The future fate of a country depends on whether the supreme ruler of the country is knowledgeable or not, and whether the country itself has a sense of competition.
/kloc-in the 6th century, Europe was the center of the whole world and the birthplace of modern civilization. There are hundreds of countries in Europe's small land, and only one of them-competition. In order to get more wealth, they seized each other's land and developed important maritime trade.
This does not exist in our rich East. China has been fertile soil since ancient times, and there is no shortage of gold, silver and grain. Those in power never go to the East for money, but invade neighboring countries to satisfy some greedy ambitions of those in power. Before the Qing Dynasty, only neighboring countries paid tribute to China every year. In the feudal history of China, apart from some nomadic celebrities in the north, there was almost no competition with any country.
Without competition, there will be no progress, and ignoring progress will lead to decline. This is common sense in the world.
When the Portuguese and Spanish crossed the ocean, circled the earth, explored the new continent and countless wealth trade routes, we were already in the Ming Dynasty. At that time, Zheng He's voyage to the West was not to explore trade routes, but to celebrate the greatness of Emperor China. Since then, China people have disappeared over the ocean.
In fact, Europe at that time was dominated by feudal centralized rule, such as the prosperity brought by Louis XIV to France. However, there are many enemies around the French Empire, which makes it constantly compete with Prussia, Britain and Spain for financial resources, national strength, military strength and even culture. What do you rely on to gain a key advantage in the competition? Is it the king? Noble? No, it is the cornerstone of this country, the people.
Only by giving the people strength and the opportunity to gain strength can the country become strong and invincible. What is power, that is knowledge.
The traditional feudal ruling class knows very well that only ignorant people can be controlled favorably. Because of ignorance, they can only rely on the wise nobles in the palace, so those in power will not easily create educational opportunities for ordinary people, and only nobles and clergy can always study. However, in the increasingly competitive16th century, many enlightened kings saw this, the most prominent of which was Kaiser William IV. "I have never heard of a country with poor education and a ruined country."
He donated all his savings to build a school, and the luxurious king's womb was also donated as a university building, and all of them were admitted free of charge, which provided the people with educational opportunities to the greatest extent. It was this move that made a large number of high-quality nationals trained at that time create countless miracles for the rejuvenation of the German nation.
In contrast, our scholars in China at that time undoubtedly read a subset of classics and history for fame and fortune. In the end, everyone became pedantic, let alone engaged in all kinds of bold scientific research.
In addition, the feudal centralization in China at that time had a deep control over culture, which made many people who had knowledge and foresight and contributed wisdom to the rise and fall of the country labeled as "anti-". Because the feudal class in China knows very well that once these progressive ideas are boiling all over the country, they will inevitably affect their ruling rights, so they must be stifled.
This is the difference between an enlightened monarch and a fatuous monarch, and it is also the difference between a big country that stands out from the crowd and a small country that strives for survival in the cracks.