Mythic version of the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 7108 This Liberal Arts Brain
"Does Your Excellency have something to discuss with the General?" Cui Lin noticed Wang Liang's hesitant expression as Huangfu Song left, so he asked with some doubt after Huangfu Song's departure, "Although the General is not here, Brother Jian Shou is here, so he can surely make a decision, right?"

“Indeed, at my age, I’m pretty much done for. I can make my own decisions now. My father has already given up on me,” Huangfu Jianshou said casually, completely unconcerned that he had actually mentioned a rather terrifying situation.

"Actually, it's nothing much. I just heard that the General used the Taiping Qingling Dao during the Northern War and successfully summoned lightning. As you know, my family is into this kind of thing. The Thunder Platform can increase production by creating a potential difference using natural conditions at the right time, which then causes the atmosphere to discharge, thus increasing production." Wang Liang didn't try to hide anything, because although he had personal motives, he was indeed acting in a public interest position.

"So you mean you want Taiping Qingling Dao?" Zhang Zhao of the Zhang family of Hanoi glanced at Wang Liang, then looked at Cui Lin beside him with a half-smile.

"Yes, of course, besides the Taiping Qingling Dao, it would be best if I could also borrow Zhang Jiao's set of relics," Wang Liang said after thinking for a moment. He really did come with the idea of ​​learning from them.

"Zhang Jiao's set of relics can only be found by the Great General, but if you want the Taiping Qingling Dao, I know someone who has the complete copy." Wang Rou also looked at Cui Lin naturally. They were all cunning foxes, and everyone knew each other, right? Old Cui, where is the Taiping Qingling Dao?
"Well, if you just want the Taiping Qingling Dao, my family has the complete version, but it's useless for normal people. It mainly depends on a kind of opportunity, I guess." Cui Lin coughed twice and said.

Do you understand what it means to be from a prominent family in Hebei or a powerful clan in Jizhou? Do you understand what it means to have success and Zhang Jiao coexist? The two Cuis know very well what others don't. Anyway, they definitely have the Taiping Qingling Dao in their family, and the original copy is definitely the original copy.

Upon hearing this, Wang Liang looked at Cui Lin with a strange expression. The others sitting around him didn't see anything wrong with it either. The two Cuis were local bigwigs in Jizhou, and they had been there for hundreds of years, with deep roots.

In this place, it wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that they were the kind of people who could command the wind and rain. Even if they hadn't reached the ultimate form of the four noble families, five noble families, and seven prominent families of later generations, it wouldn't be a problem for them to rule the local area and pick up the corpses of some powerful out-of-towners who had died here.

Do you remember where Zhang Jiao ended up after the Yellow Turban Rebellion? Although it wasn't the stronghold of the Cui family, the Cui clan was still a prominent group in Ji Province. They had the Three Dukes above them, local officials in the middle, and even more formidable local clerks below. From their organizational structure, you could tell they were a very powerful local tyrant. So, to put it nicely, they picked up some of Zhang Jiao's legacy; to put it bluntly, before the Yellow Turban Rebellion, did the Cui family really have no idea that Zhang Jiao was planning something big?
What a joke! Of course I know!

The problem is, does knowing this mean you have to stop them? What a joke! Having just survived the Party Prohibitions, shouldn't we put Liu Hong to a tougher challenge and show the other side what's what?

Essentially, the Yellow Turban Rebellion was caused not only by the fact that the world was indeed in dire need of reform at the time, but also by human desires. Furthermore, individuals had different methods of saving the world and their goals for salvation were in great conflict. In the end, the Yellow Turban Rebellion shattered the Han Dynasty and led the country down an even worse path.

However, as Chen Xi said before, he neither thought Huangfu Song's behavior was wrong nor Zhang Jiao's behavior was wrong. As a beneficiary of the feudal class, the former had an inherent obligation to protect his own class. After all, if you get a share of the benefits, you should do things. There is a logic and reason behind this. From ancient times to the present, the logic of "taking money and doing things for others" has always been unimpeded.

