Wang Zhong knew that if he wanted his old friends and young friends to leave their jobs and work for Beihai Town, he had to first attract them with shocking words, and then talk about the good things about Beihai Town. Only in this way could he Allay their concerns.
Anyway, the meaning revealed in the words is that whether the future is bright requires everyone to work together. It’s not that I, Wang Rongfu, don’t work hard. I am one person against a “group of enemies”, and I can’t stand alone. If my brothers don’t come to help me support King Zhao and wait until the "days are mourning", then we people will really be done with it!
During the conversation, Duan Yucai, who had served as a county magistrate, bluntly said that it was "ridiculous" for Beihai Town to implement the method of sending officials to the countryside in the future. He said that all the countryside had clan autonomy, and this move was tantamount to competing for profits with the people.
However, Fan Jiang who was present here did not agree with this and said: "Mr. Maotang, this is wrong. Confucius said, if you want to use me, it only takes a few months, and you will be successful in three years."
Duan Yucai said with a worried look on his face: "One man is in trouble and seven temples are killed. He is killed by others, and the world laughs at him. This is not a royal way! This is the art of Han and Li, not the way of Confucius and Mencius! Emperor Xuan of the Han Dynasty said that the Han family has its own system, and it is based on Overlord Dao Zazhi.”
What Jiang Fan meant was that even when Confucius was acting as Prime Minister of the State of Lu, he believed that "governing must be hegemony." Beihai Town was located in a bitter cold land outside the customs, surrounded by enemies on all sides, and hundreds of thousands of people were fighting against the Manchus. This was also a form of hegemony. nothing. Duan Yucai responded with the rapid demise of the Qin Dynasty. Since he was claimed to be the queen of Zhu Ming, the rule of the world should be the fusion of kings and hegemons.
In ancient China, the exercise of political power alone was called hegemony. The combination of political power and the control power of society itself was the kingly way. Confucius was called Su Wang by scholars. Su Wang and the imperial power wanted to rule the world side by side, and rule from top to bottom. Local matters were ruled by King Su, while in the yamen were ruled by imperial power. This was the so-called "imperial power did not extend to the county."
Wang Zhong laughed and said that the argument between the two was outdated. Then he gave the example of telephone calls and telegrams. A word about King Zhao could be spread thousands of miles in an instant. Isn't this more effective than the autonomy of officials and gentry?
After Duan Yucao heard this, he shook his head repeatedly to express disbelief, saying that this was no longer the "thousand-mile sound transmission" in the gods and monsters. So Wang Zhong made a bet with him, saying that if there were any, you Duan Ruoying would have to stay in Beihai Town to help me.
Hong Liangji joked and said yes, I will be a witness and I am willing to admit defeat.
As soon as he finished speaking, Wang Zhong chuckled and took Duan Yucai to the communication room in Xuzhuang without any explanation. While the seven literati were dumbfounded, Wang Zhong quickly contacted Beihai Town and took a microphone. Wow, I talked a lot. With Wang Zhong's character, it was too late, otherwise he would have dared to ask Zhao Xin to come all the way to say a few words.
Hearing the clear female voice with a Shandong accent coming from the black speaker, Duan Yucao opened his mouth so wide that he could stuff a goose egg in. He was speechless for a long time. Only then did he realize that he had fallen into Wang Zhong's trap.
Looking at the bright light bulbs and the black radio station in the room, the seven literati listened to the Xuzhuang correspondent's explanation. Although they were confused, they couldn't help but admire: "I never thought that the skills of hundreds of people could be achieved." It’s so miraculous!”
The eight literati continued to talk about midnight and agreed to continue tomorrow, and then they were taken to the guest room to rest. As for whether he can fall asleep, that's another story.
Early the next morning, the young scholar Huang Chengji had dark circles under his eyes because he had not slept all night. The conversation last night made him toss and turn, and his heart was frightened. After breakfast, he speculated for a long time before Wang Zhong asked a question.
"Senior Rongfu, yesterday you mentioned the country and the nation in your words, and mentioned that the Li Dynasty, Annan and other countries were not vassals, but neighboring countries. Please make it clear."
