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

Chapter 429: The Country is So Splendid

Long live the ten years of peace and tranquility.

The Dayu Dynasty has been passed down for more than three hundred years, from the founding of the Taizu Emperor, the Ming Emperor, and the Yuan Emperor, to the founding of the Jianwu Era during the reign of the Jianwu Emperor. Dayu finally reached its peak period.

At that time, people thought that this prosperity would not last long. After all, everything that rises must fall. Everyone was waiting for Dayu to fall into decline.

But no one expected that Dayu not only did not fall into ruin and desolation, but instead maintained this "prosperity" for nearly a hundred years.

After Emperor Jianwu, Emperor Chengwu ascended the throne.

To be honest, Emperor Chengwu's performance can be described as "mediocre". He even had a tendency to betray his father "Zhang Wan"'s ambitions - but fortunately, before Emperor Jianwu passed away, he entrusted the government to "Chen Xiao".

Chen Xiao of the Chen family.

Chen Xiao lived an extremely long life, even longer than the "Ancestor Heavenly Master" who made great military achievements for the Dayu court in history.

The friendship between Emperor Jianwu and Chen Xiao was very strong. Before his death, Emperor Jianwu left Chen Xiao as a regent and even handed over all the military and political power of the country to him. He even called the crown prince, who was already a little sensible at the time, and asked him to worship Chen Xiao as his second ancestor.

Emperor Jianwu once said to his grandson, who later became Emperor Tianwu: Your father is stupid and ignorant, and may change my ambitions; if he has any conflicts with Emperor Xiao, you should listen to Emperor Xiao's words.

He even said bluntly: Your father might harm you, but Xiao will definitely not do that.

What do you mean?
Your father is a fool. He may change my ambition and go against me. He may have conflicts with Chen Xiao. You should listen to Chen Xiao then.

Your father might harm you, but Chen Xiao definitely won't.

He then directly bypassed Emperor Chengwu and handed over all the command of the "Daozu" and military power to Emperor Tianwu.

Later, it turned out to be true.

At the beginning of his reign, Emperor Chengwu wanted to tamper with a series of policies left by Emperor Jianwu and raise the power of the aristocratic families again. He was incompetent but very ambitious throughout his life. He wanted to carry out large-scale construction projects, harm the people, and build wonders.

But these were not completed due to the obstruction of Emperor Tianwu and Chen Xiao.

It was not until Emperor Tianwu came of age and was crowned at the age of 20 that Emperor Chengwu realized that he was no longer able to save the situation, so he returned home in disappointment, passing the throne to Emperor Tianwu and becoming an emperor emeritus.

After Emperor Chengwu passed away, the ministers at that time even wanted to give him the posthumous title of "Jie" or "Zhou", "Li" and other inferior posthumous titles, but they gave up in the end.

After all, Emperor Chengwu is the father of Emperor Tianwu, so he still has to give the current emperor some face.

Therefore, the final posthumous title was "Min".

"Min" is a medium-level posthumous title, but in fact, this posthumous title also carries some malice among all the posthumous titles.

What is compassion?
When the country is in trouble, it is called "min". When the country is in trouble, it is called "min". When a disaster or chaos is about to happen, it is called "min". When the people are sad, it is called "min". When the people are injured, it is called "min". When the country is in trouble, it is called "min". When the country is in trouble, it is called "min". When the country is in trouble, it is called "min". When the country is in trouble, it is called "min".

The first three are relatively euphemistic, but you can taste their charm at a glance.

After all, during the reign of Emperor Chengwu, the country was peaceful and the people were safe, with almost no worries.

This is almost pointing at Emperor Chengwu and saying that he is the biggest worry of the Dayu Dynasty.

The following words "make the people sad" directly reveal the nature of Emperor Chengwu.

When this posthumous title was presented, the three departments of Zhongshu Menxia Shangshu and the Prime Minister's Office were actually a little nervous. After all, this posthumous title was indeed a bit...
It is rumored that Emperor Tianwu and Emperor Chengwu had a good relationship, so these ministers prepared another posthumous title, and when the posthumous title of Min was rejected, they would take out that one.

but.
Emperor Tianwu played dumb, as if he didn't understand the meaning of the posthumous title. He just glanced at it and said, "Is it a posthumous title of Ping? It's OK. Although my father is not very good, he has made contributions after all. It's okay to give him a posthumous title of Ping."

Just let the matter go lightly.

Afterwards, everyone thought about it carefully and put aside their worries.

They understood that the relationship between the emperor and the previous emperor did not seem to be very good, and this was reasonable.

After all, when Emperor Tianwu ascended the throne, Emperor Chengwu was still in his prime, so there must have been some conflicts between the two. Moreover, Emperor Chengwu’s favorite child was not Emperor Tianwu.

