Weird Three Kingdoms

Chapter 3937 Cao Cao, besieged in a perilous city, attains enlightenment; gazing at the beacon fires, Fei Qian points to a valiant hero.

Cao Cao hid under the city wall of Sishui Pass.

Leaning against the gate wall.

Cao Cao felt the cold, rough walls tremble amidst the artillery fire of the Flying Cavalry.

His original set of gold and silver armor had long been replaced with a matte, dull robe.

Even the helmets weren't brightly colored...

However, even if there were any bright colors now, they probably wouldn't be very noticeable. After all, the surrounding area is covered in dust from the cavalry's artillery fire, and even the brightest people would be stained and dulled by it.

Cao Cao's beard, visible beneath his helmet, was covered in dust, making him look as if he had been buried in the ground and had just been pulled out.

Suddenly, a sickeningly distorted sound rang out...

Cao Cao squinted to avoid getting dust in his eyes, and looked up to see a corner tower at the pass collapsing under the weight of the cannon fire...

After a solid iron ball with a tricky angle gnawed at the main supporting pillar of the corner tower, the corner tower let out its final cry and collapsed with a crash under the watchful eyes of many Cao soldiers and Cao Cao himself!

A massive plume of smoke rose into the sky, completely engulfing the area, leaving only the rising smoke and the agonizing screams of those buried beneath it...

Cao Cao's pupils suddenly contracted.

He felt that what collapsed was not just a building, but more like the last bastion of an era...

Just like the situation he is facing now, it has irrevocably collapsed.

Cao Cao once hoped to use the immense pressure from beyond the pass to force the forces in Shandong who were still observing and harboring their own interests to regroup and form a second "Alliance of the Sour Dates" to jointly resist the powerful enemy!

But reality is cold and ironic...

Apart from a few "righteous soldiers" who were half-coaxed, half-forced to come, and the "suicide squad" in front of him who were either trembling or mentally broken and howling wildly under the artillery fire, there was no decent force in the vast land of Shandong and the Central Plains to respond to the call of this great Han prime minister!

The ranks were in disarray, and morale was low.

The so-called alliance has vanished.

The cannon fire continued to roar, and Cao Cao's thoughts, amidst the thunderous sounds, involuntarily drifted back to the artillery pieces of the Flying Cavalry that his army had captured at the Ghost Cry Pass...

Those research tools that had been painstakingly brought back were ultimately deemed impossible to replicate and could only be left in the warehouse to gather dust and rust.

Shandong and Guanzhong both produce artisans, yet there is a huge difference between them!
Gunpowder is like this, and so is artillery!

This is not just about technical difficulties such as bronze ratio and casting process; the deeper problem is that the Central Plains of Shandong simply cannot provide the environment for developing such a powerful weapon!
Back then, after Dong Zhuo, Li Jue, and Guo Si, the Guanzhong region was devastated, its people impoverished, and far less prosperous than Shandong...

But how could Fei Qian, in just a few years, surpass others and even create such a weapon that swept across the battlefield?
Cao Cao had vaguely grasped the core of the problem.

Land annexation, the rise of powerful clans, and widespread displacement of people...

Are these the root causes of the decline of the Han Dynasty?
perhaps.

However, these problems are only superficial.

Just like boils on the body, the root cause lies in the disease within the body.

Cao Cao suddenly remembered the famous "Debate on Salt and Iron"...

Sang Hongyang advocated for government-run enterprises and centralized financial power in order to strengthen the country. However, this led to problems such as "county officials making ironware, which was often cumbersome and costly" and "laborers being burdened with endless labor." The agricultural tools cast by the government were large, heavy, expensive, and of poor quality, to the point that poor farmers had to resort to "wooden plows and hand weeds" to engage in extremely primitive labor.

Meanwhile, the virtuous and learned scholars raised the banners of "resting and recuperating with the people" and "keeping wealth among the people," criticizing government-run enterprises for competing with the people for profits and advocating for the free flow of private enterprises.

The results of it?
After the privatization of salt and iron, did the poor who relied on "wooden farming and hand weeding" really start using cheap iron tools?

not at all.

In reality, wealth flowed even faster into the pockets of powerful and wealthy individuals, who concealed populations, evaded taxes, maintained private armies, and built fortified villages, causing the nation's mobilization and fiscal capacity to gradually shrink!

Today, with the nation in peril, where are these "people"?
It's nothing more than everyone keeping their doors tightly shut, praying that the flames of war won't reach their own estates!
"Virtue... literature..."

