Who loves war?
This is a question raised by the great historian Zhu Zhongshu in "General History of the Ming Dynasty".
This question is also the name of a large chapter. In this chapter, he cited a large number of historical materials and the memories of the parties involved to explain the inevitability and driving force of the "Second World Unification War" that caused huge trauma to all mankind.
The first thing to answer is the question "Who loves war?"
In another time and space, this question already had a standard answer. Of course, those who love war are monarchs, dictators, big capitalists, warlords, bureaucrats, etc. of autocratic dynasties... Among the list of sinners who launch wars, the broadest masses of the people are definitely not included. Such as workers, farmers, students, etc. They are all victims of war and have their own right light.
Moreover, even if these middle and lower class people love war, they are unable to start a world war!
They were not in power, and they did not have much money to promote bribery of the establishment. Moreover, in 1900 before the outbreak of the Second World Unification War, most people in the participating countries did not have the right to vote.
But Zhu Zhongshu, a great historian who witnessed the two world unification wars with his own eyes, gave a "very incorrect" answer.
He believes that the First World Unification War was indeed launched by a group of superior meat-eaters. Although there are also considerations to transfer internal conflicts and consume excess products, they can choose peace. But this group of meat-eaters had no choice on the eve of the Second World Unification War... because at that time, revolutionary sentiments and nationalist sentiments were very high in various countries.
Although most countries do not have a democratic system, this does not mean that the rulers of the country can do whatever they want. Because it was different from the situation before the First World Unification War a few decades ago. In the past few decades, all the great powers had swept away the feudal system, abolished lordship and serfdom, and implemented compulsory education to a greater or lesser extent. Freedom of the press... Even without freedom of the press, given the execution capabilities of the governments of various countries at the time, there was absolutely nothing they could do against the private publication and distribution of tabloids. Therefore, the press censorship systems in various countries are ineffective, and those in power have no idea how to control public opinion - they have never governed so many literate people!
And it was also the first time that we encountered an era of "explosion" of cheap books and newspapers!
A few decades ago, except for a few countries with small populations and good development, only a small number of people in most major powers could watch an entire movie. Moreover, books and newspapers at that time were relatively expensive and had low circulation. Only a few intellectuals could own a large number of them.
Around 1900, most powerful countries had implemented compulsory education for decades, and the number of years of compulsory education gradually increased from the initial 4 years to 6 to 9 years.
At the same time, the craze of the second industrial revolution also made paper, ink, printing presses and other things very cheap, and everyone could easily afford them.
So when the second industrial revolution reached its climax, it was not only productivity that exploded, but also people’s minds!
And various ideas are mixed together, influencing each other, integrating with each other, and after each side takes sides, there will be polarization between the left and the right. The left wants revolution, the right wants conquest, and those who stand in the middle and tend to maintain the status quo are the kings, bureaucrats, and rich people.
If there was no economic crisis, the left and right poles would move closer to the center, forming center-left and center-right, and the situation would be relatively easy to control. After all, kings, bureaucrats, and wealthy people control a large amount of social wealth. When necessary, they can just spread it out to win people's hearts.
But the problem is that when the second industrial revolution came to an end, all countries had accumulated a considerable amount of excess production capacity and loans to support these non-performing assets... and the leaders of various countries who held power did not know how to digest these Excess capacity and non-performing loans.
Because they were not used to using money printing machines to solve problems, and there was no way to print... At that time, all countries were implementing a gold and silver composite standard, and currencies were anchored by precious metals, so there was no way to print them casually.
There is no way to print money to solve the short-term pain, no way to control the raging public opinion, and no way to control the minds of hundreds of millions who want to reverse their own destiny through a drastic change... Then there is only choice Turned to the right because left was impossible. And you still have to fight if you turn to the left!
The difference is only a foreign war and a civil war!
"What nonsense! Even a great historian makes no sense!"
Zhu Yaofei was so angry that he slammed the table.
How is this a choice between left and right?
What about the money printing press?
What about the Federal Reserve Bank of China?
Don’t you want to print money to harvest the world’s wool? Daming is the sect leader of the world! How?
The United States of Xinzhou, the United Kingdom of the Southern Continent, Qingguo, Li Shi's Asan Kingdom, Japan, Korea, Siam, Annan, and other countries in South America, who would not recognize the banknotes with the face of Emperor Hongxing of the Ming Dynasty?
Even if we don’t harvest all the wool in the world, wouldn’t there still be real estate? Zhu Zhongshu is still a descendant of the Charter King! Why don't you even know this?
When real estate comes together, won’t there be money for infrastructure construction? A mere 20 million tons of steel is nothing compared to large-scale infrastructure! The Ming Dynasty is much larger than New China, and there are also a bunch of vassal states that can invest... The Ming Dynasty is the suzerain of the world! His status is even more powerful than that of the American emperor. If Ming Dynasty wants to invest, who dares to stop him?
As long as the infrastructure is built, the bank accounts of the people below will all look good, and if the housing prices continue to rise, everyone will become a middle class... Will the world be as stable as Mount Tai tomorrow?
But it’s too late for Zhu Yaofei to say anything now!
If he didn't say it when he had the chance, who will he tell it to now?
Zhu Yaofei sighed and continued reading "General History of the Ming Dynasty".
That fool Zhu Zhongshu started writing about World War.
Unlike the original world wars that were fought over a few years in history, the Second World Unification War was fought endlessly for another ten years.
The fight lasted from 1901 to 1911 in the Western calendar!
It has to be said that the Ming Empire's financial resources are very strong. If it were not for 10 years of war, it would not be able to win a crown. But no matter how rich the family is, they can't bear to fight like this. And the crowns that have been tortured by this battle are not only the crowns of the Ming Dynasty...including Western Rome, Russia, the United Kingdom of New England, Eastern Rome, Prussia, India's Li Dynasty, India's Tamerlane, Ottoman, Persia, Kosot... The crown really fell to the ground!
And in the end, there was an intractable problem, and the unification of the world was of course ruined... Zhu Yaofei was no longer interested in reading any more. He sighed and closed the tablet.
Then I looked around and saw that it was okay. They were all on private jets... It seemed that the struggle in the previous life was quite valuable!
.......
The postscript ends here. I originally wanted to write a little more, but Luo Luo thought it would be better to leave a little bit to the imagination. And Luo Luo still has to save time for more interesting content.
Starting from tomorrow, Luo Luo will write a side story. In Luo Luo's extra story, Emperor Chongzhen of the Ming Dynasty, who has been an intern for more than fifty years, is finally going to show off his skills!
