Chapter 160 There are still people alive

The autumn is quite cold.

The beautiful scenery of red mountains and colorful forests has passed, and the busy autumn harvest has also come to an end.

The weather was a bit gloomy, with dark clouds covering the sky and no end in sight.

On both sides of the road, the originally lush leaves have become sparse, and when the cold wind blows, the withered yellow leaves, unable to bear the weight, swirl and fall down.

The whistling north wind passed by the side of the galloping horse, bringing a hint of coolness.

"The endless fallen leaves are rustling down."

Gu Dan looked around with a hint of emotion.

Everything I saw along the way was not a good sight.

Of course, it is not a good year in this month.

Even the official road looked deserted, with weeds even growing on it, not to mention the outside.

The endless uprisings and conquests throughout the years have continuously drained the country's remaining nutrients. Occasionally, when people are seen on the road, they are avoided like the plague and scorpions, and they dare not approach to talk.

Anyone who dares to run around alone at this time of year is not someone you can easily deal with.

The real fools probably died a few years ago.

Xun Ke followed Gu Dan, also riding a fine horse, and said with some sorrow: "When I first came to the imperial capital, there were still several villages here, and there were also many caravans on the official road. It has only been a few years, and there are almost no people here."

Although the word "official" is included in the name of the official road, ordinary people are actually allowed to use it, including caravans.

However, when officials were traveling urgently or transporting food and money on the official road, ordinary people had to give way immediately, otherwise they would be punished, and the caravans would also have to pay extra money to pass.

The prosperity of official roads can also roughly reflect the operating status of a country.

Now the two have arrived in Yuzhou. Their luck is pretty good. The good news is that they didn't encounter any blind bandits or robbers.

The bad news is that even the general public is very rare, and when you do see them, they are like frightened birds, running away faster than rabbits.

The two did not waste too much time on trivial matters. They rode their horses at a rapid speed all the way. Although they were not traveling day and night, their speed was not slow.

"The imperial court and the White Lotus sect have been fighting in Yuzhou for several years, so naturally there won't be any beautiful scenes of people living and working in peace and contentment. It's good enough to still see human habitation."

Although Gu Dan had never traveled far before, he had anticipated everything he would see.

A scholar knows everything in the world without leaving his home.

He has the channels of Moqiu and Lin Xiaoyi to understand the outside world, so of course he knows more than ordinary people.

For example, he knew very clearly that Dayue's finances had been unable to sustain themselves as early as a few years ago. After repeated attempts to quench thirst with poison, even the wealthy families in the imperial capital were implicated and unable to escape.

A purge initiated from top to bottom slowly tightened the rope around the neck from bottom to top.

“How can we change all this?”

Xun Ke was silent for a long time, and finally asked: "Since Mr. Gu has decided to come out of seclusion, have you come up with an idea?"

“Uproot it and rebuild it.”

Gu Dan said almost mercilessly: "A country is like an open space. The royal family is the tallest tree in it, and next to the tree there are hundreds of officials who are shorter. The people living in that open space are weeds, and the rich, powerful, and aristocratic families are vines. The vines can climb up the trees to grow, and everyone grows together by sharing the grace of heaven and rain.

But there is only so much nutrition in an open space. If someone grabs more, others will inevitably have less. When all the nutrients are almost consumed, even the weeds begin to wither and turn yellow, and then other big trees will take advantage of the opportunity to take root and snatch the little remaining nutrients. That is the invasion of foreign enemies.

Now the royal family tree is aging, and the officials have occupied too much territory that should belong to the weeds. Not to mention that the weeds have found opportunities to become vines, or even become trees. Now even the nutrients of the weeds themselves have been almost completely extracted, which is why there have been uprisings one after another."

Gu Dan's voice was extremely cold as he continued, "Under the endless rustling of falling leaves, only when the big trees that have taken away nutrients fall down completely and return what originally belonged to the world, will everything have a chance to stop - this is a very simple truth."

He chose to simplify complicated things. He did not talk about profound theories or difficult knowledge. He was only calm and peaceful.

The operation of a country is certainly not as simple as he said, but when the perspective rises to the overall situation, the root of all this can be attributed to one problem.

Some people get too much, some get too little, some get nothing and even have to pay for it.

