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Xu Da glanced at him, picked up the wine bowl and took a slow sip, but did not answer immediately.

He put down the bowl, dipped his fingers in the wine, and wrote a word on the table.

"How did the Yuan Dynasty fall?" Xu Da asked.

"The people are in dire straits, and the officials are forcing the people to rebel," Cheng Hechuan said.

"That's just the appearance." Xu Da shook his head, "At the end of the Yuan Dynasty, the world was in chaos, but did no one in the court really see the problem?"

Cheng Hechuan was stunned.

"Someone saw it," Xu Da's voice deepened, "Tuotuo saw it, Taiping saw it, Zhang Zhen saw it. They all wrote to the emperor and told the truth."

"Then what?"

"Tuotuo was framed to death, Taiping was poisoned, and Zhang Zhen was demoted to Lingnan and died on the road."

Xu Da tapped the word "admonition" on the table with his finger.

"The Yuan Dynasty died not because of chaos in the world, but because no one dared to tell the truth. Those who told the truth were all dead, and the rest were all sycophants. The emperor was kept in the dark, and when he woke up, the world was no longer his."

Cheng Hechuan was shocked.

"His Majesty asked you to edit the History of the Yuan Dynasty," Xu Da lowered his voice, "I want you to write these things clearly. Write about how the Yuan Dynasty killed all those who told the truth one by one. Write about how the court collapsed after killing all these people."

"What your Majesty wants is not a history of the Yuan Dynasty, but a mirror. A mirror that can be shown to everyone in the court today."

"Tell them, look at how the Yuan Dynasty fell. I, the Ming Dynasty, can no longer follow this path."

Cheng Hechuan sat there with cold sweat breaking out on his back.

He originally thought that Zhu Yuanzhang asked him to edit "History of the Yuan Dynasty" for political propaganda and to gain legitimacy for his purge.But now he understands that things are more complicated than he thought.

Zhu Yuanzhang was really afraid.

He was afraid that he would become the second Emperor Yuan Shun, that no one around him would tell the truth anymore, that he would fight to the end and the court would be empty with no one available.

So he asked Cheng Hechuan to compile "History of the Yuan Dynasty" and write down clearly the real reason for the demise of the Yuan Dynasty. It was not because of the chaos in the world, but because all those who told the truth were killed.

This was a warning to himself, and also to the civil and military officials of the court.

"Wei Guogong," Cheng Hechuan stood up and bowed deeply, "What I said today will benefit Hechuan for life."

Xu Da waved his hand and looked at him, with something in his eyes that Cheng Hechuan couldn't understand.

It seemed like relief, but also like worry.

"You are a smart man," Xu Da said, "but in the Ming Dynasty, smart people died faster than stupid people. Because you think you are smart, you think you can predict His Majesty's thoughts. Are you accurate?"

Cheng Hechuan was silent for a moment: "I'm not sure."

"It's okay if you can't calculate accurately," Xu Da picked up the wine bowl, "If His Majesty can be accurately calculated by a twenty-five-year-old boy like you, he won't be Zhu Yuanzhang."

"So what you have to do is not to predict His Majesty's wishes, but to make His Majesty feel that you are worth keeping."

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