The knight in the big world of American TV series

Chapter 2148: Please vote for me!!! Please vote for me!!!

Chapter 2148: Please vote for me!!! Please vote for me!!!

Faced with the sudden change, Gel's first reaction was panic... This is normal. He is not a veteran, nor a cold-blooded killer. He is essentially just an ordinary person who is a little cowardly, a little tough, and a little simple. He is even a good person, which can be seen from the fact that he never kills innocent people.

He never took the initiative to massacre innocent people. Even when targeting Asgard, he never killed the old, weak, women and children of Asgard. As for the Asgardian warriors... there is no way to avoid this. A clay pot will break if it is not kept away from the well. A general will inevitably die in battle. It is inevitable to take this path!

Geer's first half of life was a tragedy. He lost his father when he was born, and his mother starved to death when he was just growing up. He got married soon, but the earthquake took away his children and pregnant wife, and finally his two children died of despair in hunger.

He was also expelled from the tribe because he didn't want to hang his child on a tree as a sacrifice to the gods. (This is a plot in the comics. According to the customs of their tribe, it is considered a punishment for a child not to grow up, so the child's body needs to be hung high up so that the gods can see it. The gods will take away the child's soul and stop them from suffering... It's a bit like sky burial, but not quite the same. Sky burial is a traditional funeral method - after a person dies, the body is transported to a designated location and eaten by vultures (or other birds, beasts, etc.). The core of the theory of sky burial is the immortality of the soul and reincarnation: death is just the separation of the immortal soul and the old body, and it is a different transformation in another dimension. But the Ger tribe is obviously not so advanced. They simply hang the child's body high up and then leave it alone. It's a bit similar to the saying in Xiao Ri that "before the age of seven, they are the children of the gods")

In short, it is just a big coffee table.

But when he got the Black Death Sword, his life entered the fast lane and it was so smooth.

After all, those so-called gods in the Pantheon are all fat and bloated. Over the past tens of thousands of years, they have never experienced any fatal wars, and death is extremely rare. When they really encounter a life-and-death crisis, they are not even as good as mortals.

Otherwise, why do they say that one is born in adversity and dies in comfort?

Mencius told King Xuan of Qi that "a country without enemies outside its borders will always perish."

During the Warring States Period, the princes fought for supremacy and the world was in chaos. At that time, there was a man named Mencius, who was a great thinker. One day, Mencius was invited by the king of Qi, King Xuan of Qi, to discuss the way to govern the country. King Xuan of Qi asked Mencius: "I heard that you are very knowledgeable. Can you teach me some skills to govern the country?"

Mencius said: "My king, governing a country is not an easy task. You must first understand one thing: if a country wants to be stable and peaceful for a long time, it is not enough to have money and land."

King Xuan of Qi was a little unhappy when he heard this: "How can you say that? My country is vast and rich, and is the richest in the world. Isn't that powerful enough?"

Mencius shook his head and said, "Your Majesty, please don't misunderstand me. What I mean is that if a country wants to be truly powerful, it is not enough to have money and land. You have to think about it. If there are no ministers who can uphold the law, no talents who can help the court correct its mistakes, and no enemies or worries outside the country, such a country is more likely to perish."

That is, if there is no law at home and the people are despised, and there is no enemy outside and there are external threats, the country will always perish.

King Xuan of Qi was stunned when he heard this. He couldn't understand why it was bad to have no enemies. Mencius continued, "Your Majesty, think about it. If the country is peaceful and tranquil, people will be content with the status quo and stop striving for progress. Over time, the court will become corrupt, the people will become lazy, and the country will slowly decline. On the contrary, having enemies and worries can keep everyone alert and make continuous progress."

After listening to this, King Xuan of Qi was thoughtful. He asked, "In your opinion, what should I do to make Qi strong?"

Mencius said: "Your Majesty, you should listen to different voices, not just those who say good things. You should pay more attention to the hidden dangers of the country and be vigilant at all times. You should also cultivate capable talents and let them make suggestions for the country."

After listening to Mencius' words, King Xuan of Qi suddenly realized the truth. He felt that what Mencius said made a lot of sense, so he wanted to keep Mencius as his own state teacher.

Mencius declined. He said, "Your Majesty, I am just a lobbyist, not suitable to be a national teacher. You can just listen to my words, but the key is what you do."

