Chapter 452: Joining the Wind and Recognizing the Father (Part 2)
Levi sternly rejected Nasus' request.
Because this proposal to protect the independence of the Shurima region is in serious conflict with the underlying logic of the existence of the Janna-led Alliance in Runeterra.
The Janna Alliance in Runeterra aims to break down the barriers between nations and regions in the past with the belief in Janna and achieve the great unity of the people of the world.
How could it possibly recognize the Shurima region that was established under the logic of ethnicism and regionalism?
Nationalism can be said to be good and bad at the same time.
When countries all over the world are doing this, you'd better do something too.
Moreover, in many cases, you have no choice but to do it. Just like when facing the butcher knife of Noxus, Demacians can't help but shout "For Demacia", and Ionians can't help but shout "Ionia is vigorous and immortal".
But times have changed.
In the future, all of Runeterra will be ruled by Janna and the people of the world will be united. You, Shurima, are still pursuing national independence and regional protection... Isn't this a pure step backwards in history?
To put it bluntly:
Everyone is opening their doors to contribute to the construction of Runeterra , but you, Shurima, are closing your doors and protecting your region. Do you want the whole world to benefit you?
"No, absolutely not." So Li Wei refused sternly: "The branches must obey the leadership of the headquarters, and the localities must obey the command of the central council. This is our discipline."
"Mr. Nasus, I understand your thoughts."
The Ascended were all born from feudal rulers. They were able to leap to modern nationalism, put aside their noble status, and treat their fellow Shurimans equally, which was already very progressive.
It is also unrealistic to expect them to quickly accept the leader's spirit and ideas of fighting for the happiness of all mankind.
but……
"This is our belief and our bottom line. We can't give in." Levi said in a serious tone.
The thinking of the ascenders must be further advanced.
Otherwise, if you don’t change your mindset, you’ll have to change people sooner or later.
"You?!" Azir heard the sharpness in Levi's words. He felt his self-esteem was hurt, but he couldn't get angry.
So he held it in for a long time before he sarcastically said, "Mr. Levi, even the Shurima Empire in its heyday did not control vassal regions like Icathia like the Leader's attempt to control Shurima."
"Your leaders say that the nation will perish."
"But you have established an unprecedentedly powerful state machine that covers the entire Rune Land and is more majestic than the ancient Shurima Empire. Isn't this a contradiction?"
Azir was not very polite in his words.
But Levi replied calmly: "First, I must repeat one point. The Leader is not any kind of old ruler."
"What you did to Icathia should be called colonial plunder. This is completely different from the control of the local area by the Alliance Center."
The Shurimans used to force Icathia to pay tribute of slaves every day, and refused to allow Icathia to join the ruling class of the empire and obtain the qualification for ascension, which eventually forced Icathia to rebel.
This is because from the very beginning, the Ekassia people were not considered their own people, but only slaves for the empire to suck blood from.
But would a leader have such selfish intentions of harming others for his own benefit or favoring some over others? Of course not.
"Second, your grasp of Janna's theory isn't very good either." Levi retorted sharply.
"We leaders believe that 'the nation' is the product of irreconcilable class conflicts."
“So when the Great Harmony Society of distribution based on need arrives, class contradictions will be completely resolved, and the state apparatus in the traditional sense will disappear.”
"This does not mean that the state apparatus has to disappear now."
"Because distribution according to need has not yet been achieved, and class contradictions have not been eliminated."
"You use this sentence to accuse us, just like asking a person who is eating why he is holding the bowl when he can just put it down after he is full."
"Hmm..." Azir was speechless after being refuted.
But Nasus seemed to be inspired by Azir's words.
He no longer started from the perspective of nationalism and regionalism, but took a different approach and discussed institutional issues with Livius:
"Mr. Levi, you seem to be a great admirer of the current centralized system of the Leader."
"The public must obey the leadership of the association, the branches must obey the orders of the general association, and the local areas must obey the central command—"
"I admit that this system is very efficient. It can concentrate resources on major tasks, coordinate the overall situation and achieve scientific development."
"I also know that Janna's faith test ensures the purity of the Wind Leader team, allowing you to avoid the various drawbacks brought about by the concentration of power."
"But there is one drawback that you cannot avoid - that is, saints can also make mistakes, and mistakes are inevitable."
"And the current centralized system of the leader will only magnify the mistakes infinitely."
Concentrating our efforts can accomplish great things, but if we fail, it will inevitably cause greater losses.
And unlimited power means unlimited responsibility. If something goes wrong, the public's anger will definitely be directed at you.
So it would be better to distribute power and responsibility and let each region develop freely under the laws of the market, Nasus suggested.
"This..." Levi was a little surprised.
