Chapter 179: Teacher and Student Discuss the Dao, the Source of Disaster The first lesson Qin Zhen taught Zhuge Liang was mainly about the underlying logical issues of social operation. It seems quite complicated, but in fact every college student will be exposed to it after entering college. Simply put, it is the essential relationship between productivity and social operation. Many people have learned this, but because these things are too abstract, it is difficult to explain them clearly, let alone explain the principles to an ancient person. Therefore, Qin Zhen did not directly explain to Kong Ming what productivity is, but smiled and said to him: "If Kong Ming wants to know what productivity is, he must understand what man is! What is man born to do!" Zhuge Liang found these two questions very interesting! What is man? It is clearly written in various ancient books that man is the most intelligent creature in the world. But what human beings are born to do is not something discussed in ancient books. This question sounds simple, but it is actually very complicated to think about! He thought for a while, then shook his head and said: "Sir, I don't know the answer to your question!"

As soon as he finished speaking, Qin Zhen smiled and said: "It is normal that Kong Ming does not understand this matter. As the saying goes, the wise are the most intelligent creatures among all creatures." "But no one has discussed why humans can become the most intelligent creatures in the world." “So to understand what a person is, one must understand the essence of what makes a person a person.” "In my opinion, the reason why humans are human is that they have seven emotions and six desires, and they have a desire to pursue profit, while animals do not." “So if we want to discuss the nature of human beings, we should also infer why people have the desire to pursue profit.” "Why do people want to pursue profit? It is because people are used to farming, using their labor to obtain food, which produces surplus." "Because food and sex are human nature, everyone wants to take it for themselves, so they have a desire to pursue profit!" "When discussing this, we should also think about why humans are different from animals and learn the principles of farming!" "You must know that farming for food requires a very long wait, with spring ploughing and autumn harvest. If it is like animals, I am afraid that before the autumn harvest, they will have turned into dry bones just after sowing." "But humans are different. They are good at cooperation and sharing the work. He goes hunting and I pick fruits, just like you farming. In this way, we work together to eat for several months. When the autumn harvest comes, we store the food. In the winter when hunting is difficult and there are no fruits, we eat the food of the farmers." “From this we can see that cooperation brings people together and forms the world!” "In this world, the reason why I am who I am and the reason why Kong Ming is who he is are both extraordinary." "It seems like Kong Ming is the son of Ge Gong and the brother of Zi Yu. Because of this relationship, Kong Ming is Kong Ming." "After removing this important relationship, Kong Ming is no longer Kong Ming, but someone else's son." "In other words, all people in the world have their own destiny, they are independent of each other, but also connected to each other." “So people are not born as human beings. First there is the world, then there are human beings. Human beings are the sum of all human relationships.” "If there is no cooperation, there will be no inheritance of human relations, so we will just eat raw meat and drink blood, just be beasts, not humans!" Because the word "society" did not exist at that time, he chose the word "human world" instead.

When Zhuge Liang heard this, he nodded secretly. Qin Zhen's words were very complicated, but the reasoning process was very smooth. It was completely different from any experience or knowledge he had ever received! While thinking, he hurriedly took out a small wooden tablet from his sleeve and wrote a sentence on it: "Man is the sum of all human relationships!" He was just remembering this when Qin Zhen continued: "If you know what a person is, you will know what he does." "The world was formed because people lived together in one place, and from there they began to work together. The strong were responsible for guarding their homes, and the weak were responsible for cultivating the fields." "As the ancients said, when the granaries are full, people know etiquette; when they have enough food and clothing, they know honor and disgrace." "The people have enough food and clothing because of their hard work." "We know that labor creates human relationships among people and distinguishes humans from animals, making them independent and the most intelligent creatures among all creatures." “From this we can see that labor is the essential activity of man, that is, what we should do for the sake of life!” Zhuge Liang listened, nodded secretly, pondered the logic, and hurriedly wrote on the wooden sign: “Labor is the essential activity of man!” After writing it down, he realized the beauty of it and sorted out his thoughts. "Since you have explained it this way, maybe I will understand!" "According to what you said, the world is a whole, and labor is the essential activity of man." "It is clear that the world can only be maintained because of the labor of the people. The trouble with land annexation is that it makes people lose the essence of their labor." "This is why the output is insufficient to maintain social operation, the people cannot eat enough, and the world is out of balance, and the Han Dynasty declines!" “The reason why the victims of the disaster in Shouchun were able to survive without land was because you endowed them with the foundation of labor.” "People produce through their labor, so the status quo can be maintained!" "Shouchun was maintained because labor was exchanged for food from other places, and this cycle continued. Therefore, those who did not need to till the land had their own land, and the people could survive." As he said this, he suddenly felt enlightened, as if in an instant, he understood the essential logic of Qin Zhen's work-for-relief policy. As soon as he finished speaking, Qin Zhen nodded and smiled: "This young man is teachable. If he knows this, he will be enlightened!" "Now, does Kong Ming know what productivity is?" Zhuge Liang listened and couldn't help but ponder for a while. After Qin Zhen's two reminders, he seemed to have a more fundamental understanding of the current situation. But I always feel like there is still a thin layer of gauze between us! But he was not the kind of person who didn't think, and he pondered directly: "Sir, you just said that when people formed the world, they began to work together." “From this perspective, labor is not just one thing. Whether it is going to war, governing a country, or working in the fields, as long as it keeps society running, it is labor.” "It's just that what they do is different!" “A farmer needs his land, a businessman needs his goods, and an official needs his talents.”

