It was late at night, the moon had set in the western sky, and the sky was filled with stars. The cool breeze blows from Luohe River, carrying a trace of moisture.
Wang Xiaolie looked at the starry sky, his eyes blurred.
In the past few years, Wang Xiaolie has been studying, thinking, and practicing. Only this year did he have a complete political thought. Although they have occupied the place for several years, now only Xiangyang, Nanyang, Luoyang and several surrounding states have basically complete official systems. Other places only have officials who can collect taxes. In the next few years, schools will be established, officials will be trained, and various places will be firmly under control.
This process, roughly calculated, will take five or six years. It did take a long time, but Wang Xiaolie could only wait.
Wang Xiaolie was very patient and had to be patient. The new policies are too different from the old ones, and officials cannot be competent without training. In recent years, a large number of administrative cases have been accumulated, which can be used as teaching materials to train officials. Only with officials can we truly control the place. Otherwise, if a large number of officials are sent out, they will eventually form a huge force and it will be difficult to reform.
Not learning from European and American political systems is the result of Wang Xiaolie's deep thinking.
European and American political systems have corresponding historical backgrounds. The most important historical background is, firstly, their historical feudal lords and nobles, and secondly, their historical autonomous industrial and commercial towns. At least in China, there have been no autonomous industrial and commercial towns in history, and the feudal lords and nobles have disappeared for thousands of years. The country is acclimated to the natural environment of Europe and the United States.
From the political system to the ideological realm. You will find that the two civilizations have fundamentally different understandings of the world. This difference is neither eye-catching nor ostentatious, but it is crucial.
Human civilization starts from basic understanding and expands to various kinds of knowledge to form a huge system. Some of these various kinds of knowledge are right, some are wrong, and some people don’t know what is right or wrong. Wang Xiaolie's knowledge is limited. Apart from Chinese civilization, he only knows about European and American civilization. Others, such as Indian civilization, Arab civilization, Persian civilization, etc., Wang Xiaolie could not explain clearly.
The understanding of civilization is gradually deepened, and it will not be clearly understood from the beginning. Of course, this understanding is not uniform, and not all people can recognize this difference. The asymptotic nature and disunity of cognition are characteristics of cognition and are nothing to be surprised about.
From the initial contact with Europe and the United States, to the opening of the country by strong ships and cannons, and gradually understanding of Western civilization, China has experienced this process. From some people who stubbornly insist on being unchangeable, to some people who advocate total westernization from language to writing, this is a huge spectrum. It should be realized that the wider the spectrum, the better, and we cannot think that only one or a few ideas are correct, and other ideas are either useless or counterproductive. The most important thing is, as time goes by, what is the mainstream thought selected by this genealogy. After the mainstream ideas are selected, how many people still stubbornly stick to the old ideas.
Learning means learning from others’ advanced and useful things and discarding their backward and harmful things. We must learn from the industrialization of the West. We must clearly understand the role of industrialization in promoting human civilization and learn actively. The backward things in the West, such as some religious ideas, must be abandoned. It is unclear whether some of them are useful or harmful. At best, we should have a skeptical attitude rather than accept them completely. For example, politics, economics, and philosophy.
If you cannot step away from what you have learned and clearly understand the system of learning, then you should not be an active disseminator of ideas. People should have this kind of self-knowledge, and they should also have this kind of self-knowledge. Don't study Western philosophy. If you can't even explain clearly what you have learned, just talk about Plato and shut up about Aristotle. When it comes to thinking, we talk about Kant, Sartre, and Hegel. That can only be an ideological clown.
We should clearly realize that people's understanding of the world is not unified, but diverse. We should clearly realize that in any knowledge system, there are places that can be learned and places that cannot be learned.
The Western philosophical system has shown its confusion and hesitation since entering postmodernism. No matter how many definitions we make and how many rules we summarize, we are still helpless when facing the new world.
Other worlds may not know what their confusion and hesitation is, and it would be ridiculous to follow them. It’s just that when facing the new world, if you don’t learn from Western postmodernism, you must have your own ideas. It is difficult for most people to have their own thoughts.
The world is originally very simple, but when we built the building of knowledge, we added too many things to it. Most of these things are useless, only a few are useful, and some do not know whether they are useful or useless. Faced with this vast amount of knowledge, we cannot distinguish between good and bad.
Wang Xiaolie sighed.
I can't tell which ones are useful, which ones are useless, and which ones are useless. We can only slowly experiment and find a relatively reasonable answer for this era based on the current reality. Who knows what these answers will look like over time?
After taking off some gorgeous clothes, all kinds of political thoughts and doctrines are actually just the same thing. In the past, Confucianism expounded a beautiful three generations and required restoration. Now to describe a better future society, you are required to believe that it will eventually come. In fact, what is truly useful can only be said to be useful in a hundred years at most. No matter how long it takes, it will be unreliable. No matter how reasonable your theory sounds, what's the use if it doesn't conform to reality?
