Chapter 358 The World is White, Only I Am Black

A rumbling thunder exploded in the sky above Mo City, and thick white lightning penetrated the night sky, like a white crack in the darkness.

The huge earth vein system of Mo City seemed to be affected by the thunder in the sky and became dim and bright. The laughter in the taverns stopped, and many people subconsciously looked up at the sky through the windows.

They could see the deep sky after the thick clouds split apart, and a huge moon shone through the gaps in the clouds, shining from the sky and passing through the invisible mist to form a light blue light, which just happened to shine through the few blocks in front of them, making everything around them look particularly hazy and sacred, and making the lights on the ground extremely dim.

The tavern owner was worried that the guests would leave early, so he laughed and said, "Thunder exploded out of nowhere, but it didn't rain!"

In the noodle shop, the river formed by the Taoist tradition has separated the inside and the outside. The pictures of Mohist school practicing universal love are like fleeting shadows under the impact of Zhou Tieyi's words, just like the waves caused by the flowing river. Although they are like a dream, they are ultimately just illusions.

The extremely handsome face of the Mohist leader was no longer filled with white light, but flickered like a floor lamp, and the waves surrounding him began to break.

"The Taoism backfires!"

Li Jianhu was the first to react and spoke in a low voice, and then his eyes were filled with horror.

Because he had experienced the backlash of his righteous energy, the great Confucian scholars later explained to him some knowledge about the Taoist tradition and some secrets about the highest level of spiritual practice.

The Mohist leader in front of him was shaken by Zhou Tieyi's words that directly pointed out the essence of Mo City. He began to doubt the theoretical foundation of Mohism. It was just like when he doubted whether the justice in his heart was justice.

After hearing what Li Jianhu said, everyone present reacted differently.

Sun Shiheng first wanted to pounce on Zhou Tieyi who was close at hand and cover his mouth, "Stop talking!"

Mo Jian, the disciple of the Mohist master, sighed lightly, his brows drooped slightly, revealing a feeling of relief, as if some of his guesses had been confirmed. He knew why their Mohist school of thought claimed to be the best in universal love, but could never truly leave Mo City, and could only make the people yearn for it, but could not even govern the world like the Confucianists.

Xuan Chan was shocked, but a look of surprise appeared on his face. Their Gongshu clan had been suppressed by the Mohist school for so many years. Wasn't it the Mohist school that said they had skills but no moral principles?
But today, after hearing Zhou Hou's explanation, I realized that the universal love that the Mohists talked about was nothing more than this, and it was just used to fool the Gongshu family for thousands of years!
If Zhou Hou's words were to get out today...

As soon as Xuan Chan thought of this, his brain trembled and his whole body shuddered.

If Master Lu heard these words, he would be so excited that he wouldn't be able to sleep for several days!

······
At the same time, all the phenomena in life are different.

When the Mohist leader saw Sun Shiheng rushing towards Zhou Tieyi, he just looked away. In this space where Taoism evolved, Sun Shiheng was thousands of miles away from Zhou Tieyi.

"Let him say it!"

Mo Jian thought for a moment, then bowed to Zhou Tieyi and said, "We heard that Marquis Zhou implemented a 'luxury tax' in Tianjing and made laws. At that time, we Mohists discussed that Marquis Zhou's 'luxury tax' should be similar to our Mohist 'universal love tax', but more narrow. Now it seems that Marquis Zhou may have other ideas. Can you explain?"

Zhou Tieyi glanced at Mo Jian and thought that Mohism had its own limitations, but it was not that the Mohists were stupid, they just stuck to the old ways because of the obstacles of the doctrine itself. This was the limitation of the Mohists, who were mainly small handicraftsmen under the feudal economy. If the revolution was not thorough, then there would be no revolution at all. They only cared about guarding their own little piece of land. It seemed that they loved the world, but over the years, they only loved Mo City, which became the spiritual home of the Mohists.

Zhou Tieyi looked at the leader of the Mohist school and said, "Please take it easy and don't shake the orthodoxy. I'm counting on you to take the blame for me."

So he bowed to the Mohist master and said, "Please return to its roots."

The leader of the Mohist school showed a look of deep thought, and the sense of shaking of the surrounding Taoist tradition weakened.

"What is Ben?"

Zhou Tieyi asked, "Is there a fixed number of wealth in the world?"

The Mohist leader thought about Zhou Tieyi's words again. He repeated them over and over again in a low voice. He wanted to say it was right, but it seemed wrong. He also wanted to say it was wrong, but it seemed not entirely wrong.

Zhou Tieyi smiled and asked, "What is property?"

