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

Chapter 498 The way forward
Kyoto University?

Chen Yu and Chen Qi looked at each other and saw the excitement in each other's eyes. Chen Qi nodded: "Yes, this name is very good."

He sighed and said, "Your Majesty, have you ever considered establishing similar universities in other larger counties?"

Also set up such a university?
Li Shimin thought about it for a while and figured out the reason. He shook his head and looked at Chen Qi and said, "I have such an idea, but it is not allowed at this time."

There was a look of regret and helplessness on his face.

"I think Yi Guang should be able to understand this principle."

Chen Yu nodded, then sighed and said, "Yes, that's true."

He looked at Chen Qi and explained to his confused twenty-fourth uncle: "The purpose of establishing a university in Chang'an City is to establish a brand new faction to compete with Xianyang Academy and Imperial College. Kyoto University is in Kyoto and is easier to control."

Chen Yu had a mocking look on his face: "Based on the current situation, if universities are really established in other large counties, I'm afraid it won't be long before these universities become places for local county governors to make money."

"And it certainly won't be fair."

"Unless we have a better way - such as expanding the imperial examination system, expanding it, and expanding it again, until it reaches a certain level that allows all the people in Guizhou to participate."

"But the Tang Dynasty today cannot achieve this level."

After Chen Qi fell into deep thought, he sighed after a moment and pressed his forehead: "I am presumptuous."

Li Shimin looked at Chen Qi who was a little disappointed, and smiled and comforted him: "What's so presumptuous about this?"

"You just want all students in the world to be able to go to school."

He closed his eyes and said with some emotion in his voice: "I may not be able to do this in my lifetime. Even making sure that all the people in the world have enough food may be difficult to achieve."

"but"

Li Shimin smiled brightly: "But I can at least do one thing, that is to clear some obstacles for future Tang emperors, make their road ahead smoother, and enable them to better fulfill my wish."

This is Li Shimin's wish.

This was the "wish" he got from the Wansui Emperor's Miscellaneous when he read it in his childhood.

Li Shimin worked hard and struggled for this wish throughout his life.

He wants to finish.

Even if this wish is very difficult

The sixth year of Zhenguan
The land reform was also being carried out vigorously. Although this reform touched the interests of the landlord class, it did not reach the point where it could threaten their bottom line. Therefore, this land reform, or the process of "measuring the land", was also very simple and straightforward.

Almost everywhere you go, you can find abandoned fields that are difficult to count, and the feudal landlord class, mainly officials, have all "cut flesh and blood" and registered most of their land - this is the number after they gave up part of the land.

But even this number is frightening.

There are just too many
The task of measuring the land in the world began in the spring of the sixth year of Zhenguan and lasted until the winter of the ninth year of Zhenguan. By the time all the people who went to measure the land arrived in Chang'an City, it was already the spring of the tenth year of Zhenguan.

During these four years, all the land in the world was measured, most of the land was registered, and the tax revenue of the Tang Dynasty increased nearly three times from the original figure.

Yes, not 30%, but three times.

This is enough to show how much land these feudal landlords have hidden, and how much tax these lands can generate - in other words, from this increase, we can see how much blood these landlords and the bureaucratic class have sucked from the nine provinces of China.

These are the benefits that the common people should have been able to obtain. These should have been the guarantee for survival when disasters occurred, based on the "numbers" written in the memorials submitted.

Year after year.

When he saw this number for the first time, Li Shimin was furious and killed thirty-eight officials in succession in the court.

That happened in the eighth year of Zhenguan.

At that time, although the landlords were very scared and terrified, they felt that the emperor would not dare to kill them all easily. After all, if they were all killed, who would work for the emperor?
Are there so many people in the world?

But when the emperor really raised the butcher knife, they began to be afraid.

