Hello, this is a journey of civilization, and you are welcome to travel to 1011 AD, which was the fourth year of the surrender of Zhenzong of the Song Dynasty and the twenty-ninth year of the unification of the Liao Shengzong.There is a happy thing this year. Fan Zhongyan was the one who later wrote Yueyang Tower, worrying about the world's worries first, and rejoicing after the world's happiness.Fan Zhongyan is 22 years old this year and is going to college, and it is Yingtianfu Academy, the best school in the Song Dynasty.Moreover, Fan Zhongyan was promising. Not only did he go to school here, but he also became the principal here only 15 years later.Just look at the speed of progress.But please note that strictly speaking, we cannot call him Fan Zhongyan yet. His current surname is Zhu and his first name is Zhu Shuo.
When this character is written, it means the person who spoke said, but when this character "shuo" is placed in a person's name, we have to read it.So it was Zhu who said it during roll call in class, hahaha.As for why Fan Zhongyan is called Zhu Shuo now, you can verify it yourself, because it won’t be long, probably a little more than 30 years later, and when Fan Zhongyan shines in the political arena of the Song Dynasty, our civilization journey program will definitely at leastThere is a program dedicated to him.When the time comes, let’s talk about Fan Zhongyan’s bitter past again.Okay, let’s not disturb Fan Zhongyan’s schooling. Let’s first take a look at Yingtianfu Academy, a famous 985 university at that time.Where is Tianfu?In today's Shangqiu, Henan.Then where is Shangqiu?Open the map of Henan. In the east of Henan, it is the area close to Shandong and Anhui.The Yingtianfu Academy in Shangqiu is incredible and is the first of the four major academies in ancient China.If you count the other three, Yuelu Academy, Bailudong Academy, and Songyang Academy are all famous, and Yingtianfu Academy is the first among them.Tomorrow House Academy was actually founded very early, but it was rebuilt two years ago in 1009. It was donated by a local woman named Cao Cheng.
He donated a total of 3 million copper coins and built 150 houses for Yingtianfu Academy.So you see, at this time in the Song Dynasty, there was already such a rich man among the people. When he was rich, he not only had to eat and drink well, but he also thought, oh, how will I leave my name in history after I die, so he would do such a thing??So if you see rich people living like this, this is what a prosperous and prosperous age should look like.Now that we’re talking about money, let’s talk about money in this episode. Who is the richest person at this time?Are they the rich people among the people?No, the imperial court is really rich.It is said that the year before last was 1008. We talked about the Tianshu Fan in the Civilization Journey earlier. Zhenzong of the Song Dynasty made a trip to Mount Tai and spent a lot of money.How many?There are 8.3 million people. One people is 1,000 copper coins strung together. The people are the ropes on which the money is strung, right?With what?Donate one tael of silver per horse, which is roughly equivalent in value.So if you do the math, the Song Dynasty pays 300,000 coins to the Liao Dynasty every year. This is still criticized by people, saying it is too much money. However, the emperor spent 8.3 million on a trip to Mount Tai to perform sacrifices, which was enough to give the Liao Dynasty 30 thousand coins.years.Such a large sum of money, and in 1011 this year, the emperor is going out again, so he is packing his luggage and getting ready to go out at any time.This time, I went to offer sacrifices to Fenyin. If I went east, I would go to Mount Tai to offer sacrifices to heaven. If I went west, I would go to Fenyin to offer sacrifices to earth.Where is Fenyin?It was in Wanrong County, Shanxi Province today.
The emperor left on February 28, 1011, and did not return to Kaifeng until May 6.Wow, this self-driving trip was great.How much did he spend for such a long time?It cost 200,000 more than Dongfeng Taishan, this time it cost 8.5 million.A few years later, in 1014, Emperor Zhenzong would go out to visit Bozhou, Anhui Province today.Go for what?Go to worship Lao Tzu?Just going out again and again, spending a lot of money. Please note that when the emperor goes out to hold such large-scale sacrificial activities, he does not mean that only a bunch of people in Wuyang will eat mawei, and the travel expenses are more than that.
If you do the math, first of all, the early mobilization and campaigning will cost a lot of money. For example, if you send it to Fenyin or Bozhou, the local government and the central government will organize thousands or tens of thousands of people to go to Kaifeng to petition. Your Majesty, I beg you to come.This is a lot of money, and the emperor has to go to a place to worship. The construction of the sacrificial place includes the carriage for the emperor to travel, and the places he passes by, such as opening roads over mountains and building bridges over rivers. This is a lot of engineering expenses.All of these are not worth mentioning. The biggest expense is actually the reward fee.Whenever the emperor is happy wherever he goes, he will be treated as a freebie, and a lot of money will be rewarded. Therefore, there is no budget for this kind of sacrificial activity, and it should be calculated based on the emperor's mood.Alas, any amount of money can be spent.
Don’t forget there is another place to spend money, which we talked about in the previous program.Since the year before last, there has been a situation related to the recruitment of laborers in Yuqing in Kaifeng City. You can go out and turn left to see the 1009 issue of our journey to civilization.In terms of money, recruiting workers in Yuqing is a bottomless pit.
It costs money for civil construction, money for decoration, money for holding various ceremonies inside, and every time there is an event, there is a lot of rewards, which costs even more money.Anyway, I have seen an exaggerated estimate of how much money was spent on him during the more than ten years before and after Yinggong existed in the Yuqing Dynasty?I can't believe the figure of 200 million people, but considering so many expenditures, oh, don't you feel a little strange?
