The Imperial Age with the Resurgence of Han Style

Chapter 270 A powerful family
"Leave the windows open. ... It's too stuffy in the car."

On the Yunyang section of the Coastal Railway, a train was spewing black smoke and driving at high speed in the rain and fog. Located in the royal box in the middle of the train, Queen Bi was sitting on a soft leather chair, holding a copy of "Oriental Pictorial" in her hand, reading through it one after another.

It was obvious that the Queen's mind was not on the "Illustrated Magazine". Her eyes were a little wandering, and her fingers were tapping lightly on the armrest of the leather chair unconsciously.

A middle-aged lady looked at the queen's absent-minded look, sighed slightly, stood up, walked to the window, and was about to close the window.

The high-speed train kept pulling in the rain outside, which had already wetted the curtains and covered the small table in front of the window with a layer of mist.

Unexpectedly, her behavior alarmed the queen who was deep in thought, and Wen Yan stopped her from closing the window.

"Your Highness the Queen..." Bi Wenrong looked at the Queen and hesitated to speak.

"Third Aunt, please stop trying to persuade me." Queen Bi shook her head gently and said sternly: "None of us can disobey His Majesty's decision and the Empire's decree, let alone try to resist. ... Sigh , The Bi family is in too much limelight, it’s time to keep a low profile, otherwise, we will face even more severe attacks from His Majesty.”

"Queen, you are also a descendant of the Bi family, why are you doing this?" Bi Wenrong was very dissatisfied when she heard the queen's decisive words, and her tone could not help but contain some emotion.

"Third aunt, you also know that my surname is Bi." Queen Bi glanced at her coldly, closed the "Oriental Pictorial" in her hand, and then threw it heavily on the small table beside her. Because she used too much force, The pictorial slid down several sides and fell to the floor, "There is a common saying, if you marry a chicken, follow the chicken, if you marry a dog, follow the dog. Although I am a woman of the Bi family, since I married into the Qi family, I am naturally a woman of the Qi family, and I want to be my husband. My family’s concerns. Besides, now that I am the Queen of Qi, shouldn’t I put the interests of the empire first in everything?”

In the early days of the founding of the People's Republic of China, almost all cabinet ministers, ministers of various ministries, and military generals were born from civilian backgrounds, or were promoted through their own military exploits.

It has been more than ninety years since the founding of the State of Qi. With the development and evolution of the empire's political ecology, several political and military families have been gradually formed. Relying on blood, marriage, disciples and many other relationships, they gradually began to control the government, military and local power, eliminate dissidents, engage in political strife, and seek political and economic interests for their families and themselves.

Although the third generation of the Bi family never held the high position of prime minister, they still served as cabinet ministers and important ministers, and several of them served as local governors and prefects. They were extremely distinguished.

But who would have thought that during the event, they would hear bad news, that is, the case had been sent to Heaven, and His Majesty the Emperor was already aware of it, and was prepared to deal with her husband severely, in order to take this opportunity to establish the Emperor's prestige and demonstrate his authority. The empire's legal system is fair.

If the royal family is annoyed, they will have many ways to manipulate you!
Moreover, this empress who was born in the Bi family has loved literature and history since she was a child. She likes to read books and pictures. She is well-informed. She is also simple in nature and resolute in her actions. She is by no means an easy person.

In the fourth and fifth generations of the Bi family, there are still many children serving in the cabinet and local offices, continuing the Bi family's political tradition of being a "rich family".

As the investigation deepened, Pei Qinglin's many illegal issues and dereliction of duty were uncovered, and he was about to be transferred to Dali Temple for trial and conviction.

There was a joke in later generations that satirized a certain superpower. It said: The general's son asked him if he could become a general, and the general said it was no problem. The son asked if he could become a marshal, but the general replied that he couldn't because the marshal also had his own son.

This joke is used to satirize the clan politics that are gradually emerging in Qi State, which is somewhat appropriate.

"..." After hearing this, Bi Wenrong was stunned. Then she realized her gaffe and quickly bowed, with a hint of fear in her words, "Your Highness, it was my wife who was rude."

The second generation of the Bi family all held the position of important court ministers and local officials. Their great-grandfather Bi Zhengxing successively served as the general manager of the Southwest District, the Minister of Science and Technology and Education, the Minister of the Ministry of Personnel, and the Deputy Prime Minister of the Cabinet. After retiring from office, he served as He was the consultant teacher of Emperor Taiping, assisting him in learning common affairs.

As a relative of the emperor, how could Bi Wenrong tolerate her husband being sentenced for treason and losing his official status for nothing. Therefore, she used the power of her family to mobilize various connections to interfere with and prevent the in-depth judicial investigation.