The people around also started to think along with Zhou Tieyi's words. Even someone as simple as Li Jianhu immediately thought of copper coins, silver, and gold, which were the most intuitive property.

So is the amount of silver and gold in the world a fixed number? He had never thought about this question before, but now that he thought about it again, he felt a little confused. Even a saint could not fully count the amount of silver and gold in the world, right?

Suddenly, an idea flashed in his mind, and he answered based on the actual situation of Shantong Mansion, "The amount of copper should increase, right? After all, the copper mine in Shantong Mansion has been dug for a long time, and several mountains have been dug out..."

At this point, he became unconfident again, because this was only wealth used by people, not natural wealth. If it was natural wealth, then it should be a constant, because people just dug out copper from the mountains and turned it into copper coins circulating on the market, without adding any extra new copper.

The great Mohist thought for a long time and replied, "If it is useful to people, it can be called property. It is said that things are put to good use and people use the power of things."

This is also one of the basic propositions of Mohism.

Zhou Tieyi smiled and said, "So the core discussion of wealth should first be placed in the human society, rather than in the macrocosm. Billions of years are too long, and we have to seize the day. Since it is in the human society, wealth has two main characteristics: production and distribution."

"All wealth in the world has a fixed amount. This statement is correct because it refers to distribution. Just like we have a big cake in front of us, no matter how big the cake is, it is divided among the people in front of us. The portion each person gets is a fixed value of the total amount of the cake. That is why some people say that they are not worried about having too little, but about inequality. Because without comparison, there is no harm."

“So all the wars and injuries in the world are caused by unequal distribution, because as long as someone is killed, there will be fewer people to share the bread, and you will naturally get more.”

The Mohist master suddenly felt enlightened, and his shaken doctrine gradually calmed down. "What about production?"

"There is no fixed number for production, only the productivity that is constantly liberated and developed." Zhou Tieyi said, "The Mohists and Gongshuists probably have the deepest understanding of this. With the blessing of technology, we can plant faster and better, dig wells, and weave cloth..."

After the initial worry and anger, Sun Shiheng gradually listened to Zhou Tieyi's reasoning. He was confused instead, "Then we in the Mohist School have done both."

Zhou Tieyi smiled without saying anything, and then looked at the leader of the Mohist School, "Boss, where do you think the problem lies?" The Taoist tradition around the leader of the Mohist School changed again, and a scene of Zhou Tieyi collecting luxury taxes evolved around him. The property paid by the wealthy businessmen was like a mountain of silver and a sea of ​​silver, turning into brilliant metallic light, but these lights did not gather in the Zhou Mansion, but flowed to two places, one was the God-Slaying Division, and the other was the Railway Chamber of Commerce.

The God-Slaying Division was a political matter, and he could understand that. Today, when it came to the Railway Chamber of Commerce, he finally understood it clearly.

“The core of the distribution of wealth is not ‘thrift’ or ‘equality’ but ‘reproduction’.”

Zhou Tieyi smiled and said, "Human desires are like deep ravines, with no end in sight. People in the world all regard them as great harm, but I alone regard them as great good. Only when one's heart is as deep as the ravines can one perceive the infinity of the universe. Otherwise, one will be like an ant, wandering in the fields, hunched over meals, and what use will it be for the spirit given to us by God."

"The words of Taoism are not enough for me to learn, the words of Buddhism are not enough for me to learn, the words of Confucianism are not enough for me to learn, and the words of Mohism are not enough for me to learn."

“So the core of everything from production to distribution should be to continuously liberate and develop productivity to meet the people’s growing material and spiritual needs. In this process, universal love and fairness are only relative, and frugality and self-denial are only temporary. Once they are not conducive to the development of productivity and the creation of more social wealth, they are not worth mentioning.”

Everyone looked at Zhou Tieyi.

All the schools of thought in the world are not as good as mine. What a great spirit!

But when they thought about the entire argument Zhou Tieyi had just put forward, it seemed that only by acknowledging that human hearts are filled with hatred and that human desires are constantly growing could they explain everything they saw.

Regardless of whether it is Taoism, Buddhism, Mohism, or Confucianism, these nine mainstream schools all emphasize that people must restrain their inner desires, stressing that desires are a great harm and are the root of obstacles to returning to the truth, nirvana, universal love, and the establishment of virtue.

The Mohist master sighed softly, "The world is all white, but I am the only one who is black."

Although he was still thinking about Zhou Tieyi's theory, and although he did not completely agree with it, this courage alone made him think of the ancient sage Mozi recorded in the classics.

Mo Jian thought seriously and asked, "Doesn't that mean the poor get poorer and the rich get richer?"

