Chapter 60 Section 13 From Good People to Devils

These people laughing around the pans where babies are being fried might have been working in the fields a few months ago.If you met him in the field at that time, he would give you a silly smile and make way for you awkwardly.If you are a passer-by and come to his house as an excuse to drink water, he will enthusiastically let you in, and maybe, as a landlord, he will pick a few cucumbers from the garden for you to taste.Maybe it was a natural disaster that made him bankrupt, maybe it was a vendetta that made him flee his hometown, maybe he was kidnapped by a passing peasant army who burned his house down.

However, in just a few months, he has transformed from the most honest peasant in Chinese society to a thug who enjoys killing people.Fate changing a person is as incredible as magic, but it is logical.Human nature is far more complex than we realize. It provides us with an interesting sample: Lin Chong, the coach of the Imperial Army, was originally an honest, restrained, gentle and refined person.However, after killing the enemy and preparing to fall into the grass, his style of conduct suddenly changed drastically: on the way to Liangshan, he passed a manor house and begged for wine and food.If they didn't give it to him, he actually picked up a long gun, rushed forward and beat them violently, driving away all the dealers. He sat down carelessly, and said cheerfully: "Everyone is gone, the master is happy to eat wine."

What changed was not Lin Chong's character structure, but his self-awareness of the role.He already considers himself a "quasi-robber". A person who lives by killing and robbing naturally doesn't need to follow the ethics of a good citizen.I am so afraid of someone who is about to fall into the grass!Simply break the jar, do nothing, and fully enjoy the freedom brought by violence.When he arrived in Liangshanbo, in order to join the gang, he hurriedly searched for innocent passing merchants, and wanted to borrow their heads as a "meeting gift" for Liangshanbo. Isn't that the case with those peasants who revolted?They are driven by hunger and chased by the government. If the quality of the uprising leaders is not high enough to effectively mobilize them and discipline them, then they will easily abandon their ethics and give themselves to their instincts. Bandits" and "robbers" come to life.

As psychologists have long pointed out, violence can indeed bring people pleasure, and this pleasure is also very addictive.Military life is hard, tense, and boring, torturing captives, indulging violence, and even the only entertainment in many armies.Yukio Komata's "Records of Japanese Military Reporters" records that Japanese soldiers became addicted to burning houses in China: "Some soldiers said: 'Captain, I can't sleep without seeing the fire, let me burn it tonight Two or three!'" Battlefields often dehumanize people—not just the Japanese. Among the armies in the late Ming Dynasty, Zhang Xianzhong was the most enthusiastic about this kind of "entertainment".