Of course, it cannot be denied that if this approach fails, it would be considered aiding and abetting evil and being put on the pillar of shame. But if this approach succeeds, it would be seen as protecting their class. From a class standpoint, there's not much to say.

Conversely, the Yellow Turban Rebellion was also justifiable. After all, when people were starving, it was only natural to rebel against the state and the government. Survival was the greatest justice, and for this universal justice, even eating the enemy was justifiable.

You may not practice this logic yourself, but you cannot assume that a person whose eyes are bloodshot from hunger, who has abandoned humanity and embraced animalistic instincts, is wrong in their survival efforts.

Therefore, it is essentially a war between different classes, and destroying the other side is naturally not wrong.

Even in the process of destroying the other party, all sacrifices and all costs are acceptable. The only problem is that the fruits of all sacrifices and all costs are stolen by others.

From the Three Kingdoms period to the Jin Dynasty and then to the Northern and Southern Dynasties, it was essentially a process in which powerful families continuously stole the fruits of their labor. Since it was a continuous process of stealing the fruits of labor, did this kind of behavior occur at the end of the Han Dynasty? Of course it did.

The two Cuis knew of Zhang Jiao, and even had contact with him as local strongmen. Of course, the two Cuis were not the only officials who had contact with Zhang Jiao in that era. Before Zhang Jiao made up his mind to overthrow the Han Dynasty, he was, after all, a prominent figure of the time. The Taiping Qingling Dao, which was called Taiping Jing before, had already begun to take shape in the early and mid-Later Han Dynasty. It was only by the time of Zhang Jiao that it had formed a formal lineage.

This is also why Nan Hua, Bei Ming, Zi Xu and others are extremely wary of Zhang Jiao. They have all seen this book, but none of them have been able to utilize it to the extent that Zhang Jiao has. In fact, the closer they get to the will of the empire, the more they understand the terror of Zhang Jiao.

Can immortals clash with the will of the empire?

Zhang Jiao truly clashed with the will of the Empire.

The reason why the immortals all think that Si Niang is abnormal is because Si Niang can grab the activated jade seal with her bare hands and touch the will of the empire with her bare hands. These are things that immortals cannot do.

However, compared to what Si Niang could do, Zhang Jiao was even more exaggerated. Zhang Jiao clashed with the imperial will and shaped the prototype of the imperial will belonging to the Yellow Turbans. Of course, he also failed, but you can't completely defeat and discard Zhang Jiao because of his failure.

This is a very special role, at least for immortals.

Of course, this applies to immortals. But for aristocratic families, they don't care how dangerous the other party is or how special the other party is. They only care about whether they can loot the bag.

Let alone Zhang Jiao, this group of people, facing Chen Xi, who is completely invincible and whom they have no way to deal with, have been holding back for an entire era, waiting to outlast Chen Zichuan, and then jumping out when Chen Hou closes his eyes.

Under this logic, it is perfectly normal for the two Cui brothers to have Zhang Jiao's Taiping Qingling Dao. Even if it is not the original, it is at least the final version optimized and modified by Zhang Jiao.

Do you even know what a local bully is?

"Uh, your family actually has a complete set? Uh, is your complete set from the reign of Emperor Shun or Emperor Huan?" Wang Liang was surprised when he heard Cui Lin's words, and then, remembering the information he had collected, he asked with some doubt.

“We also have the set from the reigns of Emperor Shun and Emperor Huan, but I think what you want is the set that Zhang Jiao had. My family has a handwritten copy, although it’s not the original, it is indeed the one that Zhang Jiao finally optimized and adjusted.” Cui Lin coughed twice and spoke the truth.

In this day and age, there's nothing that can't be said. So what if their family got involved with Zhang Jiao back then? It wasn't just the Cui brothers who got involved with Zhang Jiao back then; many aristocratic families and officials did too. Besides, when the Cui brothers got involved with Zhang Jiao, it was for the greater good of the people, to overthrow the era when the people were destitute and starving. It was a righteous act.