Our general impression is that the finances of the Song Dynasty were relatively tight. The so-called poverty and weakness were always worn by the Song Dynasty.Are there so-called redundant soldiers, redundant officials, and redundant expenses?You have no money and you spend so much, so the national finances cannot bear it?Was it only later that the Anshi Reform was launched?And now this Emperor Zhenzong, how come he is so rich?How could he spend money so freely?
Woolen cloth?Okay, with this question in mind, let’s travel back to 1011 AD.
Today's program is a little different. You see, when we talked about the program in 1008 and 1009, we were also talking about Emperor Zhenzong's superstition.Yes, but at that time we all adopted an attitude called understanding and sympathy. We tried to stand beside this historical person and tried to understand him.We don’t believe it when others say you are crazy. We have to try our best to explain why you think so?Why do this.
But today we change our perspective, we stand a little further away, we stand a little further away, we stand from the perspective of the commonality of human civilization, and we ask three more questions.First, why do these monarchs and emperors suddenly have a large amount of money to spend randomly?Where does this money come from?Second, why don’t they spend the money on meaningful and valuable things?Third, why are they performing sacrifices in some religion?Is it that we people today are so willing to spend money on things that are completely superstitious?Is the agent because of faith or ignorance?Let’s look at the first question first, taking Song Zhenzong as an example. Why does Song Zhenzong have so much money to spend that he indulges in all kinds of whims?On the surface, the answer to this question is obvious. It is said that the Song Dynasty had money and a good economy. Yes, at this stage of Song Zhenzong, whether it was the amount of land reclaimed, land taxation, the introduction of new technologies and crops, or the prosperity of business, that really reached a peak state.
There is indeed money in the national treasury.But please note that in traditional society, whether the total amount of national fiscal revenue is large is not entirely the same thing as whether the emperor's pockets are deep and whether he has money to spend it.The national fiscal revenue is a matter of the general plate. No matter how big the total plate is, every item of expenditure is certain. Whether the emperor can think of it is a matter of expenditure. Spending money depends on whether there are any gaps in the general plate.Don't have a lot of spare money.So you see it is different.
Anyone who has ever been a householder knows that this applies to a company, a home, or a business. No matter how glamorous or huge it looks on the outside, money will never be enough.Yes, the bigger your stall is, the more places you can get money from and the more places you can spend money.Isn’t there a famous literary quote?Wang Xifeng said the words in Dream of Red Mansions, right?Wang Xifeng was the head of the Jia family, so he said there were big difficulties.So when did your family suddenly feel like they had money to spend, and could invent projects as they pleased to spend it?When to spend big money?Usually it's because a project that originally cost a lot of money suddenly stops and disappears, leaving a large budget free.This brings about a short window period where you can spend money freely. You may have heard it, hahaha, what do I want to say?For a country, this kind of big project is usually war.
After the war stopped, a large amount of money came out. This is the situation Song Zhenzong is in now.It is said that the first year of Dazhong's surrender was 1008, and Emperor Zhengzong granted Zen to Mount Tai.As soon as the monarchs and ministers came down from the mountain, the authentic emperor said with emotion to his prime minister Wang Dan, I recently read some reports on our border, saying that this year prices are very cheap, the border in the north is stable, and the people are living well.But it's better.Prime Minister Wang Dan told him at that time that it was not good. It seems that every year we have to give broken coins to the Liao Dynasty in the north, but compared with the cost of using troops, it is not even 1“. How can we have money now?So listen, as long as there is no war, a lot of money will suddenly be saved.This involves a very interesting topic. We generally think that wherever there is a war, there will be poverty. If any money is used as cannon fodder, the finances of the country that is at war will definitely be tight.This is of course true, but have you noticed that there is another side to this matter.
Even during wars, the ability of the court and the country to absorb the wealth of the people has reached a peak, and it is really like beating the drum to absorb the marrow.Let me give you an example. For example, when the Western Han Dynasty was destroyed at the end of the Han Dynasty, how much gold was stored in his palace?700,000 gold. This amount has been verified by historians and is said to be equivalent to the amount of gold owned in the entire Roman Empire at that time.Let me give you another example. When the Ming Dynasty fell, it seemed that those who fought in the sky had no money. However, Huang Zongxi had an algorithm that said that 90” of the tax revenue from all over the country was actually concentrated in Beijing.So you can see that the more fierce the war, the more thorough the court's absorption of private wealth will be, even though the court has no money.
alright.So if the war suddenly ends, but the original ability and mechanism to absorb wealth have not changed, and the entire wealth machine has no brakes, wouldn't this suddenly result in a large amount of money that has no clear purpose for the time being?Right?After Emperor Zhenzong of the Song Dynasty was now the king of the Zen monastery, suddenly the war machine stopped, but the money still had to pour in, so he was rich.Of course, another reason why the emperor suddenly became rich after a war was usually because he won the battle and took back the wealth that the enemy had taken away.For example, when Qin Shihuang unified the world, and when the Song Dynasty destroyed ten kingdoms, there was a similar large amount of income. It was all yours before, but now it is all transferred to your own treasury.Okay, now you understand where this large amount of money in Song Zhenzong's pocket came from.In the past, did history always look at these behaviors of emperors with disdain?Things like the divine succumbing in the sky, the four major construction projects in the east, the west, the sword, and the Taoist temple, etc., always made me think that the emperor was crazy, mentally abnormal, and had changed his gender.Actually no, the emperor is still the same emperor, but now he is suddenly faced with a large amount of extra money, and he has to invent a series of brand-new uses. He can easily go astray, it's that simple.
