At the end of Qin, I became a son of the plane

Chapter 665: The Invisible Ceiling and the Ambitious Gongsun Hong
October 51, 10st year of the Han calendar, Chang'an City, Zhaoli District.

"Ayu, I heard that you went to meet the emperor?" When the residents of Zhaoli Community saw Zhao Yu, they greeted him and curiously asked about his experience in the palace.

Zhaoli Community is the former village Zhaoli. After the beginning of industrialization, the population of Chang'an City has increased. In addition, with the establishment of factories occupied by the Han Dynasty, the area of ​​Chang'an City has increased by more than 5 times. The original village has been integrated into Chang'an City, and the residents of Zhaoli have also become craftsmen of Chang'an City, ending the rural life of rising and falling from sunrise to sunset.

Although Zhao Yu had been working as a lawyer in the south for decades, he would still return to his hometown during his vacation, so everyone in the village knew him, and returning to Chang'an was like returning to his hometown.

Zhao Yu smiled calmly and said, "The emperor is also an ordinary person, younger than me, and very friendly. I just had a meal in the palace. It is not difficult for everyone in Chang'an City to see the emperor. Even entering the Zhangtai Palace is not difficult. It's nothing big."

In the Han Dynasty's Shangji and the Assembly of Sages, ordinary people of the Han Dynasty could go and observe government affairs as long as they applied. This was also one of the political systems of the Han Dynasty to implement the principle that the world belongs to all people. Only when there were too many people who wanted to observe government affairs would 500 people be selected from them.

In the beginning, many people were curious about this policy, and every year 500 people would be selected to observe government affairs at the Annual Report and the Sages Conference. However, a lot of data was reported at both the Annual Report and the Sages Conference, and these data were also very boring. Finally, these data would appear in the pages of the "Dahan Daily" after the Annual Report and the Sages Conference. Anyone interested in this area could learn about the internal affairs data and policies of the Han Dynasty from the "Dahan Daily".

At the same time, the serious atmosphere of the Han Dynasty, including the plans and sages, also made it difficult for the Han people to adapt. After their curiosity wore off, they seldom came to the Zhangtai Palace to observe government affairs, so Zhao Yu said this.

"This is different. We went to Zhangtai Palace just to watch the fun, but you were invited by the emperor."

"Yes, he was even invited to dinner by the emperor. This is unique in our Zhaoli. Zhao Wu is so rich, but the emperor didn't invite him to dinner either."

Although the villagers of Zhaoli were annexed by Chang'an, they also have their own pride, that is, Zhaoli is home to many talents. There is the wealthy Hu Hai outside and the billionaire Zhao Wu in Guanzhong. Among them, there are many top students who have been admitted to universities. In terms of proportion, it even exceeds that of Chang'an City. Even the residents of Zhaoli are proud to think that the feng shui of Zhaoli is good. However, with so many talents in Zhaoli, no one has ever been invited to dinner by the emperor.

Zhao Yu smiled and said, "It's not as serious as everyone thinks. The emperor invited hundreds of outstanding representatives, and I am just one of them."

In this way, Zhao Yu chatted with the village elder for a long time before returning home.

The residential area where Zhao Yu lives is not small, with all buildings being 7 stories high, while Zhao Yu's home is just a large flat, with six or seven floors connected together, covering an area of ​​more than square meters. It can be considered a relatively high-end residence in Chang'an City. This is also the legacy of Fusu. He worked as a teacher in Zhaoli all his life and was loved by the villagers of Zhaoli. After Zhaoli was incorporated into Chang'an City, the house Fusu got was the best.

After returning home, Zhao Yu's wife Li prepared dinner for Zhao Yu. In the evening, Zhao Yu's son Zhao Yi came back with his wife Wang Yan.

Mrs. Li was overjoyed at her son's return and prepared a sumptuous dinner.

But Zhao Yi's mind was not on this. He asked carefully: "Father, now it is said in Chang'an that your group of sages will be given important positions. Is this true?"

"Yeah!" Zhao Yu nodded calmly.

After the Sages Conference, the court informed them that they would go to the Political Affairs College to study after the tour, and then the court would assign them positions. According to the court, after he finished his studies, he would be arranged to be a county magistrate, but this was almost the end. Zhao Yu was 54 years old this year, and he had been a county magistrate for six years, which was the retirement age. So he was very open about it and was not too excited. This was equivalent to the court rewarding his merits and giving him a retirement as a county magistrate.