Wang Zhong thought for a while and then explained using the official textbook of Beihai Town: "All countries originate from clans. The clan leader is the chief priest of the clan and at the same time the political leader of the clan..."
Well, Beihai Town shamelessly plagiarized Liang Qichao's discussion from another time and space. If Beihai Town wants to develop a national identity, it must continue to integrate Ainu, Yakut, island nations and even Cossacks on the premise of preserving the existing territory of the Manchu and Qing Dynasties. So there must be a programmatic explanation.
Yu Deli searched through modern literature and finally decided to plagiarize Liang Qichao's ideas. After all, as a scholar who transitions between tradition and modernity, Liang Qichao's explanation should be more recognized.
It is said that before the mid-19th century, China never had the concepts of "state" and "nation" in the modern sense. The so-called "China" refers to the world, not a "country" relative to other nation-states in the political sense of later generations. The so-called "nationalism" in the sense of national culture is the "Hua-Yi debate"; those who respect the teachings of Confucius and Mencius and follow the Chinese etiquette are Hua, and the opposite is Yi.
So this day's exchange started with what is a country and what is the Chinese nation.
Wang Zhong highly recognized the idea of the country and nation that Zhao Xin had instructed Yu Deli (at least Wang Zhong believed so). This was also his rare approval of Zhao Xin's "civilian governance."
Of course, the poem copied by Zhao Xin was also praised by Wang Zhong, who believed that King Zhao had made some progress under his influence...
At the end of the morning, Wang Zhong said his mouth was dry and his throat was hoarse. It was also thanks to his gift of photographic memory that he was able to retell it in its entirety.
"...We are China, which is located on the largest continent among the five continents and is the largest country among the continents; China has a population accounting for one-third of the earth's population; it has never been the same in its history of more than 4,000 years. Those who interrupt, I am Chinese."
"...Qi is also a sea country. In ancient times, among the Chinese people who thought about sea power, it was only Qi. Therefore, two concepts emerged from it, one is the national outlook, and the other is the world view."
"...Those who speak nationalism in China should advocate large nationalism in addition to small nationalism. What are small nationalists? The Han people are the same as other nationalities in the country. What are large nationalists? Domestic headquarters The tribes belonging to the tribe are like the tribes outside the country... Han, Manchu, Mongolian, Miao, Tibetan, etc., form one big nation."
It is said that before the Qing Dynasty, the Han dynasty often called itself "China", but "China" here refers to Huaxia, a small China mainly located in the Central Plains region.
When Emperor Taiji of the Later Jin Dynasty was in power, the Ming Dynasty was sometimes referred to as "China"; after Shunzhi entered the customs, the Qing government directly called itself China and expanded the scope of China to include the entire empire-controlled area. In this way, "Little China" in the past evolved into "Big China", and "Big China" became a pluralistic and unified ethnic composition.
Although the policy of "treating Manchus, Mongols, and Han people as one" pursued by the Manchus for more than 150 years was to stabilize their rule and ease internal conflicts, it cannot be denied that this policy also contributed to the formation of a multi-ethnic country. Foundation.
As mentioned before, no one in the world knew that the emperor was a Manchu. Even Lin Shuangwen and the subsequent White Lotus Rebellion in the Five Provinces did not use the slogan of "expulsion of the Tartars", but only said that the government forced the people to rebel; therefore, no scholar present raised any objection to the concept of "big nation" proposed by Beihai Town.
However, everyone here still treats the island country and Tsarist Russia as barbarians. It's good to occupy those remote and cold places and overseas desert islands. It's good to defeat the barbarians, but in fact, it doesn't matter if you don't fight.
The core of all this is, does Beihai Town have the strength to aspire to the Central Plains and knock the Manchu Emperor off his throne?
Jiang Fan had a straightforward personality, so he spoke: "Since King Zhao can defeat the imperial army repeatedly, why doesn't he send his troops to enter the pass? What's more, according to what senior Rongfu said, there are several giant ships on the sea in Beihai Town. If they enter from the Bohai Sea, they will Forcing Tianjin..."
