Liu Yu looked into Wang Zhene's eyes and said sternly: "Then, how do you explain the tug-of-war between the Central Plains and the grasslands, and the war between the Han and the Hu people, which lasted for thousands of years, back and forth, although most of the time the Han people were in the upper hand.
But there are also situations where the Five Husbands disrupted China, and when the barbarians could take over, even the Zhou Dynasty, strictly speaking, was also ruled by barbarians."
Wang Zhene said calmly: "First of all, let's just talk about the Zhou Dynasty. As we have discussed before, although the Zhou Dynasty came from the west as barbarians, they created the Zhou Rites system, which was the beginning of the fundamental system of the Central Plains.
, the previous enfeoffment system of emperors and princes was actually not much different from the khanate model of various tribes in the grasslands. It was just a verbal co-master. This co-master had very low binding force on the tribes, and the form was
If there is no authority that can command the world, it is naturally impossible to mobilize the power of the whole world to act."
"The Emperor of Zhou is obviously much more powerful than the overlords of the grassland. At least before the beacon show on the princes, the Emperor of Zhou can arbitrarily kill big princes like the King of Qi, and he can also use the beacon to mobilize the troops of various countries. This
This is something that is very difficult to do on the grassland. It was only possible during the Northern Wei Dynasty, the former Yan Dynasty, and the Xiongnu period. Most of the time, on the grassland, it was you conquering me, and various tribes fought in a melee. It was difficult for a single person to appear.
An extremely powerful leader."
"However, the grasslands have the advantages of the grasslands, that is, they do not settle down, but live in pursuit of water and grass. In order to survive, they have to fight constantly. Therefore, their people are natural warriors, and both women and children can fight.
However, the Han people usually farmed and hunted and fished less and less. Farming and agriculture had little to do with fighting. They needed to undergo specialized military training that was separated from production before they could master certain military skills. Moreover, the Hu people
On the grasslands, everyone can ride a horse, but in the Central Plains, the Han people hardly know how to ride. From a military perspective, the difference is huge. We all know how important the cavalry is."
Liu Yu sighed: "So, as long as there is a big leader on the grassland who can unify all the tribes and unite millions or tens of millions of barbarians, it will be difficult for us in the Central Plains to resist, and there will be the destruction of the Western Zhou Dynasty and the Yongjia Rebellion.
Such a tragedy, isn’t it?”
Wang Zhene shook his head and said sternly: "That's not necessarily the case. In my opinion, this situation is rare. On the one hand, it is because the Central Plains is not united and cannot form a joint force internally, or the country has been peaceful for a long time and the people are not accustomed to it.
It will only happen when a powerful leader emerges from the barbarians. Furthermore, even if such a tragedy occurs, the barbarians will never have another Zhou Gong, and they will not be able to invent a political system that can surpass the Central Plains and make the Central Plains people willing.
Accept that you can conquer temporarily by force alone, but it will not last long, because seizing power by force itself is a bad start. When you do not have strong enough force, others can also rely on force and deception to seize power.
The idea that strength is king is too unstable."
Liu Yu laughed: "So, it is better to adopt a fair and opportunity-based model within the system, so that everyone can rise to the top through exerting their abilities and creating as fair a competitive environment as possible. This is of course better.
, this is just my beautiful idea now, and it is hard to say whether it can be realized in the future. However, when your grandfather assisted Fu Jian back then, he also wanted to work hard to create such a world, right."
Wang Zhene nodded and said seriously: "Yes, my grandfather's ideal is that the world should not separate Han and Hu first. Since you have entered the Central Plains and want to settle down for a long time, you must respect the rules of the Central Plains. This rule,
It is Zhou Li, it is Confucianism. This set of rules, or values, is completely based on the main production method of the Central Plains: farming. When the Hu people came to the Central Plains, they could no longer think about herding cattle and sheep as before, only fighting, drinking, and looting.
Instead of attacking and fighting, they must become self-reliant farmers. This is the only way for them to survive in the Central Plains. Otherwise, crops will not grow from the ground on their own."
Liu Yu said with a smile: "But the Hulu nobles would want to enslave and control the Han farmers and let them farm, and all they need to do is practice killing and fighting. Isn't that the case with Nanyan? It seems that they also do it
It’s here.”
Wang Zhene shook his head: "This method was tried by the Zhou people a thousand or two thousand years ago when they came to power. It turned out to be unworkable. They started by using the Chinese savages method to turn the conquered tribesmen into savages.
They were engaged in farming, while the people of their own tribe became professional warriors, responsible only for fighting. But as a result, after more than a hundred years, hundreds of years later, the descendants of these people became more and more afraid of death and became less and less afraid to fight.
, On the contrary, the number of savages continued to increase. During the Warring States Period, in order to conquer the world, major countries began to lift the restrictions that barbarians were not allowed to serve as soldiers. From Wei to Qin, the establishment of various new armies was to liberate these former serf savages.
, and those Chinese people who had struggled for generations turned into gentry and began to grasp power through cultural means."
"Another example is our Jin Dynasty. At the founding of the country, the aristocratic families were all in charge of military operations. At least they achieved military goals by controlling the exiled commanders. But as a result, in less than a hundred years, few of the aristocratic families have returned.
Those who want to join the army and fight and make achievements. It is human nature to be greedy for life and afraid of death. If the system can ensure that power is passed down to future generations, then naturally no one will want to fight. Once they lose the ability to fight, they will gradually lose power.
This is two extremes from the Hu people’s idea of power being king.”
Liu Yu nodded and said seriously: "Yes, the reason why I want to break this system that is passed down from generation to generation by the children of aristocratic families and change it to a system where everyone has the opportunity to risk their lives and make meritorious deeds to gain power is this. It's just that.
However, it was not easy for my grandfather to see this decades ago."
Wang Zhen'e sighed: "However, my grandfather's idea will definitely be resisted by the Di people generals who have been aristocratic for generations, and even the Fu family clan. They even secretly want to launch a rebellion and establish a new king, because in the
In the eyes of these people, Fu Jian had betrayed their ancestral system and was completely controlled by a Han. The reason why Fu Jian kept launching wars was not just to unify the world, but also to ease internal conflicts.
That’s all. Only by fighting, and only by allowing these people to perform meritorious services and protect their titles, can they settle down, at least for a while."
Liu Yu sighed: "It's just that Fu Jian's victory came too quickly and too easily. The Eastern Jin Dynasty was not a country that he could destroy in one fell swoop. Even when he destroyed the Qian Yan Dynasty, it was very accidental. Didn't my grandfather see it?