Chapter 66 Section 19 What is lacking in the lower-level culture

The first deficiency in the bottom culture is the lack of humanity.In orthodox culture, "human life" is at least theoretically, on the surface, the most precious thing in the world. Words such as "people are precious in the world", "human life is the most important", and "the benevolent love others" are full of Confucian classics. Although the autocratic law is brutal, it still maintains a formal respect for human life.For example, the death penalty imposed by the empire must be reported to the emperor every year, and the emperor will check and approve it himself before execution.However, in the low-level thinking, human life is not very valuable.Not only is the life of others not worthy of respect, but one's own life does not seem to be worth cherishing either. "He lost his head, and the bowl has a big scar", "Twenty years later, he is a hero again".

Those scumbags who specialize in killing people, such as Sun Erniang who sells human flesh buns, have become heroes of the people at the bottom.In Zhang Xianzhong's eyes, other people's lives can only be divided into useful and useless.Those who are young and strong can charge forward for themselves or be picked workers or "husbands", so they are useful and can be kept.Those who are old and weak are useless to themselves, so they will all be killed. Of course, it’s okay not to kill, because killing is a time-consuming and labor-intensive task.But Zhang Xianzhong never tires of it. He often gets bored after one kill, and feels that he has not killed enough, so he needs to "make up for it". "Zhang Xianzhong's Fall into Luzhou" records that after Zhang Xianzhong entered Luzhou, he did not kill him at first.The next day, a lot of gunpowder was found on the city tower, "according to the report, the eight thieves got angry and shouted: 'This barbarian can't raise a family (that is, he can't raise it well), I treat you well, this gunpowder should be said, and no one mentioned it. .' So he ordered gunpowder to be brought to the camp, set fire to the building, and sent an order to go to the city to make up the fire, kill people, and arrest people, and no one is allowed to let go."

Although it is said that "revolution is not a dinner party, not embroidery, not making a fuss, but a violent action by one class to overthrow another class", but in the depths of the temperament of some green forest heroes, violence is not only a tool, but also a is a kind of entertainment. The hero of the bottom society, the Li Kui who is heartfeltly loved by the working people, he "escaped because he beat someone to death, and although he was pardoned, he was exiled in Jiangzhou" as a jailer. He is afraid of him. He can wield two sharp axes and know how to punch and stick.” He often behaves arrogantly in society and grabs the strong by force. His behavior is quite similar to that of today’s hooligans.

In the fifty-third chapter, Li Kui and Dai Zong were eating in the restaurant. Li Kui accidentally knocked over an old man's noodles. .Up to the sixty-seventh chapter, Li Kui passed by a shop and refused to pay for his meal. He was caught by the shop owner, and Li Kui simply chopped him down with an axe. These behaviors, in the streets and alleys of the listeners, attracted only a slight smile, as if their favorite hero was like a naughty child who accidentally hit a dish, which further showed the child's liveliness and loveliness. Even the bloody scenes in the 40th chapter of "Water Margin" were vividly described by storytellers as "heroic deeds", and the low-level audience for hundreds of years regarded the heroic feats of heroes, and listened fascinatedly:

In order to save Song Jiang, when Li Kui robbed the court in Jiangzhou, "I saw that he was the first to contribute and killed the most people." Song Jiang had already been rescued, and there was no need to use violence anymore, but Li Kui became murderous, "When you go to the intersection, don't ask the officers, soldiers and people, you will kill corpses all over the field, blood will flow into canals, and countless people will be overthrown." ".Later, Chao Gai prevented Li Kui from killing people indiscriminately, but, "Where did the Han (that is, Li Kui) come to listen to the call, one by one with an axe, and the leader will be chopped off."

In all fairness, Li Kui at this time is an out-and-out perverted bloodthirsty maniac, a heinous scum and scum.At the same time, however, he was the object of popular love and admiration for hundreds of years.With just this one example, we will know how indifferent the humanitarian spirit and respect for life of the bottom culture are.From this, we can more or less understand why those peasant armed forces who upheld the spirit of the Water Margin and raised up the rebellion left so many bloody and cruel records.