[Lightscreen]
[Within this Neo-Confucian current that carried the seeds of reform, Zhu Xi stood as the academic leader, while the political leader at court was Zhao Ruyu.
In the end, Zhao Ruyu lost his struggle with Han Tuozhou. The Neo-Confucian scholar-officials fell with him, and Han Tuozhou launched the so-called Qingyuan Party Prohibition.
After consolidating power, Han Tuozhou gradually loosened the ban in order to gain support for a northern expedition.
Unfortunately, he was the sort of man who excelled at internal struggles but failed in external ones. His Kaixi Northern Expedition soon turned into the Jin's Taihe Southern Campaign. The result was his own execution, followed by another round of political upheaval. Soon after came the Mongol rise, Emperor Xuanzong of Jin's frantic southern invasions, and a long stretch without peace.
Only by the reign of Emperor Lizong of Song did the situation stabilize slightly, allowing Neo-Confucianism to begin recovering again.
By the Yuan period, however, the Mongols deliberately emphasized Neo-Confucian doctrines of ruler-minister hierarchy while downplaying its broader intellectual structure. The philosophy gradually shifted from a holistic system into something much narrower.
But that is straying from the topic.
What Lizong is more widely remembered for is what happened after his death.
Twenty-one years after he died, the lama Yang Lianzhenjia, backed by a Yuan prime minister, looted the Southern Song imperial tombs and stole countless treasures.
Yang Lianzhenjia, a Tibetan Buddhist cleric, turned Lizong's skull into a ritual drinking vessel and carried it around as a curiosity.
Only a century later, when Hongwu Emperor ordered Xu Da to launch the northern expedition and smash through Dadu, this vessel resurfaced as captured spoils.
While discussing the transition from Song to Yuan with his scholars, the Hongwu Emperor sighed that the Southern Song rulers had never held any deep personal hatred against the Mongols, so treating Lizong in such a way was excessively cruel.
In the end, Hongwu solemnly had the skull reburied in its original tomb, repaired the Southern Song imperial mausoleums, and later even ordered that members of the Zhao imperial clan who had changed their surname to Huang while hiding under Mongol rule be restored to their original name.
During this same northern campaign, Li Wenzhong captured the only son of Emperor Zhaozong of Yuan, along with consorts and princes.
These captives were brought by Hongwu to the grave of his maternal grandfather, who had taken part in the Battle of Yashan. There he presented them as ritual offerings, composed a commemorative text mourning his grandfather's service against foreign enemies, and concluded with the line:
"May the spirit of my grandfather remain undimmed. Accept this offering."
It could be said he truly fulfilled the old verse:
"When the royal army recovers the Central Plains, do not forget to tell your father at the family shrine."
Later, one of the Ming "Three Talents," Xu Wei, visited the Southern Song tombs.
This was during the height of the Ming pirate crises. Troubled by the state of the realm and remembering the humiliation of the Southern Song, he wrote in anger:
'At midnight the white bones whisper,
Ministers meet beneath the earth.
As if along the road to Mu-ling,
They regret that day they made peace with the barbarians.'
From this, one can see that ordinary Ming attitudes toward the Song were not so different from ours today.]
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[Server Chat Log]
[Historian_Fan: I wonder if Lu You's descendants lived to see the day Old Zhu took back the North.
ChillGuy: Was Lizong a "Great Emperor"? No. But he wasn't a total failure either. He was... a normal person.
@RoyalWatcher: For an Emperor, being "normal" is already high praise. Remember, Lizong lived as a common royal for 17 years. After being shoved onto the throne, he was suppressed by a regent for another 9. The fact that he didn't go insane makes him better than 80% of emperors.
@TheoryMaster: If Old Zhu respected the Song so much, why did he acknowledge the Yuan as "Orthodox"?
@NeoConfucian: Because the Ming inherited the Yuan's version of Zhu Xi's philosophy. Some say Zhu Xi did more harm than good.
