C1609 Zai Chun asked. (1/2)
An important factor in the stability of the Middle Ages regime was the closure of public opinion. The household registration system had extended to thousands of years in China, and the people had been locked in their native land. Their education level was very low, not only did they lack newspapers, television or other media, but even more than 90% of them could not read.
The law forbade citizens from leaving their hometowns for a hundred miles. In that case, their world only had one county or town. To them, the outside world was a complete myth.
In a closed and ignorant society, there were only two ways for people to receive information: one was through the rotation of the government, the other was through the regular issuance of imperial policies, such as tax breaks, the wedding of the emperor, the birthday of the emperor, and a general amnesty for the world … And so on.
It is absolutely impossible for the court to expose their own infamy. And the second way to receive messages was through word of mouth. Those wandering monks, travelling merchants, and peddlers walking the streets, including those capable people who travelled far and wide, the world they spoke of formed the image of the Great Qing in the imagination of the people.
It is laughable to say that the word ”travelling to the north” is a neutral term in Chinese vocabulary, which is a kind of honorific for those with knowledge of the people.
In ancient times, if you didn't have any achievements, you wouldn't be considered a big landowner, but since you have traveled to the north, even if you have only experienced five or six counties, you can still be considered a capable person in your hometown. Even the small landowners of the various villages and towns have to look up to you.
From this, it could be seen how sealed up the Middle Age was!
Because it was sealed off, the imperial government was able to cover up all sorts of ugly things. It was because they knew that even if the capital city had been breached, it would still be difficult to spread the news throughout the country, much less to the commoners.
As long as the Elementary Scholars and Master High Scholar s who lived like princes didn't speak carelessly, as long as they still spoke of the good things of the imperial government, then everything would be fine. If that was the case, the mountains and rivers of the Great Qing Dynasty would still be stable.
The Russian used the negotiating table to cut millions of square kilometers of land in the Far East? I'm sorry, this has already been cut off for ten years. In fact, the people of the Central Plains don't even know about it. They don't even know about the Far East.
However, if the Qing Dynasty had officially started a war with the Russian and mobilized the resources and power of the entire nation to carry out the national war, then this news would not be hidden anymore. Because once the war broke out, every province, every prefecture, every county, and every village had to be mobilized.
The entire country had to move, resources were being gathered from every village, and this time the news could not be concealed. The hundreds of millions of citizens across the country knew of this war, so the people's desire for the final victory was inevitable.
But could the Qing Dynasty win? The answer was very ambiguous. Would the Qing Dynasty, who was already afraid of the ocean, really dare to fight with the Russian? What if she lost? The prestige of the imperial government would be completely lost, and the foundations of the Qing Dynasty's power would be loosened.
Sakamoto Ryoma cracked it open and slowly instigated the theory in Tongzhi's mind. The intelligent Zai Chun turned his head and he finally understood everything, his fists clenched tightly in shame, his face flushed red.
knew that he had to strike while it was still hot. This piece of pig iron had already been burnt soft, and the last wedge had finally landed.
”Ai …” No matter how he said it, it was all because of the infant seller! ”Nothing in the world can escape cause and effect. If it wasn't for the fact that she was greedy enough to steal everyone's property, she wouldn't have attracted so many outsiders …”
”Same logic! If not for Yi Shan and the others who created this corrupt smuggling group, they would not have gotten involved with the Russian, and they would not have been in the other party's hands. In that case, the imperial government at the negotiating table would not have been in such a passive position! ”