"Be careful what you say! Be careful what you say!" Duan Yucai interrupted hastily, thinking that young people really dare to speak.
Hong Liangji said at this time: "I also don't understand what Ziping said."
Wang Zhongdao: "Let's start with the 'Markov Trap'."
Grain ah? Markov trap? ! The scene of digging a hole in the ground and trapping the horse immediately appeared in Jiang Fan's mind.
"But Wang has been talking all morning, let's wait until after dinner." After Wang Zhong said that, he shouted to the door: "Come here, serve the food!"
Although it was dinner, Wang Zhong couldn't help but talk at the banquet. As a result, the meal lasted until dusk and sunset.
During the dinner, Wang Zhong talked about the consequences of land annexation and why all dynasties could not escape this endless cycle. The main purpose of Beihai Town's cultivation outside the customs is to first solve the people's livelihood problems through the means of "expanding grain accumulation".
The seven people present here thought of the "tractors", "harvesters" and other machinery mentioned in Wang Zhong yesterday, and then thought of the wheat yield exceeding three to four hundred kilograms per mu, and it became clear.
Hong Liangji and Jiang Fan had traveled to various places and had seen the miserable scenes of refugees fleeing famine; while Duan Yucai had served as an official in Guizhou and Sichuan, and had heard and witnessed the hardships of local people's livelihood. At this moment, everyone thought that Beihai Town had opened up millions of acres of fertile farmland outside the customs and held a huge amount of food. Once a disaster occurred in various places, through the railway that traveled thousands of miles a day like Wang Zhongti mentioned, there would be no famine in the world.
At this time, Hong Liangji said: "No. The fear of famine is only temporary. The number of people in the world has increased tenfold since the Kangxi year. Even outside the customs, the fields will always be cultivated. By then, there will be no room for cultivation." The ‘Markov Trap’ I just talked about?”
Wang Zhong had been in high spirits these past two days, so he inevitably drank two more drinks during the dinner. He blushed and said to Hong Liangji: "Do you know that there is a huge world thousands of miles east of this sea? "
Hong Liangji is good at public affairs. How can others not know that? Although I have never seen a world map, I have seen the globe imported from Guangzhou Shisanhang. Then he said: "Brother Rongfu, are you talking about America?"
Wang Zhong nodded and said: "The land is fertile and wild for thousands of miles. With the speed of a large ship on the North Sea, we can arrive there in ten days. Although there are native people living there, there is no production."
After drinking a pot of wine, Wang Zhong was already a little drunk and said to the seven people present: "From a medium point of view, another meaning of the reason why the Beihai Navy did not enter the pass is to avoid shocks in all directions and the border areas are not stable. Stable. At present, King Zhao needs to intimidate the various ministries in Outer Mongolia through a war with Tsarist Russia. Otherwise, once the imperial court falls into the pass, it may be like the Western Liao Dynasty..."
Wang Changsheng, who was standing outside the door, heard this and said, "Okay!" Why does this Principal Wang say everything? Come on, none of the seven newcomers in the room can be let go. They all have to go to Beihai Town to stay for a few years.
After two consecutive days of narration, Jiang Fan, Jiao Xun, Zhong Huai, and Huang Chengji were already scratching their heads, thinking that they had to go to Beihai Town to see something. Didn't Wang Zhong say that it would take no more than two days to take a sand boat along the Wusha River to the outer sea, then transfer to a large ship on the North Sea to reach Beihai Town? It would take no more than ten days to go around for a while and then come back.
In these days, when literati traveled away from home, they calculated their travels by month. In just ten days, they could travel thousands of miles from north to south, which is exciting to think about.
Different from the four young scholars, Duan Yucai, Liu Taigong and Hong Liangji had more considerations. After dinner in the evening, the three of them went to Duan Yucai's residence together. Hong Liangji shook his head and sighed: "Now we are in trouble."
Duan Yucao nodded and said, "Yeah, I can't even think about it." After he finished speaking, he looked at Liu Taigong, who was silent, and asked, "Duan Lin, what do you think?"
