Since the Accounting: A Chronicle of the Roman Khanate

Chapter 600 Yuan Lai, You Are Also Yuan Shen
However, Guo Kang had not finished speaking. Seeing that she said it was okay, he continued, saying, "Have you ever thought about why there are two brothers under the Heavenly Father?"

"Wasn't it added by the priests?" Shi Huizhen asked, "I heard that in the early classics, there was only one son of Brother Tian, ​​and later Patriarch Zhang and others added Shenzu as well. In fact, Shenzu is several hundred years older than Brother Tian..."

"You can't say that." Guo Kang quickly stopped him and said, "The God Ancestor is not just one person. Although Romulus was born earlier than Brother Tian, ​​Chenginus was born later than Brother Tian. The year of birth has no meaning for them. This brotherhood is more of a theological and symbolic meaning."

"Ah? Is this possible?" Shi Huizhen asked in surprise.

"There is a popular saying that the Father of Heaven is both the Alpha and the Omega. The God Ancestor is the symbol of Rome, and like the Father of Heaven, he can be both the 'City Builder' Romulus and the 'Destroyer' Chenginus. These are not contradictory." Guo Kang explained: "You will understand if you read more scriptures."

"Uh……"

"And Brother Tian and Ancestor Shen also have political metaphors." Guo Kang ignored her and continued, "The core power of a country is sacrifice and war. Among them, the stability of the sacrificial power is more important, because the military organization itself also needs it to maintain."

"Think about it. To bring a group of people together, there must be something that serves as a common goal for all of them. Otherwise, the existence of this organization will become a problem. You must understand this situation yourself."

"As for those specific experiences, such as how to promote better and attract more people, and what kind of stories are more conducive to organizing people, they are all in the books. This is why I asked you to study theology well."

"I understand, I understand. I will study hard. Please don't urge me." Shi Huizhen was rarely impatient with being urged to study, so she quickly responded.

"Don't worry. I still suggest you start from the simplest." Guo Kang pointed at the book in her hand and said, "Although I just said a lot, it's actually very easy to remember. Just remember the formula 'One begets two, two begets three, and three begets all things'."

"This one can refer to the Father in Heaven, or the human world, which corresponds to Rome. I have already explained this aspect just now." Guo Kang explained directly: "At the national level, the highest power must be unified. The power of the army and sacrifices must also be centralized in the center. Otherwise, there will definitely be endless civil strife."

"Well, that's understandable." Obviously, even Shi Huizhen knew this common sense.

"The two powers that came out of this one are the sacrificial power and the military power. I have just talked about this." Guo Kang continued: "Moreover, these two are usually tied together with the highest power of the country itself. Under a stable structure, it must be this 'trinity' structure."

"For example, starting with Augustus, the power of the supreme ruler was mainly composed of the generalissimo and the high priest. On the one hand, after winning the civil war, Augustus was already the greatest military leader in Rome. On the other hand, he also actively controlled the right to sacrifice. After obtaining this position, he immediately took the opportunity to demand the addition of religious ceremonies in the barracks to educate the soldiers to be loyal to him. You see, he understood the source and structure of power very well."

"Then he must understand. He should be the one who understands best in all of Rome..." Shi Huizhen muttered.

"At that time, the Roman political system was not very mature. We, the descendants, must learn from the past experience and lessons and not make mistakes in similar matters again." Guo Kang said: "Moreover, this experience is also very applicable. No matter what system a country has, if you see that there is a head of state, a military leader, and a high priest, and these three are often concentrated together, then it must be a country with a Roman power structure."

"so……"

"Yes. However, these are pillar powers and may not be used frequently. Among the many needs for specific national management, administrative affairs, law enforcement, and military management are the most important. These are the functions of the three officials in ancient times, and they are still the same today. These three contents are derived from the above two, so you can use 'two gives birth to three' to help remember."

"Under these three main threads, there are numerous functional departments responsible for various matters, big and small. They are too numerous to be summarized directly, so we like to summarize them as 'Three gives birth to all things'. Generally speaking, the flow and refinement of power also follows this order."

"Oh, I see." Shi Huizhen nodded quickly. Seeing Guo Kang had finished speaking, she carefully asked, "Did you miss something just now? You only said to enforce the law, which is only half of the job. Someone has to make the law so that people can enforce it."