"The sum of these is social labor, so students think that productivity is the effort put in by everyone in society to maintain the needs of society!" "Because the tillers lost their land, the people had nowhere to put their efforts, which led to insufficient overall productivity and caused the people to starve!" After he said this, Qin Zhen nodded again and said: "If this is true, then we can see that productivity is composed of three things: the first is the worker himself, just like you and me; "The two are the means of labor, such as farmers using their strength, merchants using their behavior, and soldiers using their courage;" "The three are the objects of labor: the farmer must have land, the merchant must have goods, and the soldier must have enemies." "The reason why the Han Dynasty declined was not because of simple land annexation, but because of insufficient productivity and the inability to maintain social stability!" "In the pre-Qin period, the yield of one mu of land was less than two dan. If a hundred mu of land was not used up, a family of several people could avoid starvation." “Therefore, we must emphasize agriculture and suppress commerce to ensure that productivity is sufficient to maintain social stability.” "But now, hundreds of years have passed, and the yield per mu has doubled, but the people are getting poorer. Why is that?" "It is because the people's strength does not increase, and those who do nothing become the majority." "Those in government do not think about reforming the system to keep the people safe, but spend their days in pursuit of pleasure. To satisfy their desires, they have to seize social property." "The noble families do not seek to make progress and gain more, but only know how to rob and plunder, taking other people's land to increase their own capital!" “So Laozi said: The way of heaven is to reduce the surplus and make up for the deficiency; the way of man is not so, to reduce the deficiency and serve the surplus.” "If problems like these are not resolved one by one, even if the world is unified again, it will fall apart again a hundred years later!" "If I say so, does Kong Ming understand the truth?" Having said this, Qin Zhen turned his gaze to Zhuge Liang. Zhuge Liang trembled when he heard this. He had studied for many years and thought he had understood the essence of the country's problems. But now, after Qin Zhen's in-depth and easy-to-understand explanation, he realized that in fact he had never understood the truth about this world. Was the decline of the Han Dynasty really caused by one or two incompetent rulers? Or is it because of the rampant corruption? It seems so, but in essence, it is not a problem involving one or two people. It is a question of one class versus another. The essence of the Han Dynasty's decline was not the problem of incompetent rulers and corrupt officials, but the fact that the exploited class could no longer support the exploiting class! The shortage of productivity has led to the upper class becoming more and more greedy, and the upper class's greed has further aggravated the lack of productivity. If this cycle continues, even if Huan Ling didn't commit suicide, the whole situation would collapse sooner or later! Similarly, if he follows his original idea, even if he reorganizes the government, as long as the problem of productivity is not solved, this class contradiction will sooner or later erupt again! This is also the reason why Qin Zhen was able to point out his problem with just a slight hint!

