Volume 1, Chapter 61: The Humiliation of Later Generations, Where Is Our Great Ming?

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"In order to better consolidate their rule, those Manchu Tartars implemented an isolationist policy and various policies to keep the people ignorant, causing our nation to lag far behind the development of Western countries."
"In the end, a group of Western powers led by Britain used cannons to shatter our closed borders, thereby initiating our country's century-long history of humiliation..."
Zhu Biao exclaimed, "What? It's actually Britain!"
Upon seeing Zhu Biao's reaction, the elder Zhu asked with some puzzlement,
"Biao'er, what is it? Could it be that you know of this Britain?"
"That's right, Father! Brother Jiang has mentioned it to me before!"
Zhu Biao nodded. He had an impression of the country called Britain, remembering that Jiang Lin had once told him it seemed to be located in a place called Europe.
"The country of Britain is situated on the European continent, located in the western part of the earth!"
"The corn, potatoes, and tomatoes we've been eating recently were introduced to our Great Ming by European missionaries!"
"Really?" Zhu Yuanzhang was half-skeptical, turning his head to look at Jiang Lin for confirmation.
Jiang Lin nodded and then began to popularize geographical knowledge for the elder Zhu.
As a result... the elder Zhu and Zhu Biao truly lived up to being biological father and son.
Their reactions were completely identical, cut from the exact same cloth.
After listening for just a little while, he felt a headache coming on and rubbed his temples.
"Forget it, forget it, Jiang Lin, you don't need to lecture on these things anymore. My head hurts too."
Elder Zhu: Wait! Why did I say "too"?
Seeing this, Jiang Lin had no choice but to stop the popular science lesson and return to the previous topic.
"All in all, because of the isolationist policy of the Manchu Tartars, my China fell behind the Western powers by centuries, and in the end, our gates were blasted open by the formidable ships and powerful guns of the imperialist powers."
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"Subsequently, the Manchu Tartars signed a series of humiliating and treasonous treaties with the Western powers, not only having to pay them massive military reparations, but also ceding national territory on a silver platter!"
"Among them, the allied forces of Britain and France even launched an attack that burned the Old Summer Palace, ultimately reducing this world-renowned garden to ruins and looting 1.5 million cultural relics!"
"From the ritual bronzes of the pre-Qin period down to the famous paintings, calligraphy, and various rare treasures of the Tang, Song, Yuan, Ming, and Qing dynasties."
"The Qing court was completely reduced to a court of the foreign devils, groveling and kowtowing to the foreign lords, even shamelessly proclaiming: 'To exhaust the nation's material resources, to bestow favor on friendly nations.'"
Bang! !
A loud slamming sound suddenly rang out. The elder Zhu flew into a rage, slamming his fist onto the table, his eyes wide with fury as he roared:
"What did you just say? These... these Manchu Tartars actually did such a thing?"
Apart from the elder Zhu, everyone else present felt extreme anger.
How could such a shameless entity exist!
Not only paying massive military indemnities? Ceding national territory away? National treasures looted as well...
They had originally thought that the humiliation of Jingkang caused by the Song Dynasty was disgraceful enough, but they never expected that later generations would experience something even more humiliating.
The elder Zhu's face was dark as ink right now, the fury in his heart burning to the absolute extreme.
He had spent half his life driving the Mongol Tartars out of the Central Plains, only to find out that the nation's territory was eventually carved up by a bunch of Western powers.
The Manchu Tartars were utterly heinous and beyond redemption!
No!
Wait!
Why were the ones handling all these matters the Manchu Tartars?
What kind of creature was this Manchu Tartar?
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And furthermore, according to reason, shouldn't these matters be handled and resolved by the imperial court of Great Ming? What did they have to do with those Manchu Tartars?
Could it be...
At this moment, Zhu Yuanzhang suddenly realized something was amiss.
He turned his head to look at Jiang Lin, his gaze filled with a trace of confusion, and asked aloud,
"Jiang Lin, tell me, where is my Great Ming?"
Elder Zhu's abrupt question left Jiang Lin breaking out in a cold sweat.
I'm done for!
He had worked so hard just now to deliberately avoid the topic of Great Ming's demise, focusing more of his energy on denouncing the Qing Dynasty, yet he still failed to keep it from giving away flaws to the elder Zhu.
Sigh... Jiang Lin truly did not want the elder Zhu to know about this matter.
If he were to find out about the destruction of the Ming Dynasty, he would definitely blow his top!
There was no other way!
What's bound to come will come!
Jiang Lin could only brace himself and answer the elder Zhu's question.
"Manchu Tartars is a derogatory term used by our Han Chinese people for the rulers of the Qing Dynasty."
"As for Great Ming... Your Majesty, you see, is there any possibility that Great Ming no longer exists, having been replaced by the dynasty established by the Manchu Tartars?"
...
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