But Zhao Yi was overjoyed and said, "Then the child will not go to Daqinzhou, but stay in Dahan."

Zhao Yi graduated from the Dahan Law School last year, but because of his background, he was assigned to work as a legal officer in a poor area of ​​Shangjun. However, Zhao Yi was different from Zhao Yu. He was born in the new Dahan and grew up under the banner of the Great Harmony World.

He did not have the label of the Qin Dynasty and had never even seen the Qin Dynasty. To him, the Qin Dynasty was just history recorded in books. He did not think that he should bear any sins for the historical Qin Dynasty, so he was not happy about being assigned to a poor place in Shangjun. He even realized that he might be like his father, working as a lawyer in the countryside all his life with no room for advancement, so he directly refused the job arranged by the court.

Over the past year, Zhao Yi has been thinking about his future. At this time, his uncle Zhao Gang wrote to him, asking him to go to Daqinzhou to be the manager of Feihai Money House. This made him excited. Although he did not want to go overseas, he had no future in the Han Dynasty, so going overseas might not be a way out. At least his uncle's family was living very well.

But now his father has made a breakthrough, which means that the ceiling of the court's suppression of them has been abolished, and they can progress like normal Han people in the future.

Zhao Yi's wife Wang Yan hadn't thought of this yet. She hesitated and said, "If we don't go to my uncle's place, what are we going to do in Dahan?"

Zhao Yi smiled confidently and said, "We are all top students in the law school. As long as the court does not discriminate against us, we will definitely be able to develop better in the Han Dynasty than overseas."

Hearing the words of discrimination, Zhao Yi's wife Li and Wang Yan both looked gloomy because they were both victims.

The Han Dynasty is in the best situation in the past three thousand years. The people of the Han Dynasty are confident that as long as they work hard, they can succeed. This has been proven in the fifty years since the founding of the Han Dynasty.

But there are some exceptions. They seem to have been forgotten by this prosperous era. It is very easy for them to live a rich life, but when they want to go further, they soon find that there is an invisible ceiling that suppresses them and makes it difficult for them to move forward. These people have a common identity: the remnants of the Former Qin Dynasty.

All of them can only huddle together for warmth, just like Zhao Yu's wife is from the Longxi Li family. Now the Li family has established its roots in the Western Regions and is appreciated by Duke Ji. But if they want to move their power back to the Han Dynasty, they will be suppressed by an invisible ceiling. Zhao Yi's wife, Wang, has the same problem. Even though they were the famous Wang family generals in the past, and there was Wang Jian, one of the four famous generals of the Warring States Period, the Han Dynasty did not have any major wars, and the Han Dynasty also had its own generals. The Wang family's children could not play a big role in the Han Dynasty. They could only serve as generals in the vassal states in the south of the Yangtze River, and they were repeatedly frustrated when they wanted to return to the Han Dynasty.

In fact, Xu Fan had never issued an order to suppress the remnants of the Former Qin Dynasty. He didn't even have this idea. In Xu Fan's view, the blow of the founding of the Han Dynasty had already plunged these Former Qin nobles into a quagmire. Their descendants were able to stand out from the competition, which was considered to be their strong abilities.

By the time of Xu Aimin's generation, he cared even less about the remnants of the Former Qin Dynasty. In his eyes, those living on the land of the Han Dynasty were his own people.

However, the Han officials of the Han Dynasty collectively and unconsciously excluded these remnants of the Former Qin Dynasty. Even decades ago, the powerful nobles of the six countries were excluded by the Han officials. After all, the powerful nobles of the six countries were driven out of the Central Plains by them. The Han officials of the Han Dynasty did not want these people to return.

But these nobles and powerful people used their own methods to come back. Ninety-nine percent of the nobles and officials of the Han Dynasty were peasants without a trace of aristocratic blood. As the later generations said, the environment makes the man. For peasants like Ying Bu who lived in the feudal aristocratic era, the best life was to become feudal aristocrats. They would not have the idea of ​​equality because it would almost reverse their three views. Without the influence of the fierce external environment, it is almost impossible to change a person's three views.

The nobles and powerful people of the six countries took advantage of the Han nobles' worship of bloodline. They first became relatives of the Han vassal states through marriage, and then married the local nobles and powerful people of the Han Dynasty, and re-entered the Han political arena.