You just think that an ordinary person today suddenly won a large sum of money.Lottery.Do you think there will be major changes in his mental state and life trajectory later on?And if you are not a very strong person later in life, it is not easy to control it.The same goes for our Song Zhencong. The problem he faces now is how to spend this large amount of money well.
In fact, his mental state and the logic of his actions were quite normal, but he later went astray.Let me give a few examples, either to defend Song Zhenzong, or to give you an idea of what his state was like at this time.It is said that in 1008, before he decided to seal Mount Tai, he was actually quite unsure. Is the country’s finances sufficient for me?Is it enough trouble?So I asked Ding Wei, who was in charge of finance at that time, and said, Your Majesty, don't worry, it's completely enough. We have plenty of money, you can spend it as you like, and then Zhenzong decided to seal Mount Tai.So you see the emperor knew in his heart that he had to spend money according to his ability and respect the national budget.He has this spectrum in mind.
Let me give you another example. In February 1008, he specifically told the prime ministers that recently, I think the extravagant trend in Kaifeng City has been on the rise.Let me give you an example. People often beat gold into thin gold foil. I calculated this year and found that this still cost 100,000 taels of gold.My custom is not good. If this custom is ruined, it will not be good in the future. If I look back, in the future, anyway, I will not use the things that the emperor uses, such as carriages, horses, clothes, etc. What gold foil, I will take the lead, you just sayHow careful is this emperor?Can you take care of such small things?Please note that this is February 1008. Just a month before Struggle, the old man was forging heavenly books with several eunuchs in the harem.We are about to prepare to climb Mount Tai. What does that mean?This shows that he is very clear in his heart that the province should be drawn, and the boundaries should be clear and unambiguous.
For example, after he decided to enshrine Taishan, Emperor Zhenzong was really stuck on the budget.How stuck is it?Even if you go to Mount Tai, you must be escorted and protected by some kind of military entourage.The army just wants to wear new clothes, and the ceremony can't be too shabby.
The report came up, and Emperor Zhenzong said this, if we go out to fight, it would be okay for us soldiers to change into new clothes.We are going to Mount Tai this time. We are going to offer sacrifices. Don’t make it so exaggerated. An army as big as yours needs to change clothes. How much money does this cost?Well, if you think this emperor can say this, is he very strict with himself?Well, this year, we said earlier that he would go out to worship Fenyin this year, and he was still in charge of finance, so we told the emperor.Alas, I can't bear it now. Our treasury, we spent too much money on this trip. How about you?Sincerity is always there, and rewards of tens of thousands are given to everyone. Alas, plus you are also exempt from local taxes when you are happy, so you don’t have to pay this tax this year.It is true that the emperor's grace is great, but those of us in charge of finance are still worried that the country's treasury cannot bear it and cannot bear it.What does the authentic emperor say?The authentic emperor had a straight face.explain.What are you afraid of if you get more rewards?The responsibility of the country is to let the people live a good life. As long as we do the things we should do well, refrain from the things we shouldn't do, and save some money for consumption, we don't have to worry about it. The money given to the people cannot be cut off.Hey, listen to what the emperor said.What he said was very reasonable and his mental state was normal.This is still the Song Zhenzong who we remember as being extremely extravagant and wasteful.So if you have to ask me about Song Zhenzong’s seemingly incoherent behavior, what exactly is going on?I can probably figure out this logic and several judgments.
First, after the war stopped, the country was really rich, and a large amount of money suddenly appeared without a clear purpose.Second, East Wind West 4 These activities may seem like crazy superstitious activities to us today, but in the concept of the ancients, the country does not have only two major events, one is war and the other is sacrifice.Therefore, Emperor Zhenzong, as an ancient man, really felt that this was necessary.Third, Emperor Zhenzong was not willing to spend money recklessly even if it was something he should do. He felt that he respected the budget, was cautious, and tried to save as much as possible.Fourth, and fourthly, although Dongfeng Xisi spent a lot of money on these activities, the emperor felt that this was through rewards. Oh, is it a way to return the money I collected to the people?
Not only is there nothing wrong with it, but as an emperor, I feel very honored. You see, I take from the people and give back to the people. Do you think that the logic of this emperor's behavior becomes much smoother?There doesn't seem to be anything wrong, right?If you accept this logic, it brings up another problem.
Why does the emperor insist on engaging in superstitious activities?Wouldn’t it be enough to do something else that is more meaningful and valuable?Don't you just want to spend some spare money?Why does it have to be so flowery?
Let's move on to ask the second question.Those monarchs and emperors suddenly had money. Why didn't they spend the money on valuable and meaningful things?The answer to this question may be somewhat.Unexpected.The ancient people in traditional society believed that spending money was valuable and meaningful, which is different from the modern people today who think that spending money is valuable and meaningful.How do we modern people view spending money?What is valuable and meaningful spending?To put it simply, you can save money for the present and turn it into investment and accumulation for the future. Turn consumption behavior into investment behavior. With a little effort, we can win a brighter future now. This is called valuable and meaningful., right?For example, if an ordinary person wins the lottery, if he just eats haise, hangs out with friends, changes cars and houses to travel, buys two bowls of soy milk, drinks one bowl and pours another, of course he will feel that the money is for you.Yes, you can do it, but your realm is not high.
