I am an immortal in heaven and earth

Chapter 370 Declaration
Although the action of the Nanchang prefect only destroyed the reputation of the juren in the Jiangnan West Road, this public opinion swept the entire literary world of the Daning Dynasty and successfully made the Daning court notice the matter.

It’s just that “a scholar’s ​​rebellion will fail even after ten years”, and since ancient times, most successful rebellions have been led by military generals, or those who are both civil and military, who have been heroes throughout history.

What good fortune did Xu Zhiyuan, Xu's father, have? He was just an ordinary countryman. After he won the title of scholar when he was young, he failed to get a rank in the examinations several times, so he got married. Until a few years ago, he showed some literary talent and won the fourth place in the Jiangnan West Province Juren.

Apart from other things, what Xu's father spread out was nothing more than an article of "scolding the dragon", in which he cursed the little dragon king Shunji in the Laoye Temple and quoted Han Yu's dragon theory. In addition, he himself had the spirit of "Mo Mei", and cultivated a righteous spirit, which aroused resonance in the Confucian tradition and entered the practice of the three major Confucian realms of "virtuous", "grand master" and "saint".

Now it is hot again.

To be honest, in every dynasty and at any time, there are always scholars and poets who think, "What is the state of this country? We must ask ourselves."

Especially the "Tianxin School", which believes that there is a connection between heaven and man. When the moral level of the human world is low, heaven will send down disasters, and when the moral level of the human world is high, heaven will send down auspicious signs.

Therefore, year after year, all officials reported auspicious signs, and the people were all morally educated in the holy dynasty's governance.

Of course, if there is this kind of "auspicious faction", there must also be that kind of "disaster faction".

When the disaster faction sees a natural disaster, they will say: "This must be the emperor doing something bad." "This is because there are treacherous ministers in the court." "This is the harem interfering in politics!"

Originally, the auspicious faction was more important than the disaster faction, and the emperor also hoped to be a sage monarch, not a foolish monarch or a tyrant. As a result, natural disasters continued for three consecutive years. When there were floods in the south, there were droughts in the north. When there were floods in the north, there were droughts in the south. When it was supposed to snow, it didn’t snow, but instead yellow winds blew up yellow sand... Then there were famines here, plagues there, and earthquakes were reported in several places...

Most people have no idea how to live a good life, but most people have experienced it personally how to live a bad life.

The rich peasants and small landlords who had previously lived a relatively good life basically found it difficult to survive and went bankrupt. Some of them were relatively well off, becoming tenants or slaves. Some of them were also "scholars" and although they might not be rich, they had never suffered such hardship.

Therefore, the first ones to cry out "the country is about to perish" were the small landlords and rich peasants.

The real poor peasants and tenants have no education and are ignorant of national affairs. Some have never left the county in their entire lives. Only small landlords and rich peasants are qualified to learn culture, but they are at the bottom of the entire powerful class.

As for those who move up, they become aristocratic families and county leaders. They are qualified to dominate the village, annex farmland, exert clan influence, and place clan members as minor clerks, village stewards, village heads and other "minor officials". Even if there are years of disaster, famine, or temporary turmoil, the possibility of withstanding the risks is still very high, and sometimes they can even start a rebellion.

This is the so-called "local snake". What is a local snake? If the emperor is a dragon, then the local aristocratic families are "jiao, snakes and pythons", the "local tyrants". Snakes refer to little dragons.

As the saying goes, "The earth is filled with murderous intent, and dragons and snakes emerge from the land." This is the explanation. Dragons and snakes from all over the country are ready to make a move and fight for the treasure.

The aristocratic families are the "aristocrats" of foreign countries, a "huge monster" formed by the interweaving of the patriarchal system and the imperial examination system.

The nobles had marquises called "Electors". The same was true for the aristocratic families of the Daning Dynasty. After all, there were only a few emperors who truly rose from vagrants and beggars, and most of the emperors came from among them.

Even if there is no emperor, there will be a purple and blue talent, a prime minister who governs the country... often power is still hereditary, and four generations of three officials are not just talk...

In short, regardless of success or failure, Xu's father's move to distribute land equally had a serious impact on the interests of the aristocratic families represented by the imperial power. Don't think that the emperor hated the annexation of land. He was the biggest landlord, and there were countless royal estates under the royal family. They just didn't want the aristocratic families to annex the rich peasants and the small landlord class, which would accelerate the self-destruction of the dynasty...

When great virtue is practiced, the world becomes common to all.

However, those who use the name of great public welfare are often pursuing their own selfish agenda.

When Father Xu read the Nanchang governor's article, others were indignant, but he didn't care much. He just said, "The Nanchang governor is a Jinshi, and his articles are very good. My articles are not as good as his. Under the indignant emotion, the parallelism and prose are appropriate, and the words are elegant and literary. It is enough to be passed down and leave a name in history. It's just that he made some mistakes. I don't care about my reputation, so I won't fight for these empty things."

"They always say that I am a disaster for the country, that since I took the imperial examination, I am under the emperor's grace and must be loyal, but is there any inevitability in this? We are reading the writings of sages. Did sages write for the purpose of becoming an official in the first place?
Xu Zhiyuan said to the students surrounding him, "When you first started studying, did you want to become an official, to occupy good farmland, to stand out from the crowd, to become the highest and most powerful official step by step, to encroach on the government and the people step by step, and even to overthrow the kingship?"

"How can we thoroughly equalize the land and uphold the principle of public loyalty? We must be prepared for a long-term struggle with this kind of people and this kind of thinking. The governor of Nanchang is against us. This is his limitation as a feudal bureaucrat. But what about you? Do you think he is right?"

"Everyone has his own ambition and character. I am not afraid of the hats that are put on my head, but I am afraid of those who do not understand my painstaking efforts."

"In this world, I see two kinds of people the most: those who are willing to be slaves and lackeys of the rich, and those who hate that they are not slaves and lackeys of the rich."

"Many people just accept their fate, worship gods and Buddhas, and pray for rebirth in paradise in the next life. But if they really pray and believe, can gods and Buddhas save them? If they don't obey the king's orders and don't establish religious laws, they can only live in humiliation and help the dynasty govern the people."

"Now that we have broken free, everyone has land to farm, no longer hungry, and has begun to learn and be well-mannered. Then they point at my nose and scold me, saying that I am disloyal and unkind. Then I will be considered a failure."

“Let me ask you today, do you know what you are doing and what you are supposed to do?”

After a moment of silence, a voice was heard saying, "Yes, it's a rebellion."

Children's voices and words.

The adult in the family immediately covered his mouth.

They wanted to share the land and live a stable life, but after getting the land, they still wanted to be obedient citizens. They did not want to rebel, be beheaded, or shed blood.

"Yes, rebellion means death. So is it a bad thing or a good thing to do even if it means death? Do you want to join us or just let it go?"

"Anti, or not?"

"If it's for the sake of seeking an official position, I can always give you up and take the position, but what I think is that we are civilians, not cattle and horses, or even worse than cattle and horses."

(End of this chapter)