Thinking of this, Kong Ming frowned and said: "If I follow what you said, sir, then I will know!" "To solve the problems that exist in the world today, we should not only focus on the symptoms, but also solve the problem of productivity!" At this point, he asked again: "But how can we solve the problem of productivity shortage?" By now, he had already understood Qin Zhen's debate logic and grasped the most basic social contradictions. When Qin Zhen saw this, he smiled and said: "Don't ask me about this. Kong Ming needs to think about it himself. How to solve the problem of productivity shortage?" Zhuge Liang was an extraordinary person. When he heard the word "shortage", he pondered and said: "If we talk about the problem of productivity shortage, it seems to be like the problem of insufficient money and food." "In my humble opinion, we must adopt the method of increasing revenue and reducing expenditure!" "First, we need to cut costs, then we need to increase revenue." "According to you, the reason for the shortage of productivity is that the people have the means of production but no object of production!" "Take Shouchun as an example. We need to build more workshops, suppress the wealthy families, and reduce land annexation!" As he said this, he suddenly felt as if he had mastered a new way of looking at the problem. In fact, before talking with Qin Zhen, he could not understand the decision to build a workshop outside Shouchun City. After all, emphasizing agriculture and suppressing commerce has been the mainstream view for hundreds of years. Qin Zhen's behavior was like the military doing business, which was contrary to the previous mainstream view of governing the country. But now, after listening to Qin Zhen's logical reasoning, he suddenly realized that building the workshop was not a sudden whim, but came from Qin Zhen's philosophy of governing the country. Qin Zhen’s construction of a workshop is a step to fundamentally solve the problem of productivity shortage! Thinking of this, he suddenly realized and looked at Qin Zhen and said: "Sir, is the reason you built a workshop outside the city to accommodate the excess labor?" Seeing Zhuge Liang mention the words "redundant labor", Qin Zhen nodded and smiled: "I am using work-for-relief here to absorb the surplus labor force and create more wealth!" "In fact, up to now, the Han Dynasty no longer needs so many farmers!" "The reason why the noble families were able to annex land is because there are too many farmers in our Han Dynasty, and the grain is too abundant, resulting in low grain prices." "Before the rebellion, the people worked hard for a year. A family of five working 50 mu of land could get a surplus of 100 dan of grain." "But a hundred dan of grain can only be sold for a few thousand coins. After deducting the land tax, tax on land use, and head tax, there is only a thousand coins left." "The price of grain was so low that the people had no savings at home, and when there was a disaster, they had no choice but to sell their land and become slaves." “So if we want to increase productivity, we need to concentrate the surplus labor force and develop economic industries!” "In this way, even if we no longer emphasize agriculture and suppress commerce, as long as we can ensure that the people's labor force is not wasted, we can maintain the stability of our country!" When Zhuge Liang heard these words, he shook his head and said with emotion: "Sir, you are truly a genius! When I read Shangjun's book before, I felt that agriculture is the foundation of a country!"

"If the people are allowed to leave their fields, the world will be in chaos!" "But now I think about it, although it makes sense to base our economy on agriculture, it is also the source of disasters and chaos." "Focusing on agriculture and suppressing industry and commerce may stabilize the overall situation, but it will also suppress the development of productivity!" "A large number of laborers will be idle, which will not only make it difficult for the country to become rich, but will also make the country even poorer!" "I have been confused about this for a long time. Now after listening to your explanation, I finally know how to govern a country!" Having said this, he bowed to Qin Zhen and said: "Teacher, your analysis of this matter today has helped me resolve my years of doubts. I hope you will accept my student's greetings!" In fact, when he proposed that the world will eventually unite after a long period of division and will eventually divide after a long period of unity, he had doubts in his heart. Because the theory he proposed was an empirical summary based on phenomena. He doesn’t understand the underlying logic behind why the world would separate after being united for so long! Now he understands that the reason why things that come together must eventually separate is that policy implementation cannot keep up with the pace of labor force development. This intensified the contradictions between social classes and eventually led to its disintegration. This also explains why when a country is first established, there will always be a period of prosperity. However, as the country continues to develop, it will slowly begin to stagnate until it declines! Ultimately, it is because the population was sparse when the country was first established and the labor force was fully utilized. Until the country's population grows larger and larger, a large amount of labor force is tied to the land, resulting in stagnation of productivity development, which ultimately makes the entire society become poorer and poorer! If it weren’t for Qin Zhen’s analysis, he might never have known these truths! Now that he knew this, he realized how backward his previous views on governing the country were. It can be said that his previous impression of Qin Zhen was just that of an elder with outstanding abilities. And now Qin Zhen's position in his heart has surpassed many ancient sages! Apart from anything else, the fact that he has understood the logical relationship between productivity and the operation of the human world is far superior to all previous thinkers! With this kind of policy of governing the country by fully understanding the essence of governing the country, he could not even imagine how powerful a dynasty he could create! So now, he just wanted to express his inner shock through a bow. However, Qin Zhen smiled slightly when he saw this: "Kong Ming, there is no need to do this. What I said today is just a discussion between you and me!" "Now that Kong Ming knows how to cut costs, how can we increase revenue?" He told these to Kong Ming not simply to impart knowledge, but in the hope that Kong Ming could understand his ideas for reform! Now that Kong Ming has taken the initiative to propose the first method of reform, the next step is for Kong Ming to understand the second method. After hearing this, Zhuge Liang fell into deep thought again. Although he now understands the relationship between productivity and social operation. But how to develop productivity is a difficult problem.

How can we promote the development of something as abstract as productivity through policies? Apart from adjusting the industrial structure, he couldn't think of any other solution for the time being. Thinking about this, he once again displayed his spirit of asking questions when he did not understand something, and bowed again and said: "I don't know either, I hope you can help me solve this puzzle!" (End of this chapter)