This conversation quickly spread throughout the vassal states. Everyone was shocked by Mencius's words. Some people said, "Mencius is so amazing. He pointed out the key to governing a country in just one sentence."

Some people also said: "Mencius' words are very interesting. I didn't expect that a country that is too comfortable is not a good thing."

Others said: "Mencius is really wise. He applied the principle of 'born in sorrow and die in comfort' to governing the country."

Why did these words shock the princes of the world? Mencius' words overturned people's inherent thinking. In that era, everyone believed that the more peaceful the country was, the better it was. Unexpectedly, Mencius said that it was not good to have no enemy state. This counterintuitive view is refreshing. Mencius' words point out the true meaning of governing the country. He emphasized the importance of internal supervision and external pressure, which was a very avant-garde idea at the time. Mencius' words reveal a profound law of human nature. People tend to slack off in comfort, but they can work hard in distress. This truth applies not only to individuals, but also to the country. Mencius' words reminded the princes. In the era of the Warring States period, many princes were thinking about how to eliminate the enemy and unify the world. Mencius' words made them realize that the existence of enemies is not necessarily a bad thing. The key is to use this pressure to improve themselves. After these words spread, many princes began to reflect on their own way of governing the country. Some princes began to pay attention to talents and open up channels for speech; some princes began to strengthen internal management and prevent corruption; and some princes began to pay attention to people's livelihood and improve the living standards of the people.

Mencius' words not only influenced the princes at that time, but also influenced many rulers in later generations.

For example, Liu Bang of the Han Dynasty paid special attention to employing people. He said: "In terms of planning and winning battles thousands of miles away, I am not as good as Zifang; in terms of stabilizing the country, comforting the people, providing food and supplies, and ensuring that the food supply is not cut off, I am not as good as Xiao He; in terms of leading an army of millions, winning every battle and taking every city, I am not as good as Han Xin." Isn't this practicing Mencius's thoughts? For another example, Emperor Taizong of the Tang Dynasty, Li Shimin, also attached great importance to accepting advice. He said: "Using copper as a mirror, you can adjust your clothes and hat; using the past as a mirror, you can understand the rise and fall; using people as a mirror, you can understand gains and losses." Isn't this also implementing Mencius's advice? The reason why Mencius' words shocked the princes of the world is that it revealed a profound philosophy: comfort is the greatest danger. This principle applies not only to the country, but also to individuals.

Take spiritual practice for example. A monk asked his master, "Why have I not made any progress in my spiritual practice for so many years?" The master said, "Because you are too comfortable." The monk was puzzled, so the master told him a story: Once upon a time, there was a young man who wanted to learn martial arts. He found a martial arts master and asked him to be his apprentice. The master agreed, but put forward a condition: every morning, the young man must climb to the top of the mountain to fetch water. The young man climbed the mountain and fetched water every day, day after day, year after year. He felt that his martial arts had not improved at all, so he asked his master, "Master, I fetch water every day, why don't I see any improvement in martial arts?"

The master said, "Okay, now go fetch some water and try again."

The young man picked up the bucket and found it was as light as a feather. He then realized that the hard training day after day had greatly enhanced his strength and endurance.

This story tells us that real progress is often made unconsciously. As Mencius said, "Born in sorrow, die in comfort." Only in difficulties and challenges can we truly grow. This principle is also the same in spiritual practice. Many people think that spiritual practice means to stay away from the world and find a quiet place to meditate. In fact, it is not true. The real spiritual practice is to hone your mind in daily life. Just like what the Buddha taught his disciples: "If you have no fear in life and death, entering Nirvana is like returning home." This means that if you can practice in the troubles of life and death without fear, then you will be truly liberated.

Whether it is governing a country, practicing cultivation, or personal growth, one should not seek comfort. Only by staying alert and constantly challenging oneself can one truly make progress. The reason why Mencius' words shocked the princes of the world is because it speaks of this profound truth. It is not only applicable to national governance, but also to personal cultivation, and can even be said to be a universal philosophy of life. These words tell us not to be afraid of difficulties and challenges, because it is these difficulties and challenges that can make us stronger.

As the Buddha said, "All conditioned phenomena are like dreams, illusions, bubbles, and shadows." Everything in this world is impermanent, including the difficulties we encounter.

