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

Chapter 492: The Heart of the People
Is this intentional?
Everyone present fell into silence instantly.

After a long while, Li Jing said in a gentle and soothing voice: "Then, you really should go to the Taiji Hall and kneel down to apologize to His Majesty!"

This is true.

After all, Fang Xuanling was in control of the Secretariat, and the fact that such a big mess occurred in the Secretariat was a real shame for them.

Of course, this is also a joke.

After all, the Tang Dynasty was established only a few years ago, and many systems are still in a state of inexplicable chaos. Even the distribution of benefits has not been completely completed. It is understandable that some problems have arisen.

Du Ruhui was thinking more. He looked at Fang Xuanling and asked, "Your Majesty should have known about this, right?"

"What does your majesty think?"

Speaking of this, Fang Xuanling's expression became even more strange. He looked at Du Ruhui and said softly, "Your Majesty, Your Majesty has no reaction at all. He is not angry or dissatisfied. He is just a little..."

He frowned, almost twisting his eyebrows into a knot, and the expression on his face looked very strange.

"It's like he doesn't have any emotions, or even doesn't care at all."

"If I have to say that I have an emotion, it would probably be disdain?"

"Yes."

After Fang Xuanling finished speaking, he nodded again, expressing his affirmation of himself: "That kind of emotion is indeed disdain."

"Although I don't know why Your Majesty would feel this way."

Disdain?

Du Ruhui, Li Jing, Cheng Yaojin and the others looked at each other, all confused. Li Jing speculated, "Could it be that Your Majesty thinks that these people are just clowns and not worth mentioning, and will soon deal with them, so he is disdainful?"

Fang Xuanling shook his head: "No, I think it's more like disdain and indifference towards this "list" itself."

"Your Majesty has not taken this list to heart at all."

what?
Everyone became even more confused.

What exactly is going on?

In the original historical trajectory, when Li Shimin saw the so-called "Five Surnames and Seven Ancestral Names", he was actually very angry. He even got furious, because this so-called surname tree ranked his family Li very far behind, and even the surnames of several prime ministers were directly ranked to the third level, not as good as several seventh-rank officials in the court.

This was actually a provocation to the Li Tang royal family and its supporters, which was why Li Shimin was so angry.

And now.
Why wasn’t Li Shimin angry?
The answer is simple.

Because Li Shimin didn't care.
It should be noted that the current Li Shimin is completely different from the Li Shimin in his original trajectory.

Let’s first look at the status of the two.

What was the original Li Shimin like? Although he was an emperor, the way he ascended the throne was not good, and it could even be said to be a "great shame" that would be remembered by future generations.

No matter who he is, it is impossible to say that he is a person without any problems, as he used the "Xuanwu Gate System of Succession", a method of succession that has been famous throughout the ages, and he ascended to the throne by imprisoning his father and killing his brother.

Even if in fact the essence of the Xuanwu Gate succession system was that Li Jiancheng wanted to kill Li Shimin at the Xuanwu Gate, but was killed by Li Shimin in the end, it would still be the same.

People would say that Li Shimin changed history.

This is a fact that there is absolutely no way to verify, because people cannot travel back to the Tang Dynasty to see whether things were really like this. People can only look at everything through a thin layer of mist.

And what about Li Shimin now?

He was not the so-called King of Qin, nor was he Li Shimin who ascended the throne through the Xuanwu Gate succession system, nor was he the second emperor of the Tang Dynasty - he was a founder of a country like Taizu Gaohuangdi Liu Bang, the founding monarch in name and in fact, a hero who ended the turbulent times, and an unquestionable hero.

Such a Li Shimin is already perfect, and no one can question his legitimacy.

Just like the saying goes, "Lies are not sharp blades, the truth is the sharpest knife." What can hurt a person is not lies, but the naked truth.

If you call a billionaire a pauper, he will just smile faintly and say nothing; but if you call an ordinary person who is penniless and barely making ends meet a pauper, then he may directly break through the defense red temperature.

If you call Peng or Bai Gu ugly, they will not say a word but will just agree with you and say, "Yes, yes, they are indeed a bit too ugly." But if you call the author ugly, the author will instantly break down and point at your nose to argue with you.

