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Chapter 398: The streets of heaven trampled the bones of nobles, and the inner treasury burned to ashes! (History of the Tang Dynasty)
"Of course, even if Huang Chao had a strong army and entered Chang'an, these noble families would still look down on Huang Chao! Who are they? They are aristocratic families that have been passed down for thousands of years, and they have produced countless famous officials and celebrities. Huang Chao was just a private salt dealer, a lowly man. How can he compare with them?"

"Even if Huang Chao led his troops into Chang'an with a knife in his hand, the nobles in Chang'an are still not afraid. Does Huang Chao dare to kill them?"

Li Nian said: "Since ancient times, dynasties have changed, but they have always stood firm, because no matter which dynasty or who is the emperor, they have to use them to govern the world. Huang Chao, a salt merchant, luckily entered Chang'an, so what? Can he conquer the world and rule the world right away?"

"This lowly salt merchant had to bow his head and beg them in the end. This is why even though Emperor Xizong of Tang fled, there were still many nobles in Chang'an. They didn't think Huang Chao would dare to risk the world's condemnation and kill them!"

"So, the attitude of the noble families in Chang'an towards Huang Chao's entry into Chang'an could not be said to be very welcoming, but rather rather rather indifferent. After all, dynasties come and go, but noble families remain forever, and the world will eventually have to be governed by their people!"

"The nobles' idea is not wrong, because it has always been like this in the past. When dynasties change and times are turbulent, few people will take action against them, especially those who have ambitions to rule the country. They will not raise their knives against them, but will be polite to them, and then leave behind a good story of a monarch treating talented people well."

"However, the person they met was Huang Chao! Huang Chao must have thought about how to conquer and rule the world, but his failure in the imperial examination and his subsequent experiences made it difficult for Huang Chao to have a good impression of the nobles..."

"Back then, he failed the imperial examination and left Chang'an in frustration. The reason why he failed was not because he lacked talent or ability, but because of his poor family background. Even if he won the first place in the martial arts examination, the top spot would still go to the children of aristocratic families. It can be said that the nobles and officials blocked his path to the imperial examination!"

"So, Huang Chao was probably thinking of a way to rule the world without the help of noble nobles. He was going to overturn the chessboard of noble nobles and start a new game! In short, Huang Chao did not intend to rely on noble nobles like the emperors in the past!"

Li Nian said: "After entering Chang'an, Huang Chao did not immediately start a massacre of nobles and officials. His confidant Shang Rang even said to others: 'Huang Wang is not like the Tang family who do not care about their lives. Don't be afraid.' When the bandits saw poor people, they gave them gold and silk as compensation."

"But a few days later, Huang Chao's rebel army began to plunder Chang'an, tying up and beating people to extort money, calling it 'looting'. The rich were driven away barefoot, and the bandit chiefs hunted down the houses of the rich, raped the wives and daughters of the people, and executed all the officials they caught, burned houses and confiscated everything, and slaughtered all the royal family members and dukes without mercy."

"The evil deeds committed by Huang Chao's rebels are indisputable, but why did their attitude change from 'thieves seeing poor people, giving them gold and silk' to burning, killing, looting and committing all kinds of evil in just a few days?"

Meng Tian replied: "It should be that the nobles of Chang'an did not take Huang Chao's army seriously. Even though Huang Chao had entered Chang'an, they still regarded him as a thief and treated him coldly. They thought they had someone to rely on, but they did not expect to bring about a disaster that would kill them..."

Li Nian said: "Nine out of ten times, the nobles of Chang'an are waiting for Huang Chao to lower himself and visit them, so that they can play the role of 'I don't want to come out of retirement, but my lord is so sincere that I can only serve him'. But they didn't expect Huang Chao not to follow this ancient path!"

"But even at this time, when he had already started to kill and plunder the nobles of Chang'an, Huang Chao still did not bring down the knife hard, leaving room for mercy. It was not until December 13th of the first year of Guangming that Huang Chao officially proclaimed himself emperor, named the country Da Qi, and the reign title Jin Tong. He issued an edict to dismiss officials above the third rank of the Tang Dynasty, and to retain officials below the fourth rank."

Huang Chao did not intend to kill all the noble families and officials in Chang'an at the beginning, leaving them room to fight back.

After hearing this, the First Emperor and others already knew what would happen next. How could the noble families and officials be willing to acknowledge Huang Chao, a private salt dealer, as emperor? They certainly did not obey Huang Chao's edict.

"But when Huang Chao summoned Tang officials below the fourth rank, not a single one showed up!"

