"Why can Confucianism become a useful weapon for the ruling class? It's not because Confucianism is so suitable for farming civilization! The loyalty, filial piety, benevolence and righteousness he advocates has many minor items attached to it!"
"For example, the word "filial piety"! Parents traveling far away, ancestral halls and fields, sacrifices at four o'clock and eight festivals...How many people are locked in the land just by these rules?"
"What is most needed by a farming civilization? It's population... it's to lock a large number of people on the land from generation to generation, continue to cultivate and produce wealth!"
"This is the foundation of farming civilization, and Confucianism also advocates this kind of stability. He must find a way to lock the population and prevent it from flowing randomly!"
"Business, on the other hand, goes in the opposite direction. The population must follow the flow of goods, that is, wealth! No matter what mountains, deserts, or blue seas... as long as there is wealth, we must pursue it!"
"These are essentially two conflicts. You can't have your cake and eat it too! As the population becomes mobile, agricultural civilization will definitely be devastated!"
"But if you lock the population in your homeland, your commercial civilization will definitely collapse, and you will not be able to carry out pioneering expeditions in the Age of Discovery!"
"Dilemma! This is the dilemma!"
"Now think about it...are the thrilling bloody battles in Beijing really just people killing for their own selfish desires?"
"Wrong! This is an era of great change that has not happened in three thousand years!"
"In the capital...capitalism formed by the upgrade of mercantilism has begun to wage war against China's backward farming civilization!"
These words suddenly raised the level of the problem to a level that no one could look up to. People chewed on every word and felt waves in their hearts!
What is changing in this era of great change that has not been seen in three thousand years? What caused the conflict? In fact, it is neither gold, silver nor commercial interests!
In the final analysis, the great collision between Eastern and Western civilizations in the 19th century was the confrontation between agricultural civilization and industrial civilization!
"You may have another question. Didn't you just talk about mercantilism and capitalism? Why are you talking about industrial civilization now?"
"In fact, these are all integrated. Industrial civilization can only blossom and bear fruit in the soil of mercantilism and capitalism. Agrarian civilization cannot produce industrial civilization at all!"
"In fact, the reason is very simple, because the core of all wealth in agricultural civilization is locked in land. If you want agricultural civilization to be brilliant, you must have a complete set of supporting systems suitable for it!"
"Law and culture... must have a system suitable for agricultural production! A Confucian school has appeared in China. In fact, no matter how the name is changed, this system will naturally emerge!"
"Because farming civilization needs something like this to lock the population into the land!"
"But industrial civilization cannot be like this. Industrial civilization is based on improving industrial productivity, arming human hands with advanced technology, and using fossil energy to gain infinite power!"
"Compared with the handicraft industry in the past, these productivity increases have almost increased exponentially! There is so much more productivity at once, which means there are countless more products!"
"Excuse me, what kind of system is needed to support such an industrial civilization? It must be mercantilism! Then mercantilism evolved and became capitalism!"
“Capitalism will still evolve in the future, but that’s a story for another day. Let’s talk about it later!”
"Now think about it! Industrial civilization needs a huge capital and business system to help them digest excess productivity!"
"Mercantilistism requires countless people to be in a state of mobility... So it is impossible for this kind of Confucian thought to appear in Europe, because if you study Confucianism, how will you do business?"
"Confucianism first advocates loyalty and filial piety. Your parents are at home. If you don't take good care of yourself until you die, will you be able to go on a big voyage with enough food?"
"Then the gold and silver mountains in South America are more important than your parents?"
"Look, this is a clash of civilizations! Such a problem is a big problem in the minds of Weng Tong and those people, but it is not a problem in Europa!"
"Because Europe has attached great importance to commerce since ancient Greece and Rome, and population mobility has always existed! For thousands of years, European filial piety has only stayed at the level of love, and there has been no population lock-in!"
"Don't European parents want to keep their children close to them? Of course they do, but they can't! If everyone keeps their children close to them, they won't be able to support them with the agricultural production conditions in Europe!"
“They can only let their children go out into the world, learn to do business or become a screw in the commercial field...those sailors, pilots, comptrollers in the Age of Discovery...even a repair carpenter on a merchant ship. , they are all providing services to mercantilism!”
"They have no choice. This is the only way to survive. This is the inevitable choice between nature and humanity!"
"I have never objected to Confucian filial piety, but there are some provisions in Confucian filial piety that lock in population mobility and are almost like laws. I don't approve of this!"
"Because the essence of Confucianism is to provide services to farming civilization. Emperors can be changed at will, but the Central Plains has had to cultivate land for thousands of years. Therefore, emperors of all dynasties, regardless of their nationality, have to use Confucianism in the end!"
"Because of Confucianism, China has the most glorious agricultural civilization in the world. It is the most glorious and unmatched by any nation!"
"And the population lock required by agricultural civilization is also achieved with the help of Confucianism! Clan, filial piety, sacrifice, rural concepts... a series of links are all serving the population lock of agricultural civilization!"
“Locking your children and grandchildren to your parents is actually locking them to the land, generation after generation, endlessly!”
"This is the prosperous age that the Confucians want! This is their ultimate goal!"
"But please don't be disgusted and hate Confucianism. There is no need, because Confucianism did not appear casually! In the final analysis, farming civilization chose Confucianism. If Confucianism did not appear in ancient China, then there would be another thought with another name. Assist the sustainable development of agricultural civilization!"
"Let's keep digging deeper! Why is China's agricultural civilization so powerful? Can we choose our thoughts and our dynasty?"
"In fact, it has something to do with China's geographical environment...the southwest region is the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau and the Yunnan-Guizhou-Sichuan Plateau, and the northwest region is a vast desert..."
"The north is an endless grassland and alpine zone with sparsely populated areas...the rest of the area is all the sea!"
