The third emperor of the Sui Dynasty

Chapter 238 Three Questions Before the Hall
Shenwu Palace, Chaoyang Palace!
When Yang Tong and Du Ruhui met, there was a feeling that they hated seeing each other late. It's not that Du Ruhui is so powerful, but that his ideas are very compatible with Yang Tong.

Don't talk about the overall situation, because as a top strategist in this era, the overall situation is essential!Looking at the big concept and big pattern of the world Yang Gongren, Yang Shidao, Fang Xuanling, Wei Zhengyou, Wei Yunqi, Liu Zhenghui, Kong Yingda, Li Jing, Yang Shanhui, Yang Yuanhong, Pei Renji, Deng Hao, Li Jing, etc. are outstanding The characters also have.But Du Ruhui's foresight is the highest among Yang Tong's counselors. At present, only Yang Gongren and Fang Xuanling can compete with him.

Du Ruhui is also extremely sharp in trying to figure out people's hearts, and all the princes, including Yang Tong, let him speak clearly.

Du Ruhui didn't even have a meal, so he chatted with Yang Tong until evening.

For Du Ruhui's arrival, Yang Tong also gave the highest standard of courtesy. All the civil and military personnel in Yecheng, including Yang You and Yang Zen Master, the two royal family members, were all invited to welcome Du Ruhui.

"Since ancient times, rulers choose ministers, and ministers also choose rulers. Keming's test on me has passed?" Yang Tong looked at Du Ruhui and asked with a smile.

"Your Highness is serious!" Du Ruhui sensed the gazes of the crowd, and said calmly, "Your Majesty has long wanted to vote, so he brought his family to Yecheng. The property was robbed. If it wasn’t for the kindness of the proprietor Wang from the Yao family’s food line, he would have died of illness! At that time, the proprietor Wang’s career was not going well, so the servants acted as his accountant and drew up a plan for him. development plan."

Everyone praised him, this person has a great talent, but when the savior encounters difficulties, he is willing to be a small businessman's accountant and give advice on his career. He is really a kind and righteous person!Really rare.

Du Ruhui went on to say: "Wang Dongzhu's career is booming. Even if the minister is not there, he only needs to follow the minister's plan to continue to develop. It doesn't matter whether the minister is there or not. At that time, I wanted to directly serve Your Highness, but it happened to meet the imperial examination. When the time came, I thought, since I have such a little ability, why not pass the scientific examination to become an official? Therefore, I have no intention of taking the exam."

"I completely understand what Keming means!"

"what for?"

In order to avoid everyone being dissatisfied with Du Ruhui, Yang Tong said with a smile: "If it were me, I think I have the ability to be qualified for this position, but at this moment, someone introduced this position to me through connections!" Here, Yang Tong said to Yang You: "Third brother, do you think I should seek this position with my own ability? Or ask someone to introduce me?"

After hearing this, Yang You said proudly, "You should use your ability to seek this position."

Yang Tong smiled and said, "This is also what Keming meant."

The crowd laughed!

"Thank you for your understanding, Your Highness!" Du Ruhui said gratefully.

Yang Tong said: "Keming! I have read your majestic essays carefully, but those few test papers can't finish your thoughts! I have three questions for you here."

"Your Highness, please speak clearly." Du Ruhui smiled slightly, his eyes were full of confidence, the confidence brought by his own talent.

"First, if I cross the Yellow River next year, can I pacify the Central Plains?"

"Of course!" Du Ruhui nodded, and said: "With His Highness's current momentum, the majestic soldiers and horses of the Great Sui Dynasty, the excellent equipment, and the sufficient food and grass, there should be no problem if you lead the army to the south next year. But I don't recommend it. His Highness sent troops so quickly."

"Since I have the ability to flatten the Central Plains, why can't I go south? What's the reason?"

Yang Tong asked some people's doubts,
Du Ruhui talked eloquently: "Your Highness is playing a big game of chess, which is astonishing. The layout has been started since he took control of Jizhou, and now, with the power of the Sui Dynasty, new changes have taken place in the entire world structure. Changes. The aristocratic family that has managed the fate of the world for nearly a thousand years is suffering the most serious impact since the Qin and Han Dynasties."

Yang Tong nodded slowly, this was also the thing he was most proud of, forcibly shaking the status of the aristocratic family with a single domain, and punishing the other party to death.

Du Ruhui cupped his hands and said: "If the princes of the world want to fight with His Highness, they must follow His Highness and implement various policies that benefit the people. Otherwise, the people in Guanzhong and the Central Plains will run away sooner or later. Once they lose their people, the princes from all walks of life will become a land without water." Fish. This is the 'power' that conforms to the human heart and the direction of the human heart!"

Everyone nodded.

In this regard, the explanation in "Han Feizi-Gongming" is more detailed: "Therefore, there are four people who have made meritorious service and fame: one is the time of day, the other is the heart, the third is the skill, and the fourth is the position. Sui: against the human heart, even if you are strong and educated, you can't do your best. Therefore, if you get the right time, you will live on your own without doing anything; .”

