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

Chapter 521 What happens again and again

Many times, most things are a circle, especially history.

Everything that happens today can find a similar answer in history, and the answer is almost exactly the same. History is like a vicious circle, repeating the same thing over and over again.

People seem unable to escape from this vicious circle, nor to break free from it. They can only struggle in the water like drowning people.

The most prosperous time for a dynasty or a country is when it is just established. But when the classes in this country begin to solidify, all human figures seem to have turned into so-called puppets and began to perform the previous drama.

No place, no country, no dynasty can escape this.

This seems to have become a consensus among everyone.

Song Dynasty, the 30th year of Tianyuan.

Chen's mansion.

After the head of the Shangdang Zhao clan, that is, Zhao Kuangyin, became emperor, Zhao Kuangyin's branch actually separated from the Shangdang Zhao clan. Because the world needed a Shangdang Zhao clan standing in the middle team, the Shangdang Zhao clan still retained the meaning of its existence.

The current head of the Zhao family has nothing to do with the original Zhao Kuangyin's clan. They have actually become two families - of course, in name they still belong to another branch of the Shangdang Zhao family.

The current head of the Chen family walked out of the Chen mansion with a tired and helpless look on his face. Behind him, the current head of the Chen family, the King of Zhenguo, the Minister of the Central Secretariat, the Grand Secretary of the Fengtian Palace, and Chen Ke also sighed.

"Uncle Zhao, what you said is of great importance, and it is not something that can be decided in a short time, so I need to think about it for another three months. I will give you an answer in three months."

Zhao Cong cupped his hands. Although there was a look of disappointment on his face, he was still able to control it.

He said softly, "Your Majesty is now incompetent, and the people of the world can no longer bear it. The power in his hands is too great. Unless the Chen family takes action, we can't do anything to him."

Zhao Cong looked at Chen Ke and said, "Prime Minister Chen, the affairs of the world now all rest on your shoulders. I hope you will stop His Majesty for the sake of the people of this world."

Chen Ke agreed without changing his expression.

After Zhao Cong left, Chen Ke stood at the door of the mansion, looking into the distance, and finally sighed helplessly.

In fact, he knew something about the current situation in the court. Zhao Cong said that the current officials were incompetent, and in fact it was true. The Song Dynasty had lasted too long, so long that many things and many problems had piled up like a mountain. The current Song Dynasty was like a staggering mountain of meat, and every step it took would have a huge impact.

This also made it difficult for the Song Dynasty to make any decision easily.

But the problem is
Such a huge Song Dynasty has become a cancer. It is not that a cancer has appeared inside the Song Dynasty, but that the existence of the Song Dynasty has become an entire huge cancer. All things come together to hinder the progress of the Central Plains of China.

Chen Ke actually didn't think that the emperor was incompetent as Zhao Cong said. After all, the emperor was actually quite okay. He just acted a little willful at times, that was all.

The emperor had no way to deal with this vast empire.

This empire is simply too huge!
How big is this empire?

Let me put it this way, the Song Dynasty had developed a new type of train eighty years ago. Or it cannot be called a train, but it should be called a "high-speed rail". The speed of this train can reach 200 kilometers per hour under normal circumstances, and can even reach 300 kilometers per hour at high speed.

Airplanes have already been deployed throughout the Song Dynasty. Most provinces and county towns have an airport, so ordinary people can also take a plane if they are in a hurry.

In this case, even if you take the fastest high-speed train, it will take a full five days to reach the northernmost part of this huge empire from the southernmost part - please note that this is taking a high-speed train with a speed of 300 kilometers per hour.

A few years ago, the empire discovered an icy island in the center of the world, or in the northernmost part. The emperor of the empire personally named it the Arctic Island. It is the northernmost place of the Song Dynasty.

What about the southernmost part?
It is the southernmost polar ice island, named Antarctica.

