Chapter 1087

The word "yin" in "the greatest of all evils is lust" never meant lewdness, but rather excess.

And most Great Ming people misquoted the meaning, and even some scholar-officials did not quite understand its original meaning. This was not talking about lewdness, but emphasizing that nothing should be excessive, otherwise, it would inevitably decline and perish.

For example, the "yin" in "happy but not excessive, sorrowful but not wounded" also meant that one could pursue happiness but absolutely should not pursue indulgence, emphasizing the restraint of emotional expression.

This was the background color of the Great Ming people: restraint and self-control over desires.

It was too normal for people to have desires. If people had no desires, they wouldn't be people, but stones. But Great Ming people could control their desires and not indulge themselves excessively.

And this cultural background color constituted the foundation of the distinction between Chinese and barbarians. Great Ming people never pursued animalistic, instinctive happiness, and did not indulge their desires. But a barbarian could not use his own reason to restrain his animalistic nature and indulgence of instincts.

This was the root of the distinction between Chinese and barbarians. Almost all differences arose from the difference in "restraint."

The animalistic nature often displayed by barbarians was because they could not control their inner pursuit of instinctive, animalistic happiness.

Zhu Yijun made a note here: this explained why the trend of localization would inevitably appear among colonists.

Some barbarians came to the Great Ming and became like Great Ming people; some people left the Great Ming and went to other countries, and slowly they became barbarians.

Appearance is born from the heart, and even their looks changed.

And this passage by Li Ya, starting from "the greatest of all evils is lust," analyzed the background color of Great Ming people and unlocked the fundamental problem of the distinction between Chinese and barbarians. Great Ming people did not want to be animals, but people, and held a critical attitude toward excessive indulgence in the pursuit of desires.

For example, Wang Qian killed 13,000 people, among whom more than 2,000 were Han people. Wang Qian never covered up his behavior and believed they deserved to die.

Entering the barbarians and becoming barbarians—clearly, these people left the Great Ming and began to indulge their desires, ultimately turning themselves into barbarians.

"I regret it a bit; I shouldn't have let him return to the West." Zhu Yijun truly regretted it and even planned to bring him back.

Stealing fire for the West was certainly a great thing, but Li Ya himself was in great danger. Although this process expanded the Great Ming's influence, Li Ya's foreseeable end still made the Emperor quite worried.

Zhang Hong said in a low voice: "Li Ya himself wants to go back. You can't keep someone who wants to leave. How about this, should your subject send a few agents to kidnap him back?"

"Forget it, I'm afraid he's gone mad." In the end, Zhu Yijun did not let power be willful and respected Li Ya's personal choice.

Li Ya talked about the root of this culture of restraint, which was actually composed of long historical lessons. The result of any excessive indulgence was the destruction of the nation.

He cited the allusion of "Signs of Destruction" from the Legalist school: "Fond of palaces, towers, ponds, and parks, obsessed with vehicles, clothing, and artifacts, exhausting the people, and squandering wealth—such a nation can perish."

Based on this root of restraint, Great Ming people had a strong sense of anxiety deep in their hearts, specifically manifested as being prepared for danger in times of peace.

And for thousands of years, cruel famines, civil unrest, turmoil, war, plagues, etc. —countless disasters, after being verified by the continuous trial and error and practice of predecessors, condensed into the holy fire of an undying civilization, the undying world tree.

A pair of scissors named survival was constantly pruning the branches that hindered progress and continuation, allowing the world tree to grow continuously.

And what Li Ya wanted to introduce was this kind of undying holy fire. The sun and moon dim and then brighten again because the holy fire is never extinguished.

The cultural soul and civilized life condensed by the Great Ming were the result of five thousand years of rigorous selection. This was also the root cause of why this vast and boundless land could maintain hundreds of years without turmoil.

Similarly, this was also the main reason for Li Ya's pessimism: this pair of scissors named survival existed universally, and the living conditions were similar, but Westerners did not learn their lessons and did not value historical records, leading to the repeated growth of chaotic branches that had appeared in the past.

In this chapter, the last part of Li Ya's talk was about the fact that all living beings have their own roots.

The Great Ming looked at the small barbarian states around the world as if looking at a makeshift troupe. This was not the Great Ming's arrogance, but a fact, because the imperial court was whatever the people were.

Li Ya did not believe that returning to the West would allow him to introduce the holy fire back. He believed that he was destined to fail. He grew up in the West and knew the environment of the West too well. In the roots of Westerners, they could not accept the restraint in the wisdom of the Great Ming.

A tree without roots and water without a source could not last long no matter what.

To make Westerners not pursue animalistic, instinctive happiness was as difficult as ascending to heaven.

No matter what, he went back. This was the result, and it was worth Zhu Yijun respecting his choice.

Similarly, putting down private grievances after five generations was also a manifestation of restraint, but the concept of great revenge also proved that sometimes, one must learn to put down restraint.

The background color of the Great Ming was indeed restraint, but when the Great Ming was truly pushed to the point of shame, to the point of national feud, that was the time to put down restraint.

Restraint was the background color, and revenge was also the background color. This was not contradictory, nor did it conflict; it was just different choices under different circumstances.

"Tsk tsk, victory reports from Jiaozhi are coming in one after another." Zhu Yijun opened a victory report; Luo Shangzhi had won another battle, and this time he had captured the Lord of Mo.