Europeans feel that their history is the history of the world.

Chinese feel that their history is world history.

In the vast area between Europe and China, there are also a large number of countries with a long civilization that feel that their history is the history of the world.

But now everyone is discovering in the cemetery that their own history can only become the history of countries, and it is already Europeans who play the leading role on the world stage.

The era when Ji Aojian walked through this ancient plateau was the moment when the Western powers took advantage of the east wind of industrialization and carved up the world.

Not only Iran, but also the entire Iranian region, as well as India and China, which also have ancient civilizations, have fallen into a deep national crisis of losing sovereignty and losing their territory.

Therefore, various ideological movements to save the world and survive have come and gone, and have become the main theme of the times.

The people of insight of the Plateau Dynasty put forward many propositions, which can be divided into two main categories according to Ji Aojian's observations.

On the one hand, there is the retro school, which believes that people suffer because their faith is no longer pure, so they advocate going back to the past, following tradition in everything, and being strict with themselves in accordance with the original hadith of the Prophet.

Although this method can mobilize the people to a certain extent and improve cohesion and combat effectiveness, it cannot find the correct direction of social innovation, and the spirit cannot always be fed after all, and it cannot solve the problems of the transformation of the times. So this kind of retro thinking has a more understandable name, called "fundamentalism".

It should be noted that fundamentalism does not necessarily lead to violent protests and even terrorist acts, and the non-violent non-cooperation movement in India is also fundamentalist.

On the other side are modernists, who advocate that doctrines should evolve continuously, transform traditional religions according to the needs of reality, and carry out reforms to suit the times. Therefore, in order to change the backward appearance of ignorance and conformism, it is necessary to study Western cultural thought, attach importance to modern education, and develop the industrial economy.

Such ideas seem far more advanced and reasonable than those of the retroists, but even if the ruling class accepts them, they are only forced to make limited changes within the original institutional framework.

Not to mention the transformation of the entire traditional society, which is a very arduous and complex project. The way to learn from the West is nothing more than in several forms: sending a large number of local intellectual elites to Europe to deeply observe and understand the civilization at all levels of Western society, and inviting many European friends to come to their own countries to guide and help us carry out modernization and innovation.

However, most of the things that the hired foreign friends did were in line with their country's policy of expansion and conquest, and it was often easier for their country to become an economic vassal of the great powers. The elites who have returned from studying abroad and the officials who have embarked on reforms in their own countries are bound by the system and controlled by their allies in the difficult journey of innovation, and their passion for ideals is slowly exhausted, and then they will find that it seems easier to realize the value of their lives if they become compradors.

As a result, this kind of reform and innovation, which can only be danced in shackles in the system, has naturally degenerated into a false trick that is glamorous on the outside and empty on the inside, but it has fattened a group of comprador class and bureaucratic capital. For related situations, see the "Tanqimat" of the Ottoman Empire and the Westernization Movement of the East Asian continent in a certain time and space.

In short: the West is not something you want to learn and you can learn if you want to.

Of course, the "big platform" missionary activities that Ji Aojian saw before that claimed to be inclusive of all religions were also a trend of thought that could not be underestimated. These sects of "one family of mankind" usually propagate the idea of "equal wealth, equal wealth and poverty", no exploitation and oppression, no fraud, and equality for all, which is very conducive to launching the traditional peasant movement at the bottom.

But now that industrialization is subverting the world, is there any point in changing the peasant movement in the old era?

In general, it is a difficult and impossible task to resolve the ethnic crisis and social dilemma on the Iranian plateau, including the Arabian Peninsula, the Ottoman Empire, the Mughal Empire, several khanates of Central Asia, Afghanistan and other places through which Ji Aojian passed and will pass along the way.

After Ji Aojian clarified the social status quo of these ancient civilization areas, he also understood the same thing: the East Asian continent and the situation encountered here are all common problems, and even some of the solutions they tossed are the same way of thinking.

But he didn't set out to solve the social woes here.

Although Ji Aojian is very familiar with the culture, customs, language, and religion of these ancient civilizations, he has been exposed to the doctrines and methods of all kinds of preachers, and has seen through the general social situation and destiny prospects of the vast region, and even has the illusion that he has spent his life here.

But from the beginning to the end, he never had the feeling that he had a significant divine mission, that he was a prophet, an oracle, a savior, a Mahdi, a Messiah......

I've been here, I've seen it, I've walked away. That's all.

In the next journey, Ji Aojian focused more on the individual cultivation methods in these ancient civilizations in addition to the social ideology. (To be continued.) )