Thousand-year-old family: its rise began with Shang Yang’s reforms

Chapter 277 Asking about success or failure

At the very beginning of the war, everyone thought that this so-called "dispute" would soon end.

After all, Chen's power is really scary.

Everyone believed that as long as Chen made the slightest move, those standing beside King Dai would fall down and disintegrate.

However, to their surprise, the war did not end in the first year, and the war still did not end in the second year. If at this time the people of the world can still muster the strength in their hearts to say: "Chen just wants to Look at their methods, it’s just that they didn’t use all their strength." Then the battlefield would last until the third year, and no one would be able to say such a thing.

People who studied this period of history in later generations have repeatedly thought about why the Chen family was not able to show the power of the past and directly suppress those who were Confucian and Taoist?

After going through all the records, and even a historian from the "Shangdang Zhao family" personally visited the Chen family and entered the "Zhuoshen Building" to search for relevant historical materials, the answer to this question was made public.

That is "Chen was very weak during this period."

The reason for the weakness was because of the war in the late Qin Dynasty.

Even among the Chen family, few people know this, but there are clear records in Chen's Zhuoshen Tower.

"In the fourth year of the A.D. Yuan Dynasty, the Confucians started a battle. They followed the king of Dai and wanted to replace the then crown prince Liu Qi. All of them united together. Those who stood against the Chen family even had the The emperor: Liu Heng."

"Liu Heng loved his second son "Liu Wu" even more. Although he felt that Liu Wu was not suitable to be emperor, he doted on him very much. These favors gave Liu Wu and Empress Dowager Dou an incredible idea."

"That is to let Liu Wu imitate his father Liu Heng and make Liu Wu the "Emperor's younger brother" after Liu Qi ascends the throne."

"Perhaps this idea was too tempting, so Liu Wu and Queen Dou stood on the same front. With their efforts, the emperor slowly changed his mind."

"In the last five years of the emperor's reign, he gradually favored Liu Wu and hinted to Liu Qi several times, hoping to get Liu Qi to promise that he would make Liu Wu the crown prince after becoming emperor."

"The head of the Chen family at that time speculated on Liu Heng's uncharacteristic behavior. They believed that the reason for this happened was the "fear" in Liu Heng's heart after he became the emperor from the crown prince. He was "fearful" of the people in the world. So I want my children to do the same thing."

"In psychology, this is called the 'compensation effect', which is to make up for one's own psychological shortcomings by pulling other people to do the same thing as oneself."

"And when Chen stood opposite the most powerful and knowledgeable person in the world, the strength he displayed also proved the emptiness of Chen's power."

"After the author's investigation, I finally found a list in Zhuoshen Building."

[This list comes from Zhuoshenlou]

[Chen xx was born in the xx year of the First Emperor and died in the last year of Emperor Wu Lie]

[Chen xx was born in the first year of Emperor II and died in the last year of Emperor Wulie]

[Wang xx was born in the xx year of Emperor Shi Huang and died in the last year of Emperor Wu Lie]

"Through this series of lists, we can reasonably deduce that at that time, most of the Chen family members died in the last years of Emperor Wu Lie, and there was also another group of people on this list who were not Chen family members. A disciple, but a student of the Chen family.”

"Therefore, it can be speculated that perhaps in this tragic war, many of Chen's "party members" also sacrificed a lot."

"This led to the weakness of the Chen family." - "Research on the Chen family's performance during the struggle for the right to inherit the throne during Emperor Wen's period·Hua Xia University·Ph.D. Thesis·Zhao Jingyu"

Compared with this paper, which is regarded as a classic by most people in later generations, there is another partial article whose views are also supported by many people.

This is an "unofficial history".

It does not belong to the category of history, but it also belongs to the category of history; it has a little bit to do with history, but it seems more like speculation about history.

It is not as detailed as the paper "Research on the Chen Family", but judging from the performance of a large number of Chen family descendants in later generations and even the handwritten notes of some Chen family members, this article is more in line with the time. social situation.

The title of this article is "What is Chen's path?" ——Research on the dispute between Emperor Jing and King Liang. 》

Although the article uses a lot of subjective conjectures and conjectures, even Zhao Jingxuan, the author of the letter "Research on Chen" had to say that this person's guess seems to be more consistent with reality.

"The Chen family has risen since the "filial piety" era of the Qin Dynasty. The ancestor is Chen Ye, who is said to be a descendant of the royal family of Emperor Zhou. However, it was during the period of "Chen Ye", the ancestor of the Chen family that the Chen family now enshrines."