Amid the roar of cannons, Cao Cao muttered to himself, a bitter, mocking smile tugging at the corner of his mouth.

What kind of fruit do those who quote scriptures and speak eloquently in the halls of power, as if every word is for the benefit of the people, ultimately produce?
Cao Cao understood why Fei Qian held the "Great Treatise at Qinglong Temple" in Chang'an, seeking "proper interpretations" and tracing back to the original meanings of pre-Qin and even ancient classics, criticizing the far-fetched interpretations and arbitrary misinterpretations of Han Dynasty Confucian scholars!

This is about breaking down the ideological shackles that are wrapped in "benevolence and morality" but actually serve to protect the interests of a specific class!
Yes!

Amidst the earth-shaking roar of cannon fire and the dust kicked up by the collapsing corner tower, an unprecedented idea flashed like lightning, cleaving through the political fog that had accumulated in Cao Cao's mind for many years...

Only by truly unifying the power of the state with the power of the people, and ensuring that the decisions of the state's top leadership are genuinely made in the interests of the majority of the people, rather than being held hostage by the private interests of a few powerful clans, gentry, and wealthy merchants, can we curb land annexation, develop people's livelihoods, consolidate national strength, resist foreign aggression, and even...

To usher in a new golden age.

This may be the fundamental reason why Fei Qian has a constant stream of new weapons, a well-organized and efficient army, and a high-spirited and upward-looking atmosphere.
Cao Cao understood.

In an instant, he seemed to grasp part of the logic behind his opponent's strength.

however--

"My lord! The cavalry are approaching! The heavy infantry have crossed the trenches!"

Before anyone knew it, the artillery fire had stopped. Cao Ren, covered in smoke and dust, rushed over from the side, shouting hoarsely, interrupting Cao Cao's thoughts.

The immediate crisis overwhelmed the chaotic philosophical thoughts in Cao Cao's mind.

Cao Cao's eyes narrowed, and he roared at Cao Ren, "Go! Get to the city walls! Supervise the battle!"

Surrounded by his personal guards, Cao Cao hurried up the already dilapidated section of the city wall along the inner horse path.

The scene before me was even more shocking than if I had looked up from below…

The battlements were crooked and dilapidated, the walls were riddled with cracks, and the walkways were covered with rubble.

Limbs and pools of blood, not yet congealed, were scattered here and there.

The cries of the wounded soldiers filled our ears...

The ones who suffered the most casualties were naturally the suicide squad that had been brought to the city wall earlier.

These gentry sons from the Central Plains of Shandong were experiencing such a brutal war for the first time. In the recent artillery barrage, they were the first to be hit and suffered heavy casualties.

Most of the people died in their own ways, but the expressions on the faces of the survivors were quite similar, falling into two categories. One type huddled behind the remaining low wall, their eyes vacant, their bodies trembling; some even lost control of their bladders, the stench of blood mingling with the stench of urine. The other type laughed and joked, their minds completely broken, wandering aimlessly like zombies. No one knew whether these men would fall off the city walls or become even more insane.

Looking at these guys, Cao Cao's brief surge of understanding about "unifying the forces" and "considering the people's interests" vanished, leaving only disgust and hatred. He didn't even glance at those aristocratic youths, as if they were just a bunch of annoying junk.

Cao Cao merely waved coldly at the supervising officers beside him, issuing an order completely contrary to his thoughts a moment earlier: "Drive all these useless fools to the front! Block the breach! Anyone who dares to retreat will be executed on the spot! Let them die with some purpose!"

The order was relayed sternly. The supervising officers mercilessly stabbed and whipped the trembling "suicide squad" with their swords and spears, driving them like livestock to the most dangerous and exposed positions on the edge of the city wall.

Cries and pleas for mercy rang out, but were quickly drowned out by the officer's reprimands and the sound of blades slashing and striking.

Cao Cao's gaze had already passed over these "sheep" destined to be sacrificed, and landed on the forest of heavily armored cavalry advancing below the pass, and on the cloud ladders and siege towers that were faintly visible in the dust and smoke in the distance...

The insights about the relationship between the state and the people that had flashed through Cao Cao's mind earlier seemed to be just a fleeting illusion produced by the roar of cannons.

Perhaps Cao Cao truly understood some things... but now the problems were too deep to be reversed, and it was too late.