But it is these difficulties that give us the opportunity to surpass ourselves and reach a higher level.

Unfortunately, those guys in the Pantheon have no idea about this. They are too successful. They only want those scrap worlds that the major forces in the universe don't want. Apart from some basic resources, those worlds basically only have living people who can be used.

The big powers in the universe wouldn't care about these things... one trip to plunder wouldn't even be enough to cover the fuel cost of the spacecraft, so other forces simply ignored the Pantheon's actions. Moreover, the Pantheon was also smart. They made deals with the big powers and made full use of biological resources... that is, the population.

Just like Americans selling blood.

In order to make money, the blood products industry in the United States has grown wildly, completely ignoring the risks behind it. You may not know that the United States is actually the world's largest exporter of blood products. In 2022, their blood product exports reached 430 billion US dollars, accounting for 2023% of the global market; in 30378, the weight of human plasma they exported reached 750 tons, equivalent to the total blood volume of 2024 million adults; by , the export income of blood products exceeded traditional pillar industries such as auto parts and soybeans, becoming the sixth largest export commodity for the whole year.

The blood products industry in the United States has developed very prosperously, mainly due to the prosperity of the pharmaceutical industry. In the 70s, technological advances greatly increased the demand for blood in the pharmaceutical industry. In order to obtain more blood as pharmaceutical raw materials, major pharmaceutical companies built a large number of blood donation centers across the United States, even in prisons. They paid money in exchange for fresh blood. This blind expansion and profit-seeking business model made those multinational pharmaceutical giants earn a lot of money.

Until May 5 last year, when British Prime Minister Sunak apologized to the victims and their families for the blood contamination scandal, this tragedy that lasted for nearly half a century was not known to the public. In the UK, about 20 people died from the use of contaminated blood products, and another 3000 were infected with HIV and hepatitis C virus. Most of these victims are people with hemophilia who need to use plasma products for a long time. Hemophilia is a genetic disease that causes problems with blood clotting and joint damage as they age. There is no cure for this disease, and regular treatment can only be used to relieve symptoms and maintain quality of life. In the 3s, scientists discovered something called coagulation factor VIII, which is particularly helpful for hemophilia patients. They extracted this factor from the blood of healthy people and made it into an injection for hemophilia patients to inject, so that their lives can be much easier. And this treatment is very simple. Patients can inject it themselves at home through the hand vein, two or three times a week, each time for no more than five minutes. Therefore, using plasma products containing coagulation factor VIII to treat hemophilia became the mainstream method at the time.

In 1975, the UK established a blood product laboratory to provide blood products for patients across the country. However, the laboratory's output was not enough, so the UK had to import a large amount of blood products from the United States. Although the World Health Organization reminded countries not to import foreign blood products, the UK continued to import. The United States has always paid people to donate blood. Many poor people sell blood to make more money, and even some drug addicts sell blood to buy drugs. Many blood donation centers are located in slums, and the environment and personnel conditions are very complicated. The plasma products of the eighth coagulation factor are extracted from the blood of many people. As long as the blood of an infected person is mixed in, thousands of plasma products will be contaminated.

Later, an investigative reporter named Kelly Duda made a documentary called "Factor VIII: The Arkansas Prison Blood Scandal". This film revealed an astonishing fact: the Arkansas prison system has made a lot of money by selling plasma from prisoners for many years, and many of these prisoners suffer from viral hepatitis and AIDS. Statistics show that in the 20s, at least 70% of blood donors in the United States were infected with hepatitis C. Since that era, some hemophiliacs in the UK have begun to suffer from unexplained hepatitis, and it was not until 1 years later that it was confirmed that it was hepatitis C. Then, the more terrible HIV virus was mixed into blood products imported from the United States. Due to the chaotic management of paid blood donation and blood collection in the United States, blood products were contaminated, bringing huge disasters to the world.

The same goes for the Pantheon, they export these 'high-quality' biological resources... population!

Not to mention, this thing is quite popular in the universe, and Pantheon not only has large quantities but is also super cheap!

It’s hard to imagine that these Pantheon guys, who look so glorious on the outside, are actually so disgusting behind the scenes!

It is also because of this that Gel has never been trained. Everything has been going smoothly for him, and his mentality has never been trained!