sweeping the world

Chapter 970 Abandoning an era?
When a nation falls into the abyss, it is most likely to generate national awakening at the moment when it recovers.

But to be able to generate national awakening and become strong again, we must have the most basic foundation, that is, to have a culture with our own national characteristics.

Any nation has its own culture, but culture is also divided into layers.

"According to what I know, there is a civilization in the west called Greece, which is the most powerful country in Europe?" It is not unusual for Huan Wen to know Greece, and he has even done a very detailed understanding: "It is rumored that all Western civilizations came from Greece."

Of course Liu Yan also knows about Greece, but not quite how much he knows.

As Huan Wen said, Greece is indeed the cradle of Western civilization. It can even be said that Greek civilization is still the highest level of existence in the West. The difference is that the Greeks have declined, and the Romans have used the Greeks for generations The level of civilization created is at its peak.

The Greeks have made remarkable achievements in many aspects. Seriously, they studied astronomy more than 1000 years earlier than Zhu Xia, and they also gave birth to thinkers and philosophers earlier.

As for which of the Greek civilization and Zhuxia civilization created characters earlier, it is really hard to say, there are too many places to debate.

"There is another civilization called Egypt." Huan Wen ignored the increasingly strong smell of gunpowder among his colleagues: "According to legend, it existed more than 5000 years ago and flourished for thousands of years before it was finally conquered by the Qin people."

There is a view in the historians that ancient Egypt had created writing as early as 5000 BC. So whether the historians admit that there was a Xia Dynasty in Zhu Xia or not, Egypt was the first nation in the world to have writing.

Huan Wen began to tell some rumors that he didn't know if they were true, and found that Liu Yan listened very attentively and spoke very energetically.

Liu Yan really listened attentively. He wanted to know the difference between what Huan Wen said and what he knew.

After hearing it, there are really many differences, such as the lack of some achievements of the Mesopotamian civilization, or simply the achievements of some civilizations being transferred to another civilization.

The so-called Mesopotamian civilization is the civilization that was produced on the Euphrates and Tigris rivers. The most glorious one was the civilization created by the Sumerians.

The Sumerian civilization made amazing achievements around 200 BC. Later archaeologists found that when most peoples were still primitive, they had 39 "world's most" achievements.

Liu Yan waited for Huan Wen to stop, and asked, "Have you ever heard of a civilization called Babylon, Yuanzi?"

"Is it today's western Persia, the one that died a long time ago?" Huan Wen really knew, and said with a relatively uncertain attitude: "I heard that the Babylonian Empire was very powerful and created the Hanging Garden, but the Hanging Garden was destroyed. in the hands of a country called Assyria?"

Liu Yan was a little surprised by Huan Wen's knowledge.

"I heard that they (the Babylonians) also built a building called the Tongtian Tower." Since Huan Wen was curious about Babylon, it became normal to know the Tongtian Tower: "They want to build a tower that can reach the sky. I heard there is no After it was built, it was destroyed by the flood.”

Huan Wen's understanding of Babylon is that a civilization that has developed architecture to a very high level, otherwise it would never be able to build hanging gardens, and at the same time, it would not have the confidence to build a tower that can reach the sky.

"The Babylonians didn't exterminate their genocide, and the Iraqis think they are the descendants of Babylon." Liu Yan thought of Lao Sa, who was a person who kept vowing to return to the height of Babylonian civilization: "They first became a member of the Persians. It was once ruled by the Qin people. Now it is seeking national independence."

"I think that if there are no accidents, Greece, Iraq and Egypt will become independent again." Seeing Liu Yan waiting for an explanation, Huan Wen said: "Their ancestors all created writing, and writing carries ideas (culture) ). A nation with its own past and inheritance, even if it is temporarily sunk, as long as there are people who have not forgotten it, it will definitely be revived again."

Liu Yan admits this point, but there is a key prerequisite, that is, the nation must first have heroes that have not been forgotten, and then there must have been thinkers.

A national hero is an encouragement to future generations.

What is more critical is how many thinkers have been born in the nation. If more thinkers are born in the nation, then the culture will inevitably become richer with the increase of thinkers, and the traces will be more difficult to erase.

