Chapter 255: Open Your Eyes To The World? No, Look At Xian Han
One hundred days after arriving in this world, Xuan Chong began to observe the world.
During this period, Xuan Chong met his father, the King of Dongtu, several times; the King of Dongtu was busy with official duties, occupied with discussing matters with those guys in the Advisory Bureau who are called “Royal Ministers.”
These Royal Ministers, though named ministers, are actually representatives of local vested interests. Their discussions naturally involve bickering: “My king, there is not enough grain!” “My king, the coal mine is insufficient for making warming furnaces!” This made Xuan Chong, who occasionally overheard their discussions, involuntarily complain: “The unruly people of the Steam Age.”
King of Dongtu Liu Dangzhen, after learning that Liu Haoxing had returned from the academy, was cold toward him for a period. But now, seeing his son show sufficient “vigor,” his tone carried gentleness.
“Rising at the crow of the rooster” and “studying diligently without cease” are standards of vigor. “Losing ambition through indulgence” and “greedily indulging without restraint” are signs of listlessness.
A strict father will not express praise as easily as a kind mother. Nor will he, like the elderly grandmother at home, hold him in his arms and tenderly say he has become “thin.” Upon seeing Liu Haoxing, his first glance was just to toss out, “At least you look somewhat human now.”
Though he said that, he paid attention every day. Sure enough, he sent a Martial Arts Grandmaster to teach Liu Haoxing body conditioning; invited the best Physics teacher, and donated money to nearby workshops, allowing Liu Haoxing to find the person in charge anytime for accompaniment to gain experience.
Starting at twelve years old, it is the time when boys change the most; Xuan Chong’s height surged fiercely from one meter fifty, seemingly inheriting the northern water and soil, possibly reaching one meter seventy next year. In the South, that would already be the stature of a little adult.
…Go out for a walk…
Dongtu’s industrial chain consists of whaling and ocean fishing operations, the factories filled with oil stains, walls covered everywhere in black marks. And the workers, far from the handsome men and beautiful women of the Prince’s Mansion, all have butcher builds, faces full of brutish flesh like man-eating demons.
As for these whale-processing workers, when not working, drunkenness and beating women are commonplace.
From the first impression, the lower-class people bustling in the factories all seem like irredeemable scum. When they wield knives and axes to cut meat from frozen whale corpses, the bodyguards directly shielded Xuan Chong to the side.
However, Xuan Chong was very clear that when even he had such a “first impression,” it meant certain people had operated very successfully.
Since modernization, the ruling structure has become more sophisticated compared to the Feudal Era.
To conscientiously extract value from a certain group, rulers will “demonize” them in public opinion. Once a group is “demonized,” the ruling structure at the top of the order can then conscientiously enjoy the value created by these “sinners.”
If not for the “labor reward” concept ingrained in history class like a thought imprint in Xuan Chong’s values, he really would have been led astray by the sensory “demonization.”
Xuan Chong’s narration: Camel Xiangzi is a good work because it shapes an honest, diligent, ordinary person and shows how he is turned by seemingly fair masters into that gambling, wandering image that evokes disgust. If those who wrote Red Sorghum described it, they would inevitably depict how people like Xiangzi naturally exude innate evil from their pores, while these white lotus literati painfully maintain their purity.
Xuan Chong: “Those who don’t work have no right to stand on the moral high ground and accuse those who do.”
This is just like leaders who do skincare every day suddenly pointing at overtime-weary workers with inflamed tempers and saying, “Improve your attitude,” utterly hypocritical.
Xuan Chong looked at the “aloof” attitudes of the attendants in the factory, confirming that his former self, and this world’s predators, were probably unaware of their own hypocrisy.
…The common people are like straw dogs…
Ten days later, following the logic of “discovering contradictions” and after understanding this era’s technology and humanities, Xuan Chong took a deep breath.
By his previous life’s standards, this world’s technology is “black technology.”
Meanwhile, Xian Han’s humanities are the epitome of standard “Imperialism.” The “Imperialism” originating in Europe in his previous life pales completely beside it, like mere barbarians.
Xian Han’s Great Scholars call their system of subjugating both inside and outside a “miscellany of Imperial Way and Hegemonic Way.”
Xuan Chong suddenly understood why, some days ago, when others discussed Imperial Court matters with newspapers in hand, they treated him directly as a child. Because he really didn’t understand in this world.
Those “camp” concepts from his previous life have not appeared at all in Xian Han’s timeline.
