,!
Less than a month after Gao Pangshi came to Sichuan, the small town of Sichuan has been transformed into a small military fortress. Four triangular front projections were added to the original four-square gate, turning it into an octagonal bastion structure.
Of course, compared to Jinghua's engineering standards at this time, the corresponding facilities of this bastion are not complete enough. It only has the basic configuration of the bastion and can play a role in the display of firepower.
This is actually a manifestation of high pragmatic bottom line thinking. When he arranged the defense line at Lianhua Mountain, he considered the possibility that if the defense line was breached, or the Japanese army attacked Lianhua Mountain frontally and detached a division to surprise Sichuan, he had already planned a surprise attack on Sichuan. Sichuan built a simple fortress.
Gao Pingshi's high prestige among the Ming army came from this: when he led troops in battle, he never regarded himself as a civil servant. Not only did he ride a horse instead of sitting in a sedan chair, he also slept in a large marching tent like a military general, and worked in simple fortifications. Zhongan is as plain as it is.
He never tried to promote equal rights, and would not tell ordinary soldiers that they did not have to kneel down when they saw him. However, he could always live up to his responsibilities. He was a prime minister in the government and a commander in the army. .
Gao pragmatically never talked about cooking with anyone except Liu Xin, and even if he did talk to Liu Xin, it was probably to convince her that Western-style cooking would not work in Ming Dynasty. For this reason, he also specifically explained to Liu Xin that it was pure nonsense for later generations in the West to talk about ancient Greece when talking about Panzi.
The main representatives of ancient Greece are Sparta and Athens, and Sparta is definitely not a good one. This does not need to be explained at all. Anyone who knows a little bit about European history knows it very well. So the key question is whether the Panzi in Athens and the Panzi in the West in later generations are the same thing, or at least whether they are of the same origin.
The answer is no.
Later generations of Panzi, at least from the original meaning of the word, should be a country dominated by public opinion. Due to limitations in administrative structure and governance methods, it had to adopt a representative system.
So, is this what happened in Athens? No, the culture of Athens has never been the culture of the whole people and the whole society, but a kind of elite politics and aristocratic politics.
On the one hand, Athens’ political politics was a systematic and powerful attack by the non-elite class of Athens on the aristocratic values defended by the minority aristocratic class. As a political concept and an effective political structure, it has brought comprehensive political participation and political equality to even the poorest male citizens, and has also successfully given freedom to the most ordinary people.
But on the other hand, because the male citizens of Athens could rely entirely on slaves, women, and other non-citizens to perform necessary productive labor to maintain their lives, their active participation in political life itself reflected an aristocratic value.
In short, the class hierarchy in Athens is very clear. The real aristocrats and male citizens of Athens are in fact the ruling class, while ordinary Athenian women, non-citizens in the ruling areas, slaves, etc. are obviously the ruled class.
The vast majority of ancient Greek philosophers were also extremely opposed to democracy. Many philosophers called non-elite democracy mob politics - to some extent, this thing is equivalent to what later generations of the West would consider the "ultra-right". It's all anti-intellectual nationalism.
The most representative philosophers of ancient Greece recognized that everyone should perform their duties according to their abilities, such as Plato, Aristotle and others. This is actually very similar to ancient Chinese thinking, that is, the stars have their own places, and only by following the principle of their own destiny can we be closest to the way of heaven.
However, Greece or Europe as a whole has been unable to solve a fundamental problem for a long time: is the ability of a high-ranking aristocratic official worthy of his position? If not, how to promote a person from the bottom but with excellent ability to a high position?
The Greek sages had done a lot of thinking, and some even went to Sicily to experiment, but they all failed. There is only one country in the world that has solved this problem to some extent, and unfortunately it is China.
The imperial examination system was a means to solve this problem. It is true that the imperial examination system itself had its problems. The biggest problem during the Ming Dynasty was whether the talents selected by the imperial examination system really had the ability to govern.
But in any case, the problem with the imperial examination system lies in the directionality of the examination questions, not the selection method itself. In other words, in order for the imperial examination system to play a better role, it is not necessary to change the examination system itself, but only to change the direction of the examination questions - in short, don't just test the Four Books and Five Classics.
Is the college entrance examination fair? It may be unfair, but who can deny that it is the fairest way at present?
Therefore, it is not without reason that Montesquieu, as a leader of French Enlightenment thinkers, became a big fan of China's imperial examination system. According to Western thinking, it solves the core problem of "philosopher governance", that is, how to determine one's duties based on ability.
