I, the son of Yang Guo, abducted Zhang Sanfeng across the heavens

Chapter 531: Why is Your Majesty rebelling?
"Ah, I haven't been back for just a few decades, and I'm almost here already?"

Yang Gui looked at the dusty Yang Jian in front of him and couldn't help but sigh in his heart, missing out on a good show. He originally wanted to go out and see the people who were seeking scriptures for fun, but he never expected that Hua Yan was so to his liking that he wanted to take him as his disciple, and forgot to include the time he spent training him.

Because he wanted to train him, he took him on a complete journey to obtain the scriptures, coordinated with many parties along the way, and even personally took action in some places. As for Huayan's death and disappearance, he reported to the heavens, left his soul, and rebuilt his body. That's even more unmentionable.

The result was that they returned more than ten years later than originally planned.

Under Yang Gui's suggestion, Yang Jian named the country "Tang" instead of "Sui". It is not known whether it was a psychological effect, but Yang Jian felt that a great fortune was coming to him, blessing his body and mind at all times.

This made Yang Jian, the founding emperor of the Tang Dynasty, feel that he was being helped by God. Whether it was handling government affairs or military affairs, everything went incredibly smoothly. He even found a lot of talented people to help him, allowing him to complete the feat of unifying the country in just a few years.

During his reign, he implemented benevolent policies, reduced taxes, and stopped fighting. Within a short period of time, the population of the whole country of Yang Tang recovered rapidly and developed rapidly, which is known in history as the "Kaihuang Prosperity."

In fact, it is very simple to do this. On this point, what Taishang Laojun said is absolutely correct. Governing a large country is like cooking a small fish. It emphasizes governing by doing nothing. Looking at all the dynasties in ancient China, whenever there was a "prosperous age", it was never because of the implementation of some new policies.

On the contrary, whenever there was a new policy, the lives of the ancient people became worse. In the final analysis, it was impossible to conduct a complete supervision of officials in ancient times. The new policies were beneficial to the country and the people in the eyes of the emperor, but they were just new ways to make money in the eyes of the corrupt officials below.

Therefore, after Yang Jian ascended the throne and became emperor, in addition to sending troops to unify the country, he governed the country according to the method Yang Gui told him: don't make trouble.

As long as we don't make any trouble, and follow the laws of economic operation and the hard-working character of the people, things will naturally return to normal.

Several years after the "Kaihuang Prosperity", the country's foundation was almost restored, and Yang Jian finally began his first project, the first step to break the monopoly of aristocratic families on officials: the imperial examination.

Yang Jian started to abolish the Nine-Rank System, and then followed Yang Gui's suggestion to open an imperial examination to recruit scholars. As soon as this move was made, the aristocratic families jumped up and down and cursed in the streets, and within a year, they supported more than 30 rebel forces to attack Yang Jian.

But it was useless. Yang Jian himself said that he became emperor through a coup, but in fact the process of his ascension to the throne was a process in which a local military separatist regime surrounded the central government and then rebelled to force the emperor to abdicate.

The army is his base.

Yang Jian had only been on the throne for a few years, and after a period of recuperation, the army's combat effectiveness had not declined, but had become stronger. The policies of the Kaihuang era also brought more tax revenue, allowing him to better improve the army's equipment.

Those rebels supported by the aristocratic families were unable to cause any trouble at all. They were all wiped out by Yang Jian in just a few months.

And because he was the founding emperor, the officials in charge of local government affairs were all his die-hard supporters, so the efforts of the aristocratic families to undermine Yang Jian seemed so futile.

After returning without success, they could only suppress their efforts. But this did not mean that those large aristocratic families would be convinced by Yang Jian. Under the calm surface of the water, there was a turbulent undercurrent, waiting to erupt one day.

Yang Jian ignored the counterattacks of these aristocratic families. They were all small fry. Yang Jian directly used his powerful situation to crush them in an invincible manner.

He first used the papermaking technology improved by Yang Gui to reduce the price of paper rapidly, and then he invented printing technology, which made the price of books lower than ever before. Many poor students could afford to read books, which broke the monopoly of the aristocratic families on knowledge.

Secondly, the content of the imperial examination was not set to be the so-called Confucian sage books from the beginning. If it were put in the later dynasties, it might be very difficult. If the scholars in the world united, even the royal family could be overthrown. But now Yang Jian took advantage of it because he had time.

Yang Jian's country was named Tang Dynasty, which was actually during the Sui Dynasty. At that time, there was no Duke of Yansheng. The Kong family of Qufu was not named Duke of Yansheng until the Song Dynasty, and the myth of Confucius was just beginning.

