Forty-eight years of Qianlong

Chapter 435 New Yangzhou Eight Monsters ([-])
Wang Zhong knew that if he wanted to let his old friends and young friends give up their jobs and go to work in Beihai Town, he had to attract them with surprising words first, and then talk about the good side of Beihai Town, so that they could Allay their concerns.

Anyway, the meaning revealed in the words is that whether the future is bright or not, we need to fight for it together.It's not that I, Wang Rongfu, don't work hard, I'm facing the "group of enemies" alone, and I can't stand alone.If my brothers don't come to help me help King Zhao, and wait until the "days are mourning", then the game for us people will really be over!

During the conversation, Duan Yucai, who had served as the county magistrate, bluntly said that it was "absurd" that Beihai Town would implement the method of sending officials to the countryside in the future.

But Jiang Fan who was present here didn't take it seriously, and said: "Mr. Maotang, this statement is wrong. Master said, if anyone is useful to me, it is only a month, and it will be successful in three years."

Duan Yucai looked worried and said: "If one man is in trouble, the seven temples will be ruined. He will be killed and his hands will be laughed at for the world. This is not a kingly way! This is the technique 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. The way of the overlord is mixed."

Jiang Fan’s words mean that even when Confucius was in charge of ministers in the state of Lu, he used to “be hegemonic in politics”. nothing.But Duan Yucai counterattacked with the rapid demise of the Qin Dynasty. Since he is advertised as the queen of Zhu Ming, then governing the world should be the fusion of kings and tyrants.

In ancient China, the exercise of political power alone was called hegemony, and the combination of political power and the control of society itself was kingly.Confucius was called Su Wang by scholars, and Su Wang and the imperial power were to run parallel to the world and rule the world separately.The local affairs are ruled by Su Wang, while the yamen is ruled by the imperial power, which is the so-called "imperial power does not come down to the county".

Wang Zhong laughed, saying that the debate between the two is outdated.Then he gave the example of telephone and telegram, saying that a word from King Zhao can be spread across thousands of miles in an instant. Isn't this more effective than the autonomy of officials and gentry?
After hearing this, Duan Yucai shook his head again and again to express his disbelief, and said that this was no longer the "sound transmission over thousands of miles" in the fairy novel.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 jokingly said yes, I will be a witness, and I am willing to admit defeat.

As soon as the words fell, Wang Zhong smiled, and he couldn't help but drag Duan Yucai to the communication room in Xuzhuang. Under the dumbfoundedness of the seven literati, Wang Zhong quickly contacted Beihai Town, holding a microphone. Wow said a pass.With Wang Zhong's character, it was too late, otherwise he would have dared to make Zhao Xin come all the way to say something.

Hearing a crisp female voice with a Shandong accent coming out of the black speaker, Duan Yucai opened his mouth so wide that a goose egg could be stuffed into it, and he was speechless for a long time. Only then did he realize that he had fallen into Wang Zhong's trap. .

Looking at the shining light bulbs and the radio station with a black casing in the room, the seven literati listened to Xuzhuang's correspondent's general explanation, although they were at a loss, they still couldn't help but admire: "I never thought that the skills of hundreds of crafts could be so powerful." It's amazing!"

Afterwards, the eight literati kept talking about the third watch and agreed to continue tomorrow, so they were taken to the guest room to rest.As for falling asleep, that's another story.

Early the next morning, the young scholar Huang Chengji had dark circles around his eyes because he hadn't slept all night.The content of the conversation last night made him toss and turn, and his heart was terrified.After breakfast, he speculated for a long time before asking Wang Zhong a question.

"Senior Rong Fu, yesterday Mr. mentioned the country and nation in his speech, and mentioned that Li Dynasty, Annan and other countries are not vassals, but neighboring countries. Please also make it clear, sir."

Wang Zhong thought for a while, then explained with the official textbook of Beihai Town: "All countries originate from the clan, and the head of the clan is the priest of the clan, and at the same time is the political leader of the clan."

Well, Beihai Town shamelessly plagiarized Liang Qichao's exposition from another time and space.If Beihai Town wants to develop national identity, it must continue to integrate Ainu, Yakut, island countries and even Cossacks and other ethnic groups under the premise of maintaining the existing territory, so there must be a programmatic explanation.

But Yu Deli rummaged through modern literature, and finally decided to plagiarize Liang Qichao's ideas.After all, as a scholar who alternates between tradition and modernity, Liang Qichao's explanation should be more recognized.

It is said that before the mid-nineteenth century, China never had the concept of "country" and "nation" in the modern sense.The so-called "China" is the world, not a "country" as opposed to other nation-states in the sense of later political science.The so-called national culture is only "nationalism" in the sense, that is, "the debate between Hua and Yi". If you respect the way of Confucius and Mencius and follow the etiquette of China, you are Hua, and otherwise you are Yi.

So this day's exchange began with what is a country and what is a Chinese nation.

Wang Zhong very much agrees with Zhao Xin's idea of ​​the country and nation that Yu Deli (at least Wang Zhong thinks so) came up with, which is also his rare approval of Zhao Xin's "cultural governance".