The easternmost part of the empire is still the Fuso Island, but the westernmost part of the empire has expanded from Central Asia to the Mediterranean Sea. Several European empires have even been forced to flee further west and establish small countries of their own there.

A vast territory is a good thing most of the time, but it is not a good thing in some cases.

For example, such a large territory will inevitably lead to a certain degree of power expansion. The governor of each province is almost a small "king", and the central government has almost developed into the state of the Zhou Dynasty, but it still maintains the appearance of a huge empire.

This is one of the reasons why Chen Ke lamented that things in the world always repeat themselves - the people of the Central Plains and the Chen family have worked hard for more than a thousand years, nearly two thousand years, but in the end, they have strangely returned to the starting point.

Where does this make sense?

There is no place to seek justice, so it can only continue like this.

on the hill

A young man slowly stood up, with a confused and tired look on his face. He looked at the cow that had disappeared in the distance with a look of shock and panic on his face, and he began to be afraid.

His job is to herd cattle. Now the cattle are nowhere to be found. What else can he do?

On the northern grasslands, the young man who had moved here from the Central Plains was a little confused for a moment, but when he thought of his master's fierce life, he could only grit his teeth and run barefoot into the distance.

He wants to escape.

If I don't run away, will I still be able to survive?

There is no way out.

This cow can be sold for nearly 30,000 coins. Even if he sells the cow, a man who lost his parents at a young age and has no other relatives, he still can't afford to pay this money!

So he can only run.

While running away, the young man was even grateful. He was grateful that because of the vast grassland in Saibei Province, the imperial court did not install surveillance here, and the boss who took him in did not report him in order to save money.

There should even be no connection between them! At least that was the case when the court investigated.

Otherwise, given the current level of technological development, and the fact that one must take a train and scan an ID card to go anywhere, he would not be able to run far and would definitely be caught. He fled all the way to the relatively chaotic Jiaozhou area, from the northernmost end of this huge empire to the southernmost end, which was also his luck.

At least that's how he always was.

"Chongba, there will be chaos in Jiaozhou."

A middle-aged man walked up to Zhu Yuanzhang with a solemn look on his face. "It seems that because the imperial court has too much control over us, the governor of Jiaozhou Province wants to rebel."

"In this case, we are afraid..."

Zhu Yuanzhang frowned and sighed softly. In fact, he had already guessed and prepared for today's events. After all, the court had become more and more absurd over the years, and the territory of the vast empire was getting bigger and bigger, and the power in the hands of these military governors was also getting bigger and bigger.

People are always greedy, so it is completely predictable that the Jiedushi would want to rebel.

"Then let's get ready."

Zhu Yuanzhang in this world is no longer the poor man who fled to Jiaozhou province alone, but the largest "separatist force" in Jiaozhou province. Yes, he can actually be regarded as a separatist force, and a relatively powerful one - even the governor of Jiaozhou province did not dare to break off with him easily.

The middle-aged man, Xu Da, heard what Zhu Chongba said, and couldn't help but show a little joy on his face: "But are we going to prepare for that thing?"

Zhu Yuanzhang frowned slightly. In fact, he had not yet conceived the idea of ​​completely destroying the Song Empire and then ascending the throne himself. After all, his life was still good now.

Some people are extremely ambitious, while others, once they have a happier life, will not think about greedy things.

this is normal.

Zhu Yuanzhang was one of such people - what's more, he simply did not have the ambition to rebuild the world. The world today was still ruled by the orthodox Han people, and the people who ruled the world were still the orthodox Zhao family, and they were descendants of the First Emperor.

Although the lives of the common people were not very good, they were not too bad either.

Of course, what made Zhu Yuanzhang even more hesitant was Chen's statement many years ago. In the 30th year of Tianyuan, people from several other big families had approached the head of the Chen family, but the King Zhenguo did not make a clear statement, and the Song Dynasty royal family remained as stable as a rock.

Only five years have passed. Could Chen's attitude have changed so drastically?

