Guo Kang thinks Joanna's suggestion makes sense, but he doesn't necessarily believe it. Unlike Theodora, even if she seriously considered it, she was still an outsider.
Theodora had chatted with him about this type of issue before. She warned Guo Kang that anyone's words will have a preset position. Because everyone’s situation and interests are different, even if they think they are magnanimous and fair and are trying to provide help, they cannot escape this influence.
But conversely, just because this gap exists does not mean that all recommendations should be ignored. Because even people who are not closely related can put forward valuable opinions in some aspects. As long as they are analyzed based on their own attitudes and needs, it is not difficult to find out the useful parts.
Therefore, she believes that although Guo Kang often makes various plans, this quality alone is not enough. He must learn to identify the information and suggestions sent by other people of all kinds and decide how to deal with them in order to become a qualified leader.
But this thing is much more difficult than studying steam heaven and making plans, because there is no fixed formula at all. Guo Kang sometimes even felt that he might not be the one to do this.
However, after seeing more, he understood it somewhat. For example, Joanna's statement was very candid. Although she is not considered one of her own, she is now a relatively weak and demanding person. Where she is willing to promote, her advice will obviously be valuable.
Guo Kang felt that she should know better than him about navigation and trade routes.
He thought for a while and asked proactively: "I understand the reason for this concern. But the problem now is that we are not only trying to find a new direction, others may also be trying. If we don't do it, others may do it in a few decades. We’ll find it. So what do we do?”
"If what I just guessed is correct, even if they succeed, they will not receive huge rewards immediately when they start their business, and their national power will not suddenly increase." Joanna analyzed methodically: "During this period, too Our opportunity to act.”
"There are many ways to compete in business. It doesn't mean that everyone just competes with the efficiency of development. If you have no way to make your profits higher than those of your competitors, then conversely, you can also prevent them from making enough profits." She narrowed her eyes slightly, revealing a trace of determination and viciousness in her narrow eyes: "We also said just now that it is much easier to destroy the route than to operate it."
"For example, England just mentioned. If there was a Western Continent, their location would be really good, and they would probably be able to develop quickly due to their geographical advantages. But we can learn from the Vikings back then."
"Shall we also become pirates?" Guo Kang had not thought about this issue before.
"Of course. We have been pirates for a longer time than them. And you have been mentioning the Vikings all the time. Don't you know their traditions?" Joanna regained her charming expression, but said cruel words and chuckled.
Guo Kang hesitated and felt that this seemed to be an idea.
But at this time, Tuohuan interrupted again.
"Your response method is too much like a maritime businessman or a pirate. This is not good." He shook his head: "It is actually not a good idea to destroy other people's business and prevent people from making money."
"Currently, Dadu is the most conducive place for business development. Therefore, it is also the richest and most suitable place for serious business. If the New World you are talking about cannot bring greater prosperity and the scope of influence is not large, then We can completely ignore it. Anyway, the minerals and wealth they get from there will eventually be given to us through trade."
"And if it really brings unprecedented prosperity there, causing Dadu, the 'most powerful city of all cities,' to lose its greatest advantage, then we..." He shrugged: "We can just move."
"At that time, Dadu will no longer be a good place. We don't want it anymore." He waved his hand and said nonchalantly: "The Khan's court, all the pillar states, and all the armies will move to the most suitable place geographically."
"It's an advantageous geographical location. It's dead. But people are alive." Tuohuan gave an example: "This is like the previous pasture gradually dying out. Do we still have to stick to it and starve to death? Of course we need to find a water plant. For a more lush place, drive away or annex the tribes over there and use it as a new pasture."
"If, as you said, England has an advantage in location, then we will all take a boat together, rush down to Denmark first, and then go to England to kill the natives. After that, that side will also be our new sweat tent."
"So, your pirate idea is not good enough." He looked at Joanna, shook his head and said, "It's too low-level to harass other people's business every day. You should just grab the whole store."
Joanna opened her mouth, but no words came out for a moment.
In just a short while, I was already speechless twice about getting out of love. This "fox" who has always been recognized as smart has been hit by the "Khitan Wolf Warriors" and seems to have slowed down...
Guo Kang, on the other hand, suddenly remembered a more profound proposition.
As a time traveler, he has subconsciously regarded it as a matter of course to reform society and promote the development of his country within his ability.
Which direction to develop has become one of the most important issues.
