Thousand-year-old family: its rise began with Shang Yang’s reforms

Chapter 421 Prelude

Lu Nian's words silenced Wang Xianzhi and Xie Xuan. They looked at the group of people in the center of the venue who were trying their best to smile and could not tell whether they were men or women, with a look of confusion in their eyes.

In the center of the crowd, those who were dressed as women in order to attract the attention of these noble families seemed to have no shame, and continued dancing as if they did not hear Lu Nian's words or the laughter around them.

Lu Nian’s humiliation had not stopped yet.

He stood up directly, pointed to the center and shouted a name, then a man with a good-looking face stood up, he knelt on the ground with a flattering smile on his face.

"You will go find him tomorrow—"

As he spoke, Lu Nian pointed at someone sitting in the crowd, and then said to the person he was pointing at: "Give him a seventh-rank official position."

Seventh grade!

Everyone instantly looked at the man in the veil, with surprise instead of mockery on their faces.

Even the other dancers had looks of jealousy on their faces.

That’s the seventh grade!
"Thank you, Mr. Lu - thank you, Mr. Lu -"

Lu Nian turned his head, looked at Wang Xianzhi and Xie Xuan and asked, "Now, do you two nephews still want to give up the position of Da Zhong Zhengguan?"

Give up the position of Da Zhong Zheng Guan?
Everyone present was immediately shocked. Is there anyone in this world who is willing to give up the position of Da Zhong Zheng Guan?

For a while, there was a lot of discussion.

When the banquet finally ended, Wang Xianzhi and Xie Xuan walked on the long street, both with a look of confusion about the world on their faces.

After a long while, Wang Xianzhi finally gave a bitter smile and said, "Everyone says that the aristocratic families in Jiangnan are romantic. From what I see now, the romantic affairs of the aristocratic families in Kyoto are incomparable to ours."

"After all, we only trouble ourselves, while the romantic affairs of these Kyoto families trouble the whole world."

Xie Xuan's expression was equally calm. He looked at the moon in the sky from afar: "Yes."

"Is this the elegance of a noble family?"

He said silently: "The elegance of the family is based on countless sufferings."

"That man just now - even though Uncle Lu said he was well-read, I don't believe that he would do anything for the people of the world after becoming a seventh-rank county magistrate."

"He will only return all the humiliation he suffered today to the people. He will put himself in a high position and bully those who are not as good as them."

"They only bully the weak and fear the strong."

“And this is the beginning of the suffering of the people of the world.”

Wang Xianzhi was also silent. He just said calmly: "Perhaps this is why Your Majesty and Lord Chen must suppress the aristocratic families."

Yes.

This may be the reason why the emperor wants to suppress the aristocratic families.

The two looked at each other and sighed at the same time: "Then what should we do?"

Wang Xianzhi pressed his forehead and said, "Write a letter to your father. We have visited all the wealthy families in Kyoto these days, but not a single one is willing to listen to us."

"The aristocratic families have taken control of the five major Zhongzheng officials and all the minor Zhongzheng officials. This has exceeded the limits of your majesty's tolerance."

"Since we can no longer stand with these noble families, we will change our positions."

"Stand beside His Majesty and Lord Chen."

Xie Xuan nodded slightly: "See what father and the others think."

Under the dim night, an unknown man was recording everything that happened tonight, including the conversation between Wang and Xie. He recorded everything and then handed it to someone when he came here.

Qinzheng Hall
Zhang Wan looked a little surprised: "Oh?"

"Their purpose of coming to Kyoto is to persuade those noble families to give up their positions as Zhongzheng officials?"

After listening to the Taoist soldier's report, Zhang Wan was completely surprised. He did not expect that the Wang and Xie families had such awareness.

After smiling faintly and shaking his head, Zhang Wan sighed.

"I don't intend to wipe out all the noble families, so I'll leave Wang Xie a way out."

He looked at the Taoist priest beside him and said, "Go tell the Shangshutai Ling that the proposal of that matter should be put on later. Wait until Wang Xie makes a decision before bringing up the matter."

"I would like to see what choice the Wang and Xie families will make."

Jiangnan
When they saw the letters from the two children, both Wang Xizhi and Xie An sighed.

"okay."

Xie An looked at Wang Xizhi and said, "Yi Shao, we have done everything we can. Since they don't know whether to live or die and don't know when to stop, we don't need to worry about them anymore."

