Ming Dynasty: Traveling through the harem, Zhu Yuanzhang was dumbfounded

Chapter 131 Social Development is the Foundation that Determines Architecture
"Brother Yang, can you please speak more clearly? Don't keep saying things that we can't understand."

Zhu Biao walked to Yang Chen and carefully reminded him to be careful with his words.

Productivity determines production relations. This statement seems to make sense at first glance, but for Zhu Biao and others, these words are very unfamiliar and they have never heard of them.

Not to mention understanding what these contents mean.

Especially Old Zhu, he was concentrating on learning how the essence of dragon-slaying skills could be summarized in just a few words, but he didn't expect that Yang Chen's words made him a little confused.

He had heard of great power and powerful force, but he had never heard of productivity.

As for production relations, they are even more incomprehensible.

"That's right, Biao'er is right. We know that the dragon-slaying technique is a profound secret technique. It's normal that we don't understand its contents. But can't you please remember that we are not those superstitious guys?

Please speak more clearly, preferably in plain language.

A while ago, you and Biaoer asked the eunuch to translate the story into vernacular Chinese, but why are you talking nonsense today?"

Following what his son said, Old Zhu also nodded at Yang Chen.

Facing the words of the father and son, Yang Chen held his forehead and smiled bitterly and said:

“No, you misunderstood me. It’s not that I said something strange, but this is what I meant.

In addition to this sentence, there is another similar sentence, such as the economic base determines the superstructure. You see, this sentence is quite straightforward and concise.

Anyone who has read it for a few years in the future will definitely understand it. As for you not being able to understand the mystery, you can’t blame me entirely.”

Not only these two people, but even Zhu Di, who had often harassed Yang Chen before, thought that he was deliberately beating around the bush.

But the fact is that he spoke very frankly and did not hide anything.

The three of them looked unconvinced, so Yang Chen had to explain patiently:

“The so-called productivity is our ability to transform nature and obtain living materials.

It includes three basic elements: laborers, means of labor and objects of labor, as well as their mutual combination and interaction.

For example, I am the worker, I am a farmer, the means of labor are hoes, plows, oxen and horses, and the objects of labor are rice seeds and two acres of land.

The interaction between the means of labor and the objects of labor forms the means of production.

The mode of production represents the social situation.”

Just as Yang Chen wanted to review all the study materials he had reviewed before.

But he was suddenly interrupted by Lao Zhu.

Old Zhu stared at him with a look of something wrong in his eyes, waved his hand and said with a smile:
"I'm not saying anything bad about you, kid. We asked you to come here today just to learn the dragon-slaying technique. Why are you telling us a story here?
I don't want to hear what you have to say, I just want to know what this dragon-slaying technique is all about and whether it works or not."

Yang Chen responded in a gentle tone:
"Your Majesty, I know you are anxious, but as the saying goes, you can't eat hot tofu in a hurry.

Let me reiterate, I have told you the core key to the dragon-slaying technique in the simplest way. If Your Majesty is still unwilling to learn even after this, then I have nothing to say.

If you want to learn the Dragon Slaying Technique thoroughly, the prerequisite is that you must improve your cognition. If your cognition is not improved, even if I tell you directly, you will not understand!

It's like a farmer who never knows that in addition to the women from the south of the Yangtze River, there are also women from the western regions thousands of miles away in the brothel. He also doesn't know that the meat that ordinary people can only eat once a year is not as good as a dessert in the wealthy family.

Cognition is a good thing, but not everyone has it. Even if one has it, one cannot understand the secrets of dragon slaying.

I don't mean to be long-winded, but if Your Majesty wants to know the secret, you must listen to my patient explanation, otherwise I won't say anything."

Seeing that Yang Chen was about to give up, Zhu Biao hurried out to smooth things over.

"Father, based on Brother Yang's character, I know he will not joke with us. The reason for this is definitely because this dragon-slaying technique is not an ordinary knowledge.

What people have learned a hundred years later is different from what we have learned. If we follow what Brother Yang said, it would be very difficult for Ming Dynasty to comprehend the knowledge of a hundred years later with their knowledge.

Brother Yang has prepared everything today, so why don't we listen carefully to what he has to say? If Father really can't understand, how about I tell it to Father in person after I understand it?"

After listening for a while, Old Zhu realized that he seemed a little anxious.

Ever since he discussed with Queen Ma and decided to extract all the details of the Dragon Slaying Technique from Yang Chen, he would take precautions.

