"Father, I want to go to military school," Vézé's eldest son, Wei Rui, said seriously to Vézé. He was in his third year of high school this year and was about to take the national entrance exam. After dinner, Wei Rui told his father Vézé about the school he wanted to apply to.
"You're preparing to join the army?" Vézé didn't agree, but he didn't object either. He asked his son for his opinion.
"My mother wants me to go to military school," Wei Rui said hesitantly.
Vézé shook his head and said in a tone of helplessness that only a father could say, "Don't listen to your mother. She's your mother. There are some things she thinks too well, but the reality isn't like that. If you graduate from military school, you'll have to work at the grassroots level. With the current situation, war is inevitable. If you go to the navy, you'll have to go on a warship. If a warship is sunk by an enemy warship, everyone will be finished. If you go to the army, you'll have to crawl into trenches and resist rifles. The enemy's shells will rain down on you, and you'll be a platoon commander. When the company commander blows the signal to charge, you'll have to hold your gun and charge forward. If you don't, you'll be executed immediately and executed on the spot … "
Fifteen or sixteen-year-old children were at the age where they feared nothing. Hearing his father's horrifying description, Wei Rui wasn't afraid. He puffed out his chest and said loudly, "Father, I know all of this. But you and Brother Changrong have been on the battlefield for so many years, haven't you? "
Vézé was amused by his father's words. "Wei Rui, that's different. War is completely different from when we were young, and your Brother Changrong and I also climbed out of a pile of corpses. When we were your age, we'd already taken many lives. That's really not the same thing. "
Wei Rui was clearly unhappy to be denied by his father like this. He straightened his neck and said in the angry manner of a teenager, "Father, I can't beat you now, but that doesn't mean I won't be able to beat you in the future. Don't underestimate me. "
For a moment, Vézé didn't know how to explain many things to his eldest son. Wei Rui's mother, Qi Hongyi, hoped that Wei Rui could surpass Vézé. She didn't want Wei Rui to carve out a path through a mountain of corpses and a sea of blood like Vézé. Instead, she wanted Wei Rui to walk the same path as Vézé: join the army, get promoted, enter politics, and finally become Emperor. This ultimate goal was precisely what Vézé opposed.
Of course, if Wei Rui really did display extraordinary abilities and eventually gained recognition, he could rely on his own abilities to obtain the supreme position of power. Vézé did not insist on stopping his son. What Vézé didn't agree with was the idea of ascending to the highest position of power through a traceable path. History had proven one thing: there was no such thing as a future path that humans could decide.
Back then, Vézé also wanted to seize the supreme power of the Taiping Rebellion. Now that Vézé had achieved a far higher position of power than back then, Vézé couldn't predict the process at all. Vézé was determined to destroy Manchu Qing. Now that Manchu Qing was destroyed by Vézé, the process was completely different from Vézé's original imagination. Vézé also wanted to defeat or even destroy the United Kingdom, but the process was completely different from Vézé's plans. Vézé originally thought that he would sink a large number of British warships in the South China Sea Battle, but in fact, he didn't sink any British warships in the end. However, the strategy of dominating the Western Pacific Ocean was more than half completed.
So many years of reality had taught Vézé that there was no such thing as following a plan step by step to the end. Choosing a profession that one could persevere in and sticking to it was something that could be done in the current China. However, no one could completely decide whether or not one could solve the problem immediately if one encountered any difficulties. As for wanting the world to develop according to someone's plan, that was absolutely wishful thinking.
However, these things could only be understood after one had personally experienced them. Even if Wei Ze talked until his lips bled, Wei Rui would never understand the essence of the world without experiencing it himself. It was even more impossible for him to feel the helplessness and pain of facing the world. Not to mention that Wei Rui's mother, Qi Hongyi, had tried every possible way to pursue one result, and that was for Wei Rui to become the emperor.
Therefore, Vézé didn't waste any more time and said seriously, "Wei Rui, I only have one request for you since you were young, and that is to finish what you started. I have to say, when I was your age, I wasn't as good as you. You started playing the piano in primary school, and you persevered. You've been learning spear arts from me since you were young, and you've persevered. Of course, if you say you don't want to continue learning painting after a semester, I think it's also very good. That semester, you earnestly completed all the tasks assigned by the teacher, and also made a clear decision not to learn painting anymore. More importantly, you've passed the drawing class that was supposed to be held in school. That's all. "
Wei Rui didn't quite understand what his father was trying to say when he heard his father's irrelevant words. However, he could clearly feel that what his father wanted to say and what his mother wanted to say were probably not the same thing.
"I'm not against you becoming a soldier at all, but I know the price you have to pay for being a soldier. You have to protect the country with your life. When I was young, I didn't have the time to be afraid when I went to the battlefield. I could die if I stared blankly on the battlefield. At that time, I didn't have the time to think about anything else other than fighting. But when you're on the battlefield, I'll have plenty of time to let my imagination run wild. Wei Rui, I'll be very worried! "Vézé honestly told his son his thoughts as a father.
