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

Chapter 443: It's just a repetition of the past [End of this volume]

The first year of Kaihuang.

The emperor announced that he would confer the title of "Duke of Anshan" on the former Emperor of Dayu, and granted him a small fiefdom, allowing him to return to his fiefdom to live, without restricting his every move.

He was even kind enough to allow him to take away some of his loyal subjects.

As a result, all the people in the world praised the emperor's kindness and said that he was the most benevolent and wise emperor since ancient times.

Yang Jian also enjoyed such "boasting" very much.

He was so immersed in the praise of himself as a "wise and enlightened monarch" that he could not extricate himself and began to lavishly reward his ministers.

Among them, Su Wei was appointed as the governor of the three Lingnan states and the governor of Lingnan, in charge of all military and political affairs of Lingnan, and the salt and iron management rights in Lingnan were handed over to Su Wei.

Su Wei was conferred the title of "Conglong Hou".

This name is too obvious, carrying some "gift" as well as some "warning". Yang Jian wanted to use this to tell Cheng Suwei, so that he would remember why he was able to become this "Marquis" and Jiedushi.

Su Wei did not care about these things. He was just grateful to Yang Jian and then took his family to the Lingnan area.

Lingnan today is completely different from the Lingnan in previous dynasties.

Lingnan at that time was a gloomy and foul place filled with miasma, making it impossible to survive.

But since the end of the previous dynasty, when Dayu's capital was temporarily located near Lingnan, the people of Dayu carried out large-scale development of the Lingnan area. During the reign of Emperor Muzong, the Ye family was awarded the Lingnan area, and they carried out a major transformation here, turning Lingnan into a wealthy place.

Almost all water-based transactions pass through the ports of Lingnan.

So Su Wei was very proud.

The second person to be rewarded was "Xu". Yang Jian originally wanted to reward Xu Shi to Suzhou and Hangzhou, but because of the "Suzhou and Hangzhou Zhang Family" mentioned by Chen Zhan in the hall before, Yang Jian could only find another place for Xu Shi and his family. Finally, after searching for a long time, he found a place between Suzhou and Hangzhou.

It originally belonged to Suzhou and Hangzhou, but a small area was demarcated there.

"Matsue Prefecture"

That’s the name of the place.

The reason why Yang Jian arranged Xu Shi to that place was very simple - because he was worried about the Zhang family, especially the few Zhang family members specially selected by Zhang Annian, who were all talented and knowledgeable.

What if they want to rebel?
So he made the oath between Suzhou and Hangzhou in order to restrain Zhang.

Of course, there are some other little ideas.

For example, he was still wary of making vows.

Putting Xu Shi and Zhang together is simply a brilliant idea.

Because of Xu's betrayal, Zhang lost his position as the ruler of the world. How could Zhang's descendants not hate Xu?

Zhang lost his position as the ruler of the world because of Xu Shi's betrayal. Would Xu's descendants dare to cooperate with Zhang without fearing retribution later?

Putting these two "dogs" together to fight each other was Yang Jian's arrangement.

He is a very insecure person.

The person who was finally rewarded was Dugu Xin, or the Dugu family.

The Queen of Sui, Dugu Qieluo, was enthroned as the empress, and Dugu Xin was given the titles of internal clerk in the Prime Minister's Office, concurrently the Grand Marshal, Shang Zhuguo, Zijin Guanglu Dafu, etc., and Dugu Xin's several sons were also given titles and rewards.

As for other people with titles in Dayu, Yang Jian conferred titles on them in order to demonstrate his benevolence.

The first to bear the brunt was Li Yuan.

Li Yuan was conferred the title of "Duke of Tang", ranking first among the thirty-eight dukes, and was also conferred the title of Governor of Taiyuan County and appointed as Shang Zhuguo.

The lavish rewards ended with the conferment of the title of duke on the last duke. Some people had a bad feeling because the emperor did not confer a title on the Chen family.

This is a very strange thing, and a very frightening thing.

But people are still waiting.

On the third day after the lavish rewards were bestowed, most people had already begun to get scared and started writing letters to the government.

They tactfully stated that their virtues were not enough to qualify them for the titles of duke or marquis, so they asked Yang Jian to revoke his decision.

If the resistance at this time was just a test, then the resistance half a month later was already an open resistance. Many dukes and marquises who were given new titles directly sent all their duke clothing and seals back to the palace and began to prepare to escape.