The Grand Maester was indeed a Grand Maester. He had not expected that Nasus could ask such a profound question.
This is no longer a simple discussion of the decentralization between local and central governments, but a discussion of the rationality of the entire centralized system of the leader.
"In fact, similar issues have also sparked discussions in the public opinion circles of the Twin Cities," said Li Wei.
“Oh?” Nasus raised his eyebrows in surprise. “In the Twin Cities where the Wind Leaders have the strongest influence, is there anyone who dares to question you?”
"Haha." Levi heard the veiled accusation in Nasus's voice.
He smiled and replied: "It is precisely because we are the strongest that we have absolute freedom of speech."
"..." Nasus was stunned for a moment, then couldn't help laughing: "Indeed."
Is the Shurima Empire afraid of criticism? No. Because they have hundreds of Ascended.
The leader has become so strong that it cannot be shaken.
And the thread of faith is there. No matter how many objections people have, they know clearly in their hearts who to follow and who to trust in the end.
"So I respect those who are in opposition. Those who can still stand up and oppose at this time are people with true faith."
"The opinions they put forward may not be correct, but they can serve as a reference for us to examine and reflect on ourselves."
Li Wei said this sincerely. He didn't pretend to be generous.
He truly respects genuine opponents who have their own persistence, no matter how outrageous their opinions are.
What he hates are just those pseudo-oppositionists who change their stance according to the wind.
For example, the group of writers in the Piltover Daily News.
Before the Leader became successful, this group of people wrote articles every day to criticize the Leader, describing him as a group of psychopaths who hated the rich and were the scum of the bottom of Zaun who wanted to get something for nothing.
But when the leader gained power, these people changed their attitude 180 degrees again, praising the leader in the newspapers every day, and dared not write even the slightest negative content...
"People like this are the real pests." Levi commented unceremoniously: "These people first talked about the spirit of freedom, and then they talked about the rule of Cana. In the final analysis, they are just admirers of the strong and fawning on the power."
He criticized this phenomenon in the Twin Cities.
Therefore, under Levi's guidance, everyone discovered that the Wind Leaders did not physically eliminate dissidents like Noxus did;
It is also not like Piltover, which respects freedom of speech on the surface but secretly sends family spies to physically eliminate opponents.
As a result, they dared to stand up and give their opinions.
"Mr. Nasus, the opinion you just raised is the issue we have focused on discussing."
"That is, is the current centralized system of the leader reasonable? Is the theory of the leader as a 'vanguard' correct?"
In the Twin Cities, and even within the Leaders, there are a few voices of opposition to this.
Some radical leaders believe that since the state apparatus will eventually disappear, they, as believers in the Lord of Ghana, should artificially accelerate this process.
As long as everyone becomes a leader and has a high level of ideological awareness, the existence of a state apparatus is unnecessary.
"Do you think this is right?" Levi asked.
“This…” Nasus thought for a moment. These people’s proposals seemed to be even more radical than his idea of decentralization.
Ultimately, he chose not to side with the radicals: “No, I don’t completely agree with it.”
“Because matter determines consciousness, and social existence determines social consciousness.” Nasus thought of the Ionian proverb that Taliyah once mentioned: “When the granaries are full, people know etiquette; when they have enough food and clothing, they know honor and disgrace.”
“A high level of ideological awareness that everyone can possess cannot exist independently of highly developed productivity.”
"As long as the Great Harmony Society has not been realized and private ownership has not disappeared, it will be impossible for 'everyone to be a leader'."
"That's right." Levi nodded.
He knew a Zaun snack bar owner who sold Frog Meat.
That guy's theoretical foundation is extremely solid, he is even better than the leader.
But he is just a follower of the wind with shallow faith, and is not a true leader at all.
The reason is simple. He cares more about making money than sacrificing for the leader's beliefs.
This kind of value will never be eliminated and will exist widely before the Great Harmony Society is realized.
Therefore, a social system that does not require the rule of the state apparatus and relies entirely on the individual consciousness of citizens to function well is almost impossible to emerge at this stage.
“I understand what you mean, Mr. Levi.” Nasus did not stop retorting: “You want to tell me that the state machine is still necessary.”
"But you seem to have misunderstood my question. I didn't mean to question the existence of the state apparatus - I just wanted to say that perhaps we don't need a state apparatus with such a powerful center."
Nasus raised the question again.
He didn't think that what Levi had just said could convince him to accept the Leader as his "father".
"No rush, let's analyze it step by step." Levi replied calmly.
Now that Nasus has recognized the necessity of the state machine, does its core need to be so powerful?
“It is necessary, and it must be necessary.”
“The leader must be the vanguard of the struggle and the core of leadership for the great cause.”
“Why?” Nasus frowned.