More importantly, Cao Cao was already an integral part of the old system, so deeply intertwined with it that he was incapable of making any real changes...

……

……

Below Sishui Pass, smoke filled the air, and the sounds of war drums and horns shook the surrounding fields.

Fei Qian stood on the slightly higher command platform in the center of the army, with banners fluttering beside him.

Before them stood the iron torrent of the cavalry, which, with precise and ruthless efficiency, was pushing the Sishui Pass, the last bastion of the old era, step by step toward destruction.

Before this epic tale of bloodshed and iron that would determine the fate of the world, Fei Qian's thoughts surged, rising to a broader and more fundamental level...

In this battle, Fei Qian had made extensive preparations and had contingency plans for various scenarios. There was no need for Fei Qian to command on the spot for many things. Sometimes Fei Qian felt that he was just a symbol, a sign, standing here.

Fei Qian gazed at the cavalrymen who bravely climbed the rampage amidst the gunfire and arrows, and at the Cao army soldiers on the distant walls who were either driven away or fighting like cornered beasts in despair. He was filled with emotion...

What enabled the craftsmen of Guanzhong to forge such a powerful weapon capable of destroying cities and capturing strongholds, while those of Shandong could not?
What makes the farmers in Guanzhong willing to send their sons into the army, while the powerful clans in the Central Plains only seek to protect their fortified villages?
What makes this army so responsive and efficient, while Cao Cao's army in Shandong and the Central Plains suffers defeat after defeat, seemingly a disorganized mess?
Is it because the people of Guanzhong and Shandong are of different races?

Obviously not, they are all the same Han people.

So, is it land annexation?

Perhaps so, but Fei Qian believes that this is merely a shocking appearance, a symptom of a deep-seated illness manifesting as a festering sore.

But beneath the abscess lies deeper necrosis and circulatory obstruction within the body.

As his understanding of politics deepened and the framework of the superstructure became clearer, Fei Qian believed that the core of this problem in feudal dynasties could be attributed to a fundamental distortion and rupture in the "distribution mechanism of the means of production and subsistence".

The Chinese nation has never lacked wisdom and a spirit of exploration.

In fact, China has long held large-scale discussions on this matter at the national level...

That's right, it's that influential debate—"Discourses on Salt and Iron".

It was not merely a debate about whether salt and iron should be state-run or privately privatized; it was a difficult exploration of the relationship between state power, social wealth, and people's well-being within the framework of an agricultural empire.

The passionate criticisms of the virtuous scholars and the pragmatic, even somewhat cold, defense of Sang Hongyang—their viewpoints, transcending time and space, clashed fiercely in Fei Qian's mind at this moment.

In agrarian societies, land is the core means of production, while salt and iron are crucial means of livelihood and production that affect the national economy and people's livelihood.

The virtuous and learned scholars vehemently criticized the state monopoly on salt and iron, accusing it of causing "county officials to make ironware that was mostly bitter and unpleasant," "excessive spending," and "the poor to resort to manual labor and farming." They keenly perceived a danger: when state power directly transformed into the largest operating entity, monopolizing the benefits of mountains, rivers, forests, and lakes, a distribution model based on power rather than fairness was born.

Officials used their political status to acquire resources and organize production at low cost, while small-scale artisans and merchants were excluded from competition. State-run workshops lacked the incentive to improve, and the agricultural tools they produced were mostly large, of poor quality and high price, leaving farmers with no other choice.

In order to maintain this state-run system and achieve macroeconomic goals such as "equalization of transportation" and "price stabilization", the government often suppressed prices when purchasing agricultural products, so farmers in the Han Dynasty were squeezed at both the production and sales ends.

The distribution of social wealth is manifestly unfair to the vast majority of producers at both the beginning and the end.

The lamentations of virtuous scholars, pointing out that "the poor get poorer and the rich get richer," are the inevitable result of this distorted distribution mechanism operating for so long. The enormous wealth acquired by the state through monopolies is mostly consumed in border wars and the self-sustaining of the bureaucratic system, rather than effectively flowing back to benefit ordinary people.

But is the literature of virtuous scholars entirely correct?
Fei Qian shook his head slightly.

They saw the extreme injustice in the distribution of wealth and correctly attributed part of its root cause to the flaws in the combination of power and management. But their prescription was wrong!
"Abolish the salt and iron industries, relinquish power, and return it to the people," advocating a return to the old ways of "emphasizing agriculture and suppressing commerce" and "governing by non-interference"!

