The third emperor of the Sui Dynasty

Chapter 639 Playing with fire and setting yourself on fire
At night, a house in Jiangdu City is brightly lit. This house is a private garden of the Lu family in Jiangdong. It covers an area of ​​about ten acres. Some pavilions extend into the lake, which is very characteristic of Jiangnan Water Town.

Outside the gate, gorgeous carriages were parked. Under the wall next to each carriage, groups of servants and guards were squatting. At a glance, there were at least 60 small groups, each representing a family. The servants and guards formed a group of their own, chatting together boredly.

The Jiangdong Lu family rose up in the late Han Dynasty.

During the Three Kingdoms period, the four major clans in Jiangdong played a key role in the rise and consolidation of the Soochow regime. Later generations called them "Zhang Wen, Zhu Wu, Lu Zhong, and Gu Hou". Above the Yu, Lu, Lu, Cheng, Huang and other families.

To say they are gentry, they are really not qualified, because the gentry is a big family in the Central Plains, but if they are not gentry, they tend to make the most trouble, especially during the small courts of the Eastern Wu and Eastern Jin, they can barely be called gentry .These Jiangnan gentry, to put it bluntly, are local snakes. They lived happily in the south of the Yangtze River in the Eastern Wu, Western Jin, and Eastern Jin Dynasties. advantage overwhelmed.

In the past, the four surnames of Wu, who belonged to a family of hairpins and bells, experienced the rise of the Three Kingdoms at the end of the Han Dynasty and the prosperity of the Jin Dynasty. In the Southern and Northern Dynasties, the population was thin, and gradually fell silent, no longer the splendor of their ancestors.

However, the Langya Wang family, which arose in the Qin and Han Dynasties, moved to the south of the Yangtze River to avoid the chaos during the Yongjia Rebellion at the end of the Western Jin Dynasty. Sima Rui, supported by the Wang family, established the Eastern Jin Dynasty in Jiankang and rejuvenated the Jin family.The Wang family is so important and prestigious that no other family can replace it. At that time, there was a good saying in the world: "The king and the horse share the world!"

In the Eastern Jin Dynasty, only the Xie family, who emerged in the Battle of Feishui, stood shoulder to shoulder with him, and was collectively called "Wang Xie" by later generations.

It's a pity that 'in the old days Wang Xietang's former swallows flew into the homes of ordinary people'

Because Wang Xie participated in the government too much and was too strong, coupled with the lack of successors, he declined at the end of the Northern and Southern Dynasties. The clan's decline has been quite complete. Apart from retaining the tradition of passing on poems and books to the family, its influence can't reach Huaishui at all.

Now, it is the turn of the "Four Families of Wu" to dominate the Jiangnan gentry. Originally, Wu Xing's Shen family could overwhelm the four families, but because Shen Faxing came from the Shen family, after he was annihilated by Li Mi, the Shen family fell into bad luck. Although Li Mi did not destroy his clan, many outstanding descendants of the Shen clan were killed in the war, the status of the Shen clan plummeted, and they no longer had the strength to challenge any clan.

This also makes the "four surnames of Wu" who have shared honor and disgrace for hundreds of years become the well-deserved leader of the Jiangnan gentry.Back then, Yang Guangda strongly supported Yu Shiji in Kuaiji, and acquiesced in allowing him to use the power of the big family, not only to balance the power of the court, but also to restrain the increasingly prosperous "Four Families of Wu".

However, after Yu Shiji, known as a "treacherous minister", was executed by Yu Wenhuaji, his family that had been in business for decades was suppressed jointly by Yu Wenhuaji and the "Four Families of Wu". People, the power of the Yu family can be said to have turned into the dust of history.

The influence of the "Four Families of Wu" that devoured Wu Xing Shen's and Kuaiji Yu's forces is increasing day by day, and among these four big families, the Lu family has always been second to none in terms of the quantity and quality of talents, historical role or length of time in power. Coupled with the strong support of the other three families, the Lu family became the leader of the Jiangnan gentry.

In the day-like lobby, a map of the south of the Yangtze River was hung on a huge wooden frame, and more than 60 family heads from the gentry in the south of the Yangtze River gathered together.This is a temporary meeting called by Lu Yuan, the Patriarch of the Lu family. The reason is that after everyone swears allegiance to the Great Sui Dynasty, Great Sui Xizuo sent a letter to Lu Yuan. Emperor Shengwu decided to give five county guards and let them discuss the distribution by themselves. , who will win, needs to be negotiated and compromised by the gentry in the south of the Yangtze River.

