Tiantang Splendid

Chapter 5144 The Divine Right of Kings
Since ancient times, "royal power" and "divine power" have always gone hand in hand with clear distinctions between the upper and lower. Secular kings must be granted by the gods in heaven to have the legitimate power to govern the country. "God" is above and "king" is below, and they can go hand in hand without conflict.

But is “God” really so high and mighty?

not necessarily.

Because mortals cannot communicate with "God", all of "God's" will needs someone to receive it and then bestow it on the world.

It is also human beings who receive "God's will". Since they are human beings, they naturally have all the attributes of human beings, such as killing, greed, nonsense, and occupation...

Therefore, there must be some collision and restriction between "divine power" and "monarchy". "Divine power" encroaches on the power of "monarchy", while "monarchy" uses the name of "divine power"...

This is the root of all turmoil and chaos.

During the Shang Dynasty, although the monarch was the supreme secular ruler, major decisions had to be decided through sacrifices and divination to "gods", and theocracy was superior to royal power.

During the Zhou Dynasty, the concept of "Mandate of Heaven" was proposed. The King of Zhou was the "Son of Heaven", and the "divine power" and "imperial power" were combined in one person. However, "God's will" still needed to be maintained through sacrifices and the moral concept of "respecting virtue and protecting the people", and the divine power still had a certain independence.

Qin Shihuang swept across the world and unified the eight wildernesses. He "combined the virtues of the Three Sovereigns and the achievements of the Five Emperors." He can be called "the most powerful secular despot in history," but his power came from "force" rather than "divine right." He was certainly not a "divine monarch" or "divine right of kings."

He was on the throne for too short a time, and used "power" to suppress the remnants of various countries, and had not yet completed the unification of "royal power" and "divine power".

The true "divine right of kings" and "unity of politics and religion" began with Emperor Wu of Han.

“The Harmony between Heaven and Man” may seem to be just four words in history books, and superficial knowledge suggests that it is a theory used by Confucianists to rule the people, but in reality it is truly astonishing and unprecedented!
Because it was these four words that portrayed the emperor as "the agent of heaven" and completely sanctified the imperial power.

From now on, "Jun" is "Son of Heaven"!
Throughout the world, one country, one race, can only have one voice and one will!
In this way, "long-term unity will inevitably lead to division, and long-term division will inevitably lead to unity" can become the "general trend of the world" of China, rather than the general trend of the world under the heaven!

*****
Lu Dongzan drank his tea in silence.

He is a rare wise man in the world and a hero of this era, but limited by his vision and knowledge, he has never been able to look at the survival of a country, a nation, or even a civilization from the perspective of "divine power" or "monarchy."

After hearing Fang Jun's words, he suddenly felt enlightened, but also depressed.

The reason why the Han people could achieve the unification of "monarchy" and "divine power" through "divine right of kings" and truly bring the entire nation and the entire civilization together to achieve "unity from top to bottom" and "unification of China" was fundamentally because "monarchy" and "divine power" had been struggling continuously throughout the long years of civilization and achieved the ultimate victory.

For example, in ancient Chinese myths and fables, there are too many examples of promoting "humanistic spirit", such as "Yu the Great's Flood Control", "Jingwei Filling the Sea", "Houyi Shooting the Sun", etc. These are the manifestations of the advantage gained after the game between "monarchy" and "divine power", telling the world that "man can conquer nature" and that one's own destiny is dominated by one's own strength, causing "divine power" to fall into infinite weakness, and ultimately only "legal rationality" remains, and one only needs to obtain secular power to gain the recognition of the gods.

As for whether the gods really acknowledge it...who cares?

If a god doesn't recognize you, then change another god to worship. This rich land has existed for too long, and the history of civilization is too long. There are countless gods...

However, for a country like Tubo, it is impossible to complete the step of "divine right of kings" because neither the gods nor the kings would agree.

The gods are high above, and they need kings to express their requests to the world and the people.

The king has absolute power over the world, but he also needs to obtain the recognition of gods in order to rule the country and the people.

The two complement each other, but also restrict each other.

Dynasties can be overthrown and kings can be replaced, but the gods are high above, overlooking the world and cannot be blasphemed.

……

"Report!"

A soldier came quickly, holding up a battle report, and shouted: "At dawn, Captain Wang Xiaojie led the 'First Ascent Battalion' to attack Hengluo City and won the 'First Ascent Merit'. General Xue followed closely behind and led the main force to capture Hengluo City!"

"Report!"

Before the soldiers in front left, more soldiers came.

"Captain Wang Xiaojie captured the enemy chieftain Amir alive. General Xue has verified his identity and brought him here. He also recommended Wang Xiaojie for credit!"

In an instant, the atmosphere in the entire tent was heated, and several battle reports came in succession. One could imagine how fierce the battle was in Hengluo City hundreds of miles away, and how unstoppable the Tang army was.

The city of Hengluo was destroyed!
The enemy chief Amir was captured alive!

"Datang, Wan Sheng!"

