My life is like walking on thin ice

Chapter 628 The Path is Difficult and Obstacles
Therefore, the problem becomes clear.

—If we push forward a hundred years or so, Liu Rong could not even fully guarantee that his own descendants and direct bloodlines would be able to sit on the throne of the Han dynasty;
To put it another way: even if the Han dynasty could last for another hundred years without falling, Liu Rong wouldn't dare to guarantee it!
Not to mention guaranteeing that for several generations, or even a dozen generations later, there won't be a foolish and incompetent emperor who wreaks havoc on the world.

Don't think this is just needless worry.

Ask Qin Shi Huang, on his deathbed, did he ever imagine that the Qin Empire he had built would perish after only two generations within a few years of his death, and be buried in the same grave as him?

Ask Emperor Gaozu of Han, Liu Bang, if he ever imagined that the Han dynasty he founded would see four different people ascend to the throne within a mere fifteen years after his death.
Not only were two of them his own sons, but they were also his first and fourth children?
Ask Emperor Jing of Han, Liu Qi, who decided to pass the throne to Emperor Wu of Han: Did he ever foresee that the Han dynasty would collapse in a very short time after his successor Liu Che's great victory over the Xiongnu, and almost perish in a peasant uprising?

Let's ask Emperor Wu of Han, who placed great hopes on Liu Fuling before his death: Did he ever think that Emperor Xiaozhao, whom he was willing to kill his mother to save his son, would only live to the age of twenty-one—a year shorter than the short-lived Emperor Xiaohui, Liu Ying?
Throughout history, there have been countless similar cases.

Just like in later generations, many imaginative online novels, such as Emperor Chat Groups, etc.

—If the ancestors knew what their descendants had done, many emperors in the first half of a dynasty would be so angry they would want to jump out of their coffins.

Even those whose ancestors would kick open their coffins and angrily lash out at their unworthy descendants are considered lucky.

After all, this meant that his descendants would at least be on the throne.

What truly frustrated these wise rulers was that the rulers who came after them were not their own descendants.

Considering all of this, Liu Rong's purpose becomes very easy to understand.

First, Liu Rong was unsure whether his descendants and future rulers were reliable.
Secondly, Liu Rong could not be certain—or could even directly deny—the possibility that the Liu Han dynasty could "last for hundreds of generations without perishing."

Since a hundred or so years from now, the one sitting on the throne may not be one's own descendants;
Two or three hundred years from now, they might not even be members of the Liu family.

Therefore, Liu Rong, as a time traveler, had no need to force himself to pursue the goal of creating 'eternal peace' for China for thousands of years to come during his lifetime.

Or it should be said that Liu Rong truly wanted to do something for Chinese civilization throughout his life.

But the 'Chinese civilization' here does not refer to his own descendants, nor to the Liu family's Han dynasty;

Instead, it was every unified agricultural dynasty of China established by the Han people over the next thousand years.

That's actually even stranger.

If Liu Rong couldn't even control his own dynasty, or even his own descendants, how could he possibly control future dynasties, or benefit from or avoid risks because of his current decisions and actions?

The answer lies hidden in those four words.

National consciousness.

From a personal perspective, Liu Rong's own sense of national consciousness was enough to support him in viewing every subsequent Chinese dynasty as his successor and future ruler, from the standpoint of being a "member of Chinese civilization".

However, Liu Rong's awareness does not mean that later rulers and dynasties will have the same awareness.

Most importantly, Liu Rong did not want everything he did to benefit the nomadic people.

Therefore, while paving a broad road for Chinese civilization to quickly enter a new era, Liu Rong also wants to instill national consciousness in the Chinese nation at an earlier stage.

Liu Rong did not seek that his successors, descendants, or even future emperors and dynasties would have the same awareness as him.

But at the very least, Liu Rong must ensure that on the day he dies, Chinese civilization will possess the ability and awareness to "strike down outsiders at any time, even if there is internal strife."

Just like the various warlords during the Three Kingdoms period in history, some were strong and some were weak;

But as long as foreign tribes dare to bare their teeth, any of the feudal lords can step forward and beat them senseless, then free up their resources to focus on internal power struggles.

What Liu Rong wants to do is to transform this objectively existing ability into a consciousness that arises instinctively from the rulers of China, and into a knee-jerk reflex-like instinctive reaction.