Until the blood was spilled in every corner of Chang'an City, when every inch of Chang'an City's land was stained with the blood of these landlords, their fear finally turned into terror.

then
Only when Li Shimin transferred some students from the Xianyang Academy, the Imperial College, and the newly established "Kyoto University" to fill the vacancies did they truly surrender.

You have to surrender.

It is very easy for students graduating from these three institutions to fill some not-so-important positions. They can easily complete those not-so-complicated tasks.

Some important positions were temporarily held by descendants of the Chen family, while other important positions were filled by officials who were trusted and capable by the emperor and who never participated in state affairs.

When the butcher's knife fell in the eighth year of Zhenguan, the heavy rain in summer washed away the blood in Chang'an City, but the court of the Tang Dynasty was still functioning perfectly.
Those great aristocratic families finally went from being submissive to being humble ants.

The first to be affected were the so-called "Five Surnames and Seven Aristocrats".

In Chen Zhan's memorial, he did not call some of the Five Surnames and Seven Aristocrats "aristocratic families", but called them "feudal landlords".

Yes.

That's their real name.
Feudal landlord!
Some of the big landlords among the Five Surnames and Seven Families were naturally not convinced. Even the so-called aristocratic families headed by the Cui family were confident enough to confront the Chen family. They asked the old patriarch of the Chen family - you said we are not an aristocratic family, then what is an aristocratic family?
Chen Zhan did not answer at that time.

These so-called aristocratic families thought that Chen Zhan was afraid, but they didn't know that it was not that Chen Zhan was afraid, but that Chen Zhan was too disdainful to answer such questions.

At the end of the eighth year of Zhenguan, these people got the answer.

In the eighth year of Zhenguan, the Tang Dynasty suffered the largest flood disaster in its history.

This disaster swept across Henan Province, Bashu Province, and the Two Lakes Province, almost affecting the three largest places in the world.

The sudden disaster plunged a large number of people into painful suffering, and the imperial treasury was far from being able to support the disasters that broke out in so many places at the same time.

Those so-called aristocratic families, who were actually feudal landlords, not only did not feel heartbroken about the disaster, but even seemed to be gloating over it. Cui Yun submitted a memorial in which he denounced Chen Zhan, the head of the Chen family, and the current emperor Li Shimin.

According to Cui Yun, there was a reason for the disaster that broke out this time, and that was because of the recent reforms by Chen Zhan and Li Shimin.

If it weren't for their reforms, how could they have caused the wrath of God?
This is a punishment from heaven. It is a punishment from God.

It was God who let Li Shimin and Chen take a good look at how they should proceed in the future.

Taiji Hall
Li Shimin looked gloomy. He did not believe in the so-called divine punishment that Cui Yun talked about. After all, he was a man who had read the miscellaneous talks of the Wansui Emperor. He had the most basic reverence for God, but he had no fear and no faith.

His only headache was how to comfort so many disaster victims and how to minimize casualties.

"Tap tap tap——"

There were hurried footsteps and Chen Ruohan walked in with a slight smile on his face.

"Your Majesty, the seven noble families of the Three Lius, Caos, Zhaos, Qins, and Zhangs have sent me a message, saying they are willing to use their greatest financial resources to help the court comfort the victims and keep them within a certain range."

These seven?
Li Shimin raised his eyebrows: "What do they want?"

In Li Shimin's view, these big families who were willing to make a move must have requirements. After all, he had been very strict with these big families in the past, and was even reluctant to have them serve as officials in the court.

But to Li Shimin's surprise, Chen Ruohan shook his head. He looked at Li Shimin and said, "Several family heads guessed that Your Majesty would ask this, but they all said that they didn't have any requirements."

"According to the words of Qin Chuan, the head of the Qin family, 'Although the Great Qin has been destroyed, it was still the emperor of the nine provinces of China. As the descendants of the First Emperor, it is the responsibility of the Qin family to comfort the refugees and enable the people to live in peace.' The other heads of the family also have this meaning."

