"That's not true."
Because Zhao Jun was blind, his ears were much more sensitive. After hearing Zhao Zhen's thoughts, he said casually: "Modern society also has developed monarchies. John Bull and Chicken still have royal families, although they have no real power. But there are also many powerful royal families, like those white-robed countries in the Middle East, all of which are extremely wealthy, which shows that modernization does not necessarily require the demise of imperial power."
When Zhao Zhen heard this, he immediately seemed to be grasping a life-saving straw and asked: "Then how can we not only retain the imperial power, but also complete the industrial revolution and make the country rich and powerful?"
Zhao Jun smiled slightly and said: "It's very simple. You have to understand one truth, that is, centralized autocracy is different from imperial autocracy. Autocracy is not a bad thing. As Western powers become stronger, which one is not the result of centralization? As long as leaders and political groups If you have foresight, then this country will develop very fast, just like Big Brother the Bear, in the hands of his loving father, from a country with only a little industrial foundation, almost an agricultural country, to two five-year plans, it has become The world’s largest heavy industrial country.”
"The most attractive thing about imperial autocracy is that the person who comes to power is not necessarily a political strongman or a wise leader, it's just a matter of good birth."
"If I were the emperor of the Song Dynasty and I had the foresight, even if the water was deep, I would be able to control it. First, cultivate a group of smart and capable ministers, develop military force, defeat Liao, Jin, Meng, and Xixia, and then open up the ocean. , colonized Japan and Indonesia, killed all the animals there, plundered local resources and wealth, developed a revolution in agricultural production, and then launched universal education for all."
"When the people's wisdom reaches a certain stage of maturity, they can promote the Industrial Revolution in an orderly manner. Don't worry even if class antagonisms arise. During the same period of the Song Dynasty, many places around the world were not even populated. They were sent overseas to colonize the world, including Europe."
"Intellectuals who can't make it in China, why can't they be successful overseas? Just like the foreigners in Shanghai during the Republic of China, and the colonists who went to the Americas, Africa, South Asia, and Southeast Asia, many of them settled in China."
"No matter Australia, America, or even Siberia, there are plenty of places."
"Especially Siberia. Even though it's cold there, the ground is full of oil. If we can develop heavy industry, conquer Mongolia and Siberia, occupy Australia and the Americas, open up Europe, and conquer the world, it won't be a dream."
"Of course, the biggest difficulty for the Emperor of the Song Dynasty was the first step."
Although Zhao Zhen couldn't understand what he said, he still felt that it was so powerful that he ignored Zhao Jun's last words.
He couldn't help but ask: "Then if the king has a visionary under his command, and the king trusts him completely and lets him do what he does, can the country become strong?"
"Are you talking about the king of the Song Dynasty?"
Zhao Jun said in disbelief: "As far as Zhao Zhen trusts Fan Zhongyan, aren't you kidding me?"
"Forehead......"
Zhao Zhen glanced at Fan Zhongyan involuntarily, and Fan Zhongyan also glanced at him expressionlessly.
The two looked at each other, Zhao Zhen laughed sarcastically and said nothing.
Zhao Jun continued: "That's the same thing. Unless the king has the ability like me, or has the vision to see the future, it is possible to do such a thing."
"But it's a pity that the brain-dead emperors in the Song Dynasty are definitely not as powerful as me, and the shortcoming of the monarchy in the world is that even if a generation of heroes comes out, there is no guarantee that every generation of emperors will be wise and powerful. Especially in the Song Dynasty, there were many brain-dead emperors. In this era, any stupid mistake can ruin a good situation."
"In addition, I am also very dissatisfied with the system of the Song Dynasty. On the surface, the Song Dynasty ruled the world with the scholar-bureaucrats, but in fact it was a monarchy with real power. The scholar-bureaucrats in the Northern Song Dynasty were all played and applauded by the monarch. They were not as good as the scholar-bureaucrats of the Ming Dynasty, at least In the middle and late Ming Dynasty, scholar-bureaucrats were able to play tricks on the emperor and applaud him."
"For example, during the founding of the Song Dynasty, the two brothers Zhao and Zhao deceived the scholar-officials and said that we would govern the country with you, and then told the scholar-officials that the imperial edicts we issued could not be issued without your approval."
"That sounds good, but what about reality?"
"The personnel power of senior officials is still in the hands of the emperor, and any appointment of officials must go through the emperor."
"In order to promote Li Ding, who was recommended by Wang Anshi, Emperor Shenzong of the Song Dynasty did not hesitate to replace three Zhizhigao that blocked the issuance of the imperial edict, and forcibly passed the imperial edict."
"Song Renzong had twenty-three prime ministers in his dynasty, and each prime minister's term was very short. As soon as a prime minister was impeached, Zhao Zhen would remove him to consolidate the threat posed by the power of the prime minister."