Because on Xian Han’s historical line, outside non-Imperial Way lands, writing books and establishing doctrines carried too little weight.
“Left” and “Right” originate from the Seine River passing through the city, dividing rural tradition and commercial freedom across the banks. As for the “joint management” concept, it stems from the internal culture of certain merchant-wandering ethnic groups.
Those “concepts” familiar to Xuan Chong were, historically speaking, low-probability events. Their eventual rise always coincided with a key historical condition: “late Ming land subsidence.”
After “late Ming land subsidence,” the Confucian scholar-officials’ main work was no longer developing Neo-Confucianism for the new era after the rise of industry and commerce. For the subsequent few hundred years, they engaged in shoehorning arguments for “small clans overpowering great states”; until finally, accumulatively irredeemable, unable to manage industrialized governance, faced with firm ships and sharp cannons up close, they had to import external theories to break the deadlock.
Just like a game developer adapting for the preferences of a few investors and thus unable to develop further, in short, after the late Ming, Confucian scholar-officials failed this land’s needs. But the needs remained. It wasn’t some externally transmitted “Classics” with tenacious vitality; rather, Divine Land’s hundreds of millions of citizens needed them, giving “certain Classics” vitality.
Similarly noteworthy is that the early “Classics” transmitted from the West were not complete, only becoming usable after sufficient blood taxes were paid. (Europe’s early utopians took action to “build utopias,” their abstraction comparable to white leftists of Xuan Chong’s era.)
As for why Xuan Chong’s era could no longer produce so many mind-shaking theories like a century ago, left only with abstractions like playing Blue Elf, Three Men Walking such oddities.
Because no more civilized ethnic groups willing to pay so much blood tax for “theory practice” could be found. (Xuan Chong: Last century’s success made the Europeans still think they were pioneers of the next era’s trend, actually just roadside dogs. Without firewood, how can a spark ignite? Expecting those Arabia folks to obediently pay blood tax?)
In other words, if Eastern civilization had been transmitted well, with no desire to import external theories, then the world wouldn’t have so many so-called imported “truths.”
“Truth” isn’t called “truth” because it appears in certain philosophically rich holy lands; rather, it becomes truth step by step after vigorous ethnic groups and civilizations pay tens of millions in blood tax.
The great literary master said: There are no roads in the world until walked enough to become roads.
…All philosophical thoughts emerge to solve local problems…
Today’s Xian Han has factions in the Imperial Court divided into “Imperial Way” and “Hegemonic Way.” Each faction’s disciples and descendants label within this camp division like “left” and “right.” In the Imperial Court, from rustic to refined, whenever involving outer vassals or trade, both sides debate seated by “Imperial Way” and “Hegemonic Way” stances.;
“Imperial Way” lies in “governance,” “Hegemonic Way” in “control.”
Like “left” and “right” becoming adjectives in his previous life. Within Xian Han, Imperial Way factions accuse teammates of being too “Hegemonic Way,” while Hegemonic Way factions mock the “Imperial Way” side as too benevolent, barbarians fearing authority but not virtue.
The emergence of Left and Right theories boils down to Westerners debating the reasonableness of “authoritarian constraints on ordinary people.”
The West cares about “authority,” while the East cares about “cycle of governance and chaos.”
Whether Imperial Way or Hegemonic Way, whether “governance” or “control,” all address “Heaven’s Will contention.”
Under the “Heaven’s Will contention” philosophy, discussants examine whether there is a correct attitude toward the heaven and earth, state altars that sustain them.
Xuan Chong carefully read “Heaven’s Will contention” and summarized it as the contradiction between “individual idealism” and “Way of Heaven materialism” failing to harmonize.
This philosophical thought is a framework built around the five great Han cycles of “governance and chaos.”
Xian Han’s scholars believe: All dynasties in their founding periods, from top to bottom, are in “Heaven’s Will harmony,” hence great order under heaven. By mid-to-late periods, a series of “Heaven’s Will contradiction” operations turn order to chaos.
Take “Heng Han” as example, where this rise-and-fall pattern is exceptionally clear.
Heng Han was restored by Liu Bei, but by Eastern Han’s end, local strongman groups’ bases were already frozen three feet deep.
After Liu Bei founded Heng Han, he passed away in seven years; the next twenty years, though with famous ministers assisting, Emperor Taizong (Liu Chan) ruled with benevolence, mostly admonishing his ministers rather than thundering executions.
Thus in Heng Han’s mid-to-late period, it remained the sorry state of Wei-Jin.
