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

Chapter 379 Changes in the world
History is a cycle that repeats itself over and over again.

The only lesson people can learn from history is that they can learn no lesson from history.

Every dynasty is very clear and upright at the beginning, but as the dynasty gradually develops, it will inevitably become corrupt from within.

This is inevitable.

As long as human beings exist, human greed will not end. As long as human greed and selfishness do not end, the cycle of dynasties will not stop.

This is the most unsolvable problem in the world, unless one day the top leader of the world is a group of robots without any emotions or social ties, who control all human rights, and no one can interfere, modify, or correct the "operation" of these machines. Only then will human society truly become a "universal harmony society."

It is precisely for this reason that Chen Zhulou did not feel any "dissatisfaction" with Zhang Jue's decision and change.

On the contrary, it was precisely because of the decision that Zhang Jue might make that Chen Zhulou felt very gratified. This was the only way for a founding monarch to go from a bandit to an emperor.

He stood beside the Wind-Watching Pavilion, with a hint of sigh in his voice.

Chen Zhulou simply said: "This is how the world works. Ever since Xuande and Mengde split the Han Dynasty, the entire world has been more or less caught up in the cloud of conflict, and people in the world have begun to get caught up in the political game."

He sneered: "Come to think of it, this is also the fault of our ancestors."

What he said does make sense. Because of the existence of Chen's "political science", the Han Dynasty began to change after Emperor Wu.

Chen Zexi disagreed: "There is no good or bad thing, such as the long swords on the waists of fighting warriors, or the great talents in your and my arms. Only those who use them can distinguish between good and bad."

"If you use them to do good things, they are good; if you use them to do bad things, they are bad."

"Donglin has such feelings, is he going to leave the mountain again?"

Chen Zhulou shook his head: "Not yet."

His expression was calm, yet full of confidence.

"Things change, I'm waiting for the right opportunity."

"This chaotic world has been going on for too long."

“It’s time to add fuel to the fire.”

Burning fire?

Chen Zexi looked puzzled: "Is Donglin going to start planning that thing?"

Chen Zhulou nodded: "Not bad."

"Only by doing this can we completely complete what needs to be done."

There was a flash of burning fire in his eyes, and his voice was light, but it was like the anger returning from the flames.

"Some people have enjoyed the benefits for too long. It's time to let their blood moisten the world."

In the fifth year of Chengtai, Dayu was first established.

Tianshi Zhang Jue succeeded to the throne of Datong, proclaimed himself emperor, established the country of Dayu in Yuzhang County, and made Yuzhang County the temporary capital, called "Linjing".

The era name was changed to "Tiantai".

His younger brothers were appointed as "General of the Earth" and "General of the People".

The "Emperor of Enlightenment" Chen Ye was respected as "Taishang Daluo Kaitian Zhuifu Yuli Hanzhen Xuanqiong Gaodedao Emperor", the founding emperor's teacher, heavenly teacher, and heavenly father. "Taiping Dao" was respected as the state religion in the country.

Taoist temples were built within the country.

Respect the Emperor of Tao as the supreme leader of Taiping Dao.

In this way, they honor themselves as orthodox.

When this news came out, the world was in an uproar.

This is also a significant event in history, because it was the first dynasty in the history of Kyushu that combined politics and religion. Or it cannot be said to be a combination of politics and religion, but only that its founding monarch was a "religious leader."

After the establishment of Dayu, although Taoist temples were built and Taoism flourished in the country, it did not develop like the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties in the historical trajectory.

The situation of "Four hundred and eighty temples in the Southern Dynasties, and countless towers in the mist and rain" never appeared in the Dayu Dynasty.

Perhaps because the founding monarch of Dayu came from a religious background, Dayu’s control over religious sects was very strict, perhaps because they were afraid that another "Zhang Jiao" would be born.

When the news spread to Guandu, the Chen family of Guandu was furious.

The current head of the Chen family, the leader of the Guandu Chen family, and the current King An denounced Zhang Jue as "nonsense."

Chen Zhulou clearly stated at a banquet that his ancestor "Chen Ye" was not a deity, nor a so-called God, nor the manifestation of the way of heaven.

Chen does not believe in any sects or religions. He only believes in living people and only believes in taking one step at a time.

Therefore, let Zhang Jiao stay away from it.