This is a complete disrespect to Huang Chao. They don't even treat Huang Chao as a human being. They are slapping Huang Chao in the face: We just look down on you, a private salt dealer. So what if you entered Chang'an, so what if you have many soldiers under your command, so what if you are the emperor, do you think anyone will support you? If you have the guts, just kill us! But if you dare to kill us, you will never be able to rule the world!
"Huang Chao was furious at the behavior of the nobles and ministers, and ordered a massive search for Tang officials. Tang prime ministers Dou Luhong, Cui Hang and others hid in Zhang Zhifang's house in Yongningli. Huang Chao sent people to attack their house and kill their entire family. Dou Luhong, Cui Hang and ministers Liu Ye, Pei Shen, Zhao Meng, Li Pu, Li Tang and others were all killed. The chief of the Ministry of Works Zheng Qi and the entire family of the palace official Zheng Xi hanged themselves out of fear. Huang Chao went on a killing spree in Chang'an!"

"When faced with Huang Chao's brutal and unreasonable butcher knife, these prominent nobles finally became like ordinary people. It turns out that they were also afraid of death and would die if their heads were chopped off. It turns out that they did not have one more life or one more head than ordinary people."

"It is said that Huang Chao killed people according to the "Clan Records". Among the twelve branches of the Boling Cui family in Chang'an, only three young children hid in the ditch and escaped death; the ancestral temple of the Fanyang Lu family was converted into a stable, and 300 male members of the family were hung on the city gate for public display..."

"Huang Chao killed people regardless of age, from the elderly in their eighties to the young children, all were hacked to death. These nobles who had been lingering for hundreds of years were reduced to dust at this moment!"

"'The prosperity of the past has all been buried, and there is nothing left. The inner treasury has been burned to ashes, and the streets are full of the bones of the nobles!' The nobles of the aristocratic families who were once noble and high above, under the butcher knife of Huang Chao, have become a pile of bones that would be stepped on in the streets. The inner treasury of the palace, which stored countless treasures and brocade, is nothing but ashes after a fire."

After hearing Li Nian recite "The inner treasury was burned to ashes, and the bones of the nobles were trampled on the streets", Qin Shi Huang and others recited it silently in their hearts.

This poem sounds very powerful and refreshing when recited. You high and mighty ministers have finally come to this day?

In the past, you have been trampling on us, thinking that we are lowly and inferior. When we were naked, you were wearing silk and satin. When we were hungry, you had the best food from the mountains and the sea, and you would not give us even a bit of your wine and meat, even if it had gone rotten.

You are now also being trampled into the mud, how does it feel to be stepped on by others? It turns out that without your origins, you are no different from us!

But to the noble families, this poem was full of sadness, representing that their glory was gone forever.

Wang Jian shook his head and said, "The inner treasury was burned to ashes, and the streets were trampled with bones of nobles. A thousand-year-old family was destroyed in one day!"

Li Nian looked at Wang Jian and said, "It is said that the Wang family of Langya and the Wang family of Taiyuan are both descendants of you, the old general..."

Wang Jian laughed and said, "Although they are my descendants, if they are destroyed because of their evil deeds, it means they deserve to be destroyed! Besides, I can't control my descendants hundreds or thousands of years later!"

Wang Ben did ask a question: "How to prevent the formation of aristocratic families?" Li Nian replied: "We can only delay the formation of aristocratic families, but it is impossible to completely prevent them. Even in the future generations that Li came from, it cannot be said that the existence of aristocratic families has been completely eliminated. Let's not talk about other things, but for some positions, this person must be there first, and then the position can be obtained. No matter how talented others are, they cannot get this position."

"Those with strong family backgrounds can tailor positions for their descendants. Under the special care of their elders, the descendants rise step by step and become senior executives in certain industries. For example, in the medical industry, even if someone has never studied medicine or is not proficient in medicine, as long as he wants to learn, his elders will arrange for him and set standards for him to learn."

"It would take others more than ten years, but he only needs a few years under the arrangement of his elders. No matter what his learning results are, he can be promoted quickly to the top of the medical profession, and even become the standard setter of the medical profession, regulating doctors all over the world."

"After they enter the upper echelons, they will continue to make plans for their descendants. If this continues, they will control the upper echelons of a certain industry. How can they not be a noble family? It's just that because the times are different, they will not be as arrogant and conspicuous as the noble families in ancient times. Such situations are not uncommon in later generations!"

After complaining for a while, Li Nian turned back to Wang Ben's question. He said, "For the current Qin Dynasty, if we want to consider delaying the emergence of aristocratic families, we can set up separate families. For example, General Wang's family has too many people, especially males. When the number reaches a certain level, they must be split up and relocated, which can be delayed. Another way is to popularize education so that more talents can emerge from the people..."

Wang Ben raised this question not on a whim, but he was really considering it, because looking at the current Qin Dynasty, it is people like them who may become aristocratic families. Moreover, in the history told by Li Nian, their Wang family really became aristocratic family.