This completely failed to address the root cause of the problem!

In an environment where private land ownership and land annexation were rampant, even the abolition of state monopolies on salt and iron did not change the monopolistic possession of land, the most fundamental means of production.

Social wealth continues to be concentrated in the hands of a very small number of people.

The profits from salt and iron were simply transferred from the hands of "official tycoons" to the hands of "private tycoons," and the situation of ordinary people did not necessarily improve much.

Just like the ever-decreasing protein content and bacterial colony requirements in the United States in later generations, is this a regression in scientific and technological development, or the endless greed of the human heart?

The ideal of virtuous literature is to return to an imagined, fair, and original state of small-country society. However, in an era where unified empires have become a reality and social complexity is increasing, this is inevitably a pipe dream and a regression in the system.

Clearly, Sang Hongyang's focus was also wrong.

The state-run system is inherently prone to corruption, creating an inefficient new privileged class and forming a distorted combination of power and capital.

The centralization of the resources from mountains and seas, which might have been seized by local powerful families, strengthened the country's financial capacity and mobilization power, which was strategically necessary under the historical conditions at the time.

However, the fatal flaw of the Sang Hongyang model lies in the fact that this adjustment is vertical, unidirectional, and lacks effective checks and balances and feedback mechanisms...

Smoke drifted in on the wind, carrying a pungent odor.

Fei Qian's gaze shifted from distant contemplation back to the battlefield before him. The roar of artillery was a victory for new technologies and organizations, but what underpinned all of this was a distribution mechanism in Guanzhong that was relatively more rational, more conducive to stimulating grassroots vitality, and more focused on sharing the benefits!

Craftsmen are respected and rewarded for their skills and innovations; farmers are provided with land and security for their labor and dedication; soldiers are honored and rewarded for their courage and discipline.

Although far from perfect, this is a value orientation and institutional attempt to more closely link individual efforts, social contributions, and national strength!

This is a completely new 'Tao'...

Fei Qian gradually understood.

Neither Sang Hongyang nor the literature of virtuous men could break through the fundamental limitations of their time.

The core of the problem may lie in...

First, who has the right to dominate the distribution of the main means of production and subsistence in society?

Second, what should be the fundamental purpose of distribution?
The answer seems obvious, yet it is incredibly difficult.

Only state institutions that represent the broadest public opinion and are subject to effective supervision and checks and balances have the qualifications and authority to conduct macro-level and fundamental allocation and regulation.

The fundamental purpose of such distribution must not be merely to maintain the stability of the regime or to satisfy the interests of a minority group, but must be to maximize social fairness and justice, stimulate the creative potential of every member, and ensure that the fruits of development can be shared relatively reasonably by all participants, under the premise of safeguarding the security and development of the community.

When a country's superstructure no longer focuses on improving the distribution system that is crucial to the nation's foundation and the people's livelihood, but instead is busy suppressing dissent, exploiting the people's resources, or even instigating internal strife to divert attention from other problems, the foundation of that country is already rotten, and its collapse is only a matter of time.

The cannons roared again, and a new wave of attacks began.

Fei Qian took a deep breath, temporarily suppressing his chaotic thoughts.

He knew that the battle before him was to shatter the hard shell of the old era.

After the battle, the real and unprecedented test for him, the transmigrator, is how to establish a new resource allocation and circulation mechanism on the ruins that can effectively mobilize, ensure safety, stimulate vitality, and maintain fairness.

This is not merely a matter of temporary techniques and tools, but rather Fei Qian's attempt to infuse this ancient civilization with a completely new "Tao"!
This is the 'Great Way' that he, as a time traveler, can do and should do and promote!
The Great Way of the World!
From the high platform, the soldier on lookout shouted, "My lord! Cao Cao's reserve troops are scaling the city walls!!"

Fei Qian took the binoculars from a guard and then he saw Cao Cao.

Although Cao Cao was not wearing conspicuous armor, Fei Qian still managed to spot him...

As if sensing something, Cao Cao noticed Fei Qian's gaze, and he slowly raised his head to look at Fei Qian.

At this moment, their gazes seemed to transcend the battlefield, meeting and clashing with each other!
Fei Qian lowered his binoculars, raised his arm, and pointed to Cao Cao's position atop the pass. "Order! The enemy general is on the second section of the city wall! Fire immediately! Central formation, attack!"

Okay, there's one last bonus chapter for this book later...