Chapter 7043 The Inevitable Future

Chapter 7043 The Inevitable Future

There aren't many people in this era who are qualified to make fun of Li You in political matters, but Zhong Yao is one of them if you really want to. This guy is extremely capable, and he has actually worked with Li Ru during the reigns of the young emperor and the Min emperor, as well as Li You after the Yuanfeng era, so he is very clear about the limits of Li You's abilities.

"What are you saying?" Chen Xi sighed slightly upon hearing Zhong Yao's words, but did not refute them. Chen Xi actually knew what Zhong Yao was talking about, but Li You's approach was actually a relatively good solution.

“Li Wenru has become somewhat accustomed to using suppression, but not everything in this world can be solved by suppression.” Zhong Yao could tell from Chen Xi’s tone that Chen Xi was well aware of what Li You had done in the Ganges River, and that it did not actually solve the problem.

“Yes, things like this that involve cultural heritage and the spirit of civilization can’t be solved by suppression. Wenru’s approach is just suppression.” Chen Xi spoke frankly. He would give face to many people in public, but when working in private, he still had to be realistic. If he couldn’t do it, he couldn’t do it. He couldn’t pretend to have done it just because the other party was Li You.

“Li Wenru’s plan is essentially just treating the symptoms; his methods can’t address the root cause. In my opinion, the tricks he used before were not bad. They were basically just gathering all the prisoners in Samantatha and then letting Mongkangbu take it in one fell swoop, using the will to survive of hundreds of thousands of prisoners to create an impact on the lower and middle classes of Brahmanism,” Zhong Yao said to Chen Xi with some disappointment.

“As for other methods, they don’t even qualify as treating the symptoms,” Zhong Yao added. Chen Xi chuckled twice but said nothing, because it was the truth.

The problem is that even Chen Xi would find it difficult to completely eradicate Brahmanism. On the one hand, it would take far too much time, and on the other hand, if it were to rely on killing, the resulting bloodshed would be too great.

Therefore, Chen Xi's initial approach to dealing with the Brahmins was exile, as completely eliminating a civilization with such a strong assimilation ability as the Brahmins was simply too difficult.

Killing the high castes or instigating conflict between the lower and middle classes and the upper class are not good solutions. In fact, these methods have already been used by those who ruled India in ancient times, and they have proven to be meaningless.

Everyone who falls into the trap of India is eventually possessed by the Brahmins. Even Britain, which is so far away, could not escape being possessed by this system. After all, this thing is just too useful, especially for the ruling class, who are simply powerless to resist it.

This is why Chen Xi agreed to Li You's request to relocate all the high-caste and low-to-middle-caste people who were completely poisoned by Brahmanism after conquering the Ganges. To put it bluntly, Chen Xi also felt that the Brahman cesspool was impossible to solve. In order to avoid getting involved and having to deal with it himself, he chose to isolate them and let them fend for themselves. It was a simple matter of people leaving and the land remaining.

“You’re providing general education to girls from lower and middle castes.” Chen Xi thought for a moment and understood the logic behind Zhong Yao’s actions. To put it bluntly, it was about constructing a different worldview and philosophy of life, severing the Brahmanic tradition at its root.

"Yes, local girls over the age of five must attend the school I established for comprehensive Sinicization education. They will be provided with lunch and dinner, and will also receive a rice cake when they go home. This education is free," Zhong Yao said calmly. The Ganges River basin may lack some things, but it will never lack food. As long as the fertile land is developed, the food problem will naturally not be a problem.

To be honest, the food shortages of the lower and middle castes in the South, and even the hunger problem of the lower and middle classes in India in later generations, were not actually due to insufficient food production, but rather to the distribution of food production. Zhong Yao did not have a problem with distribution; he could draw on the grain production of the government granary, so he naturally had surplus grain to deal with this matter.

