People in the Song Dynasty were lawless

Chapter 457: As soon as Zhao Jun left, the knife began to move
In June of the ninth year of the Qingli period of the Song Dynasty, many aristocratic families accepted the conditions offered by the court.

People tend to follow the crowd, and originally no one wanted to leave. But when the Changping Liu family took the lead, some small and medium-sized families also chose to follow.

The imperial court naturally welcomed these people and gave them some preferential policies.

Although it is not as comfortable as staying in Yanyun, at least the land of Yanyun can be used to retain part of the family property, and there will be compensation in the future.

Basically, as long as there is an outstanding young man in the family, the family can be guaranteed to rise in the future.

Soon within the fifteen-day deadline, many families chose to surrender to the court.

Some of them agreed to move south, while others were local aristocratic families in Yanyun and did not want to move south, but the court could buy their land and tenants from them.

This is also one of the conditions given by the court.

Although some local noble families were unwilling to migrate south, the imperial court could naturally understand that, and Zhao Jun did not expect to eliminate all the noble families in Yanyun at once.

Eat one bite at a time and take one step at a time. This time, the power of the Youyan family has been greatly weakened, and next time, we will be able to wipe them out in one fell swoop.

But those aristocratic families who refuse to cooperate, remain silent, and act like ostriches must be struck hard.

Considering that sending troops directly would be no different from a bandit act of killing people, Zhao Jun planned to use a more civilized approach.

Just as he had said to Wang Anshi and others before, if the aristocratic families in Youyan Road cooperated, then everything would be easy.

But if they don't cooperate, we will have to use some other means.

The simplest way is to punish evil and promote good.

In ancient times, many aristocratic families had strict family traditions and governed their families with Confucianism, requiring their children to be kind, trustworthy, and moral.

But it is unrealistic for everyone to be a moral role model.

There are all kinds of birds in a big forest. Even with the strictest family traditions, it is common to have a few bad guys in the family.

Zhang Zhidong’s family rules are strict enough.

His son Zhang Renli was a well-known traitor.

Therefore, it is impossible for a noble family to not have a few bad seeds.

If we really look into it in detail, among the many aristocratic families in the Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun that were dependent on the Liao Kingdom, a conservative estimate is that more than 95% of them were not clean.

The Song Dynasty defeated the Liao Dynasty and regained the lost Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun. These Yanyun aristocratic families took advantage of the situation and chose to surrender.

After they surrendered, the Song Dynasty forgave them for what they had done during the Liao Dynasty and did not conduct any reckoning.

But sometimes, letting bygones be bygones does not mean that the matter is over.

It's like a sword hanging over your head.

The court can choose to hold the sword back from falling when it needs people like you to help maintain order.

But once people like you become an obstacle to the court's rule, this sword will immediately become a guillotine that will take the lives of these aristocratic families.

On June 15th, Zhao Jun left Youyan Road as planned and headed westward towards Yunzhou on Yunshuo Road.

The next morning, in Yutian County, located more than 200 miles east of Peking City, the mountains to the north of the county were green, the remaining ranges of Yanshan Mountain were layered with peaks, covered with trees, and the grass was lush and full of vitality.

There is a stretch of villages at the foot of the mountain.

It would be better to say that it is a luxurious manor than a village. The manor covers an area of ​​unknown acres, stretching as far as the eye can see. There are pavilions and towers standing tall, and walls winding for miles.

The manor is filled with rows of houses, clusters of gardens and pavilions, and the houses are exquisitely designed with carved buildings and painted rafters, which are magnificent.

There are fertile fields for hundreds of miles outside the manor. A tributary of the Gushui River flows down from the north, first circling the manor, and then flowing into the manor through ditches, like small bridges, flowing water and houses, and finally flowing south to irrigate so many farmlands.

The owner of this manor is the famous Yutian Han family, who is not only the head of the Yanyun family, but also a royal relative of the Liao Kingdom.

Because the Yutian Han family had deep marriage ties with the imperial and royal families of the Liao Dynasty, in addition to the Han family children marrying princesses and princes of the Liao Dynasty, the most important thing was that some members of the Liao Dynasty's royal family were even adopted by the Han family.

Yes.

The Liao royal family had descendants of the Yelu family who were adopted by the Han family.

Throughout the world, we have only heard of royal family members being adopted by the royal family, but have never heard of royal family members being adopted by ministers from other families.

The Yutian Han family pioneered this feat.

Their leader Han Derang had no children in his life. Emperor Shengzong of Liao, grateful for Han Derang's contributions, adopted his nephew Yelu Hudugu to him.

But unfortunately, Yelu Hudugu died early and had no children, so another nephew, Yelu Helu, was adopted by him.

Therefore, Han Derang can be said to be the only minister from another family in history who had a royal heir adopted by the royal family, and who also had royal heirs adopted by him twice.

If we add in the number of intermarriages between the Han family and the Yelu and Xiao families, as well as how many people in the Han family were given the surname Yelu, we can see how deep the relationship between the Han family and the Yelu family is.