"The fewer noble families there are in this world, the better, right?"

"Only two of them, except for the Chen family, are already too many to stand above all other noble families."

Wang Xizhi also put the letter down with a sneer, then turned to look at Xie An: "Where do you think His Majesty will start?"

Xie An touched his chin and said, "To be honest, I really can't think of it, but Your Majesty and Chen should have been prepared. Chen's purpose of coming to Jiangnan is definitely not that simple."

"Have you ever seen the Chen family go to such great lengths because of a personal vendetta?"

Wang Xizhi wanted to say that he had seen it, but after thinking for a long time, he could not find any such thing in his memory, so he shook his head and said, "No."

Xie An sneered: "It's just a warning to scare the tiger."

"First, use the power of thunder to sweep across the Ye Clan and wake up some of the "people". It will be much easier to do things later."

He pointed to Kyoto in the distance and said, "Believe it or not, His Majesty in Kyoto is waiting for our reply. As soon as our reply arrives, His Majesty will immediately take out his "method"."

“We just need to cooperate then.”

Wang Xizhi smiled and said, "If that's the case, what should you and I be afraid of?"

"Just listen to your majesty."

This was not the "Wei and Jin" in history, it was not the "Eastern Jin" but the "Dayu". The power of the imperial court far exceeded that of all the aristocratic families combined. Even though the aristocratic families relied on Emperor "Muzong" and "relyed on transformation" in Dayu to become arrogant, they were still not as rampant as in the original history.

The Wang and Xie clans were the most "intelligent" families. They knew that their future depended on the court and the emperor's decision.

The seventh year of Jianwu. This was a most ordinary and common morning court session. There should not have been any record of it in history. It just passed by in a dull manner like every morning court session in the past.

But because of a simple proposal from the "Shangshu Tailing", this early dynasty could have a name in the history of the "Dayu" dynasty in later generations.

In the Jinluan Palace
Kuang Guangheng, the Minister of the Secretariat, requested the memorial.

Only two things were mentioned in the long memorial, but these two things shocked everyone.

The first thing is to revise the book.

This is not too surprising. After all, the current Shangshu Tailing was born in a poor family and had long wanted to compile a book for poor students so that people all over the world can study.

This also seems to be a good thing for the court.

Therefore, although the heads of the aristocratic families wanted to oppose, they did not have a good excuse, because in any prosperous era, the emperor would want to compile a book to commend his own achievements.

This has almost become a routine.

The second proposal was the "impassioned concerto" of this morning's court session.

The Minister of the Secretariat, Kuang Guangheng, said that the Secretariat had too many things piled up, and the reason for this was that the affairs of the Secretariat were too cumbersome and redundant. He requested the emperor to set up two other institutions to divide some of the affairs of the Secretariat.

All the noble families are against it.

Because the position of Shangshu Tailing was rotated among aristocratic families in the past, but the current emperor prefers poverty, so it was usurped by Kuang Guangheng. When they take back this position in the future, won't they have less power?

Lu Nian was standing in the crowd and wanted to object, but he saw Wang Xie and the other two standing there with unchanged expressions, and even looking secretly delighted.

He frowned and began to ponder.

Wang and Xie are also aristocratic families. Even if they want to give up their positions as Da Zhong Zheng Guan in order to preserve their wealth, they shouldn't be excited about something that has no benefit, right?

But why do the two young masters of Wang and Xie have such expressions now?
Is there something he doesn't know?
In the midst of twists and turns, Kuang Guangheng has been expounding on his own "concepts", such as splitting the current Shangshu Tai into three parts, which will handle three different affairs respectively.

The Director of the Secretariat and the heads of two other institutions are listed as the "Three Directors", and they are also ranked among the Three Dukes, which is the first rank.

Although the prime minister was the chief official of all the government officials, he no longer had direct command over the heads of these three institutions.

As he was speaking, a ray of light suddenly flashed across Lu Nian's mind.

The three agencies and three orders are no longer under the direct command of the prime minister.
A flash of lightning flashed through his mind, and he suddenly understood why Wang Xianzhi and Xie Xuan were so excited!

There is only one Shangshu Tailing, and only one head of an aristocratic family can sit in this position.

But what if there are three Shangshutai?

What if one Shangshu Tailing became three? Wouldn't that mean that three heads of noble families could take this position at the same time?

