A Millennium Aristocratic Family Starting from the Shang Dynasty

Chapter 45

The land of abundant pickaxes, the royal palace.

Since Ji Lie carried out some reforms, Ji Lie has gained a lot of money, but the price of this money is the poverty of the people.Although Ji Lie also squeezed a lot of Wangji nobles, the Wangji nobles soon extended this exploitation to the people of the country, and eventually the people of the country became poorer and poorer.

On the other side, Ji Lie ordered that those who slandered him be killed immediately.He purposely set up an organization to carry out this order, and as the order was issued, more and more people were killed, and gradually the people stopped speaking.

Among Wang Ji, there were very few pedestrians on the street. After the two sides met, most of them just made eye contact and stopped talking. From then on, no one dared to discuss the government and the emperor.

After Ji Lie found out, he was very happy, and triumphantly called Mu Gongdao: "Look, no one dares to speak ill of me now!"

Zhao Mugong closed his eyes in despair and said nothing, he knew that no matter how much he said, he could not change the emperor's decision.

After Ji Lie got a lot of money, he rebuilt the palace, and the army also started to conquer Rongdi.For a while, Wang Ji's army was at its peak, and despite the weakness of Wang Ji in the previous generations, although Ji Lie had a good military level, he had a problem that most emperors had, so he was very happy.

Therefore, when his strength was strong, Ji Lie began to mercenary year after year, constantly fighting with Rong Di and Yi people,
Ji Lie was very happy about this situation.However, successive years of military use led to Wang Ji's financial shortage. Among the Chinese people who have been squeezed several times, there is no money.

In order to maintain the six armies of the Son of Heaven, the tax had to be increased again, but Wang Jizhong's tax was already very high, so Ji Lie thought of another idea-selling the official to sell the noble.

Of course, what you do is not too obvious, otherwise the reputation will not be good, and what you do is a bit hidden.Of course, at this time, there was no extra land in Wang Jizhong for enfeoffment, so there were no fiefs for these titles.

But even so, many nobles made purchases, and then obtained a lot of money to maintain the construction of the palace and the six armies of the emperor.

Ji Lie was very happy with his achievements, built palaces, and used troops against barbarians all year round. As a result, even Zhou Tianzi was still not satisfied with selling officials and nobles.

Ji Lie, who wanted to make money, heard that Rongyi's office was good at making money, so he got close to Rongyi.After Duke Rong Yi became Ji Lie's favorite, he began to help him raise funds.

After more than a hundred years of development, Chu State has become a big country in the south.Because he has always been looked down upon by the princes of the Central Plains, he was already king when Zhou Yi was king.

The state of Chu claimed to be king without authorization. This practice was completely in the face of Bang Zhou. During the period of King Zhou Yi, Wang Ji was weak, and he conquered the barbarians several times without victories.The prestige of Zhou Tianzi has fallen to the bottom, so Chu State dared to become king.

After Ji Lie inherited the throne, he wanted to find trouble with the state of Chu, but after he succeeded to the throne, most of the kings of Bangzhou were invaded by barbarians.Ji Lie can only deal with Chu after dealing with the barbarians first.

Ji Lie conquered the Yi and Di, and gained a great reputation. After defeating all the Yi and Di near Wang Ji, Ji Lie began to prepare to deal with Chu.The state of Chu is thousands of miles away and has millions of people. It is a top power.

Relying solely on Wang Ji's strength is not the opponent of Chu State, so Ji Lie ordered the Hanshui Five Kingdoms to prepare to conquer Chu State.The Five Kingdoms of Hanshui had always been at odds with the Chu State. This time, they received the emperor's edict and immediately agreed to join forces to attack the Chu State.

Xiongqu, the king of Chu, was terrified when he heard that Zhou Tianzi was coming to conquer.In these years, Ji Lie has conquered east and west, and has a great reputation.It is not comparable to King Yi of the previous generation, but now he is in command of the five kingdoms of Hanshui. He is afraid that he will be invincible, and the soldiers of the whole country will be hoarded in Hanshui.

Wang 33 years.

Zhou Tianzi personally led the army to fight the Chu army in Hanshui.

The two sides fought in March, and the war lasted until July. The weather was sultry, the corpses were rotten, and the army was plagued by diseases.Chu Jun Xiongqu went to Wanghao and withdrew to the north of the Han River, and both sides stopped fighting.

