Ancestor Bless: I built a thousand-year-old family

Chapter 1004 Suppression
"In the traditions of the Chinese nation, teachers hold a lofty status. In the ancient code of conduct, teachers are called masters, and their status is second only to the emperor and father. In a society where the patriarchal system runs through the world, the authority of teachers can be seen from this.

Many people have explored the reasons for the formation of this concept. Different people give different answers, but there is one guess that is widely accepted:

During the tens of millions of years when human beings have moved from the ancient times of eating raw meat and drinking blood to civilized society, the role played by teachers, who have assumed the role of knowledge inheritance, cannot be ignored.

In ancient times, those who played this role were usually the priests who held a high status in the tribe. People with knowledge were respected. This was the tradition of the Xia people. Knowledge was everything, so people who were willing to grant knowledge were naturally respected because they allowed a person to survive in this world, which was of course second only to the authority of parents who gave life.

In today's new era, the world is developing rapidly and new things are emerging every moment, but we still have to face a reality: it is not a joke to draw strength from the classics of the ancient saints.

In Asia and Europe, many scholars were looking for knowledge and ideas in classics that could contribute to today's society. New learning was born and grew rapidly in the new era.

Retro does not mean that we should go back to that ignorant era, but it means that we should be down-to-earth and innovate.

We, the Chinese people, have a profound cultural heritage. This is our heritage, and this is one of the reasons why I wrote this book today."

Luo Qingyun wrote the last sentence, put down the pen, pondered for a moment, and then began to write again, fluently recording his thoughts.

He was wearing clothes made of linen with several patches on them, and the skin on his hands was very rough. He was in a slightly cramped little house, which was a bit messy and full of papers. Luo Qingyun, the great-nephew of Luo Changqing, probably no one could tell from the environment he was in that he was a direct descendant of the Luo family and came from the most powerful family.

As if he was a little tired from writing, Luo Qingyun picked up a piece of dry and hard bread beside him and started to chew it. He swallowed it with some difficulty and muttered, "This broken thing is dry and hard, and it hurts my throat. It would be better if I had a big hot steamed bun."

The reason why he ate these things was because Luo Qingyun didn't have much money left. He traveled all over the world, went deep into farmlands and factories, and basically spent most of the money he brought with him when he went out. In fact, he could go to Luo's Bank to get his monthly allowance. As a direct descendant of the Luo family, he could get a lot of money, but he didn't want it.

The money he spent was basically the royalties from his contributions to magazines and newspapers, as well as some pocket money he earned. He didn't write novels, but political commentaries, so he didn't earn much.

Although it may seem a bit hard to ordinary people, he himself enjoys it and does not have high worldly desires.

He had been in Qin for some time. He stayed here because he wanted to write his new political theory here.

After more than ten years of traveling, he has now had in-depth experience in major countries, and after research, he has fully agreed with his great-uncle's judgment on the new learning.

The New Learning is indeed a theory with great flaws. The current attitude of the mainstream academic community in treating the New Learning as if it were the holy edict is absolutely wrong. He wants to write a critical work on the New Learning here.

Among them are very detailed cases, all of which were investigated by him personally. He investigated the implementation of three new studies in three politically different places: the empire itself, European countries, and the empire's provinces. After research, he found that there were not many differences in essence and they all conformed to objective laws.

During his travels, he witnessed the difficult lives of the lower-class people. This difficult life, looking back now, is extremely abnormal.

If this was the case when productivity had not yet exploded, Luo Qingyun would not have said anything, because the productivity at that time was indeed impossible for so many people to live a life without worries about food and clothing.

But now we have entered the electrical age, and it is still the same. We can only say that there is something wrong with the system.

especially.

Luo Qingyun's hand suddenly paused while he was writing. He thought of some things he had seen that were very wrong. That is, in some places, the people had nothing to eat, but the grain was directly thrown away.

Yes.

Luo Qingyun saw this scene in many places.

In some places where monopolies have already been formed, he has even seen a scene that is even more extreme than this, that is, they can obviously produce more things, but for the sake of the profit of a single piece of goods, they do not produce them, so they can sell them at a higher price.

In the past, these things would never happen. When there was no big boom in production, the supply of goods was always less than the demand. As long as the goods were produced, there was no need to worry about not being able to sell them.

After experiencing these things, Luo Qingyun realized one thing, that is, overproduction has appeared now. When he wrote this word, he felt it was very absurd. There are so many ragged people suffering in the world, but some places are dumping production materials.

This is not the most terrible.

