Subtitle of this chapter: It is the Great Western Ocean, but also the Great Western Ocean.

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Haim Weizmann ate a few bites of zongzi, took a sip of tea, and asked, "Dr. Yuan, I've seen a lot of your China...... recently."

"Seres, I personally prefer the name Silk Country." Our Master Yuan opened his mouth to correct.

The chemist shrugged his shoulders and said, "Well, I read a little bit of your Seris's history. Of course, because of the history you talked about that day......"

The history that Yuan Yanqian said is naturally "different history".

He looked at the two ladies present and said, "I can't help but wonder, why is Seris such a glorious civilization in history, declining like this now?" ”

I just heard Weizman say in a sincere tone: "I really don't mean anything other than to hear what you think of a brilliant political economist like Dr. Yuan." If you mind......"

"No, I don't mind ......"

"Boom!"

Master Yuan lit a cigar and said with a smile, "On the contrary, I would be happy to try to answer this question." ”

He took a long puff of his cigarette, pointed to the sea beyond the balcony, and said, "And I think the answer Mr. Weizmann wants is on the Atlantic Ocean where we are!" ”

"Actually, the Mediterranean Sea is also an adjunct of the Atlantic Ocean."

"Then the European civilization that developed on the shores of the Mediterranean is the only maritime civilization on this earth......"

Yuan Hongjian is an economics scholar and is not very unfamiliar with history. Naturally, he had his own set of historical views.

And his point of view is a little different from the "mainstream" view, he believes that the development of Western civilization is not accidental, but inevitable.

He also believes that the development of Western civilization has been interrupted or distorted several times by accidental factors, which is why it appears to be ...... In fact, it is the Chinese civilization that looks so unique that it has become a beacon for mankind in the Middle Ages.

Of course, one thing must be made clear, he is really not a foreign slave.

The Western civilization that developed from the shores of the Mediterranean has a unique advantage over the Chinese civilization that started in the Yellow River Valley: the Mediterranean.

Because it's a king-sized bathtub.

The Yellow River, the mother river of the Chinese people, did bring fertile land and abundant water sources, but at the same time, her people suffered enough.

In particular, the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River Plain have been constantly flooded and diverted in history, and there is a saying that "two breaks in three years and one diversion in a hundred years". According to statistics, in the thousands of years before 1946, the Yellow River burst and flooded 1,593 times, and there were 26 major diversions. Among them, the north leg of the forest also contributed to an artificial flood......

It may be for this reason that the Seris put their technical points on "big projects".

There is no such thing in the Mediterranean, and with enough courage and luck, you may be able to cross this large bathtub with a tighter bath.

With such a large bathtub, the exchange of material and ideas is easier to take place, and it is also easier to form a unified political and economic entity.

So it was only natural that there was a Roman Empire around the Mediterranean.

However, a cursory reading of the history of the Roman Empire shows that the Circum-Mediterranean Empire was problematic in terms of institutional design from the "True Octavian" onwards, especially the succession system.

Because the Roman system of succession was the absence of institutions, and the absence of institutions was the worst system.

The so-called "senatorship" of the Roman Empire was different from the naked and open monarchy of the East, but an absolute monarchy that was concealed and ashamed, and was established by the senate by conferring honorific titles.

This made it impossible for the Roman emperor to specify the legal provisions of the succession to the throne. Therefore, the succession of the Roman head of the imperial throne created a wide space for powerful military generals to influence the throne. In the end, the Roman army even arbitrarily deposed the emperor.

In the 364-year history from Augustus to Constantine, a total of 59 people were awarded the title of emperor, an average of more than one change of throne every six years. Only 12 of them died of natural causes, the rest were unnatural deaths, and the empire was naturally in chaos.

Were there such chaos in the early and middle periods of the great unified dynasties in Chinese history? It can be seen that this is a systemic problem.

If the Roman Empire was not so chaotic and the Han Dynasty was a little more aggressive, then it is very likely that the two great empires of the East and the West at both ends of the world island might have been dealing more than a thousand years earlier......

Turning to the other side of the world island, the Chinese civilization is a kind of big river civilization, and the big river civilization is not very concerned about things outside the big river basin, and there is no need to care.

Especially once the vigorous early dynastic period has passed, when the bureaucracy is firmly established, the ruling group lacks an incentive to explore outward.

Moreover, the Seris are not yet a civilization of one big river, but a civilization of two big rivers and countless small rivers.

So Yuan Hongjian came to two historical views that would be sprayed to death by the "emperors and Hans" in later generations.

First, if the Manchu Qing Dynasty had not entered the customs, whether a Han dynasty would have broken through the limits of the Great River Civilization is a question worth exploring.

Of course, the Han dynasty must have been much smoother in its transformation into a nation-state than my Qing dynasty.

Second, the development of the West and the decline of the East are both inevitable. By chance, the timing of these two coincides.

That is to say, according to the "normal course" of history, the two should have developed together, and then collided with each other to create brilliant sparks.

For example, both Confucius and Aristotle were in the "Axial Period" of humanity, at which point in time the progress of Eastern and Western civilizations coincided.

For example, the Han Dynasty and the Roman Empire, the "first empires" of the East and the West, were built at about the same time.

However, various accidental factors caused a large time gap, and the Chinese civilization, which lacked the spirit of exploration, did not explore the new world when it developed, nor did it wait for the visit of Western civilization of the same level; And when it came to decline, it happened to meet Western civilization, which was exploring the new world and at the same time thriving.

"It's like an older fighter with a glorious past meeting a fledgling young fighter. Even though the former has a lot of combat experience, there is still a good chance that he will be defeated by the latter. ”

"From the perspective of all mankind, the only pity is that these two should meet at the peak of their prime, and then there will be the most exciting battle."

Our Master Yuan snuffed out the cigar butt and sighed, "And from the perspective of a Serisian, I can only say that all this is providential......"

"All this is providence!"