Someone in the big tent suddenly shouted, and then everyone raised their arms and cheered wildly, in high spirits!
Although Lu Dongzan expected that the Tang army had a great chance of winning this battle, he was still surprised by such a quick and decisive victory. He had traveled thousands of miles to Damascus in person and knew how powerful that invincible and vast country was. So he waited for the two countries to fight and both sides to suffer losses, so that Tubo could profit from it...

Amir was also a famous general who had conquered Persia and had powerful soldiers and horses under his command. How could he be defeated so quickly and so miserably?
He looked at Fang Jun and said, "Can you let me see the battle report?"

Fang Jun didn't take it seriously. He waved his hand and asked a clerk to bring the battle report from Pei Xingjian's desk. He then drank tea, lowered his head, and carefully thought about the chess game.

In fact, he was reviewing the game in his mind. He lost this game.

Lu Dongzan took the battle reports and read them carefully one by one. Fang Jun was reviewing the chess game, and in his mind he was reviewing the Battle of Hengrus.

When he saw the entire city of Hengluo exploded into the sky by the pre-buried gunpowder, he sighed...

gunpowder!

It was also the deadly weapon that the Tang army relied on to win.

After the founding of the Tang Dynasty, Emperor Taizong led his civil and military officials to work hard to govern the country and soon created the "Zhenguan Prosperity". The country was strong, prosperous and wealthy. In addition, the group of elite soldiers and generals from the beginning of the founding of the country were still there, and the whole country was full of martial virtues. On this basis, the Eastern Turks were destroyed and the Western Turks were severely damaged. For a time, the country was invincible. Many fierce and arrogant Hu tribes prostrated themselves at the feet of the Tang Dynasty, and recognized each other as the "Heavenly Khan"!
These were not unexpected. Every time the Han people rose from the ruins of their country, they were able to create a glorious era and sweep across the world.

But as the situation stabilized, those civil and military officials who had founded the country at the beginning gradually began to indulge in pleasure, aristocratic families attached themselves to the body of the empire and sucked its blood out of it, the bureaucracy was corrupt, land was annexed... The empire was bound to decline.

Occasionally, there were rulers who could turn around the declining state of the country, but in the end, the country's power was still declining, the people were living in poverty, and the dynasty collapsed...

This is the law of dynasties, which has remained the same since ancient times.

No matter how powerful the Tang Dynasty was, it could not escape the iron law.

However, the emergence of gunpowder is likely to break this rule...

The Tang army's cavalry was feared throughout the world and hard to find an rival, but the training of an excellent cavalryman is not something that can be achieved overnight. It not only requires the talent of the soldiers and day-to-day training, but also requires investment in armor, war horses, fodder, wages, etc. Behind every cavalryman is a huge financial figure.

No country will continue to make continuous investments. When the trend of laziness and idleness prevails and the country's financial resources are insufficient, the quality of the Tang army's soldiers will inevitably decline, and the Tang army's combat effectiveness will also drop significantly.

By then, it will be an opportunity for the surrounding Hu ethnic groups and foreign countries.

But the emergence of firearms shattered the hopes of the Hu people!
Even a child or even an old woman can skillfully operate a firearm through simple training. The power of firearms in the hands of these elderly, weak, women and children is as great as in the hands of young and strong people!

To some extent, if the Tang Dynasty could produce enough muskets, so that everyone could have one, then the Tang Dynasty could truly become a "soldier for all".

What was the population of the Tang Dynasty?
At least tens of millions!
Of course, not everyone holding a musket can become a qualified soldier, and war is not simply a matter of piling up numbers. Logistics, baggage, food... each item determines the victory or defeat of the war, but the Tang Dynasty only needs to "select one out of ten men" to gather millions of troops.

Which country or tribe in the world can stand up to them?

The "military fortune" of the Tang Dynasty was very likely to continue for a long time because of firearms, which made the surrounding Hu tribes breathless. They either died out under the devastating power of firearms, or took the initiative to attach themselves to the Tang Dynasty. "The barbarians who entered China became Chinese", becoming a part of China, obliterating their marks and becoming vassals...

The inventor of gunpowder, the "world-destroying weapon", is the young man in front of him who looks handsome and bright.

Is it really because of the prosperity of the country that such talented people can be born?
Fang Jun reached out and ruffled the chessboard, sighing, "Da Lun is a master of chess, I am not as good as him."

Lu Dongzan was interrupted and put down the battle report in his hand. He smiled and said, "Chess is just a minor art, it is just for entertainment. At most, it is just to cultivate one's character. What's the point of winning or losing? Erlang has always used the earth as a chessboard and the people as his pieces. He has the upper hand in this game and is invincible. That's really amazing."

Fang Jun raised his eyebrows: "Can I take this as a compliment?"

Lu Dongzan pointed at the war reports and said, "Erlang, you can make clouds and rain with a flip of your hand. You can control the likes of Amir. You can deal with a fierce battle between two powerful countries in the world so lightly and confidently. I admire you very much. It's just that it's easy to defeat the Arabs, but it's difficult to crush them. As long as they recuperate and reorganize their troops, they will most likely make a comeback in the next two or three years. I wonder if Erlang will still have a chance of winning by then?"