Those who got more are unwilling to give it back, those who got less are dissatisfied, and those who got nothing or even have to pay for it have no way out. Then it's time for another change of dynasty.

Xun Ke thought for a moment and then asked, "But how can we ensure that this will not happen? Even if it is the same amount of nutrients, the big trees are bound to absorb it faster than vines and weeds."

"This is reality, and it is a problem that needs to be considered and faced by generations of great people. How to distribute everything in this land as fairly as possible, giving weeds space to become vines and even pillars. And at the same time, preventing the original big trees from using their own advantages to do their best to grab too much space and nutrients that belong to the weeds."

Gu Dan said in a deep voice.

This question itself is one of the reasons why he has been struggling for a long time.

Sooner or later a country will decline due to various reasons, but for normal people, this long timeline will span their lifetime. However, when all this is converted into numbers - that is hundreds of years, spiraling upward, over and over again, in a cycle.

But humans are not plants or trees, so who can be heartless?

Seeing everything fall apart with his own eyes, and even seeing his good friends starting to get involved, Gu Dan was also touched. It is impossible to really treat everything as just numbers.

But he only has more knowledge than people of this era. He cannot solve the ultimate problem, nor can he find an unimagined path. He can only bring the collapsed world back on track as soon as possible. What happens next will be left to future generations.

It is easy to conquer the world, all it takes is force.

But it is difficult to defend the world! He was not prepared to be a nanny, which is why he brought Xun Ke with him on this trip.

This child has his own thoughts and a heart that wants to bring peace to the world.

He could help end the troubled times, but he could never do everything himself, and he had no interest in the position of emperor.

Doing his best to give Xun Ke advice is one of Gu Dan’s options.

Xun Ke fell silent.

After a long while, Xun Ke suddenly said, "Mr. Gu, do you think Master Mo's Ten Principles of Mohism are not feasible?"

The Ten Principles of Mohism: universal love, non-aggression, respect for the virtuous, respect for unity, non-fatalism, non-music, frugal burials, thrift, understanding ghosts, and the will of Heaven.

This is the recipe for governing the world chosen by Mo Qiu, and it is also the philosophy followed by the Mohists. They believe that as long as these ten principles are followed, the world will get better. In fact, the Mohists have always done so.

But in his words and deeds, Gu Dan never discussed the ideas of Mohism, and his guidance was mostly in the direction of reconciliation and distribution, rather than cutting the Gordian knot or directly applying Mo Qiu's theory in one step.

"Brother Mo's ideas are, of course, very good things."

Gu Dan hesitated for a moment, and then said: "But you should be able to see clearly that no country can develop according to such a set of theories. In other words, the ultimate goal of this theory is the world of great harmony. The most basic requirement of the goal of 'universal love' is to have no selfishness.

Not to mention the various more detailed but inhumane requirements that followed. Brother Mo's ideas can be regarded as the end point of a country's ultimate goal, but no country can directly use this set of theories. If you want to accomplish something, you must understand that there is a gap between ideals and reality. You cannot directly use theories that reach the end point to deal with imperfect real conditions.

We can always find many reasons for the collapse of a country, such as people's hardship, lack of personal morality, and excessive corruption. But when it comes to practical matters, these things are just a series of games and choices.

For example, Emperor Zong Ming wanted to build the Wanshou Palace purely for his own selfish desires. But because he was the emperor, no one could really restrict him. So could there be a system to limit the emperor's power? At least not to do whatever he wanted? Just this one thing, the things involved behind it are enough to make people rack their brains.

Not to mention that once the emperor's power is really dispersed, how can the various parties check and balance each other, and how can the ministers' power not be exceeded, so as to prevent corruption from happening. These things are interconnected. "

Gu Dan doesn't talk too much about the details because there are endless details to talk about.

He gave Xun Ke advice based on the overall situation, without focusing on any particular aspect.

As for Mo Qiu's theory, his attitude is: I appreciate it, but I can't use it.

Xun Ke looked at Gu Dan in surprise. He never expected that Mr. Gu had so many ideas in his mind. It was just that Gu Dan never talked much about this before.

Between the lines, Gu Dan pointed out the direction and outline to him, but the deeper details and context still required him to carefully control.