The big reason why Gao is pragmatic and does not engage in the Western representative system of later generations is this - you are already more advanced than others, but you still have to go back and learn from others. What is the difference between that and taking the initiative to "be sent to the left"?
Moreover, many unsolvable problems arose in the representative system later on. For example, in the advanced period of productivity, it seemed to be running well. Once the relative advantage of productivity begins to decline, social conflicts will intensify, polarization will appear, and each other will attack each other and pull each other along. Jump into the pit.
Of course, there is also a deep-seated bug in the monotheistic thinking system, which is the theory of binary opposition - either this or that, black or white. In their minds, they only have "light will defeat darkness", but they cannot understand the traditional Chinese philosophical thinking of "the harmony of yin and yang, and the mutual growth of all things".
Without darkness, what is light? Light cannot illuminate darkness, and darkness cannot swallow light. The two are always interdependent. This kind of truth cannot be understood by the Western thinking of duality and opposition under monotheistic religions, and is unwilling to admit it.
Therefore, Europe can only be divided, so the two parties of the United States and the United States are at odds with each other. As long as they cannot get rid of such binary opposition thinking, they will not only exhaust their efforts to attack and fight against the rise of external forces, but also continue to attack dissidents internally.
Gao pragmatism has never launched a comprehensive attack on the Xin School because he does not want to escalate the party struggle to the point of resorting to unscrupulous means. He hopes that the method of "fighting for orthodoxy" will be limited to the level of "seeing actual results", that is, using tangible political achievements to prove that what is needed to govern the world is the method of the Wo Shi school, not the method of the Youxin school.
In fact, the Chinese have been the most realistic nation since ancient times. Only the Chinese civilization in the world believes that "man can conquer nature". Only the Chinese dare to engage in the "if the gods harm me, I will kill the gods" - this is what Hou Yi shot the sun. the embodiment of an idea.
In fact, there is a key point here. Westerners attribute everything to God's arrangements, but Chinese people do not believe that a certain god can arrange everything. Chinese people worship the way of heaven, and the way of heaven has no specific direction, it is just a rule.
In other words, according to the Western perspective, if God has a whim today, he can change the rules, such that one plus one does not equal two. But according to the Chinese point of view, one plus one equals two is the rule, part of the way of heaven, and it will not change because of anyone.
Therefore, Westerners believe that God is everything, and everything that happens is God’s arrangement; Chinese people do not care about God, but are constantly looking for rules and ways to get closer to the way of heaven.
Everyone performs his duties well and fulfills his destiny, which is the way of heaven. All the Chinese have to do is to constantly find and improve ways to get the right people to the right positions.
Such is Gao's pragmatic political views, just as he once asked Gao Gong on the way to Beijing when he was a child: "If the emperor trusts his officials and uses the right officials, then the world's great governance will actually not be far away." Yes, right?"
It was true then, and it is true now.
Today, Gao Pingshi stood on the tower south of Sichuan, looking at his subordinates performing their respective duties, and he was also hoping in his heart that the outgoing fleet would do its job well and bring him good news.
The secretaries, staff, and generals around him also looked forward to it, and like Gao Pragmatic, they looked towards the sea from time to time.
Suddenly, Ma Qiancheng, who was holding a telescope, shouted: "Gebu, it's the fleet, the fleet is back!"
Everyone, including Gao Qinggong, picked up their telescopes and looked at the sea. Sure enough, they found a mast appearing at the end of the sea. The style and color pattern of the sails on the mast showed that it was the Ming army fleet that came - exactly. It is said that it is the Shujian coat of arms that shows their identity: the Ming Dynasty Beijing Beiyang Fleet.
Everyone continued to observe nervously, while counting the masts that appeared later, and soon discovered that the leading warship was the temporary Sichuan Fleet flagship "Dongchang".
The word "Flagship" indicates that this is probably not a combat formation. Anyone who knows the Beijing-China Liangyang Fleet well knows that the flagship is usually placed at the tip of the arrow during the ship review after the Liangyang Fleet exercises.
In other words, the fleet should have returned victoriously and specially formed a formation for the review.
As the secretaries and servants of the Gao family around Gao Jingshi began to cheer, generals such as Ma Qiancheng, Qin Liangyu and his wife, Jie Sheng, Po Gui, Niu Boying, Yang Dengden and others also knew that there must be a great victory at sea, and they couldn't help but get excited.
Gao Wuzheng smiled and cupped his hands towards his brother and said, "Congratulations, brother. Congratulations, brother. Shengyi must have returned victorious from this battle. From now on, the day when our army will wipe out all the Japanese pirates in the North must not be far away."