He even wrote a letter to Zhang Jue, the emperor of Dayu, saying that if Zhang Jue continued to slander Chen's ancestors, Chen would not be polite.

Zhang Jue's answer was very humble.

Even though Zhang Jiao has now become the emperor and the ruler of a country.

His original words translated are

"The one I worship is the 'Great Lord of the Mysterious Sky' Chen Ye, who is different from your ancestor 'Chen Ye', just like the 'Great Lord of the Pure Land' Laozi among the Three Pure Ones is not the Laozi in history."

"We have great respect for Chen's ancestor, King An Chen Ye, and the deity we believe in, 'Taishang Xuanqiong Gaodijun'. If Chen feels offended, we can only use the name 'Dijun' instead of 'Dijun Chen Ye' when we worship him in the future."

To sum up, it is sophistry.

But this is a very reasonable sophistry.

Chen Zhulou did not make any further comment on this matter. After all, it had already been said that this Chen Ye was not that Chen Ye.

Of course, he had no intention of expressing any opinion on the matter, but some people began to implicate Dayu with the Chen family, so he had to do something to show that Dayu and the Chen family had nothing to do with each other.

In the fifth year of Chengtai; the fifth year of Jian'an; which was also the first year of Tiantai in history, a major event happened.

The Emperor of Dayu, the Emperor of Chang'an and the Emperor of Langya jointly issued an edict, denouncing the "Yellow Turban bandits" roaming around the world as bandits.

Among them, Zhang Jue, the emperor of Dayu and the Heavenly Master of the Taiping Dao, said that these people were rebels under the name of the "Yellow Turban Rebellion" and were traitors who endangered the lives of people all over the world. Therefore, Chang'an and Langya did not need to care about Dayu's face and could destroy them directly.

Emperor Liu Min of Chang'an said that the existence of these rebels had seriously affected the peace of the Han Dynasty, so he appointed General Huangfu Song as the chief general, and deputy generals Guan Yu, Zhang Fei, Ma Chao, Wei Yan, Huang Zhong and others, each leading an army to suppress the Yellow Turban cholera.

Liu Xie, the Emperor of Langya, issued the edict decisively.

He led troops under the leadership of Xiahou Dun, Xu Chu, Yu Jin, Zhang Liao, Xu Huang and others to quell the Yellow Turban rebellion in various parts of the country.

Thus began a vigorous campaign to suppress bandits.

常山
Wu Chang led the remaining troops to flee everywhere, with a look of resentment on his face. Since Zhang Jue raised his banner, people from all over the country responded one after another. After Zhang Jue established Dayu, he secretly contacted these "Yellow Turban Army" in various places. Some of them joined Zhang Jue and took their troops to Dayu's territory, and then they were "recruited" in an alternative way. Others, like "Wu Chang", continued to stay in their own territory.

The righteous have never been the Yellow Turban Army, but the common people who have no way to survive.

Wu Chang was also a person who couldn't afford to eat at first, but later he changed.

When he became the leader of the Yellow Turban Army and had troops in his hands, everything changed. He began to immerse himself in this "happiness" and the feeling of being superior to others.

It was precisely because of this feeling that when Zhang Jue issued the order, he refused and continued to stay in Changshan to cause trouble.

It can be said bluntly that all the remaining Yellow Turban generals who did not go to Dayu were not good people. They no longer had the faith they had when they rose up in rebellion. They are now no different from those "powerful and wealthy" who forced them in the past.

The real Yellow Turban Army had long since become the army of "Dayu", and the remaining ones were truly "Yellow Turban bandits".

When the three major forces began to wipe out these people, some of the "innocent people" who followed them also reacted and followed the imperial edict to go to "Dayu", or returned to their hometowns and continued to live peacefully.

Whether it was Zhang Jue, Liu Bei, or Cao Cao, all three of them knew one thing.

After all the arguments and struggles, the most important thing in the country is the “population”.

These people are also the most "simple" ones. As long as they are given food to eat and a way to survive, they will continue to live here peacefully and provide a steady stream of taxes and "services".

Where do corvée labor and military service come from?

Doesn’t it come from these most ordinary and lowest-level people?
The first year of Tiantai, winter.

The fight against the Yellow Turban Rebellion has come to an end.

Almost all the Yellow Turban banditry was eliminated in the Chang'an Han territory, and the same was true in the Langya Han territory.

