Chapter 68 Section 21 Pragmatism

Materials are extremely poor in the bottom society, and hunger is a daily homework that must be solved.Survival in this environment does not require too many broad principles, and does not require such ideological luxuries as "ultimate ideal" and "humane care", let alone talk about "independent personality", "free personality" and "subjectivity". consciousness".The first question everyone faces is where to get breakfast for the next day.What survival at the bottom needs more is pragmatism and materialism. Pragmatism was played by Zhang Xianzhong to an incomparable level.The heroes of the green forest all advocate intrigue and deceit.Unscrupulous, ruthless, often succeed in the end.Zhang Xianzhong was "the most cunning man". During his uprising career, he was appeased three times and rebelled three times.He was ruthless and even had no faith in his subordinates. When he finally withdrew from Sichuan, he actually used deceptive means to cleanse the Sichuan soldiers in the team.

The bottom culture makes no secret of material desires. "Chinese Bandits" records that the life creeds circulated by bandits in the late Qing Dynasty are "to be a robber while alive, and to be a ghost will not be wronged", "you will not be cunning (bullying) when you are young, and you will regret it when you are old."After the heroes in the village robbed the birthday card, there is no record of distributing it to the poor people. Zhong Jia Runfu and others looted the property of officials, purely for their own enjoyment. In the fifteenth chapter, when Ruan Xiaoer praised Liangshan under Wang Lun's rule, he said: "They are not afraid of the sky, the earth, or lawsuits. They weigh and divide gold and silver, wear silk and satin, eat wine in urns, and eat meat in large pieces. How can they not be happy? !” Before going up the mountain, what they thought more might not be “helping the poor”, but “robbing the rich”.

When Zhang Xianzhong's troops plundered and looted, they didn't seem to be ashamed of being greedy for money and good things.Unlike other troops, Zhang Xianzhong ordered his men to search for gold and silver and confiscate it.Before leaving Sichuan, he sank the gold and silver looted over the years at the bottom of the river, with dozens of boats. The bottom culture is a culture trapped by pragmatism and utilitarianism. It lacks basic metaphysical things, and it is impossible to provide new ideological resources for Chinese society.In contrast, the orthodox culture contains some transcendent elements, such as the Datong ideal of "the old will die, the strong will be useful, the young will be good, and the widowed, lonely, sick, and sick will all be supported."