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

Chapter 439 Bloody Night (Part )
Ying'an stood beside him, also with a slight smile on his face.

"Your Majesty, these people are always like this. Whoever can control the situation will gain their direction."

“But it is often the presence of these people that determines the final victory.”

While pouring tea for Zhang Annian, Ying'an quietly analyzed for him the political situation he had seen and the current political situation.

Zhang Annian listened very quietly.

Ying'an is a very special person to Zhang Annian. She is the only person his mother left him who he can truly trust and who will be loyal to him.

Except Ying'an, no one else can be trusted.

Zhang Annian knew that even though he was born intelligent and had learned many truths from Chen's collection of books, and wanted to gain a glimmer of hope for the people of the world, his own "eyes" were ultimately narrow.

What he can see is how a thing appears in his eyes and from his perspective.

So he needs someone, someone with a completely different perspective and even a completely different class to help him analyze some things, or to tell him what he sees from that person's perspective.

If you listen to both, it will be bright, and if you listen to one, it will be dark.

Zhang Annian would definitely understand this logic.

After Ying'an told him in detail what he had seen and thought, Zhang Annian nodded and then sighed.

"Today, with the help of everyone's hearts and strength, I will restore the imperial examination system to the way it was during the Jianwu period. This is indeed a good thing. Even if the dynasty of Dayu changes in the future, I will not be sorry for my ancestors."

Zhang Annian is more open-minded than his father and even grandfather.

In his opinion, if Dayu collapsed like the Han Dynasty, then as long as the person who took over was a suitable person, he would not put up too many obstacles.

Ying'an walked to Zhang Annian's side with the tea in his hand. After handing the tea over, he said softly, "Your Majesty, what are you talking about? Dayu has the protection of the Heavenly Master and will surely last forever."

Zhang Annian smiled sarcastically.

He pressed his forehead and said, "Go and call Zhang Chun over. I need him to do something."

"Now that the situation in the court has been brought under control, I will let go and do what I should have done."

There was a sharp light flashing in Zhang Annian's eyes.

The thirteenth year of Long Live the Emperor, this year is a very special year.

Because some changes happened in the Enke examination in the twelfth year of Wansui, the Enke was postponed to the thirteenth year of Wansui. However, according to the rules, there was also an imperial examination in the thirteenth year of Wansui.

Year after year.

This resulted in two opportunities to take the exam in the 13th year of Wansui. If one failed the first time, there was still a second time, and the questions in the two exams were related to each other.

The students of the Imperial College were very confident, but then they were hit so hard that they all wilted like flowers in the cold wind.

But this time, the students who were originally from the Jianwu Department were excited enough to be proud and proud.

Because among the 490 students admitted, more than 300, or nearly 400, were students of Jianwu University.

However, there are still more than a hundred students of the Imperial College.

The situation that people had expected did not happen, because many of the students who passed the Imperial College exam, and even the top scorer in this exam, was a student of the Imperial College named "Zhang Qiao", so the students of the Imperial College did not make a fuss.

They think that if Zhang Qiao can do it, why can't I?
Therefore, the court of Dayu was still calm. However, at this time, because Su Wei, Yang Jian, Dugu Xin and others were not present in the court, Emperor Wansui began to unscrupulously suppress those "parties" that originally belonged to the aristocratic families.

Suddenly, the fire was boiling.

It seemed as if the royalists had become the mainstream in the court, and those opposition forces that wanted to rebel had completely disappeared.

The whole country is thriving.

Winter of the thirteenth year of Wansui.

The emperor's edict.

This was an extremely strange decree, but people had no choice but to obey it.

He touched upon the thing that ordinary people cared about most - land. However, the ones who reacted most violently were not the ordinary people whose lives were affected, but rather the landlords, powerful people, and officials of the Dayu Dynasty.

What kind of decree is this?

The content of the decree is as follows.

"Farming in all four seasons is the foundation of a country. However, I have heard that in the time of our ancestors, land was owned by the state, not privately."

