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

Chapter 383 "The Tragedy of the Aristocratic Family"

Countless thunders fell from the sky, and the surrounding rain washed the ground.

The man held a sharp sword in his hand, which was stained with the blood of Hongnong Yang.

In front of him, countless people who had already made preparations also had ferocious expressions on their faces: "We will obey the orders of our ancestor Tianshi!"

rainy night.

Countless bright red colors flowed out from the "Hongnong Yang's Mansion" behind them, and there were wailing sounds under the night.

The Hongnong Yang family was the first aristocratic family to be purged by the Patriarch Tianshi, but it was not the last one.

The fifth year of Tiantai.

Just when Chang'an and Langya were besieging Dayu, a major event broke out in the center of their territories, namely Hongnong County. This event quickly spread throughout the world, and all the scholars and governors of Guizhou heard about it.

A "monster" appeared in the world.

Yes.

This is what many noble families called this rebel army, saying that they are demons.

This team called themselves "Heavenly Soldiers" and their leader called himself "Ancestor Heavenly Master". This was an army composed entirely of the lowest class of people, but their fighting power was not weak.

Hongnong County was the fief of Liu Xie, the King of Langya, so when the riot broke out in Hongnong, Liu Xie and Cao Cao sent out the "Tiger Guards" to encircle and kill this army in an attempt to extinguish the flames.

But they failed.

The "Heavenly Soldiers" fought against the 5,000 "Tiger Guards" with only 3,000 of them in Hongnong County, and after slaughtering some members of the Yang family of Hongnong, they left Hongnong.

No one knew their next destination.

But some well-informed people realized that this was a purge against the "aristocratic families".

Therefore, those noble families who were high and mighty in the past began to worry, fearing that they would be targeted and slaughtered by this "heavenly army".

To know.

What is the fairest thing in this world?
is life.

Under the powerful force, those so-called "aristocratic families", those so-called powerful and wealthy, and everything accumulated by generations will easily turn into ashes.

Guandu City

Chen's Mansion
Guanfeng Pavilion

Chen Zexi sat there, silently watching the ripples in the distance, with a slightly complicated look in his eyes.

He sighed deeply and then said with emotion: "What this ancestor Tianshi did was indeed not a bad thing, but..."

Chen Zexi shook his head: "It's time for things to get lively here."

As soon as he finished speaking, a servant came hurriedly from a distance with a respectful look on his face.

"Sir, the heads of the Yuan, Yang, Lu, and other families are here, asking to see you."

Chen Zexi raised his eyebrows, but did not feel surprised.

After all, these aristocratic families are unable to fight against the "Heavenly Soldiers" and the "Ancestor Heavenly Master". In this case, their only way is to come find me. After all, even their two "allies" in Chang'an and Langya are very happy to see the power of these "aristocratic families" being weakened.

"Invite them in."

Chen Zexi just raised his chin and asked the servant to invite the group of people in.

He sat in the Wind-Watching Pavilion without moving.

In just a moment, the current head of the Yuan family, "Yuan Ji", the current head of the Yang family, "Yang Xiu", the current head of the Lu family, "Lu Yu", the son of Lu Zhi, the Minister of the Secretariat of the Han Dynasty, the Xun family of Yingchuan, and the "Xun You" and "Chen Qun" of the Chen family all arrived.

When Yuan Ji saw Chen Zexi sitting there motionless, he suddenly had a bad feeling in his heart.

He kept these premonitions to himself, then took a few steps forward with a smile on his face.

"My nephew greets my uncle."

In terms of seniority, Chen Zexi is of the same generation as his father "Yuan Feng", so of course he should be more respectful.

Moreover, the Yuan and Chen families were actually related by marriage during the reign of Emperor Guangwu, but the Chen family never paid much attention to this, so there was no problem at all for Yuan Ji to call Chen Zexi "uncle".

Now that everyone is here, no matter what the purpose is, Chen Zexi can't afford to be rude to them, and there is no need to be rude to Yuan Ji either.

He just pointed to the stone bench opposite and said, "Sit down, sit down."

He smiled and said, "Why are you all here together today? You can't be here to drink tea with me all of a sudden, right?"

Several people looked at each other and no one spoke. It was obvious that they were led by Yuan Ji.

