Chinese History 5 (Author: Shunshin Chin) [Your Majesty, the book review has returned. 'Ugh, I am sleepy, Your Majesty!' Oh, Your Majesty!]
The volume before Chinese History 6, which I did a long time ago.
Since that one started from the second generation of the Ming Dynasty,
this one ends with the first tyrant of the Ming Dynasty, the Hongwu Emperor.
And it begins from the point where the Northern Song Dynasty and the Khitan, known as the Liao Dynasty, start to fight.
This era is a turbulent one.
Though by turbulent, I don't mean a battle royale of warring states,
but rather two massive empires grinding against each other,
like the US and the USSR during the Cold War,
No, I'll just say it out loud,
to be honest, this is the era that served as the source material for Legend of the Galactic Heroes!
Yes, two empires repeating eternal conflicts.
First, the Northern Song and the Liao. It starts with these two empires glaring at each other.
The Northern Song was a state that reduced the power of its military to make it harder to start wars.
This was because the previous Tang Dynasty had been troubled by military rebellions,
but in conclusion, they were weak against foreign enemies. They were so weak that they would lose almost every time they fought.
However, their economic power was absurdly high.
The opponent was the opposite.
And halfway through, the Tangut people's Western Xia jumps in to participate.
A third force.
The reason a third force can survive is because the two major camps are busy confronting each other.
In the midst of this, the era shifts dramatically.
The new force, the Jurchen Jin, suddenly appears,
destroys the Liao, and destroys the Northern Song as well.
Wh-whoa, the situation has changed way too much!
However, the Northern Song survives in the southern half as the Southern Song.
Without being completely destroyed, they survived right on the edge of the ring!
The next era is one where the Southern Song and the Jin continue to fight.
Furthermore, the era shifts again.
The Mongols appear from the north,
and they go on to destroy all the nations that have appeared up to this point.
Ah, the end of the century!
But that Mongol (Yuan) empire also falls quickly,
and after a short warring states period,
one of the worst tyrants in Chinese history, the Hongwu Emperor, appears.
↑ He has a gentle-looking face, but it is the smile of Stalin.
Well, the Hongwu Emperor is a figure of rags-to-riches who rose from a beggar to an emperor,
but he suffered so much that his mind was broken, and his actions are brutal.
This book was a rough explanation of these 400-plus years of people pushing and shoving each other.
Of course, there are plenty of other books on Chinese history,
so there is no particular need to read this old book.
Even so,
I don't understand why actual history has such 'Jump' manga-like developments.
Maybe God is a reader of Jump.
↑ The one I did last time.
History is basically just nations pushing and shoving each other,
but that's what's good about it.
Personally, for countries that last a long time like the Roman Empire,
I feel, how should I put it, a sense of dissatisfaction.
#BookReview #WorldHistory #History #ChineseHistory #NorthernSong #SouthernSong
#Khitan #Liao #Jurchen #Jin #Mongol #Ming #HongwuEmperor
#TwoForcesFighting #TwoMajorCamps #ThirdForce
↑ A story about the era when the Mongols destroyed everything.