With the last Patriarch in place, everyone has already arrived. Lu Yuan, who is above the master, waved his hand and said to everyone: "Please be quiet, everyone."

The hall gradually became quiet. Lu Yuan cleared his throat, and said in a loud voice: "I called you here tonight to discuss something with you. Emperor Shengwu decided to give us the Jiangnan gentry five county guards..."

Before he could finish speaking, the hall erupted immediately, and all the Patriarchs shouted angrily: "Didn't it be agreed before that there would be one family? Why are there only five sheriffs?"

Someone shouted again: "If you make us work hard, but only take out five county guards, do you think we are beggars?"

The person who spoke was Shen Rong, the Patriarch of the Shen family. He knew that the five places were not his turn, so he encouraged everyone to disagree.The small family who had the same thoughts as him also had the same thoughts, and immediately echoed them.

"Mr. Shen is right. We Jiangnan gentry should hold together and fight for the power that belongs to our Jiangnan gentry."

As an aristocratic family and a local tyrant, the characteristics of its family culture are that it embraces a certain warlord's thigh, catastrophes a divided and separatist regime, contributes to the war against unification, and strives to become stronger when the regime it supports, the Northern Expedition Hold back in the Central Plains.Only in this way, one's own status and interests will not be suspected and suppressed by the imperial power after the reunification.So fundamentally speaking, for the sake of the family, they don't want the world to be unified. As for the life and death of the people, they don't care at all. The continuous war can allow them to take the opportunity to occupy good land and hide the refugees. If the world is peaceful, how can the refugees let them hide? ?

Is this not?

Without any strength, they planned to group together to put pressure on the court.

"Mr. Lu, you are the leader of the gentry in the south of the Yangtze River. You must not agree to Sui Emperor in private."

"My Lu family will naturally advance and retreat with you." Lu Yuan said with a smile.

"In this way, the old man can rest assured."

"I don't know what other conditions you have?" Lu Yuan asked again.

As soon as the words fell, an old man stood up. This old man was holding a bright crutch in his hand, with a silver beard flying on his chest. It was Xie Duo, the head of the Xie clan. He wrote a book and said that he is very famous in Jiangnan Shilin.Seeing him get up, everyone shut up.

Xie Duo was very grateful for this respect, stroked his long beard and said: "With the support of us and the Jiangnan gentry, the world will soon be unified, but Emperor Shengwu is much younger after all, he doesn't know that the world belongs to the family, and he doesn't Knowing that only aristocratic families can assist the emperor. How can those poor people seriously assist the emperor?"

"What Xie Gong said is very true. Most of those poor scholars came from poor families. When they suddenly gained high positions, their greedy nature was immediately exposed. Faced with the sudden arrival of prosperity and wealth, they have long forgotten the teachings of saints. Some time ago, what happened in the Sui Dynasty You should understand the matter, within a month, hundreds of corrupt officials were arrested, the faces of these poor people! It really makes me ashamed to be with you." Lu Yuan said

"Hey, it's insulting to gentleness, it's really insulting to gentleness." Xie Duo sighed again and again, with some dissatisfaction between his brows. This dissatisfaction is not only directed at corrupt officials who have lost themselves, but also at Yang Tong who puts a lot of value on poor scholars: "Old man Yi In my opinion, the distribution of books should be banned, and books should be in the hands of the imperial court and noble families with good morals, let alone published. I think the civilization of the Sui Dynasty is the precipitation of thousands of years, left by the sages of the past. How can treasures be owned by incompetent and immoral people? It is because books and knowledge come so easily, so these immoral and poor people do not know how to cherish them, how can this be done?"

In the past, if poor scholars wanted to read books, they had to borrow books from aristocratic families and copy them. It also depended on whether the aristocratic families were willing to give alms or not. Because of this, the aristocratic families who controlled knowledge were always at the top, but after cheap books became popular all over the world, The advantage of the aristocratic family is gone, and up to now, the aristocratic family can't ban it even if they want to. Unless the court comes forward, no one can change this general trend.

