Standing on the wide deck, feeling the sea breeze blowing against his face, Todd watched the scenery of Anuda Port getting further and further away from him, and couldn't help but sigh.
Taking out the book that Miles gave him when he parted, Todd turned to the first page, and there was this sentence clearly written on it.
"I would give everything I have in exchange for a minute's conversation with Allah."
Todd nodded lightly. If he could really know the ultimate truth about everything in the universe, nothing would really matter anymore.
The book goes on to write: "Human beings are the freest creatures in the world and the least free slaves. In order to live in a group, we have to give up some of the rights given by God and commit ourselves to a country called the country.
In the stuff.”
"The state has deprived the people of their rights to speech, behavior and even life, but human beings have to accept all this. Because once we leave the state, we will drink hair and blood, and return to the primitive state."
"So, a question arises. Since human beings have given up so much freedom in order to obtain the asylum of the state; then, conversely, what kind of governance method should the state adopt to provide this asylum more effectively?"
"Throughout the entire history of mankind, when it comes to ways of governance, there are nothing more than the following: one person rules a country, a small group of people rules a country, and everyone rules a country together."
"In my opinion, these methods are not perfect and have their own drawbacks."
"Let's take 'one person ruling the country' as an example. This is the current situation of the Ayyubid Empire. As the caliph, although I try my best to make the entire empire run in an orderly manner, only I know how difficult this job is.
The pain is so frightening.”
"I only sleep five hours a day and spend a lot of energy and time dealing with the empire's affairs. Religion, people's livelihood, military, science, diplomacy, commerce, law, education... Because of factions, partisanship, and sectarian conflicts, every one of them
I have to personally supervise and manage all areas. Not to boast, but I think that if anyone else were to govern this empire, they would not be able to prevent it from disintegrating."
"But, after I die, who can continue the glory of the empire like me...?"
"Let's talk about "a group of people ruling a country". An elite political group, divided into different factions, controls the political and economic lifeline of the country and jointly decides the future of the empire. This sounds like a good thing.
However, the conflicts within the team, as well as the conflicts between the team and the public, will only become more intense as the gap between rich and poor intensifies, and will eventually end in an explosive revolution. Therefore, a small group of people running a country will
It is also a road full of thorns, and if you are not careful, you will lose everything."
"Finally, let me talk about the approach of 'all people manage the country together'. This approach seems to be the fairest and most reasonable. But in my opinion, the democratic republican approach to governance is the stupidest approach."
"We might as well use a simple mathematical problem to prove it. For example, there are one hundred citizens in a country. Among these one hundred people, there is one wealthy careerist, five wise men who are concerned about the country and the people, and ten of them have only one in their eyes.
Money-grubbers, twenty self-righteous fools, and the remaining sixty-four mediocre people."
"When the country faces a choice, this rich careerist only needs to bribe those ten greedy people, and then let these ten greedy people convince those twenty idiots, and finally let those idiots use public opinion and
Just use propaganda to build momentum and win over those mediocre people."
"In the end, the so-called democratic republic turned into a farce, a farce of financial resources and lies. Whoever can use money to buy more people, whoever can use lies to incite more people, will win the victory in democracy.
occupy an absolutely dominant position in the country.”
"Some people think that my remarks are too absolute, but the facts are often so ridiculous. The so-called people, due to differences in education, occupation, hobbies, beliefs, and intelligence, often show amazing differences in political participation and rationality.
The result. The reality is that among those one hundred citizens, the number of idiots and mediocrities is much higher than I assumed."
"So, what is the truly reasonable way of governance?"
"I have discussed this topic with countless scholars, and gradually I came up with a wild hypothesis."
“If the ruler of the kingdom is an eternal virtuous king who is wise, rational, philanthropic, and alert, then this monarch can lead the kingdom to eternal prosperity... But does such a virtuous king really exist?
For me, just imagining living forever makes me tremble with fear."
"Such a monarch has completely broken away from the category of human beings, even beyond the definition of gods, and has become a unique existence. I call such an existence the 'Sage King'."
Seeing this, Todd slowly put away the book and fell into deep thought.
"The Sage King..."
Rachel walked up to Todd, looked at his expression, and asked softly: "Still thinking about Miles?"
Todd shook his head: "I'm thinking about the future..."
Rachel brushed her long hair that was fluttering in the wind with her hand, and said softly: "You have returned power to the people, and they must walk the next road by themselves. You cannot be like a doting father.
, always take care of them.”
Todd looked at the sparkling sea and nodded slowly: "You may be right. I have done what I can, and the future of the kingdom should belong to the citizens."
Rachel rested her head on Todd's shoulder, her words full of longing: "One day, when we crack the secret of the beacon tower, we can leave here and go to heaven, and everything here will have nothing to do with us anymore.
In the Kingdom of Heaven, we can open up
Get some land, build a dreamlike garden with beautiful scenery, and build several beautiful and quiet buildings in the garden. I, Deirdre, and of course those who are willing to leave with you, are willing to
You can live in that garden..."
"The first thing I want to do when I get to heaven is eat every delicacy there and drink every wine. As for those colorful snacks and snacks, I will buy ten refrigerators, fill them all, and open them every day
One machine, you can eat whatever you want. There are also hot pot, grilled skewers, pan-fried vegetables, steamed buns..."
"Then, we can take that thing called an airplane every day, soar in the sky, pass through the clouds, fly over the sea, and go to the most beautiful places in heaven. We can climb the magnificent snow-capped mountains in the early morning to embrace the rising sun; and
You can walk hand in hand through the soft sandy beach in the evening and wait for the moon."
Rachel snuggled her body into Todd's arms, slowly closed her eyes, and said in a dreamy voice: "When that day comes, I will have a new body, a body that can give birth. And we will have the first
A, a second, a third child... Loneliness will completely go away from us..."
Todd looked at the northern sky, where there were thick clouds and undulating waves.
He didn't speak, but held Rachel tighter in his arms.