It means that if people want to control their destiny and achieve success, there are four key elements: one is weather, one is people's hearts, one is skills, and the other is power.Once a man violates the law of heaven, even ten Yaos cannot make a tassel grow in the winter; if he violates the will of the people, even powerful generals such as Meng Ben and Xia Yu cannot make the people do their best.If you get the right time, even if you don't work hard, the tassels will grow by themselves; after you get the hearts of the people, you don't need to be urged by the court, people will rely on skills to encourage themselves, work hard, and power will come naturally.

As with people, so with countries.

So what is 'potential'?
'Potential' is the human heart, and 'potential' is the resonance in the hearts of most people.

It is difficult to control the mind of one person, and it is even more difficult to unify the mind of a group of people!But doing it is easier than controlling a person.It sounds very complicated, but in fact it is nothing more than the word 'benefit'!

When one person does something that benefits most people, then those people will embrace this idea.

Now that Yang Tong represents the interests of the majority, the Great Sui was able to prosper, and some poor people traveled thousands of miles to defect to the Great Sui.

And the source of a country's foundation is its population: there are people, there is food; there are soldiers, if you lose people and people's hearts, no matter how great your ability is, you will not be able to make a career.

In order to keep the population and restore people's hearts, the princes of all walks of life can only implement policies and guidelines that conform to the hearts of the people.

Many of you here understand this truth.

At this time, Du Ruhui said again: "Your Highness started out big, and any policy will harm the interests of the noble family. If the princes of all walks of life follow this policy, conflicts with the noble family will be inevitable. If Your Highness sends troops at this time, the princes and clan The aristocratic family is under pressure and will definitely cooperate again."

"Nowadays, the aristocratic family and your highness are enemies. If you rule the world, the aristocratic family will surrender to your highness and you will be a minister. Although the king wants your ministers to die, you have to die, but the world is initially settled. Your highness will kill at that time, and there will inevitably be another turmoil."

"The foundation of the great family is especially strong, and His Royal Highness can't kill him. Afterwards, he will have to work hard to fight against the great family! If he succeeds, he will establish a foundation for eternity. If he loses, the world will fall into chaos. And the great family is the last What is lacking is patience and time. They will definitely lurk during His Highness's lifetime, but what about after His Highness? Not every generation of kings has the courage to fight against aristocratic families.

"However, if His Highness slows down the pace of unifying the world, it will only take three to five years, and the status and strength of the aristocratic family will be completely consumed by the princes! At that time, His Highness will take over the world again. Not only will it be much easier, but after the world is reunified, it will There won't be any problems with aristocratic families." Du Ru cupped his hands with a dark smile and said, "This is the words of my subordinates, please don't take it to heart, Your Highness."

"That's very good!" Yang Tong nodded in satisfaction. This is exactly the same as the central idea of ​​the Sui Dynasty. What he pursued was the real "big chaos and great governance" instead of continuing to fight with Li Tang after the war like Li Tang in history. The aristocratic family fought for two generations, and in the end, even the whole world was replaced by people with the surname 'Wu'.

If you really want to study it carefully, Li Tang can be regarded as the death of the third generation, just like the Sui Dynasty.It's just because Wu Zetian has the important status of Li's daughter-in-law, people don't divide Li Tang into the former Tang Dynasty and the later Tang Dynasty.

"Second question!" Yang Tong said, "Although the Great Sui Dynasty bears the false name of being the number one prince in the world, there are also many enemies in the Great Sui Dynasty. In addition to the princes from all walks of life, there are also many aristocratic families. They have been passed down to this day. There are also hundreds of years. It is not an exaggeration to say that they are deeply rooted. Their strength is unquestionable. In addition, the policy pursued by us in the Sui Dynasty is the national policy of "first outside and then inside". , even if I have already reached the city of Chang'an, I will retreat to fight the Turks! Under the attack of the two sides, the fate of the Sui Dynasty is really worrying."

"And Li Yuan is very talented, and he has strong support from the powerful officials in Guanlong, the Guandong gentry, and the Jiangnan gentry, and now has the economic and population support from Bashu, so he has great potential. Why did Keming vote for me in the Sui Dynasty, but not Li Yuan?"

This is also what Yang Tong doesn't understand. It's too easy for a future celebrity like Du Ruhui to come here by himself. The battle is getting bigger.And after the baptism of wars, his generals have begun to make a qualitative leap.

Although Yang Tong has a large population, they are all poor people. He spent a lot of money managing Jizhou, Youzhou, Bingzhou, and most of Yongzhou in recent years.

In the era of cold weapons, population is indeed the potential for war, but if you have insufficient financial resources, no matter how many people you have, you will not be able to build a strong army.So, if the two of them are going to die, Li Yuan can completely throw away Guanzhong, and then trade space for time, and borrow the financial resources of the aristocratic family to drag down Yang Tong's economy.With the potential difference between the two sides not much, Du Ruhui came to the door by himself, which really surprised Yang Tong.