@DebateClub: Nonsense. Zhu Xi was fierce about the "distinction between Hua and Yi" (Civilized vs. Barbarian). He didn't even recognize the Northern Dynasties; he never would have accepted the Mongols.
Zhang Fei: This Hongwu Emperor is a true hero! But wait, does this mean China's "pirate problem" lasts for centuries?
Li Shimin: I have but one thing to say: The Great Tang Navy has already entered the Japanese Isles.]
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"Rangzong? Huaizong?"
Rolling the names on his tongue, Zhu Yuanzhang felt the veins on his forehead twitch.
"This screen must be the trick of some charlatan!"
That single character Rang alone seemed to carry rivers of blood behind it, and as for Huaizong, what nonsense was that? Did they think he had never read the classics?
Naturally, his first thought was of those street illusionists who performed tricks for coins, and if they did not get paid would curse the crowd or play pranks. Utterly detestable.
The empress had to rise and calm him.
"They already said those were original temple names. That means something must have happened later to change them. And the earlier names Shenzong and Sizong do not sound fabricated."
She personally leaned toward believing the screen spoke truth.
After all, the Kunning Palace was a deeply guarded inner court. If some sorcerer had truly infiltrated it and conjured such visions, surely he would have appeared to demand something by now. Why remain hidden for an entire hour?
Besides, what the screen showed included things everyone knew, but also far more that no ordinary person could know. Any single one of those secrets could earn wealth and rank. And the storybooks she read in her spare time often told of immortals revealing heavenly knowledge.
So she offered a gentler guess.
"Perhaps these are simply that young man's jokes…"
"I've got it!"
The emperor spun around suddenly, enlightenment dawning.
"It must be descendants of the Mongol Yuan sneaking back into the Central Plains. They resent that I destroyed their ancestors' rule, so they changed the temple names to insult our Ming!"
This explanation…
Well…
The empress frowned and thought it over.
"Then why would later generations still call you the Hongwu Emperor?"
Zhu Yuanzhang waved this off confidently.
"Didn't that young fellow also know the original temple names? Perhaps he admires my achievements and refuses to use the altered ones."
The empress tilted her head.
"Chongba?"
"Mm?"
Zhu Yuanzhang turned back, face full of "What is it?"
Inside, she was laughing, but her expression remained composed.
"Then we should carefully record all this, if it truly proves accurate."
"Of course. I remember it all. And with what you've written down, I can compare it to paper later and recall everything."
He sounded extremely confident. In his youth he had not lacked intelligence. He had simply lacked books.
When he turned back again, the emperor's brows had relaxed considerably.
He already knew Neo-Confucianism could shift, but he had not realized the Southern Song had once come within a single step of reform.
If the reform had succeeded, what then?
He thought for a moment, then shook his head.
Even if reforms succeeded, could they conjure horses out of thin air?
Without cavalry, the Southern Song could at best have prolonged its survival a few more years.
But then he remembered that thrilling vision of battle against foreign enemies. If Neo-Confucian scholars could produce those great guns…
Perhaps…
As he listened further and heard the young man solemnly call him the Hongwu Great Emperor, recounting his achievements, the feeling was strangely pleasant.
From the empress's angle, she saw the corners of her husband's mouth lift unconsciously, wrinkles gathering at the corners of his eyes.
She even heard him mutter to himself:
"One of the Ming Three Talents? There must be many named Xu Wei. I wonder where this one is…"
But the smile faded when new words appeared on the screen.
Leave aside talk of his scholarly shortcomings.
Those two names…
The one called Zhang Fei made him feel completely satisfied.
But the other…
Zhu Yuanzhang spoke, confusion plain in his voice:
"When did Emperor Taizong of Tang ever campaign against Wa?"
"And… these Japanese pirates really could become a disaster for our Ming?"
Then another thought struck him.
"Can this screen… be written on?"
After a moment's thought, the Hongwu Emperor turned back.
"Girl, lend me that brush."