Originally, Li Shimin had something to hide, and wanted to use his "Zhenguan Governance" to cover up his own "stains", so he could even tolerate Wei Zheng.

Therefore, rank- ing the surnames of Li Tang and the ministers who followed him in the court into second and third classes was naturally a thorn in his side.

And now?

Li Shimin didn't care at all.

Of course, there is another reason why Li Shimin didn't care at all.

That is.
He is the successor of the "Long Live the Emperor" idea.

One thing must be made clear - Emperor Wansui is the successor of Chen's thoughts, but he is not the successor of Chen's thoughts.

Li Shimin was the successor of Emperor Wansui's thoughts, but he was definitely not the successor of "Chen's" thoughts.

If I were to give an example, it would probably be that Emperor Wansui "Zhang Annian" is analogous to "Li Si", and Chen's thought is "Xunzi". Li Si studied under the great Confucian scholar Xunzi, but eventually became the representative and master of the Legalists, and the same is true of Zhang Annian today.

He thought about and speculated on Chen's ideas, and deconstructed them again from the emperor's perspective.

The purpose of their "thoughts" is the same, which is for the people, but their perspectives are completely different. One is from the perspective of "aristocratic family", "ministers" and "guardians", while the other is from the perspective of "emperor", "ruler" and "governor".

It's like a river faces different forks and slowly forms two completely different rivers.

Li Shimin, who inherited the ideas of Emperor Wansui and later had his own ideas, certainly did not care about the so-called "noble surname". He did not care even if these people ranked his surname last.

Li Shimin had the ideological awareness of "bowing his head and being willing to be a cow for children".

He looked down on all surnames equally, and respected all surnames equally - a person's nobility should not be determined by his "surname", nor should it be determined by his birth, nor should it be determined by the blood in his body.

Who his father is, who his mother is, who his relatives are, these should not be important.

In Li Shimin's view, all people in this world, except for some necessary "guardians" and himself as the emperor who is the "ruler" and "jurisdiction", should be equal.

This is a very distorted, feudal and "advanced" idea.

Of course, this cannot be blamed on Li Shimin, because in that era, this was already a very advanced idea. This was the limitation of the times and the backwardness of the "system".

Li Shimin could not betray his own class. He was able to do this because he had been influenced by Zhang Annian's miscellaneous notes since he was a child.

Chen was also well aware of this.

Taiji Hall
Empress Changsun brought Li Shimin a bowl of ginseng soup, with a hint of worry on her face: "Your Majesty."

"Brother?" Li Shimin sighed and held the hand of Empress Changsun who was standing beside him. His voice was filled with infinite regret: "Guanyin, I have already asked Cheng Tao to test the auxiliary machine."

"I don't know why he would go this far, but if he could stop in time, how could I let all these years of friendship go to waste?"

Empress Changsun stood there, massaging Li Shimin's shoulders, but her words were merciless.

"Your Majesty, my brother has come to this point purely because of his own greed."

“Greed can destroy a person and can also lead people in different directions.”

Her voice was somewhat silent: "Don't forgive him for my sake. If he really wants to go against the Tang Dynasty and the people of the world, then... punish him according to Tang law."

"I am just..."

Empress Changsun's voice choked a little when she said this: "I just want to ask your majesty for one thing."

She leaned weakly against Li Shimin, trying to suppress the sadness in her heart and said, "Changle and Chong'er are married and are pregnant, so let them go back to their hometown in Guanzhong."

Li Shimin felt inexplicably sad when he heard Changsun's sad voice.

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He held Empress Changsun's hands tightly, with a look of sigh and helplessness on his face, but more importantly, it was filled with the pain and sorrow that his old friend and confidant had gone astray and betrayed him.

"it is good"

"I promise you."

When Empress Changsun left, the candles in the Taiji Hall were still burning slowly.

Li Shimin's face was filled with some sorrow. He looked at the memorial in his hand, and the pain in his heart became even worse: "Why?"

"Auxiliary machine!"

"Why did you and I get to this point?"

