HLnovel Chapter 14 The Darkest Moment in History③
Chapter 14 The Darkest Moment in History③
Li Ranran never expected that there was also a quarrel here. Wouldn’t it be good for everyone to scold Li Longji together?
I clicked it with a helpless feeling.
[The “Darkest Moment” in Chinese History 3]
(The beginning is sad music with desolate scenery around, which brings the sad atmosphere to the extreme.)
【Late Tang Dynasty, Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms】
[After the Huang Chao Uprising in the late Tang Dynasty, the Li Tang royal family lost power and was unable to control the military governors. Most of the military governors of the military governors began to become hereditary.
In 907 AD, Emperor Ai of Tang abdicated to Zhu Wen, a military commander of the vassal states. Zhu Wen established the Later Liang Dynasty, which marked the beginning of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period. In 960 AD, in the seventh year of the Xiande period of the Later Zhou Dynasty, Zhao Kuangyin launched a coup at Chenqiao, put on the yellow robe, accepted the abdication of Emperor Gong of Zhou, and established the Northern Song Dynasty, ending the Five Dynasties. After the establishment of the Northern Song Dynasty, it unified the remaining separatist regimes in the south. In 979 AD, in the fourth year of the Taipingxingguo period of Emperor Taizong of Song Dynasty, the Northern Han Dynasty was destroyed, and the Ten Kingdoms period ended.
The chaotic times that had lasted for more than seventy years also came to an end, but the war had a profound impact on later generations.
During this period, the king killed his ministers, the ministers killed the officials, rebellions were endless, wars were frequent, morality was corrupted, society was in disorder, the strong preyed on the weak, the burden of military service was heavy, wars were constant in the Central Plains, and dynasties changed frequently.
They killed all the nobles in the world, regarded propriety, righteousness, integrity and shame as dirt, disliked scholars of letters and Confucianism, and created a strong atmosphere of valuing military power over literature.
"A state is only a state with full treasury and complete armour and weapons; rituals, music and cultural relics are all mere figurines."
The "military group" caused by the separatist rule of the feudal lords got out of control, frequent wars among warlords occurred, and caused great damage to the social economy.
When food and fodder were severely scarce, some generals and rebel soldiers in some vassal states used the lowest class of people as "food and fodder".
The military governors of various vassal states implemented a policy of kill and rob, killing all the poor civilians and pickling their bodies with salt to use as military rations.
"From Guannei in the west to Qingqi in the east, from Jianghuai in the south to Weihua in the north, the fish have rotted, the birds have scattered, and there has been no human habitation."
In a siege, once the food supply in the city ran out, the people became food for the soldiers defending the city, and people were even slaughtered and sold like animals. In troubled times, warlords and their soldiers "ate people", peasant armies ate people, and hungry people also "ate people", and even "human flesh" was not as valuable as dog meat.
"The granaries in the city were empty, and the hungry people killed each other for food. Couples and fathers and sons held each other hostage and went to the butchers to sell them, who cut them up like sheep and pigs."
"That winter, there was a heavy snowfall. All the food in the city was gone. Countless people died of starvation and cold. Some lay still alive but were already bitten by others. In the market, human meat was sold for 100 yuan per pound, while dog meat was sold for 500 yuan."
The ritual order collapsed, and from then on "eating people" was no longer a matter of survival due to hunger. The serious disorder of society, people's moral bottom line was constantly broken, and moral values became increasingly shallow. This aroused the evil in human nature. In the period when human life was worthless, people even "repaired the body with like", took cannibalism as a hobby, and developed various cooking methods.
Zhao Kuangyin learned from the experience and lessons of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms in the late Tang Dynasty, and made the Zhao Song Dynasty always emphasize civil over military in military settings, vigorously develop Confucianism, and even set up ancestral precepts requiring his descendants not to kill literati and those who wrote letters to remonstrate. He also learned from the lessons of the separatist regimes of the Tang Dynasty and focused on centralization and weakening local power. However, he went too far and led to the weakness of local and border defense, which led to the continuous foreign invasions throughout the Song Dynasty, and was eventually invaded and destroyed by foreign races. 】
The Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period was indeed the darkest era, filled with betrayal and murder.