Under your slow influence over the years, the nobles of the six kingdoms and the new nobles of the Han Dynasty have become intertwined, and the Han officials have gradually relaxed their restrictions on them. Now there are examples of nobles of the six kingdoms being high officials with a salary of 2,000 stones, and they have slowly integrated into the life of the Han Dynasty. Only the nobles and powerful people of the Qin Dynasty went too far in the Warring States Period, not even recognizing their relatives, and using the means of killing all the nobles of the six kingdoms.

When the Han Dynasty came, no one recognized these relatives of the Qin Dynasty. They were excluded by the Han officials and the nobles of the six countries. As a result, the families of the Former Qin Dynasty could only intermarry with each other, and the nobles of the Former Qin Dynasty could only go to the overseas vassal states of the Han Dynasty if they wanted to have a good development. After all, those places were extremely wild and there were many barbarian tribes harassing them. They needed to educate the barbarians and suppress the places. They needed people with military talents to open up. The families of the Former Qin Dynasty would be useful if they went to these places.

Zhao Yu looked at his wife and daughter-in-law who looked gloomy and comforted them: "I talked to His Majesty about these things. It was the first time His Majesty knew that we were suppressed. His Majesty has said that such things will not happen again. From now on, we will live on the land of the Han Dynasty and become citizens of the Han Dynasty."

When Mrs. Li and Mrs. Wang heard this, they cried softly and their eyes were soon blurred with tears. This news was like a relief for them and their families.

Zhao Yi said: "It's all in the past. We can live like normal people from now on."

Wang Yan said aggrievedly: "I am afraid that something like this will happen again."

"How is it possible~~!" Zhao Yi wanted to comfort his wife, but he was stunned. Since such a thing happened once, it would happen a second time.

Zhao Yu said calmly: "If it happens again, it will be a problem that the Han officials will have to deal with now."

April 52, the 2st year of the Han calendar, Chang'an City, Government College.

Although the Administrative Service College is called a college, all the students there are Han officials. Among them are grassroots Han officials with a salary of 2000 shi, middle-level Han officials with a salary of shi, and high-level Han officials with a salary of shi.

This can be said to be a tradition since the founding of the Han Dynasty. The emperor of the Han Dynasty attached great importance to the education of Han officials. All the 2000-stone prefects and the three dukes and nine ministers of the Han Dynasty had gone through several studies at the Political Affairs Academy. Scholars cannot be used without education, that is, after such education and learning, and then the process of practice, the high-level Han officials in the Han Dynasty are also a group of very strong people. They are all versatile and all-rounders. At least they have a general understanding of many industries, not like ignorant laymen.

The faculty of the School of Government was also extremely strong, including the masters of various schools of thought in the Han Dynasty, retired officials among the Han officials, and even many princes who, after abdicating, would return to Chang'an City to become a teacher and enjoy a life of teaching and educating people.

At the same time, the Administrative Service College is also an opportunity for countless Han officials to change their destiny. Here, as long as you are lucky, you may meet masters of various schools of thought, high-ranking officials of the Han Dynasty, or even princes who appreciate you. It can be considered as finding a backer for yourself, and your future career will be prosperous.

In the cafeteria of the School of Government Affairs, Gongsun Hong said to Zhao Yu, who was sitting opposite him, while eating: "If you hadn't entered the School of Government Affairs, you wouldn't know how many talented people there are in the world."

Although Gongsun Hong wasted twenty years of his life due to mistakes he made in his early years, he was a child prodigy since childhood. He had a photographic memory when he was in elementary school, and he could learn the classics of various schools of thought quickly and mastered them quickly, which he was always proud of.

But after arriving at the School of Government, he discovered that there were too many geniuses here. Things like having a photographic memory and being able to read ten lines at a glance were standard features at the School of Government.

What made Gongsun Hong even more desperate was that these geniuses were younger than himself, most of them were only in their twenties. It was okay for them to have talent, but the key was that they were also diligent, hardworking, and studious. Whenever these scholars had time, they would either ask questions to the master or go to the library to look up data and materials from the Han Dynasty to study and lay the foundation for their own governance. The library of the Political Affairs Academy would not be empty before 12 o'clock.

It's OK that these people are hardworking, but the key is that their family background is good. They are either marquises or earls, or the legitimate sons of the governor of a two thousand stone rank. Even if Gongsun Hong, who is forty years old, wants to work hard, he doesn't have the energy to keep up with these geniuses.