Of course, one difference from the Han people in Chang'an is that at this critical juncture, a major event occurred in Langya, an event that changed the current situation.

No one knows exactly what happened.

All we know is that in the winter of the fifth year of Jian'an, Liu Xie, the emperor of the Han Dynasty, said that he had received a dream from God and his ancestors, telling him that the Liu family's mandate of heaven had been severed, and therefore he could not continue to serve as emperor, which would anger God.

He expressed his intention to abdicate.

The person chosen for abdication was the Prime Minister of the Han Dynasty, "Cao Cao".

But Cao Cao clearly refused.

Emperor Liu Xie was determined to continue to abdicate to Cao Cao, but Cao Cao refused many times.

Liu Xie spoke all these things at the court meeting. He said that he had privately negotiated with the prime minister for a long time, but the prime minister had always disagreed.

But God had advised him many times, and he dared not disobey, so he had no choice but to take it directly to the court to explain.

When this happened, everyone subconsciously looked at Cao Cao. They thought this was Cao Cao's arrangement. After all, how could the emperor suddenly abdicate to Cao Cao for no apparent reason?
Unless Cao Cao asked for it himself, or was "coerced" to do so.

When this news reached Langya, everyone in the world was shocked.

The most angry people were of course Emperor Liu Min and Liu Bei, who lived in Chang'an.

Chang'an City

Liu Bei's eyes were filled with anger, and he said word by word: "Meng De actually has such a mind!"

He had always thought that Cao Cao and he had different ways of saving the Han Dynasty. Who would have thought today that it was probably not the methods that were different, but the differences in their inner persistence!
One is to save the big man!

One is to replace the Han Dynasty!

"Cao Mengde is actually like Wang Mang back then!"

This is why Liu Bei was most angry and sad. He couldn't imagine that the person he had always regarded as his confidant was actually a treacherous person like Wang Mang.
Zhuge Liang's expression did not change much. In fact, he never believed that Cao Cao only wanted to be a "prime minister".

"Prime Minister, the only solution now is to use external force to make Cao Cao surrender."

"Put this matter on hold."

Zhuge Liang narrowed his eyes and said, "Isn't the fake emperor going to abdicate? Although he is the emperor, he is no longer a major clan, but a minor clan. Prime Minister, can you ask the emperor to issue an edict to reprimand him?"

"Is he the only one who can dream?"

"The Gaozu Temple is in Chang'an!"

Liu Bei nodded slightly.

At this time, Fa Zheng on the side smiled and said, "Actually, there is another way."

He smiled and said, "Cao Cao wants to take over the political power from the Han Dynasty in a legitimate way? Then let's see if he has the ability to do so."

"Will Zhang Jue just watch this happen? No."

"We can unite with them, and then send troops to surround and kill Langya!"

"Secondly, Cao Cao wants to accept the abdication. Will the one in Guandu agree?"

Fa Zheng said calmly: "You should know that the current emperor has some blood of the Chen family flowing in his veins. Back then, the daughter of the Chen family was the Empress Liu! Now all of this lineage are descendants of that one of the Chen family members back then!"

"It doesn't matter how the throne is passed down among Liu's own people. After all, these people are considered Chen's "blood relatives", but..."

He chuckled and said, "If it falls into the hands of Cao, then the nature of the matter will be different."

Liu Bei pondered for a moment. He didn't really want to involve Chen Zhulou or the Chen family, but such a big thing
He sighed and said, "Whatever."

"I will write a letter and go to Guandu!"

Langya
Prime Minister's Mansion

Cao Cao, who was considered by the outside world to be very happy, secretly delighted, and even excited, was not as happy as they thought. Instead, he was very depressed.

Guo Jia and others were silent because they were not sure whether this was what the prime minister did.

After a long time, Xizhi finally asked.

"What are you worried about, Prime Minister? Are you worried about what happened a few days ago?"

Cao Cao nodded slightly and looked directly at the many counselors, his expression without any concealment: "I really didn't do this."

"I'm afraid there's someone else behind this."

Was it really not done by the Prime Minister? All the other counselors had doubts in their eyes. After all, Cao Cao's ambition to become emperor seemed to have never been hidden.
Guandu City

Chen Mansion
Chen Zhulou looked at the letter written by Liu Bei in his hand and blinked slightly.

He handed the letter to Chen Zexi: "Guangde, what do you think?"

(End of this chapter)