The next day, as soon as Wang Xiaolie arrived at Xuanfu Si Yamen, he received an official document. Zhao Ding was informed of the affairs of the Privy Council and commanded the troops on Jingxinnan North Road, Yongxing Military Road, Fuyan Road and Hedong Road. Zhao Gou decided to make the Northern Expedition.
Wang Xiaolie took the official document and was stunned for a long time.
The Song Dynasty emphasized the use of culture to control military force. It would be unthinkable for the imperial court not to send people to monitor the Northern Expedition with such a huge force. But sending Zhao Ding here, in the name of the commander-in-chief of all the troops, was unexpected.
These soldiers were all trained by Wang Xiaolie. Zhao Ding, who was the governor of the army, could not command them. At least they should be soldiers and generals of the imperial court who would obey Zhao Ding's orders. But the existence of this lawsuit is enough to monitor Wang Xiaolie.
Putting down the official document, Wang Xiaolie sighed. Zhao Gou finally decided to launch the Northern Expedition and sent a governor to him. As for the east road, needless to say, Zhao Gou will conquer it himself, and everything depends on him. Zhao Ding was sent here because, firstly, he was worried about Wang Xiaolie, and secondly, because Wang Xiaolie had been so submissive in recent years, Zhao Gou felt that he could send him here.
Zhao Ding's Governor's Mansion is full of officials and officials, and it looks like that. But for Wang Xiaolie, it was just a show.
On the third day of June, Chen Xiaohui returned to Luoyang. As soon as he entered the house, he was called to the Xuanfu Department.
When they arrived at the Xuanfu Division Hall, Wang Xiaolie stood up and said, "Let's do it here. I have something to tell you."
Chen Xiaohui said: "Where is there a place for a young person to sit in front of Prime Minister Xuan?"
Wang Xiaolie smiled and said: "I don't pay attention to that. Here, I always sit and talk, and there is no reason to listen to instructions."
After saying that, Wang Xiaolie sat down, and Chen Xiaohui had no choice but to sit on the chair.
Wang Xiaolie said: "You can draw exactly the same as the real thing, which is also a special talent. I need such people here. I wonder if you would like to work here? Don't worry, I will give you a good salary."
Chen Xiaohui was startled for a moment and said hurriedly: "Yes, of course I am willing! If I have a job, why should I draw counterfeit coins?"
Wang Xiaolie said: "Of course you will be punished for using counterfeit money. I heard that you performed well in Xin'an and came out early. Merits must be rewarded, and mistakes must be punished. It is a matter of course. This is the law of the country and common sense. I hope you can Don’t worry about it.”
Chen Xiaohui said hurriedly: "Of course the little ones don't dare!"
Wang Xiaolie nodded: "It's good if you think like this. For now, you can go to the art academy and get the same salary as other painters. Of course, other painters will paint some paintings by themselves and earn some extra money. This is something you can't compare with. .”
Chen Xiaohui said: "How can a youngster dare to compete with those national players? I am grateful to be able to get the same salary."
Wang Xiaolie said: "In the art academy, you don't need to paint some exquisite paintings like other painters. What you have to do is to draw them on the paper based on the existing objects. For example, crickets, cicadas, etc. For example, frogs, all kinds of things like that. Try to make it the same, so people won’t mistake it according to the picture.”
Chen Xiaohui said: "I obey, little one."
Wang Xiaolie said with a smile: "This is a big project, you must know it well. We are going to compile a book, and everything in the world is in this book. With this book, people can understand everything . Similar to Jin Zhanghua’s "Natural History", but there are no gods and monsters, only real things."
Chen Xiaohui didn't know many words, let alone read it, and he didn't know anything about "Natural History". But judging from the name, Wang Xiaolie should be compiling a book to increase people's knowledge. It should be about things that exist in the real world.
What Wang Xiaolie wanted to compile was actually an encyclopedia-like book. Compiling this kind of book requires many years and a lot of manpower. Chen Xiaohui was the first person selected by Wang Xiao. Then choose the right person to do it based on the actual situation.
After talking about some books with Chen Xiaohui, Wang Xiaolie said: "There is a shortage of people now, and there is a shortage of suitable people for everything. You have to draw various drawings and train a few students at the same time. If possible, even set up a A school that specializes in teaching people who don’t have the talent to be a painter, but who can draw something like that.”
Chen Xiaohui said: "Xuan Xiang values the small ones so much, how dare he fail to do his best!"
"Okay, okay, if you think so, I feel more relieved." Wang Xiaolie nodded repeatedly and sent Chen Xiaohui away.
Chen Xiaohui left, and Wang Xiaolie sat alone, drinking tea slowly. After the Taiyuan War ended, the Luoyang area settled down, and it was time to think about some cultural things. Compiling an encyclopedia, compiling a pharmacopoeia, compiling a mechanical manual, and compiling a chemical manual can be regarded as an immortal legacy left to future generations.
