North America 1849, from Gold Rush to Warlord

Chapter 248 Utopia

"Mr. Li, why are you now saying that we are on the right track?"

Faced with Feng Yunshan's astonishment, Azu slowly put down his chopsticks and calmly replied, "Mr. Feng, in my opinion, the rule of the Qing Dynasty is already rotten and decaying!"

"Incompetent and corrupt officials occupy high positions, incompetent people hold high posts, and those who exploit others run rampant. The people are stagnant and apathetic, and the world is going downhill...!"

"The Qing dynasty's two-hundred-year reign has come to an end. The only way to expel the Manchus is to overthrow the Qing dynasty by force!"

Azu continued, "And now, the Taiping Army is taking the path of overthrowing the Qing Dynasty by force!"

"That's why I said you're on the right path!"

Upon hearing this, Feng Yunshan felt an immediate sense of kinship and exclaimed excitedly, "Mr. Li, does that mean you are willing to support our great cause?"

"I have personally witnessed the power of the 'Guangzhou,' the strength of your soldiers, and the unimaginable power of your firearms...!"

"If Mr. Li is willing to support our Taiping Army, what is there to worry about in achieving great things?"

Feng Yunshan is right. If Azu was willing to support the Taiping Army, providing them with weapons and ammunition would be no difficult task at all.

If Azu were to mobilize 100,000 Taiping soldiers, how could the Manchu Eight Banners and Green Standard Army possibly stop them?
With Ah Zu's current financial resources and the production capacity of the Huamei Arsenal, he could easily arm 100,000 Taiping soldiers in less than three years!

One hundred thousand Taiping soldiers used machine guns and cannons to fight against the Qing Dynasty's Eight Banners and Green Standard Army. The scene was simply unimaginable!

Feng Yunshan grew increasingly excited as he thought about it: "Mr. Li, as long as you are willing to support our Taiping Army, once we achieve great success, I can at least guarantee you a fiefdom and the title of king...!"

"To be granted land and made a king...!" Azu shook his head and smiled faintly: "Mr. Feng, is this all you've got?"

“I thought that with Mr. Feng’s wisdom and vision, he should have a higher perspective and a broader vision…!” Azu shook his head with a smile: “But when I heard the words ‘granting land and bestowing a king’, I couldn’t help but feel a little disappointed in Mr. Feng!”

Feng Yunshan's brow twitched: "Mr. Li, what do you mean by that?"

Azu calmly smiled and said, "If I join forces with the Taiping Army, it won't be difficult to overthrow the Qing Dynasty!"

"But what happens after the Qing dynasty is overthrown?"

"Has Mr. Feng ever considered how to rebuild a completely new country on the land of China?"

"This... gulp!" Feng Yunshan barely suppressed his overwhelming excitement, swallowed hard, and pondered, "After expelling the Tartars and restoring China, the world will be a public domain, land ownership and all private property will be abolished, all things under heaven will belong to the public, and everyone will share equally...!"

"Hehe...!" Azu shook his head and chuckled dismissively: "Mr. Feng, do you think that what you've come up with is an unprecedented innovation?"

Feng Yunshan thought for a moment, then nodded emphatically.

Azu turned around and said to one of his personal guards, "Go to my house and fetch a few books."

"The titles of these books are *Utopia*, *The City of the Sun*, *The New World*, and *The Morals of the New World*!"

"Yes, sir!!"

The guards went for a short while and then returned with several books.

Azu pointed at Feng Yunshan: "Show these books to Mr. Feng."

So, the guards placed the books in front of Feng Yunshan.

Feng Yunshan looked suspicious, glanced at Azu, and then tried to open the cover of the top book, "Utopia".

Feng Yunshan read ten lines at a glance and quickly got into it.

Before he knew it, Feng Yunshan became more and more excited as he looked at the screen!
Isn't the scene described in this book the new world that we all dream of?

They're not exactly the same, they're practically indistinguishable!
It turns out that the new world we had imagined also had such wise men and kindred spirits in this world outside!

"How is it...?" Azu looked at Feng Yunshan, whose face was full of excitement and who was becoming more and more infatuated, and smiled, "Mr. Feng, do you feel that you have met a kindred spirit? Have you found a guide for your future direction?"

"Indeed!" Feng Yunshan struggled to tear his gaze away from the book, exclaiming excitedly, "Mr. Li, who wrote this book? It's simply... simply so well written!"

"The world in this book is the perfect new country we want to build!"

"Hehe...!" Azu laughed, "In the West, Mr. Feng, the new country you envision has a specific name: 'Utopian Society ZY'!"

"And this book, 'Utopia,' is the pioneering work of utopian society ZY!"

"I see, I see! This is really... wonderful!" Feng Yunshan was absolutely captivated by these books, feeling as if he had finally found his people and the truth!
Ah Zu continued, "Mr. Feng, I must say, the ideal is very rich, but the reality is very harsh!"

"What do you mean?"

Ah Zu laughed and said, "What I mean is, the utopian world is indeed perfect!"

"But... it's an unrealistic perfection, something that's simply impossible to achieve... well, at least in the foreseeable future, it's absolutely impossible for it to become a reality."

Upon hearing this, Feng Yunshan immediately expressed his dissatisfaction, saying, "It's so perfect, why can't it be realized?"

