"What if … I've seen it before?"
"… En?"
In front of them, a returning peddler brushed past them. Probably not expecting such an answer, Watermelon turned to look at Ning Yi, feeling slightly puzzled.
Ning Yi still walked forward slowly, holding her hand and looking at it. "Twenty years ago, on the day I married Tan 'er, someone took a stone and hit me on the head. I fainted, and when I woke up, I forgot everything. This matter, we talked about it a long time ago, right? "
"En." Watermelon said, "I remember it was someone called Xue Jin. When I first heard of it, I wanted to take you to seek revenge in the future."
"Forget it, Ning Liheng was a silly bookworm before he was beaten. After he was beaten, he finally became enlightened. Remember his good deeds."
Watermelon looked at him and smiled. "Tan 'er also said in private that it's really strange. Before marrying you, she went to see you twice, and only knew how to point things out. After marrying you, she found out that you have so many wicked ideas, and they're all hidden in your heart. This is called being coquettish …" Seeing Ning Yi roll his eyes at her, she said, "Well, let's talk about serious business. Where have we met?"
Ning Yi stopped rolling his eyes and smiled. "You may not believe it, but when I was knocked unconscious, I went on a mental journey and saw … the scene of another world. In a trance, it was as if I saw more than a hundred years of history … Don't pinch me, you may not believe it, but listen first. I'm a silly bookworm, and I suddenly became enlightened. Don't you think it's strange? There are so many stories of mental journeys. Zhuang Shengxiao dreamed of a butterfly, and I saw another possibility in this world. What's strange about that?"
Watermelon's expression was a little helpless, and he smiled unhappily. "Then continue, what about that world?"
"It's said that after a thousand years, we still haven't developed a systematic study of things here …"
"Then the people in these thousand years are all dead?"
"You can't say that. After our dynasty, the Confucian metaphysics system reached an absolute ruling position. They developed the spirit of 'the people can be' even more deeply. The monarch, the subject, the father, and the son, they created a set of rules for everyone's identity. When there were no external enemies, they were internally harmonious. When there were external enemies, they would assimilate the external enemies. Therefore, in the following thousand years, when the dynasties changed and the people separated and reunited, the Art of Gewei didn't even need to appear, and everyone could still make do with it. Then … the continent of Europa that I told you about, the continent that is currently in a very miserable state, decided to develop the study of things first … "
"… It's like the beginning of Takeshi's storytelling." Watermelon pursed his lips. "Why can't we make any progress in physics even after a thousand years?"
"Uh …" Ning Yi thought for a moment. "Let's say that our lives here are too good. Although the people are also bitter, half of the time, we can still support a large group of pampered meat-eaters. Without the pressure of survival, these meat-eaters prefer to study metaphysics and philosophy. They care more about right and wrong, and they are more particular about how to conduct themselves. But the situation in Europe is worse than ours, and people die at every turn, so they are relatively more pragmatic. They pick up a little bit of a pattern and make use of it. So we care more about the illusion of the whole, and they can focus more on the details … Not necessarily right, let's just say that for now. "
"Let's get down to business." Ning Yi spread out his hands. "Anyway, no matter what, they invented the study of things now. A thousand years later, the people in power in our land are foreign, the Manchurians, who brag to others that they are the descendants of the golden people of today … Don't laugh, it's such a coincidence … "
"Well, a thousand years later, the golden people finally have the world." Watermelon resisted the accusation of his uncreative behavior. "Go on."
"The Manchurians closed their country. Although there was no study of things, the art of Confucian rule was flourishing. They felt that they were the Celestial Empire, and their lives were quite good. But the Europeans came, with strong ships and cannons, with muskets. They came to rob, to do business, to force the Qing Dynasty to open their ports, to protect their interests. At first, everyone was curious about each other, and they didn't say they were going to fight. But slowly, as they did business, there was friction … "
"You can't write this book. If you write it, they will know what you are going to do next … How can you write yourself as a villain …"
Ning Yi rolled his eyes at her, and decided to ignore her interruption. "The Europeans' firearms were powerful, and the Manchurians also felt that they were the Celestial Empire. At that time, the ruler of the Qing Dynasty was an Empress Dowager called Cixi — it had nothing to do with Zhou Pei — who declared war on the whole world. Then, after this war, everyone finally realized that the Celestial Empire was already a fish on the chopping board. Tens of thousands of troops, hundreds of thousands of troops, couldn't even defeat an army of a few thousand.