Changsun Mansion
Chen Ruohan walked into the Changsun Mansion and looked calmly at the servants around him who were tidying up the mansion. The entire Changsun Mansion was not very big, but it was not small either. At least in the extremely expensive Chang'an City, it was already considered a large place.

This was Li Shimin's special treatment towards his "uncle".

After entering the house, Chen Ruohan smiled and looked at Changsun Wuji: "Hey, Auxiliary Machine, you took leave these few days, saying that you were not feeling well, but how come I don't see any signs of vicissitudes on your face now?"

"Is it just because you want to be lazy?"

Changsun Wuji smiled, waved his hand, looked at Chen Ruohan and said, "Brother Cheng Tao, why are you teasing me?"

He shook his head and directly told Chen Ruohan the reason and purpose of coming here today. His whole expression was filled with some inexplicable sadness: "I know why you are here."

"Brother Cheng Tao, can we not talk about those things?"

The sentence "don't talk about it" directly points out Zhangsun Wuji's own choice. In the end, he chose to stand against Li Shimin and Chen.

Chen Ruohan frowned subconsciously. He looked at Changsun Wuji and said, "Assistant, why do you have to do this?"

"Did you do it willingly, or were you forced?"

"If you are forced to do so, you can speak up if there is anything wrong. Both your majesty and Chen will help you solve it."

Changsun Wuji just remained silent. After a long silence, he looked at Chen Ruohan's determined expression. He knew in his heart that if he didn't make things clear today, Chen Ruohan would not let it go.

So he wiped his face and smiled.

"Brother Cheng Tao, no one forced me, I did this voluntarily."

Zhang Sun Wuji stood up, looked at Chen Ruohan and said word by word: "The Chen family is willing to sacrifice their own interests for the sake of the people of the world. Your Majesty is also willing to go crazy with you and sacrifice his own interests to take care of the people of the world, but I don't want to!"

"Why!"

"I, Changsun Wuji, have worked hard all my life, isn't it for the sake of preventing my descendants from having to work so hard?"

"If not, why would I follow Li Shimin to a remote place like Liaodong, and then follow him to Youzhou, and then fight all the way to today!"

"Is it for those peasants that I have been going through wind and rain?"

"Brother Cheng Tao, you can fool yourself, but don't fool yourself!"

At this point, Changsun Wuji burst out laughing. He paused for a moment and then said, "Of course, your Chen family is great and glorious. Your Chen family is great. Your Chen family has not lied to yourselves. You are really willing to do these things generation after generation."

"But I, Changsun Wuji, don't want to!"

"I, Changsun Wuji, risked my life and put my head on the line to fight with you to conquer the world, all for the sake of my descendants being able to become the best! Don't talk to me about so-called faith! Don't talk to me about so-called people!"

"I!"

Zhang Sun Wuji raised his head with a proud smile on his face: "Zhang Sun Wuji, this is for myself! This is for the descendants of my family!"

"What does the world have to do with me?"

"If you don't take care of yourself, you will be punished by heaven and earth!"

"Brother Cheng Tao, wake up! Where in the world can there be a fool like your Chen family? Where can there be another fool like Li Shimin?"

"Today, Li Shimin appears and walks on this path of sacrificing his own interests for the people with Chen, but do you dare to conclude that the next generation of emperors will do the same?"

"The next generation of emperors won't!"

“That’s how people’s hearts are!”

"So-called faith and the 'conscience' in our hearts can never last forever!"

At the end of his speech, Changsun Wuji even looked at Chen Ruohan with a ferocious expression: "Sometimes I really doubt whether the ancestor of your Chen family has really become a god?"

"If not for this, with your Chen family's style, you would have died and your clan would have been destroyed long ago! How could you still be so tenacious and stand here and continue to be an obstacle to us?"

Yes.

In the hearts of the aristocratic families in the world, in the heart of Zhangsun Wuji, and in the hearts of those officials who want to wreak havoc in the world, become corrupt officials, and profit for their descendants, the Chen family has long become a huge stumbling block.

It is still a stinky, hard, and unmovable stumbling block.

Chen Ruohan sat there.

The face was silent.

(End of this chapter)