Chapter 551: Human Nature
It is really one of a kind
Aeryon had begun to influence his tribe. Not only the practicality is still emphasized there is also a certain sense of beauty in the work, a kind of art
The reason why the people of the Steppe did not have time to study the arts, is simply because they are busy surviving.
Everyone is humans and if there is one thing that did not change from the ancient ra to the present, it would be human nature.
Whether it is good or bad, human nature rarely changes.
Environment changes, culture shifted, the world changes, the one thing that is unchanging is the human nature
The decoration in the narrow scroll box was carved by the Brolgadhr craftsman. Nobody would pay much attention to it
But Aeryon did.
There is a certain consciousness that is awakening among his people and he is glad to see it
Aeryon wanted to conquer the world and so he wanted to leverage the power of his warriors.
Warriors have to be tough, unyielding and practical.
But he knows the old saying, you could conquer the world on horseback, but you could not govern the world like that.
Xun fall not because it was tyranny alone.
Xun falls because they could not change.
And they could not reconcile the difference between before Xun unify the world and after Xun unify the world
The Xun dynasty of this world is equivalent to the Qin dynasty of Aeryon world.
There is many examples of dynasties that have fallen because they either refuse to change or unable to change
The Yuan dynasty before they fell also wanted to have a reform to changes the ill of their dynasty.
Which dynasty did not want to stand forever?
Which emperor wanted to be called the fallen emperor?
All emperors wanted to make sure the empire they are guarding strong and prosperous.
But sometimes, even if they wanted to, the circumstances and the situation does not allow it. Sometimes, there are things that human effort alone could not solved.
Because the time did not yet come
One thing is constant. Each dynasty, whether it was in the west or east, on the south or the north, in every ten directions, all of them wanted their dynasties last forever.
Yuan dynasty wanted it.
Ming dynasty also wanted it.
Could Yuan dynasty did not see the ills of their system?
They did.
But their interest is mired in it and by that time, the ills of the past could no longer easily be removed.
It is the same for the Ming dynasty that succeed the Yuan dynasty.
During the reign of Emperor Chongzhen did he not want to change and revive the dynasty?
But just like the Yuan dynasty before him, the ending of the Ming dynasty was actually the cause and effect of Zhu Yuanzhang.
He created the Ming dynasty but he was also the one that sow its destruction
Qing dynasty was also the same. If the foundation is not right, it is harder for the descendant to correct it.
If the foundation is strong, then there is a chance of revival in the later years.
Liu Bang in his world did not ask the heavens for his dynasty to last long or have such big ambition like the Qin emperor that his dynasty would last thousands of years
He was more than content.
From a small official, no different from a civilian, he rose to the throne and pacify the world
What more he could ask for? His rise was almost legendary and it made everyone believes that the Liu family has the destiny of the world.
Yet, it was this person who had created a foundation that allow the Han dynasty to last so long.
If not for the circumstances of Shu Han and the back luck of Zhuge Liang, there was a chance for three times revival of the Han dynasty during the ancient times
The fact that a third time revival of Han was even almost possible is because the foundation of Han was strong.
And the time and circumstances converged to made Han able to seek that destiny
Aeryon knows this history.
He doesn’t know how he knows the history of ancient China this well, and he did not remember reading it, but he remembers it.
And so, because of that he knows that even if he could not emulate Genghis Khan and controls the Steppe, at least when he dies, the kingdom he would entrust to his successor must have a strong foundation
He did not wish for a dynasty that last a thousand years but he at least wished it would stand for three generations.
As long as it stands for three generations, there is a great chance this dynasty could last a long time
It seems contradictory.
After all, his current plans is to take the Southern Great Steppe, making it his foundation, and then attack the Central Great Steppe.
Then the rest of the Great Steppe could be brought to their knees
What he planned is the entire hegemony of the Great Steppe.
He would fight for a lifetime for this.
If he is still energetic at that time, and have the energy, he would not mind riding south and take over the Yan land and step his horse hooves on the Central Plains, crossing the Yellow River and conquered north and south
This ambition already shows that he wanted his dynasty to last a thousand years.
But he also knows desire and reality are not always compatible
And this contradiction is in his heart.
Each time, he felt bloated and too optimistic of his chance of conquering the whole world, he would calm himself down and look at the example of the rise and falls of great empires in the past
But there is the fact that he is confident in himself.
It is not pride and it is not arrogance.
It is confidence based on real strength
What is strength then?
He has the knowledge of a different world.
He might not have all the knowledge he needed and not all of his knowledge could be practiced and employed in these ancient times, but his breadth of vision determined that he is above the rest of the people of this world
It is not that the ancient are stupid, but it is nothing more than the limitation of times
Aeryon had never think of underestimating the people of the ancient times. Even though this is a different world, the way the history of this world develop could be said to mimic his own world historical development
The only great difference was magic exist, it is true, recorded in carved stones, huge mountain, on caves and hidden valleys
Even if a thousand-year passes, the future generation would know that the people in ancient past knows magic.
Aeryon does not know whether his world has magic or not. If it has, it was clearly not widespread and not known to many people
But in this world, the traces of magic is evident and even though magic energy itself is now scarce in the world, no one denies that great magic once filled this land in a more ancient time.
Aeryon only sighed but he did not dwell on this matter for long. Instead, he look at the canvas of the map.
His eyes changes as he look at the names of the many kingdoms, tribes and empires that is displayed on his map.
Then he touches it and there is a smile on his face.
Rough yet durable, made from cured animal hide, thin and treated to remain flexible.
"I have to make do with this" he thought to himself
Aeryon did not really have a paper making technology and he is not eager to share this method
After all, this would only benefit the settled societies, like Yan, Western Zhou and Roma.
It would have no benefit to send out this innovation out to the world for the Steppe.
Instead, it even could made the enemies stronger.
The power of paper for the literati in Yan could unite these literati.
These literati are not like liberal students in the modern world who could only talk but do nothing but the literati of these ancient era holds great power, possessing wealth and even military power.
Give them this and they could unite.
And a uniting force is of course more powerful that a divided force
But that is only one part of the power of paper.
Paper, this small creation that is mostly taken for granted during his time is one of the most important inventions of humanity
Right now, there is paper in Yan dynasty but the process of making it hard and time consuming.
Hence only the aristocratic and the scholar’s family that have papers and selling paper is like selling something precious.
Most of the knowledge in Yan, in Western Zhou is written on bamboo strips, silk, clay tablets and even animal skins.
Materials that were either heavy, fragile expensive or scarce
Once paper is popularized, then there would be an explosion of knowledge and record keeping. Scholars and officials could easily write, share and revise documents, accelerating the growth of philosophy, science, medicine, history and more importantly inventions.
And most invention is focused on military.
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