According to tradition, time-travelers generally learn from the "West". Although the scope of this Western concept is not clear, the basic conventions are relatively clear. For example, promoting the establishment of a constitutional monarchy, promoting the development of capitalism, etc. In short, he refers to the various regulations and policies of the West in his original world and develops along their paths.
The history of Seris itself is also learned step by step. The more you learn, the more you learn, and the more you learn, the stronger you become.
But there is a problem with this model: which step should we learn?
Some people think that learning Western weapons and military systems is enough, while others think it is not enough and must learn Western political systems;
Some people think that it is enough to learn the Western political system, but others think that this is still just a formality and that Western ideas and culture, such as democracy, science, etc., must be learned.
Many people think that this is enough. But the problem is that some people think that this is still not enough - Western civilization is more advanced than Eastern civilization, so the more thorough you learn, the better.
Where is the foundation of Western thought? The answer is religion. Therefore, if you want to become more advanced, it is best to learn religion as well, so that everyone can believe in Heavenly Father and Heavenly Brother. Although this is more difficult, the transformation is indeed more thorough.
Is this enough? of course not. Seris's writing is an anomaly in the world. Many people also believe that this writing is not advanced enough and they need to learn from the West and change the writing. This is more difficult, but after the modification, it will be closer to the West.
And above the words, there is also a bloodline that is harder to change. Some people think that the blood of Eastern people is not good and will not be as advanced as the West in origin. Therefore, the bloodline should be improved through conscious intermarriage.
These are really not derivation out of thin air, but suggestions that have actually appeared in history and even aroused widespread discussion. Some topics were still mentioned by people until Guo Kang's time.
Because the logic here is the same as before:
At that time, the Qing Dynasty was only willing to learn weapons and military affairs and was not willing to learn the system of Western civilization, which led to falling behind and being beaten; now, if it only studies ideas and does not learn the religion and writing of Western civilization, does it mean that it will be the same as the Qing Dynasty? If we remain conservative and backward and hesitate to move forward, will we suffer the same fate?
If we don’t admit that the West is an advanced civilization, then we won’t know how to narrate the process of “learning from the West” in modern history;
If we admit that the West is an advanced civilization, then there will be all kinds of "heresies" and endless quarrels over the issue of which point it is advanced and which step it has learned is considered advanced because of conceptual definition issues.
In other world lines, this may only be a theoretical dispute, but in the Purple Horde Khanate, these issues will indeed affect Guo Kang's plan.
Many commonly used development methods are not feasible in the Purple Horde Khanate. For example, the most classic "constitutional monarchy" is not very feasible here-Zi Zhang's Khan is more similar to the head of state in the Roman era, and is actually the largest military leader. Basil III, who had the highest authority in history, mainly relied on his own military exploits and wisdom. To put it bluntly, everyone else was unreliable, so the power was given to him.
The institutional power of Paisai Khan is not as great as that of the British king after the establishment of the constitution. To follow other people's laws to restrain the monarch is equivalent to restraining him...
What's more, the laws on these two sides are not the same situation at all.
The basic laws of the Purple Horde Khanate were adapted by Guo Gai on the basis of Roman law after recruiting a group of Greek jurists. Later, Queen Mother Helena and Basil III continued to organize scholars to modify and improve it. It is fundamentally incompatible with British law.
The legal scholars in Zizhang do know the laws of other parts of Europe, but they don't like them at all. In their eyes, Roman law was the greatest civilizational asset. Compared with it, those very crude and backward barbarian customary laws are not worth mentioning at all.
Telling these people that English law is the most advanced and asking them to learn from it is the ultimate insult to the Greek jurists. Later generations of Siris people may be more accepting of British law than they are...
And this situation will bring about a more troublesome question: Who is the advanced Western civilization, Britain or Rome?
Or, we can go one step further: Is Rome the West?
At this point, we have come to the biggest problem in the usual travel model.
If Guo Kang traveled to Seris at the same time, he would come to the society of the Ming and Qing Dynasties. At this time, he can try to transform the Seris society according to the knowledge and experience of advanced Western civilization, in order to get on the right path and let the Seris civilization continue and become advanced. This is also the most orthodox and common way.
But the problem is, he traveled back to his hometown in Rome.
According to the orthodox path, he should try to transform Roman society according to the knowledge and experience of advanced Western civilization, in order to get on the right path and let Roman civilization continue and become advanced.
But this result itself forms a paradox.
