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“…you can then rally the people and strike back against the aristocratic clans. At that point, any ‘co-governance of the world’ notion, which seems to have accumulated for two hundred years of vested interests, will become a minor issue… This is your only chance of winning today…”
At Jianmen Pass in late May, Ning Yi's voice echoed on the mountainside under the sunlight. Zuo Xiuquan, standing beside him, looked solemn and with mixed feelings.
Within the Huaxia Army's forces at this time, the Zuo family held a special position. Because of this, Zuo Xiuquan was able to ask some slightly unorthodox questions here. Of course, for those at their level, as long as they made their attitudes clear and didn't engage in substantial transgressions privately, these discussions could be considered debates among gentlemen. His previous words had contained a bit of provocation and overreach, but he never expected the discussion to reach this point, even causing him a moment of regret.
Ning Yi before him had actually pointed out a path, presented a framework, leaving him in a position where he couldn't accept it nor reject it. With his wisdom, he could vaguely see some of the things that could stem from this framework. If the current crisis at the Fuzhou court was taken into account, this direction did indeed offer some possibility of breaking the deadlock. However, the problem beyond that was that the future they would face after breaking the deadlock might become something even more terrifying and dangerous.
People's livelihood, people's rights, people's wisdom… This was the set he was implementing in the Southwest, and it was only a small part of it…
He really shouldn't have tried to be clever, shouldn't have asked… shouldn't have listened…
He sighed inwardly, remained silent for a moment, then smiled and said, “Mr. Ning is a good strategist. If these ideas are really promoted in Fuzhou, then failure would only be to provide a dowry for Mr. Ning.”
“If it fails, that’s how it will be.” Ning Yi’s smile was open and honest, without any concealment. “But if it succeeds, perhaps we can forge a new path.”
Zuo Xiuquan thought for a moment: “...What does it mean to make certain adjustments to the identity and interpretation of the emperor?”
“The biggest obstacle to advocating human rights and equality lies in the fact that the emperor's status is definitely vastly different from that of ordinary people. The only possible way to circumvent this is to do two things well. First, the emperor's interests must be highly unified with the interests of the people for a certain period of time. Just like today, if Jun Wu tells everyone, 'Lend me your strength, and we will defeat those powerful clans that have dispersed the country’s strength. After concentrating our strength, we will defeat the Jurchen invaders.' In this way, the imperial power will win the greatest favor within a certain period of time and can obtain its legitimacy and sanctity…”
As Ning Yi spoke, the two of them walked slowly through the mountains: “But such legitimacy and sanctity will not last, because once the external pressure is reduced, the emperor and the imperial family will inevitably become the largest interest group, and everyone will slowly realize the unfairness of this. Then we can start to try the second thing: let the imperial power recede and maintain its sacredness, and let the bureaucratic institutions become a firewall facing the people, while the emperor does not directly participate in the struggle for interests…”
“How difficult can the people be to deal with?” Ning Yi tilted his head and smiled. “Within the foreseeable hundreds of years, even if human rights awaken, they will never get 100% fairness, unless there is really a world of perfect harmony, where everyone is a Yao or a Shun, and everyone bears the exact same responsibilities, only then can everyone get an equal share of the benefits. But this is impossible. As long as there is a gap in intelligence and ability, the privileged class will always take the lion's share. As long as the people who take the smaller share have enough to eat and drink, they won’t mind their country having a sacred emperor symbol.”
He paused here, smiling: "—Of course, unless there is an ideological liberation lasting decades or even hundreds of years, confirming the ugliness of the emperor, it may be possible to reach another consensus. But not now. The existence of the emperor has been a necessity for thousands of years. If today's emperor can hand over power to a relatively reliable bureaucratic system, and he himself no longer weighs the pros and cons arbitrarily, he will gain the respect of everyone, and everyone will not mind supporting and respecting such a royal family. In this way, the sacredization process of imperial power can be completed—this game can be called a constitutional monarchy."
Zuo Xiuquan tilted his head: “In other words, first centralize power today, and then govern with a figurehead emperor after defeating the Jurchens.”
“Either don’t use my idea, and the young emperor can directly carve out a path. Then pretend I didn’t say anything.” Ning Yi stated calmly. “If you use this method, defeating the power-dividing scholar-officials and foreign enemies should be possible. But if, after completing the initial enlightenment of the people, the emperor still wants to stay at the peak of power and show how different he is from others, sooner or later he will be dragged out and beheaded. A figurehead emperor is the only way to protect himself at that time.”