Luo Qingyun's face was a little solemn. He quickly wrote on the paper, "From the perspective of the market, those who produce goods must dispose of these excess materials and cannot let them enter the market for circulation. Otherwise, their factories will face a catastrophe. A large number of people who cannot afford to buy materials will wait for materials that are provided for free or at a low price. However, these materials are below cost. Every piece of these things that enter the market will cause losses to the merchants."

Luo Qingyun breathed a sigh of relief. As he wrote this paragraph, he seemed to recall the things he had seen at that time, things that seemed incredible.

The result of low-price processing cannot recover part of the losses, but will cause greater losses, because freight, labor costs, etc. will be added back into the cost.

This is obviously contrary to common sense and proves that this system does have huge problems.

This is also the reason why Luo Qingyun criticized it, because if this situation is allowed to occur, even if more goods are produced later, as long as this situation exists, there will always be a part of the people who cannot enjoy the convenience of the productivity explosion.

Luo Qingyun reached out and took another book on the table. It was an ancient book. This kind of knowledge had not been circulated in the world for a long time because some of it did not conform to reality and was too idealistic.

In fact, the ancient sages of the Chinese nation had proposed this theory, but many of them could not be achieved because they were too idealistic. However, after the explosion of productivity, as the saying goes, "When the granaries are full, people will know etiquette." Now that the granaries are full and there is a foundation for satisfaction, then etiquette can be put on the agenda.

Luo Qingyun has been studying Mohism. In fact, the Mohist tradition has never been cut off within the Luo family. The reason why Mohism was shelved before was because what Mohist wanted to achieve was indeed impossible.

But after the new learning spread, Mohism, which was derived from Mohism, gradually improved its status in Luoshi. The idea of ​​equality for all, combined with many ideas of Mohism, had a special effect.

For Luo Qingyun, he was most interested in the world of great harmony described in the classics of hundreds of schools of thought, and he also had many ideas about what characteristics the world of great harmony should have.

It involves building a strong organization which is tight-knit and has a belief within it.

Shaking these things off and putting them behind him, Luo Qingyun once again began to write about his conjectures about the crisis that today's society will inevitably face.

……

Within the Tang Empire, the vast territory and huge differences between provinces made the rule of the empire somewhat difficult, and protests would occur from time to time.

Faced with this situation, Luo Changqing, on the one hand, intensified the crackdown on division in politics, and on the other hand, relaxed control again in the economy. In Luo Changqing's governing philosophy, most social problems are caused by lack of money. As long as the local economy is good, there will generally not be too much trouble.

If the economy of a region is not good, various conflicts will emerge one after another.

There is nothing wrong with Luo Changqing's governing philosophy. He will strengthen political control to keep things in order at a large level, and then make concessions in the economy in the empire itself. The main policy is to increase investment in Luo's Bank and provide relatively large concessions in terms of taxation.

The implementation of this method is also related to the current political reality. The imperial center is now busy dealing with corruption within the empire and has no intention of wasting too much time on other provinces.

This time the corruption emerged from within the royal family. As mentioned before, the Tang Dynasty originally took over most of the industries, and during the reform, factories sprang up like mushrooms after a rain.

The imperial royal family firmly controls a large part of it. Since it is a royal industry, a large part of the senior officials are naturally royal family members. These people are born with power, so it is natural for them to get their hands on things within the royal family.

Moreover, under the current circumstances, if it is to maintain the imperial system, these people cannot be dealt with too harshly. This is actually the way to deal with royal family members since ancient times. They must be dealt with, but not too harshly, so as to prevent the royal family from being completely abolished.

When Luo Changqing was investigating the matter, many royal princes and dukes did not take it seriously. They thought it was no big deal. It was just taking some money and some procedures were not standardized. The worst that could happen was just returning the stolen money.

But they never thought about what Luo Changqing talked about with the emperor. At the end of his life, the emperor gave Luo Changqing an edict.

"I am fortunate to be born in a royal family, ruling over the five continents and four seas, with tens of millions of people. Since I ascended the throne, I have no achievements to boast of, nor any virtues to be remembered by people. I only have a heart of love for all people, have not done anything wrong, and the Tang Dynasty has never suffered any disasters.

When I was about to die, I didn't expect to hear such unfortunate news. My relatives actually did such a despicable thing with the country's public property. I feel deeply saddened. Do I alone depend on the world?

The world belongs to all.

I cannot bear to see this scene, so after my death, I order Prince Luo to handle this matter. Whether it is life or death, it will all be left to Prince Luo alone.

I have only one final word. The Li family is noble because you are respected by all the people. Descendants of the Li family, do not rely on your bloodline to do anything improper or commit evil.

