"Your Majesty, Li Shimin was a master of military strategy. He raised an army at the age of eighteen to overthrow the previous dynasty, and then quickly defeated all the warlords in the land. With his own strength, he swept everything away in just a few years, helping his father Li Yuan establish the Tang Dynasty..."
"But then a problem arose. The Tang Dynasty inherited the legal system of the previous dynasty, which also followed the primogeniture system. Li Shimin was not the eldest son of the legitimate wife; he was, in fact, the eldest son of the legitimate wife, while his elder brother, Li Jiancheng, was. Therefore, Li Yuan, as the emperor of the Tang Dynasty, in order to appease Li Shimin, bestowed upon him the title of 'General of Heavenly Strategy' and granted him the power to form his own army..."
"...After the Xuanwu Gate Incident, he became the emperor of the Tang Dynasty, and his situation was exactly the same as Your Majesty's at this time. To the north, there were attacks from the Turks, while Your Majesty was being attacked by the Xiongnu..."
Li Lin recounted all the deeds and merits of Li Shimin that he knew.
Of course, he didn't mention that Li Shimin had taken his elder brother, sister-in-law, and younger brother's sister into the harem.
It's just that he's now old, just like the First Emperor.
In addition, he deliberately emphasized the fact that the Tang Dynasty had firearms.
The First Emperor was initially listening attentively, but as he listened, he began to find it uninteresting. He felt that Li Shimin's battles were as easy as if he had cheated, with a few hundred men defeating Wang Shichong's tens of thousands of soldiers.
In his view, it was simply unbelievable.
After all, his Qin Dynasty always used superior numbers to overwhelm the weak. It would only wage a war of annihilation if it had an absolute advantage. Otherwise, it would plan carefully before acting and gradually erode the enemy's territory.
But upon hearing about firearms...
His eyes lit up immediately.
"I find the claims about Li Shimin's achievements somewhat absurd. If his military exploits were truly so extraordinary, why didn't he conquer the Mediterranean and destroy Rome? With his abilities, destroying Rome should have been a piece of cake, right?"
This was a question suddenly raised by the First Emperor.
Li Lin didn't know how to answer.
However, when Li Shimin attacked Goguryeo, he was not as swift as he had been when he attacked other countries in previous years. Instead, he only managed to defeat Goguryeo's fighting force, causing devastating damage to Goguryeo.
As for the war that destroyed the country, it seems that it was his son Li Zhi who destroyed it.
Of course, this is also related to the geographical environment of Goguryeo, but it at least shows that Li Shimin was not absolutely irresistible, at least if it was a monarch like the First Emperor who was good at commanding and employing people who was facing him.
The odds of winning for either of them are probably neck and neck.
However, they are not very comparable. Although the First Emperor was a remarkable monarch, he did not understand military strategy very well. His skill lay in his ability to employ people.
Those who know how to use people are often the ultimate winners.
However, Li Shimin's ability to select and appoint people was not as high as that of the First Emperor.
Moreover, his personal conduct is questionable, which could easily be used against him by others.
"Your Majesty, it's easier said than done. The Roman Empire was also very powerful."
"Hahaha, I know the Roman Empire is very strong. By the way, you said that gunpowder, once put into a firearm, can release power comparable to thunder, right?"
"Yes!"
"You said before that you weren't confident you could manufacture gunpowder. Now that I'm giving you people and everything you need, how confident are you?"
"One-tenth!"
"Ten percent? That's a bit low, but a ten percent chance is enough. I don't expect you to be able to manufacture such a powerful item as gunpowder so quickly. After all, the strength of the Qin Dynasty has not yet recovered, and everything takes time!"
After the First Emperor finished speaking, a hint of melancholy flickered in his eyes.
No one needs time more than him.
He is the monarch who needs time the most.
He still had many things to do, so he didn't want to die.
He knew that most of the myths Li Lin had just told were false, because he already knew what Li Lin was going to say and his purpose.
However, in order to obtain the Four Great Inventions, he did not deliberately expose him, but instead played along with him.
If he had truly believed everything he heard from others, he would have been tricked by Lao Ai into going to the Imperial Ancestral Temple to be crowned, and then nothing would have happened.
Fortunately, he had been thinking too much and hadn't heard Li Lin's other thoughts about the future.
Otherwise, Li Lin would face the risk of being beheaded or being regarded as a heretic today.
"Furthermore, I hope you can develop papermaking and the compass as soon as possible. I want to enlighten the people and make all my Qin citizens incredibly intelligent. That way, after I unify the world, I can distribute tens or hundreds of thousands of Qin people across the land, allowing them to control every territory in the world. In this way, the entire world will be firmly under my control."
Ying Zheng suddenly had a brilliant idea and immediately shared it with others.
Li Lin's eyes widened.
be terribly upset.
[This...isn't this the method used by the Great Beauty (the Qin Dynasty) to station troops overseas? Wait...it seems that the First Emperor's method of sending Zhao Tuo to Lingnan was to let the Qin people control the locals and then assimilate them into the Qin people...The First Emperor already had this kind of simple idea two thousand years before the West? My God, as expected of the First Emperor of all time, no wonder his vision was so far ahead...]
He was unaware that his inner boasting about the First Emperor would be fully heard and accepted by the First Emperor.
What's wrong with this brat?
Could it be that he discovered that I could hear his thoughts?
How could you praise me so falsely?
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