His Majesty will certainly try to guard against the aristocratic families. Instead of waiting for His Majesty to notify them, he might as well propose it to Li Nian first. He does not want his descendants to become the subjects of the nobles who are trampled upon.

Li Nian added: "Regarding how to delay the aristocratic family, I will think about it carefully after I go back and then inform the general."

Wang Ben bowed to Li Nian, "Thank you, sir!"

Li Nian continued to talk about Huang Chao: "After this massacre, Huang Chao felt relieved, but he also lost the opportunity to seize the world. The aristocratic families are indeed not good, but at that time, their influence in the world was huge, and it was really difficult to avoid them in order to seize and govern the world."

"At that time, most of the people who could read and write came from aristocratic families, and Huang Chao had offended the nobles of the aristocratic families. Not only could he not recruit any talents, but his reputation was also spread by the aristocratic families. Huang Chao's failure was actually foreseeable, and it was only a matter of time."

"Huang Chao held out in Chang'an for nearly two and a half years. Although the Tang army attacked Chang'an once, they took it back. However, in April of the third year of Zhonghe, Huang Chao retreated from Chang'an and never returned."

Li Nian said: "When Huang Chao withdrew from Chang'an, he had been defeated in several battles. History records: 'Chao's battles were not favorable, his army was out of food, his subordinates did not obey his orders, and he was secretly planning to escape.' But even so, Huang Chao still had hundreds of thousands of troops under his command. After retreating from Chang'an, he led his army eastward, conquered Deng, Xu, Meng, Luo and other places, and then went east to Xu, Yan and dozens of other states."

"Historical records show that people were starving and dying on the walls and trenches. Huang Chao's army captured people for food, eating thousands of people every day. They also specially made 100 giant pestles to grind people's skin and bones into powder to serve as food."

When they heard that Huang Chao's army ate human flesh and even ground up human skin and bones to eat, Qin Shi Huang and others frowned, but after thinking about it for a while, they felt that this record was wrong.

Wang Wan said bluntly: "There are doubts about this history. First, how big would a pestle have to be to grind human skin and bones?"

Unless all those eaten by Huang Chao's army were children or babies, how big would a normal adult's body have to be in order to fit a person in and grind them up?

Wang Wan added: "Secondly, it would take a hundred pestles of this size to make one hundred of them, which would be time-consuming and labor-intensive. Thirdly, using one hundred pestles to grind human bodies would also be time-consuming and labor-intensive, and how many human bodies could be crushed in one day?"

This giant pestle can certainly be made, but it will take a lot of effort. Making one is good enough, but you have to make a hundred, and all of these hundred have to be used to crush people.

The later generations who wrote this history book must have made their own assumptions and wanted to deliberately exaggerate the cannibalism of Huang Chao's army, but because it was written so outrageously, it has become unreliable.

Wang Wan continued, "Fourthly, although Huang Chao's men were rebels in the eyes of the Tang Dynasty, they also committed crimes such as burning, killing, and looting, but cannibalism was different. How could Huang Chao's men accept it willingly? This must be because the historians of later generations hated Huang Chao and deliberately exaggerated his evil deeds to make him unbelievable!"

Historical books may be new in general, but if you look into the details, you will find that the ancient historians who wrote history did not tell the truth in everything. Sometimes they would exaggerate, such as when flags spread over hundreds of miles or when ships were so big that horses could run on them.

After Wang Wan finished speaking, Feng Quji said, "The fifth is that even if Huang Chao's army really made these 100 giant pestles, they would use them to crush people and eat them. But how did they crush people? Did they crush them with clothes on or without clothes? Did they crush them before washing or after washing?"

This was something Wang Wan had not expected, but it made sense if he thought about it carefully. If Huang Chao's army really used a giant pestle to grind people for food, did they grind them with their clothes on, or did they take off their clothes before grinding them? Did they wash them thoroughly?

Feng Quji continued, "You must know that there are nails and hair on the human body, and there are arrows and urine in the stomach. If you really use a giant pestle to crush a person and eat it, these will also be in it. Will Huang Chao's army really eat it like this?"

Feng Quji also made the same judgment as Wang Wan: "Just as Wang Xiang said, this must have been deliberately exaggerated by later historians to make others hate Huang Chao, but his words are full of mistakes and omissions."

After the two finished their analysis, Li Nian said, "It is probably true that Huang Chao's army cannibalized people, but it should not be so exaggerated. Who made Huang Chao kill nobles? He was also a traitor, so how can we not list his crimes?"

"For some people, nobles and officials are the ones they admire and miss. Huang Chao's treatment of nobles and officials is the worst thing in the world in their eyes. When they have the power to write history, they will naturally exaggerate Huang Chao's evil deeds."

This is the advantage of having the power of the pen, to discredit people you dislike in history books, to downplay their achievements and exaggerate their faults.

(End of this chapter)