The Yan Sijia is said to be the four major families.

In fact, at least before Emperor Dao Zong of Liao, the status of the Yutian Han family was far superior to that of the later Liu, Zhao, and Ma families.

At this time, the Han family's house was already deserted, and most of the densely packed buildings were empty and uninhabited.

Only the central clan ancestral hall and a huge mansion near the ancestral hall were filled with all kinds of smoke and incense during meal time.

After noon, the Han family finished their ancestor worship and Han Suiyi returned to his own house.

This ancestor worship ceremony is not just about worshipping ancestors, but also about gathering all the Han family members to have a meal together, demonstrating the cohesion and solidarity of the clan.

More than a dozen elders of the Han family came with him, including Han Suiyi's three sons.

Everyone walked into the house and sat down according to the seating order. Han Suiyi, supported by his two sons, sat in the main seat with a heavy heart.

Looking at the slightly empty hall, his face looked very unhappy.

Now the Han family is no longer as powerful as before. After the Liao-Song War, many members of the family migrated to the north due to the defeat of the Liao Kingdom.

These are tribesmen who are deeply tied to the Liao Kingdom.

For example, those who married women from the Yelu family or the Xiao family, and those who were given the surname Yelu.

The rest were the Han family members who had done little in the Liao officialdom and had to return to their hometown to manage their clan business.

The most typical examples are Han Kuangtu, the eldest son of Han Zhigu, the founder of the Han family, and Han Kuangye, the second son.

The problem with these two people is that their mothers were Han people whom Han Zhigu married before he became famous, and their mothers were not of the Xiao surname.

After Han Zhigu became successful, Empress Dowager Shulü Ping of Liao Dynasty arranged a marriage for him and he married a woman from the Xiao family, who gave birth to nine sons.

Among them was Han Derang's father Han Kuangsi.

Therefore, starting from Han Zhigu's third son Han Kuangsi, he held very high official positions, and was even named King of Qin.

Han Kuangtu and Han Kuangye did not accomplish much and were only given honorary positions.

After that, it was basically an agreement in the Han family that the descendants of Han Kuangtu and Han Kuangye would run the family business in Yutian.

The descendants of Han Kuangsi and others served as high-ranking officials in the Liao court from generation to generation.

For example, if Han Derang had no descendants, the current head of the Han family should be Han Yuanzuo and Han Dilu, the fifth generation in power who inherited the political legacy of Han Derang and Han Lu.

One of these two was the Northern Xuanhui Envoy and Prince of a County, and the other was the Southern Military Governor and Duke of a State. Both were high-ranking officials holding honorary titles such as Kaifu Yitong Sansi, Jianxu Taishi, and Tongzhongshumenxia Pingzhangshi, and they had great say in the clan.

But these two people's Chinese names were Han Yuanzuo and Han Dilu, but they were actually given the surname Yelu, so they should be called Yelu Yuanzuo and Yelu Dilu. They ran away long ago after the defeat of the Liao Kingdom.

Therefore, the only ones left in the Han family are the great-grandchildren of Han Kuangtu and Han Kuangye. Han Suiyi is the only grandchild, who is 81 years old this year. Because he has lived a long life and has a high generation, he is now the leader of the Han family.

It can be said that after a large number of Han descendants who had changed their surnames to Yelu fled, these people were the tallest among the short ones and gradually took control of the Han family's power.

However, after all, they had never held any position in the Liao court, nor had they been involved in officialdom, had no experience in political struggles, and had not even participated in clan infighting.

They were once just marginal figures in the clan, but now they control such a large family. How could they be willing to give it up?

Faced with the court's request, Han naturally was unwilling to agree.

The room was very quiet. Many old men in their 50s and 60s were silent. After a long while, Han Suiyi said, "Now that Zhao Jun is gone, do you think we will be safe?"

"But we are indeed free now."

An old man named Han Gui said, "Uncle Ba, what are you worried about? He has already left. Can he suddenly come back and point his gun at us?"

"I'm just a little uneasy."

Han Suiyi shook his head and said, "The Changping Liu family has risen in recent years and is also closely related to the Liao royal family. They are already the second largest family in Yanyun, but they are willing to give up their status as a Yanyun family and choose to move south. I suspect there must be other secrets that cannot be told, and it may even be related to the survival of the family."

"The Liu family was willing to move south because some of their people held important positions in the Song court."

Han Kuangtu's great-grandson Han Lang sneered, "If Liu Liufu hadn't defected and revealed military secrets to the Song Dynasty, how could the Liao Dynasty have failed? What a bunch of traitors!"

"That's right. Besides, the Liu family has only been married to the royal family in recent years, but we have been married to the royal family for many years. How can their relationship be as deep as ours?"

"Uncle Eight, in the final analysis, the Liu family can distance themselves from the Liao Dynasty, but we cannot. Moreover, our ancestors have lived in Yutian for generations. Why should they drive us away?"