He laughed again here: “Create a bureaucratic layer, sit back and watch the fire from across the river. In the future, even if things get messed up, it has nothing to do with the emperor. How wronged the emperor is! He is clearly the Son of Heaven, and the country belongs to his family, but for the sake of the people, he voluntarily retreats and cannot govern. Generation after generation bears the burden of humiliation. Tell me, who will blame him?”
“Then who will be in power at that time…?”
“Prime Minister, Grand Secretary… anything is fine. Change one every few years. He is not the emperor, he doesn’t need to serve for a lifetime. First set the rules, and then step down when the time comes.”
“What if a powerful minister has ulterior motives…?”
“The basic enlightenment of the people has already been opened up, indicating that education has become a system. Write the emperor's initiative to be a figurehead, his difficulties, his greatness, and the necessity of this system into textbooks for every child to see. As long as you don’t encounter very extreme situations, this system can be sustainable for a long time…”
The two moved forward slowly. Zuo Xiuquan asked questions from time to time, and Ning Yi answered them. After a while, the expression on Zuo Xiuquan's face became more and more strange.
If his initial questions could only be regarded as having a little bit of a small thought, wanting to get some fragmented opinions from Ning Yi, then Ning Yi's answer really made him feel complicated and unspeakable. But at that time, he still felt that those words were this inner demon's casual counterattack. Who knew that at this time, he had actually completely deduced the entire framework one by one? If the things thrown out at the beginning were like enchanting words of a demon, at this time, it actually made people feel a bit like heartfelt advice.
Especially later on, he only heard Ning Yi say: “…Regarding some ideas and difficulties of constitutional monarchy, there have been many deductions in the Huaxia Army in recent years. The data is still stored in He Deng. If Mr. Zuo is interested, have someone move them to Chengdu this time.”
Zuo Xiuwen hesitated for a long time, and finally said: “Mr. Ning… Could it be that you really want the Wu Dynasty to find a way out?”
“It’s easier said than done. With my and a group of children’s meager deductions over the past few years, can we really make things happen?”
“But… if Mr. Ning is really sincere, at least… there is a possibility.”
Zuo Xiuwen frowned and cupped his hands. What he couldn't determine in his words was ultimately "Is Mr. Ning really so open-minded?" But after all, he didn't ask. Ning Yi looked at him and smiled.
“Now many people in this world know that the purpose of my Huaxia Army is to destroy Confucianism, to enlighten the people, and to achieve equality and awakening… From the core, the little emperor in Fuzhou now wants to use ‘honoring the king and expelling the barbarians’ to resist ‘co-governance of the world’. This is a change in underlying thinking.” Ning Yi pointed to his head. “How difficult will it be? Mr. Zuo can imagine it. But in the Huaxia Army, we want to try to use the thinking of Gewu (investigation of things) to resist the metaphysical thinking of the past, to use a way of thinking that prioritizes reason over emotions, and to use human rights and equality to resist the Confucian hierarchy of ruler-minister, father-son. How difficult is this? Can Mr. Zuo imagine it?”
Ning Yi smiled. His eyes were calm, with the vastness and coolness of snow-capped mountains and the sea.
“Regarding the opening of people’s wisdom and the enlightenment of people’s rights, we have considered many situations and methods in our deductions. Among them, there is openness without an emperor, and there is openness with an emperor. There is openness in peaceful times and openness in times of war. These deductions and ideas may not be useful, but Mr. Zuo, as long as you are interested, I will never hide anything, because deductions are just wishful thinking. If a civilizing experiment can appear to the greatest extent in Fuzhou, even if it is in the monarchical mode, we can get the greatest experience.”
“The foundation of thinking in our area and society is metaphysics. The characteristic of metaphysics is from the whole to the part, and emotions are higher than reason. For example, ‘Heaven and earth are mysterious and yellow, the universe is vast and desolate, the infinite generates the two forms, and the two forms generate the four images.’ It sounds reasonable, so everyone has passed it down from generation to generation and thinks it is the truth, but where is its starting point? Who observed it? Who can strictly prove it? Everyone is accustomed to accepting some principles that sound right, but why is it right? In fact, our past thinking did not imagine… But the thinking of Gewu (investigation of things) must be reversed, completely reversed.”