"There are also countless people like Qin Hui who have been impeached by civil and military officials throughout the dynasty, but he has remained standing for twenty years without falling."
"These are enough to prove that the Song Dynasty system was still dominated by imperial power."
"So in fact, the power of the emperor of the Song Dynasty was very great, and the imperial power was never emptied. During the Southern Song Dynasty, the court was often divided into two factions: war and peace. However, in fact, whether it was war or peace, the initiative always rested with the emperor. In hand."
"Qin Hui was a staunch war faction in the early days, but the war faction had no status in the court. In order to cater to Zhao Gou, he had to become a peace advocate."
"Zhao Gou is a retarded person. He only wants to kneel down to sue for peace, so he promotes Qin Hui and suppresses Yue Fei. Therefore, although Qin Hui deserves his punishment, the person kneeling in front of the Yuewang Temple should be Wan Yangou, a local dog."
"Also, Cai Jing was a capable minister and general in his early days. He built water conservancy, established residential homes, Anji Square and Luze Garden. He reformed certain systems and was praised and supported by the people. But Song Huizong didn't like good prime ministers, but liked traitors. Prime Minister, Cai Jing was forced to become the leader of the six thieves."
"I'm not trying to clear the ground for Cai Jing and Qin Hui, because they did not stick to their original intentions, and those scholar-bureaucrats were not good people. But from a political point of view, isn't this a problem with Song Huizong and Wanyan Gou? Some people don't A foolish king with farsightedness, leading a group of scholar-bureaucrats who only know how to maintain the autocratic monarchy, fools the people together, and sells out the national interests in order to survive. If this country does not perish, it will be unjust."
Zhao Jun said bluntly: "So in summary, if you want the country to be strong, you must have a long-term vision and structure. At the same time, you also need a group of far-sighted elite bureaucrats. With the stupidity of the emperors of the Zhao family in the Song Dynasty, they want to They have produced visionary heroes from generation to generation and turned all their ministers into elite bureaucrats. Do you think it is possible?"
After the conversation ended, everyone became thoughtful.
Many people said that if the emperor of the Song Dynasty wanted to touch the interests of the scholar-bureaucrats, he would end up falling into the water.
Not really.
Because the imperial power of the Song Dynasty was much greater than people imagined.
In terms of military power, it is firmly controlled through the privy councils in the two governments, so that the generals do not know the soldiers and the soldiers do not know the generals, so as to prevent the threats posed by the generals.
In terms of political power, the power of the prime minister is decentralized through the three divisions, leaving only the political hall, allowing the prime minister to have administrative power, and letting the three senior officials basically not participate in political affairs. At the same time, the finance is owned by the three divisions, and the powers check and balance each other.
In this way, government affairs, finance, military affairs and other powers were separated independently, making it difficult for the prime minister to monopolize power, leaving great power in the hands of the emperor, forming the unique "two government offices and three divisions" system of the Song Dynasty.
Therefore, during the Northern Song Dynasty, there were two large-scale reforms that damaged the interests of scholar-bureaucrats, namely the "Qingli New Deal" and the "Wang Anshi Reform". Neither of them posed a threat to the imperial power. It was just the resistance of the scholar-officials who were passive and uncooperative, which made the two reforms bankrupt.
Therefore, in a sense, the Northern Song Dynasty was a time when the imperial power in feudal society was relatively strong. In the entire Northern Song Dynasty, there was no truly powerful minister like Zhang Juzheng in the Ming Dynasty. It was not until the Southern Song Dynasty increased the power of the prime minister that a large number of powerful ministers were born.
Zhao Jun believes that although the Song Dynasty had developed economy and trade, prospered commerce, and had the budding trend of capitalism, the ruling class of the Song Dynasty lacked foresight and held too much power, so it was naturally difficult to promote industrial development.
However, as he was blind, he was completely unaware that the monarchs and ministers of the Song Dynasty were deep in thought at this moment. There was silence in the entire conversation venue.
This silence made Zhao Jun feel a little uncomfortable.
He was waiting for someone to respond.
Even if the two gangsters, Wazamuguo or Granima, refuted him, it would be fine.
But no one spoke, as if they were all mute.
This made Zhao Jun very uneasy.
So after the silence lasted for almost two or three minutes, he broke the deadlock and said, "What, did I say something wrong?"
Still no one spoke.
King Lu Yijian Zeng and others remained silent. Even Fan Zhongyan, who was always outspoken and dared to offend even the prime minister, remained silent.
Because the content of the conversation involved imperial power, they did not dare to touch these bottom lines.
So the only one here who can reply is Zhao Zhen.