Of course, the poem that Zhao Xin plagiarized was also praised by Wang Zhong, who believed that Zhao Wang had made some progress under his own influence.
After coming down all morning, Wang Zhong said that his mouth was dry and his throat was hoarse.It is also thanks to his photographic memory that he can retell it in its entirety.

"The one that stands on the largest continent among the five continents and is the largest country among them is China; the one-third of the population of the earth is China; the history of more than four thousand years has never been interrupted, we are China and also."

".Qi, the sea country. In the ancient times, the Chinese nation had the idea of ​​sea power, but only Qi. Therefore, two concepts were produced during this period, one is the national view, and the other is the world view."

". In China, those who speak of nationalism should advocate big nationalism in addition to small nationalism. What is a small nationalist? The Han nationality is the same for other ethnic groups in the country. What is a big nationalist? United the various ethnic groups in the country. The same is true for the various ethnic groups in foreign countries.... Han, Manchu, Mongolian, Miao, Tibetan, etc., form a large ethnic group."

It is said that before the Qing Dynasty, the Han Dynasty often referred to itself as "China", but the "China" here refers to Huaxia, which is a small China dominated by the Central Plains.

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 court directly called itself China and expanded the scope of China to the entire imperial ruled area.In this way, the former "Little China" has evolved into a "Great China", and the "Great China" has become a multi-ethnic composition.

The Manchurian Qing policy of "treating Manchuria, Mongolia, and Han people as one body" for more than 150 years was aimed at stabilizing the rule and alleviating internal conflicts, but it cannot be denied that this policy also laid the foundation for the formation of a multi-ethnic country.

As mentioned before, no one in the world knows that the emperor is a Manchu.Even Lin Shuangwen and the subsequent rebellion of the White Lotus Sect in the five provinces did not raise the slogan of "expel the Tartars", but only said that the officials forced the people to rebel; therefore, none of the literati present raised any objections to the concept of "big nation" proposed by Beihai Town.

However, no matter whether the people here are treating the island country or Tsarist Russia, they still hold the attitude of treating them as barbarians.Occupying those wild and bitter cold places and overseas deserted islands, it is good to defeat the barbarians, but it is okay not to fight.

The core of all this is, does Beihai Town have the strength to aspire to the Central Plains and knock down the Manchu emperor from the throne?
Jiang Fan has a straightforward personality, so he said: "Since King Zhao has repeatedly defeated the imperial army, why didn't he send his troops into the customs? Besides, according to what Senior Rongfu said, Beihai Town has several huge boats on the sea. If they enter from the Bohai Sea, they will directly Forcing Tianjin."

"Speak carefully! Speak carefully!" 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: "Well, let's start with the 'Martensian Trap'."

ah?Marsh trap? !The scene of digging a hole in the ground and the horse's leg sinking into it immediately appeared in Jiang Fan's mind.

"But Wang has been talking all morning, let's talk about it after dinner." After Wang Zhong finished speaking, he called out to the door: "Come here, let's serve dinner!"

Although it was a meal, Wang Zhong couldn't help but started talking at the banquet, and the meal lasted until dusk and sunset.

During the meeting, 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 solve the problems of people's livelihood through the means of "widely accumulating grain".

The seven people here thought of the "tractors" and "harvesters" mentioned by Wang Zhong yesterday, and then thought of the saying that the yield of wheat per mu exceeded three or four hundred catties, and they understood.

Hong Liangji and Jiang Fan have traveled around the world, and have seen the tragic scenes of refugees fleeing famine; while Duan Yucai was an official in Guizhou and Sichuan, and he has also heard and seen the difficult livelihood of the local people.At this moment, everyone thinks that Beihai Town has developed millions of acres of fertile land outside the customs, holding a huge amount of food. Once a disaster occurs in various places, and the railway that travels thousands of miles a day like Wang Zhong mentioned, there will be no more famine in the world. .

At this time, Hong Liangji said: "No. It is only a moment when there is no fear of famine. However, the number of people in the world has increased by more than ten times since the Kangxi year. The 'Martensian Trap' that Rong Fu talked about?"

Wang Zhong was also high-spirited these two days, so he inevitably drank two more glasses during the dinner, his face flushed, and he said to Hong Liangji: "You know, there is a huge world thousands of miles east of this sea? "

Hong Liangji is good at geopolitics, if others don't know, can he not know?Although I haven't seen a world map, I have seen the globe imported from Guangzhou Thirteen.So he said: "Brother Rong Fu, you can say that it is America?"

Wang Zhong nodded and said: "The land is fertile and wild for thousands of miles. With the speed of a large ship in the North Sea, it will arrive 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 bit drunk, and said to the seven people present, staggeringly, "From a middle perspective, another meaning of the reason why the Beihai Navy did not enter the customs is to avoid shocks in all directions. Stable. Right now King Zhao needs to deter the ministries of Outer Mongolia through a big battle with Tsarist Russia. Otherwise, once the imperial court falls into the pass, it may be like the Western Liao Dynasty.”

At this time, Wang Changsheng, who was standing outside the door, thought, well, this Principal Wang can say everything!Come on, none of the seven newcomers in the house can be let go, and they all have to go to Beihai Town for a few years.