“The thinking of Gewu (investigation of things) must be from the part to the whole. We must first clarify every detail that we can clarify at hand, and assume what rules and principles it has. We must make strict deductions. Gewu (investigation of things) does not say what ‘Heaven and earth are mysterious and yellow, the universe is vast and desolate.’ In He Deng, we make iron plates. If we want to get a flat surface, what is a flat surface? To ordinary people, it looks like the table is flat. We use a water turbine to press two iron plates together and rub them against each other. The two iron plates become smoother and smoother in the continuous friction process. Finally, every part of them tends to the most precise plane. This can be proved by mathematics and geometry. This is the most primitive and most precise plane…”
“To move from metaphysics to Gewu (investigation of things), what needs to be changed is the most basic way of thinking—even not just one way of thinking, not patting your head and saying, ‘Oh, this principle looks right, this sentence looks very philosophical,’ and then think it is right. Mr. Zuo, this is what the Huaxia Army wants to resist. Today, the Jin people's Great Workshop is learning Gewu (investigation of things), Fuzhou is learning Gewu (investigation of things), and all parties in the world, I encourage them to learn Gewu (investigation of things). If they don't learn, I will blow their heads off with shells. This may take decades or even hundreds of years before we can truly understand the way of thinking of Gewu (investigation of things) and materialism.”
Ning Yi said to here, Zuo Xiuquan frowned and opened his mouth: “But why… is the thinking of Gewu (investigation of things) higher than metaphysics?”
Ning Yi shook his head: “It is not higher than metaphysics. I found in some books passed down from the West that their thinking is from the part to the whole—that is the extreme west, maybe thousands of miles away, the end of the Silk Road back then. I used this way of thinking to make various assumptions, and the hot air balloons, telescopes, cannons, and rocket bombs that you see today appeared… Metaphysical thinking can only be used for some grand and useless philosophical thinking to this day. The Confucian family, from the initial idea of teaching the world, has now chosen to castrate human nature. Confucius said to repay resentment with honesty, but now everyone knows to repay resentment with virtue. Why? This set of governing people,
It will not appear real changes after another thousand years."
“In the form of thinking from part to whole, there are countless possibilities. What you see today is just the beginning. Our innovation in papermaking has at least given hope to educating the people—next, we should thoroughly understand this set of thinking. When this set of thinking is also understood to be almost perfect, and then combined with philosophy and humanities under the metaphysical system, maybe we can really see the world of perfect harmony one day.”
He waved his hand.
“It is difficult for me to explain its necessity and urgency, but I have already seen it, and I will push it out. I can spread the ideas of Gewu (investigation of things) all over the sky. The concept of equality in the Huaxia Army gave birth to Lao Niu Tou. He Wen in Jiangnan is learning to fight landlords and divide fields. Now he has created some Fair Party. Next, whether it is Lin'an or Liu Guangshi, Dai Mengwei, or Jin, they will choose more or less reforms. These reform attempts will become the nourishment for the entire world.”
“Maybe it won't be our Huaxia Army that succeeds next. Lao Niu Tou may go bankrupt, the Fair Party may turn into a fire that burns everything to ashes, and the Huaxia Army may really be too strong and easily broken. One day I die, and various ideas will be extinguished like lights, but I believe that the seeds have been left behind. If my ideas cannot triumph, I am happy to see Jun Wu in Fuzhou walk a path of constitutional monarchy, because that will also open the people's wisdom to a certain extent. I wish him success, and I hope he succeeds.”
Ning Yi’s words came to this point, and the expression on Zuo Xiuquan’s face finally stopped being complicated. He looked solemn and cupped his hands towards Ning Yi. Ning Yi held his hands and patted the back of his hands.
“Of course, there are still many details that can be discussed next. The first point is that Jun Wu’s little tricks of throwing out my relationship with him as his mentor should not be continued. It is certainly beneficial to spread it among the common people, but in the middle and upper classes, some great figures who are loyal to the Wu Dynasty and are willing to accompany the young emperor to burn their boats may give up their support for him because of this rumor and his tacit attitude. So on the surface, he must make a statement, and he must clearly state that he is the orthodox of the Wu Dynasty.”
“...On the other hand, the ideas and books of Gewu (investigation of things), I can open to him, but not the achievements. He must train his own craftsmen and cultivate qualified materialistic thinking among the craftsmen. I can also frankly say that if he fails, this stall will belong to me. I have ill intentions.”
“...Of course, I can provide convenience for the training of craftsmen, the establishment of factories, the operation of schools and the enlightenment of education, and some organizational methods at the bottom level, so that they can have some reference. For example, those children you left here, Wen Huai has recently made great contributions in Tanzhou. If you wish, you can lend them to Fuzhou to help assist in the establishment of some grassroots organizations. Of course, whether you trust them and to what extent depends on you.”
