The recent hit TV series "Le You Yuan", I really followed the TV series closely. The storyline told in the play is certainly an eye-catching part, but it is more about thinking about the background of the whole story.
Take one of the plays as an example, the hero and heroine met in the war era, in that era, etiquette collapsed, and the people were not happy. In the words of an old couple in the play: "This world. It's messy. Therefore, when they rescued the hero and heroine, the officers and soldiers couldn't find the person they were looking for, and promised them to let them go, maybe at a certain moment, I felt that they were safe. However, the end of the story is that they still can't escape the random arrows of this group of officers and soldiers. Looking at it, I can't help but feel that under some special social background, people will really change, and people's hearts are the most unpredictable after all.
In China's more than 2,000 years of history, it can be said that historical facts have been used to deduce to us what is called "a long time must be divided, and a long time must be united". Even the Tang Dynasty, which was the most powerful in the country, experienced war in the last years of its demise, and during that time, it was called "Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms" in the history books.
The first part of the trilogy on the history of the Five Dynasties, "The Heart of the People in the Troubled World: From the Late Tang Dynasty to the Five Dynasties", written by Wang Hongjie, a doctor of history from Brown University, tells the story of how people born in the troubled times faced many choices in life in the late Tang Dynasty when fortune dissipated, and the ensuing bloody Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms.
In the context of that era, whether you are a nobleman or a commoner, a civil servant or a military general, you will face many helpless choices in your life. Who can dominate the world immediately with a sword;Who is in the turmoil of the storm and encounters the big waves and sand, heaven and hell, the end of the world, but the endless way is the calculation of the human heart.
A tragic song of the late Tang Dynasty and the Five Dynasties is slowly played in the hands of this historian with delicate brushstrokes, and in a silent place, it impacts our understanding of human nature.
01 Heroes no matter where they come from, emperors start from recklessness.
A very thick book, holding it in my hand like reading a story, reading the stories of the five dynasties and ten kingdoms of the late Tang Dynasty one by one, it can be seen that in that historical period, the society was very chaotic and the order was very unbalanced. However, it has provoked more people's self-awakening.
Therefore, we will see that the people in that dynasty who went down in history were those who had lived at the bottom of society, they had been oppressed for too long, and they had seen the heat and coldness of the world at a very early stage, and after being forced to helpless, they directly raised troops and became the leaders of a group of loyal and righteous people.
When we carefully study the origins of those Jiedu envoys in the late Tang Dynasty, we find that the origin of most of their official positions does not come from the inheritance of the family, but from their personal merits in quelling the rebels and thieves.
Although the chaotic social order is not beneficial to social stability and the people to live and work in peace and contentment. However, it is precisely such an era that gives ordinary people more opportunities to get ahead.
Perhaps in the past, they could only use the imperial examination system to make themselves famous, and then they could enter the ranks. And they in that era, as long as they dared to fight and had the courage, they could stand out in such troubled times.
Therefore, we will see that many of the founding emperors of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms made their fortunes recklessly and then established their own separatist forces.
This may not be a bad thing for people of that era. After all, the people of that era were not so awake, and they didn't know what "everyone is equal", but it just so happened that the chaos of the Later Tang Dynasty gave them a chance to try to change their identity.
Therefore, some people have become the leaders of various separatist forces, some have become capable leaders, and some have become auxiliary ministers, maybe the social state at that time was not so stable, but for the majority of the people, it is also a good thing.
02 The wind and clouds are turbulent, and the waves are sweeping the sand.
However, it is precisely because of that turbulent society that we have also seen what it means to be "turbulent" during this period of history. Out of the pursuit of power, out of the possession of territory, but also out of overconfidence in one's own ability, so the change of dynasties is very frequent, and there are many secession regimes.
As I said earlier, when they break the inheritance system and everyone can be a leader, in this atmosphere, there will be more and more people who think that I don't obey you, and you don't obey me, so let's fight, until the last side is defeated.
Therefore, this kind of social atmosphere is a bit like "big waves and sand", looking at the ups and downs of history in the end, who will be left behind. Why is the "Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms" looked down on in history, I personally think it is because during this time, there were many separatist forces, and the country name changed frequently, and it can even be said that I didn't see why you appeared, and as a result, you disappeared.
Especially in the north, such changes are more frequent. But it can't be said that there are no benefits. After all, in the big picture, it has facilitated a southward shift of the political center.
In the past, the south was always known as a barbarian land, with poor mountains and bad waters. Because of the war, people from the north began to flee their homes and migrate to the south, and then settled here. From a larger historical point of view, this has a certain role in promoting the south.
In addition, although there were also separatist regimes in the south, because they were too far away from the battlefield in the Central Plains, they had a relatively stable social atmosphere during this time. Everything is starting to develop here.
And if we look at all the histories of regimes that have developed and even developed for a long time, we will find that their leaders have attached great importance to the cultivation of people's livelihood, and at the same time to the development of education. This laid a historical foundation for the many Confucian students in the south after the Song Dynasty.
It is conceivable that if it were not for the foresight of these ancestors, perhaps this place would have been just a piece of poor mountains and rivers after all.
After all, the progress of history is a big wave of sand, and who can finally stay in such a process depends on their own ability.
03 It is difficult to start a business, and it is even more difficult to keep a business.
When the first generation of leaders of the various pattern groups finally built the country, we found that many times these regimes did not last long. Either the heir is incompetent, or the leader forgets his original beliefs later in life. Therefore, we can also see from this that this period of time is a challenge for people, for human nature, and for people's hearts. Because the founders of those separatist forces, perhaps when they were young, they worked hard to create a career, and they did see in them the belief that they wanted to "save the world from fire and water".
However, when we see the end of their later lives, we can't help but sigh, and even sigh, why is it so miserable. As we mentioned earlier, the change of regimes in the South during this period was relatively less frequent, mainly because they began to pay attention to people's livelihood and the longevity of education.
Similarly, for some of the leaders of secessionist regimes, they all have a big problem, which is that they are not successful in educating future generations. Either incompetent or unvirtuous, when considering problems, they have never been able to jump out of the competition for personal etiquette, so we see that after the death of the first generation of leaders of some secessionist regimes, even if he gave birth to many children, in the end these children did not realize their ambitions in life and go further. Because they are all in the civil war, they all want to be the number one. Eventually, the unstable society will become more turbulent and unable to achieve sustainable development.
So, it's hard to start a business, but it's even harder to keep a business. There is another case, and that is the suspicion of the human heart. We see that there are some characters in the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms, who are heroes in all aspects, but in the end their lives end in a rather poor way. They were unable to realize their ambitions, fought on the battlefield, and were shrouded in leather, but died at the hands of those around them.
Because of what?Because the ability is too strong. When the separatist forces are fighting, they need the presence of capable people. However, when everything is over, we see that not the capable people will be reused, but because of a kind of suspicion of "high merit and master", they will finally die.
After reading it, I really feel worthless for them.
But what can be done?This is the human heart, this is human nature. This is what is true in history and reality.
Perhaps, in that era, all people and all choices had nothing to do with right or wrong, only about life and death. But it can also be seen from this that the turmoil in society will inspire the evil in human nature, so that the goodness that exists in our bones is always easy to defeat.
Therefore, in the troubled world, a history of five dynasties and ten countries, all the influential figures in each country, and finally the big waves sweep the sand, we will see what history has left behind and what it will teach us.