Only when there is a country can there be a home, and it is a simple truth for all of us.
But what terrible things will happen if the common people as a whole abandon the concept of the state, put aside the life and death of the country, and do not care about it?
In the history of China, there has never been a shortage of people with lofty ideals who sacrificed their lives for the country.
But if we look at the wider lower classes, we often find such a thought-provoking phenomenon.
That is, when it comes to the change of dynasty, a large number of ordinary people are indifferent to the life and death of their country, watching the change of regime, and willingly loyal to the new dynasty.
Even if this country is the object for which one's ancestors have shed blood and sacrificed before.
A typical example of this is the first great unified dynasty - Qin.
"Do you say that you have no clothes, and you are with the Son? ”
"Old Qin, go to the national disaster together. ”
The Qin Empire was a dynasty with great contrasts.
When Qin was only a vassal state on the western border, the country from top to bottom, from the nobility to the common people, repeatedly showed unrivaled patriotic fervor when the country was in danger.
In 645 BC**, the Battle of Hanwon broke out, when Qin Mugong was in danger during the battle against the Jin Kingdom and was about to be captured by the enemy.
300 "wild men" who had received the favor of Qin Mugong suddenly rushed out with the courage to sacrifice their lives and save Qin Mugong's life, so that the Qin army turned defeat into victory and captured the monarch of Jin alive.
In the Warring States Period, every time the alliance of princes with far more outnumbered Qin troops attacked Qin, they were always repelled by the brave and warlike Qin soldiers.
What is surprising is that on the eve of the fall of the Qin Dynasty, the Six-Nation Alliance, led by Xiang Yu and Liu Bang, defeated the tiger wolf Qin army and destroyed the Qin Empire in one fell swoop.
It is particularly noteworthy that after the destruction of other vassal states, many nobles raised the banner of restoration, and many civilians participated in the restoration operation, showing a formidable temperament.
On the other hand, the common people of the Qin State were indifferent to the collapse of the Qin State, and gladly accepted the rule of Liu Bang from the distant Peidi, and did not launch any revolt during the 400 years of the Han Dynasty's rule.
The reason why the Qin people became so cold was that the Qin rule became more and more brutal after the unification of the Qin state. The burden of forced labor and taxation was so heavy that even the most loyal Guanzhong fathers could not bear it.
Within 15 years after the unification of the Qin Dynasty, in order to complete the construction of large-scale projects such as straight roads, mausoleums, and the Great Wall, the empire ordered many poor people living in poverty to bear heavy conscription.
According to the numerous records of Qin cylinders unearthed in recent years,There were many Qin people who went bankrupt and became slaves due to forced labor, and many pregnant women and underage children were also forced into various complicated forms of forced labor.
For example, according to Yuelu Qin Jianzai, in the common Chengdan (a punishment second only to the death penalty) that was common in the Qin State, no ** girls and children were dressed in torture instruments and ordered to carry out forced labor of rice cooking, even young children who had just learned to walk.
"The world has been suffering for a long time! ”
It was precisely because the rule of the Qin Dynasty was too violent that Liu Bang only proposed three simple chapters of the law to the people of Guanzhong, and he was wholeheartedly supported by the three Qin fathers.
In modern times, similar cases have been repeated, and this time even more poignant.
On August 14, 1900, the Eight-Nation Coalition Army came violently, all the way to the city of Beijing.
Surprisingly, the coalition forces were helped by a large number of local Chinese civilians when they attacked the city of Beijing.
It can be clearly seen from the outflow of Lao ** that many ordinary people with pigtails have set up ladders for the coalition forces to attack the city, carry materials for them, and guide the way, so that the coalition troops who are not familiar with the place can occupy Beijing more calmly.
What is particularly ironic is that there is still a "Huayong Battalion" in the Eight-Nation Coalition Army that is aiding and abetting abuse. The so-called "Hua Yong" is an all-Chinese army recruited by the British in Weihaiwei, Shandong Province, numbering about 400 people.
After receiving British training, these people pointed their guns at the Chinese without psychological burden, and under the command of the British army, the Huayong battalion was the first British army to attack Tianjin, and had an outstanding performance in the Beijing campaign, which was highly praised by the allied forces, and later King Edward VII awarded the medal to this unit.
Why do so many people have no sense of family and country? Why do they sit idly by and watch the enemy attack the heart of the country or even join it?
The principle of this is actually very simple, Liang Qichao analyzed it sharply, "For thousands of years, the people have taken the country as their private property. ”
In other words, if the ruler regards the whole country as his own private property and regards the people as cattle and horses, then he will naturally not get the support of the people, and the people will take it for granted that the fate of the country has nothing to do with them.
As the saying goes, the country does not know that there is a people, and the people do not know that there is a country.
Fortunately, with the fall of the Qing Dynasty, the nationalist enlightenment thought was widely spread, and the concept of the Chinese nation, with the vernacular as the carrier, penetrated deep into the peopleThe building of the national community has been fruitful, and the people no longer regard the country as a stranger.
Especially after the September 18 incident, the patriotic enthusiasm of the Chinese people was unprecedentedly high.
The huge shadow of the destruction of the country and the extinction of the species shrouded the minds of the people, so that the people of this war no longer watched from the sidelines as they did when the foreign powers invaded China, but actively devoted themselves to dedication.
As the saying goes, "there is no distinction between north and south, and there is no distinction between old and young", the rich donated money and the poor joined the army, so that the Japanese invaders fell into the quagmire of a people's war and went to destruction step by step.
By the time of the Korean War, this kind of awareness that the country was closely related to China had become more common, and the slogan of defending the homeland and defending the country resounded in all directions, with the result that the US military, which was far more powerful than the Eight-Nation Alliance, was repeatedly deflated on the Korean battlefield and had to negotiate an armistice.
To this day, there seem to be some negative voices in some dark corners of the Internet that "the world rises and falls, and the husband is not responsible" and "national affairs have nothing to do with me".
The emergence of these contents is inseparable from the sequelae of the gap between the rich and the poor brought about by the rapid economic development in the past 40 years.
Of course, the reason why these remarks can prevail is also inseparable from the fact that some "foreign forces" who are interested in China's rise are behind the scenes, which means to crush our national cohesion.
However, facts have proved that the small calculations of certain forces behind their backs cannot be carried out.
Over the past 5,000 years, our national self-confidence and cohesion will not be shaken by the provocations of some well-intentioned people
In the long course of history, before every disaster, it is the people's "rise or fall of the country has nothing to do with me".
In times of peace, we must have our own judgment, not be deceived by people with good intentions, and cherish every day of peace and stability.
Jointly protect our motherland, the motherland is prosperous, and the people are happy and healthy!