Chapter 668: This Ming Dynasty is a bit complicated (fourth update, please subscribe)
"This is Ming Dynasty!"
Sitting on the tram, Tang Shaoyi looked at the city outside the window from time to time. He has been in Daming for almost half a year, and his favorite thing is to go shopping on the tram. In the past six months, he has visited every corner of Nanhua, but he still can't get enough of this city.
In fact, most of the international students who came here at the same time as him are like this. From the shock and surprise when they first arrived, to now, what is it?
Why is this place so prosperous when they are all Chinese?
Why are they all Chinese, but here...
It was normal for Tang Shaoyi and others to have such thoughts in their minds. After all, the Ming Dynasty and the Qing Dynasty were two completely different worlds. Compared with the international students from Japan, what Tang Shaoyi and others felt was not only shock, but more reflection.
Why reflect?
Because they are also Chinese!
Since they are all Chinese, why can the Ming Dynasty do this, but the Qing Dynasty cannot?
On one side there is widespread poverty, and on the other side there is widespread abundance.
One side is backward, the other side is developed.
On one side is ignorance, on the other side is civilization.
On the one hand, they exploited the people vigorously, and on the other hand, they were very kind to them.
On one side, people live and work in peace and contentment, while on the other side, people are living in misery.
Such a sharp contrast brought an unimaginable impact to overseas students like Tang Shaoyi. When Japanese overseas students always mentioned "Heavenly Kingdom" in their speeches, Tang Shaoyi and his classmates felt heavy in their hearts.
They came from the Celestial Empire, but the Celestial Empire that the Japanese mentioned was not the Qing Dynasty, but here, the Ming Dynasty.
While the overseas students in Japan were conquered by Chinese civilization again, Tang Shaoyi and his friends were making comparisons in their hearts.
Most other international students also have similar thoughts and comparisons, but more often they ask rhetorical questions.
Rhetorical question, again and again, what kind of thoughts will arise in their hearts?
No one knows, but Tang Shaoyi knows the answer, just like the "Ten Days in Yangzhou" he saw in the dormitory of his senior classmate Zhan Tianyou. That book could not be seen in the Qing Dynasty. Even this "Ten Days in Yangzhou" written by Wang Xiuchu was brought back to the Ming Dynasty from Japan by merchants. In the Qing Dynasty, that book was a banned book and had long been banned and destroyed.
There are many works written by the survivors of the late Ming Dynasty in Japan, which record many cruel atrocities committed by the Manchus, from "Ten Days in Yangzhou" to "A Brief Account of the Massacre in Jiading" and from "Collected Works of Zhu Shunshui" to "Collected Works of Zhang Cangshui". In addition to being published publicly, some chapters of those books have also been included in textbooks of the Ming Dynasty. After reading them, all readers will feel resentment towards the Qing Dynasty from the bottom of their hearts, and anger and hostility will accumulate in everyone's heart.
"The waves in the city of Wu are so tragic that millions of people have been reduced to ashes. Don't feel sorry for the injustice that has happened for ten days. Eight generations have been cut off from now..."
Tang Shaoyi silently recited the poem he saw in "Ten Days in Yangzhou Illustrated" in his heart, looking at the Ming Dynasty outside the window. While he felt very close to it, his hostility towards the Qing Dynasty deepened further.
In the past three and a half years, as many as five hundred international students like Tang Shaoyi have come to Daming. They are studying in universities and colleges in Linhai, Nanhua, Nanyuan and Yingtian. While studying here, they are also changing little by little.
Just like the changes in the world, the life trajectories of many people have also changed inadvertently.
It was suddenly bright outside, illuminating the classroom in a white light. Then the room fell into darkness again. After a few seconds, a thunderclap made the window glass buzz. Amid the crackling sound, raindrops fell from the sky.
“…”
What is the teacher saying?
Zhan Tianyou was a little distracted, but the fourteen-year-old had just passed the high school academic aptitude test and was currently attending a preparatory school. Like other international students of the same period, he was working towards one school - the University of South China.
They all know what it means to be admitted to the University of South China.