Royal Palace
Yang Jian looked at the memorials one after another, his expression changing from gloomy to bright.

The eunuchs serving around him also had expressions of fear and trepidation on their faces. To put it bluntly, if they were able to run away, they would have already run away.

Since the beginning of the reign of the emperor, for more than 800 years, no emperor dared not to confer titles on the Chen family, and no new dynasty could stand on this land without the recognition of the Chen family.

so.
How long can the Sui Dynasty survive without ennobling the Chen family?
So, how long can the Sui Dynasty, which is not recognized by the Chen family, survive?

They are all scared.

After a long time, Yang Jian sighed slightly, and then asked someone to summon the prince.

In the royal study
Yang Yong lowered his head with a peaceful look on his face.

"Father."

He looked very humble. After Yang Jian ascended the throne, he immediately appointed his eldest son with Empress Dugu, Yang Yong, as the crown prince. He also felt that the crown prince looked very similar to himself.

"You go to Guandu."

Yang Jian seemed to have exhausted all his strength. "Go and convey my will. Confer the title of King Zhenguo on the current head of the Chen family, confer the title of King Anuo on the eldest son of the Chen family, confer the title of King Anuo on the ancestor of the Chen family, and confer the title of the Great Sui Anguo Zhenxie Quelling Rebellion Supreme Saintly Mighty King. Confer the title of King on all the ancestors of the Chen family."

Yang Yong's eyes flashed with a hint of surprise, but his expression did not change at all. He just nodded and said, "Don't worry, father. I will definitely do this well."

Yang Jian waved his hand and asked Yang Yong to retreat.

When Yang Yong's figure completely disappeared from the hall, Yang Jian sighed softly and asked the attendant beside him in a low voice: "So, without Chen's recognition, I, the emperor, really can't sit still, right?"

His voice was almost squeezed out from between his teeth.

But he still had some stubbornness left.

For example, Chen Zhan, the head of the Chen family, was not invited to Kyoto to serve as prime minister.

The first year of Kaihuang, summer and autumn.

The Crown Prince went to Guandu and humbly handed the imperial edict to Chen, and tactfully expressed that the world had just been stabilized, and if war broke out again, it would not be a good thing for the people.

Afterwards, the imperial edict entered Chen's mansion and was not thrown out directly by Chen's people.

Although Chen did not openly admit that he had accepted the decree, it was already considered a tacit agreement.

Therefore, those ministers who had previously written to the emperor to express their incompetence and lack of virtue to assume the title of marquis, all ran to the palace to plead guilty to Yang Jian, saying that they had actually wanted to disobey the imperial edict, which was a capital crime, and asked Yang Jian to punish them.

What could Yang Jian say?

He could only forgive everyone, after all, he was the "Sage King".

Yang Jian said that he was able to become emperor because of the benevolence of God and the protection of the people of the world, so he decided to hold an "encyclopedia" to recruit scholars.

And everyone in the world knows how important the first imperial examination after the new emperor ascends the throne is.

When the old is replaced by the new, many seats will be vacated for them to sit, and those old officials who originally occupied high positions will also have to give up their positions, so many people began to come to Kyoto to participate in this imperial examination.

They want to soar to the sky and become the shining star.

Winter of the first year of Kaihuang
The first imperial examination after the founding of the Sui Dynasty ended like this. Many people got the rankings they wanted. The top three were personally named "Zhuangyuan", "Bangyan" and "Tanhua" by the emperor. In order to show his benevolence, he set another rule.

That is, after the imperial examination, the top three can ride horses in a parade through the streets to express their "success".

After the parade, it is the "Qionglin Banquet". Almost all the dignitaries will be present, and the emperor will attend the banquet in person to show his respect and trust for the new scholars.

This is a great honor, so it further stimulates the desire of ordinary people to study.

The second major thing Yang Jian did after he ascended the throne was to "revise the book."

Yes, revise the book.

However, what he compiled was not a book like the "Jianwu Encyclopedia". Instead, he recompiled and revised some classic works of politicians, Confucianists and Legalists, and then integrated them into the "Imperial Examination Book".

There are four main and five side books.

The four subjects are "Political Science", "The Analects of Confucius", "Law", and "Poetry and Miscellaneous Talks".

This is the truth that is gathered from the most important theories and their classic works.

As for the last one, "Poetry, Prose and Miscellaneous Talks", it is used to teach people how to write.