"The Chen family has been in China for more than two thousand years and has done many things. It is difficult for people to guess what the Chen family's purpose is."

"But I discovered the Chen family's "road" and true purpose from three things. Among them, the battle for the right to inherit the throne between Emperor Jing and King Liang, and Wang Mang's usurpation of the Han Dynasty. The truth.”

"During the battle for the right to inherit the throne between King Liang and Emperor Jing, Confucians chose to join forces with Taoists and others in order to maintain their legitimacy, and even tempted Queen Dou Yifang to stand by their side. Emperor Jing stood on the side of King Liang and cheered for him. "

"We can see from the historical data of the pre-Qin Dynasty that during the Qin Dynasty, there was no such battle for the right to inherit the throne. Even if there was, the Chen family would directly crush everyone and make others give up."

"But during the battle for the legitimate son in Jingliang, it took the Chen family five years to win over the Confucian family. Later, during the reign of Emperor Wu, the Confucian family found an opportunity and stabbed the Chen family behind the back."

"In the field of history, some scholars believe that this is a manifestation of the emptiness of Chen's strength at this time, but in my opinion, this is not the case at all."

"Give me a very simple example."

"Judging from the "Historical Records" recorded by Tai Shigong, even during the period of Emperor Wu when the Chen family was really weak, there were two members of the Chen family in the court at that time who were ranked among the Third Duke, three among the Seventeenth Minister, and four Served as county governor."

"It can be said that half of the people in the court are members of the Chen family."

"In the previous Wenjing period, the power of the Chen family was even greater."

"There are four people who are ranked among the three princes, three people who are ranked among the seventeen ministers, and there are more than twenty people who serve as county guards and county magistrates."

There are hundreds of party members of the "Chen family" who hold official positions worth more than one thousand dan. "

"Is this called weakness? At least for Confucianists, it is not considered weak. As long as Chen is serious and uses all his strength, he will definitely be able to kill Confucians, but why didn't Chen do this?"

"There must be a reason for this." "In the subsequent incident of Wang Mang's usurpation of the Han Dynasty, Chen's performance was "not supporting and disapproving" at first. However, when Wang Mang's reforms were targeted at the head of Guizhou, life in the head of Guizhou became difficult. At that moment, Chen took a fatal blow."

"During the later period of great chaos in China, Chen stood up and used his body to fight against the sky, completely gathering the starlight that was about to escape."

"What do these three things have in common?"

"Have."

"During the civil war, or when there was some chaos within the feudal dynasty, which did not make life in the capital of Guizhou unbearable, the Chen family would stand by and watch. They did not care about the so-called change of political power. In this regard, the Chen family can be called Cold-blooded and ruthless - of course, in the author's opinion, this is what it should be."

"After all, the article "Research on the Chen Family" has given detailed examples of what the consequences will be after the Chen family is closely connected with the dynasty."

"But when it comes to matters related to Guizhou, the world, and the various states of China, the choices made by Chen are completely different from the choices made in internal struggles, and are even too upright."

"The author originally suspected that Chen was using historians' admiration for him to revise history, but after the final investigation, he found that all historical books, including Chen's enemies, had been the enemy for more than a thousand years - Confucianism. , Chen is still such a person."

"At this point, combined with the slogan shouted by the seventeenth generation head of the Chen family at the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty: "The Chen family is not the Chen family of the same family, but the Chen family of the head of Guizhou in the world! "Looking at it, Chen's behavior among Jingliang is more due to "internal fighting" and it did not affect Guizhou too much."

"This is the path of the Chen family, and it is also the reason why the Chen family has been continuously prosperous in China since the period of Qin Xiaogong (129 BC; [Note 1]), and has gone through two thousand years of feudal society until now, a total of two thousand years. After many years, the foundation of the Guandu Chen family can still stand. "

"Put the world first and the head of Guizhou first." - "What is the path of the Chen family?" ——Research on the dispute between Emperor Jing and King Liang. 》·"Research on Chinese History" Qin Wu

Both statements surpass all other ideas in terms of plausibility and "truth."

Of course, there are some thoughts about Chen conspiracy theories, but those are minor things.

The real answer has long been submerged in the long river of history. Except for the head of the Chen family and the Chen family at that time, perhaps no one knows what the Chen family really thought.

But for people who lived in the winter of AD 4, when the war began, and in AD 9, when the war ended, this is not speculation, but everything that has been experienced personally.

The records of these five years are very detailed in history and are recorded in the "Records of Emperor Wen".

"In the winter of the fourth year of the Yuan Dynasty, the emperor worshiped Jia Yi as the acting king and Taifu, and named him the Seventeenth Minister. For a while, Confucianism was rampant."

