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[So apparently the so called founders of the Ottoman Empire were not even real descendants of the Turks they claimed as ancestors. That revelation alone was enough to make certain history fans explode on the spot.
From modern genetic studies, the ancestors of the Turks traced back largely to ancient Greeks and Anatolian peoples. In other words, not exactly close relatives of the steppe Turks at all. But the empire itself had never really depended on bloodline. What held it together was religion, a coalition built to resist the eastern push of the Roman Church.
Some modern historians even said the famous "ten generations of wise rulers" of the Ottomans were heavily exaggerated.
Some modern historians even said the famous "ten generations of wise rulers" of the Ottomans were heavily exaggerated.
If you wanted a comparison, take Qin Shi Huang, who inherited the achievements of six generations and swallowed the Six States whole. Now put that next to ten supposedly brilliant Ottoman sultans who could not even take Vienna. Basic arithmetic suggests that at least a few of those ten names were probably there just to make the number look nice.
Of course, Qin Shi Huang never captured Vienna either. If you round generously, maybe everyone ends up about the same.
By that logic, Napoleon never subdued the hereditary Duke Yansheng, yet Qin Shi Huang apparently conquered Brazil.
Naturally. Everyone knows that. Zhang Fei himself could testify to it.
So yes, ten wise rulers. With a footnote saying "competent, but not really," perhaps.
Speaking seriously, historians today generally agree that the idea of ten Ottoman sage rulers is more a product of later Ottoman and Turkish scholarship polishing their own legacy. Osman I, for instance, was essentially a tribal chieftain. Calling him a model sage is generous. Bayezid I inherited an empire strengthened by his predecessors, spent his reign making enemies everywhere, and ultimately crashed straight into the Mongols. Bayezid II was hardly better, and much of the cleanup fell to his son Selim.
From a textual standpoint, there is no real historical category called "ten wise Ottoman rulers." Still, figures like Mehmed, Selim, and Suleiman possessed undeniable ability. And frankly, the standards modern internet commentators apply to their own historical rulers are so high that even Li Shimin and Zhu Baba would probably get slapped twice just for walking past.
Leaving aside achievements, Yelü Dashi's personal story alone was legendary. Early on he defeated Northern Song generals Zhong Shidao and Liu Yanzhao multiple times despite inferior numbers. Later he was defeated by the Jin and captured, only to escape successfully. The Liao emperor Tianzuo had him arrested again for illegally resisting the Jin, and he escaped yet again. That sort of life experience was rare enough already.
And politically, he was even more… gifted. Or perhaps more unscrupulous. During the early stages of his western campaign, when his forces were still small, Yelü Dashi stirred up civil wars in the Eastern Kara-Khanid realm, among the Karluk tribes, and in the Kingdom of Gaochang. He poached allies where he could and pressured others into surrender without a fight. A monster released from the East Asian powerhouse, if ever there was one.
Comparing all this makes it easier to understand just how terrifying the early Jin state must have been. Even so, Yelü Dashi himself probably never expected the Jin to decay quite so quickly afterward.]
Inside a residence courtyard in Luoyang, Zhang Fei stared at the map the strategist had brought, then let out a long sigh.
"How come I don't see any place called Brazil on this thing?"
His melancholy came fast and went just as quickly. Staring at the map again, another question surfaced.
"I remember hearing that south of the western lands there's another huge stretch of territory. Why's it so quiet on the map?"
No one had an answer. Zhuge Liang only offered a guess.
"Contact with that region may not increase until the Ming era."
He remembered the routes taken during Zheng He's voyages. It seemed those fleets had indeed reached vast lands that, for now, remained almost silent in history.
And as he thought about it more, Zhuge Liang felt he was beginning to see a pattern. As time advanced, the exchanges across the entire world seemed to grow ever more frequent.
During Emperor Yuan of Han, Gan Yanshou and Chen Tang struck Kangju and beheaded the Xiongnu chanyu Zhizhi. Even what later generations called Central Asia was still only beginning to stir.
By the Tang dynasty, when imperial borders pushed westward again, the region already held many different peoples, and even the monk Xuanzang had traveled through it in search of scriptures.
By the Song period, lands from Central Asia to the far west had become places of constant upheaval, and records of them grew increasingly numerous.
And looking further ahead, those western lands would rise as well. They would even produce…
"Ten generations of wise rulers?"
Liu Bei repeated the phrase with interest. After studying the words on the glowing screen, he naturally had a question.
"I wonder what sort of system this Ottoman state uses."
After all, judging from the emperors of Tang, Song, and Jin, and from later comments that rulers seemed to be competing to see who could sink lower, it was clear how rare truly capable sovereigns were across two thousand years.
If that Ottoman realm really produced even five competent rulers out of ten, that was already an astonishing ratio.
So Liu Bei found himself genuinely curious about the structure of this distant, complicated state.
Then, thinking of the turmoil across Central Asia, he also felt he could understand why later generations criticized the Southern Song so harshly.
"They abandoned ambition and clung only to survival, bowing for peace while letting the Khitan gain fame."
…
"If we follow this logic of ten wise rulers, then from Gaozu to Emperor Xuan, wouldn't the Former Han count as seven genuine wise generations?"
In Ganlu Hall, Li Shimin offered the remark.
Privately, he added another thought. If that standard applied, then later historians might as well call Li Dan and Li Xian wise rulers too, since Li Longji cleaned up after them. That would make the Tang dynasty six generations strong as well.
Naturally, he did not say that part aloud. After the joke, he grew thoughtful.
"It seems these western religions are not so different from Buddhism."
Just as the Medicine Master General later became a heavenly guardian, these western faiths also seemed eager to associate heroic figures with their doctrines.
Li Shimin suddenly found himself wondering: if the Roman Church ever entered the Central Plains and grew powerful, would it obey the Roman pope, or submit to imperial law and the Son of Heaven?
The answer seemed obvious. And seeing how many states existed in the west, establishing an office to regulate religion and keep it from interfering in governance would be unavoidable.
Yet in the end, Li Shimin sighed for Wang Fangyi's death.
"A general who shaped a thousand year turning point, executed with collective punishment. One of early Tang's brightest stars, extinguished here."
…
In Kun-ning Palace, Empress Ma felt a headache coming on as she stared at the long string of unfamiliar foreign names.
Under such circumstances, she could only record what she could. The names that sounded smooth she repeated silently to memorize. The obscure ones she jotted down briefly, intending to reflect on them later.
For instance, she did not really understand what "online" meant. She knew what wise rulers were, but who exactly was Li Erfeng?
And who was Zhu Baba?
She had her suspicions, but such nicknames…
In the end she simply scribbled them down for future consideration.
The screen shifted again.
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[The Western Liao established by Yelü Dashi did not dominate Central Asia for long.
Fifty years after the Battle of Qatwan, Genghis Khan's armies arrived, and Western Liao fell.
Looking again at the historical timeline, one finds that within just four years, from 1161 to 1164, the following occurred in rapid succession: Wanyan Liang died during his southern campaign, Xin Qiji returned south, the Southern Song launched the Longxing Northern Expedition, the expedition failed and negotiations followed, and Genghis Khan was born.
Modern historians generally consider the Longxing campaign to mark the true end of the passive peace policy led by Zhao Gou. From then on, Song and Jin reentered a long period of confrontation.
This situation left the internally unstable Jin with no spare attention for the northern steppe, allowing the Mongols to rise smoothly.
Yet before the Mongols swept across the world, the Southern Song's remaining notable figures still managed to leave their final traces in history.]
The screen dimmed.
And the palace air felt colder than before.