Liu Taigong was silent for a long time, and finally said: "Instead of sighing, it is better to find out. If it is true as Brother Rong Fu said, it is indeed a matter of life and death for our generation. As the Yasheng has said, if you want to rule the world peacefully, in today's world, Who else would it be than me!"
When Duan Yucai heard this, he slapped the table and said: "Duan Lin's words are exactly what I want! I must meet the King of Zhao to see if he has the appearance of a king, and to explain the pros and cons of the imperial examination. If you want to bring peace to the world, what can you do? How can we not hold the imperial examination?"
Liu Taigong said slowly: "Those who are right day and night regard Beichen, and those who are right and suspect regard saints. If we do not compromise with the Bible, we will not distinguish between day and night and will wander endlessly. If we fall into the mud, we will surely die."
"Well said!" Duan Yucai and Hong Liangji high-fived in praise. Liu Taigong hit the nail on the head and really spoke what was in their hearts. It means that if Beihai Town does not take Confucian classics as the standard, it will be like groping and walking in the mud at night, and it will be over sooner or later.
One day later, the seven and Wang Zhong finally boarded the sand boat anchored outside Xuzhuang. Although they had heard the description before, when they saw the huge white hull of the Thor with their own eyes, they all opened their mouths in surprise and looked at each other in astonishment.
Jiao Xun stood on the side of the sand ship, holding an iron rod in his hand, and struck the Thor's hull twice. He was surprised: "It's really made of iron? It doesn't make sense. Such a big piece of iron can't sink." ?”
Duan Yucai looked at the high and steep ladder falling from the side of the ship. He felt dizzy and his legs were weak.
Jiang Fan wondered how many troops and horses such a big ship could carry. If this lands in Tianjin, haha!
After a group of people got on the deck, they all became curious babies when they saw the large deck and the dazzling machinery and equipment everywhere. Regardless of the strong wind on the deck, everyone walked from the bow to the stern, and then from the stern back to the bow. They pointed at the equipment and asked Wang Zhong this and that.
How could Wang Zhong understand this? He called a sailor over to explain to everyone what a windlass was, what a winch was, what a heavy machine gun was, what a cannon was...
When everyone got on the boat building, they climbed up the stairs and arrived at the "famous" restaurant. They were even more dazzled by the four large glass windows.
Duan Yucao pointed to the glass window and sighed: "This is too extravagant! There is nothing more sophisticated than this."
However, Jiang Fan disagreed with this and said with a smile: "The useful thing is the miraculous skill rather than the cunning skill."
In ancient China, moral education was valued over skills, manpower over material resources, skills over tools. Even the Confucian school that advocates "managing the world for practical purposes" only recognizes those technologies that are related to the stability of the country and the basic life of the people, that is, those related to water conservancy, burning wasteland, smelting, and farming. Denounced it as a "miracle and obscenity".
The development of new technologies actually relies on two things, either the high development of the commercial economy or the urgent need for military technology due to war. There is never a simple technological explosion. This was true in the late Ming Dynasty, and it was also true in Europe.
Why did Galileo throw two iron balls from the Leaning Tower of Pisa? Do you really think he suddenly wanted to understand gravity and mass? In addition to throwing iron balls, he also studied the rolling speed of iron balls on different slopes.
No! He wanted to study ballistics and figure out the conditions under which artillery shells could hit the enemy accurately.
What Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo and Dürer were best at was not art at all, but making weapons. When Leonardo da Vinci was looking for a job, 95% of the recommendation letters were related to military engineering experience.
One day later, seven scholars from Yangzhou finally arrived at Whale Harbor. Just like the refugees who first arrived in Beihai Town, when they saw the even larger Thunderbolt and the densely packed cargo and facilities on the shore, they were stunned and completely ignored Yu Deli and his party who were greeting them on the dock.
In a room on the second floor of the customs, Zhao Xin held up a telescope and observed for a long time. He thought it was okay, there were only seven people here in total, and he would be scared if there were dozens of people who were "talking about it" all day long.
But then he thought about it, and he suddenly had a bad taste. Counting Wang Zhong's words, weren't these the new generation of "Eight Eccentrics of Yangzhou".
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