"However, Qin Yang introduced the system of private ownership of land, which made the land of the world not the king's land, and made the country a farming country instead of a people's land. When I read this, I sighed deeply in my heart."

"Now, I want to measure the fields of the world, and I got the Dayu Fish Scale Book. Who will be the hands of all the fields in the world, so that the people of the world can live in peace."

The meaning of the imperial edict was very simple: the emperor wanted to measure the land of the world.

If this only made the powerful and wealthy a little anxious, then the sentence "long sigh" in the imperial edict made all of them tremble with fear.

What does it mean that Shang Yang's establishment of the private ownership of land makes you sigh?
What are you sighing for?
You are dissatisfied with private ownership of land? Then is there any need to guess what the emperor wants to do?

Of course not!

The emperor wants to restore the nationalization of land!

The powerful people seemed to go crazy in an instant, with bloodshot eyes.

But they can't move.

because
If they made any move, Chen would definitely suppress them at this time.

But we cannot allow the emperor to continue doing this.

Yang Mansion
Dugu Xin laughed long with a complacent smile on his face.

"I originally thought that Zhang Annian was a smart man, but I didn't expect him to do such a stupid thing. It's really ridiculous."

Yang Jian also had a smile on his face. The sadness that had been lingering on his face due to the trick he had played on him by the emperor last year had dissipated in the past few days, but he had a different opinion from Dugu Xin on this point.

"In fact, this is not a stupid move."

Yang Jian looked at the sunset in the distance. The sun was slowly setting and layers of clouds were gathering there.

He said softly: "Your Majesty's decision is very decisive and wise."

"only."

Yang Jian even showed a hint of admiration: "But this is a very difficult road."

He stood up, and then paced slowly in the courtyard, with an even more worried look on his face.

"Ugh."

"In fact, the dynasty has been passed down for more than 200 years, and it has been nearly 800 years since Shang Yang created the private ownership of land in the Qin Dynasty."

"Eight hundred years is enough time for a system to decay."

"Father-in-law, you should know who owns most of the land in the country right now, right?" Dugu Xin nodded: "Aristocratic families, the powerful, and the wealthy."

Yang Jian nodded: "These three have annexed most of Dayu's land, and these people have occupied these wealth, but have not used these wealth to support the country. Instead, they have become parasites of the country."

"They lie on the body of the Guochao and suck its blood, so that the Guochao's land annexation becomes more and more serious."

"There are actually voices against Dayu among the people, but they are not loud enough."

"But if things continue to develop like this, then Dayu will definitely become the next Han Dynasty, and those voices will eventually converge into a new "Yellow Turban Rebellion". So your Majesty is decisively trying to restore the national land system at this time, in fact, in essence, you want to redistribute the land."

"Your Majesty did nothing wrong."

Dugu Xin had a suspicious look on his face: "So what you mean is that Your Majesty will win in the end?"

Yang Jian laughed sarcastically: "No, Your Majesty will definitely fail, and it will be a very miserable failure."

"This is his end."

"Father-in-law, get ready, the next struggle is about to begin."

"Your Majesty will definitely encounter many difficulties and obstacles, and when Your Majesty can't handle them, it's time for you and me to stand up again."

He said confidently: "His Majesty will seek peace with us and want to use our strength to complete this difficult but great reform. This is also our opportunity."

"We can advance our chance to return to the court several years earlier."

Dugu Xin looked at Yang Jian and frowned: "So we should support His Majesty?"

Yang Jian nodded: "Of course I support Your Majesty."

He smiled and said, "Because we support your majesty, we can keep the land in our hands. This is one of the bargaining chips that your majesty must hand over."

“Politics is the art of compromise, and the transfer of regime and the change of power are lost in these compromises.”

After listening to Yang Jian's words, Dugu Xin's eyes were filled with some emotion: "So, according to what you mean, Your Majesty has no chance of winning? Can only fail? In the end, surrender your power in compromise, leaving behind a sigh in the political struggle?"