"Lawmaking is not at this level." Guo Kang replied: "Laws are rules enforced in society. In order for them to be enforced, they must be endowed with a certain degree of divinity. Therefore, no matter who actually makes the laws, those who nominally determine and issue the laws must be highly tied to the right of sacrifice, as close as possible to the source of legal principles."

"This special status is not possessed by those third-level powers, so its position will be higher. I think this is already part of the sacrificial power and does not need to be listed here separately."

"It's not hard to figure this out, actually." He grumbled, "You should read more books. Especially Roman books. Don't just speculate or believe in the barbarians' stuff every day."

"The barbarians' beliefs are very confused, and their education is also very bad. Even now, all kinds of rural cults are emerging one after another. You know, in ancient times, there was a saying of 'Jedi Tiantong', which was to prohibit people from acting in the name of God and return the right of sacrifice to the court. But the barbarians not only failed to do so, but also deliberately encouraged obscene worship among the people and called on wizards to communicate with gods at will. In this way, even the right of sacrifice has collapsed, how can the country last long?"

"Well, I didn't think so much..." Shi Huizhen was a little confused after being suddenly given a shot of prevention. She looked at Guo Kang who seemed a little dissatisfied and answered.

"I just mentioned it casually. Be careful when you meet them in the future." Guo Kang waved his hand and said, "Barbarians are not one or a few ethnic groups, but a way of thinking and cultural tradition. Barbarianization itself should make people more vigilant than those barbarian tribes. We must always prevent the spread of barbarian culture and the corruption of barbarian thinking."

"In this kind of confrontation, there is no front or rear. When the turmoil ended, I told others that the barbarian culture in Dadu is even stronger than that in the border war zone. Defeating such an enemy may be more difficult than defeating them on the battlefield, so you have to be careful. Don't be afraid of offending them. Sometimes, people like Zhao'an may leave big hidden dangers. It is better to break up completely and then defeat the enemy. Look at the Ming Dynasty, isn't it this lesson?"

"What happened to the Ming Dynasty?" Shi Huizhen asked curiously.

"Didn't I just say whether we can admit the problem of rebels?" Guo Kang gave an example: "This is a very useful method of judgment."

"The ancients often said that a dynasty was legitimate or illegitimate. This measurement method is to describe their authority. The more persuasive the power, the easier it is for people to obey, and the cost of ruling will certainly be lower."

"Similarly, because they have enough authority, they don't need to compromise with various powerful people and can implement more favorable policies. On the other hand, in history, dynasties that have gained power generally started from scratch and did not rely much on other forces, so they naturally had the confidence to fight against them. The two complement each other. In ancient times, people did not have enough historical experience to summarize such detailed principles, so they used orthodoxy to make a vague generalization."

"The Ming Dynasty was in an era and had the experience of founding a country, so it should have been very legitimate. As history progressed, education became more developed, and the management of the country became less dependent on the children trained by aristocratic families. The Ming Taizu also started from the bottom and fought for his empire. This process is probably only comparable to that of the Han Dynasty."

"However, Emperor Gaozu of Han was not shy about his own uprising against Qin. The official propaganda of the Han Dynasty did not recognize the five elements of the Qin Dynasty. Emperor Gaozu of Han also offered sacrifices to Chen She and arranged for people to maintain his mausoleum. But Emperor Taizu of Ming was not as open-minded as others on this matter."

"After the establishment of the Ming Dynasty, Emperor Taizu of the Ming Dynasty kept wavering in his attitude. Sometimes he called them Tartars, and sometimes he wanted to recognize the status and legitimacy of the Yuan Dynasty. He even insisted that he had a good life during the Yuan Dynasty. In fact, he always had illusions about the gentry left over from the Yuan Dynasty. He hesitated for a long time and could not make up his mind to deal with those gentry in the south of the Yangtze River. He always felt that he could win them over. I think this was actually a political mistake."

"To win over the gentry in Jiangnan?" Shi Huizhen asked curiously, "Not cursing the Yuan Dynasty, isn't it to win over the Mongols? I heard that many Mongols defected to him and joined his army. I think it must be to win over these Mongolian soldiers. What can the gentry do?"

"That's not the case." Guo Kang corrected him, "The Mongols dislike the Yuan Dynasty even more. If he curses the Yuan Dynasty, the Mongolian soldiers will probably curse even more fiercely than he does..."

