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

Chapter 407: Looking East and West, Just Like Back Then

In the considerations of Chen Ying and Cao Rui, no matter whether they finally succeeded in getting rid of Sima, Cao would never be able to become emperor again.

Because the "aristocratic family" they rely on does not allow it.

The deeper reason is that the relationship between "Cao Mao" and "Cao Rui" is a typical father-son relationship in the Central Plains. Although there seems to be not much communication between them, Cao Rui does not want to ruin his child's life because of his "obsession".

During the years he was in power, he had already seen the end of Wei and the Han Dynasty.

Perish.

This is inevitable.

Cao Rui was well-versed in history books and could even be said to be the most intelligent emperor during the late Han Dynasty and the Three Kingdoms period.

He saw the direction and outcome of the world from history books, and he clearly judged that the final winner would be "Dayu", while Wei and the Han Dynasty would definitely perish.

In any case, he didn't want his child to be the king of a fallen country.

How painful is this?
For some people, after becoming the king of a fallen country, they can still live a happy life, and even relax and enjoy themselves as if they had put down a huge burden.

Such people will not have any special grief or indignation over the loss of their country. They can accept that their subordinates want to restore their country, and can even help their subordinates conceal it.

But they will not give up their lives and immerse themselves in this "revenge".

For example, Liu Chan.

Some others will never accept this kind of thing. They will only be obsessed with revenge and feel that their hearts are filled with hatred. In the end, they are controlled by hatred and waste their lives.

For example, my own son.

Therefore, after Chen Ying proposed the possibility of "Cao and Liu joining forces", Cao Rui agreed without any hesitation.

He even went to the ancestral temple to pay tribute to his father, the overlord who usurped the throne from Liu Han and became emperor.

Then he happily prepared for this matter with Chen Ying.

The first year of Taishi, late winter.

Less than half a month after Cao Wei's grand event of punishing the rebels and regaining the throne, another event that shocked the world happened again.

No one expected that the matter would develop in this direction.

The first year of Taishi, winter.

Emperor Cao Mao of the Great Wei announced that he would return power to the Han Dynasty and the throne to Emperor Liu Chan of the Great Han Dynasty. From then on, he gave up the title of Emperor of Wei and retired to King of Wei.

caution.

If it was just such an imperial edict of removal, it would not have caused everyone in the world to look at him in awe and think that Cao Mao was truly a hero unparalleled in the world.

He really incorporated all the forces within the Wei State into the Han Dynasty.

Some of the old and young people of the Han Dynasty began to feel excited and thrilled. They looked at this ancient and majestic empire and once again showed its former heyday of "who can rival you in the world" and "the whole world is Han territory".

Many people even came to the Gaozu Temple and continued to worship Emperor Gaozu when the Emperor of Wei announced his abdication.

The people living near Chang'an also went to the temples of Emperor Wen and Emperor Jing with great excitement, telling them about the sorrow and suffering they had experienced over the past hundred years. They looked at the newly established "Han Dynasty" and wondered if they could hope that the world would be unified again and return to the Han Dynasty.

The second year of Taishi.

The Han emperor Liu Shan issued an edict to change the era name to "Pantong", which means looking forward to unification.

At the same time, the Emperor of Han Dynasty announced that Lu Qin, an internal official in the Prime Minister's Office, would be the Left Prime Minister of Han Dynasty, ranking below the Prime Minister Zhuge Liang.

This was a decision made after several rounds of bargaining. Zhuge Liang represented the interests of the Han Dynasty and the Zhuge family, while Lu Qin represented the interests of the Han Dynasty and many other families, including the Lu, Xie, and Wang families.

At the same time, the vacancy of the clerk in the Prime Minister's Office did not last long.

In March of the first year of Pan Tong, the emperor issued an edict, announcing the appointment of Wei Wang "Cao Mao" as an internal official in the Prime Minister's Office and promoted him to Sikong.

The clerks in the Prime Minister's Office were no longer the "minor clerks" of the early Han Dynasty. In fact, they had become an official position almost equal to the left and right prime ministers.

After Cao and Liu merged, many things began to change.

For example, the official system of the Han Dynasty court has almost been replaced by the Nine-Rank System. The advantage of this system is very obvious, which is that it can make people know the distinction between various official ranks more clearly.

Zhuge Liang and others spent several months and finally worked out a system of officials that was satisfactory to both parties.

