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

Chapter 315: Long Years Like the Red Dust

Liu Che cleverly used several bridges to completely connect the three.

First, military merit.

This "bridge" was built to create a military bond between Chen, Wei Qing and Huo Qubing. What kind of friendship in the world is the most difficult to change?
It is probably the "love of life and death".

Having experienced the struggle between life and death together, the friendship between them will become inseparable. Even if there are "external forces" from the outside world want to separate them, it will be difficult to do so.

Talented people are like plants and trees, who can be heartless?
The emperor used this emotion just right and to the fullest, as if everything in the world was just a chess piece on his chessboard.

But in fact, the emperor was not sure whether this friendship could completely bind the three of them together.

Because the emperor does not believe in emotions, he believes in interests above all else.

Therefore, on top of this layer of strong comradeship, the emperor once again bound the three of them together in a close bond, and tied them together completely with interests. They completely became grasshoppers on the same rope.

Please see the formula.

Wei Qing: Wei Zifu's younger brother, the prince's uncle, and naturally the uncle of the crown princess and Huo Qubing.

Huo Qubing: Wei Qing's nephew, and naturally also Wei Zifu's nephew. If we talk about the prince, then he is the emperor's real "brother". Their blood is related. The prince has half of Wei's blood, and Huo Qubing also has half of Wei's blood.

In terms of blood relationship, the prince's mother is Huo Qubing's aunt, and Huo Qubing's mother is the prince's aunt.

This is something that cannot be given up.

Chen Qulu: The representative of the Chen family in the military, he is also the "grandfather" of Crown Princess "Chen Ming".

So, Chen Qulu is also the prince's grandfather.
He can even be considered the elder of the current emperor.

Of course, seniority cannot be counted in the royal family. Even if the emperor of the Liu family was shameless, he would not be so shameless as to let his son recognize an outsider as his grandfather or even count the seniority as his own.
But.
This did not prevent the emperor from privately asking "Liu Ju" to call Chen Qulu "great grandfather". After all, as long as Chen Ming could call him that, the prince would naturally follow suit.

If you call him "grandfather", you can get all the support from Chen.
Even the emperor today can give it a try.

Chen Qulu, Huo Qubing and Wei Qing, these three people are intertwined with each other, and they actually represent two forces behind them, one is the Chen family, and the other is the emperor.

Now the relationship between these three is completely tied together through "comradeship" and the interests represented by the "crown prince", which also means that the interests of the Chen and Liu families are tied together.

At least until the emperor changed his mind about making "the son of Chen's daughter" the crown prince, the interests of the Liu family and the interests of the Chen family were tied together.

In the spring of the third year of Yuanshou, the emperor of the Han Dynasty personally welcomed the soldiers returning from the northern border and held a banquet for them in the palace.

This banquet was very grand, and the new nobles of the Han Dynasty in the next few decades were officially established at this banquet.

The Wei and Huo families suddenly became the largest aristocratic families in the Han Dynasty, second only to the Guandu Chen family. People at the banquet raised their wine cups and toasted the two new nobles. They were eager to gain recognition from the Wei and Huo families.

Because it is too difficult to get Chen's approval.

Chen was like a god high above, never lowering their gaze to look at anyone other than Chen.

In this aristocratic family that has been passed down for more than two hundred years, neither the nobles in Chang'an City nor the celebrities in the world can be seen to have the slightest trace of "selfishness". The words of "the world belongs to the public" said by Chen Ye, the ancestor of the Chen family, seem to have truly become a reality in them.

People's fear and admiration for Chen is like the Mount Tai that always stands above the plains.

After this banquet, Emperor Liu Che of the Han Dynasty truly began to take control of the power of this magnificent and ancient empire. People in the court gradually began to notice one thing: the old man who had been firmly occupying the position of Prime Minister of the Han Dynasty began to speak less and less.

At the top of the magnificent Weiyang Palace, below the Emperor of the Han Dynasty, there was a chair.

An old man often sits on this chair.

That was the Prime Minister of the Han Dynasty, Chen Qiu.

