The ending was indeed not difficult to foresee.
Li Yu had never imagined that thirty days ago he was still aboard a ship, grieving the collapse of his ancestral legacy and worrying over the ruined city of Jinling. Yet thirty days later, he found himself standing beside Zhao Kuangyin, stubborn and unreasonable, witnessing with his own eyes the final days of the Song Dynasty.
The world often exceeded what ordinary people could imagine.
Li Yu watched Zhao Kuangyin's momentary dazed expression and could not help but wonder what his grandfather would think if he knew the state he was in today. But then he considered that with his father attaining the imperial title and ruling as a sovereign while being recognized under Zhou previously, perhaps it was not so bad for him, a ruler of a fallen kingdom.
Moreover, Zhao Kuangyin had said that he would be remembered by later generations, which ensured that the name of Southern Tang would survive in history. Following the logic of a unified empire, Southern Tang at least had not been destroyed by foreign powers and its family had suffered no insult or injury.
Qian Chu watched with wide eyes as Li Yu's three pupils shifted directions. Slowly, a faint smile appeared on his face. This ruler of Southern Tang, was he always so glib with schadenfreude without regard for the occasion?
In that moment, Qian Chu felt genuine relief. Rejecting Li Yu's request for a Wu-Tang alliance to resist Song had been an extremely wise decision.
"Congjia, why are you laughing?"
As expected, Zhao Kuangyin saw everything. Qian Chu began to feel anxious for Li Yu, but it turned out that Li Yu's reasoning was very clear.
"I do not like this story of the light screen."
"Now that we can see it, we know that all these disasters will not happen again."
"How could one not laugh with joy?"
His reasoning was sound. Zhao Kuangyin paused for a moment in surprise before laughing loudly.
Meanwhile, in the Ming court, another discussion was taking place.
"Jia Sidao, when he should have been strict, he was lenient. When he should have been lenient, he became harsh," the father lamented.
Zhu Biao listened without surprise. Perhaps it was because the Ming Dynasty had cleansed six hundred years of entrenched corruption in China, that scholars of the former Song enjoyed offering commentary, just as they were now discussing Jia Sidao.
And such evaluations always needed someone to hear and understand them. Empress Ma looked at Zhu Biao. Zhu Biao looked at Zhu Di. Zhu Di looked at Zhu Biao. Zhu Biao, innocent and naïve, whispered to Zhu Xiong Ying. Unable to resist, Zhu Di asked.
"Father, do you mean that Jia Sidao's public land policies were ineffective?"
The Ming emperor fixed them with a stern expression.
"I have already told you to study history carefully. And now even this small matter you do not understand?"
Although it sounded like a scolding, Zhu Biao sensed a hidden joy in his father's words. Zhu Di, who was in the front, frowned and thought to himself, who will be next? Sixth brother? But next year he must go to Beiping. If he does not witness it personally, it would be a loss.
"If Xiangyang falls, Song cannot survive. Fourth son, who holds the key to Xiangyang?"
Zhu Di straightened his back instinctively.
"Liu Zheng. He was the one who assisted Hu Yuan by training the navy and devising the plan to attack Xiangyang."
"I understand your point, father. Jia Sidao should have eliminated Liu Zheng directly. Without his support to Hu Yuan…"
"Rubbish!"
Zhu Yuanzhang shook his head.
"Fourth son, do you think the Song soldiers at that time were as brave as our Ming troops?"
"But father, military books say one must be strict in governing troops."
"Military books are for study. They train sons of noble families. If they dare to cheat and destroy their ancestors just because someone checks their rations, they are worse than bandits. You are strict, they will strike back with a knife."
Zhu Yuanzhang's eyebrows twitched continuously as he spoke.
"For the Southern Song, responding to Hu Yuan was the most important matter. It must be prioritized. And that is a military matter. The army determines life and death of the state. It must be managed with full attention. Form the troops correctly, balance civil and military strategy, and control carefully. How can one method apply to the entire army? This caused factions to arise in the provinces.
And the landlords? When the country was in crisis, they still counted every small coin. Such matters should have been handled broadly to show the state parasites Hu Yuan's methods. Instead, Jia Sidao focused on details.
As a result, reinforcements at the front could not enter Xiangyang, and Jia Sidao in the rear could not even enter the courtyards of landlords. How could the state survive?"
Zhu Di scratched his head, feeling that he was speaking about military affairs, but his father was speaking about governance.
[Lightscreen]
[Previously, in the Three Kingdoms section, we emphasized the importance of Xiangyang. As the strategic choke point between north and south, once Xiangyang fell, the fate of Southern Song was sealed. Some people lived, but they were already dead. This was the state of Southern Song.
Looking back at Northern and Southern Song, it remains difficult to give an uncontested evaluation. However, one fact is certain: Song represented a peak in the development of feudal commerce in China.
Trade taxes can be traced back to the Xia Dynasty, but only during the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period did they become a major source of state revenue.
The Song Dynasty ended this period of chaos and absorbed the strengths of previous states. Many historians note that revenue from trade surpassed agricultural taxes during the Northern Song.
According to surviving records, in the final years of Emperor Taizong Zhao Guangyi's reign, agricultural taxes from rice, silk, cloth, cotton, tea, and miscellaneous goods totaled 23.81 million strings of cash. That same year, trade taxes from alcohol, tea, salt, copper, and silver totaled 11.67 million strings.
A hundred years later, during Emperor Shenzong Zhao Xu's Xining 10th year, agricultural taxes totaled 20.21 million strings. Trade taxes, including alcohol, shipping, market tariffs, and workshops, totaled 42.48 million strings.
Looking at Song alone does not provide a clear picture. We previously noted that during the Tianqi era, trade taxes rose sharply, but that was late Ming with a very simple taxation system. Comparing the two eras directly is not entirely fair. Here, we compare with the mid-early Ming period under Emperor Xuande.
During Xuande's reign, trade taxes were limited to six items: commerce, alcohol, tea, salt, silver, and iron, totaling 2.02 million strings. Alcohol taxes, for example, were 1.11 million strings under Taizong, 7.86 million under Shenzong, and only 50,000 under Xuande.
These figures are only official. Beyond the books, Song officials placed checkpoints everywhere, collecting trade taxes and abusing power, while Ming princes managed local taxation. Though the numbers are hard to compare directly, the difference remains remarkable.
Modern historian Guo Zhengzhong observed that the Song Dynasty's productivity did not fundamentally change. It remained primarily agrarian, but official intervention in commerce reached its peak, almost a form of feudal state-controlled economy.
After the Jingkang incident, the weakened Song economy collapsed further. Rising living costs and unchanged taxes turned a relatively healthy economy into a mechanism for exploitation.
Perhaps this is why Zhu Yuanzhang, upon founding Ming, saw these practices as a cause of Song's downfall. He abolished monopolies entirely and did not use them as a supplement to taxation. In this sense, his decision wasted centuries of Song economic experimentation, which was regrettable.]