Tracing China: Through history, dialogue between ancient and modern

Chapter 246 The Modern Version of Qingming River Scene

"The Great Cultural Gap."

"The alien regime crushed the Central Plains."

"The people of the Li people are enslaved, treated as worthless, and reduced to inferior people."

"For Huaxia, and for the people of Kyushu at that time, it is tantamount to a catastrophe."

"That was an age of darkness and death!"

"This great crime, even if we, the emperor of the Zhao family, are wiped out in ashes and fall into the eighteen hells, we will not be able to forgive this mighty Kyushu!"

More than 1000 years in time and space, in the Song Palace, Taizu Zhao Kuangyin's face was extremely solemn, and he said every word with a heavy heart.

This speech represents the state of mind of all the eighteen emperors of the Song Dynasty.

Heaviness, depression, despair, sadness...

Lin Feng comforted, "Taizu, the general trend of the world has been said since ancient times: the country and the country are divided for a long time and must be united for a long time. The Song Dynasty has reached the peak of its economy for 300 years. Among them, there are more than a hundred years. The people in the country are rich and prosperous, and have lived a happy life without worrying about food and clothing..."

Taizu shook his head and said, "Da Song can perish, but how could it end like this?"

He is not reconciled.

Why is it that the backward nomadic regime in the north can finally rule the Central Plains.

Lin Feng could only say, "The Mongol Empire at that time was really powerful. It not only swept across our land of Kyushu, but also conquered the countries in the west one by one."

Song Taizong Zhao Guangyi asked, "Mr. Lin, what kind of strength did the grassland regime have in its strongest period?"

Lin Feng replied:

"Looking at the entire history of mankind, Genghis Khan, the most powerful conqueror of the entire grassland empire, and his successors, relying on a total of more than 30 troops, have wiped out more than 50 people in the 40-year-old expedition to the east and west, and to the south and north. conquered more than 720 ethnic groups, wiped out more than [-] million armies from various countries, and conquered a total of [-] million people from various ethnic groups, and established the largest and most extensive country in human history - the Mongol Empire."

Hearing this, Zhao Guangyi couldn't help taking a breath and muttering to himself. "Is it so amazing?"

Song Renzong Zhao Zhen also asked, "Mr. Lin, how much territory does it rule?"

Lin Fengdao, "In its stable period, its territorial area exceeded 3500 million square kilometers, starting from the Korean Peninsula in the east, reaching Poland and Hungary in the west, reaching the principalities of Siberia and Russia in the north, and reaching the Indo-China Peninsula in Java in the south; the territory at its largest period exceeded 4500 million square kilometers. "

As soon as this word comes out.

It made the [-] emperors of the Song Dynasty dumbfounded, their eyes widened in disbelief.

Lin Feng said again, "The younger generation came from a future generation in 0222, and our China's territory is only 960 million square kilometers."

Imagine.

More than 1000 years ago, the territory of the Mongolian Empire was more than four times that of our current territory.

Even, people accounted for more than four-fifths of the entire human world at that time.

Lin Feng added, "In that later life, the land area of ​​the entire Asia, including all islands, was only 4400 million square kilometers."

What does it mean?
When the Mongol Empire was the largest, it exceeded the entire land area of ​​Asia.

Even if you look at the 600 million-year history of the vast river after the emergence of human beings.

The Mongol Empire is also the largest country in its territory.

It can be said that there is no one before, and no one after.

of course.

Later, because Britain, the first industrialized country, conquered colonies, it broke this record.

When it comes to the size of the country, many people think of the Mongol Empire.During the conquests of Genghis Khan and his descendants, it straddled the continents of Asia, Africa and Europe, and became the world's largest country at that time.Compared with the Mongolian Empire, Britain is known as the empire on which the sun never sets, with colonies all over the world.

So, who has the largest land area, the British or the Mongolian Empire?

Britain's own land area is actually small, only 24.29 square kilometers, but its colonies are very large.

The reason why it was able to embark on the colonial road is inseparable from the economic development of Britain.