Then
When Lu Nian thought of this, he took a step forward. His voice was firm and his words were sonorous and powerful.

"Your Majesty, I second what Commander Kuang said!"

Lu Nian's words made everyone pause in surprise. Some people looked at Lu Nian and thought that he was still asleep. Why did he stand on the side of the emperor's running dog?
Was it wrong?

Lu Nian ignored the thoughts of the people around him and just said word by word: "Commander Kuang is willing to divide the power in his hands into three parts, set up three organizations, and set up three commanders. Such moral character is really admirable."

"Kuang Lingshou is devoted to Dayu. How can we hold Kuang Lingshou back? Hold your majesty back?"

This time, everyone heard what Lu Nian said, and they also understood the meaning. In an instant, everyone changed their previous thoughts and expressed their support for Kuang Guangheng.

Yes.

Everyone takes turns to be the chief commander, but with three chief commanders, it should be my turn, right?
Who has more power among the three commanders? Doesn't it depend on one's own ability?
All the heads of the noble families had a slightly "mysterious" smile on their faces at this time.

When they were thinking about this matter, they ignored the matter of "revising the book" that was first proposed by Kuang Guangheng, and they thought from the bottom of their hearts, isn't it just revising the book?
Even after the book was revised, the poor people would not be able to see much.

Even though paper books are very cheap now, they are still not affordable for farmers.

Unless the emperor has magical powers that can replace the "copying books" task and produce large quantities of books.

They looked at the emperor with sarcasm, thinking that he would definitely regret his actions today - because even if the power of the Secretariat was divided into three parts, it would not be the turn of those who could not read or write.

In this round, it is these aristocratic families who win in the end.

At the end of the seventh year of Jianwu, Wang Xianzhi and Xie Xuan came to the capital and told the emperor that their father was seriously ill and could not continue to serve as the "Da Zhong Zheng Guan". They were not talented and knowledgeable enough to do so, so they asked the emperor to find two Da Zhong Zheng Guan to replace them.

The emperor was very sad and found a candidate to replace Wang and Xie for the position of Da Zhong Zheng Guan within one day.

"Che Hong" and "Cao Meng".

One of these two men was from the "Cao family", yes, the same Cao family that produced an emperor, but now they have defected to the emperor; the other was from an ordinary commoner family.

From then on, among the nine Da Zhong Zheng officials, the emperor had "three" of them, and the remaining six were still from aristocratic families.

but.
The balance has begun to sway.

On the first day of the eighth year of Jianwu, the emperor announced that he agreed to the previous memorial of the Shangshu Tai Ling Kuang Guangheng, and decided to divide the Shangshu Tai into three parts, namely "Zhongshu Sheng", "Menxia Shu" and "Shangshu Tai".

The Secretariat had three chief officials, one chief and two deputy chiefs, namely the Minister of the Secretariat and the Left and Right Ministers of the Secretariat. The Ministry of Personnel also had three chief officials, namely the Minister of the Ministry of Personnel and the Left and Right Shizhong. The original Shangshu Tai still had the "Ministerial Secretariat Order", and also had the "Left and Right Pushe".

The above three institutions are collectively called the "Three Provinces", and the three heads are collectively called the "Three Commands".

The Three Lings, like the Three Dukes, were all set as "first-rank" official positions.

When the three institutions appeared, everyone was like hungry wolves, madly wanting to eat this piece of cake.

but.
The problem is coming.

The emperor issued an edict.

In the "Secretariat", the highest of the three ministries, the Minister of the Secretariat was "Xie An", and the Left and Right Secretariat Secretaries were "Chen Ze" and "Xie Xuan"; next was the Minister of the Palace Museum, "Wang Xizhi", the Left Vice-Chancellor was Wang Ningzhi, and the Right Vice-Chancellor was "An Xuan"; the Minister of the Secretariat was Kuang Guangheng, the Left Pushe was "Lu Nian", and the Right Pushe was "Chen Feng".

Among these people, except for An Xuan, whose origin is unknown but who is deeply favored by the emperor, which of the others can they touch?

Xie? Wang? Chen? Or Lu?

Thus, power was divided up cleanly.

Zhen Wang Mansion
Chen An looked at the two guests in front of him, both of whom had a slight smile on their faces.

"You two are rare guests."

(End of this chapter)