Gao Pangshi was also very happy in his heart, but because of his identity, he couldn't express himself too exaggeratedly. He could only smile and said: "I have been sharpening my sword for twenty years, and I will try it out and see what happens now. Don't be impatient, wait for the results and the battle." The damage statistics are all out, it’s never too late to be happy.”
Although he said that, more and more Ming warships appeared in the telescope, which showed that at least the battle damage should not be large, and the joy on Gao Pragmatic's face could not be suppressed.
After a while, everyone was unsettled - not scared, but surprised: the Sichuan fleet was indeed approaching in a fleet parade, but all the warships of the Sea Trade Alliance were on the outside, and in the middle Some of them turned out to be all Japanese ships!
Obviously, this battle was not only a great victory, but also captured a large number of Japanese navy warships!
Gao Pragmatic almost couldn't help but go to the dock to greet him in person. Fortunately, Gao Qi reminded him to quickly return to the commander's tent and wait for the military report, so he gave up on this excessive courtesy that Gao Shengyi would definitely not be able to bear. However, he ordered Gao Wuzheng, Gao Wuruo, and Gao Qi's uncle and nephew to go to the dock together to welcome the fleet's triumphant return on his behalf.
Generals such as Ma Qiancheng, Qin Liangyu and his wife, Jiesheng, Pogui, Niu Boying, Yang Dengden and other generals were all landlubbers. Seeing such a huge fleet returning in triumph, they were all excited beyond words. However, they did not dare to make a mistake in front of Gao Pragmatism, so they had no choice but to comply. Shirdi left the tower and accompanied Gao pragmatically back to the commander's tent to wait for Gao Shengyi to come and report his victory.
However, they all made up their minds that when things here are over, they must visit the dock in person to see how amazing this fleet is. It's just... I don't know if boarding the ship will be allowed. Maybe I need to ask the Ministry of Cabinet for an order first?
Gao Pangshi didn't wait too long when he returned to the commander's tent. The three uncles and nephews of the Gao family came to report their victory with Gao Shengyi, who was happy but forced to endure.
"Gao Shengyi, the captain of the Dongchang of the Beiyang Fleet and the temporary commander of the Sichuan Fleet, pays homage to the master! Thanks to the great blessing of the master and the life of the entire army, our fleet ambushed the Japanese navy and won a great victory. Fifty-four Japanese ships were forced to land and seven were seriously injured. Two other ships were seriously damaged and captured but sank due to excessive damage during the tug process.
In this battle, our fleet made an emergency landing on a Japanese naval vessel, including dozens of generals including Todo Takatora, Wakisaka Yasuji and below, more than 5,200 sailors at all levels of the Japanese Navy, and more than 3,700 soldiers of the Japanese Busan Garrison Army Division. The losses caused to the Japanese amphibious and land forces during the battle are temporarily unknown. Please give me instructions. "
Gao pragmatic already knew that this was bound to be a big victory, but he didn't expect the result to be so brilliant. In particular, the forced landing turned out to be the largest part of the victory. It can be seen that the situation at that time must have been a one-sided advantage, forcing the Japanese navy to even escape.
He did not hesitate to praise Gao Shengyi with words of appreciation, and after hearing about the deeds of the decoy fleet, he also praised Gao Lichuan a few times. Then, Gao Jingshi asked Gao Wuzheng and other secretaries to count the results of the battle and reward him in accordance with Jinghua's rules and regulations. He also gave Gao Shengyi a new name and changed his name to Gao Wei.
Gao Shengyi, oh, Gao Wei couldn't help but thank you.
Changing one's name next to the character "王" is one of the greatest honorary rewards that a member of the Jinghua family can obtain. It has no additional benefits in the system, but as we all know, as long as you get this honor, it means entering the Gao family's family. Top class. To put it more bluntly, Gao Wei has since become one of Gao Pragmatic's true confidants like Gao Rui, Gao Jue and others, and will surely shoulder important responsibilities in the future.
Later, Gao Mozheng asked his brother if he wanted to see two important prisoners of the Japanese army, namely Todo Takatora and Wakisaka Anji. Gao pragmatic originally planned to meet him, but after thinking about it, he decided not to meet him first and wait for a while before talking.
After arranging all this, all the generals of the Ming army came to ask him to allow them to board the ship for a visit. Gao pragmatically agreed with a wave of his hand, and he ordered Gao Wuzheng and others to draft a victory report immediately.
On the same day, Gao pragmatically sent a message reporting the victory of Yupu to the capital.
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