Among them, "Situ", "Sikong", "Taifu" and "Taishi" were listed as "first rank", but they were honorary titles, that is, this title was only a title and they had no real power from then on.

But they are genuine "first-class" products.

The "Prime Minister", "Grand Marshal" and "Grand Censor" were also listed as the first rank, and they were the real first rank.

The "Qing" level officials, which had been expanded to the "Thirty-Six Ministers", were listed as "from the first rank", while the "provincial governors" in various places were also "from the first rank", which also meant that the era when Beijing officials were superior to others had temporarily passed.

This is something that cannot be changed. The officials under the emperor and the officials in the court are just slightly higher than the local officials.

Of course - this only applies to officials below the "third rank".

Because officials of the third rank and above were already "provincial governors", some people even felt that being a second-rank official in a local area was much better than being a first-rank official in the imperial court.

The Zhongzhengguan, a special official who was created in a special period, was singled out.

The original forces of the Han Dynasty and the top families of Cao Wei had a discussion for as long as half a month. This was the reason why it took Zhuge Liang so long to come up with this official system.

The final conclusion was to separate the "Zhongzheng official" and set up a "Zhongzheng Office".

The Zhongzheng Office was similar to the "Ministry of Personnel" in later generations. It was responsible for reviewing and transferring the appointment, promotion, and demotion of officials. Officials in the Zhongzheng Office were all called "Zhongzheng officials" without any distinction between big and small.

The Da Zhongzheng Office had a "Da Zhongzheng", who was the "Director of the Zhongzheng Office", and under him were two "Xiao Zhongzheng", who were the "Shaoqing of the Zhongzheng Office".

Most of the directors of the Zhongzheng Office would be awarded an honorary title of "first rank", but it was not an honorary title with a strong meaning like "Taifu", but an honorary title like "Zijin Guanglu Dafu".

The merger of Cao and Liu was a mighty one, and it was not until the end of winter in the first year of Pan Tong that this merger was truly over.

The world thus once again formed a situation of "looking far into the east and the west".

Just like when Emperor Gaozu established the Han Dynasty, he once again destroyed the "King of Chu" in the Chu-Han Contention, and then formed a posture of looking at each other from afar with the Qin State.

At this moment, just as at that moment.

Dayu and the Han Dynasty, the Han Dynasty and the Qin Dynasty.

Who is the Qin Dynasty? Who is the Han Dynasty?

No one knows this.

If we say that the Han Dynasty today is the "Han Dynasty" of the past? That is not right, because the Han Dynasty today is already corrupt, equivalent to the "Qin Dynasty" of the past. If we say that the Dayu of today is the "Han Dynasty" of the past? That does not seem to be right either, because most of the territory occupied by Dayu today is the territory of the Qin Dynasty.

Moreover, at the end of the Qin Dynasty, the territory of the Qin Dynasty had actually become very small.

Just like Dayu now.

Originally, the world was divided into three parts, with Dayu being the largest, followed by Cao Wei, and finally the Han Dynasty.

And now, Cao Wei + Han Dynasty > Dayu.

Looking forward to the end of the first year.

The 30th day of the twelfth lunar month.

The Emperor of the Han Dynasty ascended a high place to offer sacrifices, and then issued an edict that made people cry just reading it.

In his edict, he expressed that he only wanted to fulfill his father's wish and realize the reunification and revival of the Han Dynasty. The Han Dynasty has been in existence for more than 400 years, and during this period it has suffered countless hardships and tortures, but it has survived like real gold walking out of the fire.

But now, the Emperor of Wei has given up his position to help the Han Dynasty, hoping that the Han Dynasty will be revived again. As the Emperor of Han, he also hopes that Dayu can consider carefully whether to join the Han Dynasty like the Emperor of Wei.

Even the Emperor of Han made a promise.

After Emperor Gaozu established the Han Dynasty, he enfeoffed the princes, and now he can do the same.

If the emperor of Dayu was willing to merge with the Han Dynasty like the emperor of Cao Wei, then he would confer the title of "King of Yu" on the emperor of Dayu, the same title as the King of Wei, and even allow the two of them to establish a country within the Han Dynasty.

Such a promise is very enviable. After all, as it stands now, Dayu does not seem to have an advantage.