But who made Emperor Tianwu the successor designated by Emperor Jianwu?
And he has the support of Chen behind him.

Emperor Tianwu has seized the destiny of heaven and the fate of mankind, and no one can say anything.

After Emperor Tianwu ascended the throne, Dayu's prosperity continued. He valued wise ministers and kept away from treacherous officials. During his reign, he again revised part of the content of the imperial examination and formally planned it into a rigorous system that was passed down.

He was in power for nearly thirty years. During these thirty years, China developed steadily, and the surrounding barbarians submitted to him. Even the Huns, who were far away in Europe, sent tribute to express their submission and admiration, and wanted to make friends with Dayu.

The territory of Dayu expanded again, not only covering the entire grassland, but also expanding to the west and southwest.

The governor of Jiaozhou even began to complain that Jiaozhou's territory was too large, and hoped that a part of the land further south of Jiaozhou could be divided into another prefecture; in fact, the governor of Jiaozhou was too lazy to pay attention to the Sun Wu Dynasty's temptation.

In the later years of Emperor Tianwu's reign, the Sun Wu Dynasty was incorporated into the territory of Dayu's vassal states, thus establishing jurisdiction over this part of the territory.

The "king" of the Sun Wu Dynasty also abdicated and returned to their ancestral hometown - Jiangdong.

The Jiangdong Sun family once again appeared among the many great Chinese families.

The continuation of the prosperity of the Tianwu Dynasty led to later generations referring to the three dynasties of Tianwu, Chengwu and Jianwu, and calling this period of prosperity that lasted for three emperors and nearly a hundred years the "Three Wu Prosperity".

However, some historians expressed dissatisfaction with this, thinking that Emperor Chengwu was not worthy of being called a "Wu" in the "Three Wu Prosperous Ages" and that the Three Wu Prosperous Ages should be changed to "Two Wu Prosperous Ages".

But unfortunately, most historians believe that no matter what kind of person Emperor Chengwu himself was, the Chengwu dynasty was still a prosperous era after all - even if part of this prosperity was attributed to the grandson of Emperor Tianwu, that is, Emperor Tianwu, and the other part was attributed to Chen Xiao.

After the long period of prosperity during the Three Wu Period, Dayu fell into a period of slow development.

The subsequent emperors have always been in a "mediocre" state. The people and ministers of Dayu have no other opinions on this. After all, their ancestors have already conquered the country, and they only need to maintain it.

It was not until the period of Emperor Yuhun that the situation underwent some subtle changes.

During the reign of Emperor Yu Hun, he promoted treacherous and corrupt officials, alienated wise ministers, and arbitrarily modified the imperial examination system, changing it from an examination of "Jianwu Ceremony" to an examination of "singing, dancing, poetry and prose."

Yes, singing, dancing, poetry

If you can sing, dance and write poetry, you can become an official.

This change made the imperial examination system lose its original meaning and caused a series of turmoil during the reign of Emperor Yu Hun. Common people began to study these minor tricks rather than real state governance policies that would benefit the country and the people.

Dayu began to experience turmoil.

At that time, the Chen family did not pay attention to this matter, because the head of the Chen family at that time was also somewhat mediocre and did not have the ability to turn the tide - and Dayu was not yet on the verge of extinction.

Emperor Yu Hun's reforms caused Dayu to fall into some minor chaos, but also made Dayu's "culture" flourish.

Historians in later generations concluded that the culture of the Great Yu Dynasty was at its peak during this period. During this period, a series of new tunes emerged, which eventually formed a new type of drama, new dance styles emerged, such as palm dance, song and dance, etc., and a group of great poets and writers emerged.

This false prosperity lasted for ten years before it was ended by the next emperor of Dayu.

"Emperor Anping".

Who is Emperor Anping?
The eldest son of Emperor Yu Hun.

Emperor Anping loved reading since he was young, but he did not like poetry, songs, and even less so, decadent music. Therefore, Emperor Anping was not liked by Emperor Yu Hun. It was for this reason that he got the opportunity to quietly leave the palace.

According to unofficial historical records, Emperor Anping grew up in the deep palace when he was young. Later, he lived in the old house of the Chen family in Guandu under a pseudonym, and was obsessed with books in Zhuoshen Tower all day long.

After returning to the palace, he immersed himself in the library all day long.

Some historians believe that this is the historical truth, because the later records of Emperor Anping in the Veritable Records of Emperor Anping were indeed like this.

It is even said that "When the emperor was young, he loved reading, day and night."