Yuan Ji thought for a moment, and then went straight to the point. He had actually heard his father talk about Chen Zexi, and knew that it would be useless to beat around the bush with his uncle.

"Uncle, have you ever heard about what happened in Hongnong a few months ago?"

Hongnong?

Chen Zexi sighed: "There has appeared in the world a ancestor of heaven who stands beside the common people, gathers a group of "heavenly soldiers" and specializes in slaughtering the noble families. How could I not know about such a major event?"

"It's just a matter like this. Even if you come to me, what can I do?"

Since Yuan Ji didn't beat around the bush, Chen Zexi just got straight to the point.

"You came here to ask Chen to take action against this ancestor Tianshi?"

Yuan Ji nodded, then shook his head, his voice very sincere.

"Uncle, since this ancestor Tianshi has threatened to slaughter our family, we naturally cannot be lambs to be slaughtered."

"To be honest, after the Hongnong Incident, we immediately begged the Prime Minister to send troops to encircle and suppress Zu Tianshi, but we failed."

"Afterwards, many of our noble families also sent some of their soldiers to encircle and suppress the rebellion, but they also failed."

"Just before my nephew came to Guandu, part of the Yuan family's foundation in Guanzhong had been strangled, with the loss of hundreds of men, and more than 30 of the family's sons and daughters died on a rainy night."

He raised his head and looked at Chen Zexi.

"Uncle, the Chen family is also one of the noble families, but we know that the Chen family is much more powerful than us. Let alone the so-called ancestor of heaven, even if all the forces in the world were united, they would not be able to fight against the Chen family."

"We are here to ask for help."

"Please, uncle, save us."

Yuan Ji did not use threats or inducements. After all, for the Chen family, the little Zu Tianshi was not enough to be afraid of, so they had no means or methods to threaten the Chen family.

And they couldn't offer any benefits that would attract Chen.

In this case, we can only appeal to their emotions and reason.

Chen Zexi frowned slightly, looked at Yuan Ji and said, "Nephew, were all the descendants of the Yuan family massacred?"

Yuan Ji fell silent for a moment. Behind them, the heads of the noble families who came with them also fell silent.

Not all the descendants were massacred, and Zu Tianshi did not target all the aristocratic families.

Chen Zexi chuckled, "My dear nephew, don't think that I am out of touch with the news just because I don't leave Guandu City. In fact, there are probably few people in this world who are more informed than me."

"That ancestor Tianshi clearly stated that the targets of his massacre were not the "aristocratic families" or the "children of the aristocratic families", but those who relied on power and wealth to force the people into a desperate situation, and those who persecuted those who thought they were superior."

Chen Zexi put the teacup on the table and his voice became even colder.

"The families that have been killed by the Grand Master include the Yuan family, the Yang family, the Qin family in Guanzhong, and the Zhao family in Shangdang. Among these four families, the Qin family has suffered the least. According to the Grand Master, the Qin family has committed the least sins and has the least number of people who bear sins."

"The Qin family is well-known in Guanzhong. They provide porridge and grain during natural disasters to protect the safety of the people. Even now that the world is in turmoil, the Qin family is doing what they can to comfort the local people."

"I also heard that when the ancestor Tianshi led his troops to Guanzhong, he met the current head of the Qin family, Qin Ting. When the ancestor Tianshi met Qin Ting, the local people all protected Qin Ting, but Qin Ting was not afraid at all."

"Instead, he stepped forward and asked the ancestor Tianshi what he wanted."

"The ancestor Tianshi told Qin Ting with emotion that he originally wanted to slaughter the Qin family, which had been passed down for more than 400 years, but the information he collected and what he saw along the way told him that the Qin family was different from the two families he had slaughtered before."

"The Qin family can discipline their own children and protect the people. They are a true noble family. So he just came to see what kind of person Qin Ting is and to deliver a message."

"When Qin Zhuo saw what was recorded in the message, he immediately issued the family law and dealt with the three evildoers according to the family law. They were then sent to the local government office."

"Master Zu Tianshi asked Qin Ting, since he had already been dealt with according to the family rules, why did he still send him to the government office? Wouldn't this make the Qin family lose face?"