With the core values, the thoughts are basically shaped, and then it depends on how many heroes this nation has had, and what kind of deeds those heroes are considered heroes.

Fighting against the invasion of alien races, doing something that is considered extremely meaningful, someone became a national hero.Usually, if there are more such heroes, it will be a conservative nation.

Keep expanding outwards, and heroes who command the army to destroy the country and the nation continue to appear, and the nation will tend to be aggressive.

The only thing that can be confirmed is that only a nation that can produce heroes is qualified to stand among the nations of the world. The more they respect their heroes, the higher the centripetal force of the nation will be.

Similarly, once a certain nation no longer respects its heroes?No matter how powerful this nation was at the time, as long as it encounters a challenge, even if the challenger is weaker than its own side, the challenger can still win and stand on top of the nation that does not respect its heroes.

It is always said that when a country is about to perish, there must be evildoers, which generally refers to those who can turn the tide and are repeatedly made things difficult by the so-called "insiders" and even killed.This is the best embodiment of disrespecting our own heroes. Many Central Plains dynasties actually died in their own hands like this.

If Liu Yan hadn't appeared, the Central Plains would have been a Hulu playground for as long as 260-[-] years.

The time of the Occupation is too long. Even if the Han people had any glory in the past, accompanied by long-term humiliation and oppression, generation after generation may be used to becoming second-class for themselves... even a few million people are used to it, even if they know their own They will not feel honored that their ancestors were once extremely glorious. Instead, they will feel resentment based on how glorious their ancestors were.

From the time when China was invaded by the Five Husbands to the fall of the Central Plains several times, if you check the history books, you will find that those people north of the Yangtze River have become more and more accustomed to being ruled by foreigners, and they are also willing to serve the foreigners. They often serve as the vanguard of the southern expedition, killing He thinks that his own race is far more ruthless than those of other races.

In fact, once they were ruled by a foreign race, those who accepted the status quo would no longer regard the southerners as their own. Whether it was to draw a clear line or to please their masters, they would no longer regard those southerners as their own race.

Under normal circumstances, those people in the enemy-occupied areas are instead thinking about how much humiliation and humiliation they have suffered in the north, and put the shame and humiliation on the heads of those in the south. It is probably "I am so unfortunate, do you still think about it?" manifestations of the like.

In terms of culture, in fact, there are distinctions no matter when and where. The north of the Yangtze River has its own distinctive cultural characteristics, and the south of the Yangtze River also has very easily identifiable characteristics.

Take a look at the poems handed down in history, the north must be rich in gold and iron horses and heroic, while the south is dominated by scenery and human feelings.

That is of course related to the living environment. The north has been under the threat of aliens for a long time, but the south can only personally participate in the national war when it is time to subjugate the country.

But don't think that the folk customs in the south are really weak. In fact, if you want to say where the resistance is the most resolute after repeated foreign invasions, you can find that although the southerners are relatively weak in war, they are actually not cowardly at all.

It's not that there are no generals in the south, but compared with the north, the factors of geographical environment and social environment will make the probability of the emergence of generals in the south lower.

The small imperial court of the Eastern Jin Dynasty has been under pressure from the north for a long time. Although the so-called elites are generally rotten, there are still some people who are destined to shine.

There are many people who can be called famous generals in the Han Empire at present, and Huan Wenwen and Xie An are the two famous generals in land warfare.If the navy is included, the number will be even more, and the representatives are Li Mai and Wang Kan.

Liu Yan has always believed that human growth is related to the environment, not that a person's fate has been determined from the moment of birth, only animals are born from the mother's womb, and there is no variability in the fate trajectory.

Carnivores will always eat only meat, herbivores will only eat plants, and omnivores will eat everything, but they will never wonder why they don't wear clothes.

As a human being who possesses wisdom and can rely on learning, what kind of destiny you have is only related to how much knowledge you have. How about a saying that "knowledge changes destiny"?

The current intellectuals are generally called scholars.