“There are many other things that can be discussed in detail later. The next era will be one of great changes. Get ready to welcome a magnificent transformation.”
Ning Yi smiled: “Chengdu welcomes you.”
……
Sunlight poured down from the sky. Zuo Xiuquan stood on the tower of Jiange, looking at the clouds flying in the sky. This was a clear sky under the scorching heat, and the air was not stuffy, and there would be no rain, but in his ears, it seemed like bursts of thunder were passing by.
The next era will be one of great changes…
Ning Yi's words were still echoing in his mind.
……
Several days before this, on the south bank of the Yellow River, the Lin'an delegation that went to the Jurchen Eastern Route Army camp to persuade Zong Fu and Zong Bi was kicked out of the camp by the Jurchens.
Afterwards, a kind-faced but also dignified fat man crossed the Yellow River in a small boat. He entered the military camp and met the two Jurchen princes.
There were threats and scolding between the two sides, and there were verbal confrontations, but in the end, the two sides initially reached a consensus to take a rest and then have a fair and upright frontal decisive battle to take each other's heads.
The armies on both sides of the Yellow River began to operate according to the agreed-upon steps. The mighty Jurchen Eastern Route Army began to cross the river and march north. And the armies of Wanyan Chang and Shulie Su, who were in the north of the river, bypassed some fixed positions near Liangshan and stopped burning, killing and looting nearby cities and villages.
……
In Fuzhou, Jun Wu and Zhou Pei and others received one by one or even a group of great Confucian scholars and dignitaries every day. The two sides probed and perfunctorily treated each other, or simply made some things clear. Some people left, and of course some stayed.
Compared to Jun Wu's resolute will, Zhou Pei's attitude was more gentle. Because Zhao Xiaosong, the granddaughter of Zhao Ding, saved her life back then, many great Confucian scholars sought out this relationship and came to the Princess's mansion to ask if this situation could be turned around.
In the past, when she was in Lin'an, she played a more conservative role, often dissuading Jun Wu, who was then the crown prince, from being too radical and ruining his relationship with everyone. But at this time, she had also agreed with the policy of no longer repairing this broken ship.
“There is no way back.”
At the end of the conversation, she would often sigh like this. After all, she was young. Even though she had experienced many things, she was finally able to accept this path of burning her boats and going all out. In the end, some old people were willing to entrust their lives and property to her.
The reform has already begun to advance, and ominous
The omens and predictions entered her ears every day. People were predicting their future self-immolation. Sometimes, she would wake up from her dreams. Under the starlight, she would look towards the sea in the east.
“…You assist Jun Wu, Xiao Pei…you assist Jun Wu, and pass down the Zhou family’s world, pass it down…pass it down…ah?”
She remembered Zhou Yong's entrustment when he was dying.
Father Emperor…
Can we still…get there…
Soon, box after box of things would be transported from thousands of miles away in the southwest.
……
Not many people expected that in this vast world, the flames that were more intense and more complex than the war of resistance against the Jin Dynasty would only begin to appear after the fourth invasion of the south by the Jin people.
……
Yunzhong.
The cause and effect of things were linked from very small places.
That was more than ten years ago, during the second invasion of the south by the Jurchens, who attacked the capital of the Wu Dynasty, Bianliang. They plundered hundreds of thousands of Han people and went north as slaves.
The lives of the Han slaves were extremely hard, especially the first batch of Han slaves captured during the Jingkang Incident. More than 90% of them had died in inhumane torture more than ten years ago.
In the middle of this, there was once an official family in Bianliang who were captured to the north as a family. The men in their family became slaves, and the women became prostitutes. In the few years after they were captured, several members had died one after another. By the tenth year of Tianhui, the head of this family, who was originally an official in the Ministry of Rites of the Wu Dynasty, reported a message to his superiors in order to survive.
The message was: His son had abandoned literature for martial arts and served as an officer in the Wu Rui Camp of the Wu Dynasty. Later, he followed Ning Yi, the leader of the Black Flag Army, in assassinating the monarch and rebelling, and became the most core member of the Black Flag Army. His son's name was Luo Ye, and he would definitely send people to the Jin Dynasty to rescue their family in the future.