"In the international community, if you fall behind, you will be beaten. Once you can't beat them, the good things in the country will be divided up by the enemy with all kinds of excuses. From that time on, the whole of China fell into a situation … where it was invaded by many countries, including Europe. Gold and silver were plundered, people were massacred, cultural relics were stolen, houses were burned, and this continued … for decades or even centuries …"
As Ning Yi spoke up to this point, his words had already slowed down. At first, Watermelon thought that her husband was joking, but hearing up to this point, she couldn't help but become engrossed. She frowned and said, "Nonsense … The Wu dynasty was also beaten by the Jin Kingdom like this. It's only been a decade or so, and it's already over. Even in the past, there weren't many situations where they were continuously beaten for hundreds of years. If you're different from others, can't you learn? Even if you were to build this gunpowder cannon from scratch, Liheng, you only spent a decade or so! "
Ning Yi smiled slightly and said, "The backwardness of the Manchurian Qing is, of course, the backwardness of the study of things, but this is only the surface. The deeper problem is the backwardness of the people and the culture at that time. From now on, Confucianism has developed for another thousand years, and it has formed an even stronger net internally, suppressing people's thinking. It hinders people's hands and feet in all aspects of life, work, and social interaction. To defeat the Europeans, you just have to develop the study of things better than them. But your thinking structure is not suitable for the study of things. Even if you do it, others will do it too. You will never be able to catch up to your enemy … Ah Gua, this is also the reason why I sold the things to all of them today. If they don't change their thinking, they will always be one step behind me … "
He took a breath and said, "Going back to the Manchurian Qing, they were beaten and couldn't catch up. The Manchurian Qing also knew that they had to change, but how much did they have to change? Ah Gua, a general trend in human society is that any inherent system will try to maintain its original appearance. Although it has to be adjusted after being beaten, people will always prefer to change enough. So in the beginning, the Emperor divided a department in the cabinet. Well, we will learn from the West, learn to study things, learn to make guns and cannons, and use this department to protect ourselves. This behavior is called the 'Westernization Movement.' "
Watermelon pinched his palm and said, "You even gave it such a disgusting name …"
"How is the 'Westernization Movement' disgusting … Forget it, the Westernization Movement was a department in the imperial court to carry out changes. They either learned to make guns and cannons, or they spent money to buy guns and cannons from others. They also used guns and cannons to train the so-called recruits. But then they found that it didn't work. There were problems with the soldiers, and there were problems with the officials. The country continued to be beaten up. They ceded land and paid reparations to the small European countries, and knelt on the ground for decades. Everyone found that, sigh, the Westernization Movement also didn't work. Then they needed to be more flexible, and the entire imperial court had to change … "
"At that time, the Manchurian Qing was already a country that had been around for almost 300 years. The system was bloated and corrupt. If the reform of one department didn't work, then they had to carry out a reform from top to bottom. Everyone felt that using the Confucian system to castrate people for the past 300 years wasn't enough. The people also needed to wake up and give the poor people more benefits and status. They needed to make the officials more friendly, and the system more clear. So the next step was a reform. "
"But no matter how badly they were beaten, the feudal country that had been around for 300 years couldn't go back. The people who had received benefits in the past were unwilling to give in, and the internal conflicts intensified. Those who called for and led the reform were finally defeated. Since they were defeated, they couldn't solve the problem. They were still kneeling outside and getting beaten. Then the reform didn't work, so they had to take a more intense path … Everyone began to learn to say that they wanted equality. They couldn't have the Manchurian Qing, the imperial court, or the Emperor … "
"Just like that, the internal strife began. Rebels began to appear, and warlords began to appear. Everyone wanted to overthrow the Emperor, to call for equality, to enlighten the people, to give them civil rights, to pay attention to the people's livelihood … Step by step, it became more and more intense. It had been decades since the first time they were beaten. They overthrew the Emperor, hoping that things would get better."