Although this act actually consumed a considerable amount of grain, Zhong Yao didn't care about that. What he wanted was to dig up the roots and provide for the wives of the able-bodied men who came to the front lines to fight.

"The core of education is to change these girls' minds, to make them realize that the Han Dynasty is a beacon of civilization, while Brahmanism is a cesspool, right?" Chen Xi said with a smile. "So what you're teaching isn't the classics, but admiration for the powerful? You're guiding these girls to marry young men from the Han Dynasty from the very beginning, right?"

“Yes, if we can’t solve the problem of family-based proselytizing, if we can’t solve the problem of that kind of subtle influence, the soil in which Brahmanism was born will always exist. Even if we build some state-run workshops there and absorb people, their interactions with each other will still transmit their doctrines, and they will still believe in Shiva, Brahma, and so on.” Zhong Yao said with a hint of coldness, “Li Wenru’s approach is like burning the dead branches on the soil. The soil is still there, and new shoots will still grow.”

“Lord Chen, you should know very well what kind of powerful families are the most difficult to deal with,” Zhong Yao said with a hint of sarcasm.

"Of course, the most terrifying kind of powerful families are those who, upon discovering a strong opponent, decisively defect, join the opponent, learn from them, and humble themselves to the lowest level. They won't openly oppose you; instead, they will learn from your strengths, extract the essence, integrate it into their own understanding, become your allies, and then ride the wave of the times to seize their own interests," Chen Xi said with a sigh.

The aristocratic families that directly oppose Liu Bei and Chen Xi are the easiest to deal with, because all it takes is a coordinate to completely annihilate them. There are various methods to deal with them, and some crimes can be pinned on their heads.

The problem is that most of the families that survived to this day know the best way to deal with it: join in, imitate the other party, become one of them, wait for the end of the other party's era, and then jump out and devour them.

Those powerful families that opposed the imperial edict had already perished on their way to the north during the reading of that edict; those who remained were mostly the latter.

Chen Xi never believed that the Chen family would be determined to follow him, nor did he believe that the Xun family would risk their entire clan for his ideals, and he certainly did not believe that the Sima family would be completely subdued because of his power. This was simply impossible!

The interests of every individual, every group, and the broadest national interests are not entirely aligned, which inevitably leads to competition and conflict.

Therefore, the most difficult families to deal with are those that are clear-headed and do follow Chen Xi in action, but will eventually choose other paths. They are also evil dragons, but because of Chen Xi's existence, they have become the mounts of dragon knights. In essence, they are still evil dragons that can devour humans.

Similarly, the most difficult Brahmins to deal with are those who appear to have joined the Han Dynasty, obeying its teachings and rules, but secretly continue to spread their own ideas and civilization according to the Brahmin tradition.

In this situation, conventional methods cannot solve the problem.

Let alone the third century, even in the twenty-first century, this family-based missionary practice remains unresolved. No matter how much the law stipulates that missionary work cannot be done to minors or in public, it is useless because no matter how deep the state's control is, it cannot penetrate to the family level. The power of the monarchy or the government is already quite powerful if it can penetrate to the county level or below.

Delving into the family level, apart from sophon surveillance, there are probably no other good solutions. Therefore, the so-called eradication is useless as long as the land remains the same as before.

This was also Zhong Yao's way of mocking Li You. Apart from the last big move, which could be considered a temporary solution, his other actions didn't even qualify as a temporary solution.

“It’s only you who dares to mock Wenru; I doubt anyone else would. But addressing the root cause is too difficult.” Chen Xi said with a hint of teasing.

“It’s too difficult. Are we just going to give up? If we don’t completely destroy that place and sever the four generations of the old, middle-aged, young and old, even if you relocate people and bring our people there, it will reappear over time.” Zhong Yao said with a hint of sarcasm. “When it’s time to make a decision, we should make a decision. We can’t give up just because it’s supposedly difficult. I don’t think what you want is a Han civilization with a Brahman flavor.”

