Chapter 25: Xiao Bai's Story Four
"The rise and fall of the world, every individual has a responsibility. People are all the same, no one is more noble than others, what's the difference between kings, princes, generals, and officials? Heaven gave birth to the imperial family to protect the people, not the other way around. The world does not belong to one family or surname, but belongs to the people of the world. The sea changes into mulberry fields, dynasties rise and fall, which royal court has never perished? Only the descendants of the Chinese people will last forever."
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"Let's talk about this world, having great talent is useless, not knowing how to be a good person will still lead to doom. Take Yang Su, who was so arrogant and got killed, he was even Cao Cao's son-in-law. Didn't he end up being slaughtered like a chicken? Haven't you heard that 'having sons is better than reading books' and 'winning at cockfighting and horse racing is better than studying'?... A filial son may not live with his parents, a talented scholar may not know how to read... A great general may be timid as a chicken. Don't give me that look, I'm telling the truth."
Ignoring his bewildered expression, I continued to chatter incessantly and torment him.
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"You think being an official is easy, haven't you heard of 'accompanying a king is like accompanying a tiger'? Those who serve the king love it when things are mysterious and unpredictable. If you show respect from a distance, they'll think you're useless; if you anger them, they'll behead you on the spot. And if you try to understand everything thoroughly, they might think you know too much about yourself, that you're too dangerous, and find an excuse to get rid of you. Why bother looking for trouble?"
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I hit him again because every time he puts on that thoughtful, deep and cool expression, I have a strong urge to knock people's heads.
"Flattery, who doesn't like to hear good things about themselves? But hearing too much of it becomes a soft knife that kills without leaving a trace. I also can't guarantee that even if I know it's false, after hearing it so many times, I'll start thinking it's true and take it for granted. In this world, there's no such thing as perfection, what you gain on one side, you lose on the other. Those who are praised to be unmatched in heaven and rare on earth must have ulterior motives and hidden intentions."
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Emperor Taizong once said that a wise ruler should take others as mirrors, and be delighted when hearing about his mistakes, and even more so when no one dares to remonstrate with him. Even if it's just a trivial matter, it shows that someone has the courage to speak the truth. A king is also human, and humans are imperfect, they will have gains and losses, and emotions and desires, even if they are benevolent. A wise ruler is wise because he controls his gains and losses within a reasonable range, and through the remonstrations of his ministers, makes timely corrections, balancing his own enjoyment with the gains and losses of the world. Didn't Emperor Taizong also enjoy flowers, birds, music, and horseback riding?
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You think being a general is easy? The superior doesn't know that using troops isn't scary, what's scary is not knowing how to appoint people, the ones used are not the right people, the soldiers are exhausted from fighting and plotting, but for the sake of the so-called famous general's face, they let the soldiers go fight to the death, this is the most foolish thing. The so-called face isn't more important than the soldiers' lives. Why should I care about it?
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It's even more miserable for the soldiers. Don't you see, in Qin times the moon was bright, in Han times the passes were strong, but the white-haired general was stunned by tears. These ten thousand miles of border are piled up with countless corpses of generals and soldiers. What is the Great Wall? The Great Wall is made of living people. Haven't you heard of "The Ballad of the Army Carts"?
The wheels rumble, the horses whinny, travelers wear bows and arrows at their waists.
The wife and children see him off as he walks away, but dust is all that can be seen on Xianyang Bridge.
She grasped his clothes and blocked his path, crying out loud, her wails reaching up to the clouds.
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Or from Fifteen Prevent North River, then to Forty West Camp Field.
Blood flows into the sea, Emperor Wu's ambition to expand borders has not yet ceased.
Don't you know that in the eastern part of the Han Dynasty there are 200 prefectures, with a thousand villages and ten thousand hamlets where wolfberries grow.
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The situation was repeated with the Qin army enduring hardship and fighting, being driven by anger like chickens and dogs.
The county official urgently demands rent, where does the rent come from?
It is better for a birth to be a boy than a girl; conversely, it is better for a birth to be a girl than a boy.
A girl is born to be married to a neighbor, a boy is born to die and be buried with the common grass!
Don't you see at the head of the Tsinghai Lake, from ancient times till now, white bones have been left unburied.
New ghosts disturb the old ghosts, crying in the dark and rainy sky. (According to historical records, as seen in "Comprehensive Mirror for Aid in Government" Volume 216, Xianyu Zhongtong led an army of 80,000 to attack Nanzhao, but was defeated, and only barely escaped with his life. Yang Guozhong covered up the defeat and continued to praise his achievements... An imperial edict was issued to recruit soldiers from the two capitals and Henan to attack Nanzhao. However, people heard that Nanzhao was plagued by disease, and before even fighting, eight or nine out of ten soldiers died. Nobody was willing to enlist. Yang Guozhong sent officials to capture people on different roads, binding them with wooden frames and sending them to the military camp. Everywhere, there were cries shaking the fields.)
As soon as this sentence came out, everyone's face was filled with worry. Even Xiaobai had a somewhat uneasy expression. Even I myself felt a bit dazed and confused.
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The atmosphere was a bit oppressive, and for a moment I couldn't find the next words. (I suddenly felt a little regretful, and had overdone it - in this situation, this was indeed a self-defeating move, and I still needed to rely on them to fight) So I suddenly thought of singing a song, and began to sing that famous modern soldier's song "The Birch Forest" all by myself.
A quiet village covered with white snow
Doves flying under overcast sky
The birch tree is carved with those two names
They vowed to love each other for all their lives
One day, the flames of war reached our hometown.
The young man picked up his gun and rushed to the border.
The one in my heart, don't worry about me
Waiting for me to return in that birch forest
The sky is still overcast
There are still pigeons flying around
Who will prove those loves and lives without tombstones?
The snow is still falling and the village is still peaceful
Young people disappear in the birch forest
Bad news came in that afternoon
The one I love has fallen in battle on a distant foreign soil
She quietly came to that birch forest
Gazing longingly every day, standing guard there
mmm...
She said he was just lost in a distant place
He will definitely come to this white birch forest
The long road is about to reach its end
That girl is already white-haired and old
She often heard him calling out beside her pillow
Come on, dear, come to this white birch forest
At the time of her death, she muttered
I'm coming wait for me in that birch forest
This "White Birch Forest" has already evoked a sympathetic resonance of sentimental feelings from everyone. I then had to continue explaining that, according to Tajik legend, the souls of warriors who die in battle ascend to heaven, and the angels mentioned in the lyrics are deities in Tajik beliefs who receive the souls in heaven, equivalent to the Western Pure Land Bodhisattva in Buddhism. The earth is the mother who gives birth to all things, and being buried after death is equivalent to returning to one's mother's arms. Everyone nodded in agreement. I finally managed to pull them out of their low mood, and then we sang other more uplifting songs.
