Chapter 446: Hey, Hey, Don't Cry

"Th-th-this..."

Jie Yu was left completely stunned by what Liu Zheng said.

Liu Zheng chuckled.

At this moment, Liu Zheng had already cast Jie Yu as a representative of the Wangbei Academy. He had successfully detached himself from his memories of the future. Therefore, he naturally would not show her any face.

Someone from the Academy?

Coming to see him, only to open and close their mouth with moral condemnation—who spoiled you?

From the moment you arrived, you stood on the moral high ground to criticize me; is this a common affliction for people from the Academy?

He knew.

No matter how advanced the Wangbei Academy might be in terms of concepts, knowledge, or even technology, they still could not escape the ideological theories instilled in them by the feudal dynasty. Confucian governance is simply teaching people how to revere the Emperor and be controlled by others. Resistance is considered treason, and war is considered the slaughter of the four wildernesses, treating the world as straw dogs. Is not resisting considered morality, and not resisting considered goodness? This in itself is a fallacy!

Today, when Jie Yu saw him, she took this to task without a second word; Liu Zheng naturally knew what this representative of the Academy wanted to do.

The Academy wanted to distance itself from this Liangshan war.

But even if you look like my unrequited love, you can't bully people like this, can you?

Liu Zheng chuckled: "Liu Zheng has always believed that even after the struggle for recognition has been spurned, this violence still remains within the original subject relationship; therefore, violence is the premise and the indispensable essential structure for the emergence of subjects. Envoy, what do you think?"

Jie Yu argued: "Where the army is stationed, thorns grow. After a great army, there must be a year of famine! Jie Yu believes..."

Liu Zheng smiled faintly: "Justice without force is impotent, and force without justice is tyranny!"

Jie Yu's expression changed slightly: "Weapons are ominous tools, and a sage uses them only when there is no other choice..."

Liu Zheng said: "Building a country does not rely on dreams; it must ultimately resort to blood and iron!"

Jie Yu retorted: "Though a country may be large, a fondness for war will surely lead to its ruin!"

Liu Zheng smiled amusedly: "Those who forget war are in danger, and those who go to extremes with martial power will be harmed. Food is the treasure of a country, and soldiers are the claws of a country. What is wrong with that?"

"You, you, you..."

Good heavens, before she came, how could she have imagined that this Prefect Liu would be so sharp-tongued! What she did not know was that the viewpoint Liu Zheng was currently expounding was the famous theory of violent war from Hegel of the future!

Admittedly.

Hegel's view on war was attacked by countless people in the future, and some even believed that the establishment of that Third Empire in World War II happened because the Leader had studied Hegel's On War thoroughly, which led to that kind of populist ideology.

But Liu Zheng thought otherwise.

Hegel's theory of violent war does not highlight the concept of a single ethnic group; what he highlights is a country!

Yes.

It is a country, not a royal family, and certainly not an ethnic group! While there is much to criticize about Hegel, Liu Zheng believed that his On War was very suitable for the current world.

The concept of a country is more inclusive, more operable, and more cohesive than that of an ethnic group!

And coincidentally, this kind of thinking was actually consistent with the era in which Liu Zheng lived in the future.

Public property is greater than private property.

National interest is greater than everything.

War is different from colonization; war does not necessarily have external expansion as its goal. For example, colonial wars have national liberation and national independence as their goals. What Hegel hoped to solve through war were the "rabble," the "right to work," and the "mood combined with poverty"—that is, the "inner resistance against the rich, against society, against the government, etc."

Hegel's view of war is often criticized, and some even compare his war philosophy to the war doctrines of fascism, but from Hegel's starting point, his view of war should actually be understood as a kind of "functional theory of war."

On one hand, what he valued was the unity brought about by war; what he hoped for was to awaken the political and social nature of the "rabble" in a civil society where everyone is driven by profit.

On the other hand, although Hegel had expressed eager anticipation and welcome for the French Revolution in his early years, as the "absolute freedom" touted by the French Revolution gradually turned into a "reign of terror," his attitude changed. Hegel's later reflections on war made it impossible for the world to equate him lightly with totalitarianism.

Liu Zheng believed that, at the very least, the current development of the Longyan Dynasty was suitable for Hegel's theory.

He was not a warmonger.

But he had to admit that war had been a part of politics since ancient times.

If the advancement of the era relied solely on that kind of "non-violent non-cooperation," it would only further enslave the people and solidify the classes.

Relatively speaking, he preferred this way of governing that combined the state with war.

The state is greater than everything, unity is greater than everything, and the individual submits to the overall situation!

In many cases, war is merely a tool for historical change!

For Liangshan at this time, war was a sublimation.

For the Longyan Dynasty over there, war was a tool to unite the hearts of the people!

How could someone like Jie Yu, who had heard too much Confucian thought, have ever heard such a theory?

A few "Envoy, what do you think?" directly left Jie Yu with no way to argue back.

She even glared fiercely at Liu Zheng...

This man is truly...

So sharp and exposed!

He didn't give her a chance to speak at all! Where was she, a dignified Envoy of the Academy, supposed to put her face? The plan she had originally made today was to first stand firm on her position, and then engage in back-and-forth tug-of-war with Prefect Liu...

Never expected...

Never, ever expected!

"Hahahaha, Envoy, what brings you here today?"

Seeing Jie Yu deflated, for some reason, Liu Zheng felt very happy inside.

He didn't know if it was the deep love he had for her before crossing over, or a revenge for the arrogance of this Academy.

Jie Yu glared at him fiercely, looking worriedly at the soldiers who were still fighting below: "Jie Yu came today to deliver a very important message to Prefect Liu. I just don't know what Prefect Liu intends to trade for it?"

Who would have thought.

Liu Zheng smiled lightly: "I don't need it."

"What?"

Jie Yu's delicate body trembled, and she looked over in disbelief.

That was information I spent an enormous amount of effort and used super-strong computing power to calculate!

And you just come out and say, you don't want it?

"You..."

She only felt that this Prefect Liu was truly someone who did not play by the rules.

Liu Zheng laughed heartily and said: "Does Jie Yu think, in today's battle, who will lose and who will win?"

He deliberately looked at this freckled girl with a burning gaze.

Why is she so similar... even the freckles on her nose are in the exact same shape.

Jie Yu was made to blush again by his gaze, and she couldn't help but tug at the corner of her clothes with a small hand, trying hard to calm herself down; she seemed to finally be unable to withstand Liu Zheng's scorching gaze, and said: "No matter who loses or who wins, it is the common people who will suffer."

Liu Zheng rolled his eyes: "That is not what I want to hear. Are all the people in the Academy as stubborn as Jie Yu? What you see are the people who die in this war. But what I see is the kind of change this war will bring to Liangshan."

Upgrading from a slave society to a theocratic state.

He felt that this was a form of progress.

As long as there is progress, the war is worth it.

"You..."

Having been retorted by Liu Zheng again, Jie Yu was almost in tears.

What she excelled at was Mathematics, what kind of sin was she committing by taking the initiative to come down the mountain!

Her freckled nose twitched, and she said angrily: "You know full well the Academy won't let you lose! You, you, you, are you deliberately bullying people?"

As she spoke, tears began to well up in her eyes.

Huh?

Liu Zheng didn't know whether to laugh or cry.

Is this how it's played?

If you can't win an argument, you just start crying?