Both sides lost a lot in this battle.And because of successive years of wars, Wang Ji's finances went from bad to worse.In order to improve the economy and increase income, Ji Lie appointed Duke Rong Yi as Shangqing and entrusted him with important tasks.

After Rong Yigong took office, Wang Ji's finances were in dire straits.Therefore, Rongyi Gong wrote to Ji Lie to promote the "patent" of mountains, forests, rivers and lakes, to take back mountains, rivers and rivers as the property of the emperor, to prohibit people from entering the mountains and forests to hunt and collect firewood, and to prevent common people from fishing.Among them, the materials are controlled by the emperor.

The common people of Wang Ji had already been oppressed heavily by Ji Lie's reforms, their lives were difficult, and the mountains, forests, rivers and lakes were closed, which can be said to be a cut off way of life.On the other hand, Wang Ji's laws were so strict that the people dared not speak, so their grievances became more and more serious.

At the same time, the nobles and officials were also forced to expropriate a large amount of property. At the same time, Ji Lie's selling of officials and titles led to the proliferation of officials and titles, and the status of the nobility was affected.The nobles who originally supported him also began to renounce their virtues.

Zhao Mugong tried to persuade him several times, but Ji Lie didn't listen at all, so he stopped talking.

It was night, in a remote house, several middle-aged people were sitting silently facing each other.

"Shi Gong, Wang Ji's oppression is getting worse and worse, and the loss of property is nothing, but the emperor wants to completely change the tradition of 'the world is a gentleman'. This is cutting our roots!"

"That's right, I've been the emperor of Zhou for generations, how can the emperor be so ruthless!"

"Selling an official title, as long as you pay money, you can get the title, so what is it for our ancestors to go through the thorns and fight bloody battles? You can get the title with mere wealth! Is this what Ming Jun did?"

"Competing for profit with the people, selling officials to sell nobles, torture to stop slander, appointing villains, building barbarian palaces, Wang Ji's people are unbearable to be oppressed, my lords, now it is the time of life and death, do you still hesitate?"

"Yes, even Duke Zhao Mu and Duke Zhou have been dismissed now, and no one can speak up for us anymore! How long do you think we can endure?"

For a while, the crowd was excited.

If you really think that these Shiqing nobles are concerned about the country and the people, you are completely wrong. What they oppose is the abolition of the "Shiwei Qingshi".If "the world is a gentleman" is really abolished, then they will completely become ordinary Chinese.This is what they fear most.

Shi Gong was silent for a moment, and finally gritted his teeth and said: "The king worships villains, sells officials and ranks, competes with the people for profit, tortures to stop slander, the country's foundation is unstable, and we have to do it for the country and society!"

"The people are in poverty, even fishing and hunting and woodcutters are prohibited, and there is a lot of resentment. There will definitely be riots. You can go back and prepare in advance."

These nobles and officials turned their heads to look at each other, their eyes moved slightly, and then they left here tacitly and returned to various places.

In the 37th year of Wang Wang, the state government was tyrannical, and the people of the country could not bear to be squeezed. They attacked it in groups and besieged the palace. The emperor of Zhou was afraid and fled to the land in panic.

The nobles and nobles were terrified, the prince fled into Zhaogong's house, and the people of the country surrounded Zhaogong's house.Duke Zhao replaced the prince with his son, but the prince survived.Later, Duke Mu and Duke Ding of Zhou were called to be regents, and they were called republics. In the 14th year, King Li died in Yu.

King Zhou Li recorded in "Historical Records" was an out-and-out tyrant, but what is interesting is that if King Li was just a tyrant, why could he be in power for 37 years?In fact, we have also seen different records from some other history books.King Li of Zhou defeated the barbarians who ravaged Wang Ji, conquered the barbarians in all directions, and forced the king of Chu to take the title of king. From these aspects, he is a very accomplished monarch.

In fact, since he inherited the throne, King Li of Zhou was a reformer who faced "a difficult situation". He reformed Bangzhou's politics, economy, military, and law. noble class.

His reform touched the interests of a large number of nobles, so that the nobles were dissatisfied, but they squeezed the people of the country, and finally even the nobles opposed him.Generally speaking, he was a failed reformer, while at the same time, Gong Yangjie, who was at the same time as him, was a successful reformer, but even if he failed, his lessons can provide lessons for later reformers. gained experience. ——"Chinese History·The Two Sides of History"

(End of this chapter)