What did it mean to become an emperor?
As she sat in the carriage, listening to the cheers and music and gazing at the surging crowd of the capital, Xiao Ruxun's thoughts began to drift.
The supreme ruler of the world?
A loner?
More than 1,800 years ago, when the first emperor of China, Qin Shihuang, ascended to the throne, what was he thinking?
What was Liu Bang thinking when he ascended to the throne as a commoner and achieved the great feat of creating the world for the first time?
When Li Shimin imprisoned his father, killed his brother, and ascended to the throne, what was he thinking?
When Zhao Kuangyin seized the throne and established the Song Dynasty, what was he thinking?
When Zhu Yuanzhang, a beggar, achieved the miraculous feat of becoming an emperor, what was he thinking?
The situation in China had been changing for countless years, and countless people had stood in the supreme position, commanding the wind and clouds. They were the heroes of their time, and they were the leaders of the world. But in the end, what did they get, and what did they bring?
The foundation they had built, the achievements they had made, and the influence they had brought gradually disappeared without a trace with their deaths.
Chaos came and went, and chaos came and went. What was united for a long time must be divided, and what was divided for a long time must be united. This law, like a curse, shrouded the land of China.
When the people prosper, the people suffer. When the people die, the people suffer.
These eight words described the rise and fall of the people throughout the ages. There was no sentence that could better reflect the essence of all this than these eight words.
Xiao Ruxun also wanted to know if there was a way to truly make the people happy, and if there was a way to truly realize the ideal of the Great Harmony of the ancient philosophers. Whether it was capitalism, socialism, or communism, was there such a way?
This doctrine, that doctrine, left doctrine, right doctrine, you doctrine, and I doctrine. Which doctrine could lead to peace and happiness?
What should be done to truly end this cycle of helplessness and sorrow?
Or was there no solution at all, until everything came to an end?
Why did people establish a dynasty and become an emperor?
Was it just to grasp power, vent their desires, and enjoy the supreme glory?
Xiao Ruxun was a little confused as she looked at the faces of the people who were looking at her with reverence as if they were on a pilgrimage.
He had thought that this moment would be the most glorious and glorious moment of his life. He would be extremely excited and complacent. He would even look at everything he had achieved with his head held high. But now, he suddenly realized that there was no excitement in his heart, only confusion.
If he could stop thinking so much and just be a true ancient emperor, just do what ancient emperors would do, become a true emperor, powerful, despotic, decisive, cold-blooded, and wise.
Perhaps he wouldn't be so confused.
Everything would go according to plan, and nothing would be changed. He would just do what all emperors did. He would wait until a few hundred years later when the dynasty he created was overthrown by the rising class of revolutionaries. He would then let them build a new republic on the ruins of their dynasty and move towards modern times.
If that was the case, perhaps he would not be at a loss. If everything was predestined, then even if he changed this part of history, even if he allowed himself to end the Great Ming Dynasty early, even if he allowed himself to create a new foundation, if he did not make any substantial changes, then the final outcome would still be the same.
The rise and fall of a country, and no matter how powerful a country was, it would still be destroyed.
Based on this pattern, perhaps in seven or eight generations, or 90 generations, or even 12 or 13 generations, the Daqin Dynasty he built would also fall apart, walking on the path of destruction due to various internal and external conflicts. On the ruins of the Daqin Dynasty, the dawn of the republic would first appear.
And if that happened, in essence, how big of a difference would there be from the Manchurian Qing entering the Central Plains?
Did he deliberately plan to overthrow the Daming Dynasty and build his own country just to satisfy the addiction of being an emperor?
Would I care about the flood after I die?
If that was the case, what was the point of building the Daqin Dynasty?
If he couldn't bring about substantial changes, if he couldn't do something completely different, if he couldn't let all the light shine on the land of China, what was the point of everything he was doing now?
It was just a normal change of dynasty.
How would the future generations evaluate him?
He could change the history books, he could do everything in his power to change the history books, but what had already happened could not be changed. There would definitely be people who would learn of it and pass it on. He had already become the protagonist of an era in history. No matter what, the things he had done could not be erased.
The first Qin had died in the second, and Xiao Ruxun didn't want the Qin he had established to follow the same path.
He also didn't want this Qin to be unable to bring any changes to the Confucian China.
The word 'Qin' itself represented change, and while Xiao Ruxun pursued change, he also pursued the greatest authority in the world.
Whether it was for the sake of power or for the sake of change and breakthroughs, the two had long since fused together in Xiao Ruxun, making it impossible to distinguish between right and wrong.
Xiao Ruxun didn't allow himself to become a traditional emperor.
He would rather choose to become an extremely controversial emperor.
Whether it was praise or rebuke, he wanted to be this kind of emperor.
Even if this road was winding and full of bumps and hollows, with no end in sight.
That didn't matter.
He had long ago pushed himself to the brink of death.
Moreover, he would do even more similar things.
Today was just the beginning.
The vast crowd, confused and worried, surrounded the emperor who would soon rule over them. They were no strangers to this emperor, because just a year ago, he had been a peerless war general whose name had Daming the world. And now, a year later, he had become their emperor.
The emperor.
What would he bring to them?
Would it be peace and hope, or would it be war and destruction?
Would an emperor who had been born as a war general drag them back into the quagmire of war?
They had no choice, and they didn't even know how to choose. Or perhaps it was better to say that they didn't even have the awareness to choose.
They had no knowledge, no culture, no thought, no awareness.
They were the most obedient people, but at the same time, they were also the most violent rebels.
They hadn't rebelled many times, but each time they did, it was a world-shaking revolution, enough to make their rulers tremble.
And how should they treat them?
After opening them to wisdom and thought, would they overthrow their own dynasty?
Would they shout for freedom, democracy, and constitutional rule of law to overthrow their own dynasty of Daqin?
Xiao Ruxun didn't know, but Xiao Ruxun was very clear that if the whole country shouted slogans to overthrow the dynasty of Daqin, then whether it was Daqin or Daming, it was already time to perish. There was no way to stop it.
And that was probably what he couldn't see.
Opening up wisdom through universal education was not only to increase the strength of the country, but also to give the choice of the future to history and the general public.
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