During the Three Kingdoms period, any of the various warlords could easily defeat foreign tribes—that was their ability and strength.
However, not every warlord had the mindset of "first dealing with outsiders, then turning back to fight for internal dominance".

What Liu Rong wanted to achieve was that one day in the future, even if China was torn apart and the chaos of the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods reappeared, a basic tacit understanding could still be reached.

That is, when one side is busy dealing with foreign tribes—especially northern nomadic peoples, the other sides should not take advantage of the situation.

If conditions permit, we should even lend a hand and help out.

In the parlance of this era, it means that brothers may quarrel within the walls, but unite against external threats.

In terms that are easier for people of later generations to understand, it means "only I can beat up my brothers" and "only I can defeat myself".

In the eyes of this era and later generations, Liu Rong's idea seems somewhat like an unfounded worry.

But Liu Rong knew all too well that this was perhaps the most precious treasure he, a time traveler, could create for the ancient Chinese civilization.

Just imagine;
For more than two thousand years after Liu Rong, Chinese civilization continued to move forward along its original path.

However, at several key historical junctures, such as after the Wei and Jin dynasties, at the end of the Tang dynasty, and at the end of the Song and Ming dynasties, Chinese civilization was able to avoid being ruled by foreign tribes because of Liu Rong's existence.

Where will Chinese civilization go from here?

Liu Rong couldn't give a very precise answer.

But Liu Rong knew that for at least 1,800 years of the next two thousand years of human history, Chinese civilization would remain at the pinnacle of human civilization.

Even during periods of foreign rule, including the Wei, Jin, Northern and Southern Dynasties, the late Tang Dynasty, the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms, and even the Mongol Yuan and Manchu Qing Dynasties, Chinese civilization remained the most advanced and powerful on Earth.

It could even be said that even without Liu Rong, the time traveler, providing a cheat code and guidance, Chinese civilization would have been absolutely capable of dominating the planet for two thousand years on its own.

However, if Liu Rong hadn't provided the necessary preventative measures and "vaccines" for Chinese civilization in advance, then approximately two thousand years later, Western gunboats would most likely have still been able to force open China's doors, bringing endless humiliation to Chinese civilization.

So, you could actually say that;
The ideal outcome of Liu Rong's trip to the Han Dynasty was naturally to give Chinese civilization a shortcut and a boost, so that it could enter the modern era within a thousand years.

The less ideal situation is that it did not accelerate the historical process, but it left some seeds for the progress of Chinese civilization, allowing it to avoid some detours and wrong paths.

The worst-case scenario, or rather, the limit Liu Rong could barely accept, is as mentioned above: even if he lives a wasted life and accomplishes nothing, Liu Rong should at least ensure that Chinese civilization avoids that final instance of being conquered by foreign tribes—nomadic peoples—and thus being dragged back by civilization. As for how to do that?
How can we achieve this goal?

As mentioned above, Liu Rong doesn't have much control over things.

To be precise, Liu Rong could only control what was coming down and what was foreseeable in the future;

But what happened hundreds or even thousands of years later was almost entirely beyond Liu Rong's control.

To ensure that Chinese civilization doesn't repeat the mistakes it made in history thousands of years from now, the only thing Liu Rong could do was to give it a heads-up.

Specifically, regarding the pitfall of "not allowing foreign tribes to rule the Central Plains," Liu Rong's preventative measure for Chinese civilization was essentially national consciousness.

Liu Rong wants to leave an imprint on the genes of Chinese civilization!
Just like Qin Shi Huang's unification of the world, which left the genetic imprint of 'unification' on the Chinese nation;
Liu Rong wanted to brand the Chinese nation with a mark that the meat must rot in the pot no matter what, and that foreign tribes should never benefit from it.

However, achieving this goal is not easy.

Qin Shi Huang unified China, leaving the legacy of "unification" in his mind. This was achieved through the combined efforts of six generations of Qin rulers, the bravery and fearlessness of countless Qin people, and even the blood they poured into it.

Most importantly, Qin Shi Huang was able to imprint the gene of unification on the Chinese nation through a truly successful unification.

Qin Shi Huang's successful unification of China ensured that every time China was fragmented later, there were people who believed they could reunify it.