In fact, the myth of Confucius and the Kong family is itself a byproduct of the development of the imperial examination system. Before now, there was no need for imperial examinations to select scholars, so naturally there was no need to confine the opinions of one family or one surname, and the great literary masters were free to speak their minds.

This is why the situation occurred that before the Song Dynasty, people only talked about the books of sages, but after the Song Dynasty, there was only the interpretation of the books of sages.

The most important title given to Confucius now is "Sage of Literature" conferred by the Northern Wei Dynasty. Strictly speaking, the title "Sage Confucius" should have originated from this period.

However, the Northern Wei Dynasty was a northern barbarian regime that could not even unify the country, let alone occupy the orthodox Han position. The title he bestowed was only to endorse the legitimacy of his rule and his civil governance. Not many people promoted it, so it naturally did not spread.

It was not until Emperor Taizong of Tang posthumously conferred the title of "First Sage" and Emperor Zhenzong of Song posthumously conferred the title of "Mysterious Sage, King of Literature and Propaganda" and "Great Sage, King of Literature and Propaganda" that the title of "Confucius the Sage" had a relatively large market. And the title of "Great Sage, First Teacher" that really gained popularity had to wait until the Ming and Qing dynasties.

Before this, the greatest posthumous title of Confucius was the "Baozun Hou" conferred upon him by the Han Dynasty. It was not until the reign of Emperor Wen of the Sui Dynasty, Yang Jian, that Confucius was conferred the title "Xianshi Nifu".

But in fact, emperors only do things that are useful to themselves, especially the founding emperor like Yang Jian. He would never posthumously confer some substantial things just because he admired someone's posthumous fame. There must be something that can be beneficial to his rule.

Now, the elevated status of Confucius is not conducive to Yang Jian's rule, so naturally Yang Jian would not posthumously confer the title of "Fourth Master and Father of Confucius". Confucianism is the mainstream among the current group of literati, but it is far from the "only" mainstream in later generations.

Therefore, the resistance Yang Jian faced was much smaller.

Those who should be won over will be won over, and those who should be educated will be educated. Everyone is the emperor's disciple. Except for those from aristocratic families, it is difficult for anyone to resist this temptation.

Yang Jian followed the "pragmatic" thought that Yang Gui had mentioned before and set some simple civil service examination questions and essays to select the best candidates. Although this imperial examination selection system was far behind the previous one, it was still much better than the imperial examination system that only respected Confucianism and selected candidates based on the eight-legged essay.

After several imperial examinations, Yang Jian started his second policy of re-measuring land and reforming tax laws, using the "One Whip Law" and "Tax Distribution" that Yang Gui had mentioned to him. As a result, after just a few years, there were complaints and the aristocratic families counterattacked. The aristocratic families directly supported his second son, Yang Guang, to compete with his father.

This move just happened to suit Yang Guang's wishes. After all, he had long disliked Yang Jian, the old man, who was holding on to power and the throne tightly and even wanted to pass the throne to his eldest brother?
What is this religion of the gods of the legitimate and illegitimate children, and the order of seniority? Are you a female channel? In the man's world, there is only one rule: only those with the bigger fists can speak!

So Yang Guang, with the help of the aristocratic families, secretly planted forces, controlled the army, and prepared to rebel against his father. The main supporter was the Dugu family.

Dugu Jialuo supported Yang Guang the most, which made Yang Jian extremely passive. After all, Yang Yong was also your biological son. Who would have thought of guarding against the person next to you when there was no conflict of interest?

But Yang Jian forgot one thing. Dugu Jialuo was not only the daughter-in-law of the Yang family, but also the daughter of the Dugu family. To her, the interests of the Yang family and the interests of the Dugu family might not be more important.

Obviously, Yang Guang was the best solution. Helping Yang Guang not only protected the interests of the Yang family, but also helped Yang Guang's own son. At the same time, Yang Guang's political propositions were also beneficial to the aristocratic families, and also protected the interests of the Dugu family, killing two birds with one stone.

So Dugu Qieluo decisively rebelled, and just like in history, she chose to help her second son Yang Guang to inherit the throne.

With the help of Dugu Jialuo's sneaky little actions, Yang Guang finally stood on the throne one day and brought a group of ministers and guards to "make a military remonstrance" to his father.