Let me ask, how can such a family, such a noble family, and such a background be found guilty?

But for more than half a month, the queen always politely refused again and again, and also persuaded her to let her husband truthfully explain various problems and actively return the embezzled money, thus obtaining a light sentence from Dali Temple.

Therefore, Bi Wenrong tried to find the Taichu Palace, hoping to exert influence on the emperor through her identity as niece and empress. At the same time, she sent a message to the Supervisory Yuan and Dali Temple not to pursue and fight fiercely, so that her husband would be investigated in depth, so that he could Get away from guilt.

Bi Wenrong's husband, Pei Qinglin, was the general magistrate of Yingzhou (now Newcastle, Australia). He was investigated by the Supervisory Yuan because he was accused of corruption and violation of the law.

To speak against the mother of a country would be regarded as a crime of great disrespect in the Qin Dynasty.

He began to lobby continuously after entering the palace, and then worked tirelessly to follow the queen on a tour of the Northeast to comfort the disaster-stricken people, thinking that he could persuade this good niece to save her uncle from the fire and water.

What is our Bi family’s identity and background?
Our ancestor Bi Maokang was the right servant of the Ministry of Household Affairs during the Chongzhen period of the Ming Dynasty. He was the governor of Jiangnan grain affairs. Later, Emperor Taizu tried every means to invite him to Hanzhou to supervise the manufacture of weapons. He was also the founder of the Song Pavilion. He entered the Tiangong College, the first university in Qi, and served as minister of Dali Temple. He was also the first general office of the Supervisory Yuan, and finally served as senior minister of the cabinet.

Although the etiquette system of the Qi royal family in our country has been very broad since the time of Emperor Taizu, and they never use offensive words or conflicting behaviors, and often punish "those who rebel against the emperor" with charges of disrespect, the royal family has its own dignity, but it cannot Because relying on relatives, you can speak harshly to the queen.

What you say is so heartless!
That is your uncle, your natal family, how can you be convicted so easily?
If the charges are proven true, not to mention that your uncle may be sentenced to prison and his career will be cut off. Even we, the Bi family, cannot afford to disgrace this person!
Although, our legal principle in Daqi is that everyone is equal, and there are no exceptions to the law. But that is aimed at ordinary people and grassroots officials with no deep background.

But now, nepotism and clan politics have begun to emerge, and are gradually spreading among the central, local, and even the military.

There is a high probability that the general's son will become a general in the future, and the son of the cabinet minister may also climb to the position of minister at some time. Even in some towns and villages in Qi State, even village chiefs and township chiefs have been able to monopolize grassroots organizations and political power for generations.

A sociologist once investigated an overseas governor's territory and found that among the more than 300 officials and staff serving in the governor's territory, at least a quarter had relatives who also held various positions in the governor's territory government. Among the more than thirty positions with local decision-making power, each person has at least two to three relatives holding government positions. Moreover, among these people, at least one-third of their positions were "inherited" or "gifted" from relatives.

During the rapid rise of Qi and the continuous expansion of territory and power, the industrial revolution was also advancing vigorously across the country, economic development was also advancing rapidly, and private wealth was rapidly accumulating.

In addition to spending a lot of effort to train the next generation so that they can enter local government or actively expand family businesses, this emerging wealthy class also began to intermarry and form alliances with each other in an attempt to control the economic and political lifelines of some regions. Over time, these emerging classes will form a community of interests, exclude outsiders from entering the local economic fields they control, and strive to create a closed monopoly interest circle.

They will jointly build a wide moat and enclose the local economic interests that "belong" to them in their own fortress. At the same time, people in the family will gradually enter the political system and become important political and business node figures locally and even in the central government.

If the level of power in the local area is higher and the economic strength of the family is deeper, a local clan will gradually form - a prototype of a deep-rooted clan similar to that of the Qin Kingdom in mainland China.

These new wealthy people may have been just refugees or people with poor settlements before. By chance, they immigrated to Qi State. With the rapid development and their own hard work, they obtained wealth or power. For this reason, they will "cherish" it especially and protect it with all their lives. , and then will be closely connected together to form an internal circulation system.

Even in some areas, in order to strengthen their control over the local economic lifeline and monopolize power, sometimes these new "clan" will try their best to influence the appointment of some local officials.

These new clan systems in Qi State rely on economic interests, blood relationships, marriages, classmates, etc. to form chains of interests. They also rely on banquets, gifts, and resource exchanges as lubricants to achieve the goal of "you among me, and you among me."

The country is getting stronger and stronger, the economy is developing better and better, and the snowball of wealth is getting bigger and bigger. However, some aristocratic families or clan forces have also begun to rise, making the space for ordinary people to rise smaller and smaller, and the class jump is also getting smaller and smaller. The harder it is.