Zhao Zhen quickly came to his senses, realized this, and then said with difficulty: "Teacher Zhao is indeed a proud man of heaven. You are right and I have benefited a lot."
"That is required."
When Zhao Jun heard that Wazha Muguo, a tough guy, was praising him, he immediately said proudly: "As a student of history, I must study these things deeply."
Zhao Zhen pondered: "If Song Zhezong died and Song Huizong was not the emperor, would it be possible to prevent the demise of the Song Dynasty?"
"Can't stop it."
Zhao Jun shook his head: "It doesn't matter who becomes the emperor. Even if he knows what the Jin Guoguo does, he can't stop it. Because the foundation of the Song Dynasty is broken, the army is bad, and the officialdom is bad. No matter how wise and powerful the emperor is, it will be in vain."
"Irreversible?"
Zhao Zhen asked.
"It's irreversible. Even if Li Shimin appears, he can at most stop the Jin Kingdom's attack. What then? A wise and mighty emperor will die sooner or later. Can you guarantee that every emperor will be wise?"
Zhao Jun sneered and said: "Song Zhezong was already a good emperor in the Northern Song Dynasty, but his next successor, Song Huizong, directly ruined the Northern Song Dynasty. The Qin Dynasty fought for six generations and finally unified the country. But only one Hu Hai was needed to succeed the second generation. And the feudal system dynasty itself is extremely fragile."
"Is there no emperor who can always sit down?"
Zhao Zhen asked again.
"No, even in modern society, countries have been subverted. Park Kaka overthrew the democratically elected president, and political changes occur every day in Africa. Even in Southeast Asia, there was the famous scene of Myanmar military vehicles surrounding parliament a few years ago, let alone ancient times. "
Zhao Jun shook his head: "So Qin Shihuang's wish of "the second and third generations are for eternity and will be passed down to infinity" is impossible to realize. You have to remember that there is no eternal system, and there is no best system, only the most appropriate system. . And the only way in this world that can make a country continue is that there is always one, and only one."
"What is it?"
Zhao Zhen breathed rapidly and couldn't wait to ask.
"It is a prosperous country that has a force that scares its enemies externally, a trustworthy reputation, and a world-renowned influence. Internally, the rule of law is fair, everyone has dignity, everyone lives a prosperous life, and everyone can have enough to eat. , be satisfied in material and spiritual pursuits.”
Zhao Jun said seriously: "If there really is such a country, then even if this country is a feudal society or a primitive tribe, its external and internal stability will be stable. As long as it remains stable, this country will not decline or perish!" "
After saying this, Zhao Jun thought of Yingjiang in the 1970s and 1980s and Mao Xiong in the 1950s and 1960s.
At that time, one of Yingjiang and Mao Xiong was a true beacon of democracy in the world, and the other was a true leader of the proletariat.
When faced with the common destiny of all mankind, in addition to the confrontation of camp consciousness, they showed a responsible attitude towards all mankind, ensuring the interests of their respective allies and all internal citizens.
Like Yingjiang, the working class in China at that time had very high wages. A person worked in a factory, could afford to live in a villa, raise a wife and children, and at the same time raise a dog. They also had a lot of holidays to travel around the world every year, and their spiritual and material can be satisfied.
Not to mention Mao Xiong, he has built a strong industrial system for his allies free of charge, and each franchise country still has a large amount of heritage preserved. Even though Rabbit later turned against him, he never denied Big Brother's selfless help to the flower growers in the early days.
But unfortunately now, apart from Rabbit, we are still adhering to a community with a shared future for mankind and advocating that everyone develop together and become prosperous together. After Mao Xiong disintegrated, Yingjiang changed a long time ago. Not only did it become a pawn of capital, squeezing the country, but it also extended its hands to the whole world, creating battlefields and disputes everywhere, causing the death of countless people and becoming a cancer in the world.
So sometimes Zhao Jun also laments that maybe the eternal country does not exist. Because each country's vision and pattern are set here, many people only care about immediate interests and ignore long-term coexistence.
With no rivals, Yingjiang, which has become the world's only super overlord, does not think about how to make the cake bigger and take care of the interests of all mankind, but only thinks about grabbing the cake. Even its European allies are not spared, deliberately provoking war to harvest Europe.
If this continues, it will be over sooner or later.
On the contrary, in China, the big flower-growing family has existed in this world for five thousand years. With the current development attitude of the country in alleviating poverty, striving for development, seeking common ground while reserving differences, and working with other countries to make the pie bigger, we can truly have the vision and structure to be responsible to the people of the world. Attitude.
Therefore, Zhao Jun believes that as long as he persists in moving towards this goal, one day, flower growers will be able to achieve world-renowned achievements like Yingjiang in the 1970s and 1980s and Mao Xiong in the 1950s and 1960s.