“Heart” is what people think, “Way of Heaven” is objective laws, the possibilities allowed for all things including humans.
In late Heng Han, when noble families used five-stone powder and pure talk to pursue spiritual transcendence; common people sought solace before Buddha statues, neglecting “Heaven.” Then great chaos under heaven—this is what “Heaven’s Will contradiction” produces.
Modern Great Scholars critique Heng Han’s end-period anomalies: From top to bottom, none held a correct attitude toward Way of Heaven and state altars.
The standard of “Heaven’s Will harmony” is: Common people carefully tend the state altars underfoot; scholar-officials manage legitimate professions, the Son of Heaven and local clan leaders master “priest” duties and strictly adhere to ritual law. Always correct their attitudes to prevent contradiction with “state altars,” lest the stable system develop “illnesses.”
This dynasty governs by the “Heaven’s Will contention” outline, already four hundred years.
Great Scholars summarize this world from top to bottom, attributing all human disputes to “Heaven’s Will contradiction.”
Thus, viewing this world from his previous life’s perspective, Xuan Chong sees “masses-elites contradiction”; but this dynasty’s common people and scholar-officials have no such concept—their thinking holds only “Heaven’s Will contradiction.”
The so-called “heart” means whether scholar-officials or common people, all have their duties. But in doing anything, one’s “heart” must not contradict “Heaven.”
There is no concept of scholar-officials exploiting common people; if someone preaches exploitation to common people, that is deliberate incitement, attempting to manufacture “Heaven’s Will contradiction.”
If common people fulfill their heavenly duty of farming, yet cannot survive due to exorbitant taxes, “Heaven’s Will contradiction” theory pins the problem on the ruling class.
…Xuan Chong suddenly realized: This social theory’s core is not justice, but “sages are not benevolent, treating common people like straw dogs”—yet must provide “straw dogs” a path to survival…
Take reproduction: This is something common people and scholar-officials must do, the “Heaven’s permission.”
Common people need only work diligently in factories, saving enough for family and career.
As for scholar-officials? Absolutely not like late “Heng Han,” madly buying slaves and servant girls, killing them for poor wine-serving; but to contribute family wealth: “Reduce from the excess to supplement the deficient.”
For example, this dynasty’s historians analyzing “Heng Han”‘s fall emphasize one phenomenon.
For small households, raising boys provides main labor; relatively, raising girls has lower economic value to the family, hence female infants are often abandoned.
Such “personal desires” of common people mismatch objective long-term development, causing “Heaven’s Will contradiction”; late Heng Han saw population explosion yet few wars consuming men, hence with a thunderclap over Nine Provinces, the Yellow River stirred rebellion under heaven.
This dynasty learned the lesson.
Small households preferring boys over girls is hard to constrain by law.
To prevent “Heaven’s Will contradiction” consequences, the law orders local scholar-officials to bear responsibility forcibly. Public righteousness halls are established to specially receive female infants.
Under industrialized grain supply, these people in the public righteousness halls can fully be sustained.
As for these girls after coming of age, the public righteousness hall acts as parents, and in marriage “parents’ orders, matchmaker’s words,” so the public righteousness hall decides.
The public righteousness hall, funded by local scholar-officials, marries them only to local young men.
Men marrying public hall girls must provide dowry besides a pig and red cloth: a huge loan.
Since local laborers are loaned money, local strongmen must strive for their employment. Dongtu’s whaling industry is iron rice bowl; yet Liu Dangzhen still spends money to develop steel industry and shipping business.
Xian Han’s great clans transmitted for over a thousand years are no longer like Wei-Jin, idly pure-talking when bored; fretting sleeplessly seeking the mysterious.
After entering modern times, Xian Han established a clear-indicator assessment system, making resource-controlling great clans maintain local “family harmony brings all prosperity.” No one can bear the “Heaven’s Will contradiction” label.
Situations like peasant uprisings aren’t just like Ming-Qing holding local officials accountable; the local clans hosting “priest” duties have their sacrifices directly halted! Daring to overstep is illicit sacrifice, warranting exile to the border.
A local great clan unable to perform sacrifices has no justification to organize its young men, its clan authority plummets sharply. Like in Xuan Chong’s previous life, when a university loses “sanctity” due to scandal, its academic and influence power weakens greatly.
Including Liu Haoxing’s current Dongtu Prince’s Mansion, holding equity in coal mines and fishing grounds, gaining thirty million silver coins in dividends—by Xuan Chong’s previous life standards, solid local monopoly.
