At the end of the Han Dynasty: a stingy husband from his hometown

Chapter 18 The Wind of Revenge
Zhou Qi had only now figured out the old man's plan.

As Zhou Qi and Xiang Hong discussed before, the upward path in this era has been controlled by aristocratic families.

Not to mention a small rural landowner like Zhou Qi, even if it is as powerful as the Peiguo Zhou family, although it can run amok in a county and even influence local policies, it is as difficult as going to the sky if it wants to enter the center of the imperial court.

This result is not only because the number of places for filial piety and integrity is very limited every year, but also because the aristocratic families control the government and naturally do not want local wealthy families to come and take a share of the pie.

Not only these aristocratic families, even the current emperor would not want local wealthy families to take over the center.

These aristocratic families already had a lot of power. If they held important positions in the court, they would soon evolve into new aristocratic families.The imperial court originally intended to suppress the growing power of the aristocratic family, let alone digging its own grave like this.

In order to balance the forces of all parties and to allow the imperial power to have more rights, the emperor began to reuse his relatives and eunuchs.

This is why since the Eastern Han Dynasty, countless relatives and eunuchs have been in power.

It's not that these relatives and eunuchs are very clever, but that the emperor needs these two forces to help consolidate the imperial power and suppress the wealthy families.

The Zhou family's scholarly legacy has been passed down from generation to generation, and every generation wants to regain the glory of their ancestors. Therefore, both the old lady and Zhou Qi's father, who died young, studied scriptures diligently, hoping to one day be able to serve as an official in the court.

The reality is incomparably cruel. The old grandpa can only work as a poor man in the village all his life, and Zhou Qi's father died young when he was traveling abroad to find career opportunities.

When he arrived at Zhou Qi's place, even though he had experienced two lives and understood the general trend of history, he could only live in the countryside and idle around all day long.

If there is no accident, Zhou Qi may watch the passage of time and the torrent of history rolling forward, but he can only become a spectator who does not play the slightest role.

Perhaps he could have gone to join Cao Cao in the early days of his army. Relying on his friendship with his fellow countrymen and his knowledge that surpassed the modern era for more than 800 years, he might also be able to be reused gradually.

But if this is really the case, will he be willing?

I wonder what man doesn’t have the dream of being a hero?What man doesn’t want to command thousands of troops and look up to the heroes of heaven and earth?
Since he was fortunate enough to be able to come to this era of heroes, he naturally didn't want to be inferior to others like in his previous life, and finally he was depressed.

What he wants is a hero to bow his head, what he wants is to calm the troubled times, what he wants is these thousands of miles of rivers and mountains!
Some people may think that he is arrogant, and that he is a little out of control, but so what?If you travel through time and don't even dare to have these dreams, what's the difference between being alive and dead?
Even if he fails to succeed in the end, even if he is defeated and dies in the end, what does it matter?

At least.

He has come, he has seen, he has tried to conquer.

He was unlucky, but also very lucky.

Unfortunately, because his background was not very good, Zhou Qi's starting point was too low compared to those famous princes of the late Han Dynasty, and it would be much more difficult for him to achieve great things.

Fortunately, because he has a good grandfather, after learning about Zhou Qi's ambition, even if he risked his life, he would pave a way for him to reach the sky among the thorns.

Perhaps the old man never thought that Zhou Qi would succeed in the end, nor did he expect his grandson to go far in the end.

But he still did it without hesitation, just for the slim chance.

It has to be said that the old lady is indeed a buried wise man, but it is a pity that he was born at the wrong time.

He knew that the upward channel of society was blocked immediately, so he was going to take a slant and open up another path for his grandson.

If the promotion of filial piety and honesty and conquest are the only way for scholars to ascend, then for ordinary people, the only thing left is to become famous for being a hero, to become the kind of hero who has the power to govern the state and county, and beats the duke. The last way.

The Han Dynasty advocated filial piety and righteousness, which can be seen as filial piety and integrity, and righteousness can be regarded as heroic.

The most famous princes in the late Han Dynasty, such as Cao Cao, Liu Bei, Yuan Shao, Yuan Shu, and Sun Jian, were all fond of chivalry when they were young and were famous for their chivalry.

Are these people just idle and full of food?No!This is the easiest way to make friends with powerful people and build a reputation for yourself.

Fame and wealth.It is beneficial to have a reputation first.

The princes challenged Dong Zhuo, and Cao Cao led his troops to pursue Dong Zhuo alone. Although he was defeated and almost killed, his soldiers were all lost. It seemed that the gain outweighed the loss.

But in fact?However, through this seemingly disadvantageous behavior, Cao Cao won the reputation of being dedicated to the country and selfless, which laid a solid foundation for Cao Cao to recruit so many talents later.

Liu Bei twice abandoned his entire foundation and led his troops to rescue people who had nothing to do with him.Kong Rong, the first to be rescued, made Liu Bei, who was originally unknown, famous and officially entered the attention of the world's princes.

For the second time, he abandoned all his foundations again and went to Xuzhou to rescue Tao Qian with a weak force, which made Liu Bei's benevolence and righteousness spread all over the world, and even Tao Qian gave up the position of Xuzhou Mu.

Liu Bei's reputation also laid a solid foundation for his subsequent recruitment of Zhao Yun, Xu Shu, Zhuge Liang and others.

It is no exaggeration to say that the two times that he gave up his entire foundation to rescue people he had never met were the two most successful venture investments in Liu Bei's life.

In the eyes of later generations, Liu Bei's behavior was stupid, but in the current world, this behavior laid the foundation for him to be king.

The old man may have known about Yang Qiu's order to thoroughly investigate Wang Fu's affairs, so he deliberately died in front of Wang Ji in order to create an opportunity for Zhou Qi.

In fact, this is not only an opportunity, but also a test.

If Zhou Qi does not have the courage or ability to kill Wang Ji to avenge him after the death of his old lady, then Zhou Qi's so-called ambition before will become a big joke. It is best to live in peace and stability in this life. No matter how high-spirited you are.

If Zhou Qi can do this, he will definitely be famous in the prefectures and counties, and there is a high probability that he will even be respected by Yang Qiu. Isn't this a path to heaven?

When Yang Qiu was young, because an official in the county insulted his mother, he led dozens of young people to kill the county official, hence the name Yangzhou County.

In this era, the spirit of chivalry is very strong. If the murderer is killed because of loyalty, filial piety, and righteousness, the murderer will not only not be reviled, but will be talked about well and praised by everyone.

For example, the champion Hou Huo Qubing shot Li in front of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty because he dared to insult his uncle.Although this move was somewhat arrogant and domineering, it also gave a glimpse into the prevailing atmosphere. Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty also punished Huo Qubing for this matter.

In addition, Yang Qiu, Xiahou Dun, Dian Wei, Guan Yu, Xu Shu and others in the late Eastern Han Dynasty also had similar experiences.

Confucianism in this era was not as weak as in the Song, Ming and Qing Dynasties. Instead, it was quite bloody, advocating repaying grievances directly, tooth for tooth, and retribution.

"Book of Rites" says: The enmity between a king and his father cannot be shared by the same country; the enmity between brothers cannot be opposed by military revolution; the enmity between friendship and friendship cannot be with the same country.

It was under the influence of this general environment that the practice of killing people and exterminating their families to avenge personal vengeance was very prevalent in the Han Dynasty. The murderers could be forgiven legally and morally, and would be sheltered by many aristocratic families to help them escape the law. punishment.

It was not until Cao Pi ascended the throne and issued an edict strictly prohibiting private revenge that this trend was slowly curbed.

(End of this chapter)