"Yes, I don't believe that the Song Dynasty government can do anything to us. We own more than 100,000 acres of land and more than 10,000 tenants. Thousands of people depend on our Han family. If they really push us to the limit, the worst that can happen is that both sides will be destroyed."

Several other members of the Han family also clamored.

After all, the Liu family only married into the royal family in the last ten years or so and married several royal princesses.

On the other hand, the Han family not only had Khitan blood since the time of Han Kuangsi, but also continued to intermarry with the Khitan for several generations thereafter, and even changed their surname to Yelu. How could their ties be as deep as those of the Han family?

Just a sarcastic person.

In fact, all those present here are descendants of Han Zhigu’s Han Chinese wife. They have a lower status and are not eligible to marry Khitan nobles, so their marriage partners are basically Han Chinese families in Yan area.

So if we talk about their ancestry, most of these people are of Han descent, and only a very small number have Khitan descent.

However, they did not recognize the Song Dynasty, which also had Han ancestry, but recognized the Liao Dynasty as their motherland. It can be seen that even the two Han bloodlines retained by their Han family had been completely assimilated by the Khitan.

"Ah."

Han Suiyi thought what everyone said made sense, so he nodded and said, "That's true, but since we are still in Yan, and Yan has returned to Song, we should be cautious."

"I think it would be better to sell the land early, leaving at most a few families behind, and then we can all head north to join the Liao Dynasty."

Someone suggested: "In the past, the noble families formed an alliance for attack and defense, and were united in spirit. It would not be easy for the Song Dynasty to attack us. But the Liu, Ma, and Zhao families have betrayed us, and we are left alone. We are afraid that the Song Dynasty will divide us step by step, and when our strength becomes weaker and weaker, it will be the time to attack us."

"How can we just sell off our ancestral heritage? Besides, who in Yanyun can buy all the land?"

"I think you want to continue to stay here as a farmhand. Don't forget that if you don't have an official position, no matter how many acres of land you have, it will be taken away sooner or later. Only by being an official can you continue the clan."

"Will I be given an official position if I go to the Liao Dynasty? Logically speaking, we are the descendants of the first and second branches, but before, it was the descendants of the third and fifth branches who made the decisions. Isn't it much better now than before?"

"Humph, you are so short-sighted. I am afraid that you will get this inheritance but not live to spend it!"

"you!"

"Okay, stop arguing."

Seeing that everyone had different opinions, Han Suiyi knocked heavily on the ground with his cane and said, "We are all family, what is there to quarrel about?"

The rest of the people snorted coldly. Han Suiyi didn't have much prestige. It was just that the family had encountered a sudden change, so they temporarily elected the person with the highest seniority as the patriarch.

But now is definitely not the time to quarrel.

Seeing that everyone had quieted down, Han Suiyi's eldest son Han Yuanfeng said, "Father, I saw that Zhao Jun didn't make any noise before he left, so I guess he can't do anything to us. Why don't we send someone to contact our relatives in Liao to see if they have any solution?"

"Forehead"

Speaking of this, Han Suiyi hesitated for a moment.

Seeing his hesitation, Han Yuanfeng asked in surprise: "Father, what's wrong?"

"In fact, the Liao Kingdom sent someone to deliver a letter a few days ago, but I was afraid that the Song people would find out, so I didn't dare to tell everyone."

Han Suiyi said.

"What? There was actually a letter. Why didn't you tell us about such a big thing?"

"What exactly does the letter say? Does it want us to go north?"

"Uncle Ba, please tell me quickly."

Everyone was suddenly surprised.

Han Suiyi smiled bitterly and said, "The letter tells us to be the insiders and keep checking the news of the Song people."

"You're not asking us to go to Liao."

Some people were greatly disappointed.

"It's good to be an insider. My Great Liao will come back one day, and we will be heroes then."

"Song is so powerful, can Liao come back?"

"The Song people have always been weak and can be bullied. They are only successful for a while now. What are you afraid of?"

"Well"

Some people in the room were hesitant, some were wavering, some were excited, and some were overjoyed.

Compared to those who are at a high level and can see the situation clearly, their vision is still too narrow after all.

"Well, then we can be the insiders. Don't we have nephews and nephews working in the state government? Let them help us get the information."

Seeing that no one objected, Han Suiyi decided on this policy.

He said, "You all should go back first. Then I will ask your children to pay attention and gather here if there is any disturbance in the Song Dynasty court."

"Well, that's it."

"Uncle Ba, we'll take our leave now."

Everyone stood up and prepared to leave.

At this moment, a servant came in hurriedly and said, "It's bad, sir. There are many government officials outside."

Before the servant could finish his words, the door to the Han residence was kicked open and groups of ferocious-looking soldiers rushed in.

The leader shouted, "Han Suiyi, you're in trouble, come with us!"

After saying that, he turned his head and looked around, grinning, "They are all here, so we don't have to look for them one by one. Let's take them all back!"

In an instant, everyone thought they were discovered as spies, and they all turned pale and collapsed to the ground.

(End of this chapter)