If this person suddenly wins the lottery, but with the money, he can go to business school, hire a tutor for his children, buy a financial product, or start a business by himself.Although it may not be a good deal in terms of money, as onlookers, we will feel that if such a person spends money like this, he will be more promising, he will have a better future, and how he spends his money will be more meaningful, right?Another example is that a family is going on vacation. If the vacation is for the whole family to sunbathe on the beach and blow in the breeze, he will be happy, but we will feel that, well, you as a family have no future.
If their parents take their children to visit museums around the world and teach knowledge, wow, we will think, well, your family is great, your family has invested in the future of their children, and we will take a high look at such parents..For another example, if someone buys a very expensive watch, we will roll our eyes and say, oh, you are the only one with money, and you are the only one showing off.But if he can tell, well, what is this, what kind of classic model will continue to increase in value after buying it, we will feel, wow, he understands so well, I want to know this knowledge too, right?You see, this is the basic mentality of our modern people.
When consumption turns into investment, when I focus on my present and pave the way for a better future, we will feel that this expenditure is more valuable and meaningful.Therefore, I will be a better person in the future.But please be aware.
The reason why we modern people can think this way is because we have a belief as the basis, that is, the future will be better, the entire world is in a continuous growth channel, and mankind as a whole needs to progress. This is the basis of this set of concepts.However, this set of conceptual foundations has only existed as a belief in human history for only two or three hundred years, after the Industrial Revolution. It is only in the past few decades that we Chinese have thought this way.I ask you to travel back to traditional society, no matter whether it is Chinese or Western, you just need to go back to traditional society to see.
This is also very strange in my heart, absurd and even arrogant.How do you know tomorrow will be better than today?Isn't this how life goes on in a cycle day by day?Yes, traditional wisdom is based on a concept called cyclical history. The world is going back again and again. If it is good now, then you must be vigilant, because there is a high probability of disaster in the future.Alas, do you see those idioms we Chinese have?When the water is full, it overflows, and when the moon is full, it wanes, right?The entire dynasty has suffered a thousand losses and benefited from it. What's too much to do?As every old farmer knows, God will not let you continue to have good harvests for three consecutive years. You have to prepare for a particularly tragic famine.Don't be happy about this good thing at the moment. Believe that the world is in a cycle of chaos and chaos. This is the common sense of traditional farming society.
So if a modern person today travels back in time to see his ancestors and tell them about it, we modern people all know that wealth can continue to grow.Our generation has lived like this for more than 200 years. Our ancestors would think so and think that their descendants are crazy. They will not believe it and they cannot imagine the continuous growth. This is actually the most important thing between traditional and modern societies.One of the differences.Modern society has channels and relevant infrastructure, which can help our generation turn our current efforts into steps to a better future.It has financial means that can open up the channel between current value and future wealth.
There is no such thing as traditional society. When I was a child, I heard adults say that there is a difference between rich people in the countryside and capitalists in the city. The most typical difference is not their lifestyle.If one doesn't brush his teeth, what's the point of brushing his teeth?It is the attitude towards the future.
The heart of the rich man is filled with fear of future disasters. Every day he thinks about what I will do if the disaster comes.And the heart of a capitalist is full of expectations for future growth, even greed.The behavior is different recently. When the rich country man has money, he puts it in a bottle and secretly digs a hole in the ground at night to bury it. But when the capitalist has money, he thinks about a new project. I want toInvest in recruiting workers to set up factories, and then expand production.He lives in a country house and gave birth to a son. What he worries most about is that this son will cause trouble for him when he goes out.Grow up quickly, get a wife when you grow up, and don't go out. If you don't have enough wives, marrying two concubines won't hold you back. Smoke some opium, and don't go out. And the capitalist has a son to give away, and Liu Yang will be there in the future.Preparing to take over, what do you think is the difference behind this?Don’t think it’s because of the difference in concepts, but rather whether the society they live in allows them to see the possibility of continued growth in investment in the future.Everyone is smart. When the possibility is not shown, you just want to write about the rich man. When it is shown, your desire is ignited.Alas, you just established a capitalist, what is the difference?In fact, it is also an important difference between traditional society and modern society.
What I have said so much is actually to help us understand the people of the Song Dynasty.Specifically, this is Song Zhenzong's problem. Although he has money, he cannot see the possibility of investing in the future.Then you think Song Zhenzong might say that I should buy treasury bills and treasury bonds now, right?At that time, there were no banks with national credit guarantees, so there were no relatively safe financial products, right?There was no global trade network at that time, so Song Zhenzong said I could invest in an ocean-going trade fleet, okay?Right?At that time, there was no modern enterprise property rights system, so it was impossible for Song Zhenzong to buy some enterprise stocks and hope that the enterprise would do well.There was no continuously advancing technology at that time, so Song Zhenzong couldn't say let's offer a reward, find a man named Watt, and I'll invest and let him develop a steam engine. All these possibilities for the future, yes, he doesn't exist.Returning to Song Zhenzong's situation, now that the Chanyuan Alliance has been reached and there is no longer a war, the country suddenly has a large amount of spare money. How to spend it?
