Episode 166 The Age Without Nuclear Weapons

But looking at Zheng Yuxuan smiling, it didn't look like he was dizzy.

Sure enough, Emperor Guangwu didn't bother with her, but laughed and said:

"County Lord, I'm afraid I'm going to disappoint you. As I said earlier, although I am also a dictator, I am fundamentally different from those three dictators. Our time is also fundamentally different from that of Louis XVI. I was not destined to be like Louis XVI. ”

Xiang Xiaoqiang squinted his eyes and asked:

"You're trying to say that the 'soil' under your feet is better?"

Emperor Guangwu nodded and smiled:

"Not only is the soil better, but my rule is more legitimate, and it is more difficult to rebel in my time."

"How?"

"The common people of the Qing Dynasty," Guangwu said with a smile, "if not the most ignorant in the world, they must be the most ...... in the world Hehe, the most submissive. With this alone, the 'soil' of the land under my feet is the best. ”

"The most obedient," Xiang Xiaoqiang smiled, "You want to say that the most servile is the strongest." ”

Guangwu didn't answer directly, just laughed, which was considered a tacit, and then said:

"When I was young, I read history, and every time I read that after the Qing Dynasty entered the customs, Emperor Chengzong forcibly pushed the order to shave my hair and make it easy to obey, I always covered my roll and sighed, even after the Meng Yuan destroyed the Song Dynasty, there was never a similar order to shave my hair. However, I in the Qing Dynasty forced the Han people in the world to shave their hair and make it easy to obey, and 'keep their heads without hair, and keep their hair without their heads', which is really unwise......"

When Xiang Xiaoqiang heard this, he looked at Emperor Guangwu and felt that whether he was hypocritical or not, he finally said something here. He turned his head and asked Zheng Yuxuan quietly:

"Which is 'Emperor Chengzong'? It's not Shunzhi, right? ”

Zheng Yuxuan also turned his head and whispered:

"Dolgon's temple number."

Xiang Xiaoqiang nodded. It turned out to be Dolgon. Dolgon was the culprit behind the Manchu Qing Dynasty's forced order to "keep your head without hair, and keep your hair without your head". This order to shave hair and obey all the people who had a little backbone in China at that time were wiped out at once. Since then, the last bit of blood left by the Han people has also been castrated. This guy didn't get to be the emperor during his lifetime, and it turned out that he was also posthumously recognized as the emperor's temple number after his death.

Sure enough, Guangwu just said a "human word", and then sighed:

“…… Originally, the prefectures and counties in the south of the Yangtze River had been basically pacified, but because of this forced order of 'keeping the head without hair, leaving the hair without leaving the head', the land of Jiangnan was once again swept by the flames of war. Originally, only a small number of remnants of the Ming army were still resisting in Jiangnan, but now Jiangnan regardless of the army and civilians, all resisted desperately, and almost all the people in Jiangnan were soldiers. In the end, it developed out of control, causing the Taiwan-Wan Zheng clan to make a comeback and regain half of the south of the Yangtze River, and our Qing Dynasty also lost the opportunity to dominate the world......"

When Guangwu said that "the Tai-Wan Zheng clan has made a comeback and recaptured half of the south of the Yangtze River", Zheng Yuxuan straightened his chest, and his face was full of pride. Xiang Xiaoqiang only then remembered that the girl sitting next to him was still a descendant of the national hero Zheng Chenggong.

Later history textbooks said that Zheng Chenggong was a national hero, but they did not mention him at all about resisting the Qing Dynasty, but only repeatedly emphasized that Zheng Chenggong recovered Taiwan, as if he only became a national hero because he recovered Taiwan. Xiang Xiaoqiang originally had this concept. Even when he was in junior high school, he thought that the Qing Dynasty had sent Zheng Chenggong to recover Taiwan.

But after arriving in the Ming Dynasty, many of the original existing concepts in my mind have been subverted and replaced with fresher but more common sense concepts.

Xiang Xiaoqiang now knows that the reason why Zheng Chenggong is respected as a "national hero" by the descendants of Yan and Huang all over the world is not just that he drove the Dutch East India Company out of Taiwan Bay (he didn't think it was so sacred when he seized Taiwan Bay, but he lacked a base area, and he just happened to look at that place). It is even more because, when the mainland was slaughtered by foreign races and bloodied, Zheng Chenggong represented Chinese orthodoxy, using Taiwan and Bay as a base to fight the Manchu Qing Dynasty alone for a long time, trying to recover. Even in the end, when the Manchu Qing had a more and more stable foundation on the mainland and no hope of recovery, Zheng Chenggong still resisted the Manchus unrelentingly until his death.