Yang Jian nodded: "Yes."

"When His Majesty wanted to take this path, his end was doomed to failure."

"unless."

unless?

Dugu Xin was a little curious. He couldn't think of the conditions for Zhang Annian to win. Suddenly, a light bulb went off in his head, and he frowned and said, "You mean, if Chen helps him, he can win?"

Yang Jian nodded, then shook his head.

"Yes and no."

"Chen's help will naturally help your majesty win, but in fact, your majesty has another way, but your majesty did not take this road."

"Because at that time the late emperor didn't have much time left, and the prime minister didn't have much time left either."

There was a hint of melancholy in Yang Jian's voice, and he seemed to be seriously considering how to help Zhang Annian win.

"If—I mean if."

"When the late emperor was still alive and the prime minister was still strong, our majesty could enter the court and gradually build up his own power - the kind of power that truly only obeyed his orders and was his diehard loyalists. Then he would be able to obtain the first step towards victory."

"Then, he needs to have the same kind of perseverance and decisiveness as 'Chen', and control the 'military power' in his hands with great personal charm, just like Emperor Taizu in the past and Emperor Ming later. As long as he controls the military power and has loyal forces in the court, then he has the key to victory."

Yang Jian laughed sarcastically: "But unfortunately, he doesn't have these."

"Our Majesty became the Crown Prince when the late Emperor and Prime Minister were both in poor health. After the late Emperor passed away, he became the new Majesty. But at that time, the Prime Minister was already old and weak. Although he still had a strong deterrent power, he lacked energy, which allowed people to take some "loopholes."

"He's too frivolous."

Yang Jian commented: "Your Majesty's power is like a castle in the air. When he is strong, people will naturally follow him, but as soon as he shows signs of weakness, he will inevitably fall."

"He doesn't even have military power."

Yang Jian turned his head and looked at Dugu Xin: "Father-in-law, do you still remember the "Old Story of Emperor Muzong"?"

The old story of Emperor Muzong?

Dugu Xin was stunned for a moment, then he reacted in his heart.

"You're thinking"

Yang Jian smiled slightly: "Contact Brother Su."

"Our time will soon come."

"When your majesty didn't realize that the guards in the capital had become the personal guards who followed Brother Su to fight at the border, this struggle was actually over."

"The rest is just that we need a better reputation."

“That’s why it’s just a political show.”

Yes.

This was a premeditated and even crushing coup.

Why did Yang Jian say that the prime minister was old and weak, giving others an opportunity to take advantage of him?

Because they performed a "magic" show under Chen Zhi's nose, they little by little replaced the Kyoto guards with soldiers from the border who had actually fought in the battles.

Little by little, this "granary" is emptied and then filled.

Kyoto today is like a dirty rag doll. It seems to have not changed at all, but in fact it has completely become like Yang Jian and others.

Dugu Xin shook his head: "After the matter is done, do you want it?"

Yang Jian nodded imperceptibly.

The "Ye Clan" before Dayu was a lesson. They could not leave any black spots on themselves, so after using Su Wei's power to launch a bloody coup and achieving their goal, Su Wei would naturally be eliminated.

In other words, let Su Wei go to the Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces, but do not give him such great power.

Dugu Xin nodded: "In addition to Su Wei, I think that the captain of Kyoto, Xu Shi, can also be used. After all, he also controls a large force. We must make sure that nothing goes wrong."

Yang Jian nodded: "Go and get in touch with him."

"His appetite can't be bigger than Su Wei's."

After all, Su Wei, like Ye Shi, wants the entire Lingnan.

Guandu
The glory is always blown away by the wind and rain, but Guandu has not changed much. It has become a "holy city" in the hearts of people all over the world. Many people who are politically oppressed live here, and as long as they behave properly, no one in Guandu dares to take action against them.

Chen's Mansion
Li Yuan looked at the "Manifesto" in his hand in amazement and said, "Sir, look."

"Your Majesty has great ambitions."

(End of this chapter)