Is there any dynasty in the world that will last forever?
When the dynasty comes to an end, can the good deeds of our ancestors still bless our descendants?"

This imperial edict was issued with sincere words, which moved many people. If they thought about it carefully, the current emperor had indeed never done anything wrong in his life. Perhaps the biggest mistake he made was that he favored a few more beauties in his later years. But for a king, what was this?

But there is one thing that is hard to understand, that is, why the emperor talked about the demise of the dynasty. Now it seems that the Tang Dynasty is so powerful, how could it be in danger of extinction? This is too groundless.

Yes, in everyone's opinion, the Tang Dynasty was in no danger of extinction. The current Tang Dynasty was the only country in the world, unifying every corner of the world. If even such an empire could perish, then there might be no other dynasties in this world.

Luo Changqing didn't think so much. He first went into the palace to take care of the emperor's affairs. In his heart, he believed that the emperor might be one of the last emperors of the empire, so he was very careful in choosing the posthumous title and arranged the emperor's funeral in a grand manner.

For Luo Changqing, he was not only arranging the funeral for the emperor, but also gradually destroying the Tang Dynasty.

Many Li clan members who participated in the emperor's funeral had no idea that King Luo, who was so polite during the funeral, would immediately begin a brutal reckoning after the funeral. The extent of this reckoning was so great that it felt like the entire Tang royal family was going to be wiped out in one fell swoop.

Regardless of their identities, anyone who participated in the embezzlement of royal assets and transferred them into private assets will be sent to prison.

The new emperor did not say anything about this matter. After all, theoretically speaking, this was equivalent to his relatives stealing his things.

Moreover, what Prince Luo did was not something that the new emperor could question, as the new emperor was the youngest of the previous emperor's grandsons.

Who is King Luo? He is a hundred years old. The reputations of the two are completely on a different level. Every time the emperor sees King Luo’s pale hair and wrinkled cheeks, he feels a little scared from the bottom of his heart.

This is a real living fossil. Even though he is the emperor, he doesn't even dare to refute what King Luo said.

So under such circumstances, Luo Changqing almost controlled more than 80% of the power in the empire. Most people speculated that only after Luo Changqing's death could the emperor completely control power.

This is not even a question of whether Luo Changqing is willing to return the power to the emperor, but that Luo Changqing has served as prime minister for too long, so long that power has naturally fallen into his hands.

The emperor followed Luo Changqing to learn how to handle this huge country, and Luo Changqing began to teach him some things that he must know.

such as--

“These things cannot be done.”

Luo Changqing told the emperor many things not to do, which made the emperor feel like he was seeing the will left by his grandfather. From that will, the emperor could see his grandfather's worries. The Tang Dynasty seemed to be about to perish, so his grandfather had many warnings. Now that King Luo also said so, the emperor felt a sense of urgency. He didn't know what had happened, nor what would happen in the future, which could make King Luo and his grandfather worried to such an extent.

He studied and studied, and then he couldn't help it, so he asked Luo Changqing, "Lord Luo, what will happen? Why are you and the late emperor so worried? The Tang Dynasty is now in its heyday. We have such a powerful army and such a vast territory. There is no country in the world that can pose a threat to the Tang Dynasty. Why are you and the late emperor so worried?"

Luo Changqing thought for a long time about how he should tell the emperor, and then thought a lot, "How could the Qin Dynasty be destroyed in the first place?

Although the Tang Dynasty is different from the Qin Dynasty, there is one thing in common, that is, your Majesty, your belief in peace and prosperity is false.

It is false to think that there is no crisis within the Tang Dynasty now. There are more and more local protests in various provinces of the empire, and many newspapers are criticizing us. These are all manifestations of the internal crisis of the empire.

The New School Party did not disappear because of the destruction of the Far West countries. They spread to every inch of the empire and grew vigorously. When they grow to a certain limit, they will tear us apart from within the empire again. "

The emperor was puzzled when he heard this and asked, "Since you, Lord Luo, know all these things, why don't you ban the newspapers and periodicals in the society, destroy the books of the new school, and then kill those who are partisans of the new school and those who are fond of the new school? If you do this, the empire will be stable."

Luo Changqing looked at the emperor, and then said in a deep voice: "Your Majesty, the thing you just mentioned was done by an emperor more than a thousand years ago. This thing is called burning books and burying scholars in history. Do you want to be Qin Shihuang too?"