"Qin Ting just said seriously, family rules are family rules, national laws are national laws. Their ancestors established their country based on the law, and now they naturally insist on doing so."

"The three descendants of the Qin family were punished by family law, while the three citizens of the Han Dynasty were punished by national law."

"The ancestor Tianshi sighed again and told Qin Ting that he hoped he could continue to restrain the Qin family's children in this way. If he could continue like this, the Qin family would be able to be passed down for a thousand years."

As if reciting a script, Chen Zexi finished speaking about this matter and looked at Yuan Ji: "If I remember correctly, among the four families that were "killed", three of the Qin family's sons died, and the ancestor Tianshi gave him face."

"Twelve of the Zhao family's sons died, and the ancestor Tianshi also gave advice to the Zhao family's head."

"And the Yuan family and the Yang family?"

There was an inexplicably cold smile on Chen Zexi's face.

"Master Zu Tianshi killed a total of 135 people from the Yang family, 45 of whom had more than five lives lost. Of the remaining 90, half had more than two lives lost. The remaining half were also people who relied on the Yang family's reputation to bully the people."

Chen Zexi said word by word: "And the Yuan family lost 78 people in this massacre, and many more were killed."

"Yuan Ji!"

Chen Zexi almost shouted in a roar: "How dare you come to see me!"

The expressions on Yuan Ji, Yang Xiu and many other family heads suddenly changed, because what Chen Zexi said was true.

All the young men who died in this massacre were dirty.

Some young people even openly claim that their ancestors worked so hard just for them to enjoy themselves, and they use their status to show off.

Yuan Ji slowly closed his eyes.

The ominous premonition I had when I came here has come true. I'm afraid Chen won't care about this matter this time.

He just said in a hoarse voice: "Uncle, when a family is big, there will always be some parasites, but these are our flesh and blood relatives, some of them are even our elders, what can we do?"

"I only ask that Uncle Shih-yu, for the sake of our past friendship and the fact that we are all from the same great clan, save us and show us a way out."

Yuan Ji closed his eyes, and blood shadows seemed to appear in front of him. He had not closed his eyes for two days and two nights since the massacre that day.

He is afraid.

He was afraid that once he closed his eyes, the demon would lead his troops to charge in again.

Yang Xiu and others also spoke up.

Chen Zexi just sat there, his face becoming even more silent.

He sighed.

"Minglu?"

"When you forced the people to rebel, when you forced the people to the point where they could neither live nor die, why didn't you think of giving them a way out?"

Although he still spoke harshly, his voice was slightly softer.

"The way to survive is simple, and the bright path is right in front of you."

He looked at Yuan Ji and said, "Manage the family, do what a true 'aristocratic family' should do, and strictly discipline the children in the family."

"You can still monopolize the most resources and the greatest interests in the world, but you must learn to give the people at the bottom a way to survive."

“Return all the illegally occupied land.”

"You can continue to fight for power, but you must give those below you a chance to survive."

"Only when the people have a way to survive, will you have a way to survive."

Yuan Ji was silent for a moment, then he asked directly: "Uncle, have you guessed the purpose of this ancestor Tianshi?"

Chen Zexi looked at Yuan Ji in surprise, and then nodded.

"I can probably figure it out a little bit."

He organized his words while saying, "The purpose of this ancestor Tianshi is very simple, to make the noble families bleed, so as to give this world, which has been desolate for a long time and plunged into war, a little "sweetness" and a way to survive."

"Nephew, have you ever seen the "pigs" raised at home?"

The method of castration for raising pigs was invented by a butcher two hundred years ago. It has been passed down for more than two hundred years, and the word "彘" has been changed to "pig".

Yuan Ji suddenly realized, "So, in the eyes of that ancestor, the noble families are just fattened pigs. It's time to bleed them to provide strength to the world."

At this point, he even seemed a little bit unbelievable.

"What good will it do him?"

Chen Zexi also said in silence: "Yes, what good will it do him?"

"I do not know either."

In the fifth year of Tiantai, the "tragedy of the aristocratic family" broke out.

This served as a reminder to all the noble families of later generations, and was like a sword hanging over their heads.

临京
"Cough-cough-"

Zhang Jue coughed violently and forced himself to look at the feng shui map behind him.

“This winter is difficult.”

(End of this chapter)