Without a channel to invest in the future, the spare money will either be kept or spent.As a monarch who has been educated by Confucianism for many years, his consumption style is in line with the minimum requirements of Confucianism for an emperor. You can't just drink and eat meat, right?So it’s quite difficult, how to spend this money?Our 1003 issue of Civilization Journey mentioned an old prime minister named Li Hang. Li Hang said these words before he died. He told some young people at that time that our current Holy Emperor, this Emperor,He is young and scholarly.
Once he is out of crisis in the future, he will either engage in sensual pleasures, carry out large-scale construction projects, engage in superstitious activities, or go to war. Anyway, these are the four paths. I, Li Hao, am older now.I can't see this day coming, but you, the young prime ministers and ministers, will suffer the consequences in the future.This is what Li Hang said back then. This is really a worry deep in history.Who is Li Hang?Song Zhenzong's teacher, so he still knew the moral character of his student Mensheng Emperor.He doesn't worry about how bad he is. What he worries about is not what to do if the emperor turns bad, but a fate that no one can escape.
A young emperor has energy. If he had money, how would you ask him to paint?What are the four things Li Han just mentioned?It is a consumption list of the emperor in ancient times. He listed the places where the money went, but there are only four items. The first one is worthless sensual dogs, horses, pigeons, chickens, meat and chestnuts.The second way is to engage in war with ambition and cause trouble. If you take these two paths, it will be a serious disaster for the country.Then the remaining two are relatively good, hahaha, I can only say that they are relatively good.The third is to carry out large-scale construction projects, which can be regarded as a construction project for the country. If this construction project is not burned down, it will still be regarded as a tourist attraction in the future, right?It can be considered an investment in the future.The fourth is to engage in superstitious activities and perform sacrifices. According to the concepts of the parties involved, asking God for blessings can unite the hearts of the people.
Listen, this seems to be a little bit of investing in the future. Anyway, doing this is better than doing it alone.Then think about it, apart from these 4 things, if an emperor has money, what else can he do except not spend it?So after listening to Li Hao's four points, are you feeling embarrassed for Song Zhenzong?Let me talk about another situation recorded in historical data, so that you can feel the relationship between our Zhenzong emperor and money.It is said that four years later, it is now 1011 AD, and four years later it is 1015 AD. Eight years after Dazhong surrendered, a fire suddenly broke out in the palace.The original reason was that a servant of the prince's palace stole something from the palace. One day he stole something, and the next day he stole something and paid it back. As a result, he was afraid that the incident would be exposed, so he simply wanted to light a fire to eliminate the evidence of the crime.
As a result, you couldn't hold on to the fire anymore, so you kept burning it with salt, first burning the palace, and then burning it to the palace, which lasted for 12 hours.What's in the palace?The Zuozangku, Neizangku, and the place where the imperial court collected authentic books were all reduced to ashes.Alas, Emperor Zhenzong feels so distressed. He just looks at the fire and the people below him putting out the fire. The scene is so messed up that he just sighs.Alas, when it comes to Taizu Taizong amassing the wealth of two dynasties, I don’t even dare to draw random sketches.It's fine now. It's a pity that everything was burned out.Not to mention that he was separated by more than 1,000 years. When I saw this historical material, I felt very sorry for him.
So the emperor is really distressed because these underwear are incredible.He started building it when Zhao Kuangyin, Emperor Taizu of the Song Dynasty, collected all the trophies, money, and cultural relics collected from small regimes such as Hou Shu and Southern Tang Dynasty. Emperor Taizu also said this, saying that in the future I willUse this money to negotiate with the Liao Dynasty people and buy back Youyun No. 16 Middle School.If they don't do it, I will use this money to recruit warriors from all over the world to fight him.So this money is actually buying back or recovering Youyun's 16 weeks of funds.Later, when Emperor Taizong of the Song Dynasty succeeded to the throne, his younger brother once went to the warehouse to see, oh, he is so rich. Let's tell the people around us that the gold and silver treasures are piled like a mountain. When can we spend them all?The same goes for my eldest brother, who often complains that he doesn’t have enough money to spend. He is too stingy.
There are so few warehouses now.We can bring ourselves in and think about it, if a large amount of financial products in our family suddenly explodes, even if our mood is stable, there will definitely be things to worry about.Why?Is it because a large sum of money is gone?Those expenses that you originally arranged.What to do?
What about car loans, housing loans, and children’s tuition fees?Will you buy the thing you originally planned to buy or not?Wait, so the most urgent thing is to readjust this financial arrangement.Is the money gone?But look at the conversation between Song Zhenzong and his prime minister, Wang Dan, when a fire broke out and the flames shot into the sky.Prime Minister Wang Dai also hurried to the palace to see the emperor. After the meeting, you must have some comfort after kowtow.Prime Minister?You are a bastard, just say it.It's okay, Your Majesty, you are rich in the world. When the money is gone, we will slowly save it. Don't worry. Then the conversation between Zhenli and the two began to change the topic quickly.Wang Dan then continued, "Hey, this, this, this is the Prime Minister. Is this because I am not a good Prime Minister?"God will send down fire from heaven to punish me, or I will resign, it’s up to you.Not good?