"First of all," Levi answered with preparation, "You have to know that most areas of Runeland are still in an extremely backward state of poverty."
The main enemy of the leader now is not even the advanced people like the Ziben family, but the warlords, nobles, landlords, and masters of all kinds...
Without strong administrative capacity, scattered workers and peasants would not be able to organize themselves to eliminate the old forces, and backward regions would not be able to quickly break free of their shackles and move rapidly towards industrialization and modernization.
"Yes, the industrialization process of Runeterra still needs the strong leadership of the Leader to drive it forward." Nasus agreed with this.
"But this is not necessarily the case. We need a strong center, right? An independent Shurima branch is also capable of completing the transformation of Shurima society and the subsequent industrial development."
Nasus said confidently, "Isn't it just about cleaning up those tribal warlords and integrating resources to develop industry?"
They can do it on their own without the need for central command.
This time, Levi didn't answer directly.
He looked off in the distance, at the Ionian woodweavers who were working to restore greenery to Shurima.
"Mr. Nasus, do you know?"
"When the Wind Leader decided to organize 1,000 woodweavers to support Shurima, some Ionians even said that the Wind Leader was no different from Noxus, and that they were all bandits who came to plunder Ionia."
“This…” Nasus was silent.
Levi added: "When the Leader decided to initiate long-term industrial assistance to Shurima, some workers in Zaun also had opinions."
"They believe that the leaders are ruthlessly exploiting their hard-earned money to pay tribute to a feudal empire."
At first glance, what these Zaun workers say seems to make sense.
How can they use the profits created by their hard work to subsidize a group of foreigners?
But just rephrase it: "Zuan refuses to make transfer payments to backward regions."
"The master of Zuan is the master, don't come here to beg for food if you are from other places."
"Can you still agree with this kind of talk?" Levi asked again.
“……”Nasus was even more speechless.
He understood what Levi meant.
"If there is no strong leadership from the Leader Center and power is delegated to local branches, then..."
The branch will definitely give priority to being responsible to the residents in its jurisdiction and will give priority to catering to the opinions of the residents under its jurisdiction.
"And the consciousness of Lord Janna cannot be awakened spontaneously in the hearts of the masses. It needs to be instilled from the outside by the leader."
This does not mean that without a leader, everyone will lose their spirit of resistance and will not fight.
Resisting oppression and exploitation and fighting for one's own rights are human instincts and do not require leaders to teach.
But this is just "fighting for your own rights" -
What about others?
Do they care about the suffering happening outside of Zaun and in other parts of the world?
Some progressives will, but on the whole, absolutely not.
Just like Zaun now:
If public opinion were followed completely, the second-line construction plan led by the leader could be stopped now.
The isolation wall to prevent foreign immigration was rebuilt the next day by the Zaun people who had turned the tables.
It's not that they're bad.
But now it is still a private property society, and money is still very important.
This means that most people will prioritize their own interests over others.
“If we decentralize power and let regional powers take the lead, this strange phenomenon will inevitably occur:”
"The Zaun people who have been influenced by Janna's rule will have a strong rebellious spirit."
"You can see in the news every day the struggles they have made to fight for their own rights, and then shout in your heart, 'It's worthy of being an old revolutionary base.'"
"But at the same time, these Zaun people will feel very comfortable enjoying the rubber shipped from the Shurima slave plantations, the spare parts provided by the Noxian sweatshops, and the food smuggled from the Demacia noble estates."
"They may say that everyone is equal every day, but in reality they don't take many actions."
"Because the Zaun chapter only needs to be responsible to the Zaun people, and the Zaun people only need to be responsible for their own good lives."
If this is the case, then the leader can only build a few so-called developed areas in Runeterra, similar to Piltover.
The vast majority of Runeterra will remain forever mired in poverty and backwardness.
As for the harmonious society in Jana's theory...that is even more impossible to achieve.
"Without the Leader as the core leader of Janna's cause, it would be impossible to achieve unity across Runeterra and build a truly harmonious society."
"At least at this stage of society, the public still needs the guidance of pioneers."
"Mr. Nasus, do you understand this?"
“……”Nasus remained silent in thought.
At this time, Levi stood up calmly: "Mr. Nasus, the 'business' is over, and I should leave."
"I hope that next time we meet, you can think about the problem from the perspective of a leader, rather than a Shurima leader—"
"In this way, we are real comrades."
As he spoke, Levi extended his hand to Nasus in a friendly manner.
Nasus looked at Azir who was standing beside him, and saw that Azir was also lost in thought because of the debate between the two of them.
“Hmm.” Nasus sighed.
He held Levi's "little hand" with his big jackal paw, and then said seriously: "I will think about the problem you mentioned."
"Levi...Comrade."
