Episode 164: Strong and tough

"I escaped from the north and were at the core of the Southern Ming Dynasty," Xiang Xiaoqiang nodded and smiled, "Yes, I am the only one. So what? What does the Emperor want to prove?"

Guangwu stared into his eyes and continued to smile:

"I'm not trying to prove something. But I have been thinking about some problems in the past decade. After taking office recently, I have thought about these problems more diligently... Some have figured it out, while others have not figured it out. I think that now, General Xiang has such an identity on both sides of the Yangtze River, on the north and south, on the north and south. In addition, after thinking about it, the Ming and Qing Dynasties, who dares to discuss these issues with me freely is General Xiang. One person has these two rare conditions at the same time. If you say that if I don't invite you General Xiang, who else can you come?"

Xiang Xiaoqiang also stared in his eyes, thinking about his words in his mind, guessing what issues he wanted to talk about, while hesitating and nodding slowly.

Emperor Guangwu smiled and said:

"General Xiang doesn't have to worry about anything. The reason why I chose to have dinner with the general here is because it is transparent on all sides. Apart from the lake waters on all sides, it is impossible to hide an ear and hear the conversation. Look, there is only this table, three chairs, and there is not even a piece of extra furniture in this water pavilion. General Xiang doesn't have to worry about what tape recorder I hide."

This time it was Xiang Xiaoqiang's turn to laugh. After laughing, he shook his head and said:

"Your Majesty the Emperor doesn't need to think so much. Whether you have a recorder or not, you have to look at the topic. If there is a topic, even if there is a recorder, I should just talk about it. But even if there is a recorder, I can't tell you about it. After all, we are not on the same side. Your Majesty the Emperor... I will not offend you if I say this, right?"

When Xiang Xiaoqiang said "record", he gently touched Zheng Yuchang's feet, put his hand on the table, and pointed at the bottom of the table. Zheng Yuchang immediately understood.

Emperor Guangwu was stunned, a little surprised, and then smiled:

"Of course not. You are right. We are not on the side. But because we are not on the side, we can talk so calmly. The ministers and generals below me are on the side, but they dare not discuss issues with me except "天天天天天天天天天天天天天天天天天天天天天天天天天天天天天天天天天天天天天天天天天天天天天天天天天天天天天天天天天天天天天天天天天天天天天天天天天天天天天天天天天天天天天天天天天天天天天天天天天天天天天天天天天天天天天天天天天...I believe that General Xiang will not speak very comfortably in front of Zhu Yourong, right?"

Xiang Xiaoqiang narrowed his eyes and smiled, and heard that this was a trick by Guangwu. He was testing his relationship with Zhu Yourong. If he couldn't control his vanity, he would probably reveal the real situation. This not only concerns Zhu Yourong's reputation, but also an important strategic political intelligence.

"oops!"

One of Zheng Yuchang's chopsticks fell to the ground. Before Emperor Guangwu could react, Zheng Yuchang had already quickly gotten under the table and picked up the chopsticks.

"Oh, it's dirty..." she smiled, "His Majesty the Emperor, please let me change a pair of them."

Guangwu didn't see the clues, so he patted his palm twice and asked someone to take another pair of chopsticks.

During this period, Zheng Yucong's toes lit up Xiaoqiang's feet twice, and gave him a look of comfort.

Xiang Xiaoqiang understood that there was no recorder under the desktop.

"Haha, Your Majesty," Xiang Xiaoqiang was completely relieved and said with a smile, "It's rare that His Majesty the Emperor is so generous, I can say everything. Alas... I'm more of the new position of Her Majesty, and this is true, and everyone can see it. But... Alas, it's a relationship between the monarch and the ministers. It's never easy for a minister to speak in front of the monarch as if he was talking to his colleagues... His Majesty the Emperor really said in one sentence: You are the emperor, but not my emperor. I am a minister, but not your minister. It seems that only when we sit together like this can we speak freely without any scruples! Hahaha..."