“That’s true. It’s better to make a decision sooner rather than later. The longer it drags on, the more troublesome it becomes. I didn’t expect you to be so reliable at times.” Chen Xi thought for a moment and, after confirming that Zhong Yao had already started, stopped worrying about it.

After all, as Zhong Yao said, if you don't completely eradicate the root, this thing will eventually revive in the Han Dynasty. At that time, it's hard to say whether it will be a Han cultural sphere or a Brahman.

“You actually know very well how to eliminate these things, but you just don’t have enough time and energy to deal with them.” Zhong Yao looked at Chen Xi, completely convinced that Chen Xi was perfectly aware of his scheme, but simply hadn’t put it into practice.

“It’s not that we don’t have the time or energy, but that we don’t have the right people. I originally thought Wenru was actually the right person to do this, but Wenru’s approach is physical destruction, and that approach doesn’t solve the problem well because it’s impossible to kill them all.” Chen Xi thought for a moment and decided that he should explain to Zhong Yao, “I gave Wenru some hints, but he misunderstood.”

"Tch!" Zhong Yao couldn't help but mock upon hearing this. "How could Li Wenru not misread it? His decades of experience have destined him to be unable to take the path of spiritual destruction, only physical destruction. But civilization and inheritance can only be destroyed in spirit."

Essentially, Zhong Yao had completely seen through the entire process of civilization assimilation. What Chen Xi was asking for was actually a form of spiritual killing, using bloodless means to eliminate those locals who were unwilling to follow or assimilate.

Zhong Yao's plan was actually implemented around this idea. The Han dynasty was superior to the Brahmans in the local area in terms of culture, ability, and system, which would have attracted the locals. However, this attraction was not enough to erase the deep-rooted ideological imprint.

After all, the traces of a person's existence, besides their physical body, are their spiritual beliefs. For the Indians in the caste system, their spiritual beliefs are derived from what they have been exposed to since childhood, accumulated over decades, and even imprinted on their souls.

The caste system is correct; for the local people, that is a fact!
To dismantle the caste system, this deeply ingrained mark on the soul must be eradicated.

In other words, there is really no way out except destruction and death.

Li You's previous method was destruction, but there were too many locals. Whether it was an external saint or an external king, China has never actually recognized large-scale massacres. Even with a mortal enemy like the Xiongnu, surrender and assimilation were allowed. Therefore, Chen Xi could never say that he had wiped out tens of millions of locals who were completely corrupted by the caste system and whose souls were even pickled.

Therefore, the only option available is apoptosis, a bloodless elimination method.

After all, very few women from the Han dynasty went to the Ganges, so it was inevitable that Han men would marry local women.

Chen Xi had considered the cultural erosion that such marriages would cause at some point. After all, these women had received all the information about the caste system since birth. Their union with Han soldiers would inevitably leave traces of the caste system on most of the Han soldiers who knew nothing about cultural invasion.

As for having Chen Xi preach to these Han soldiers, that's utter nonsense. On the one hand, there aren't enough people to carry out ideological education; on the other hand, no matter how much you recite scriptures in class, it's not as effective as whispering in someone's ear in bed.

So, to be honest, this is a very fatal point. This is why Chen Xi rotates the Ganges soldiers and tries his best to send those soldiers who have married Ganges women back to their homeland. In short, it's about getting away from the birthplace of the caste system and letting the able-bodied men take their wives back to their hometowns to be exposed to the general Han culture.

After all, they had returned to their hometown, and when in Rome, do as the Romans do. The nagging of the aunts and uncles could still correct the new bride's local characteristics. In addition, since she didn't speak Mandarin, she basically had to learn it from scratch when she arrived in the local area. Being alone, she would naturally imitate the local customs and habits, thereby eliminating traces of her own civilization. This could be considered as solving the problem of lower-class people finding wives and reducing the inheritance of the caste system.