The emperor did not accept the problem. The emperor said, well, money is easy to deal with, but it is more difficult to handle a lot of military supplies and have to trouble the people to recast them.Then the prime minister on behalf of the king continued to say that I had just seen the fire and the guards were very brave in putting out the fire. He had to praise the emperor later.After the scene was over, the emperor said, well, how about I commit the crime myself, and then let everyone give their opinions to the government?It seems that this is also a natural disaster, and this is a market in heaven.This is almost exactly what the original historical records say, but I expressed it in vernacular.What do you think when you hear it?They just kept talking, and everyone said their own things. His money was gone, and he was flustered and distressed, but not a word was said. Even if the money was gone, how could he fill such a big financial hole?No one talks about this, so through this conversation, what can we deduce the truth?With such a large amount of money, except for the unreliable use that Taizu Zhao Kuangyin said back then that I wanted to buy back the Sixteenth Province of Youyun, he has been staying here for decades, with no use.So now that you know the relationship between this money and the Emperor of the Song Dynasty, what is the difference between the rich country people in the past who said to put all the gold and silver treasures in a jar and bury them in the ground?Therefore, burning it will have no real consequences, and there will not be a huge gap in the country's expenditure projects. It will just be a loss of spare money.Of course the person involved feels distressed, but just sighs and lets it go.
So if you look at us modern people and see Song Zhenzong's massive construction projects, we feel that he is extravagant and wasteful, and we are worried about him.In fact, this is not the case in his situation. In his situation, if I have money, I can either save it or spend it. These are the only two options. If I save it, don’t you think it’s ready-made?Example?Water and fire are merciless and can be reduced to ashes at any time.There is no bank deposit.
If you consume that side, it is a Confucian moral constraint. You have to use ambiguity. You cannot spend it randomly. It is an inner value anxiety. I have to spend money meaningfully.So you see the emperor faced before he had.Difficulty.I remember what Mr. Wu Bofan said about modern enterprises. He said that in an enterprise, you must not have extra money, otherwise you will do unnecessary things. To put it bluntly, you should not do them.thing.Businesses are the same as people. The more money, the better. How much money you can control is determined by your inner ability.If there was suddenly an extra sum of money in my world, a sum of money that I could spend freely.
Don't worry, I will definitely do extra things that I shouldn't do, and the money may cause me trouble.Okay, using this theory, let's take a look at Song Zhenzu a thousand years ago. He was prosperous and engaged in superstitious activities, which confused Badu's money.
We seem to have an extra layer of understanding, because this is already the most harmless way he could spend his money.Then we have to explain the last question. If you can only spend money in this way and cannot face future investments without such conditions at the time, then why don’t you spend money on survival goods to improve the lives of ordinary people?Woolen cloth?Why don't you do this?
Our pursuit of a better life originates from the platform of every extraordinary door.Chicasati was born for love, the art of connecting families.Let's go on to explain the third question. As for these monarchs and emperors, after they have money, why don't you spend the money on improving the living conditions of the people, right?You are also claiming to be good people, sages and sages named Confucius. If you don’t do this obvious good thing, you will go down another road, build a lot of construction projects, and practice superstition. This is micro-business.You see, this also requires explanation.
The explanation we provide today does not come from history. I want to provide a slightly abstract and distant explanation from economics.This is because I saw a book, The Origin of Paraspecies, written by Wu Leming, a young Chinese economist.The subject of this book itself is very complex, but it puts forward a lot of concepts and gave me great inspiration.This book divides all human products into two categories, one is called survival goods and the other is called utility goods.What are survival goods?It’s easy to understand. As the name suggests, it is the things that allow us to live and survive, such as food, clothing, housing, the cost of raising children, etc. Generally speaking, when we say rigid needs, we probably refer to this category. Without this categorySurvival goods, the simple survival of our lives cannot be guaranteed, this is called survival goods.There is also a category called utility products, which can bring various effects.
What effect?Everyone is different, haha. Some are art, some are entertainment, and all the things that sound good, look good, are fun, have spiritual value, and have emotional value are called gadgets. Their common feature is that they can bring joy to people.It brings a certain sense of happiness, but it is of no use to survival and is even harmful to survival.What is the significance of the classification of utility goods?The concept of reading this book myself brought about two unexpected conceptual subversions for me.
The first point is that in the past, we intuitively understood the relationship between survival goods and utility goods, as the old saying goes, if you have enough food and clothing, you will know the etiquette, and if you have enough food and clothing, you will know the humiliation.Or it can be replaced by that sentence, saying that when you are full and warm, you will think about lust, and when you are hungry and cold, you will feel the Tao. In fact, they all have the same meaning. After a person is satisfied with survival goods, then he needs utility goods.This is the same question I asked Song Zhenzong just now. The people have not had enough to eat, so why are you engaging in superstitious activities?Right?But the classification and perspective provided by this book allowed me to see another layer, that is, human beings do not survive first and then perish.You just think that Yang Bailao in "The White-Haired Girl" tied a half-foot red cord on his daughter Xi'er because their family had enough to eat and drink?No.
What is red head rope?It just looks good and is a typical school supply.The money spent on the red-headed rope meant that their family ate less grain, right?This delays survival.But in a poor family, the poor can't smoke and drink, can't they buy a red headband for their daughter?School supplies and survival supplies can coexist. I have never thought about this issue before. Today I also brought a book called The Essence of Poverty, which is considered a classic in the study of poverty issues.The two authors also won the 2019 Nobel Prize in Economics for this book.The author of this book once visited a very poor village for inspection.