At this time, the hot dishes came. Emperor Guangwu seemed very satisfied when he heard what he said. He smiled and invited them to eat the dishes, and then poured them wine.

"Since General Xiang is so honest," Guangwu said with a smile, "then I would like to ask General Xiang: If—ahem, just if…if General Xiang chooses again, would General Xiang be more willing to be an official in the Qing Dynasty, or would he still be an official in the Southern Ming Dynasty?"

Xiang Xiaoqiang was a little surprised, but he didn't expect that he asked such a question.

"if?"

"Yes, if," Guangwu looked at Zheng Yuchang and smiled, "Don't worry, princess, I just asked, there was no intention to instigate you to General."

Xiang Xiaoqiang smiled:

"I have never been an official in the Qing Dynasty, but I think it is a hundred times more affordable to be an official in the Northern Qing Dynasty than in the Ming Dynasty. For example, the local officials in a county in the Qing Dynasty have more money than the chief minister of our Ming Dynasty. I know this... Obviously, if I had let me choose freely, I would definitely be willing to be an official in the Qing Dynasty. But the problem is, I am afraid I don't have the ability."

Guangwu smiled and said:

"How can I see it?"

Xiang Xiaoqiang smiled:

"In the Qing Dynasty, 'promotion and wealth' were one word. But in the Ming Dynasty, 'promotion' and 'promotion' were two words. For us, we could not make money by being an official. Although we had a generous and decent salary, we could not make money. Only by doing business and doing business can we make money. Therefore, in the Ming Dynasty, the most capable people were concentrated in the business world, and only those who were incompetent like me would become officials.

"In the Qing Dynasty, you can't make money by doing business and doing business, and the money you earn is not enough to buy peace from the government. If you want to make money, you can only become an official. Therefore, the most capable people in the Qing Dynasty were concentrated in the officialdom. The more the benefits there were, the more fierce the competition was. This is common sense. The Qing Dynasty official was the most prosperous official in the world, so it also concentrated the talented people of the Qing Dynasty. Like Xiang Xiaoqiang, who can only play clever and make a living, it would be strange if they were not trampled into scumbags in the Qing Dynasty officialdom, hahaha..."

Emperor Guangwu was stunned, laughed for a while, and said:

"The general wants to say, why is the Southern Ming richer than my Qing Dynasty? Haha... The general's high theory is quite fresh, and it is the first time I heard it today. However... General Xiang, "rich" and "strong" are two different things. "rich" are often connected with "weakness". In ancient times, the Yuan Dynasty destroyed the Song Dynasty, the Qing Dynasty defeated the Ming Dynasty... and today's Germany, Italy, the Soviet Union, and the wealthy Britain and France were cowardly in front of them. General Xiang, what do you think?"

Xiang Xiaoqiang smiled:

"Your Majesty, what you mean is not 'strong', but 'hard'. 'hard' does not necessarily mean 'strong'. Of course, countries like Germany, Italy, and the Soviet Union are very tough. It is not that they have the strength to be tough, but that their rulers need to be tough. It is not that they are really tough. People like Hitler who are self-inflated, must be more often when they are really tough. And those who are more rational like Mussolini or Stalin will also be tough from time to time when they need it. However... they are mostly tough for their own people to see.

"There is no way, Hitler, Mussolini, Stalin and others know that their rule in the country seems as solid as steel, but they are actually very fragile. Manually establishing a few enemies, and then half-true and half-false toughen the "enemy" can create a feeling of "strong enemies around" in the country, which will help to bring the dissatisfaction of the people from themselves to the outside, and will also help to tie the hearts of the people in the country with themselves, and then the chair under your butt can continue to be stable... Ah, Your Majesty, do you think so? Hahaha..."

Zheng Yucong was frightened and kicked Xiang Xiaoqiang under the table, reminding him that we are still in their hands, so don’t be so ungrateful.
Chapter completed!