Later, Emperor Kangxi of the Qing Dynasty couldn't help but write a joint praise to Zheng Chenggong and said:

The ministers have two hearts, and the two islands are tunshi, and they dare to fight for half of the wall to the southeast;

The kings have no land, and they have a corner to resist their will, and they know that there are lonely loyalists overseas.

……

This is the real reason why Zheng Chenggong became a national hero. This reason is the same as Shi Kefa, Wen Tianxiang, and Yue Fei, and there is nothing to dispute.

Thinking like this, Xiang Xiaoqiang gently held Zheng Yuxuan's hand under the table and shook it hard. He also felt the same hot blood surging, as his body temperature came.

……

Emperor Guangwu continued to laugh and said:

“…… At that time, I always felt that if the Han people were sincere in their submission, why should they be forced to wear the same clothes and shave the same head shape as us? The Han people pay attention to 'the body and skin, the parents who receive it, dare not destroy it, and the beginning of filial piety', the Qing Dynasty has just entered the customs, there is no foundation, and it is the time to clean up people's hearts. Therefore, Emperor Chengzong's 'shaving and easy to obey the order', in my previous opinion, seemed to be just a matter of willfulness and a momentary pleasure.

"But many years later, especially after I sat in this position, I gradually understood Emperor Chengzong's 'shaving and easy to obey'. After all, we Manchus account for only a very small minority, and the Zhu Ming Dynasty started by expelling the Meng Yuan, which is what you call the 'Tartars'. For more than 200 years since the founding of the Zhu Ming Dynasty, it has been extremely tough on foreign races, and the Han people in the world are full of pride in the so-called 'Tartars'.

"Such a nation and such a population base, if you want to completely tame them spiritually, it is simply impossible not to come to a 'shaving and easy to obey order'. Although shaving your hair will cause temporary fierce resistance, and you may even lose a large piece of land permanently, it can ensure that the existing land of our Qing Dynasty can reign forever and be passed on to all generations. The Han people were expelled from the Central Plains less than 100 years after the founding of the Mengyuan Dynasty, and the Qing Dynasty has been founding for nearly 300 years. Why? Soil. How does the soil come from? Three hundred years ago, the 'shaving order'. ”

Xiang Xiaoqiang knows how Lu Xun's Hua Laozhuan, Uncle Kang, red-eyed Ayi, and the spectators who "have long necks, like many ducks, pinched by invisible hands", came about.

He said coldly:

"Yes, Dolgon's 'head without hair, hair without hair', accurately singled out and killed those with the strongest backbone among tens of millions of Han people, and the lie detector can't measure it so accurately. The rest are people who would rather be slaves to save their lives. Shaving this head is also tantamount to marking a 'minion'. After shaving his head, will he still have the face to resist in the future? At that time, the Mongols were afraid that the Han people would resist, so they did not allow the Han people to have kitchen knives at home, and they had to kill all the four surnames of the Han people...... What a stupid way, I knew that I would shave the heads of the Han people in the world, and everything was solved. Hehe, in the end, it's a 'real barbarian', it's not as good as you 'half of the barbarians' who can figure it out. ”

Guangwu laughed:

"I've given the general a prize."

But another sentence that Guangwu said just now, Xiang Xiaoqiang was more interested. This may be related to the Northern Expedition below.

"Except that the soil is better," Xiang Xiaoqiang then asked, "and what do you mean by saying that your rule is more legitimate, and that it is more difficult to rebel in this era?" ”

Guangwu says:

"That's easy to understand. This is also the most fundamental difference between me and Hitler, Mussolini, Stalin. I am the emperor, the king of a country, and the divine authority of the king. As a descendant of the Aixinjue Luo clan, no matter how I become the emperor, as long as I become the emperor, it is naturally legitimate. I'll rule for the rest of my life, and no one will feel wrong. And the three of them are different. The three of them were just politicians, and Hitler's power came from the people's vote, which was granted by the people; Mussolini's power was granted by the king, it was granted by the king; Stalin's power was given to him by Lenin, and Lenin's power was snatched by violence from the Provisional Government.