Yang Jian believed that if one wanted to become an official, it was not enough to master political knowledge, law, and morality, but one also needed to have literary talent.

Since ancient times, people with great talent and strategy have all been talented in writing. So, if you want to be an official of the Sui Dynasty, how can you do it without literary talent?

The five-part subject is a selection of miscellaneous subjects, such as mathematics.

Yang Jian believed that if one wanted to be an official of the Sui Dynasty, one had to be versatile. If one could not do these things, then what was the point of being an official?
It was also from this time that the imperial examination gradually became more "rigorous" and difficult.

Moreover, the imperial examination no longer has a fixed quota. Instead, the admission is based on merit. A relatively fixed score is chosen, and those above this score can be admitted.

It was also in this year that a saying gradually spread among the people.

"Take exams, take exams, and keep taking them until you turn from a teenager to an old man"

The difficulty of the imperial examination increased greatly, but this did not hinder people's desire to become officials by passing the imperial examination. On the contrary, it strengthened this desire, leaving people with a little "hope" in their hearts.

after all
Now, apart from the imperial examination, there is no chance for children from poor families to succeed.

Guandu
Chen Zhan lay on the chair, looking at the book in his hand slowly and leisurely.

He was not surprised by the establishment of the Sui Dynasty, nor did he affirm or deny some of Yang Jian's practices. As for the fact that Yang Jian did not ask him to be prime minister, that was simply too good to be true.

After all, for Chen Zhan, being an official in the court was really a torturous thing.

You can just lie down at home and rest, so why do you have to go out?
Li Yuan stood beside him with a helpless look on his face. He held his forehead and sighed, "Teacher, why are my two children's personalities so different?"

He was very sad.

The whole person looked tired and weak.

Chen Zhan put down the book, looked at Li Yuan and smiled: "What's wrong?"

"What did Jiro do to give you a headache again?"

Li Yuan sat down next to Chen Zhan and began to talk about the good things his Erlang had done.

Today I beat up someone's child and someone came to my house to complain about me. Tomorrow I got into trouble somewhere else. The day after tomorrow I even wanted to sneak out alone to fight a tiger, and so on.

Of course.

Although Li Yuan's tone was complaining, there was a happy look on his face when he spoke.

He felt that he was blessed to have such a child, and he felt from the bottom of his heart that his family was complete and happy. It would be great if he could continue to be so happy.

After talking about things at home, Li Yuan began to talk about things in the court.

He couldn't help but looked at Chen Zhan and asked, "Teacher, why do you think His Majesty wants to abolish the Prime Minister's Office? And he also used your name to directly abolish the Prime Minister and the Prime Minister's Office's internal clerks, two of the five ministers?"

Chen Zhan said as he flipped through the book in his hand, "It's very simple."

"He wanted to strengthen the imperial power, or centralize the imperial power."

"What he has done over the years - for example, changing the local administrative system from the original three-level organization of "county, county, and state" to his so-called "provincial system", isn't the purpose to strengthen central power?"

"The current local system in the world is divided into counties, prefectures, counties, circuits, and provinces. The structure is layered down. The more obvious, numerous, and detailed the division of power among the lower institutions, the tighter the central government's control over the localities will be."

"After these powers were centralized in the central government, Yang Jian naturally did not want to have a "head of all officials" or even someone who could oppose him to hold such power. Otherwise, he, as the emperor, would be sitting on pins and needles."

Li Yuan glanced at Chen Zhan cautiously and said, "Then you're not angry?"

angry?

Chen Zhan heard footsteps outside, and then smiled and closed the book in his hand.

He looked at Li Yuan and said calmly: "The Chen family has never been greedy for the so-called power, so they will not be angry about these things."

"Besides, centralization or the concentration of imperial power is something that must be presented in the development of the historical process."

"Why am I angry?"

Li Yuan chuckled and scratched his head: "But now that Teacher has said this, I understand a lot of the deeper meaning of His Majesty's actions."

He said somewhat disappointedly: "But... Alas, I don't know when the dispute that has started again in the court will end."

Chen Zhan shook his head: "It's just a repetition of the past."

He pointed outside and said, "Ji Lang is back."

Li Yuan turned his head and looked outside the courtyard.

A young man who looked only four or five years old, but with an upright and heroic figure, stood there.

But his face and body were covered with mud.

Li Yuan's expression changed and he finally roared.

"Li Shimin! Can you be honest for a day?! What did you do again!!!"

【End of this volume】

(End of this chapter)