And Yang Tong suddenly found hundreds of corrupt officials from poor families, which gave the gentry a chance to bombard the poor families and the policy of reusing the poor. The gentry...are also taking the opportunity to attack.If there were gentry living under the rule of the Sui Dynasty, it would have been a mess long ago.

"Yes, but to change these things, Emperor Shengwu still needs to nod! He disagrees, who dares to move under the rule of Sui?"

"Emperor Shengwu can fight wars, but governing the world is still a little too tender." Xie Duo said smugly: "Since ancient times, only the court and the family can govern together for a long time. Otherwise, Wang Mang is the best example."

"Xie Gong's words of gold and jade are also one of the conditions for my Jiangnan gentry. What do you think?" Lu Yuan also showed a smile. Twisting into a rope, taking the opportunity to attack the court, so as to protect the interests of the family, this goal is common, so he did not object.

Xie Duo nodded in satisfaction, looked at the crowd and said, "What do you guys think?"

"I support Mr. Xie!"

"The old man also supports the banning of books. At the same time, he hopes that the imperial court will ban the imperial examination. If it is really necessary to implement it, the number of admissions must be strictly divided. [-]% of the nobles, and at most [-]% of the poor."

"One family and one sheriff is the most basic condition, otherwise, I, Mrs. Gu, will never agree."

"The old man seconded!"

"Second!"

"..."

For a while, there was a lot of discussion in the hall, and the ugliness was exposed.

"Papa, papa..." At this moment, a burst of crisp applause came from outside the hall, and a middle-aged scribe walked into the hall and said as he walked, "Wonderful, extremely wonderful!"

As soon as the Patriarchs turned their heads, they saw dozens of internal army guards surrounded Fang Xuanzao and walked into the lobby, everyone immediately stood up and glared at Fang Xuanzao.

"Patriarch, the army has surrounded the house." At this moment, a housekeeper shouted to report.

As soon as this statement came out, everyone was in an uproar.

They were surrounded by the army?

Lu Yuan was furious, and asked sharply, "Fang Xuanzao! What do you mean? Is Your Majesty trying to take this opportunity to kill us all?"

"What do you mean?" Fang Xuanzao glanced at everyone with his hands behind his back, and said with a cold smile, "Unite with the Sui Army and betray the Kingdom of Wei, what do you actually ask me?"

Everyone looked at each other in blank dismay, with horror in their eyes.

Fang Xuanzao smiled "hehe", and looked at these ugly Jiangnan gentry patriarchs with the utmost teasing, "Didn't you talk about it just now? Please continue..."

"..." There was a dead silence in the hall.

Fang Xuanzao, as No.1 under Li Mi, is in charge of the government affairs of the Wei State. After going south, he has been embarrassed by these people. Looking at these things at this time, he feels extremely happy: "Why, now I know I'm afraid? Tonight La……"

"What do you want?" Lu Yuan's face changed drastically.

"What are you doing?" Fang Xuanzao backed away, suddenly changed his face and said, "Do it."

"Bang bang bang bang..."

Following Fang Xuanzao's order, there was a burst of crisp sound coming from the window of the living room, but it was the generals of the Wei army who smashed open the window and threw clay pots into it. The pots were broken, and there was a strong smell of kerosene. children filled the hall.

There was a sudden chaos in the hall, and they ran away from the door. However, they were greeted by the butcher knives of the generals of the Wei army. Extremely fun.

For about a quarter of an hour, dozens of patriarchs in the hall were hacked to death, and the soldiers began to set fire to them. These Lu's villas were engulfed in billowing thick smoke, and finally burned to the ground.

The houses, gardens, and shops of various Jiangdu nobles were taken over by Wei Jun, and all men, women, and children were hacked to death.

How ruthless the Wei army's generals are, it shows how much anger and resentment they have towards the Jiangnan gentry.The nightmare for the gentry in the south of the Yangtze River has just begun. Their properties and children in the counties and counties of the Wei State were also brutally bloodbathed by the Wei Army at this time.

The case of annihilating the Jiangnan gentry was ordered by Li Mi in anger, but under Fang Xuanzao's careful arrangements, the Jiangnan gentry suffered a devastating blow. The lazy atmosphere has changed, and the whole Wei State is full of chilling and tense momentum, full of war state, which has greatly promoted the Wei army's active preparation for war.

(End of this chapter)