According to Western orthodoxy, "Western civilization" should be passed on in the order of Greece - Rome - Western Europe. But now, the Roman ancestors announced that he was not dead, and suddenly jumped out of the coffin and beat the filial sons and grandsons of Western Europe who were trying to inherit him.
In this case, Western Europe will not be able to inherit "Westernness", and there will be no need to learn from it. It can just learn from Rome itself.
But on the other hand, in theory, Rome could not become the most advanced without learning from more advanced Western civilization. This seems to be contradictory to the previous conclusion.
In this discussion, "Western civilization", which originally developed linearly, made mistakes because of the sudden rise of Rome.
To use a metaphor, it is equivalent to the fact that in Rome, the long river of civilization's destiny no longer continues to advance, allowing Western Europe, which is destined to be powerful, to become stronger. Instead, it was stuck here in Rome, like an ouroboros, starting to spin in circles.
As Theodora said, Guo Kang did attach great importance to theoretical planning, and always believed that this was his greatest value as a time traveler. But when planning and choosing development direction and specific models, he must face these problems.
The idea of decoupling suddenly opened his eyes.
Guo Kang, I understand!
He realized that learning about advanced civilization, in the final analysis, was just a means, wasn't it?
Isn't the real purpose to make oneself an advanced civilization?
To use a metaphor, the process of development and learning is actually the process of non-Western civilizations trying to imitate the advanced Western civilization.
Historically, there have been many states of varying depth in the learning process. In order to summarize the rules, a rough classification can be made according to their level of digestion and absorption.
For example, the Qing Dynasty only succeeded in digesting foreign guns and artillery, but failed to learn advanced ones. This kind can be classified as level nine.
And if you go one step further and not only know how to use foreign guns, but also digest and absorb Western production lines, and can initially develop your own industry, you will have achieved a qualitative improvement and entered the eighth level.
By analogy, the more and more advanced you digest the various characteristics of advanced Western civilization, the stronger you will be and the closer you will be to your goal.
The ultimate goal is, of course, what he calls "advanced Western civilization."
However, people in the past have ignored one point. That is, religion, words, etc. are not the key. At the upper level of the civilization sequence, geographical location plays an even more decisive role.
Different geographical locations, climate, mineral resources, production methods... will all be affected. Obviously, this is a more advanced feature.
For example, it is impossible for an East Asian civilization to truly "leave Asia and join Europe." Only by expedition to Western Europe and replacing local forces can the geographical digestion and absorption be completed.
This is the current situation of the Purple Horde Khanate.
Now, Greek is widely spoken within the Khanate, and the state religion is also the Christian religion. Even the Great Khan's family looks no different from Greeks due to long-term intermarriage. But even so, Western European civilization would not recognize it, but considered it an oriental country.
So, the last step is obvious.
The advanced Western civilization is unique, and it is impossible for two to exist at the same time - because at the top of the civilization sequence, there can only be one most advanced civilization!
Therefore, at this point, what needs to be done is to kill the original advanced Western civilization, seize its uniqueness, and replace it yourself!
Once you reach this level, you can call yourself the West, call yourself an advanced civilization, and reach the pinnacle of learning.
In an instant, Guo Kang suddenly understood the true core of this method.
I have to say, this is a pretty blasphemous path. People worship the advanced Western civilization, but it is not actually a god - and it can be replaced!
The so-called God is nothing more than that!
Of course, this road is also difficult and dangerous. Not only is there a constant battle, but there is also the risk of losing control.
Because there is another very important point: that is, the method of acting is just acting after all!
The tyrannical Mongols back then lost control of themselves because the spiritual power of civilization was too weak.
At a high level, how to play Western civilization while maintaining yourself is also a difficult task, and you can only work hard on your own.
Guo Kang suddenly felt that his thoughts suddenly became clear.
"Brother Kang, Brother Kang, what are you thinking about?" At this time, Joanna's worried voice came from her ears.
Guo Kang came to his senses, turned his head, and saw her and Tuo Huan looking at him.
"Ah, something suddenly occurred to me and I got distracted." Guo Kang quickly explained before he had time to care about why she used such an intimate title.
Joanna still seemed a little concerned, but having sex probably confirmed his state.
"Hey, he has a lot on his mind. Smart people are like this, so we don't have to worry about it," he comforted.
Joanna took another deep look at Guo Kang and finally nodded.
(End of chapter)