Whether you believe it or not, that's just how the Cui family is.

“?” Wang Liang looked at Cui Lin with a strange expression.

"Forget it, Prince, don't ask anymore, don't be confused. I'll have someone send the handwritten copy to you from the ancestral home. There's no point in asking why you have it." Cui Lin saw Wang Liang's expression and knew that Wang Liang was about to ask, so he sighed and interrupted him directly. What's there to ask? Just read your book. You even said that all your descendants have a scientific mindset. You're something else!

"Alright, Your Highness, there are some things you'd better not know," Wang Rou added from the side. Wanting to know everything isn't a good thing. For example, right now, it's best to pretend you don't know anything. That's better for everyone.

"I'll borrow Zhang Jiao's equipment from my father later. He seems to really like it and always carries it with him," Huangfu Jianshou said with a hint of doubt, but he had essentially agreed to it. After all, it was a matter of great benefit to the people, and he should help when he could.

“Lord Fenglong, in the future, don’t keep these things to yourself. Ask around more often, and it will have a surprising effect.” Yuan Tao coughed twice and said, “Back when the Wang family was in Kuaiji, there were some things that we didn’t understand well enough. After all, you are an academic family, which is different from us. You should know that even some noble families are not necessarily truly noble.”

As he spoke, Yuan Tao glanced at Yuan Huan. If we're talking about noble and refined families, the Yuan family of Chen Commandery is second to none among all the aristocratic families with bureaucratic and political backgrounds. They are famous for their noble and refined character. But bureaucracy and politics inevitably have their share of problems. No matter how noble and refined a family is, it will still get its share of problems.

This is also why Zhao Shuang and Xu Yue sometimes complain about Chen Xi, saying, "With this level of math skills, why are you getting involved in politics? Why are you doing academics instead?"
"The problem is that if you think about it carefully, there aren't many families left that are truly dedicated to academic research." Wang Liang understood Yuan Tao's words, but precisely because he understood them, he frowned slightly.

Although all the major families were transformed from military nobles during the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods and knew the importance of military strength, in addition to this military strength, each family once had an academic core, which was inherited from their ancestors, namely the Hundred Schools of Thought.

In the centuries that followed, whether absorbing ideas from other schools or forging their own academic paths, as long as the family existed, it would continue to develop ideas that aligned with its own family tradition.

Therefore, the early aristocratic families all had their own family traditions, but as time went by, by the end of the Han Dynasty, many families had completely abandoned their family traditions and turned to expanding their power.

Of course, according to official history, the academic families were almost wiped out due to the repeated outbreaks of typhoid fever and plague, and they also encountered the absurd environment of the Wei and Jin dynasties, so they had no choice but to choose power.

During the Yuanfeng era, Chen Xi retained most of his vitality and did not disrupt the consensus of the world. At the very least, people in this period maintained respect for knowledge. In other words, officials still respected intellectuals, and academic families remained nobles.

In other words, Chen Xi acknowledged the monopoly of the Gan and Shi families over the Taishi lineage, the monopoly of the Kuaiji Wang family over electricity and the related official titles and ranks, and the monopoly of the Nanyang Zhang family over the Craftsmanship Supervisor lineage.

Chen Xi knew that this was not a good thing, because this kind of thing had already become a de facto academic clique, but in the context of the late Han Dynasty, if someone was willing to continue on the academic path, Chen Xi had to support them, even if this method was not actually the right one.

There was no other way.

After all, in this era where even literacy rates are difficult to improve, what other demands can Chen Xi make?

To put it bluntly, it's not that Chen Xi was unwilling to conduct literacy education in the military, but rather that he had worked hard to educate the military on literacy, yet after so many years, it still had little effect.

Please recognize the fact that the new China was able to quickly launch literacy campaigns because the illiteracy rate in the new China was 80%. However, this 80% illiteracy rate was unevenly distributed. In urban areas, the more developed the area, the lower the illiteracy rate. In some areas, and even in special industries, the literacy rate can reach 95%. But in rural areas, the general illiteracy rate is over 95%.