"Uh..." "From the experience of the Han Dynasty, the local tyrants and local bosses do not actually need special care. When Emperor Gaozu of Han entered Guanzhong, he used military force to quickly subdue the local people. After that, he made three laws to directly reduce the burden on civilians and quickly won the hearts of the people. In the subsequent wars, a large number of people from Qin joined the army and became the backbone of the Han army. Later generations said that the Chu-Han War was a re-enactment of Qin's conquest of the six kingdoms." Guo Kang explained.

"Compared with other competitors, Emperor Taizu of Ming may have been stronger in military strength. The number of civilian talents that could be found at the end of the Yuan Dynasty was certainly not less than that at the end of the Qin Dynasty. However, Emperor Gaozu of Han was able to employ people of all backgrounds to control the old nobles and local tyrants; Emperor Taizu of Ming was very crude in his work, and often encountered problems one after another. He could only use more brutal means to forcibly make up for it afterwards. I think this may be partly due to personality differences, and partly because he was not as mature as Emperor Gaozu of Han in politics."

"Maybe those Yuanshen are really useful." Shi Huizhen guessed.

"If it's useful, we can't do this. These people are only willing to be hard-hearted, and there's nothing we can do no matter how soft we are." Guo Kang shook his head: "The Yuan Dynasty's management of Jiangnan was almost non-existent. No matter how much the Ming Dynasty tried to win over the gentry, it would never be able to achieve the same level as the Yuan Dynasty. Therefore, it is natural for the gentry to miss the Yuan Dynasty."

"The actual result is the same. You can find out by looking at these materials and history books." He stood up and took out two books from the bookshelf: "Look, if you like reading and understand history, you can find a lot of fun by comparing these two books. Sometimes, reading is not only useful, but also fun."

"What is this?" Shi Huizhen asked.

"The first volume of the History of the Yuan Dynasty compiled by Yuan and Ming." Guo Kang put the book on the table: "Of course, strictly speaking, they can't be called the History of the Yuan Dynasty."

"What do you mean?" Shi Huizhen was indeed interested.

"At first, it was the Ming Dynasty that wanted to compile a "History of Yuan Dynasty". Because history books require 'final conclusion'. Compiling it is tantamount to announcing the end of the dynasty. Although the remnants of the Yuan Dynasty are still everywhere - or rather, precisely because they are everywhere, they have to quickly find ways to crack down on the legitimacy of these remnants. From a legal point of view, declaring the end of the Yuan Dynasty is one of the ways." Guo Kang said.

"So, right after the establishment of the Ming Dynasty, work began on compiling the History of Yuan Dynasty, and Emperor Taizu of the Ming Dynasty personally stepped in and urged the work to be completed within a few months. However, the compilers included many Yuan Dynasty veterans who had no good feelings towards the Ming Dynasty. The tight time schedule and the reluctance of everyone led to the poor quality of the book."

"Later, although the book was completed, the conflicts became increasingly intense, and some of the people involved in the compilation even defected to Java. Moreover, since so many people were implicated, even if they were dealt with strictly, there was no way to restore the entire project to normal, and it could only be hastily concluded. As a result, the book was not actually completed in all senses. Even the part that was completed was full of loopholes, and even contained some content that attacked the Ming Dynasty intentionally or unintentionally. It really makes people hard to say..."

"So, strictly speaking, it cannot be called 'The History of Yuan Dynasty'. At best, it can only be called 'Draft History of Yuan Dynasty'." Guo Kang pointed to one of the books and said, "It's really hard to say what it is at this level of rough draft."

"So there is such a story." Shi Huizhen suddenly realized.

"Just know it, don't tell the people of the Ming Dynasty." Guo Kang specifically instructed: "I don't expect you to keep your mouth shut all of a sudden, but if you want to explain it clearly, you need some knowledge. Just remember that they will probably be unhappy when they hear this, that's all."

"This is not difficult to understand. They definitely don't want everyone to know that they can't even edit a book." Shi Huizhen said as a matter of course.

"More than that." Guo Kang shook his head: "We have always been talking about orthodoxy and so on. The so-called orthodoxy must have a 'system'."

"Whether a dynasty is legitimate or not, the most important factor is not the size of the area, but whether there are legal competitors. Because legitimacy is actually a question of sacrificial rights, and in the Chinese national organizational system, the emperor's sacrificial rights are exclusive. If there are multiple competitors at the same time, then it cannot be said to be unified, and everyone can only be regarded as one of the separatist regimes. This is why the ancients always said 'there is no two suns in the sky'."