For today, he specially selected several ancient books from Empress Ma's study and asked Empress Ma to give him a general explanation.

In this way, today's embarrassing situation could be avoided. If Yang Chen's explanation was impressive, he wouldn't be so ignorant as to not understand anything.

Who would have thought that he still couldn't understand a word the other party said.

In addition, Zhu Biao told everything to others, which made Zhu feel very embarrassed.

After a moment, Lao Zhu said seriously:

"Okay, since Biaoer has said so, then we won't interrupt anymore."

After saying that, he glared at Yang Chen:
"You bastard, don't say I didn't give you a chance. If you want to tell me something, tell me clearly. At least let Biaoer understand the secret, otherwise I won't be polite to you!"

"Yes, yes, Your Majesty, you are ruthless and cruel. I know you will not be polite to me. You have said this at least eight hundred times, and my ears are callused from hearing it."

Being interrupted one after another, even a clay man would get angry, and Yang Chen rolled his eyes at Lao Zhu.

If you say that Zhu Yuanzhang was not cruel, the officials in the court would definitely have something to say.

He was the emperor who could make only less than five of the more than 300 Jinshi scholars able to enjoy their old age in peace after a few years.

The reason why Yang Chen dared to disrespect Lao Zhu was entirely because his value was enough to make Lao Zhu afraid.

Just like Ma Sandao, no matter how corrupt he is, Zhu Yuanzhang will not kill him. Even if he gives the golden medal of immunity from death to a prostitute, Zhu Yuanzhang will not care, as long as he can find the golden medal of immunity from death.

What's more, the current Zhu is surrounded by his family and has so many concerns. How could he be the emperor who only has the word "killing" to solve problems?

"Let's move on. The form of ownership of the means of production and the positions and relationships of people in the production process represent the form of distribution of the products.

The mode of production of material goods is the fundamental response of social development and existence.”

He told the group the basic principle, and seeing the stupid looks in everyone's eyes, Yang Chen knew that this method would not work.

"A Biao, give me a pen and paper. If I just talk without writing, you won't understand at all. In order to make you understand, I will just show you in class and you will understand."

Zhu Biao, who had been prepared, opened a cabinet from a shelf not far away.

The four treasures of the study were placed inside.

In addition, a servant brought out a movable blackboard from a side passage.

"Oh my god! How did you make this thing?"

Yang Chen was somewhat shocked when he saw this blackboard, because this blackboard was somewhat similar to the blackboard used by the general manager for meetings with department managers in the company, and it had wheels at the bottom for portability.

It just can't move 360 ​​degrees, but can only move left and right like a crab.

Even so, Yang Chen still felt a little surprised.

He had wanted to make this thing himself before, but he never had the time.

But I didn't expect to see it here. After Zhu Biao ordered his servants to do it, he walked to Yang Chen and said proudly:
“There are many skilled carpenters in the Ministry of Industry. My father saw earlier that you had a blackboard in your classroom for convenient display.

Not long after, my father ordered me to go to the Ministry of Works and have someone make such a blackboard.

Originally, we planned to place it in the study, but Father thought it was inconvenient, so he installed four wheels underneath it."

It was a rare moment of pride for Old Zhu, who just laughed but said nothing. Yang Chen gave them both face and clapped his hands to show how awesome they were.

"Sure, you guys, since everything is here, Yongle, please help me grind the ink."

Zhu Di, who was about to watch the fun from the side, pointed at himself and said in astonishment:
"Me? I'm not Brother Yang, why should I grind the ink?"

"Look at all of you here. Who else can do this except you?"

Yang Chen swept his fingers around, and Zhu Di realized that what he said seemed to make sense. If he didn't do it, then the responsibility would fall on his elder brother and father.

The research on dragon-slaying techniques was confidential, so how could Lao Zhu allow anyone else to be present besides them?

The servants were moving things just now just following Zhu Biao's orders.

"Okay! I'll do it!"

Zhu Di seemed unconvinced on the surface, but in reality that was the case. He was being stubborn because Old Zhu was present and Yang Chen had told him similar things many times.

Especially the time when he begged Yang Chen to give him guidance on where to fight.

After the ink stick was ground into some black liquid, Yang Chen began to fix the rice paper spread on the blackboard.

"Look, based on what I just said about productivity determining production relations, in the ancient Chinese ancestors period, our ancestors relied on the form of tribes to hunt wild animals and collect berries to survive.