However, Yang Guang and Dugu Jialuo overlooked one thing. Yang Jian, the founding emperor of the Yang Tang Dynasty, liked to do a slow routine of boxing from time to time every day. It was not just for the sake of health preservation. Yang Jian was a real martial arts master. In terms of strength, he could even be on the "Earth List" of the Jiuding World!
Yang Jian is no longer the young man who was pursued by Yuwen Hu and had no way out. He is now the emperor of a unified dynasty with great power and the common ruler of the world!
After Yang Jian defeated a group of guards and put his sword across Yang Guang's throat, Yang Guang's "allies" decisively knelt down and begged the Emperor to spare their lives, saying that they were only temporarily deceived by Yang Guang.

Yang Guang was so angry that his teeth were itching. But there was nothing he could do, as he couldn't beat his father now.

However, Yang Jian also understood that since Yang Guang had the support of aristocratic families and might also control a part of the court officials and the army, his life in the future would be extremely insecure.

As an emperor, even if faced with such a situation, he should have chosen to confront the rebels head-on, or even to appease them. However, Yang Jian's choice was beyond everyone's expectations. He remembered what Yang Gui had warned him:
Yang Guang wants the throne, give it to him! Yang Guang wants a wife, give it to him!
Yang Jian gave Yang Guang whatever he wanted. He passed the throne to Yang Guang without asking for anything. He took his family and some gold and silver jewelry, abdicated, and left the capital.

As soon as he came out, he regretted it. When he was the emperor, no matter what, everyone was wary of his status, but since he gave up his martial arts and abdicated, everyone was much less wary of him.

Along the way, Yang Jian's family was assassinated countless times by assassins sent by aristocratic families and those whose interests were harmed in the reform. Even though he was extremely powerful, he was still humiliated.

Even if he returned to his hometown and lived in seclusion, he still had to face assassination attempts from time to time.

After Yang Gui returned to Chang'an, he found that the throne had been taken by a new person.

He didn't even need to enter the palace to know that the luck floating above the palace was obviously not Yang Jian's. The purple luck that was as rich as a canopy before was now somewhat fragmented, and there were some dirty black spots on it. It was obvious that the country was about to perish.

Yang Gui calculated with his fingers and found where Yang Jian was, and rushed over with his wife and apprentice. The speed of the golden light was only much slower than when he was a god, but in such a mortal country, it was definitely enough, not much slower than the high-speed rail.

Soon Yang Jian was found.

At this time, Yang Jian had just experienced an assassination attempt and was covered in dust and dirt. He still had to make tea for his ancestor. Where could he go to seek justice?

Yang Jian handed the teacups to Yang Gui, Hou Tu and Hua Yan, then looked at Hua Yan and asked, "Who is this...?"

It's no wonder that Yang Jian was neurotic. Anyone who had to step down from the throne would be more or less nervous after experiencing such a huge contrast and experiencing the constant assassination attempts.

"Oh, this is my new apprentice, a foreigner, it's okay." Yang Gui waved his hand.

Yang Gui's words "foreigners" really put Yang Jian at ease. No matter how many times Yang Gui endorsed him, it would not work. After all, his own son and daughter-in-law could collude with outsiders to plot for his throne. Now Yang Jian had a very low level of trust in people.

But it's different for foreigners. The aristocratic families can't reach out so far, after all, it's said that the outside world is ruled by gods and demons. Even those aristocratic families can only stir up trouble in their own little mortal world. How about encountering a giant lion spirit that can swallow 100,000 heavenly soldiers with one mouth?
All that bullshit political schemes and strategies are just bullshit. No matter how big a family is, they are just ants.

Yang Jian sighed, and then began to complain to Yang Gui: "My ancestor, you are cheating me. That beast Yang Guang dared to rebel against his father. I thought that if I did what you said, I would get whatever he wanted and give him the throne, and everything would be fine. But it turns out that you are not giving me a way out."

"Why didn't you give you a chance to live?" Yang Gui glanced at Yang Jian's family, "Didn't you make it out of the imperial city alive?"

"This can be considered alive." Yang Jian sighed, "It is true that I am not dead, but what is the difference between this and being dead? I was not so embarrassed when Yuwen Hu was here!"

Even the powerful enemy didn't oppress him to this extent, but his second son actually did it. Yang Jian didn't know whether to laugh or cry.

"I'm only guaranteeing that you'll survive at the time. The subsequent execution plan will still depend on the specific situation!"

"Then tell me what we should do now?" Yang Jian wanted to see what Yang Gui could say.

"That's easy. I understand the current situation. Isn't Yang Guang called a tyrant and there are rebellious kings everywhere?" Yang Gui pulled out a map and pointed at it. "You can rebel too."

(End of this chapter)