"If the Qin Dynasty were put in the present, it would not be very large in terms of area, but it was still the first unified dynasty because there was no regime in the world that dared to compete with it for the position of Son of Heaven. On the other hand, during the Northern Song Dynasty, there were always other competitors, and the Song Dynasty could not eliminate them or force them to give up their claim to the Son of Heaven in diplomatic occasions. Therefore, even though the actual controlled area of ​​the Northern Song Dynasty is estimated to be larger than that of the Qin Dynasty, it cannot be considered a unified dynasty."

"Other dynasties also encountered this problem. The Ming Dynasty was no exception." Guo Kang analyzed it and finally said: "You see, if the remnants of the Yuan Dynasty are not eliminated, even if the territory has exceeded that of the Song Dynasty, it will still suffer from the issue of legitimacy."

"If you look into this in detail, it will be very embarrassing. Because now, there is indeed an opposing claimant, and it is not something you can just say is not the case. But in this case, the imperial court has probably become the largest separatist regime in history."

"So, just let everyone know about this, don't tell them. I talked about this issue when I introduced theological knowledge to the little King of Wu and others. But when I told them that the imperial court was actually a large-scale Song Dynasty, they all collapsed..."

"Is that so... What about the Yuan people?" Shi Huizhen asked, "They have the same problem, right?"

"Yes, and that is actually even more shoddy." Guo Kang replied: "It was compiled by the Yuan Dynasty veterans themselves, and it can't actually be considered the "History of Yuan Dynasty" because they themselves can't admit that the Yuan Dynasty was over. So, this thing is just a compilation of information and has no special value."

"Sometimes, the contents of the two books are even the same. Because there is no time to sort them out carefully, we can only copy directly from the original materials. If there is no cover and description, I guess we can only tell which one it is from by the taboo words."

"Really? What are you avoiding?" Shi Huizhen asked.

"'Yuan' itself is a taboo word." Guo Kang replied: "There are two theories. One is that it was to avoid the name of Emperor Taizu of the Ming Dynasty, so in early materials, 'Yuan' was changed to 'Yuan'. Later, it seems that he himself came out to explain that in this case, there is no need to avoid taboos, and some subsequent materials returned to normal. But the early versions have not been changed back. Until now, in some books, 'Yuan Dynasty' is still 'Yuan Dynasty' - in fact, this 'Yuan' is 'Yuan'."

"Another theory is that the Yuan Dynasty was a special case and had a bad reputation among the people. Therefore, the people and some officials did not want to touch this word. For example, '元任官' refers to officials who had left their posts before. However, it is also easy to be mistaken for officials appointed during the Yuan Dynasty. Therefore, in official documents, it will be written as '原任' to distinguish them. In short, when you see this kind of substitution, you know it is something from the Ming Dynasty."

"This is quite complicated..." Shi Huizhen scratched her head.

"Yes. Although it's not been long, some habits have been formed." Guo Kang said: "In fact, the word 'yuan' also means 'initially, before'. For example, in Lu You's poem, there is a sentence 'after death, I know that everything is empty', which uses 'yuan'. But after the early Ming Dynasty, this usage became rare and was basically replaced by 'yuan'."

"Of course, this is not surprising. It is said that in the pre-Qin period, Bang was more commonly used than Guo. But because Emperor Gaozu of the Han Dynasty was named Bang, everyone had to avoid using the word Guo, so Guo replaced Bang and became the most commonly used word. It has continued like this ever since. It can be seen that language is indeed very easy to change. And from these changes, we can also see the influence of various major events."

"Similarly, by looking at the difference in usage, we can also know which era it comes from and whose sphere of influence it is from. If the documents today still contain words like 'Yuan Lai' or 'Yuan Ji', then it must be the forces of the Yuan Dynasty."

"I see, I see." Shi Huizhen nodded repeatedly: "Then can you let me see these two books too?"

"You should read the books I gave you before," Guo Kang reminded him. "After you finish reading them, if there is no problem, I will give you a copy of the Spring and Autumn Annals used in the school. As for the History of Yuan Dynasty, I just gave it as an example. This thing is a mess, no matter which version it is, it is quite... abstract, so don't cause trouble for the newcomer."

Shi Huizhen didn't seem to understand, but she had no objection to Guo Kang's arrangement. Guo Kang breathed a sigh of relief again, stood up, took her out of the office, asked the monks to prepare a lunch for her, and left.

(End of this chapter)