The production relations are very simple, and interpersonal relationships and social structure are limited to a tribe of only a few dozen people, or at most five hundred.

Food supply was very unstable, and it was very common for people to starve to death or freeze to death.

As the productivity of slash-and-burn agriculture increased, the way of obtaining most food changed from hunting to planting.

This was the first advancement in productivity of Chinese civilization.

I won’t go into details about the subsequent progress. In the Stone Age, there were stone shovels, stone hoes, bone hoes, stone sickles, and clam sickles.

Farmland irrigation canal technology began to appear in the Xia, Shang and Zhou dynasties.

As I said before, productivity is the ability to transform nature.

With the improvement of productivity, more people can survive, the more tribes there are, and the larger the territory they occupy.

According to the original production relations, everyone eating and living together is definitely not suitable for the development of productivity.

In order to adapt to advanced productivity, tribal division of labor will begin to change.

The leader would assign different responsibilities to each person.

Later, as cities developed, the prototypes of civil and military officials came into being. For example, the ancestors of civil officials were the people in charge of witchcraft, just like the shamans who still exist in the Jurchen tribes today.

The ancestors of the martial arts school were a few very tall and strong warriors who would always guard the leader and die for the leader's orders. "

In a few short moments, Yang Chen combined what he had just said with what he had drawn on the rice paper.

All the confused people understood everything in an instant.

This is not over yet, Yang Chen is still talking.

"After the integration war and then the integration again, the tribes formed an alliance, and the two emperors Yan and Huang and Chi You came into being.

Even without them, other tribal leaders would appear.

Then think about what I just said: the economic base determines the superstructure, and the productive forces determine the production relations.

As productivity developed, the tribal alliance could no longer support the huge population, and production relations once again made a great leap forward, and the first slave dynasty in China, the Xia Dynasty, began.

Everyone looked at the points on the blackboard and connected them together. The words that were previously incomprehensible were now clearly interpreted.

Production relations in turn affect productivity, and the dynastic class gradually emerges.

The historical relics of ancient tribes were not necessarily recorded through excavation as in later times.

There were many relevant departments in the Ming Dynasty that handled this kind of information.

Zhu Yuanzhang had once asked his servants to find this information for him. As an emperor, if he didn't even know what history had happened in the territory he ruled, and this word got out and others didn't regard him as orthodox, wouldn't that be a farce?
As he was thinking, a grand picture began to appear in Lao Zhu's mind.

In this world, he is the sky, observing the progress and changes of all living things below.

Through Yang Chen's description, he witnessed the transformation of people from living a life like beasts to weaving cloth, making clothes, and making fire and barbecue.

As history develops, things gradually become clear in the mind.

From another perspective, all of this is the development of productivity, which leads to a more solid economic foundation and a higher and higher upper class.

“In the later world where I live, people have used various technical means to obtain some historical relics that are still buried deep underground.

They were all located not far from the banks of the Yellow River in the Central Plains. With the current tomb-robbing technology of the Ming Dynasty, it is certain that they cannot be dug out intact.

Otherwise, the evidence would be clearly presented to you.

But it doesn’t matter, I’m telling you it’s the same thing.

The reason why Dayu was able to establish Daxia was that under his leadership, many tribes diverted the floods that were originally disasters into larger bodies of water.

According to records, the water areas in ancient China were more developed than they are now, and the Yunmeng Lake was also larger than it is now.

As the flood water was evacuated, the remaining flood areas were deposited and turned into fertile fields.

The tribes that followed Dayu obtained a large amount of land and their productivity increased dramatically.

The Xia Dynasty was established naturally.

By the time the Shang and Zhou dynasties developed into the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, stone farm tools and other means of production had developed into metal smelting, and bronze and iron farm tools also appeared.

When development reaches its peak, a force will emerge in society to try to find the next breakthrough point.

The Hundred Schools of Thought came into being.

It was not until the Qin State found the next breakthrough point and implemented the farming and warfare system and the military merit system, and dared to employ thinkers like Shang Yang, who were advanced talents at the time, to carry out reforms and adapt to the express train of productivity.

It also fueled the trend, making this express train of productivity far surpass that of other countries.

Finally, Qin Shihuang, with the remaining strength of his six predecessors, unified the Central Plains and established the first great central empire dynasty in the Central Plains.

From then on, the idea of ​​unification took root in the hearts of all Han people in the Central Plains.

But success is due to unification, and failure is also due to unification! "

(End of this chapter)