"All three of them are inherently very problematic with power. I am a monarch, and no one will feel that there is a problem with me being in power for the rest of my life, and if I pass on power to my son, people will also feel normal. And they are politicians, not to mention passing on power to their sons, even if they only want to be in power for life, the people will feel that it is not right, that it is not okay. The people will think, what is the difference between you and the monarchy? If you do this, why do we need to continue to support you?

"So, it is easy for a monarchy to be dictatorial, but if a politician wants to be dictatorial, it will be much more difficult and the opposition will be much stronger. In order to monopolize power, and even to pass it on to their sons, dictators have to put more effort into purging dissidents, fooling the people, and so on, and their methods must be several times more cruel than those of the monarch. But despite this, their position under the ass is much more fragile than mine. Because, my dictatorships are inherently legitimate, and theirs are inherently legitimate. ”

Guangwu said this, Xiang Xiaoqiang heard it for the first time. But it makes sense when you think about it. This also explains why several dictators of today, as well as those of Asia, Africa, and Latin America in later generations, would slaughter a dozen or even a fraction of the population of their countries at every turn, while those countries never had such a thing during the monarchy.

However, this does not mean that Emperor Guangwu has not done such a thing. The current Beiqing is too closed, and it is difficult for the outside world to know what happened inside. Maybe Emperor Guangwu's words are bleaching himself? Is it to draw a line between himself and a murderer like Stalin?

"As for the fact that rebellion is more difficult in this era," Hirotake continued, "it is better understood. In the era of cold weapons, the common people can't survive, as long as one person climbs the heights and shouts, everyone rises up, holding sickles, hoes, dung forks, and can attack Kexian County. Why? There was little difference in equipment between the peasant army and the government army. But not anymore. Now I have machine guns, light and heavy artillery, tanks, and airplanes. And what about the people in their hands? Or is there only a sickle, a hoe, a dung fork. In this way, even if they can't live anymore and are no longer afraid of death, it is impossible for them to get up again.

"Even if ordinary people get their hands on a batch of weapons by chance, they can't use them well. In particular, some heavy weapons can only be operated after long-term professional training, and they need the support of the entire country's logistics system to be effective. For example, the Taihang Mountain guerrillas you support, their weapons are the best among the various rebel armies. But how? They can only fight guerrilla warfare in the mountains, in places where our heavy weapons cannot enter. ”

Xiang Xiaoqiang stared at Guangwu's eyes and sneered:

"Your Majesty, don't forget that those machine guns, light and heavy artillery, tanks, and planes that operate you are all sons of ordinary people."

Guangwu smiled and said:

"Then do you know why I want those 'sons of the common people' to serve far from home?"

Xiang Xiaoqiang understood. He said "being a soldier in a different place". Although it is an international practice of the modern military to serve as a soldier in a different place, the main purpose is to prevent soldiers from falling in love with their families and having too much to do with their local families, which makes it difficult for the troops to leave at once when they are fighting...... and all kinds of troubles. But here in the Qing army, it seems to have another meaning.

As long as those soldiers are not facing their own hometown fathers and elders, they will be ordered to take action, and the burden on their hearts will be reduced to the lightest. Coupled with the lure of meritorious service and promotion, those ignorant soldiers may even happily complete the bloody mission. Isn't that the Qing soldiers on the north bank of the Yangtze River who are excitedly hunting down and killing those who have fled south?

Yes, as Guangwu said, the people of the Northern Qing Dynasty were in a completely desperate environment. They are in dire straits, and for the foreseeable period, there is no way to change their fate.

Apart from......

External force.

Yes, as long as the era of nuclear weapons has not yet begun, the country of the dictator will not be ironclad. Even if it cannot collapse from the inside, it is possible to destroy it from the outside.

Xiang Xiaoqiang also scooped a spoonful of monkey brain, smiled and filled it into his mouth, forcibly endured the disgusting fishy breath, showed a pleasant expression, and said with a smile:

"Your Majesty the Emperor, it's only the thirties, and you don't have nuclear weapons, so you're unlucky."

Emperor Guangwu was stunned, Zheng Yuxuan was also stunned, the two glanced at each other, and they both looked at Xiang Xiaoqiang inexplicably.