Time always passes by like the years of the mundane world, without people noticing. The emperor's majesty becomes more and more powerful, while Chen Qiu's majesty becomes more and more ordinary.

Chen Qiu slowly opened his eyes, and heard the Han Emperor's gentle call from beside him.

"Teacher, teacher?"

"It's already past the court session, why did you fall asleep here?"

He looked at Liu Che who was standing beside him, and memories from an unknown time emerged in his mind. He smiled and stood up. Liu Che supported the old man and slowly walked out of the hall.

"Ahem, this chair Wuji presented is indeed much more comfortable to sit on, much better than kneeling."

As Chen Qiu walked, he said, "He always likes to study these things, but it makes people a little worried. Your Majesty, do you think Wuji's things are of great use?"

Liu Che still kept his head down. It was no longer the third year of Yuanshou, but the sixth year of Yuanshou.

During these three years, the next generation of the Chen family grew up rapidly, but the direction of growth was different from what they expected. Liu Che could also see that this was a test of the Chen family's desire to return to Guandu again.

His teacher had two legitimate sons and quite a few illegitimate sons, but none of them were significant and were already living in Guandu City.

Only "Chen Wu Shi" and "Chen Wu Ji" were tempered.

As the next generation heir of the Chen family, Chen Wu Shi naturally inherited the tradition of King An. However, what made him different from previous King Ans was that Chen Wu Shi was a person who integrated the four schools of Legalism, Confucianism, Taoism, and political science.

He often said, "I have integrated hundreds of schools of thought into one and gained my own way," which made Chen Qiu and Liu Che very happy.

What Liu Che particularly liked was Chen Wushi's idea that "the strengths of all schools of thought should be used by the emperor." In Chen Wushi's view, knowledge should be used by the emperor to govern the country. Of course, Chen Wushi's roots are still "Chen", so in his thinking, the most basic thing is still "serving the people."

Chen Wuji was the opposite of his brother. He showed his love for Mohism when he was young. Together with the four clans of the Chen family, he devoted himself to studying the Mohist mechanical arts and became a skilled craftsman who was no less skilled than Mozi and Gongshu Ban.

Chen did not have any doubts about this.

Chen Qiu even praised his son's research on mechanical engineering in public many times, indicating that if it is for the benefit of the people, then whether it is reading or studying mechanical engineering, as long as it is a path that suits him, then Chen will support it. At the beginning, after the establishment of the Han Dynasty, people in the world gradually forgot about the Mohist and Gongshu schools, because it was not conducive to the king's rule.

Emperors always felt that those who devoted themselves to the study of mechanical arts, or became "craftsmen", would lose their loyalty to the monarch, and they always wanted their subordinates to be more loyal to them.

Since the reign of Emperor Gao, social mores have gradually changed.

People began to be more inclined to read and become "political scholars" who talked about state affairs. This change reached its peak during the reign of Emperor Wen, but Chen always looked at it dialectically.

This kind of atmosphere could indeed make the Han Dynasty stable in the beginning. People no longer studied the teachings of Mohism or Gongshujia, but only studied political science and Confucianism. The idea of ​​"loyalty to the emperor" would be ingrained in their blood.

Why were there so many knights in the world during the turmoil of the Spring and Autumn Period, the Warring States Period, and even the Qin Dynasty?
What school of thought do most of the knights-errant in the world follow?

Most of them are Mohists, because Mohists may be filled with passionate blood in their bones. They always "draw their swords to help when seeing injustice on the road", but this is not a good thing for the establishment of the rule of law.

If there are people who can help everyone in the world, then what is the use of laws?

Therefore, even though the Chen family disliked this trend very much, the previous heads of the Chen family never had any extra comments on it, let alone publicly expressed their disgust for this trend.

When the time came to the Emperor Wu period, when one of Chen Qiu's descendants truly loved Mohism and used Mohism's mechanical techniques to accomplish many things that benefited the country and the people, Chen Qiu understood.

An opportune moment has arrived.

Therefore, in the past three years, Chen Qiu has encouraged his son many times so that Chen Wuji does not have to worry about the rumors in the world and can concentrate on studying these things.

