I weave my destiny in parallel time and space

Chapter 163

Xia Ya's eyelids closed slightly and continued.

“Then again, the economic base determines the superstructure.

Due to the advancement of farming technology and the emergence of the slave farming system, productivity has developed again, and the population has experienced explosive growth.

The original governance model cannot adapt to the new governance needs, and will transform from a slave dynasty to a feudal dynasty.

But unfortunately, just as the Roman Empire evolved along this path to the feudal system, the Germans conquered the Roman Empire.

This also accelerated the feudalization process in Rome and throughout Western Europe. "

“First of all, after the Germanic people at the end of primitive society conquered Rome.

They could neither absorb the larger Romans into gentile groups nor rule them through gentile groups.

A substitute had to be installed in place of the Roman state.

This substitute is a feudal state established by the conquering clan on the basis of the original military organization, and the military leader of the clan becomes the king.

The king gave the occupied land to his cronies and subordinates as fiefs or territories through enfeoffment. The large lords then enfeoffed the land to small and medium-sized lords, thus forming a new feudal aristocracy and a feudal lord economy.

Secondly, with the Germanic conquest of Rome, members of the Germanic tribes moved into Rome in large numbers, were assigned a piece of land to cultivate, and became free citizens.

Like the original free people of Rome, they were plundered by feudal lords and feudal states, made extremely poor by continuous wars, and had to seek protection from the nobility or the church in exchange for handing over land ownership, and then " Lease the land back as rental land.

Once trapped in this form of dependence, they gradually lost their personal freedom, and after a few generations most of them became serfs."

In this way, the German nation established a feudal system on the ruins of Roman slavery.

It is worth mentioning that although the invasion of the Germans accelerated the feudalization process of Rome and other nations in Western Europe,

But the feudal system in Rome and Europe was by no means the result of violent conquest by the Germans.

If the Roman Empire did not form the social and economic conditions for establishing a feudal system, it would not have the corresponding productivity and sufficient population.

It was impossible to "create" a feudal society after the German invasion.

At the same time, it is certain that even if no foreigners conquered Rome, due to the objective economic laws, sooner or later the Roman Empire would inevitably develop into a feudal country along the path of feudalization. "

Arthur nodded, "What's the next step, after the feudal country?"

“Next, with the continuous advancement and promotion of farming technology, productivity once again improved, and land that could produce a lot of wealth became the core interest of these feudal kings.

A king with more land can support a larger population, obtain more soldiers and wealth, and gain greater advantages in war. In turn, the feudal dynasty will transform into a unified dynasty.

But it is worth mentioning that the start of the Great Unification War is inevitable, but the occurrence of true unification is accidental.

In the successive years of wars in Europe, no one stood out and defeated the rest of the enemies.

Of course, in addition to factors of individual ability, there are more reasons why Europe failed to unify, such as the fragmentation of culture, language, writing, ethnicity, and geography.

However, there is one country that has accomplished this unification. "

Arthur knew what Char said, so he spoke.

"Beichen."

"To be precise, that country is called Qin." Xia Ya whispered.

"There are two large rivers in the north and south of Beichen's core territory, namely the Yellow River and the Yangtze River respectively, thus forming two large-scale farming areas.

However, the two areas are very close to each other and there are no mountains in between, so they can be easily connected.

The crisscrossing mountain ranges in Europe have resulted in countless rivers, and almost every nation has its own mother river.

For example, the Danube River in Germany, the Seine River in France, the Vistula River in Poland, the Volga River in Russia, etc. The living conditions of each system make Europe lack the motivation and desire to unify.

But the existence of the Mediterranean also allowed them to develop in another direction. Since they could not integrate resources and obtain more arable land through unification, they exchanged food and trade through long voyages, and they developed a maritime civilization.

They value contracts and pay more attention to private interests rather than cooperation between people. They lack collectiveness, which also makes them lack a unified ideological foundation. "

"Britannia is different from them," Arthur said.

"Yes." Xiaya sighed with emotion, "The land you occupy is really fertile, with vast plains, and the Mississippi River Basin has the largest black soil in the world, which can cultivate a large amount of food. So, Naturally, there was no need to develop navigation to conduct trade.

So you are closer to an agricultural civilization than a marine civilization.