For women in the middle and lower reaches of the Ganges, once they leave their hometowns, even if the caste system tries to entangle them, it is impossible to cross the vast distance. In any era, time and space are insurmountable predicaments. From a certain perspective, most of them can be considered to have escaped the unique predicaments of their local area.

It seems that Zhong Yao also noticed this point, which is why he proposed the plan to gather girls for general sex education. To be fair, this was indeed a very good plan.

“To resolve the caste system within Brahmanism, we must address the internal transmission within Brahmanism. Otherwise, even if this generation manages to suppress it, the next generation will still follow suit. To be honest, if the Han aristocratic families weren't all ambitious individuals, I think they would have joined Brahmanism sooner or later,” Zhong Yao said to Chen Xi with a mix of seriousness and probing.

"Actually, I was worried about that too, but then I found out that all the major families were greedy and greedy, and they would try to take advantage of any opportunity to wipe out the rest. They would never give up if they could throw other families into the pot. They were determined to win big and win big until they were numb with winning. I felt that Brahmanism could not satisfy them." Chen Xi said with some emotion about the inhumanity of the young people.

There's no way around it. The Han family are pure anthropomorphic beings. In the past, Chen Xi had some goodwill towards the Han family, but the more he came into contact with them over the past ten years, the more thoroughly he understood them. To put it this way, you could say that there are indeed some virtuous people in this class, but once these virtuous people make up this class, they are all anthropomorphic creatures.

Is Hua Xin morally deficient? He's a great Confucian scholar, one of the very elite, yet he asked a question that no normal person should ask. Does he really not understand? What a joke, he understands perfectly well!

Even so, he still asked, wasn't it just because of interests and self-interest?

Therefore, Chen Xi rarely believed in the scriptures preached by the major families. He simply studied the benefits. No matter how much they recited or how nicely they spoke, or even if they were elevated to martyrdom or faith, in essence, it was still about benefits. If you really thought they were human beings, they would be like anthropomorphic creatures!

“Your opinion is quite complex.” Zhong Yao said with some complicated feelings. “Your opinion is absolutely right. I don’t think that the Brahmanical system, which has different rights and responsibilities for each class, can satisfy them. From what I know about the aristocratic families, they are just like you said, they will take everything and never let anything go. So I believe they will become even more wicked and will not restrain themselves.”

"The caste system can't satisfy their desires. Their goal is to be both Brahmin and Kshatriya, and ideally, to control the Vaishya's commerce and handicrafts as well, and have all the Shudras become their craftsmen, servants, and slaves..." Chen Xi said with a hint of malice. That's how Han aristocratic families are.

“I estimate they will reject Brahmanism, secretly absorb the caste system, and then repackage it in the style of my interpretation of the Six Classics, deliberately distorting some classics, and then combining it with the general environment to create a caste system more suitable for them. For example, reversing Xunzi’s teachings, such as ‘people are grouped by their kind’; reversing the Records of the Grand Historian, such as ‘clouds follow dragons, wind follows tigers, and when a sage arises, all things are revealed.’ Can’t these all be reversed?” Zhong Yao said very seriously.

Chen Xi silently agreed. The Han aristocratic families would not be satisfied with the Brahmin class, but they would definitely pursue the stability of the caste system in order to maintain their superior status, and this was inevitable.

However, since Zhong Yao had spoken so clearly, how could Chen Xi not know that this guy was warning him that some bastard families had already begun to practice the Book of Changes, Xunzi, Records of the Grand Historian, and so on in reverse?

After all, much of the content in these classics can indeed be applied to the caste system. By upholding the banner of the sages and doing what one wants, that's always been the case.

Alright, you no longer need to doubt why the Han aristocratic families could resist the caste system. They couldn't resist it; they could only resist Brahmanism. They would still use the caste system, since it seemed very effective.

The core message of this book is that it never doubts the wisdom of aristocratic families, only their greed; all the aristocratic families that perished were those who died from greed.