At that time, it was during the Battle of Xiaocang River. The God of War Lou Shi had already fallen in the northwest. This Luo official hoped that the Jin people could spare their family's lives and persuade them to surrender in the northwest or become bait in the future to trap Black Flag spies.
A Jin official recorded this matter, but did not give it special treatment.
It was not until the end of the Battle of Xiaocang River, when the Jin people, who had paid a heavy price in the northwest, began to value intelligence warfare, and Xiyin ordered Wanyan Qingjue and others to organize forces to pay attention to the southwest, that this record was found again, but at that time, many people in the Luo family, including that Luo official, had already died, and because the news from the south and north was not smooth, the people in Yunzhong could not judge the authenticity of this information, and this information was once again put aside.
Not long after, a chief constable named Mandu Dalu noticed this information. At this time, only one half-crazy little daughter of the original Luo family was still struggling to survive.
This year was the fifteenth year of Tianhui, and it had not been long since mid-May. Someone came to report that in the recent cleanup, the mad woman was missing. At this time, the news of the tragic defeat of the Nianhan army in the southwest of the Wu Dynasty had spread, and many Han slaves in the Jin Dynasty were innocently killed every day. The order originally issued by Wuwuqimai that those who killed Han slaves would have to pay a fine could not be enforced for a while. It was not surprising that a mad woman died silently.
Public security had become chaotic, and the resistance and escape of Han slaves were about to become more intense at any time. Mandu Dalu still had many things to do at this time, but the instinct developed by many years of old constable made him pay attention to this matter.
On May 23, a caravan drove towards Yanmen Pass.
Lu Mingfang was in the caravan, looking back at the desolate scenery of Youyan.
He was actually a child who grew up in Bianliang. He had not yet reached adulthood. The Jurchens had invaded, and he had experienced the war. Soon after, he followed his father to Yunzhong to open up the situation. Not long after, his father died. He had spent half his life with Youyan.
In more than ten years, he had only gone south three times, twice in Xiaocang River and once in the southwest, and what he saw was all desolate scenery. Now that the Huaxia Army had won a great victory and occupied the Chengdu Plain, he could see the rich and prosperous southern cities when he went to Chengdu.
Thinking about it, the past memories had almost become distant. What was the prosperous scene of the Han people like? He thought about it in his mind, and the only thing that was clear was the scenery of the north.
Lu Mingfang died on the evening of May 24.
Not long after, his broken body was transported back to Yunzhong, and the Jurchens began to declare that they had killed the leader of the Black Flag spies in the north.
Tang Minjie saw the almost unrecognizable corpse in the crowd. He identified it for a long time, and his cheeks twitched several times.
That seemed to be the dusk at the end of May. He walked into an unknown dark alley and vomited once. In Yunzhong Prefecture, the killing of Han slaves was becoming more and more intense. At this moment, he was the real person in charge of the Black Flag Army in the north.
“Old Lu… how did you keep yourself in check?” The voice that had sounded not long ago sounded in his mind as he sat in the alley, “I mean, you are much more measured than me…”
Lu Mingfang sat there and gave an answer. What did he answer? Although he couldn't remember it anymore, perhaps thinking of his comrades, there was still a smile on the corner of Tang Minjie's mouth, hooked up…
……
When An Xifu led the team across Jiange and followed the crowd towards Chengdu, the atmosphere in Jin
It was becoming solemn.
Zong Han and Xiyin led the Western Route Army, which had a small number of people, and constantly planned the future direction on the way back north. Their letters had been sent back to the Jin Dynasty one by one, on the one hand expressing their attitude and on the other hand explaining the facts, hoping to complete the future power transition in the most appropriate way, and also hoping that the senior veterans in the Jin Dynasty could realize the threat of the Black Flag and reach a certain consensus as much as possible.
This was an unprecedented tragic defeat. But at the same time, Zong Han and Xiyin's past winning record can still explain some of the problems. In May, in the imperial palace of Shangjing, someone read the letters from Zong Han and Xiyin several times to Emperor Wuwuqimai, who was extremely weak in spirit. This Jin emperor had an extremely tenacious will. He persevered for two years after suffering from stroke and hemiplegia, waiting for the end of the southern expedition. On May 25, his consciousness was rarely clear, and he left some instructions on the results of this southern expedition.
He followed Aguda to start an uprising and fought alongside Zong Han and Xiyin for half his life. At this moment, this dying emperor still used his last strength to respond to the request for help from his comrades thousands of miles away.
……
The sunlight is falling.
Soon after, it sank to the earth and was about to stir up the most intense wave—
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