Chapter 1138 The Holy Empire (3rd update, please subscribe)
In this Chinese culture classroom at Yingtian University, the sunlight coming through the window shines on the students. They are both Chinese and European. Although they are of different races, everyone is immersed in the "World of Great Harmony" described by Liu Chongjiao.
The world of great harmony!
This is the ultimate goal pursued by Confucianism! No matter how you talk about Confucianism, it is impossible to change that this ultimate goal is undoubtedly beyond time and even beyond race. It is the common goal of all mankind. This point cannot be denied.
It was also the empire's manifest destiny. As early as the seventh year of Shengde, after Wang Youling and others proposed this natural mission of the Ming Empire, the Ming Empire truly transformed into an empire.
After all, in order to prove its legitimacy, the empire must give itself a universal mission. By giving itself this mission, the empire will make its people willingly promote the empire's cause. At the same time, this mission will also make the empire's existence sacred.
“The sanctification of imperial existence and the justice of imperial expansion.”
By the lakeside of Genting Royal Manor, Emperor Zhu and Zuo Zongtang were fishing together and chatting about the "mission of the empire".
"Since the seventh year of Shengde, the Ministry of Education has been adding articles related to the "Great Harmony Era" to the Chinese language courses in elementary schools, middle schools, and universities. It not only educates the people of all directions, but also pacifies the barbarians and brings them back to China. This is the justice of the empire's expansion. Of course, this is also what Your Majesty often mentions - the expansion of the empire is not expansion, but liberation!"
As one of the granters of the "Imperial Mission" back then, Zuo Zongtang would inevitably think of Wang Youling when he mentioned the "Imperial Mission". Even until now, he still feels that Wang Youling's death is a pity.
"mission!"
Emperor Zhu nodded.
"To some extent, mission is the internal driving force of a country, especially for a big country or a powerful country. The internal driving force determines its future. A big country without internal driving force has no future! There are too many empires that can serve as examples of this. For example, Russia's mission is to turn itself into the "Third Rome". Therefore, it described its wars against the Mongol Khanates, Turkey, and Central Asia in its eastward expansion as wars to protect Christians from barbaric invasions."
In fact, Emperor Zhu had a deeper understanding of the "mission of the empire" than people of this era. After all, in another world, almost every great power had given itself a grand mission, which was not for the country itself, but for the world. From liberating all mankind to defending the free world in a tit-for-tat manner. When the tit-for-tat object was gone, it became the so-called "general purpose". To put it bluntly, these so-called "missions" were essentially to promote the country's internal driving force and keep it moving forward, and this kind of progress certainly included expansion. Even its essence is expansion, but in the 21st century, territorial expansion has become another kind of expansion.
"Yes, Your Majesty. That is why the Russians were willing to shed blood and sacrifice themselves in the Russo-Turkish War. They believed that they were fighting for civilization, for God, and for a noble value. This is also the sanctification of the imperial mission. An empire with a sanctified mission is a true empire."
Although the fish floated a few times, Zuo Zongtang continued talking as if he didn't notice that the fish had been hooked.
"This is also the reason why the Empire needs to further strengthen the education of the "Imperial Mission" and give it further sanctity. I have been discussing this topic with others since I retired, and I think I have some experience with it!"
"Oh! Ji Gao, tell me about it."
Emperor Zhu looked at Zuo Zongtang. Although he knew that Zuo Zongtang's favorite thing after retirement was to discuss Chinese studies with scholars from various universities, he never thought that his focus was on this issue. Perhaps this was the difference between him and Wang Youling.
Whether it was Zuo Zongtang or Wang Youling, they all knew that Emperor Zhu's heart was filled with desire for expansion.
So after Wang Youling retired, he wanted to attract the emperor's attention by paying attention to overseas. He wanted to tell Your Majesty that he understood overseas, supported expansion, and if you use him, he could help Your Majesty expand the territory.
But what about Zuo Zongtang?
Instead, he did the opposite. He did not focus on overseas, but on the domestic situation. He sought the legitimacy of expansion in Chinese civilization, thus establishing a "sacred" reason for expansion. He was not telling Your Majesty that he supported expansion. Instead, he was telling the people of the Ming Dynasty, all the people of the Ming Dynasty in the world, that the empire must expand because it was the sacred mission of the empire.
It was not even about telling the people of the Ming Dynasty, but about making all the people of the Ming Dynasty develop a sacred mission, making them unconsciously desire the expansion of the empire.
Just like the young people of a certain period, they either held the ideal of "liberating all mankind" or the belief of "defending the free world", and they were killing each other all over the world.
Regardless of the outcome, the combination of ideals and beliefs led to the expansion of the empire.
"The so-called sacredness is nothing more than finding a noble purpose. This point has been agreed upon in both Chinese and Western cultures - that is, to build civilization and barbarism. The people under the empire are civilized, while those outside the empire are barbarians. By exaggerating this binary opposition, the original simple difference in strength has become a reasonable difference. Only residents who enter the empire's education are people of the civilized world, otherwise they are barbarians.
This is particularly evident in the expansion of the West. After they occupied the colonies with the advantage of civilization, they regarded the indigenous people as objects of slavery and objects to be educated. Of course, their education was for better slavery. Even so, it also became their "sacredness", but as we all know, this sacredness is predatory, and the sacredness of the empire lies in the "Great Harmony" and the goal of sweeping away the injustice in the world and "Great Harmony in the World", well..."
Looking at His Majesty, Zuo Zongtang said.
"The sage said: What is worrying is not the scarcity but the inequality; what is worrying is not the poverty but the instability. In today's world, the rich have fields stretching for miles, while the poor have no place to stand. How can the empire sit back and watch such injustice? What the empire is doing is to create a fair and equal world!"
When Zuo Zongtang mentioned the last eight words, he deliberately emphasized the evidence and even clenched his fist with some excitement.
The way Emperor Zhu looked at Zuo Zongtang changed, and a sentence even emerged in his mind - fairness, fairness, and damn fairness!
fair!
equality!
It has to be said that there are no words in the world more inspiring and more desired by people than these two words.
Is it reasonable for an empire that is inherently unfair to talk about fairness and equality?
Is it against the law?
No, there is nothing unreasonable about it, because the empire brought relative fairness. There is no equality among the countries in the world now!
Suddenly Emperor Zhu laughed. He looked at the fish floating suddenly sinking and laughed.
"Within the empire, people have plenty of food and clothing; outside the empire, people are in dire poverty. The empire's duty is justice and equality, and the empire's way is a world of great harmony!"
After uttering these words, the seemingly calm heart of Emperor Zhu became a little excited, not for any other reason, but because the so-called "imperial promise" was essentially a matter of willing parties taking the bait.
But there will always be many people who believe it.
If the imperial mission is mainly aimed at the imperial elites, then the promise of prosperity and fairness is aimed at the people of the empire!
Of course, it can also become a promise to the whole world!
It can also become the inner driving force of the people of the empire, which is to bring prosperity and equality to the whole world...
Isn’t this the sacredness of the Empire’s mission?
What colonial empire?
What imperial expansion?
No, the expansion of the Ming Empire was never expansion or conquest, but education. It was for a noble purpose, and this noble ideal belongs to all mankind!
(End of this chapter)
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