If there were no earth-shaking changes, could their "rebellion" succeed?

Even if they succeed, what can they do if Chen doesn't support them?
A series of questions were placed before Zhu Yuanzhang.

But Zhu Chongba didn't think too much at this time. He just sighed lightly and said sadly: "That opportunity has not come yet. Let's wait a little longer. Now is not a good time to compete for hegemony. After all, the Song Dynasty royal family is still orthodox and has the support of the Chen family. Maybe the Chen family's attitude has changed, but before the Chen family expresses its position, we should not make any other moves."

Xu Da was somewhat unwilling. In his opinion, this was indeed the best opportunity. If they joined the Jiaozhou Jiedushi in raising an army, they could hide behind the scenes and continue their plans regardless of whether they would succeed or not.

However, he also knew what Zhu Yuanzhang was thinking, so he didn't say anything. He just nodded silently and went to make preparations.

The thirty-fifth year of Tianyuan, autumn.

Ling Yun, the governor of Jiaozhou Province, raised an army to rebel and called himself the King of Jiaozhou. He intended to overthrow the rule of the Song Dynasty and announced the establishment of a new country. In just three short months, Ling Yun led his army to capture most of the south and announced the establishment of a new country in the Jiangsu and Zhejiang areas, with "Hangzhou" as its capital. Therefore, Hangzhou also became Hangzhoujing.

Ling Yun named his country "Chu" and announced that he would change the era name to "Ba Wang". Therefore, the 35th year of Tianyuan is also called "the first year of Ba Wang".

The confrontation between the North and the South also began in this year.

When Ling Yun, the governor of Jiaozhou and now the Emperor of Chu, rebelled, Zhu Yuanzhang took most of his forces and moved to the southwest of the border between the north and the south, which was also the weak point of the power of the Great Chu and the Great Song.

After Ling Yun started his rebellion, the Song Dynasty reacted quickly and recruited troops to suppress it. However, because it was a domestic turmoil - and for unknown reasons, the Chen family did not express their stance on this rebellion. Even the head of the Chen family, the current King Chen Ke, stayed indoors. Therefore, Ling Yun's independence was declared a success in the winter of the thirty-fifth year.

As the news of the army's inability to defeat Ling Yun spread, more people began to prepare for rebellion.

The governor of Saibei Province, Chen Youliang, announced that he would rise up in arms. His slogan was also very simple. He said that the Song Dynasty court had abandoned Saibei Province in order to develop Chang'an, which led to the backwardness of Saibei Province.

After Chen Youliang announced his uprising, he also announced the establishment of a country, named "Han", which is known in history as "Chen Han".

In the northeastern province in the east, Liu Futong also rebelled and announced the establishment of a country named "Han", which is known in history as "Liu Han".

As the Song Empire was in turmoil, some foreign forces began to stir and even prepared their own actions. For example, some countries in Central Asia and Europe began to conspire and wanted to intervene at this time.

After all, the Song Empire has occupied the top of the world for too long. Too long.

The world has been oppressed by the Song Empire for too long!

To give a very simple example, the oil resources in Central Asia - with the development of time, the technology of various countries has slowly advanced, and has progressed to the stage of using internal combustion engines. Oil has become the most important resource in the world.

However, whether it is the oil on the Shang Dynasty continent or the oil in Central Asia, they are all firmly controlled by the Song Empire. If other countries want to use them - including the countries in Central Asia, they need to purchase them from the Song Empire.

And this price.
All we can say is that this is a price that these countries are unwilling to accept, but cannot help but accept; they want to resist, but they don't have much reason to resist.

Whether they are willing to accept it or not, this behavior has been going on for nearly five hundred years.

From the Tang Dynasty to the present Song Dynasty
Chen's Mansion
Chen Ke looked at the chessboard in front of him with a slightly gentle look on his face.

The game of chess has finally come to an end, and it is finally time for the final game on the chessboard.

he thinks.

The time has finally come.

(End of this chapter)