The video takes us to ancient times; Li Er transforms into the Tongtian Emperor of Shu Han.

"This is something that you, my lord, simply cannot understand."

"If there is no money, no people, and no food, then there is indeed nothing we can do but obediently submit and do whatever the enemy says."

"But paying billions of taels in reparations and ceding millions of taels of land—can this really be called incapable of doing anything?"

"Your Excellency and Old Zhu share the same view: with so much money, how many soldiers and horses can't we have? What kind of weapon can't we buy?"

Money can make all the difference!

This principle applies everywhere!

Even before the Qing Dynasty, during the Han Dynasty, there were still people on the border who risked their lives to sell the best weapons and armor to the Xiongnu.

With billions of silver, what can't you buy?

Unless the Qing Dynasty was facing only one enemy at that time, and was in constant danger of being wiped out!

But if it really comes to that, who will sign any treaty with you? If we wipe you out, won't everything be mine?

Unless the situation reaches that point, with that much money, one could easily buy enough weapons through various channels.

At that time, will it still be necessary to sign a so-called treaty?

Instead of using money to arm themselves, they used it to please the enemy.

"Heh, do they think that once the enemy is satisfied, they won't attack him anymore?"

"Is the Manchu Qing trying to emulate the Song Dynasty? But they haven't quite figured it out."

"Most of the things that the Song Dynasty compensated were for enjoyment and corrupting people's hearts; the silver was only a small part of them."

"But if they pay out billions of taels of silver, wouldn't that just give the enemy the means to arm themselves, so that the enemy can beat them even harder next time, until the country is destroyed?"

Although both involve compensation, the difference between them is enormous!

The Song Dynasty could still shamelessly claim that it was compromising in order to wait for an opportunity to counterattack in the future.

After all, he did indeed ally with the Jin to destroy the Liao, and then ally with the Mongol Yuan to destroy the Jin.

This operation can be performed on the Qing Dynasty.

To say that you're someone's grandson is an insult to grandsons.

Why did the Manchu Qing dynasty suffer repeated defeats?

Is it because the entire court is full of fools?

That’s not entirely true.

After the country's borders were breached by artillery fire, some of them attempted to seek change.

They used the money to buy warships, cannons, and various weapons from more powerful countries.

For a short period of time, they managed to stand up, albeit with some difficulty.

Unfortunately, having only just gained some ability to protect themselves in the chaos of war, most people became complacent, no longer taking the surrounding enemies seriously, and instead diverting most of their military pay to other uses.

One of the most noteworthy things was the Empress Dowager of the Qing Dynasty.

Empress Dowager Cixi!

Surrounded by wolves and facing a turbulent time, she even had the leisure to divert military funds to celebrate her sixtieth birthday.

In a hasty summary, her grand birthday celebration cost approximately ten million taels of silver!

While it was difficult to raise enough money for the soldiers at the front lines and the cannons on the warships had to be of inferior quality, she herself did not miss out on any of her enjoyment.

So, after that sixtieth birthday celebration, with insufficient military funding and inadequate ammunition supplies, the ironclad warships that the Qing Dynasty had purchased at great expense were forced to face the enemy head-on.

In that decisive naval battle that determined the fate of both nations, they suffered a crushing defeat!

"A grand birthday celebration cost ten million taels of silver?!"

Zhu Youjian looked at his dragon robe, which was covered in patches, and then looked back at the empress in the wardrobe, where not even a single fine garment could be found.

Both are in positions of power, yet one spends tens of millions of taels of silver on a single birthday celebration, while the other haggles over a mere few coins every day.

He knew there were great differences between people, but why were there such huge differences between royal families?!

It's not hard to tell from the sky that the dynasty is already in its final years. Where did they get so much money?!

"No wonder this expense is singled out. Ten million taels of silver just for a birthday banquet. Does Empress Dowager Cixi think she's some kind of celestial being descended to earth? Otherwise, how could she have the audacity to spend so much money on such a grand birthday banquet for herself?"

Not only Zhu Youjian, but almost every emperor who saw these words on the sky couldn't help but click his tongue in amazement.

This number is simply too astonishing.

Not to mention it was misappropriated military funds!

Is it really just to celebrate a birthday and then ignore everything else?

"Ten million taels! This is more than the expenses for my campaign against the Xiongnu in a whole year."

Liu Che was also amazed.

"Yes, the expenses for the whole year..."

"and many more?"

"You spendthrift! What did you say? You can spend ten million taels of silver a year?"

"That's billions of dollars, are you kidding me?"

"When you mobilized hundreds of thousands of troops back then, the amount of silver and grain consumed was far less than this!"

Liu Bang was initially prepared to echo his descendants' sentiments, but after realizing what was happening, he was completely dumbfounded.

What the hell?

Spending billions of dollars a year, so you did nothing but fight wars all year?

At the same time, Liu Heng slowly typed out a question mark.

"?"

"Liu Qi, what exactly did your son do? Does my Han Dynasty have that much money to squander like this?"

Both Liu Bang and Liu Heng would have wholeheartedly supported the idea of ​​fighting the Xiongnu.

Liu Bang, in particular, still vividly remembered the siege of Baideng, and naturally harbored resentment towards the Xiongnu who had brought him such humiliation.

Despite the resentment, as the immortal mentioned in his previous review, Emperor Wu of Han's Northern Expeditions were a waste of money and resources. But who could have imagined that they would be so expensive!

"Grandpa Emperor, please don't ask my father anymore. Neither of you left our Han Dynasty that much money. The military expenses for the campaign against the Xiongnu were all earned by myself!"

"As for Emperor Taizu, you were fighting in a chaotic world back then, which is incomparable to my situation now. Most of your hundreds of thousands of troops were from various warlords, and their food, clothing, and shelter were all taken care of by these warlords. Moreover, you had Prime Minister Xiao to help you coordinate everything, so it didn't cost much money."

"But I'm different. When troops are moved around, money flows out like water. Whether it's food, pay, or rewards, you can't be stingy with it."

"After all, the Xiongnu were so rampant, wantonly invading the borders of our Han Dynasty and slaughtering our people. We can't just leave this money unpaid, like the Manchus did, and use it as reparations, can we?"

Liu Che realized he had let something slip.

But that doesn't matter. If it were before, he might have been a little flustered.

However, with billions of taels of silver in reparations owed by the Qing Dynasty, panic ensued?

joke!

Who will question him? Who will blame him for it?

What, are you not going to spend this money as military expenses? Are you going to be like the Qing Dynasty, kneeling down and acting like a dog, treating the money as reparations?

"You spend so much in a year, and you've been fighting for so many years..."

"Emperor Gaozu, stop calculating. According to incomplete statistics, Emperor Wu's military expenditure was around 200 billion."