Chen Wuji did not disappoint Chen Qiu's expectations and developed many things that are beneficial to people's livelihood. The chair was developed by Chen Wuji after he saw that his father had back pain due to years of kneeling.

Liu Che gathered his thoughts together. Now he was no longer the child who had just ascended the throne.

He became introverted and full of imperial wisdom, so he grasped the essence of the matter at the first time.

"I also think these things of Wuji are very useful."

The emperor boasted about Chen Wuji's contribution: "Especially this chair. Wuji developed this thing because he was worried about your health. This thing has indeed improved your health."

"This kind of filial piety is the most precious thing."

"The Han Dynasty governs the country with filial piety. I think there is absolutely no mistake in recommending Wu Ji as a filial and honest official and then appointing him as an official in the Ministry of Finance."

Chen Qiu frowned slightly. His body was beginning to age and his brain was sometimes stiff, so he didn't really like to brainstorm with the emperor and play some political tricks at this time.

He sighed and asked, "Your Majesty, do you think that Wuji can only become an official through the path of being selected as a filial and honest official?"

"In my opinion, Wuji's filial piety is indeed precious, but the things he made, such as the plow for farming and the loom for weaving, are even more precious."

"The Han Dynasty obtained many times more grain than in previous years because of the newly made plows, and became richer because of the looms and other items. Now every household in the country has begun to use the products of these craftsmen."

"Isn't this a more suitable reason for Wuji to serve as an official in the court?"

Chen Qiu looked at Liu Che with his cloudy eyes. He held Liu Che's hand and said with a hint of old age in his voice, "Your Majesty, you should take a long-term view. All the people in this world are yours."

"Except for you, no one should be above another, and no one class should be above the others."

His voice was like the sound of a war drum in old age, but it fell into Liu Che's heart. Liu Che naturally knew that what Chen Qiu said was right. He just sighed helplessly and said, "Teacher, it's not that I don't want to."

Liu Che did not say the rest of the words, but Chen Qiu already understood it at this time.

He laughed and said, "I know what your majesty is worried about, but why worry about it? Although Wu Shi often talks about the so-called "melting a hundred schools of thought", his thoughts, his personality, and his academic lineage all come from the Chen family."

"Since he is still a member of the Chen family at heart, then everything he does must be for the benefit of the people first."

"So, Chen Shi would not object to his ideas."

Chen Qiu looked at Liu Che with a smile on his face: "I also know what you have done in the past few years."

He coughed a few times and said, "Your Majesty, do whatever you want to do. With an old minister here, what are you afraid of?"

"The people of the Chen family, even though they are old, are still able to raise their swords and fight for you."

There was a hint of generosity in Chen Qiu's voice. At this moment, he seemed to have transformed from the old man just now to the young man he was back then: "Your Majesty, while I am still alive and can still do something for you and the Han Dynasty, please do it with all your strength."

"I will visit several other senior officials in the court and tell them about this matter."

Liu Che's eyes suddenly burst into a gleam of light. He lowered his head, looked at Chen Qiu and said, "Thank you, teacher."

In fact, Liu Che, who had communicated with Chen Wushi, had long wanted to change these trends, but he had no way to do so. The more power he gained and the closer he got to the supreme position where no one could refute, the more timid he became.

Those who have nothing are not afraid of losing it, but those who possess great treasures worry that if they lose their lives, they will lose everything.

At this time, with Chen Qiu's guarantee, Liu Che could finally take that bold step.

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In the sixth year of Yuanshou, the emperor had a discussion with Chen Gong.

Mr. Chen said: "The craftsmen of the world are those who speak of things."

The emperor praised it with great emotion, and mentioned the name of Kaishi Hou as a sign of filial piety.

Mr. Chen asked again, "Among all the filial piety that can be exemplified, is there nothing more unworthy than being a carpenter?"

"Ministers are your Majesty's subjects, and you cannot allow others to overstep their boundaries." - "Book of Han·Chen Shijia·No. 9"

(End of this chapter)