After the Han Dynasty and the Wei Dynasty merged, the power of the two sides was not as simple as 1+1. The strength between them was greater than 2, and was equivalent to three-quarters of the Han Dynasty's heyday.

Who could beat the big man back then?
No one has such confidence.

As a result, there were disagreements within Dayu on this matter.

Do you want to merge?
This is a very difficult choice.

Dayu
Inside the Geunjeongjeon Hall
Zhang Cheng sat there tiredly. He pressed his forehead and felt as if countless flames were burning in his head.

"Master Zu Tianshi, what do you think of what happened in the court today?"

At this time, Zhang Cheng no longer called him "Prime Minister", but called him "Ancestor Heavenly Master", hoping to evoke the friendship between the man in front of him and the late emperor, and then let him continue to support him.

after all
Who would want to be a king when you can be the emperor?
Being second only to one person is good, but being above everyone else means more opportunities for Zhang Cheng.

Why would the young emperor of Cao Wei be willing to join forces?

That's because he had no other choice, so he was willing to join in.

Is Dayu out of options? Of course not.

Didn’t the Cao-Liu alliance also get defeated by Dayu back then?
But the voices in the court were complicated, and it was no longer the time when Zhang Cheng had the final say.

Now the attitude of Zu Tianshi is the key.

Because there were many descendants and disciples of the Chen family in the court, this group of people, just like in the past during the Qin and Han dynasties, kept their heads down and kept silent, not saying a word and maintaining a neutral attitude.

Usually Zhang Cheng likes the attitude of this group of people very much. After all, this group of people are not standing against him. Because both sides want to do something for the people, they often stand together.

And now.
Zhang Cheng pressed his forehead again. Now it was time for this group of people to express their opinions.

And there is only one person who can make them express their opinions.

On paper he is the Prime Minister of Dayu, but in reality he is the head of the Chen family.

Zu Tianshi was silent for a moment, then he sighed and said slowly: "You can't merge."

He closed his eyes and made the decision with difficulty.

Zhang Cheng was a little surprised. He thought that Zu Tianshi was looking after the people of the world and should want to unify them as soon as possible, so he should agree to merge. But now Zu Tianshi refused directly without any hesitation?
He asked curiously: "Prime Minister, why are you unwilling to join us?"

Master Zu Tianshi smiled faintly, he stood up and walked outside, Zhang Cheng followed behind him, and the two old men, who were almost over 150 years old in total, walked under the starry sky.

"After the Han Dynasty and Wei Dynasty merged, those aristocratic families became like termites, attached to the bones of the Han Dynasty, ready to continue sucking this huge and ancient country dry."

He said softly: "Dayu represents the most fundamental interests of the people. The Emperor Taizu of Dayu was born into a poor peasant family and founded the "Taiping Dao". The world he hoped for was not a world where these aristocratic families were still high and mighty."

Zu Tianshi's voice was erratic.

"If they merge, Dayu will never have a chance to change anything."

He turned around and looked at Zhang Cheng: "After the merger, it is like taking a chronic poison, which will slowly kill people, but if Dayu disagrees with the merger now, it will only be a short-term severe pain."

"I don't want the Heavenly Master's efforts to become a laughing stock, and I don't want those noble families to become parasites of the country."

"So, we can't merge."

Master Zu Tian lowered his head and said: "Of course, it is not that difficult for Dayu to unify the world. Perhaps it only takes one war."

He said softly: "After the establishment of Dayu, perhaps these noble families will still be like flies that slip through seamless gaps, disguising themselves as all kinds of good people, but Your Majesty——"

"Please remember this."

"If you are soft-hearted towards these people, they will be integrated into Dayu's bones. When they gradually grow stronger, they will become high and mighty again."

"I'm not just talking about the aristocratic families, but some people with ulterior motives."

Zu Tianshi made the final judgment on this kind of people, with a mocking look on his face: "No matter how powerful such people are, they only dare to surrender cowardly to the outside world, but once they face their own people, they are like invincible demons."

"A bunch of bad, stupid idiots."

Zhang Cheng sighed. How could he not know all this?

He nodded immediately and said, "I will remember it."

After a moment, he added: "But I don't know whether people in the future will change."

The ancestor Tianshi smiled easily and said, "What's the big deal?"

"How can you and I care so much?"

Looking forward to the second year, spring.

The Emperor of Dayu explicitly rejected the idea of ​​"merger".

(End of this chapter)