Azu chuckled: "This perfect utopia is a wonderful fantasy, but it completely ignores human nature!"

"human nature?"

“Yes, human nature!” Azu nodded emphatically: “Selfishness, greed, and laziness are inherent in human nature!”

"These human traits can be restrained and changed to some extent, but they can never be eradicated!"

Ah Zu pointed at the braised pork on the plate with his chopsticks and continued, "For example, there's only one pound of meat on this plate, but there are ten hungry people." "One pound of meat certainly can't feed ten people, Mr. Feng. How do you suggest we divide it?"

“Of course, it should be divided equally!” Feng Yunshan replied without hesitation.

Azu continued, "The problem lies in this equal distribution!"

"Some people say, 'I was the one who found this piece of meat, so why should I share it with everyone else? At the very least, I should get a larger share, right?'"

Feng Yunshan thought for a moment, then nodded without saying anything.

"Someone else said, 'I put in the most effort and did the hardest work to find this piece of meat, so I should get a bigger share, right?'"

Feng Yunshan thought for a moment, then nodded without saying anything.

“Some people say, ‘I’m still a child, growing up. If you don’t give me more to eat, I won’t give you any meat when you’re old.’ So, shouldn’t children get a bigger share too?”

Feng Yunshan thought about it again, then nodded without saying anything.

“Someone said, ‘I’m old now. I’ve worked hard all my life. You have to give me more meat. Don’t you understand the principle of respecting the elderly and caring for the young?’”

Feng Yunshan felt a slight soreness in his neck.

Ah Zu's face showed a mocking expression: "In the end, the one in charge of distributing the meat, who had the highest status, didn't give anyone more than he deserved, but only gave himself the largest share!"

Upon hearing this, Feng Yunshan was completely displeased: "Why should the person in charge of distributing the meat get the largest share? How can that be convincing to the others?"

Ah Zu continued, "I was just giving an example! But when you truly achieve great things and everything becomes public, who will be responsible for distributing the spoils to everyone?"

"Of course...!" At this point, Feng Yunshan suddenly felt he couldn't continue.

Azu laughed and said, "Of course, it's the meritorious officials of the Taiping Army, such as Master Hong, Mr. Feng, Yang Xiuqing, Xiao Chaogui, Wei Changhui, and so on, right?"

Feng Yunshan remained silent for a long time before finally nodding dejectedly.

Azu then asked, "Since the world belongs to the public and you are responsible for distributing the meat, won't you all end up with the largest share for yourselves?"

"Absolutely not...no way...right?" The more Feng Yunshan spoke, the less confident he felt.

"Really not?" Azu smiled and said, "Just now, Mr. Feng even gave me a big piece of meat in advance, granting me the title of king... Hehe!"

"After overthrowing the Qing Dynasty and achieving your great cause, what you call 'the world belongs to the public' actually means that everything belongs to you few core members of the Taiping Army, right?"

"No, it can't be like this...!" Feng Yuanshan's voice trembled, and cold sweat poured down his forehead.

No?
Absolutely!
The world belongs to the public, even wives belong to the public.

But that leader of the Hong Cult was extremely extravagant, even more so than the emperor. Before establishing his capital in Nanjing, he already had nearly a hundred wives and concubines.

After establishing his capital in Jinling, he had thousands of wives and concubines!
Human greed and selfishness are perfectly embodied in this cult leader, Hong!
Ah Zu sneered, "You talk about the world belonging to the public, but in your hearts, it's still the same old system of family rule, ruler-subject relationship, father-son relationship!"

"Even if Mr. Feng and you really envisioned a perfect world where the world belongs to everyone and is equally distributed, that is an impossible fantasy."

"Even the daily needs of a family cannot be divided equally, let alone in such a vast world, how can they be equally shared?"

Even if it could be divided equally, it still wouldn't be enough!

Ah Zu continued, "Since I'll get my share whether I do it or not, why should I do it?"

"Why should I do it if it's the same whether I do it or not?"

"Why should I work harder if I get the same pay for everything?"

"If no one else is doing it, why should I?"

"If farmers don't work hard, how many people will starve to death?"

"If soldiers don't fight hard, how many people will die on the battlefield?"

"If miners don't work hard, where will the copper and iron come from?"

"How many more soldiers will die if we don't work hard at forging weapons?"

"If the weavers don't work hard, how many people will freeze to death?"

……

Faced with one question after another posed by Azu, Feng Yunshan was completely bewildered!

He couldn't answer any of these questions!

Compared to his previous conversation with Wu Qingfeng, Azu completely overturned Feng Yunshan's beautiful design and expectations for the future from the very foundation!
At this moment, my dream shattered...!
After speaking with Wu Qingfeng, Feng Yunshan developed deep self-doubt about what the God Worshipping Society had done in the past.

After listening to Azu's words, Feng Yunshan fell into a deeper level of self-doubt regarding the future of the Taiping Army!

The past and the future have both been overturned and denied by Azu, so where should the Taiping Army go?
Feng Yunshan raised his bewildered eyes, looked at his much younger grandfather, and asked in a dreamlike tone.

"Mr. Li... what do you think we should do? Where should we go...?!"

(End of this chapter)