Because of the existence of pioneers and successful cases, they were able to bring China back to unity time and time again amidst division, with an arrogant and conceited mindset and the fearlessness of "If the First Emperor could do it, so can I."

However, without this successful example, every time China splits in the future, it may go down the path of division from which there is no turning back.

This is not unprecedented in human history.

In Liu Rong's memory, there was a continent that had never been truly unified. Because it had never been truly unified, no one had ever pursued, or even dared to fantasize about, the scenario of unification.

So much so that over thousands of years, that small, barren land has only split into hundreds or thousands of countries and regimes.

Despite sharing the same lineage and origins, and even being part of a specific historical period like the Zhou dynasty which enfeoffed many members of the royal family as feudal lords—most royal families were related by blood—they ultimately failed to achieve unification.

This undoubtedly laid bare this truth before Liu Rong.

—Things without successful precedents cannot inspire future generations to pursue them on a large scale and almost instinctively.

Qin Shi Huang unified China;

Therefore, later generations were able to instinctively emulate and pursue unity amidst division, thus contributing to another unification.

That continent, which has never been unified, not only failed to be unified in the past, but also, in the foreseeable future, has lost all possibility of unification because 'no one has ever successfully unified it.'

That's why later generations say: Qin Shi Huang was great.

Even if he was a tyrannical and cruel ruler who treated his people as fuel, it would not diminish his greatness.

It was because of him that an unprecedented unification was achieved, which gave Chinese civilization the gene of 'unity' and enabled it to reunite after countless subsequent divisions.

For Liu Rong to emulate Qin Shi Huang in injecting the gene of "unification" into China, and to instill in the Chinese nation a gene of "not being ruled by foreign tribes," the most difficult aspect lies in setting a precedent.

Moreover, unlike Qin Shi Huang, who personally demonstrated the concept of unification and inspired later generations to embrace the idea of ​​unification;
Liu Rong wanted his descendants to inherit the gene of "not being ruled by foreign tribes," but he obviously couldn't demonstrate the drawbacks of foreign tribes ruling the Central Plains through his own example.

More importantly, in later generations—after the dark times of the Wei-Jin period, the late Tang Dynasty, and the late Song Dynasty—Chinese civilization still failed to truly learn from those dark years.

Despite the three instances of nomadic peoples wreaking havoc on China, the Chinese people still failed to understand that foreign rule meant chaos and the destruction of the land.

Even the worst-case scenario failed to teach Chinese civilization a lesson. Liu Rong truly didn't know how to magically conjure up this gene from nothing, in a time when "foreign races had never settled in China" and "China had never been submerged."

The only thing that comforted Liu Rong was that the Chinese civilization of this era had begun to develop an awareness of guarding against foreign tribes.

At present, Chinese civilization has already developed an initial form of the distinction between Chinese and barbarians, and has also developed a fear of the savage lifestyle of "wearing hair loose and fastening the left side of the robe".

Perhaps the key to the problem lies in the profound heritage of Chinese civilization, which makes the proud—or rather, arrogant—Chinese people unwilling to believe that those uncivilized barbarians, who even retain some animalistic habits, could one day truly take over China.

Even if one day they actually succeed, Chinese civilization will still arrogantly believe that foreign barbarians are like monkeys wearing crowns, and even if they briefly usurp the sacred throne, they will not last long.

What Liu Rong wanted to do was to make Chinese civilization understand that this was not the case.

Foreign tribes were not without the strength to enter and rule the Central Plains, nor were they incapable of maintaining long-term control over the Central Plains.

The foreign dynasty that later brought feudal rule to its peak made Liu Rong realize with unwavering conviction that foreign tribes were absolutely capable of ruling the Chinese nation for a long time.

Furthermore, in order to avoid fully integrating into the Chinese nation, they would hinder the development of Chinese civilization, ultimately causing Chinese civilization to lag behind the world and thus pay an extremely heavy price.

The goal is clear.

But how exactly to do it was undoubtedly a grand question that ran throughout Liu Rong's entire imperial career.

Liu Rong knew this would be difficult.

But I also know that this is something I need to do.

As the saying goes: A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.

No matter how difficult something is, you should always try to do it in order to get closer to success.

Even if success is a long way off, you still have to take the first step and move forward one by one.

Liu Rong's first step will take place on the Korean Peninsula today...

(End of this chapter)