Watermelon took a deep breath. "In this book, you killed the Emperor. Things should be getting better soon, right …"
Ning Yi smiled. "Yes, it looks like … after the groundbreaking feat, the situation in society improved to a certain extent. Then, the powerful warlords wanted to become the Emperor again. After these warlords were overthrown, the next people gave up on this idea. The old warlords became the new warlords. The call for equality in society continued. People began to realize that the problem of people was the root of the problem, and the problem of culture was the root of the problem. So under those circumstances, many people proposed to completely abandon the old Confucian way of thinking and establish a new way of thinking that could match the study of things … "
"During the whole process, they were still constantly beaten. The new warlords couldn't solve the problem. The abandonment of the past culture wasn't thorough enough, so it couldn't solve the problem. A new structure was constantly brewing. Leaders with ideas slowly formed advanced parties. In order to resist foreign enemies, a large number of elites formed a government and an army. They did their best to abandon their former enmity and fight together. At this time, the Japanese on the other side of the sea had already become stronger through the constant wars and division. They even wanted to rule the whole of China … "
"Hey, Japanese shorty, your story …"
Watermelon made a sound. Then, Ning Yi reached out and knocked him on the head.
"… The government formed by the elites was still unable to change China's thousands of years of history. That's because a large part of their thinking was still old. When they become officials and have power, they are used to thinking for themselves. As the country gets weaker and the cake gets smaller and smaller, everyone inevitably wants to fish for themselves. Those with higher ranks get more, while those with lower ranks get less. At first, they might just want to live a better life than the people who starve to death. But slowly, they realize that everyone around them is doing the same thing. When their companions think that it's reasonable, everyone starts fighting to be the first to fish for themselves … "
"… The army's pay was divided. Half of the able-bodied men sent to the army would starve to death on the road. The enemy invaded from the outside. The bureaucrats hollowed out the resources from the inside. The people were living in poverty … At this time, the whole of China had been kneeling in front of the world for a hundred years. It was not enough. Time and time again, it was not enough. If it was not enough … then perhaps a more decisive and more thorough reform was needed!"
"… The Westernization Movement was progress for the Manchurian Qing. The reform was a step further than the Westernization Movement. The old warlords replaced the Emperor. It was a step further. The new warlords replaced the old warlords. It was a step further. The new warlords were replaced by the elites who had ideals and ambitions but were inevitably selfish. This was another step forward. But what was ahead of him? Ah Gua, you have ideals and ambitions. Chen Shanjun has ideals and ambitions, but how many of your subordinates can you find such people? Even the slightest bit of selfishness is worth forgiving. We just need to use strict military rules to restrain them … How do we go further? "
"At that time, perhaps at that time, it was said that this was no longer possible. Therefore, a system that truly advocates equality and serves the people has finally appeared. Those who join that system will truly give up part of their selfishness and will truly believe in selflessness — not the kind of belief that high-ranking officials make decisions for the people, but that they will truly believe that they are equal to everyone else in the world. When they become officials, the only difference is the division of labor. It's just like how some people want to dig dung, while others want to become officials … "
"Is there really such a thing?" Watermelon said.
"Of course it's not a hundred percent, but the degree of equality is unimaginable. Because after a hundred years of humiliation, failure, and seeing the entire country completely lose its dignity, most of them finally realized … that there is no way out if they don't do this. In fact, many of these people are elites. They could have entered the government composed of elites. They thought more for themselves, and everyone could understand. But they all saw that that level of effort can't save the world. "
"They constantly urged and transformed themselves. They will make the entire army and the entire government believe in serving the people from the bottom of their hearts. At that time, the most incorruptible army in the history of Huaxia for thousands of years, or even in the history of human society, was born there … It can also be said that they were forced to do so. "
There was longing and admiration in Ning Yi's words. Watermelon looked at him. She naturally didn't have a deep sense of immersion in the whole story, but for the man beside her, she could see that he was not in the mood to tell a story. This made her slightly puzzled, and she couldn't help but think a lot more.
"Then … what's next?"
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