But such wealth doesn’t allow waving “freedom” for protection like those arrogant tycoons.
Per “Heaven’s Will harmony” theory, obligations must be fulfilled.
Dongtu Mansion spends at least ten million yearly on raising girls, ensuring local “Heaven’s Will harmony.”—Of course, these raised girls wanting free movement for jobs in big cities? Dream on. Local spending is for local, not bottoming out other regions’ population imbalance.
If Xuan Chong used previous life’s concepts, Xian Han internally has terrifying “extracting surplus” capacity.
Laborers in big cities average five to six shichen work! Rural farmers, besides tending their crops, do road construction work, at extremely low wages.
Yet such Xian Han has had no large-scale uprisings in two hundred years!
Every household’s male laborer is bound by family, like cattle and horses bearing load after load.
In Xian Han Jiangnan region’s big cities, commoners’ overwork deaths are not rare.
Outside Jiangnan’s developed water and railway areas, commoners elsewhere have no population mobility, born and raised here. Xian Han’s rich regions’ malice toward outsiders far exceeds Xuan Chong’s previous life, at West Europe vs Eastern Ou level, even affecting upper classes—Xuan Chong’s former self Liu Haoxing bullied in Yandu due to this factor.
Dongtu Island is standard frigid land, a vassal state governed under standard “Heaven’s Will harmony” system.
The above is Eastern Dynasty’s compromise policy upon entering modernization to ensure vast territory.
Otherwise, by previous life’s European free mobility system, Dongtu’s people would have run off long ago.
What? Vassal states don’t count as territory? Xuan Chong’s previous life Soviet Bear’s republics and White Eagle’s states had greater rights than current vassal states. Eagle and Bear often face their own vassal lords slamming tables, while tiny vassal states like Dongtu can’t even get a seat at the Imperial Court. Even resource-selling qualifications are throttled by Central Plains.
Dongtu smashing ten million silver coins yearly in true gold and silver for social security—is it kindness? This preserves their “united front value.”
Spending ten million yearly ties down hundreds of thousands of cattle and horses to Dongtu. Proving they can call shots in this frigid land.
Xuan Chong: “Binding people to the land is no different from binding clan members to the countryside. Compared to ancient ‘buying slaves,’ it’s just a nicer name, on a vastly larger scale.”
After systematic factory investigation, Xuan Chong confirmed overwork leads to drunkenness, drunkenness to men’s generally short lives.
Those women dragging children? —Well, depends if these unfortunate women can, while still attractive, marry an outsider. (Those coming to frigid Dongtu are all exiled bankrupts.)
But mostly they enter female worker workshops, using women’s bodies to support families. As for the women, they gather during laundry breaks to complain of bitter fates, but won’t rebel.
If a female worker dies of exhaustion, she gets a “virtuous wife medal” personally awarded by the mansion’s Madam; orphans then enter public righteousness halls.
After investigation, Xuan Chong left the whale meat fields, leather factories, and such.
Xuan Chong’s logic brought to this world: Cycle of governance and chaos is Eastern history’s main contradiction, so scholars’ Neo-Confucianism (philosophy) all serve this. This philosophical ideology developed two thousand years, with highly complex mechanisms, not easily broken.
Xuan Chong recalled that dirty, chaotic slum area: If he ran to the factory shouting “Rise up, we must not be slaves,” absolutely no one would follow. Instead, he’d be reported. Men with wives and kids are conservatives among conservatives.
…Black technology…
Meanwhile, Xuan Chong’s cheap father, the King of Dongtu, was discussing building the steel mill now with southern merchants.
A foreman: “Your Highness, this is Huai Zuo Refinery Division’s latest refining furnace! If the plan goes smoothly, next year the steel mill output will be five hundred seventy thousand tons!”
In the iron slag industrial zone, blazing steel rolled out continuously.
King of Dongtu said: “After the iron factory is built, ten ten thousand of our people will live by the iron industry. So what about our ration shortfall here?”
Another southern merchant: “Your Highness, rest assured. As long as you guarantee iron material output, we can find southern representatives to sign a thirty-year grain supply agreement with you, ensuring stable low prices for your side.”
A nearby sea merchant added: “Doing business with you, we have Jianye Imperial Ancestral Temple’s notation, no mishaps. (If grain insufficient to eat, Heaven’s Will contradiction, someone accountable.)”
These southern financial cliques now scheme long-term northern layouts.
Xuan Chong thought of future oil-selling welfare, while Dongtu’s abundant resources—how are they not in even smarter people’s calculations?
