"Alfred, when you were attacking us crazily, when you were brave enough to attack the city with your arms... My men once asked me why you were so different from the Europeans we encountered before. The army is so different!”
"This is a good question, and it is also a question that troubles me! But after my men briefly asked the prisoners, the information compiled contained the answer I wanted!"
"Because you are different. Your group of talents are the true direct descendants of the Emperor of France, and are the core force for him to rule this empire!"
"Alfred, tell me what your grandfather did first? And all the barons and viscounts, tell me what did your ancestors do?"
"If I'm not wrong, their identities may not be as noble as yours!"
Alfred was stunned for a long time and said in a low voice, "My grandfather... My grandfather was born in a family of winemakers. He joined the army when he was nineteen years old... He started fighting with Napoleon the Great at the age of 23..."
"Haha... That's right... My guess is not wrong at all... What about you?"
The noble officers also told the history of their families with embarrassment. It turned out that these people were basically the generation of their grandfathers who changed their fate and became canonized nobles, and their noble status was obtained through war.
Some of their ancestors were cobblers, some were farmers, some were blacksmiths, and some were small workshop owners... Although they were not the poorest class, their social status was not very high.
Xiao Letian meant no disrespect at all. He looked around at the direct descendants and said calmly, "Now I can give you the answer. Why do they fight so bravely? Why are they so special compared to other armies?"
"Because these people are an alternative branch of the European aristocracy... I call these people 'military aristocrats'!"
With Xiao Letian's words, a period of wonderful social changes in European history once again emerged before people's eyes, the era when Napoleon Bonaparte ruled the roost!
In Xiao Letian's previous life, various media, especially the Internet, were full of a term called "class solidification", which made everyone in society feel anxious like a scourge.
I have to deny that class has existed since ancient times. Even in the so-called fair society of the former Soviet Union, class still exists vaguely.
There will always be people who gain power or technology and become a group with a more prosperous life, and there will also be some people who have difficulty living or who can only maintain food and clothing.
There is no place for poverty, but there are thousands of houses for wealth! Classes have been divided into upper and lower classes since ancient times.
The son of the middle class can easily become a member of the middle class, and the children of the rich can still live a wealthy life without having to work!
As for the children of workers at the bottom, there is a high probability that they will also become workers at the bottom. This phenomenon is sad but there is no way to change it!
The so-called solidification of classes means that the staircase doors between various classes of human society have been completely closed. The poor workers at the bottom will not be able to be promoted to the middle class throughout their lives, and the middle class will never be able to enter the circle of the capital rich after struggling all their lives. .
Everyone will spend their life depending on the class they are born into. Although it is not as cruel as the caste system in India, the gradually closing doors will also make class mobility come to nothing.
What is the most terrifying thing about human society? In fact, it is not about poverty but about inequality rather than scarcity. In fact, it is the despair of life!
When a person is alive and everyone in the society realizes that class is immutable and life is actually hopeless, then this era will be the darkest era!
When humans in the 21st century rail against the solidification of classes, they actually fail to notice that the so-called solidification of classes is actually the mainstream in human history.
The great flow of classes is just a blessing for human society in the past two hundred years!
The real human history has been solidified by class for a long time. An important means of dividing human beings is blood relationship. If you are born into an aristocratic family, you will naturally be a member of the aristocratic class in the future.
If you were born into a shoe shiner's family, then you will probably have to deal with leather all your life!
Why is incest marriage so popular among European royal families? This is actually a way to protect the purity of blood, and no one will let the blood of untouchables be mixed in.
At that time, royal power was granted by God, and the religions of various countries also had theories that supported the solidification of classes. The double brainwashing of religion and reality made the people of that era completely numb.
Hopeless numbness is the most terrifying thing in the world. What was the real social reality in ancient Europe? It is the countless people at the bottom who do not have the extravagant hope of changing their class, and they cannot even dream of it.
The kind of solidification and suppression is too brutal. People from each class try their best to mix better within their own class, and no one has the luxury of breaking the ceiling above their heads and jumping into the class above.
In comparison, the ancient Chinese were still very bold, as you can see from folk proverbs.
'I dare to pull down the emperor even if I am willing to be killed! '
'The prince and general Xiang Ning has the guts! '
'The emperor takes turns, come to my house this year! '
These rebellious words simply did not exist in Europe. Under the strong suppression of the monotheistic religion, the people of Europe at that time simply did not dare to have such crazy thoughts.
I don’t even dare to think about it! What a hopeless society this is!
It is precisely for this reason that intellectuals in ancient Europe highly praised China's Confucianism and imperial examination system!
Don't say that the imperial examination system in ancient China was backward. It was this system that all French intellectuals longed for. It was difficult for them to imagine why China could provide untouchables with a channel to advance to the next level?
Isn’t it natural for a farmer’s son to be a farmer for the rest of his life?
Shouldn’t the children of carpenters, bricklayers, and tanners inherit their father’s business?
Why can there be emperors and generals among the most humble group of Chinese people? This is unreasonable!
But this kind of irrationality is so tempting!
Everyone knows that the imperial examination system cannot solve all the problems of upward mobility for the lower class, but this is at least a hope! It’s better than being completely invisible, right? It’s better than complete despair!
It was under this repression, under this fantasy expectation of Eastern institutions, under the combined effect of the Renaissance and the geographical discovery.
The French Revolution, which shocked the entire human society, broke out!
What is so important about the French Revolution? In fact, what is important is the Declaration of Human Rights!
It is precisely because of the popularization of the concept that "all people are created equal" that later generations broke through the class cage and enjoyed a prosperous era of great class mobility!
And Napoleon Bonaparte was a witness or instigator of this era!
