zhaozong, his moral resources had been exhausted, and he was almost broken.At this moment, his image in Zhu Fanzhen's mind was already that of a villainous slave who bullied his master, and he could no longer gain support.

On the contrary, Zhu Wen was originally a bandit and was a general under the cannibal Huang Chao, but because his power became stronger and stronger, Huang Chao became uneasy, so in order to protect himself, he simply took refuge in the Tang Dynasty. Therefore, in Zhufan towns, Zhu Wen does not have the slightest moral resources, and is still a bandit.And it is understandable for the thieves to do any bad things.On the contrary, when Zhu Wen persecuted Zhaozong, he would not have any psychological burden, let alone bear too much notoriety - he was already evil to the end, and adding this incident, it was nothing more than that.

Confucius said: The Spring and Autumn Period blames the sages-this sentence means that to be a good person will suffer a lot, but to be a bad guy is to take advantage of the world.It is understandable for the wicked to do evil things, but it is difficult for a good person to be forgiven even if they have a slight stain on their morals. Zhu Wen is an out-and-out villain. After working under Huang Chao for a long time, he has been infected with the bad habit of doing bad things without a bottom line.He openly collected ashes for his fornication, and he was tortured and killed regardless of his flesh and blood.According to historical records, in his later years, several sons competed for favor, so Zhu Wen ordered several daughter-in-laws to enter the palace and take turns to let him be lucky—this kind of thing can be done, no matter how bad the Zhufan Town is, There is no way to compare with him.

In fact, being harsh and unreasonable to good people and infinitely tolerant to evil people worsened the living environment in the last years of the Tang Empire and led to the phenomenon of reverse elimination in society.Being harsh and unreasonable to good people has led to fewer and fewer good people around us; infinite tolerance to evil people has led to more and more wicked people around us.When the number of wicked people reaches a high enough proportion, the cultural trend of the whole society takes evil as the value orientation, showing that the more evil people are, the easier it is to gain the upper hand; the more kind people are, the more popular they are. to mock.

This rule was not created by Li Yuan, the great ancestor of the Tang Dynasty, but after he won the great treasure, he did not improve it a little. Instead, he used the evil royal power to further worsen the situation.When the value orientation of the whole society completely turns to evil, the ultimate evil result can only fall on Li Yuan's descendants. Therefore, when we occupy a dominant position in society, it is necessary to establish a fair and selfless social competition law.On the surface, this law seems to make us suffer, but it will double the return on our descendants.So the rules have never been built for ourselves, but to open up a sky for our future generations.

Despite facing such a deteriorating social environment, the Tang Empire still had an opportunity, but both Xizong and Zhaozong missed this opportunity. This opportunity lies with Shatuo military general Li Keyong. As mentioned earlier, the various feudal towns were either original officers and soldiers, or bandits who surrendered, and only Li Keyong was a minority army transferred from the border.Compared with the domestic vassals and towns, Shatuo people are relatively unfamiliar with the Central Plains culture.In fact, Li Keyong learned about the Central Plains from Confucian books, and Confucian books always focus on benevolence and righteousness.As a result, in the end, among the feudal towns, only Li Keyong, a foreigner, still retained the imprint of Confucian culture, while the others only regarded books as waste paper to fool idiots.

Maybe it's the idea that people who are not of my race and their hearts must be different. Although Li Keyong wiped out the cannibal demon Huang Chao, he once saved Zhaozong's crisis.However, Emperor Zhaozong was afraid of Li Keyong and did not dare to entrust himself to him. As a result, he missed the last chance to save Datang.In fact, as we know, when Li Keyong died in a hundred battles, his son Li Cunxu inherited the family business, but still adopted the national title of Datang.This shows that the Shatuo people were really influenced by Confucian books, and they have been worshiping the Tang Dynasty.

If Yizong or Zhaozong can have a little foresight and choose Li Keyong from Shatuo, and let him take on the job of protecting the imperial power, the possibility of history being pulled back to the era of Suzong Li Heng cannot be ruled out, although the destruction of the empire cannot be changed after all. , but dying a few times, this is very exciting-however, history cannot be assumed, because human nature cannot be changed, and all assumptions are based on constructions that violate human nature.In the final analysis, the so-called laws of history are nothing but the laws of human nature, and the laws of human nature are such that history is destined to be unique.

Comparing the enemies faced by the Tang clan, Li Keyong is more reliable than the feudal towns, Zhu Wen is more reliable than Zhu Wen, and Zhu Wen is more reliable than the eunuchs around the emperor.However, Zhaozong's final choice was to take the eunuch into Zhu Wen's barracks. He chose the path that should not be chosen, just like Li Yuan chose the path that should not be chosen at the beginning of the founding of the Tang Dynasty.It's not how stupid Zhaozong is, nor how smart Li Yuan is, they are just two inevitable steps in the law of human nature, from one to the other, that's all.

When the turbulent dust of the Tang Empire fell silent, we interpreted the essential logic of imperial power from history.