Chapter 13 Section 13

Zhu Di's appalling cruelty was not entirely the result of losing his mind in a fit of rage.Just as hooligans do not harm others just for fun, hooligans often commit crimes to show off their ability to harm others, so as to gain the fear of others.When he can use a moral mask, Zhu Di will never show his canine teeth.However, where eloquence and lies cannot be concealed, the only option left for him is violence.Extreme cruelty can reduce resistance, and the nuclear massacre of Hiroshima and Nagasaki by the Americans caused the Japanese authorities to surrender quickly.In a more familiar example, the massacre of the Mongols resulted in more cities falling without a fight.

No matter how he explains and how he propagandizes, he can't hide his usurper's face, so he is doomed to be a loser when arguing with those Confucian officials who accept death.Zhu Di, who was morally stripped naked, could only resort to massacre.The unrestrained massacre effectively disintegrated the power of opponents, and made more reserved and even dissatisfied people quickly abandon hesitation, shame and righteous indignation, and unconditionally stand under his banner.In fact, except for those who were killed by him, the rest of Jianwen's survivors gave their lives for him in fear and fear, and tried their best.Violence is effective in consolidating a monarch's rule.

If Zhu Di read Machiavelli's "The Prince", he would clap his hands and laugh, lamenting that heroes see the same thing.Ma pointed out sharply: "The monarch must fight like a man and a beast", "If necessary, the monarch should abandon traditional morality at any time", on the grounds that "it is safer to be feared than to be loved". The comparison of the fate of Zhu Di and Emperor Jianwen strongly proves the correctness of Ma's conclusion, although Ma did not know the mysterious oriental history when he wrote this book.Emperor Jianwen was indeed generous and benevolent.To the ministers, Emperor Jianwen has always been polite and gentle.For the people, he continued to reduce taxes, and even implemented well fields to benefit the people by equalizing the fields.As a result, when King Yan's army was marching southward, none of the officials in the provinces led troops to serve the king!For Li Jinglong, the general of the defeated army, instead of killing him, he entrusted him with a heavy responsibility and ordered him to guard the Jinchuan Gate (located in the north of Nanjing). As a result, Li Jinglong was the first to open the gate to welcome the surrender.

The people would rather disappoint a person they love than betray a person they fear.This is human nature.Indeed, it is fear that consolidates Zhu Di's power, especially when the power does not have a sufficient moral basis, and when the rein of interest cannot lead people in the direction that he can use, Zhu Di will not hesitate to use violence. whip.He found that the whip was often more effective than the reins.Examination of Ming Chengzu's bloody records will reveal that he was unscrupulous in committing these atrocities, and he was not at all worried about arousing resistance.He is well aware that the Chinese people have been accustomed to being submissive in the face of violence for thousands of years.