＜The Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms are only briefly mentioned in history books, and the only thing I remember is the "Preface to the Biography of the Actor in the History of the Five Dynasties" written by Ouyang Xiu＞
＜No wonder Song Dynasty valued culture over military affairs…＞
＜Suddenly I feel that the Song Dynasty seems to have played a great role in history. It reshaped the order of Chinese civilization and allowed etiquette to be preserved…＞
＜This episode is really hard to watch, and a bit nauseating... I've always known that the end of Tang Dynasty was bad, but I didn't expect it to be not only bad but also so horrible. Troubled times are really not a place for human beings to live...＞
＜I would rather be a dog in a peaceful time than a man in a chaotic time. Fortunately, I am in China now＞
＜The cannibalism that started in the late Tang Dynasty still existed in the early Song Dynasty. I forgot where I read that a general under Zhao Kuangyin really liked to eat human flesh and even asked his subordinates to cook it for him in various ways… [vomit]＞
＜This practice was not completely corrected until the reign of Emperor Shinjong＞
＜I am a little upset… In ancient times, a prosperous time meant that the common people were not starving to death and had something to eat [cry loudly]. I thought of the prosperous Tang Dynasty mentioned in the last issue. Even in that prosperous time, there were still “rich people enjoying wine and meat, while people froze to death on the streets.” How miserable must the common people be in troubled times [cry loudly]＞
＜Zhao Kuangyin is so great… He was born into a military family, was good at martial arts, hated evil, was educated and had read the Four Books and Five Classics, and cherished human life… When I criticize the Song Dynasty in the future, I will definitely single out Zhao Kuangyin.＞
＜However, now people only say that Zhao Kuangyin bullied orphans and widows＞
＜Alas, the Song Dynasty went from one extreme to another＞
＜In troubled times, everywhere is purgatory＞
＜In the Three Kingdoms period, people knew how to hide their cannibalism. During the Five Barbarians’ Invasion of China, cannibalism was only an isolated case. By the end of the Tang Dynasty and the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period, it had become the norm…＞
＜I have read "The Bridge" before, and the word "cannibalism" is written everywhere in it＞
＜How cruel…＞
＜Fuck, I’m still eating…＞
＜Let's eat [dog head]＞
……
Yue, luckily I didn't have breakfast. Fortunately I am not starving now. Thank you Grandpa Yuan and thank you motherland.
The ones who broke through the defense under the sky were the aristocratic families. The words "Kill all the aristocratic families in the world" made them feel cold. The aristocratic families attached the most importance to family inheritance. Emperors come and go, but the aristocratic families remain unchanged. No matter who is in power, they need their support.
Now seeing the spoilers from Tianmu, they said: Damn it, a crude and vulgar warrior is causing chaos in the country!!!
Li Shimin was also very upset. After all, he had only been on the throne for less than a year, and had not even achieved the so-called prosperous Zhenguan era, when he heard the bad news of the Anshi Rebellion and the fall of the Tang Dynasty...
---
The 28th year of Qin Shi Huang
"Cannibalism?" Qin Shi Huang knew that some cases of cannibalism existed during the Zhou Dynasty, mostly to satisfy hunger.
The large-scale and even regular occurrence of cannibalism during the late Tang Dynasty and the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period is very chilling...
It was at this moment that Ying Zheng discovered that Tianmu paid special attention to the people of Qian and felt sorry for them everywhere.
"Meng Yi, pay attention to the situation of the people."
Meng Yi immediately answered, "Yes!"
----
People living in the Southern and Northern Dynasties compared the situation with that of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period, and suddenly realized that their situation was still pretty good, as long as they had a good monarch. Then they began to compare themselves with each other.
----
Tang Dynasty, 23rd year of Kaiyuan
The officials of Kaiyuan were determined to make an effort to maintain the prosperity and prevent the possibility of the An-Shi Rebellion. They also wanted to prevent the situation of "rich people enjoying wine and meat while people freezing to death on the streets" from happening.
----
Song Dynasty, Qiande Year 5
This video can be said to be the happiest one Zhao Kuangyin has ever watched. Zhao Kuangyin looked at the praises in the comment section: Zhao Kuangyin is so great, Zhao Kuangyin is so amazing...
"Second brother's Panlong Stick is invincible in the world." Seeing that Tianmu no longer said that Song was a coward this time, Zhao Guangyi immediately flattered his second brother.
"That's right, my second brother is the most powerful. He ended the Five Dynasties and eliminated separatist regimes. It is a godsend for the Song Dynasty to have my second brother." Zhao Guangmei has always admired his second brother, Zhao Kuangyin.
Zhao Kuangyin had a very good relationship with his younger brothers, so he felt normal when they praised him, but when Tianmu praised him... ahem, it really felt good.
But in the end, is it too much to say that Song went from one extreme to another? We'll talk about it later.
After all, we haven't gotten out of the troubled times yet. If we don't do this, society will definitely be unstable. Let's discuss this with Zhao Pu after the curtain falls.
----
Yuan Dynasty - 21st year of Zhiyuan
Kublai Khan laughed and said, "Hahaha, aren't you Han people the most respectful of propriety, righteousness, integrity and shame?"
"Are these the same?"
The Han officials present remained silent and listened quietly to Kublai Khan's ridicule.
In the past few years, Kublai Khan still valued Han officials and followed Confucianism, but now he dislikes Han law less and less. With the death of important Han officials in recent years, the status of Han officials has declined, and life is really hard for them...
Oh, the only person I can trust now is Prince Zhenjin. As long as Prince Zhenjin ascends the throne, everything will be fine!