"As I said before, Your Highness has already controlled [-]% of the world's population. His potential strength has already surpassed that of the princes. Whether it is Li Yuan, Wang Shichong, Li Mi, Dou Jiande, Xiao Xian, every step they take in the future fatally hindered."

"However, His Highness is different. Taking the common people and poor scholars as the basis, His Highness has used the past few years to establish a 'power' that influences the world. Wang Shichong, who follows the 'power', has a prosperous career, and Li Yuan, who is stagnant, has a fluttering heart. There are many people who defected to the Sui Dynasty. Under such circumstances, Li Yuan and other princes can only follow the trend. In this way, Li Yuan will inevitably have irreconcilable conflicts with the biggest supporter of the Guanlong Group. Whether it is Li Yuan or Li Mi, Or Dou Jiande, Xiao Xian, Du Fuwei, Shen Faxing, Li Zitong, if they want to compete against His Highness, they can only suppress the aristocratic family with iron and blood, and follow His Highness's example of dividing the land into households, implementing the principle of dividing the land into the mu, and the government and the gentry. Taxation system, and then set up volunteer schools, open courses to obtain scholars..."

Du Ruhui smiled bitterly and said: "At the beginning of the uprising, Li Yuan and Xiao Xian benefited a lot from the aristocratic family, but now, their supporters have become their biggest enemy. If there is no series of policies from His Highness, the world will still be dominated by the aristocratic family." The world belongs to the lord, but His Highness has already achieved this! If the subject goes to Li Yuan, it is against the trend. The subject only wants to end the troubled times as soon as possible and restore peace to the world. Li Yuan, Li Mi and others cannot do this in a short period of time. Made it inside."

Yang Tong wondered, "Why?"

Du Ruhui said: "There are many factions of Li Yuan and Li Mi! Fighting together is the root cause of the decline of a dynasty and a family."

In fact, in Du Ruhui's eyes, the battle of the world is a contest between the top teams of two forces, and a contest of systems.

In the Li Tang dynasty headed by Li Yuan, outside the court, there were disputes over the interests of the royal relatives, the Guanlong Group, the Kanto gentry, and the southern gentry, while inside the court there were disputes between the imperial party, the princeling party, and the Jin royal party.Layers upon layers of infighting not only consumes national strength, but also delays and procrastinates every resolution, finally lagging behind in place, and the system has changed beyond recognition.

On the side of the Sui Dynasty, Yang Tong was the absolute ruler. His position was stable, and no one could shake his position. There was no most complicated dispute between heirs in the royal family.Moreover, there are no interest groups behind high-level officials, they are very pure and clean.Domestic and foreign policies are basically determined by Yang Tong and Yang Gongren, Fang Xuanling, Yang Shidao, Wei Zheng, Liu Zhenghui, Kong Yingda, Wei Yunqi, Jiang Xingben, Li Jing and others!Moreover, Yang Tong is the soul from the beginning to the end. To a certain extent, the officials of the three provinces and six ministries are doing things according to his thinking. Everyone has the right direction, and then work together to fill in the gaps!In this way, the efficiency is naturally greatly improved.

institutionally

Yang Tong's New Deal has been in place for several years, just like the Qin State after Shang Yang's reform, the national power is booming.On Li Yuan's side, the old system was still used. Even if there was a little innovation, it would be cautious, but in the end it was tampered with beyond recognition.The longer the time dragged on, the stronger the Sui Dynasty would be, and Li Yuan and other princes would be stuck in the internal struggle.

Unless Li Yuan wiped out Yang Tong right now, the gap between the two sides would get bigger as time went on, but this was impossible, because Li Yuan was now terrified of Yang Tong, and he was lucky if Yang Tong didn't beat him, so how could he dare to take the initiative? provoke?In this way, it is not surprising that Du Ruhui chose Yang Tong.

"The third question!" Yang Tong looked at Du Ruhui and asked with a smile, "Keming is a descendant of the Jingzhao Du family, and I am exactly the Du family's great enemy."

Du Ruhui smiled wryly and said: "The Patriarch of the Du Clan is Du Yan, my uncle, but after my father died of illness, my elder brother was punished by the patriarch and died. My third brother and I are not allowed to be part of the family, and we will be deprived of the qualifications of the clan sacrifice for life. Brother became a lonely ghost wandering around."

But Yang Tong didn't know that in history, Du Yan served under Wang Shichong's command. Although he was Du Ruhui's uncle, he had always been at odds with Du Ruhui's brothers. He was put on death row.Later Li Shimin put down Wang Shichong.Du Yan, as a senior official of the state of Zheng, was sentenced to death.Du Chuke asked Du Ruhui to rescue him, but Du Ruhui refused. Du Chuke said that it was too cruel for people of the same clan to kill each other.So Du Ruhui pleaded with Li Shimin to spare Du Yan.

Speaking of which, Du Ruhui's situation is similar to Wei Yunqi's. Although Wei Yunqi was born in the well-known Jingzhao family of Webster's, he is an offshoot, especially with the family head. Because of his extraordinary talent, he was envied and eventually kicked out. nationality.

(End of this chapter)