Since the [-]th century, the wool weaving industry has become a "national industry" in Britain, and the demand for wool has doubled.

Landlords converted their farms into pastures, and concentrated small estates into large tracts by enclosing fields or encroaching on common land.

As a result, a large number of self-cultivating farmers lost their land and went bankrupt, becoming homeless.

Because they were wandering, everyone had to find a way out. Later, people discovered that they could go to other places for plunder and trade.

When the vagrants tasted the sweetness, their rulers also began to organize people to trade overseas.

Therefore, after the 16th century, Britain successively organized many trading companies to carry out pirate plunder and continuously expand its colonies.

According to data records, when the British colonial area was the largest, it reached about 4700 million square kilometers, so it was also known as the empire on which the sun never sets.

The British colonies are very disconnected, unlike the Mongol Empire, which is one piece.

Still, these lands add up to 4700 million square kilometers.

It is still larger than the area of ​​the largest territory of the Mongol Empire!
Song Zhenzong, who shamelessly went to Taishan to enshrine Zen, also asked curiously, "Mr. Lin, what is the origin of this northernmost grassland regime? How did it get rich?"

This is to ask about the history of the Mongol Empire.

Lin Feng explained that the title of Mongolia was first seen in the Tang Dynasty. In the Liao Dynasty, Mongolia was a part of the "Tatar". At that time, there were many nomadic tribes of different sizes distributed on the grassland.

After Temujin ended the melee situation among the tribes in the grassland, he held a noble meeting at the source of the Hanan River in the spring of 1206 AD, and was elected as the Great Khan, named Genghis Khan, and the Great Mongol Empire was established.

Taizu asked, "In the later generations of China, the territory is 960 million square kilometers, and what is the population?"

Lin Feng asked back, "Taizu, what is the largest land area of ​​the Song Dynasty?"

After asking this question.

Lin Feng felt a little regretful.

Do the monarchs of ancient dynasties know the size of their land and the size of their population?

In terms of population, through the household registration census, I believe the emperors know it well.

But in terms of the area of ​​the country, under the condition that there is no precise instrument, it is estimated that there is only an approximate value!

"This one……"

Zhao Kuangyin smiled awkwardly and said, "Mr. Lin, you really stump me."

At this time.

Song Renzong, who had been in power for more than forty years, opened his mouth and quickly explained for his Taizu.

Probably means.

I probably know how many there are, but I don't know if they are specific.Because the treatment of population statistics and territorial area in the feudal dynasty started a long time ago, and their scales were often not uniform in ancient times, so the surveys in this area are often not accurate enough, so I can only give a rough idea .

Moreover, in terms of the census, due to the backwardness of transportation in ancient times, it was often a few months after the local government reported the local population, and during the few months of reporting, there were many new students. The child was born, so it is even more inaccurate in the census.

Moreover, there was no clear boundary line in ancient times. The continuous occurrence of border wars would cause the land area to increase or decrease to varying degrees. Therefore, the land area statistics are also unstable, especially in ancient dynasties. The power is very large, and conflicts with other countries in the borders of the power increase the size of one's own land, and it is rarely reported to the court.

In addition, the census is even more difficult than the statistics of the land area. For example, in some places, the king secretly recruited troops in order to strengthen his military power, and concealed the population statistics from the court. Moreover, in ancient times, the level of medical care was low, and the quality of life was not high. Famines and plagues often occurred, and there were many refugees, and casualties were common occurrences.

At last.

Song Renzong gave a numerical value, "The Great Song Dynasty flourished in the early stage. When it was the largest, it should have an area of ​​300 million square kilometers and a population of 1 million."

Lin Feng said, "Compared to the era when the younger generations lived, the area and population are indeed a bit smaller."

Song Shenzong asked a little bit harder, "Mr. Lin, how big is the gap?"

Lin Feng said, "The area is 960 million square kilometers and the population is about 14 billion."

"what--"

The emperors around seemed to be suspicious of life.

"A population of [-] billion?" Song Shenzong was dumbfounded.

"Mr. Lin, to feed such a huge population, how developed the agricultural economy would have to be at that time?" Even Zhao Gou, who killed General Yue, looked extremely shocked.