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The good news is that he does not really agree with Master Mo's direct approach to the Ten Principles of Mohism. The bad news is that he is still too young and has not thought through these issues clearly enough.

But he is also lucky.

Now there is Master Mo in front to protect him from the wind and rain, and now Mr. Gu is willing to come out again and take him with him to give him advice.

He still has a lot of room for growth and a bright future.

The horse galloped, leaving all the words in the wind.

After walking a little further, Xun Ke suddenly said, "Mr. Gu, the village where I lived before is not far from here. Can we go and have a look?"

"sure."

Gu Dan nodded slightly.

More than six years have passed since Xun Ke entered the imperial capital. It is only natural that he misses his hometown.

Soon, under the guidance of Xun Ke, the two arrived at a village.

The village looked empty, without a single human presence, and even the fertile fields in front of the door were overgrown with weeds - this place was very close to the battle between the White Lotus Sect and the imperial court, and the people living here had to either join the White Lotus Sect or be drafted into the court to serve as soldiers. Even if they wanted to farm peacefully, it was impossible, as their crops would be robbed before they could even get harvested.

Even fertile soil can only allow weeds to grow and become a dead land.

Walking into the village, everything seemed extremely quiet, even the birdsong was almost inaudible.

Xun Ke's eyes swept back and forth between the houses that were familiar to him in the past, and the expression on his face seemed to be frozen.

Life in Yuzhou is not easy.

This place has experienced floods, droughts, and was hit by a falling star at night. It is now one of the main battlefields of Dayue.

His former neighbors have long since found their own ways of making a living.

There were even several houses whose yards were overgrown with knee-high weeds, and there were traces of fire embers in front of the demolished doors of the houses - someone must have passed by and burned the doors as firewood.

The broken walls and overgrown weeds, the mud and wooden houses could not withstand the wind and rain for long.

Everything shows that no one has lived here for a long, long time.

Xun Ke had expected this in his heart, but when he saw it all with his own eyes, his eyes couldn't help but become a little glistening.

He walked forward in silence and came to a large courtyard.

Vaguely, one can see a plaque hanging with a hemp rope dangling in the yard. The two words "Qiu Ye" can be barely made out on the plaque. When the wind blows, the plaque gently knocks against the wall, making an unwilling and hoarse groan.

"This used to be a private school. Children from all over the country would come to our village to learn to read and write. Even though it's run-down now, it used to be very lively during village meetings.

People who shop would come here early in the morning before it gets dark to take up a good spot. Adults would bring their children here to buy things. The aroma of all kinds of cheap food spread far and wide. When there were so many people, it was hard to turn around. At that time, the most distressing thing was the shoes. There were so many people that the new shoes I had just put on would become unwearable after walking in the crowd."

Xun Ke walked on the fallen leaves on the ground, his voice was very light, as if he was immersed in a peaceful dream.

Rain is falling from the sky.

The dark clouds that had been brewing for a long time finally began to show their power.

The icy and cold raindrops falling on people bring an indescribable chill.

With every autumn rain comes a chill, and winter is coming again.

Gu Dan walked up to his side and patted Xun Ke on the shoulder.

"It's going to be okay."

He said.

Xun Ke nodded in a daze.

The two of them came to Xun Ke's former home together. After so many years, the things in the house were naturally gone, but fortunately the house had not deteriorated to the point where it was completely uninhabitable.

Gu Dan simply used his internal energy to kill all the weeds in the yard, while Xun Ke went into the house and cleaned up for a while. He also found the table they had used for eating before, but the chair was gone.

The two took out some dry food and sat casually under the eaves, watching the drizzle of rain falling from the sky. Occasionally, the withered yellow leaves of the trees were heavily pressed down by the rain.

The endless fallen leaves are rustling, but these withered yellow leaves can also turn into nutrients for the next spring.

In the silence and rain, Gu Dan's gaze suddenly stopped.

There was a figure like a wandering ghost, walking slowly and almost stiffly in the rainy village.

There are still living people here.

The author would like to apologize to everyone. The updates in the past few days have been too slow. The plots have all come to an end, and the author's state is not right. I feel dissatisfied with what I write. This torment is hard to describe. I am really sorry. I will try my best to update more when this state passes.

(End of this chapter)