As soon as the three words "Qin Shi Huang" came out, the emperor suddenly stopped talking in embarrassment. Luo Changqing said in a deep voice: "Your Majesty, remember, there are some things that cannot be done. Now the power of the people is getting stronger and stronger, and the right to speak, that is, the evaluation of good and bad, is the most important for the people.

If you do this, you will destroy the reputation that the royal family has accumulated over the years. Every royal family, noble family, and even ordinary bureaucratic families are full of sins. Some people now call it "oppression."

But we can explain the past as a historical necessity. In the past, oppression was not caused by humans, but was bound to occur in that era of insufficient productivity.

Ordinary people don’t have any real feelings about it because those are all things of the past. Those who have truly experienced these things are basically dead.

All the actions of the royal family now will affect the people of this era, and the people of this era will determine the future of the royal family.

Will they be directly sent to the guillotine like some European countries, or will they be able to successfully maintain a certain status after the country's demise, like the Roman royal family.

If you have a reputation as a benevolent ruler, like the late emperor, then the fate of the royal family will be very good. But if you are a tyrant, a tyrant hated by the world, then the one who pays the price is not just you, but the entire Li family."

The emperor understood, and he drew inferences from it. He stared at Luo Changqing with shining eyes, "Lord Luo, I understand. Can the Li family get a very good ending just like the Luo family?"

It's true that a young man is teachable. Luo Changqing nodded with satisfaction, "Even if I can't do it like Luo's, as long as it's almost there, it's fine."

Speaking of reputation, is there any family in this world with a better reputation than the Luo family?

In every era in the past, even when the Zhou Dynasty was destroyed and the Qin Dynasty was established, as the Qin Dynasty's enemy for hundreds of years, if the Luo family was willing to surrender to the Qin Dynasty, Qin Shihuang would not hesitate to abandon all past grievances and accept the Luo family.

But unfortunately, the Luo family did not allow this. After the Han Dynasty was established, every time something happened, the Liu family would think of the Luo family and the Yinghou lineage. As for the people of the world, they wanted to recruit the Luo family, but they never tried to recruit the Yinghou lineage, because everyone believed that the Yinghou lineage would definitely perish with the Han Dynasty.

The Luo family's good reputation is not only among the ruling class, but also among the general public.

There is a saying that there is no harm without comparison. Being a tenant farmer, working for the Luo family is completely different from working for others. The Luo family has always made concessions in every era. The existence of the Luo family does not require a large amount of money and property.

After entering the new era, Rockefeller led every revision of the safety regulations, all of which were aimed at effectively improving the safety and treatment of employees. In addition, although Rockefeller's own factory was not a paradise, at least people lived like human beings. Basically, people flocked to work for Rockefeller.

In fact, it is not difficult to obtain such reputation, at least it is not difficult for Luo's family. After all, Luo's family does not need to participate in vicious competition, nor does it need to worry about sudden attacks from the upper level.

Now Luo Changqing wants the Li family to play a role in this as well.

“Your Majesty should know who the Tang emperor shares the world with. In the past, it was with small landlords, etc., but now, it is with every hired worker, every farmer, and every intellectual who cares about the world.

These talents can decide the future destiny of Your Majesty and the entire royal family.

As for those big businessmen and landowners, they are destined to fail, so don't pay attention to their advice.

I am now mainly attacking these people, but Your Majesty does not need to worry too much. As long as I am alive and a way to exterminate these people is not found, the Tang Dynasty will not perish. "

The emperor asked curiously, "Lord Luo, why do you hate those big businessmen and big landlords so much? I remember that the Luo family is the largest businessman and landlord in the Tang Dynasty besides the royal family."

"Luo's business and land are only kept temporarily. They can be distributed at any time. They are all insignificant external possessions."

Luo Changqing said in a deep voice: "Because these big businessmen and big landlords are all parasites, they are of no help to the country, they only care about their own interests, and for those interests, they are even willing to sell their souls and ignore the world.

Those people are almost hopeless, because their actions are no longer controlled by themselves, but are alienated by money, and their actions are controlled by the flow of money. "

Luo Changqing still insists on being on the front line, hoping to see the end of new learning. The development of new learning in recent years is like this, with the growing gap between the rich and the poor and the formation of various oligarchs. Luo Changqing knows at a glance that his original guess was correct. Wrong theories will only form such a tumor.

He insisted on staying alive, using the power of the Tang Dynasty royal family to suppress the New School members' attempt to usurp power, just like waiting for the antidote that could eradicate the cancer of New School.

He would never be willing to die like this until this matter was over.