Lin Feng smiled and said, "At that time, Huaxia could feed more than 7% of the world's population with 20.00% of the world's arable land, which is an extraordinary achievement."

Zhao Kuangyin said, "Not only is it an extraordinary achievement, it can definitely be called an unprecedented miracle!"

Subsequently.

Lin Feng also introduced the modern situation. Every "miracle" can greatly touch these ancient emperors, and the three views have been violently impacted round after round.

"Host, show off to the ancients like this, okay?"

"We have achieved results, what are we afraid of?"

"Hahaha, host, don't be shy, be bold, let the ancients see what we have achieved in the present."

"Actually! We also have a side that is not as good as others."

"Yes, the economy in the heyday of the Song Dynasty, calculated in terms of GDP, accounted for more than 60% of the world's total. In this alone, it is difficult for us to surpass."

"Don't look at the Song Dynasty's repeated defeats in foreign wars, the economy is still very good."

"I think it's just that the rest of the world at that time was too weak."

……

In the lens.

Taizu couldn't help but sighed, "It's a pity that it spanned thousands of years, otherwise, I really want to see that prosperous future."

The other emperors probably thought the same way.

It's not difficult.

Lin Feng secretly said that at that time, I took the first emperor of the ages, the first emperor, through time and space, to the modern "Xianyang City" for a walk!

"Seniors."

"In this era, there is a map of the river during the Qingming Festival, and the most prosperous scene of the Song Dynasty has been passed down for thousands of years."

"Tonight, we will use the Qingming River Scene to set off the street scene and market scene of later generations."

Then, Lin Feng swiped with one hand.

There is a wind blowing.

A plausible scroll of Qingming Riverside Scrolls appeared, three meters above the ground, and slowly unfolded in the night wind of Hexu.

Zhao Kuangyin was startled, "Mr. Lin, you have created creatures out of thin air, you really have unpredictable means."

There are carriages, horses, restaurants, houses and shops, pedestrians and animals, small bridges and flowing water, etc. painted on it.

The paintings are lifelike, vivid and breathtaking.

It is 24.8 cm wide and 528.7 cm long. The scroll depicts countless characters of different identities, including men and women, old and young, as well as a variety of shops, vividly recording the urban appearance of Bianjing in the Northern Song Dynasty and all social classes at that time. living conditions of the people.

There are several very distinctive artistic features visible to all:

This painting is written with a pen part-time, with elegant colors, which is different from ordinary boundary paintings, which is the so-called "don't get married".

The composition adopts the bird's-eye panoramic method, which truly and intensively depicts the typical area at the southeast corner of Bianjing at that time.

The traditional hand-scrolling method is used, and the "scattered perspective method" is adopted to organize the picture, making the picture long but not redundant, complicated but not chaotic, compact and compact, as if completed in one go.

The scenery captured in the painting ranges from the quiet fields, vast rivers, and towering city walls to the small figures in the boats and carts, the display goods on the vendors, and the words on the market signs.

There is no doubt that it is a famous national treasure painting, one of the top ten famous paintings handed down from generation to generation, and it is also the Mount Everest in our Chinese art world
This is unique in the history of painting in China and even in the world.

In the five-meter-long scroll, a total of 814 people of various colors are drawn, 73 cattle, mules, donkeys and other livestock, more than 20 carts and sedan chairs, and 29 large and small boats.Houses, bridges, city towers, etc. have their own characteristics, reflecting the characteristics of Song Dynasty architecture, and have high historical and artistic value.

Looking at this painting.

The Song Dynasty emperors in the high seats around them felt proud, and the haze in their hearts dissipated a lot.

"Seniors, look again, this is the scene of the Qingming Riverside Scene for later generations."

Lin Feng swiped his hand again.

The scene on the picture scroll floating off the ground gradually changed.

From the ancient Song Dynasty imperial city.

It has changed into a modern urban scene with bright lights.

Yes.

A "modern version" of Qingming Riverside Map appeared.

……

(End of this chapter)