Then they discovered that many local children were not eating well and were generally malnourished.But it's strange, every house has a TV, yes, the locals will save money for a long time to buy a TV.Alas, the scholar who went to do the research asked him why he bought this thing even if he didn’t have enough to eat.The villagers' answer was simple. They said televisions were more important than food.
It’s actually not surprising if you think about it carefully. Anyway, if you think about my experience, I often saved my breakfast money to buy an extracurricular book when I was a child. Look at how many young ladies today are starving in order to get in better shape.We ancient Chinese people also had a saying that they called the King of Chu a good show and wanted more people in the palace to starve to death.
From the perspective of individual choices, it is not surprising that many times we think consumer goods are more important than survival goods. It does not mean that we first satisfy survival and then pursue emotional and spiritual enjoyment.come on, group selection is even more so.What we just talked about was individuals. If you look at group selection, all the ancient civilizations in the world were thousands of years ago. Their productivity levels were not very high, but why are their cultures so brilliant?The people are definitely still very poor, but that doesn't mean it's a waste.There were Hanging Gardens in ancient Babylon, there were temples in Athens in ancient Greece, and there were such huge pyramids in ancient Egypt. This is because of group selection, which suppressed survival goods and, as a result, increased consumption goods.
I once traveled to Egypt a few years ago. My tour guide was an Egyptian young man who graduated from Beijing Language and Culture University. He told me, have you noticed that all the attractions in Egypt are amazing when you come to Egypt?What is it?Temples, tombs, all these things are prepared for the dead. It is said that none of the scenic spots in Egypt are built for living people. This is different from your China. You have many palaces in China. What is a hired worker?The emperor lives this is what I enjoy.
He said why is there this difference?It's because we ancient Egyptians thought, well, what's the point of living this life? It's the serious thing to make more preparations for the world after death while we're still alive.So when they are alive, they work hard to produce zodiac supplies in the world after death.You see, we belittle the survival products of real life and firmly pursue the utility products of spiritual life.This is how the ancient Egyptians lived thousands of years ago.In the archaeological excavations of various human civilizations, many of the remains of human civilization we see are like this. They are a bunch of people who have not had enough to eat and spend a lot of resources on sacrifices. If you don’t believe it, go to Europe today to see it., right?There are so many majestic cathedrals. Can you find out which year they were built?Many were built from the poorest times of the Middle Ages.The people mentioned the good sea and tightened their belts to build such huge and luxurious utilities.Well, after saying this, let’s look back again, haha, this Song Zhenzong is doing a lot of construction,
Doesn't it seem strange?Is this just a repeat of this pattern that has appeared repeatedly in human history?It's just that we humans are very strange. We pursue spiritual enjoyment when we are hungry.Utility goods often trump survival goods.There is another characteristic of school supplies. It is not like what we usually think. After I am satisfied with my survival, I can enjoy some spiritual enjoyment.What's the matter?Can I control the balance between work and rest?No, utility products are self-reinforcing and cannot stop, reaching the point of extreme absurdity.This law does not only exist in the human world, almost all creatures in nature are affected by this law.Let me give you an example, that is the peacock, the tail of the male peacock with its tail spread out.
It is a utility item in the peacock world, because it is useless except for its beautiful fur, and it slows down the male peacock’s efficiency in foraging and escaping from natural enemies. So from a survival perspective, what is the use of that thing??Is it ridiculous?Therefore, the biologist Darwin at that time was almost worried to death by the tail of this male peacock.Haha, because according to Darwin's theory, it is called natural selection and survival of the fittest. If you have this tail, is it survival of the fittest?.Philosophy cannot explain such a long and beautiful tail, so I had no choice but to ask Darwin to come up with some theory of sexual selection.Later, biologist Fisher proposed Fisher's runaway theory and so on, trying to explain how this tail came about.We will not explain these theories. In a nutshell, this is the result of the interaction among the peacock population.
To put it bluntly.It was the female peacock that was to blame.Let’s deduce this process a little bit.You think about it, at first the female peacock used the male peacock's tail as a signal, because as a female, I want to give birth to the next generation, and I always hope that my genes will be good, right?There are no tertiary hospitals in my Peacock world, and the opposite Peacock can’t do physical examinations, right?So I can only use a very simple signal to judge who is in good health, who has a long tail, and who proves that he is in good health and has good genes. This is my husband. This is not wrong in itself, and it is a very useful judgment indicator.
But as time went by, the female peacock group began to accept death. They thought, well, the longer the tail, the better my husband's health will be.Oops, this is a dead end.There is nothing the male bird can do. Even if he is in good health and has good genes, but his tail is slightly shorter than the one next door, he will not have a wife, hahaha, so what should he do?In this game, he could only continue to grow his tail.
This is my simple explanation, so the entire peacock species has evolved into a peacock. The peacock's tail is getting longer and longer, until it grows to a ridiculous extent.Then looking back, doesn’t this deviate from the original intention?Yes, but it can't be changed.
Once you embark on this path of pursuing school supplies, you can't go back.Where do many of these phenomena come from in the animal kingdom, such as the ridiculously large deer antlers and the wild boar's tusks that grow longer and longer until they can pierce their own heads?Okay, let’s go back and talk about human society, is it the same?In many phenomena, it is just a survival product at the beginning, but just like the male peacock and female peacock we just mentioned, they will interact with each other, and we humans have more ways to interact, right?For example, interactive factors such as competition, jealousy, showing off, and comparison eventually turn survival goods into consumer goods. It cannot stop the car and continues to develop forward. If it is not ridiculous, it will not be possible at all.stop.