"They all said that although their dynasty had already collapsed, if they took advantage of the disaster to make any demands, they were afraid that their ancestors in heaven would curse them in their dreams."

Listening to Chen Ruohan's words, Li Shimin sat there and sighed slowly.

"It is I. Yi."

Before he could finish his words, Chen Ruohan stopped him and said, "Your Majesty, as the ruler of a country and the father of the nine provinces of China, you naturally have a lot to consider, but weren't you ready just now to give in even if they make excessive demands so that they can appease the refugees?"

"Your Majesty is willing to sacrifice your own interests for the people, so why bother saying those two words?"

"Your Majesty will never be the kind of person described by those two words in your life."

The disaster in the eighth year of Zhenguan was successfully resolved with the help of the eight great families.

If it happened under normal circumstances, a disaster of this magnitude would be able to destroy a country, causing it to fall directly from its heyday and never get up again.

But this time.
According to the court's statistics, the casualties in the three provinces combined were only 100,000.

According to Chen's statistics, the casualties in the three provinces combined were only 200,000.

This is a number that shocked everyone.

Three provinces, such a horrific disaster, but only 200,000 casualties?

But Chen's statistics don't lie.

When people in later generations see this number, they will find it absurd, but they will still believe Chen.

In other words, they believe in history.

Because whether according to the records of local county annals or official historical records, the disaster in the eighth year of Zhenguan did not cause any impact. Those who needed to count the fields were still counting the fields, and those who needed to carry out reforms were still carrying out reforms.

The disaster victims in the three provinces did not even flee to other places in large numbers - because in the three provinces, these refugees were able to survive.

Who would be willing to leave their hometown if they could survive?

Most of the casualties were washed away by floods, infected with plague, or accidentally fell or died while fleeing.

Starved to death.
Only a very small part.

No one has ever counted how much the eight families paid, or how much food and money they contributed during this disaster.

But everyone knows that only this kind of "aristocratic family" can be considered an aristocratic family.

In the middle of the ninth year of Zhenguan, no matter how much the Five Surnames and Seven Families jumped up and down, they could not change their status in the eyes of the common people. They were no longer the so-called nobles, no longer the so-called wealthy families.

They can only be "feudal landlords".

A slightly rustic name.

After this disaster, the so-called family tree was rearranged.

At the front are still the Chen family, the Zhang family, and the six royal descendants known as the Three Emperors and Six Nobles, but the "Kong family" has been removed. The Kong family has been thrown into the ranks of "feudal landlords" because they did not take any action in this disaster.

Of course, this time the three emperors and six nobles became four emperors and seven nobles.

The Li family broke away from the Five Surnames and Seven Aristocrats and became one of the imperial surnames, which symbolized that the Tang Dynasty had finally gained a firm foothold.

In this family tree, the two families second only to these big families are actually the "Wang and Xie" families. They also extended a helping hand during the disaster. The reason was not because of the common people, but because one of their ancestors left behind an ancestral motto, saying that if they couldn't make a decision on important matters, they should follow the Chen family and do whatever the Chen family did.

This also became a big joke among the aristocratic families.

But the names of Wang and Xie are still popular.

From the Dayu of the past to the Tang Dynasty of today.

Like many surnames, it has been passed down to this day.

The tenth year of Zhenguan.

The land measurement of the whole world was successful.

Jiangnan
Wang Lin sat on the boat with a slightly sad smile on his face: "I really didn't expect that our two families could return to the top of the list of noble families."

Xie Dao sneered and said, "You are happy now. Why didn't you look so happy when you punched me and accused me of fooling around?"

Wang Lin chuckled, knowing that he was in the wrong, and said nothing, just clinking glasses.

Taiji Hall
Li Shimin looked at the memorial in his hand, and his expression suddenly relaxed. He looked at Chen Ruohan in front of him and said softly: "This is the future revolutionary path of the Tang Dynasty."

ps: It was censored before. I don’t understand, but I was shocked.jpg
(End of this chapter)