Some people might feel this way: when you had money, making money was not difficult, but when you had none, making money was truly hard.
This was not some meaningless platitude. By the twentieth century, who still remembered the glory of the textile industry? Hot money had all gone into the internet and real estate. After World War I, even France had switched careers and started making Michelin tires.
Even if women had no interest in cars, they should have seen that chubby cartoon figure and Michelin-starred restaurants. By then, France had already focused on the chemical and pharmaceutical fields it excelled in.
Yet as machinery and technology constantly advanced, human productivity rose while the population declined. In other words, the previous generation had squandered the demographic dividend, and those who came after had to repay the debt. Urging people to have children was like hounding them for repayment.
Repaying debts was long, painful, and exhausting. You got used to it eventually. That was the life of the poor; the only difference was that the poor owed money.
Why were people so troublesome? Why would they not listen to advice?
If human initiative were so easily stirred, there would be no great figures, nor would anyone rewrite history.
Zhuangzi had a saying: "Until the sages die, great thieves will never cease." When the Han Dynasty replaced the Qin dynasty, it spoke of the Qin dynasty's harsh punishments and cruel laws. When the Tang dynasty replaced the Sui dynasty, it spoke of Emperor Yang of Sui's debauchery and tyranny. Even the Qing Dynasty had its Kangxi–Qianlong Prosperity, set against the Ming dynasty's eunuchs ruining the state and the Embodied Guards. William the Conqueror's slander of Edward the Martyr had likewise been groundwork for his own rule. He had to secure his