It has to be said that these veterans who have experienced the rise and decline of the Kingdom of Heaven are all frightened by this kind of 'internal friction'. Tianlai Novel Since ancient times, factional fighting has been extremely cruel, especially the party strife that has accumulated over thousands of years in China can sometimes really destroy an empire.
Whether it is the Manchu Qing court or the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, it is an open secret to rely on the enemy's hands to eliminate one's political opponents. Under the banner of righteousness, you are asked to jump into a fatal battle. Will you jump or not? If you don't jump, you are disobedient, and you will be killed internally. If you jump in, you will have a narrow escape, and you will have to peel off your skin if you survive.
In factional battles, no one considers whether you are a minister of the same court as themselves, and no one considers whether your failure will affect the safety of the empire.
The same was true for the Sino-Japanese War in history. After the Beiyang Navy formed the army, why did the imperial court try so hard to squeeze out funding and did not add more ships or even replace the cannons? In the final analysis, it was still a power struggle between the Manchus and the Han people. At that time, some Manchu nobles even hoped that Li Hongzhang would lose.
Because in their hearts, little Japan is a plague of scabies, and the rise of Hanchen is a serious concern!
Xiao Letian watched calmly as the generals in front of him were divided into two groups. The new generation of officers represented by Xiang Ying basically agreed with Xiang Ying's judgment.
However, the veterans who have experienced the War of Heaven and the brutal internal strife within the Qing Dynasty are inclined to the view just mentioned by Luo Huo.
The debate between the two sides was so heated that Xiang Ying and other young people even turned a little red-faced.
"You don't understand! Unlike Europe, the spirit of nationalism has been deeply rooted in the hearts of the people, so these politicians have a bottom line when doing things!"
"The country is their bottom line. If British politicians are such guys who don't care about national interests, how can they get to where they are today?"
"Yes! Without the support of the national spirit, Britain would not be able to manage so many colonies! Why has no one tried to split the colonies and seize the king to cause separatism? It is because the spirit of nationalism is deeply rooted in the hearts of the people..."
At that moment, Xiao Letian was so excited that he almost shed tears. He didn't expect that these Chinese students who were admitted to study abroad would make such rapid progress!
If nothing else, just relying on their understanding of nationalism, these young people have already gone ahead of these old people.
Why has China had to move around on any continent for thousands of years? Why didn't China start colonial expansion after Zheng He's voyages to the West and when it clearly had very safe navigation charts?
The reasons are of course very complicated, but one thing cannot be ignored, that is because Confucian governance is too focused on the family and the world, and they are completely unable to solve the centripetal force problem of the colonists beyond the vast sea.
There is no need to analyze before the Ming Dynasty, but in the two dynasties of the Ming Dynasty and the Qing Dynasty, the emperors all tried to establish a highly centralized monarchy. In their hearts, they could not tolerate the warlords below who broke the soil and sealed the king, even if they declared themselves kings.
The sea is a natural barrier. The population of the Central Plains has always been private property in the hearts of kings and scholar-bureaucrats. Who is willing to let go of the country to colonize?
Tens of thousands of miles of sea territory, those wild continents separated by oceans, are completely beyond the control of Beijing City! Who can stop those powerful warlords from establishing their own independent kingdoms? Even if the nation was founded blatantly, the emperor in Beijing was only angry. Did he really send warships to suppress it? How much will it cost...
It’s better to develop on the mainland, the land is vast and the resources are abundant! Once the system of prefectures and counties was established, and the Confucian clan ideology was locked in, the people were tied to the land. How stable is this rule, without the need for Baal's colonial power?
It is precisely because Chinese politicians cannot solve this problem of national cohesion that China is destined to be unable to usher in an era of overseas colonization.
On the contrary, this is not the case in Europe. Europe has completely broken the bonds of family and clan on individuals. No one forces young people. You must support your parents in old age, you must farm in your hometown, you must get married at the age of 18, and you must have children after you get married. son.
In Europe, once young people come of age and want to go out and explore the world, they encounter much less resistance than young people in the East.
Because of this, countless sailors jumped on sea ships and headed towards the vast sea with a near-death experience. Only then did we have the magnificent Age of Discovery and the great geographical discovery of mankind.
It is not just emperors, generals and heroes who drive the times. People can remember Prince Enrique, but who can remember those ordinary sailors who risked going to sea under the pressure of horrific legends?
You can remember Magellan and Copernicus, but can you remember their second officers? Can you remember the sailmaster on their ship?
History has forgotten these little people, but it is countless such little people that make up the history of mankind.
China, precisely because of the lack of these little people who can abandon local concepts and clan ideas, was unable to start China's Age of Discovery.
Europe began to colonize the world, but few European colonies were independent of warlords. Even if the United States, Canada, and Australia became independent from their colonies, it was the choice of all the people, not the achievements of careerists.
Why is this so? It is because Europe began to instill nationalist ideas into the people early on, and the majority of the people have a clear concept of nationalism in their hearts.
Abandoning the blood connection of a small family, then everyone's emotions are locked by the same language, the same culture, the same diet, the same religion... these series of similarities.
Nationalism is destined to be more advanced than clan thinking, because clans can only lock in the relationship between a group of people with similar blood ties, and the limit is already a few hundred to a thousand people.
Nationalism, on the other hand, can lock in the common interests and demands of a nation, which is a population of millions.
It is conceivable that if these two forces were to confront each other, you wouldn't be able to stand up to a large number of people even if you fight in groups!
China lacks nationalist ideas, or it may be said that there are nationalist ideas but the rulers have not vigorously propagandized or promoted them.
Therefore, many Chinese people only have clan, only superiors, and only their own selfish interests in their hearts! As long as the interests of the clan and family can be guaranteed, it doesn't matter if they serve as Han military flags or as puppet soldiers.
As long as you serve as a soldier and eat food, that's enough to keep your clan and family from having to worry about food and clothing!
What are you afraid of internal friction? So what if it harms national interests? It's my fault!
Xiao Letian sighed. He stretched out his hand to suppress everyone's arguments. "Okay, okay! Let's not argue about this topic!"
"Xiang Ying! In fact, I have already considered your question before! Don't worry, I have a plan..." At this point, Xiao Letian turned his attention to Wang Huaiyuan, "Wang Bureau! You didn't come last time After traveling to Europe, you may not know much about the situation in Europe, but many of you have been to Europe!"
"Have you forgotten how the Prussians fought the Austro-Prussian War?"
Hiss... The people present took a deep breath, and the memories of that year came back to their minds bit by bit.
Note: Do you know why we need to destroy the Four Olds? If you knock down Kongjiadian, what exactly will you knock down? Think about it carefully, think about it carefully...