Zhou Tieyi asked in return, "Can that satisfy the people's growing material and spiritual needs?"

Mo Jian replied, "No."

Zhou Tieyi spread his hands and said, "This is simple. This sentence actually includes two aspects. From production to distribution, this is the entire process of property in human society."

The Mohist master lowered his head and thought for a long time, then looked up at Zhou Tieyi and asked, "What is 'people'?"

Li Jianhu looked up in surprise and looked at Zhou Tieyi.

Because Zhou Tieyi, the great master of Mohism, had asked this question to He Qigong before, and he had answered at that time, "Everyone in the world can be a scholar." However, Zhou Tieyi said that this was not true. Just because everyone in the world can be a scholar, it does not mean that everyone in the world can be a commoner.

He and Mr. Cui, the teacher, discussed for a long time but did not get an answer. Today, the leader of the Mohist school actually asked the same question again, which made Li Jianhu very excited. He had a hunch that this was the core of Zhou Tieyi's entire Taoist tradition.

What are the people?
Zhou Tieyi smiled and looked at the scene around him where the Mohist masters' orthodoxy had been stabilized. "I'm still thinking about it."

The leader of the Mohist school sat in his seat and thought for a long time.

The illusory Mohist school of thought dissipated like a receding tide. After the thunder in the sky, the cracked cloud curtain did not close. An invisible force pushed the thick clouds on both sides to disperse, revealing a bright moon hanging in the sky but not full.

The entire ice-blue moonlight poured down from the sky, like a ribbon hanging from the sky, and was particularly eye-catching in the dark night, covering the entire Mo City, making everything here seem like a dream.

The Mohist master came back from his deep thoughts and asked, "Will frugality really limit reproduction?"

Zhou Tieyi smiled and said, "Master, if you only lived in Mo City, would you have thought of inventing Feipeng? Frugality and suffering are meaningful and worthy of respect, but their significance lies in the process, in being able to see happiness through suffering, and in being able to accumulate and create more wealth through frugality. We cannot ask the people to only see the process and not let them enjoy the results. If we only let them see the process and suppress their desires, then what is the difference between us and the aristocratic families?"

“So frugality and hardship deserve respect, but not praise.”

The Mohist master thought for a while, then reached out to touch the ruler on his waist, which symbolized his master's status. Zhou Tieyi took a look and said with a smile, "Why do you care about common etiquette?"

The Mohist leader heard this and smiled dumbly, then put down his hand. "Indeed, if we follow the right path and can achieve the world you mentioned of 'satisfying the people's growing material and spiritual needs', it doesn't matter which school we belong to. Why do we need to use our position as a leader to blackmail others?"

Zhou Tieyi's face straightened. "Although I have the foundation of Taoism, the road ahead is difficult and full of twists and turns. I may not be able to make it to the end. So whether it is Taoism, Buddhism, Confucianism, Legalism, or Mohism, I can learn from them all, and other schools can also learn from me."

"For example, is the Mohist way completely wrong? Different paths lead to the same destination. The Mohist way of 'chivalry', 'non-fate', 'heaven's will', and 'universal love' are all supplements to my way of thinking. Many times when my way of thinking cannot take into account the realization of my ideals, maybe the Mohists will find a better way to supplement it."

After saying that, he pulled Li Jianhu next to him and patted him on the shoulder, "This kid has always been against me, and he's still practicing some kind of noble spirit. Why do I keep him by my side? Because I want to use him as a mirror to see the flaws in my own path. If there are no flaws, that's great. If there are flaws, that's even better, because if you don't know what you've lost, you won't know what you've gained."

Hearing Zhou Tieyi's heartfelt words, Li Jianhu puffed out his chest with pride. The person he admired before was indeed right. It was just that he was stupid and misunderstood Zhou Hou.

Then he said with some shame, "Don't be afraid of being laughed at by Lord Zhou. I originally wanted to be Lord Zhou's personal guard chief..."

Zhou Tieyi stretched out his palm to stop him, "You want to fight for this position, but someone is unwilling to do so!"

He looked up at the sky with a smile. Six thousand miles away, because Ada and others were at the critical moment of condensing their qi, he left them in the soldiers' tomb. It was estimated that it would take until mid-September for them to initially condense their qi and then ride on the flying roc to Shantong Mansion.

Li Jianhu touched his head embarrassedly.

Zhou Tieyi smiled and said, "Practice your Tao well and ask the Mohist master for advice. He broke the Taoist tradition of flying swordsmanship in the past. It is interesting to see the Taoist tradition being rebuilt today."

(End of this chapter)