In the 289th year of the Tang Dynasty, textbooks wrote about "the atmosphere of the prosperous age" and "the coming of all nations to the dynasty".
That's a lie.
The real Tang Dynasty is like this: Li Shimin killed his brother and forced his father to seize the throne, but became the first emperor of the ages; Wu Zetian fought his way back to the palace from the nunnery, stepping on people's heads and climbed onto the dragon's throne; An Lushan, a fat man weighing 300 pounds, almost broke the empire; Huang Chao was so angry that he failed to pass the imperial examination that he burned down the Daming Palace.
Here are the most powerful emperors and the most useless emperors in Chinese history; there are the greatest poets and the most ridiculous powerful officials; there is the pride of opening up new territories and the despair of surviving.
This book does not talk about the "profound historical significance" or the "limitations of the feudal system." Just talk about one thing: those who have lived, how they lived, how they died, how they won, and how they lost.
Read history like a novel.