The reason why they use the title "scholar" is that they don't have certain assets, or even have the opportunity to learn knowledge, without enough wealth as a support, it is simply a luxury to want to learn knowledge.

The class of "scholars" is "scholars".In the Spring and Autumn and Warring States period, the gentry had another name called aristocrats. No matter how poor the nobles were, they must be richer than ordinary people.

Liu Yan was not at all surprised that Huan Wen took the initiative to learn about the world.

Huan Wen was the one who led the army thousands of miles across the sea to destroy the country. Among the many generals, he traveled the farthest, and he definitely came into contact with many new things than others.If he hadn't grown curious about the outside world, Liu Yan would have wondered if he was going to embark on the journey of conquering World Island.

"Yuanzi." Liu Yan kept walking, only Huan Wenwen and Xie An were the only ministers who followed, and the rest stayed there to watch the fun.He walked to the periphery and asked, "I'm asking you, I found out that there are so many countries besides the big man, what do you think?"

"I naturally have ideas." Huan Wen's eyes at this moment are full of ideals: "The world is far beyond my imagination. I know that this is the true face of 'the world', so I got drunk that night."

Xie An interjected: "The minister is the same as Yuanzi, he got drunk after knowing about it."

Even if they didn't say the latter, Liu Yan would probably understand it.

"You are happy, but some people are afraid." Liu Yan was talking about those who don't want to see the country go to war every now and then.Facing the unusually lively square, he stretched out his hand to catch the snowflakes falling from the sky, glanced at the children following him, and said slowly: "Since the ninth year of Yuanshuo, foreigners have been coming from thousands of miles away. However, some people live in their own world forever, unwilling to open their eyes to see the world."

Huan Wenwen and Xie An must have understood what Liu Yan was saying.

Take a look at the so-called scholars in the square who are arguing fiercely.

Listening to what those scholars were talking about, at least nine out of ten people said "so-and-so said" at every turn.

Of the nine people who keep saying "so-and-so" all the time, at least five of them don't know what "say" is at all, and they just know to use the "say" of a certain sage according to the routine. Refute the "say" of the other sage.

"Hehe." Huan Wen didn't look down on those so-called scholars who were obsessed with studying, and said: "In my opinion, most of them have become useless people. Even the literate soldiers in the army have higher plasticity than them."

This is what Liu Yan is depressed about!

Those so-called elites are not as good as the soldiers in the army who are trained in assault?
The elite of a nation actually know nothing except being a repeater, and they don’t even have the slightest ability to do it themselves?Such a nation is glorious for a while, but no matter how glorious it is, it will encounter an equivalent tragedy, and when it comes time to resist, those so-called elites will only bury their heads in the ground and stick their butts up high.

Without the slightest exaggeration, Liu Yan has already discovered the current real situation. If it is similar to any period in history, it is probably exactly similar to the late Northern Song Dynasty, the late Southern Song Dynasty, and the late Ming Dynasty. Most of the people who are considered elites except So drunk and dreaming and being a repeater, you can't do anything.

"At least I have some hope." Liu Yan was talking about the soldiers in the army: "They don't know how to compose poems and Fu, they just know the words used in daily life, but at least they don't have the 'yue' in their heads."

Huan Wen and Xie An looked at each other quietly, and after looking at each other, they each had their own thoughts.

"I mentioned the imperial examination..." Liu Yan was no longer in a conversation. It was easier to follow up his thinking by saying it out loud: "Then what is the imperial examination? Testing the Four Books and Five Classics is a cycle of history. If you don't test the Four Books and Five Classics, let them Answer what?"

Both Huan Wenwen and Xie An were quite sensible, but they just followed silently without talking to each other.

"If you don't test the Four Books and Five Classics, but test things and mathematics, you can imagine that those scholars should go crazy." Liu Yan suddenly stopped, facing the two people behind him, and asked: "Is it appropriate to ask policy, Gewu, mathematics, and geography?" ?”

Huan Wen saluted and responded, "You are the Ninth Five-Year Supreme."

Xie An hesitated. He knew that if he did that, he would be abandoning at least one generation. If he did that, something would definitely happen!
(End of this chapter)