In fact, whether it is a political clan or a new local clan force, they themselves know what they are doing and what impact it will have. However, political development and economic laws are not under the control of individuals and can only be determined along the lines of the family. Go with the trend.

Everything in the world follows the 28 rule. In a country, a province, or even a county, power and wealth are ultimately involuntarily controlled by a small number of people. This is a rule and a general trend. It cannot be said that one person must be greedy.

Because people always lack a sense of security, whether it is making money or holding power, they will never be satisfied. Officials will not be complacent with their current status, and businessmen will not stop at their current wealth.

It is human nature to win over Long and look forward to Shu, and it is "natural law" to plunder and monopolize everything. These are all uncontrollable, and it is the same in any country or region.

Whether it is a newly built immigrant country like Qi State, an ancient empire that is difficult to return to, or even the vulgar barbarians in Europe, Gai Mo is like this.

No matter how many times our society is torn down and rebuilt, and wealth is redistributed no matter how many times, aristocratic families and clans (or clan forces in disguise) will stand up again, going against the laws of history and social development, and turning politics or local economies into occlusion and stagnation. .

We must know that for a society to be dynamic, wealth must flow. However, if wealth is to flow, the 80/20 rule will inevitably occur and social differentiation will occur in the end.

Of course, the establishment of the State of Qi was almost a painting on a piece of white paper. Clan politics and clan power were only initially formed and slightly emerging. They have not yet formed a situation of monopolizing national power and local economy. The problem has not yet reached a critical stage. Seriously.

If this situation is allowed to develop and spread, and aristocratic families gradually grow stronger, and local clans become increasingly powerful, it will be nothing less than a disaster for the country and society, and it will become a trend that cannot be lost.

What's even worse is that once the aristocratic families and clan forces reach a large scale, it will be very difficult to deal with and control them, and it may cause fire and touch the foundation of the empire's rule.

You can imagine that when wealth stops flowing and social classes begin to solidify, the children of the rich will be rich from generation to generation, the children of officials will be officials from generation to generation, and the children of the poor will be poor from generation to generation, and they will combine power and power. Wealth is permanently concentrated in a small group of people in society, which will have terrible consequences for the entire society and the entire country.

This cycle has appeared repeatedly in Chinese history. As long as social wealth does not increase and ordinary people can reap fewer economic benefits, aristocratic families and clan forces will become the targets of dissatisfied people to vent their anger, triggering a new round of social revolution.

"So, His Majesty wants to attack our Bi family and use this opportunity to prepare to attack the noble families in the country?" Bi Wenrong's face was pale and she looked at the queen's calm face in disbelief.

"Your Majesty does not want to attack the Bi family for the time being, let alone attack a wealthy family." Queen Bi shook her head and said, "Your Majesty has only been on the throne for two years, so why would you do such a reckless thing?"

"Then what your Majesty means is..."

"As a relative, you need to know how to measure and measure. You need to know that if you are not upright, how can you be upright? Your Majesty controls the world at a young age. This is something that has not happened in the empire for decades. I don't know how many serious people have despised it. . The aristocratic families are gradually growing up, colluding with each other, and trying to monopolize power. How should your Majesty act in this situation? "

"..."

"What happened to my uncle is irreversible. If you are really worried about your niece, then there is no need to do anything to fight and let the law dictate."

"Your Majesty wants to use this incident to beat us, the Bi family, as a warning to other aristocratic families?" Bi Wenrong tightly grasped the corner of the skirt with her right hand and asked sadly.

"Since Emperor Taizong, whenever the throne has been consolidated, aristocratic families have been judicially liquidated for illegal things." Queen Bi looked at her aunt steadily, "Third aunt, think about it, the empire has been in the country for decades. In this year, are there still innocent families in the country?”

Aristocratic families, nobles, clans, which one has nothing behind them, and which one has no leverage?

In order to perpetuate the imperial power, which promising emperor would tolerate the monopoly of power by aristocratic families and then threaten the emperor?
We must start to manage things at the budding stage, beating and suppressing the family members.

Qi State has been avoiding and preventing the emergence of a revolving door in the cabinet and local politics and business, reducing the ability of the powerful and local rich, including their children and relatives, to easily enter the government.

They are also trying their best to prevent the rise of local clan forces, prevent them from taking over local political power, and prevent the emergence of local gentry agents.

The popularization of basic education, the multi-dimensional assessment for official promotion, the open recruitment of government servants, and the frequent attacks and splits on aristocratic families are all measures to consolidate imperial power and maintain a healthy political ecology in the empire.

After all, our Qi State is committed to building a great global empire, not an ancient dynasty that rises and falls.

(End of this chapter)