Zhao Yu smiled and said, "You are already old, but you still want to compete with the younger generation. I admire you!"

Compared to Gongsun Hong who was still working hard, Zhao Yu's life was routine. He attended classes every day, read some books he liked after class, and wrote down his thoughts on handling conflicts among villagers in the Han countryside over the past 30 years, as well as his thoughts on the rule of law in the Han Dynasty. He certainly did not achieve much in his official career, but he still wanted to leave something behind in this prosperous Han Dynasty to let future generations know that there was a person named Zhao Yu in the Han Dynasty.

Gongsun Hong smiled and said, "If I don't become an official, my life will be in vain. I had given up hope, but I didn't expect that last year's outstanding representatives would give me a chance to change my fate. After I finish my studies, I will have the opportunity to become a county magistrate. As long as I have excellent political achievements, I may become a county governor with a salary of 2000 shi in ten years."

In the Han Dynasty, being a prefect meant being at the level of a minister, while a duke was a high-ranking official such as the Three Dukes and Nine Ministers. Gongsun Hong also had this idea, because after becoming a prefect, the retirement age could be raised to 65, and the level of the Three Dukes and Nine Ministers could be raised to 70. However, Gongsun Hong did not say what he said next. After all, the higher the level, the more difficult it is to make progress. If he wanted to climb to the level of a Nine Ministers at his age, he would not have to make any mistakes in the next few decades of his life, and he would have to make extremely great contributions. This had nothing to do with miracles, not to mention that he also had the idea of ​​ruling the world.

Zhao Yu was surprised when he heard this and said, "Second Minister, your ideal is extremely difficult to achieve."

Even if the Han Dynasty had many opportunities, it would be more difficult for an ordinary person to kill a prefect with a salary of 2000 stones than for thousands of troops to cross a single-plank bridge. At Gongsun Hong's age, this was almost impossible.

Gongsun Hong smiled and said, "It's not that there is no chance. The current emperor attaches great importance to the development of rural areas, and I have been in the countryside for more than 20 years. I dare not say that I am the person who knows the rural situation best in the entire Han Dynasty, but I am confident that I can rank among the top three."

Gongsun Hong continued, "This year is the 52nd year of the Han Dynasty. There are only three years left before the emperor says that the country will become a moderately wealthy society. Brother has been leading the villages for many years. Do you think all the villages in the Han Dynasty have reached this standard?"

Zhao Yu has been a lawyer in the countryside of the Han Dynasty for thirty years. He knows the situation in the countryside of the Han Dynasty better than Gongsun Hong. He said leisurely: "Although the Han Dynasty has developed very rapidly in recent years, it is not a problem for urban craftsmen to reach moderate wealth. The countryside in Jianghuai and the Central Plains should have reached this standard, but it is too difficult in the Jiangnan area and the border counties. The countryside of the Han Dynasty has always been siphoned away by the city for talent and wealth, which is one of the reasons restricting the development of the countryside. The lack of self-control of farmers is also a major factor. With the support of the court, as long as farmers have good habits, it is not a big deal to become rich households, but many bad habits of farmers will make them return to poverty again."

Gongsun Hong asked with a smile: "What do you think is the biggest cancer in the countryside?"

Zhao Yu thought for a moment and said, "Bet!"

In the feudal era, eating, drinking, whoring and gambling were among the biggest bad habits that ruined a family. It is difficult for later generations like Xu Fan to understand. The last two items make some sense, but eating and drinking can ruin a family is something that is difficult for people with extremely rich material resources to understand.

But in fact, the productivity of agricultural society in the feudal era was extremely scarce. In the feudal era, even the producers could not get enough food. The so-called small landlords could barely afford to eat white flour, and the big landlords could hardly guarantee meat for every meal. If there was a disciple who liked to eat meat, the big landlords could not afford to raise such a son without the capital. Therefore, in the feudal era, eating was the number one bad habit.

However, the Han Dynasty has now entered the industrial age. As it is the first industrialized country and occupies four continents, the Han Dynasty's material supply capacity even exceeds that of the Hope Kingdom in later generations, allowing ordinary farmers in the Han Dynasty to enjoy the life of large landlords. Therefore, eating and drinking are no longer bad habits in the Han Dynasty.

Under the severe crackdown by the Han Dynasty, prostitution has little room for development. Only the bad habit of gambling has begun to spread in the Han Dynasty in recent years.

(End of this chapter)