Take our daily meals as an example. We all know today that if a person wants to survive, he actually needs very little food, and it really doesn’t cost much.If you eat too much, you may have health problems. This is treating eating as a survival necessity, but have you ever realized that there really is such a thing as a three-star Michelin restaurant on the other side of the world?A meal often costs three to four thousand yuan per person. If you want to eat enough noodles, you have to spend any amount of money. It's hard to find a house like this.So you see, all you need to fill your stomach is survival goods, but when the matter of eating at Michelin has developed to this point, what he eats is consumer goods, and this can't stop the car.
The reason why this is the case is, isn’t it the result of the interaction between people?Because factors such as competition, jealousy, showing off, and comparison will eventually come out to make a meal look like that.The so-called consumer goods are actually survival goods that are pushed to the extreme in human interaction.With this concept in mind, we go back to 1011, when Song Zhenzong continued his superstitious career.
There is still a lot of construction work in Kaifeng City in Xisi Fenyin. He is building his Yuqing Zhaoying Gong and spending money as he pleases.At the beginning, he may have done these things just to strengthen his authority and the legitimacy of the Zhao family emperor. They were a survival product of his imperial power, which was especially necessary at the beginning.
But later, when more people join the game, you will find that interesting interactions among the crowd begin, and competition begins.For example, for officials who want to climb up the ranks, they compete with each other on the volume of flattery, and various local forces compete to see who can bring the emperor to our place, and we also hold a sacrifice.All the craftsmen also compete with each other to see who gets more rewards and who can do more work.The common people also look forward to rewards and hope that the emperor will pass by so that I can take a look.
As for the emperor himself, as our previous program said, he also has to use the next lie to cover up the previous lie.Yes, the whole process is amplified by the interaction between people. No one can step on this brake. Did you see it?What's the difference between the whole incident and the palace we talked about earlier, where the peacock's tail grew longer and longer until it was ridiculous?This is the 12th episode of our Civilization Journey program, and 12 years have passed in history.Our Emperor Zhenzong is actually no longer the 30-year-old young man who ascended the throne as we mentioned at the beginning.Our Emperor Zhenzong is 43 this year. Senior ministers like Lu Duan, Li Hang, and Kou Zhun, as well as his teachers and uncles, will be spared if they die. In other words, the team his father left to him have basically been spared.take a bow.And now all the ministers in the court were promoted by him himself.
Therefore, he has completely established a psychological advantage over these ministers in his mentality.Especially since he had just signed the Zen Abyss Alliance, ushering in hard-won peace for the entire Song Empire.And the empire's financial status is also good. What kind of person does all this status look like?In fact, I feel a bit like the middle-aged man with a small career that we often encounter in modern society.It is easy for middle-aged people in this state to indulge in a hobby. Isn't there such a sentence pattern in the mediocre products of his life?What can I say, photography has been poor for three generations, and a SLR will ruin a life, or fishing has been poor for three generations, and playing with birds will ruin a life.There are many similar sayings. They always say that middle-aged people have financial freedom and a small career, but no one can control their original goals. They either achieve them or give them up.
Right?
At this time, it was easy for him to get into a hobby, and he went deeper and deeper with the encouragement of some companions and businessmen who sold equipment.Would you like to say what achievements he has made professionally in this industry?It doesn't seem to be the case, but he is very obsessed, very crazy, and it is difficult to look back. He is getting deeper and deeper into Xiao Yongping's world.This is nothing in itself, but if such a middle-aged man spends too much money to the point of hurting his family, the people around him, or seriously deviating from his original social decision-making, then we will take a cold look.Do you think this person is so crazy?Yes, in the world of school supplies, it is not easy to get in and get out.At the end of this program, let’s make a digression. There has actually been such a problem since ancient times, that is, how can a person distinguish between his own needs and his own?
Of desire?Zhu Xi, a great scholar in the Southern Song Dynasty, gave an answer: What is demand?What is desire?He said that if you eat and drink normally, this is a requirement and is in line with nature.
If you want to eat delicacies from mountains and seas every day, that is desire.If you want to have a life partner, this is a need of a normal couple and it is in line with nature.If you want to have three wives and four concubines every day, well, this is desire.I have read this passage a long time ago. At that time, I felt that what Zhu Xi was talking about was just a difference in degree. To put it bluntly, it was telling us not to go too far in everything.But today I understood the concepts of survival products and utility products from the book The Origin of Vice President, and I gained some new inspiration and experience.What is demand?What is desire?Needs are survival goods, and their characteristic is that once they are met, I don’t want them anymore. This is demand.For example, I want to eat when I'm hungry, but I don't want to eat when I'm full.
This is called demand.And what is desire?Desire is the consumer product we just talked about today. The more satisfied it is, the more powerful it will be.For example, the richer I am, the more I want more money, more sex, and more wins. This is desire.What I just said is that national affairs come back to individuals. Desire is a utility in our lives. We cannot live without it, otherwise life will be too dull.But every time a new desire appears, we have to be vigilant. We must not continue to spoil it, indulge it, and let it grow slowly in human interaction until it grows into a root.The peacock tail hurts so much that we don’t even like it.Yes, this is the life lesson of Song Zhenzong. Today, we can share his life lessons.Okay, so here we are in 1011 AD and we'll see you next year in 1012 AD.