Compared to his mother, Qi Hongyi, Wei Rui was closer to his father, who he rarely saw because of his busy schedule. Wei Rui could clearly feel that his mother, Qi Hongyi, had a grand plan. This plan was so complicated that Wei Rui still couldn't understand it. Moreover, if Wei Rui did something that didn't satisfy his mother, Qi Hongyi would sternly reprimand Wei Rui. Wei Rui's father, Vézé, would never make a request that Wei Rui couldn't understand. Now that he heard his father express his worry for Wei Rui so clearly, although Wei Rui was very happy, he also felt dissatisfied at being looked down upon.
At that moment, Wei Rui heard his father continue to say, "Since you're choosing your future profession, do you have a job that you like?"
Wei Rui thought for a while before saying, "I'm still willing to enter the military academy. I want to make my mother happy."
Although Vézé was against Confucianism, he had a very high opinion of Confucius. Two thousand years ago, when productivity was very underdeveloped, Confucius couldn't be expected to come up with a set of ideas and theories for an industrialized society. Under the historical conditions at that time, Confucius had already delved into the level of human nature and explained many problems. Ziyou asked about filial piety. Confucius said, "The filial piety of today is to be able to raise. As for dogs and horses, they can all be raised. If you don't respect them, what's the difference? "
It was obvious that Wei Rui respected his mother a lot and wanted to make her happy. The eldest sons were the ones that their parents placed the greatest expectations on them. They usually behaved like this, hoping to not disappoint their parents.
However, Vézé didn't approve of this attitude. This attitude was in line with the human nature of Wei Rui's age, but it wasn't scientific enough.
Vézé said to his son seriously, "Wei Rui, I've said many times that everything you do is your own choice. If things are bad, you might encounter difficulties in the future and can't go on. Then you'll feel that your mother is responsible for these difficulties. If you don't think like this, you'll admit that it's your choice. Then you'll first draw a conclusion and then walk on this path. But over the years, you've made many choices and worked hard. You've completed a lot of them. Let's take this spear dance as an example. Do you think it's possible? "
This example made Wei Rui silent. After he learned spear arts, he was very envious of his father's spear dance technique, so he imitated it. But no matter how he imitated it, he couldn't get it right. In the process, he experienced a lot of unhappiness, crying, being reprimanded, and even injuring himself when he practiced blindly. In the end, he followed his father to lay a solid foundation, starting from the basics of standing, sitting, and walking. He trained the core muscles of his waist and abdomen, as well as the large and small muscle groups.
The first time he was able to wield his spear was after he had strained his muscles. During the recuperation stage, he felt the pain in the injured area, and during the rest stage, he felt the pain that slowly emerged all over his body. That was the first time Wei Rui truly realized that he didn't understand his own body. It was also the first time he realized that his body and muscles were much more complicated and detailed than he had imagined.
After he finished recuperating, Wei Rui also learned to be obedient. Every time before he practiced, he would obediently follow his father to do a complete warm-up. Then, he discovered that the things that he originally found troublesome contained too much of the essence of spear arts. When he stopped pursuing spear dance, Wei Rui discovered that he could actually perform a spear dance that was full of problems. Compared to the flowery stance that he longed for when he was young, the two were completely different. By the time Wei Rui achieved this goal, it had been almost eight years since he first picked up a spear.
Now that his father, Vézé, mentioned it, Wei Rui also remembered his cousin, Wei Changrong. When his cousin saw Wei Rui perform a spear dance, his cousin, Wei Changrong, turned pale with fright. He couldn't help but whisper to Vézé, "Fourth Uncle, if we met such an expert when we were young, we wouldn't have been able to keep our lives."
Wei Rui's hearing was very good. Although Wei Changrong's voice was low, Wei Rui still heard it clearly. At that time, he was indeed very happy. He felt as if he had understood many things, but at the same time, he felt as if he had experienced even more things that he didn't understand. The dozen or so afterimages that blossomed from the spear dance were all illusory. The true meaning of the spear dance was merely to condense the dozen or so trajectories that could be controlled in an instant. What won the battle was the only spear that burst out from the afterimages of the spear dance. It was the best assassination trajectory that the individual thought was chosen according to the situation at the time. If the assassination trajectory could be determined from the start, then wouldn't it be more in line with the principles of speed, accuracy, and fierceness?
For example, when Wei Rui sparred with the group of low-level fighters, he didn't need to use any high-level techniques at all. He could predict the opponent's posture and position the spear so that the low-level fighters would take the initiative to collide with him. What Wei Rui needed to do was to see through the opponent.
In this aspect, Wei Rui was actually more inclined towards his mother. Although his mother's requirements were many, and although they were high … She always had a relatively clear goal. For example, when it came to spear training, Wei Rui's mother, Qi Hongyi, wanted him to "subdue the enemy and achieve victory". However, Wei Rui's father, Vézé, was different. Vézé had all sorts of requirements when it came to executing a spear, but his goals were very general. When it came to spear training, Vézé's evaluation was "strengthen the body and protect the body, and understand oneself clearly". Comparing the two, Vézé's requirements were undoubtedly completely beyond Wei Rui's current ability to understand.
After thinking for a moment, Wei Rui still said, "I want to go to military school."
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