What exactly is nationalism? If you flip through a textbook, you can find large paragraphs of obscure text, and all sorts of nouns.

But Xiao Letian's understanding of nationalism is very simple, and it also goes to the heart of the problem. The rise of so-called nationalism is actually just a tool used by the state to concentrate manpower and material resources to unify people's hearts.

Human beings themselves are very contradictory, on the one hand, human beings need to integrate into the society, and on the other hand, human beings are profit-seeking, fearing that the collective will harm their own property interests.

To give a more figurative example, humans are actually a group of hedgehogs in the cold winter, who need to huddle each other for warmth but are afraid of hurting each other.

However, with the continuous evolution of human history and the gradual development of society, whether you like the existence of a large collective or not, you cannot deny the reality that there is great strength in numbers, and unity is strength.

The country is large and the population is large, and working together creates a powerful collective, which not only protects and expands the whole group, but also forcibly deprives each individual of the private interests of the group.

This is a contradiction, an irreconcilable contradiction, people not only need a large collective sense of security and the right to expand to the outside world, but also want to maintain their own selfish interests from loss, and it is this kind of conflict that has caused a lot of chaos in society.

From the perspective of human nature, when will human beings willingly sacrifice their own selfish interests? In fact, it is nothing more than the following situations.

Of course, the first enjoyer of self-interest is himself, which is the animal instinct of human beings, needless to say, and the second is, of course, the family, parents, wives and children share their own interests, and the vast majority of people are also very willing to pay.

The third layer belongs to the clan, with the same blood and the same surname, and it is acceptable to suffer losses and suffer from the clan.

The fourth layer is the township party, with the same accent, the same living habits, watching and helping each other, and not being an outsider. In fact, the so-called township party is already a national concept.

Further up are the nation and the country, people have a common faith, a common language, and a common value, and because there are many commonalities, they can barely suppress the grievances of selfish interests, so that this large collective will not collapse.

The above is only a very narrow national view, and nationalism is a sublimation on the basis of this concept, some thinkers began to consciously sort out, dig deep, sort out and form a set of theories on the national view, and then carry out propaganda within the same nation to make more people accept.

Why do we need nationalism? is because we need a higher means of uniting humanity. How can there be a number of people united by family clans? A smaller clan of one or two hundred people, and a larger one or two thousand will be the end, and it may be possible to dominate a county, but can a large area still be controlled?

If you can unite hundreds of thousands of millions, it will be the end, and the tribal groups formed because of the region in ancient times are actually a manifestation of this pattern.

Of course, it is the nation, and the rise of Western nationalism is due to the fact that many intelligent people have thoroughly understood the laws in this, dug deep into the commonality of the nation, and started from religion, language, living customs, historical origins, and other aspects, and finally the base number of people who can be united can reach tens of millions or even hundreds of millions.

The combat effectiveness of such a collective scale of mankind is quite terrifying, and it can suppress all internal friction internally, and can compete for more interests externally to feed the nation.

This is the fundamental reason for the great revival of nationalism in the 19th century, and whoever shapes the national character in advance and completes the popularization of nationalist ideas will be able to gain the right to speak in the game of world hegemony.

The deep-seated reason why Japan was able to defeat the Qing in the First Sino-Japanese War was the nationalist alliance against the backward clan and township parties.

One is that all the people are united in a fist to beat people, and the other is a plate of loose sand shouting but scattered as soon as they move, and the victory or defeat is naturally self-evident.

For example, during the First Sino-Japanese War, including the invasion of Beijing by the Eight-Nation Alliance, although some people actively resisted, more people were still numb spectators.

Even during the war, countless Qing people provided logistical supplies to the invading army, not to mention any guiding party, as long as there was money to be made, it was not a problem to collect grain and grass, carry materials, and even directly participate in the war as mercenaries.

Don't think that those people are forced to be helpless under the enemy's butcher's knife, in fact, most of the real history says that the Chinese who cooperate with the invaders want nothing more than profits, and there is a lot of money to work for the invaders, and there is a lot of money to help the Qing Dynasty work, and not only have no money, but also be beaten and scolded, and fools know how to choose.

Later generations have no right to criticize them, because those people have never received nationalist education, they do not understand those principles, and their spiritual world can only understand the link of the clan and township party, and they have not considered the deeper issues at all.

There is no national concept, let alone a national concept, they just accept the control of habits very simply, and there is only one subtext in their hearts: "I, as well as my family, clan, and even older my fellow villagers don't be wronged, as for other people who have a fart relationship with me"

This was the mode of thinking of the people of that era, how did the advanced fight and the backward fight were fought? What is the so-called enlightenment of the people? Is it really addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division, and do you know one or two thousand men?

Look at the Japanese ronin nosamurai vying for ferry tickets in front of Xiao Letian, two-thirds of them are literate and know how to write, and some of them have even learned arithmetic.

These people are not illiterate, but they are still desperate for a Ryukyu ferry ticket, as long as Xiao Letian gives them the opportunity to make meritorious contributions and give them a channel for promotion, they can completely wield a sword against their own compatriots.

Do you think the Japanese ninja who poisoned Katsura Kogoro on the beam of the house will have a sense of guilt?

No, not at all, at this time, Japan was as ignorant as the Qing State in the previous life, nationalism and national concepts were not promoted, people only saw the lord and their own selfish interests, and what kind of guilt was there in the eyes of the lord and his own selfish interests?

Xiao Letian suddenly shook his feet, pulling his consciousness back from deep thought, it turned out that the merchant ship he was on had slowly left the bridge and headed south.

"The order goes down, the Z-word plan is speeded up, and no one on the list can stay until the new year! If this evil requires someone to go to hell...... But before I go to hell, I must first build a paradise on earth......

"Send a message to the Ryukyus, this year's New Year Ryukyu Prime Minister's Mansion will hold the grandest banquet, and I will announce important things to them!"