What was the situation Chen Xi faced at the end of the Han Dynasty? Before Chen Xi's extraordinary abilities, the actual literacy rate was probably less than 5%, and illiteracy was rampant.

If the actual literacy rate were perfectly evenly distributed, Chen Xi would have a solution, but the key issue is that the literacy rate is not evenly distributed.

First of all, all officials were literate. Those who worked for their own families were certainly literate as well. Some of the clerks who assisted Han officials were also literate. The vast majority of literate people in the world were concentrated in urban areas. Those who were not in urban areas were mostly traveling merchants or local merchants. After excluding these people, the literacy rate in the vast rural areas was probably less than 1%.

This is also why Chen Xi compromised with the aristocratic families, and after the compromise, he forced them to arrange for people to use the dictionaries he had commissioned to create to forcibly promote literacy rates.

Even so, after ten years of snowballing growth, the literacy rate of the Han Dynasty still did not enter a fast track. The reason is very simple: under the early Emperor Zhong's crazy education policy and mandatory education, coupled with everyone's unimaginable enthusiasm, it would take twenty years to go from a literacy rate of 20% to 66%. As for 80%, 90%, or even higher 97% later, it would take even longer.

What situation did Chen Xi face? It was 5%, from a 5% literacy rate to a 20% literacy rate. Even if the literacy rate were linear, Chen Xi had the organizational capacity of the Red Army in the third century, plus Chen Xi's crazy investment of manpower and resources in education, just like in the early days of the Middle Empire.

It would take thirty years to go from 5% to 20%, and it has only been ten years since Yuanfeng. Even if Chen Xi were a superman, this is the reality. Moreover, Chen Xi really doesn't have the organizational ability of the Red Army, so the requirements are extremely high.

Therefore, according to Chen Xi's estimate, by the time the Yuanfeng era is over and Liu Shan's era is more than halfway through, it would be a very good situation if the literacy rate of the Han Dynasty could reach 20%, allowing it to enter the fast lane. As for rapidly reaching over 80%, let's put it this way, there is no reality to draw upon.

This is also why Chen Xi did not conduct large-scale science and technology education before Yuanfeng five years ago, but mainly carried out literacy education. Before Yuanfeng five years ago, Chen Xi could not find enough students to learn these things. Even if he opened a class, it would be a gift prepared for the aristocratic families.

Although Chen Xi compromised with the aristocratic families, he didn't end up being forced to work for them.

Conversely, clearing out most of the aristocratic families and allowing them to develop abroad not only reduced internal strife but also, importantly, freed up the niches of these humanities-oriented families who specialized in the I Ching, classics, history, and philosophy, allowing those focused on science to flourish.

Well, back then, there weren't many people studying science. There were a few families studying mathematics, a few studying astronomy, and a few studying physics. The vast majority of established families were engaged in literary interpretation and moral analysis. So, even though the positions vacated by these established families after they went abroad were partially occupied by families engaged in technology and research, it was still enough for the new generation of people trained in universities who were engaged in technology and research but had no roots or family connections to develop.

Even if these people are not aware of this, as long as people are alive, they will interact with others, which will form the concept of "we" and naturally create fertile ground for science.

Such behavior is imperceptible to the families of this era because these people have not intruded on the core power of the aristocratic families, namely the so-called right to define universal morality, the right to dominate academic culture, and so on. In their view, these university graduates are merely their subordinates and will not encroach on their power. On the contrary, they will drive the expansion of their strength.

After all, these days, morality, scholarship, and culture are judged by debate, and only those who can win the debate are considered orthodox. But this is the humanities approach.

The technology and research path of science are not very clear in this era, but if the technology and research path of scientific thinking can bring productivity, then there is no need for debate!

I'm lying here. The difference between science and humanities is something you'll experience for yourself. The core of humanities lies in summarizing and generalizing, using debate to assimilate others. The core of science, however, is analysis and problem-solving, using technical facts to conquer the opponent.