God Three Group Chat: Three Kingdoms

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"Although the essential purpose is to seek population and labor, it is indeed a good method to cover up this behavior by demanding valuable knowledge, but it cannot cover up the other party's intentions." Yuan Shao glanced at Yan Liang and Wen Chou around him. The two were very sensible and quick to react. They quickly came outside the meeting hall and guarded the door to prevent others from entering or leaving and hearing things they shouldn't know. Only after confirming this did they begin to speak.

"The other party's intentions?" Yuan Tan had never considered this angle, and he truly did not understand what those intentions were.

“Because what is being asked for is knowledge, and knowledge can be disseminated, recorded, or even hidden, which is both convenient and inconvenient,” Yuan Shao pointed out the most important point.

“But what’s wrong with that? For us, knowledge and land are the most important things, and it has always been so. So it’s not strange to have this intention.” Yuan Tan recalled all the knowledge he had acquired in his life, but he couldn’t find anything unusual.

For all scions of prominent families, what is the most important thing in the family? This is a compulsory course that every scion of a prominent family must learn.

Only with this understanding can we better unite around the family, work hard for the development and growth of the family, become strong by relying on the family, and then give back to the family after becoming strong, building a continuous group. This is what a family clan is.

A family that has been passed down for thousands of years, continuing unbroken.

Dynasties come and go, but powerful families remain constant—this has always been the case, and it will continue to be so in the future; it will never change!

“No, it’s different. In the past, having such thoughts would have been fine, but now you need to change your mindset and your perspective.” Yuan Shao rose from his seat, slowly standing up as he looked at the now empty meeting hall, his tone gradually becoming serious.

"Change the angle? Is there something wrong with the angle from which I'm standing?" Yuan Tan, who had always taken his father as his role model and followed the route his father had set, now had a dark look on his face, filled with many doubts, and did not understand what he had done wrong.

We've been standing at this point for so many years without any problems, so why has things changed so much now?
“In the past, we were subjects, and what we needed to do was develop and strengthen ourselves so that we could have more rights and opportunities. But now that you have come here to expand your territory and see everything you have opened up, you should understand that your perspective is different now…” At this moment, Yuan Shao no longer concealed his behavior and directly said words that would be taboo in other places.

In the past, everyone was a subject of the Han Empire, ostensibly serving the Han Empire and helping to stabilize the national social structure.

However, this is only a theoretical obligation. In reality, for aristocratic families, the most important thing is how to draw more nourishment from the behemoth that is the Han Empire.

Even though the tree was rotten and could no longer support their harvest, they still did their best to harvest the last bit of food and use it to strengthen themselves.

As for the large tree that has fallen, it is very simple to just put a new large tree up.

Hearing these words, Yuan Tan felt his worldview and values ​​were shaken. He stood frozen in place, trying his best to think about the content and ideas behind them.

"When the nation is profitable and prosperous, powerful families are naturally an asset to the state, a vital force in maintaining and ruling its territories. However, when the nation's will gradually shifts, powerful families may no longer be an asset." Having calmed his mind and reflected on his experiences over many years, Yuan Shao understood the reasons behind this perfectly, and grasped its essence. No one knew better than them whether powerful families were good or bad, because they themselves came from powerful families—one of the largest powerful families in the land.

"So, the aristocratic families' path is wrong?" Yuan Tan asked softly, regaining his senses from the shock.

“No route is wrong; it’s just that everyone is at a different angle and has a different stance!” Yuan Shao shook his head slightly, directly pointing out the essence of the matter, and then said, “As a ruler, in addition to having your own stance, you also need to understand whose stance you are on.”

"If I can't stand with the aristocratic families, then I can only stand with myself?" Recalling the information he had heard before, Yuan Tan first thought of the aristocratic families, then rejected them, and finally gave his own answer.

From the perspective of a monarch, all thoughts are for his own benefit, and it seems there is nothing wrong with that.

"Now we already have the answer, don't we? Looking at this answer, can you still give this result?" Yuan Shao chuckled and looked at Yuan Tan, saying casually, "Isn't the current Empress, the current Her Majesty, a very good answer!"

"His Majesty the present?" Yuan Tan thought about Liu Tong in his memory, but he didn't have much of an impression of him, so he was completely unaware of Liu Tong's stance.

However, it seems that Liu Tong has many supporters all over the world, and even he is one of those who neither opposes nor resists him.

“If you are a ruler, you must serve the people. It is difficult to restrain and control the powerful families by relying solely on your own strength. You must understand the way and speed at which these families have developed, because that is how we rose to power. What can truly restrain these powerful families are the common people, whom many members of these families used to look down upon.” Yuan Shao emphasized the importance of this matter.

If the Yuan family were to truly establish a kingdom by granting fiefdoms, then whether as pioneers or inheritors, they would all need to understand this principle.

If we continue to rely heavily on powerful families as before, sooner or later these families will leech off us, just like they did to the Han Empire, leading to the downfall of the once mighty Yuan family.

Therefore, the best way to ensure the system continues to operate and thrives like a family for thousands of years is to maintain a balance and constantly inject new vitality into it.

“Won’t the newly joined members become aristocratic families? This doesn’t solve the fundamental problem.” With this clear explanation, Yuan Tan also realized the troublesome nature of the matter. He then thought about a solution but ultimately found that he couldn’t find one.

All the potential backup plans have basically been thoroughly investigated and eliminated by previous generations.

This method, which once enabled aristocratic families to survive and live better, seems to be a bad thing from today's perspective.

(End of this chapter)