"In the fourth year of the Later Yuan Dynasty, in winter, on the 30th day of the twelfth lunar month, the emperor gave the cauldron to the king and said: "You should encourage yourself." Later, he said to the prince: Although he is not like me, he has done a good job for the prince. This is a great achievement. ”

"In the spring of the fifth year of the Later Yuan Dynasty, the emperor hunted in Shanglin, accompanied by the prince and the king. The emperor hunted deer and shared the food with the king and the prince. There were rumors in the market that this was the emperor's desire to make the prince establish a king after he ascended the throne. For the emperor's brother, the deer means the world."

"In the fifth year of the Second Yuan Dynasty, in the summer of June, the 23rd day of the sixth lunar month. The emperor was seriously ill, so he pardoned the king and appointed him as the superintendent of the country. The later emperor Kang Jian retreated to the left and right, and said to the king with emotion: "You are here to serve the sick, and it is for the sake of the country." The merits can be seen in your heart, and Zhaohe Sunyue replied: "It is natural for me to serve my father's illness. How can I be praised for my merits?"

"In the autumn of the fifth year of the Later Yuan Dynasty, King Fu Jiayi sent a letter to the emperor to update the order of the world, taking full responsibility from the central government. The emperor happily agreed to it."

"In the autumn of the fifth year of the A.D. Yuan Dynasty, the emperor issued an edict: Consecrate wine to Kong Yun as the Imperial Academy."

"In the autumn of the fifth year of the Second Yuan Dynasty, the emperor issued an edict: Xianyang Academy is the core of the world, and its students are beautiful and talented, and are worthy of heaven and earth. Those who are successful in their studies should be the same as the Imperial Academy."

"In the autumn of the fifth year of the A.D. Yuan Dynasty, Xun Xun, who was offering wine at Xianyang Academy, wrote a letter saying that Dr. Wang Ze of the Imperial Academy was corrupt and perverted the law. He was actually a traitor to the country and he was asked to be punished. He sent an envoy with embroidered clothes to investigate and found evidence of guilt. He was furious and punished him. "

"In the winter of the fifth year of the Later Yuan Dynasty, the Imperial Academy offered wine to Kong Yunshangshu to find out that "Kangquan", a graduate of Xianyang Academy, was actually a "book thief" and all his writings were made with money, while Xianyang Academy "Xun Wang," the doctor in the palace, accepted money and covered it up, which is also the crime of deceiving the emperor."

"After investigation, we found out his guilt. However, since he is a descendant of Xunzi, we will only punish him and not convict him."

"From the fifth year of the Yuan Dynasty to the spring and summer of the seventh year, dozens of officials were impeached by the Imperial Academy, Shaofu Qing, Xianyang Xuegong, Daiwangfu, etc., and hundreds of people were implicated. ”

It is not difficult to see from the "Records of Emperor Wen" that starting from the fifth year of AD, the "Chen lineage" headed by Xianyang Xuegong and the "Confucian lineage" headed by the "Guozijian" fought frantically to impeach each other's crimes.

Today you impeach officials of my lineage, and tomorrow I will impeach people of yours.

The two sides fought endlessly until the handover in the spring and summer of the seventh year of the Later Yuan Dynasty, with each other winning or losing.

However, the two families have completely different mentality towards this, and their handling methods are also different.

The Chen family dealt with the crime directly after discovering it, without even requiring Confucian people to take action; while the Confucian family tried their best to protect those who violated the law, but they never succeeded.

This also caused some "people" to stand on the side of Confucianism.

Because everyone has filth in their hearts and has evil thoughts in their hearts, there are naturally very few people who can maintain a "clear conscience."

Confucianism does not care about these so-called "dirty" people. What Confucianism cares about is "fame, wealth" and "party struggle." Therefore, the power of Confucianism gradually increases in this kind of struggle.

The number of people gradually increased.

Although the number of people on Chen's side is decreasing, the people left behind are all "elites."

Therefore, although members of the Chen family accounted for less in the court, they occupied a very important and high position.

This is also one of Emperor Wen's balancing methods.

Although he was willing to cultivate another force to compete with the Chen family, he still felt that important matters could not be left to these Confucian people.

Under such a balance, Confucianism did a major event in the autumn of the seventh year of the Yuan Dynasty.

A major event that they thought could completely defeat the Chen family and make them successful.

It was this major event that brought the three-year war to a critical victory or defeat node.

When it comes to success or failure, who can succeed and who can fail?
(End of this chapter)