The reason why the Spanish Empire in the south keeps invading you is to seize that land. "

Arthur was lost in thought.

The emergence of the slave economy in the Roman Republic led to the bankruptcy of the small-scale peasant economy, shook the class foundation and economic foundation of the Roman city-state republic, led to the existence of the republic in name only, and the birth of the monarchy.

The advancement of farming capabilities and the production contradictions of slavery led to low productivity, which turned slavery into a slave system and gave birth to the bud of the feudal system.

"Productivity determines production relations, and the economic base determines the superstructure."

He seemed to have thought of something and suddenly raised his head and looked at Xia Ya.

"In other words, if the production methods improve again, then it will be time to change the government."

Xia Ya's eyelids were slightly closed, her cheeks were raised, and she showed an unknown smile.

“Isn’t productivity already improving?”

Arthur was stunned for a moment, but then he seemed to realize something. His pupils shrank slightly, and a cold current rushed from his tailbone to the top of his head, and his hair stood on end.

"factory."

Xia Ya’s words continued, “The economic basis of feudal society was the private ownership of land by the landlord class.

The land is owned by the landlord class. Peasants have personal freedom, but without land, they can only rent the landlord's land to work and pay a certain amount of income as rent.

As for factory owners, I prefer to call them capitalists.

Their economic basis is capitalist private ownership of the means of production.

Here land is no longer the decisive factor in the economy, but one of many means of production.

Capitalists own capital, large machinery including steam engines, and all means of production.

Factories replace manual labor with large-scale mechanical labor such as steam engines. The advantages of large output and low cost will also impact the small-scale peasant economy just like slavery in the Roman Empire, leading to the bankruptcy of farmers.

The bankrupt farmers lost their land and had to sell their labor power to survive. Here they were transformed into the working class, and the capitalists obtained surplus value from the labor of the working class. "

Xia Ya's words paused here, and he looked around.

"Let me test you guys and continue to push this logic down. Where is the contradiction between the nobility and capital?"

Isabel frowned and spoke.

“Land is no longer the decisive means of production, and the status of those nobles who own large amounts of land has naturally been shaken.

Instead of renting their land for farming, people moved to factories. "

Arthur murmured softly, "This is how conflicts arise."

This is also the reason why Heilang's factory is coveted by the nobles. Some nobles are aware of this, and conflicts are already occurring.

"And the emperor is the largest landowner." Xia Ya said, "This is also one of the foundations of the emperor's power."

"So there is a natural conflict between autocratic monarchy and capitalism, and capital will definitely affect autocratic monarchy."

The knowledge that Char said was very advanced, so it deeply shocked the hearts of Arthur and Alicia at this moment.

Isabel also frowned slightly. It can be said that what Xia said now is heart-wrenching for any emperor.

Although she is no longer the emperor, she is still a member of the royal family.

For a while, the atmosphere in this office was a little quiet.

Arthur seemed to realize something and murmured in a low voice, "This was the case in Napoleon's time. The king of France was guillotined by the people.

And he was quickly overthrown after becoming emperor.

He has hindered the progress of the river of human history and will inevitably be swallowed by the raging river. "

Isabel came back to her senses, still a little unwilling, "Is it possible that the emperor and capital can coexist?"

"It's possible, but the emperor no longer has the autocratic power he had in the past." Xia Ya said.

“Because capitalist businessmen demand a free economic system, autocracy is not enough. When imperial power conflicts with capital, it will inevitably be overthrown by capital.”

"but."

At this time, Arthur spoke, but his words were slightly hesitant, as if he was organizing his words.

“Although it seems that productivity and production relations have changed, in essence they have not changed, and people are still being exploited.

In the past it was the nobility, in the future it will be the capital.

People's lives don't seem to have changed much. "

Char looked at Arthur with some surprise. This is the difference between Arthur and Isabel. Although she also cares about the people, she cares more about the glory and power of the royal family.

And Arthur can truly consider the people.

"Is there a stage where people are not exploited?" Arthur asked.

He looked at Xia Ya and asked eagerly, "You must know, right?"

Xia Ya smiled, nodded and said, "Of course, in the next stage of capital."

Xia Ya's words attracted everyone present. Their eyes were focused on him, waiting for his words.

They have a hunch that the world behind this stage may be the ultimate yearning for all human beings and the end of their ideals.