After being admitted to the University of South China and graduating, their future is visible to the naked eye.
It would definitely bring honor to the family. After all, Governor Li's factories and railways were in great need of talent. After they returned to China, they would definitely be valued. It might only take a few years for them to get an official position, and it would be natural for them to rise to prominence.
Even if you don't return to China and stay in Ming Dynasty, you can easily find a job with a monthly income of several hundred yuan.
In short, in one sentence, as long as they enter the University of South China, their lives will be full of countless possibilities.
This is the dream of many people. Now, in this preparatory class, almost everyone has this dream. What are they thinking?
University of South China!
As long as they enter the University of South China, they will be able to learn the world's first-class knowledge. After returning to the Qing Dynasty, they will not only be able to achieve success and fame, but also become the founder of a certain academic field. This is all possible, just like the first batch of overseas students sent by the Ming Dynasty. Didn't they all become experts in their respective academic fields?
Once upon a time, Zhan Tianyou had the same idea as them. He also hoped that one day he could return home in glory after completing his studies.
But what about now?
Another thought kept flashing in his mind.
This thought was dangerous and should not even be thought of, but he could not help it, just like when he saw the "Ten Days in Yangzhou", he roared and cursed angrily, and then burst into tears.
For a fourteen-year-old boy, in those days, as soon as he closed his eyes, he would dream of the tragic situation in Yangzhou. In his dreams, he saw the atrocities in the books and his compatriots who were brutally killed.
Yes, those people are not only the ancestors of China, but also his compatriots.
Fellow countrymen!
This is the noun that Zhan Tianyou learned after arriving in the Ming Dynasty. The word "compatriot" originated from "compatriots from the same mother". In the Ming Dynasty, compatriots also refer to people of the same nationality and the same language and culture. In the Ming Dynasty, no one would say that you are from Guangdong, he is from Shandong, he is from Fujian, and he is from Henan. In the Ming Dynasty, there is no such regional difference. In the Ming Dynasty, there is only one - all of us are Chinese compatriots!
We are all Han Chinese!
We speak the same language, we have the same blood, we inherit the same culture, we have the same history... We are compatriots, no different from siblings from the same mother, we all have a common mother - China!
In fact, as early as the Nanhua period, Emperor Zhu Di had diluted the regional discrimination of "fellow townsmen" by teaching Mandarin and disrupting the immigrants' places of origin, and at the same time strengthened the national concept of "Chinese compatriots" through official propaganda.
The same ancestors, the same culture, the same language, the same nation, all of which eventually constituted the Ming Dynasty's national outlook, and all of which inevitably influenced overseas students like Zhan Tianyou and others, and even the eldest son of the Li family. As the son of an important official in the court, he was once extremely loyal to the Qing Dynasty, but what about now? It has long been a question mark, not even a question mark, he just hid everything in his heart.
Unlike Master Li, who has a father in a high position, Zhan Tianyou and his friends are more direct in their emotions. These teenagers' thoughts are most easily influenced by the outside world. Moreover, in the past few years, they have been studying in the preparatory school of Daming, and they receive the same education as Daming students.
Of course, they also learned about history. Unlike the falsified and distorted history they had learned in the past, what they came into contact with was the real history.
That is a sad and heartbreaking history! How could anyone not be touched?
"Tianyou, have you made up your mind? Which school are you going to apply to?"
That night, in the apartment where these Qing Dynasty students were staying, Liang Dunyan looked at his junior and asked with concern.
"Your grades are so good, you'd better try to get into South China University."
In response to Liang Dunyan's suggestion, Zhan Tianyou thought about it and replied.
"I've already made up my mind to apply for military school!"
When he said this, Zhan Tianyou suddenly felt much more relaxed. Before this, he had been thinking about this problem.
Apply to military academy.
Of course, some of them would apply for military academies, but Zhan Tianyou's purpose was different from others.
Why apply to military academy?
He knew the answer very well in his heart, and it was precisely because he knew it that he hesitated for so long.
Finally at this moment he made his choice.
(End of this chapter)
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