After two 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 them no matter what.Didn't Wang Zhong say that it would take at most ten days to go to Beihai town by taking a sand boat to go to the ocean by taking a sand boat to Beihai town, and then take a look around and come back.

These days, when literati travel away from home, they are calculated on a monthly basis. It is exciting to think that they can travel thousands of miles north and south in a few days.

Different from the four young scholars, Duan Yucai, Liu Taigong and Hong Liangji thought more about it.After dinner in the evening, the three of them went to Duan Yucai's residence together. Hong Liangji shook his head and sighed, "This is troublesome."

Duan Yucai nodded and said: "Yes, you can't do it if you don't want to." After he finished speaking, he looked at Liu Taigong who said nothing, and asked, "Duanlin, what do you think?"

Liu Taigong was silent for a long while, and finally said: "Instead of sighing, it is better to find out. If it is true as what Brother Rong Fu said, it is indeed a matter of life and death for our generation. The sub-sage said that if you want to rule the world, in today's world, Who but me!"

When Duan Yucai heard the words, he slapped the table and said: "Duanlin's words are exactly what I want! This old man must meet the King of Zhao to see if he has the appearance of a monarch, and try his best to discuss the advantages and disadvantages of the imperial examination. How can we not rule the world? Xing imperial examination?!"

Liu Taigong said slowly: "Those who are right day and night look at Beichen, and those who are right and suspicious look at saints. If you don't compromise with the Bible, you will not be able to tell the difference between day and night, and you will walk endlessly. If you fall into the mud, you will die."

"Well said!" Duan Yucai and Hong Liangji clapped their hands in praise.What Liu Taigong said was to the point, it really spoke out what was in their hearts.It means that if Beihai Town does not take the Confucian classics as the standard, it is like groping and walking in the mud at night, and the game will be over sooner or later.

One day later, the seven finally boarded the sandboat moored outside Xuzhuang with Wang Zhong.Although they had heard the description before, when they saw the huge white hull of the Thunder God 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 boat, took an iron rod in his hand, and rapped the Thor's hull twice. He was surprised and said, "It's really made of iron? It doesn't make sense, such a big piece of iron won't sink. ?”

Duan Yucai felt dizzy and his legs were weak when he saw the high and steep gangway falling from the side of the ship.

Jiang Fan thought in his heart how many soldiers and horses it could hold on such a big ship.If this landed in Tianjin, haha!

After a group of people got on the deck, they 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, pointing to every piece of equipment and asking Wang Zhong about this and that.

How could Wang Zhong understand this? He called a sailor to explain to everyone what is a windlass, what is a winch, what is a heavy machine gun, and what is a cannon
When everyone got on the boat building, climbed up the stairs in a messy manner, and came to the "famous" restaurant, they were even more dazzled by the four large glass windows.

Duan Yucai pointed to the glass window and sighed: "This is too extravagant! There is nothing more ingenious than this."

But Jiang Fan didn't take it seriously, and said with a smile: "The useful thing is the strange skill, not the obscene skill."

In ancient China, moral education was valued over skills, human resources were valued over material resources, skills were valued over tools.Even the Confucian school, which advocates "manipulating the world and applying practicality", 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, and everything else is rejected. It is called "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 wars, and there has never been a pure technological explosion.It was the same in the late Ming Dynasty, and it was the same in Europe.

By the way, why did Galileo throw two iron balls from the Leaning Tower of Pisa?Do you really think he wanted to figure out gravity and mass on a whim?In addition to throwing iron balls, he also studied the rolling speed of iron balls on different slopes.

Do not!His purpose is to study ballistics and figure out under what circumstances the shells can accurately strike the enemy.

What Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, and Dürer were best at was not art at all, but making weapons.In Da Vinci's job-hunting recommendation letter, 95% of the content was related to military engineering experience.

A day later, seven scholars from Yangzhou finally arrived at Whale Harbor.Just like those refugees who first arrived in Beihai Town, when they saw the even bigger Thunderbolt and the densely packed cargo and facilities on the shore, they were stunned and completely ignored Yu Deli and his party who were welcoming them on the pier.

In a room on the second floor of the customs house, Zhao Xin held up his binoculars and watched for a while, thinking that it was okay, only seven people came in total, and he was also terrified that dozens of people would come all day long.

But when he thought about it again, his bad taste came to him suddenly. Counting Wang Zhong's words, isn't this the new generation of "Eight Eccentrics of Yangzhou".

　The concept of "country" in modern history actually originated from the West, and a nation constitutes a country. Therefore, "New Qing History" in Europe and the United States does not recognize the Qing Dynasty as the history of China, but believes that "China" was only ruled by the Qing Dynasty.In order to provide theoretical help for the invasion of China, some Japanese scholars also put forward the absurd theory that "Yuan and Qing are not China".As a result, this statement is still available on the Internet today, and it has become evidence for some people.In fact, since the Liao and Jin Dynasties, China has been a multi-ethnic country.If you don't recognize this point, you won't be able to understand the differences between "countries" in Chinese and Western cultures, and you will go astray.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)