When Emperor Anping grew up, he was made the crown prince by Emperor Yu Hun - because he was the eldest son, had made no mistakes, and was very capable, so even though Emperor Yu Hun disliked this child who was the opposite of himself, he had to hold his nose and make Emperor Anping the crown prince.

After Emperor Anping became the crown prince, he gradually began to take charge of government affairs - he expressed strong dissatisfaction with the imperial examination system.

He was similar to his ancestor Emperor Jianwu, both of whom held the idea that "if literature cannot be used by the people, it is just waste paper", and he repeatedly denounced those ministers who had passed the imperial examinations by writing poetry, singing and dancing as "waste" and "incompetent and foolish people".

A tit-for-tat situation arose between the father and the son.

Under such circumstances, Emperor Anping undoubtedly launched a palace coup.

The outcome was obvious, Emperor Anping won.

Emperor Yu Hun was driven to the temporary palace to serve as the emperor emeritus. Emperor Yu Hun did not express much dissatisfaction with this because he could finally concentrate on studying his poetry, singing and dancing.

Emperor Anping was quite nice to Emperor Yuhun and did not lack anything for him.

After all, even if Emperor Yu Hun did not like his eldest son very much, he still loved him very much.

According to Emperor Anping, "I have a good relationship with my father, but not with the late emperor, because we have some different political opinions."

He separated the late emperor from his father.

During the reign of Emperor Anping, he carried out extensive reforms and revised the content of the imperial examination system again, changing it into the Jianwu Ceremony and a part of the people's livelihood policies.

This is a good thing and also a bad thing.

Because Emperor Anping and Emperor Yuhun set a "precedent" by modifying the content of the imperial examination system, the subsequent emperors of Dayu almost ruined the imperial examination system. They determined the content of the imperial examination system according to their own preferences.

And precisely because the content of the imperial examination system can be modified, even if there are many good emperors who modify normal content, the principle that a single bad apple can spoil the whole barrel is very applicable here - a foolish emperor can bring disaster to Dayu for more than ten years.

Dayu began to slowly go downhill.

There is no way around it.

"Ugh--"

A long sigh was heard, and Yang Jian woke up from his thoughts.

The middle-aged man next to him stood up. This was the "Grand Marshal" of the current dynasty - Su Wei.

Su Wei turned his head and looked at Yang Jian and said, "Brother Wenda, what are you thinking about? Today's morning court session is over."

He put his hands behind his back and walked out: "Do you want to go see the Prime Minister today?"

Su Wei had a worried look on his face: "The Prime Minister is not in good spirits. I am always a little worried. The current situation in the court depends entirely on the Prime Minister. If the Prime Minister passes away... Sigh."

Yang Jian's expression returned to its original calm state, and he just sighed softly.

"It is not a good idea to always rely on the prime minister to support the government alone, but the current emperor suffered a lot in his childhood, so he only trusts the prime minister."

"I really don't know what Dayu will become after the Prime Minister passes away."

The two looked at each other, neither said anything, but just sighed again.

Zhen Wang Mansion
Chen Zhi lay on the sickbed, with a look of sadness on his face.

He asked the person beside him softly: "Zhan'er, how has the court been these days? How is His Majesty?"

After Chen Zhan finished feeding the medicine, he put down the bowl and chopsticks in his hand: "Father, don't worry about those things."

He said sarcastically, "How bad can the court situation get? Can it be worse than it is now? A group of actors and Taoist priests occupying the court?"

Chen Zhi looked at Chen Zhan's expression with a hint of worry on his face.

After His Majesty ascended the throne, he changed the era name to "Wansui".

Because she was not loved by the previous emperor when she was young, she suffered countless abuses in the deep palace and developed a number of illnesses.

As luck would have it, due to a series of events, almost all of the late emperor's descendants died, and those who survived became disabled and could not ascend the throne. So in the end, the throne fell to the current emperor, who had never thought of becoming emperor before.

When the present emperor was eight years old, he did not even have a name bestowed by the emperor. At that time, the present emperor sought out Prime Minister Chen Zhi, who often helped him, and asked Chen Zhi to give him a name.

After many refusals, Chen Zhi had no choice but to name the current emperor "An Nian", hoping that the little emperor would have peace throughout his life.

Later on, the emperor ascended the throne.

The name was not changed and he is still called "Zhang Annian".

The reign title was changed to “Wansui”.

The first thing Emperor Wansui did after ascending the throne was to search for "alchemists" and "actors" in many places. In the end, he even added these two categories to the imperial examination system despite opposition.

Chen Zhi pressed his forehead.

If my son doesn't like these things, who will take care of the dynasty after I die?
Footsteps were heard in the distance.

"Sir, Young Master, the Grand Commandant, and the King's Uncle, please see me."

(End of this chapter)