The emperor kept Luo Changqing's words in mind. Although he still couldn't figure out where the crisis within the Tang Dynasty lay, since King Luo, who had ruled the world for decades, said so, it must be correct.

Luo Changqing's words soon came true.

The cause was a new protest that broke out in Hebei Province. The Governor of Hebei and some powerful people within the province colluded with each other to exploit the workers in the factories. These workers demanded higher pay and shorter working hours.

Their demands were not particularly excessive, but the Governor of Hebei rejected their demands without hesitation and suppressed the protest. After the matter was reported to the court, Luo Changqing asked why the protest was so brutally suppressed.

The Governor of Hebei said without any remorse: "As the Governor of a province, don't I have the power to suppress the rebellious people?

His Royal Highness Prince Luo has said that we must be merciless to those who attempt to split us."

Although his words were far-fetched, they actually reflected a major problem under the imperial law. That is, in the Tang Dynasty law, the people did not have the right to protest. This was taken for granted. Since ancient times, it had never been heard that the people had the right to take to the streets to gather and protest.

This kind of scene would only occur during a rebellion, and the Governor of Hebei also used this to refute Luo Changqing. In fact, in any country, the imperial court does not want such a situation where the people gather together.

This was even more outrageous in the Tang Dynasty.

Luo Changqing was caught in a dilemma at this time. If he gave the people the power to assemble freely, it would probably lead to a new civil war, and many people with ulterior motives would use this power to cause chaos.

But if he does not release this power, there will be many new examples of repression in the future. This situation of treating protests as rebellion will not be the first nor the last.

Luo Changqing thought about it over and over again, and finally made up his mind. It is better to vent than to block this kind of thing. If you don't give people a way to vent, what will happen in the future is a real rebellion.

He thought about it and then entered the palace.

The emperor knew his purpose.

Luo Changqing didn't waste any words and said directly: "Your Majesty, if we agree to let the governors and provincial governors do this, the final result will be that the local bureaucrats and local big businessmen will collude with each other and treat the local people cruelly, and the final blame will be put on your head, Your Majesty, because it was you who issued the imperial edict, and the root of everything started from the imperial edict.

In the eyes of the people, you will become an executioner with blood on your hands."

The emperor's hand trembled, and then he said in a trembling voice: "Is this the reason for being disgraced by the country?"

To become the master of the world, you must bear all the dissatisfaction and resentment.

Luo Changqing nodded, "But how much of the final benefit will fall into your Majesty's hands? As a king, if you are eager for these benefits, you will lose too much in the end."

In an era when the royal family can control everything and all the people in the world depend on the royal family for their livelihood, the emperor can do whatever he wants. But if the emperor can no longer control everything, he will have to consider more when doing things.

The emperor has been on the throne for quite some time, and he already knows the scope of the empire's current control. In many areas, the empire's control is not strong, and the empire has a large number of troops in Europe and Yanzhou.

Even so, many areas were not peaceful. When Luo Changqing analyzed the decrees issued in various regions, he felt like he was dancing on eggs.

Any deviation in a decree will lead to an increase in local rebellion, which will in turn affect the stability of the rule of the entire region.

If we now condone the Governor of Hebei's actions, it would be equivalent to issuing a strict decree, and the level of rebellion in various places would surely rise rapidly.

"Lord Luo, if I reject the idea of ​​the Governor-General of Hebei, then peace will be restored in all places and the country can last longer."

Luo Changqing pondered and said, "If you tell the truth, then of course there will be benefits, but according to my estimation, even if your majesty gives the order, there will still be people who will take the risk. There has always been such people since ancient times.

But by that time, the guilt of these things will not fall on Your Majesty.

So this is something that is worth doing, there are only benefits and no disadvantages.”

"Okay, let's do it."

The emperor made up his mind, and then said: "Lord Luo, the laws of the Tang Dynasty are not strict enough now, should they be revised? Otherwise, we can't do everything in the form of imperial edicts.

The Tang Dynasty should always rely on Tang Dynasty laws to govern the country."

Luo Changqing also had the same idea, but the adjustment of the law always lags behind. "I will set up a government office to be responsible for the collection and rectification of laws."

----

In the third year of Xihe, the empire issued an extremely important decree, which was to officially use the word "citizen" instead of "common people" in official documents such as laws, documents, and edicts. In the same year, the imperial citizens were granted the basic rights of freedom of assembly, publication, and speech.

During this critical period of great world change, the emperor of the Tang Empire did not become a reactionary figure who went against the tide of history. Instead, he followed the tide of history and promoted change, which should be affirmed. ——"History [Grade 9, Part 1]"

(End of this chapter)