The Fierce Teacher of Zhenguan: Starting with Teaching the Crown Prince to Make a Comeback

Chapter 147 Or... all bark and no bite?
"Endless corvée labor and wars damage the fundamental interests of all powerful families who depend on the land and a stable environment."

"When the core group supporting the Sui Dynasty realized that this emperor no longer represented their interests, but instead became the greatest threat to their interests, their choice was no longer to maintain the dynasty, but..."

“Abandon it, or even... overthrow it and replace it with a proxy that better represents their interests.”

Li Chengqian felt a dry mouth and asked in a hoarse voice.

"So... the so-called widespread rebellion, with figures like Wagang and Dou Jiande, might just be a minor ailment. The real, fatal blow comes from... within?"

“Exactly!” Li Yichen said emphatically.

"Your Highness may wish to ponder this carefully: where did the people who ultimately laid the foundation for our Great Tang Dynasty, Emperor Gaozu, and many meritorious officials in the court, such as Pei Ji, Liu Hongji, and Changsun Wuji, come from?"

"Where did they hold positions before?"

Guanzhong! It's still Guanzhong!

His grandfather, Li Yuan, the Duke of Tang, was himself one of the top powerful clans in the Guanlong Group!

The uprising in Taiyuan received widespread support from the former Guanzhong region!

"So that's how it is!"

Li Chengqian's voice carried a hint of coldness.

"Emperor Yang was not defeated by bandits; he was defeated by... the very foundation upon which he depended for survival! When he tried to shake that foundation, that foundation... brought him to his end!"

He felt no sympathy for Emperor Yang of Sui whatsoever; on the contrary, he became even more wary.

How foolish it is for an emperor to not even be able to control his own foundation, or even to push it to the opposite side!

For the first time, he realized so clearly that so-called imperial power was not something that hung in isolation in the heavens.

It needs powerful military force as its blade, a massive bureaucratic system as its framework, and one or more core interest groups as the soil in which it takes root.

The tragedy of Emperor Yang of Sui was that he saw the hardening and flaws of the soil, wanted to clean it up and start cultivating it anew, but he overdid it.

Not only did it fail to cultivate new fertile ground, but it also completely destroyed the old foundation, ultimately leading to the collapse of the imperial edifice.

His father, the emperor, had a profound understanding of this point. In the chaos at the end of the Sui Dynasty, he skillfully integrated the power of the Guanlong Group and timely absorbed scholars from Shandong and Jiangnan, which ultimately laid the foundation for the Tang Dynasty.

"Student... I seem to understand a little. Governing a country is not simply about the relationship between ruler and subject, father and son. There are rules that govern it, and there is a power struggle between them."

Li Chengqian murmured, then a look of confusion and inquiry flashed in his eyes as he looked at Li Yichen.

"Sir, according to this logic, does the evaluation of the Sui Dynasty in the 'History of the Sui Dynasty'... is it because of its defeat and demise that it is largely denigrated?"

If it succeeds, will historical records be drastically different?

Upon hearing this, Li Yichen slowly and firmly shook his head, his expression becoming unusually serious, even carrying a hint of coldness.

"Your Highness, this is wrong!"

His voice was clear and powerful.

"The infamy of Emperor Yang of Sui was not merely due to the slander of the victors or the misunderstanding of the world."

"His tarnished reputation is well-deserved and entirely his own fault! His personal misconduct and mismanagement are the most direct and undeniable reasons for the rapid collapse of the empire!"

Li Chengqian nodded slightly, this was exactly what he had in mind, and pressed on, "Is he... completely useless?"

"I am not saying that it is entirely without merit."

Li Yichen's gaze was piercing as he stared directly at Li Chengqian, as if he wanted to burn away any dangerous "sympathy" that might have been in Li Chengqian's mind.

"Emperor Yang's intelligence, erudition, courage, and even his ambition to connect the north and south and unify the map were indeed beyond the reach of ordinary people."

"However, these achievements are insignificant compared to the enormous disasters they brought about, and the cruelty of their implementation turned some good policies into monstrous consequences."

"Your Highness, I will attempt to summarize Emperor Yang's fatal failures, which number at least five!"

"First, they are ambitious and eager for quick success, disregarding costs and exhausting the people's resources!"

Li Yichen held up one finger, his tone heavy.

"The construction of Luoyang, the eastern capital, was completed in ten months, employing millions of laborers, of whom four or five out of ten died!"

"The canal was dug to connect the north and south, but millions of able-bodied men were conscripted. There were not enough men, so women were also forced into service! Four or five out of ten of the conscripts died. This is well documented in historical records. Is it an exaggeration?"

"Your Majesty often takes Emperor Yang as a warning, saying, 'The ruler is the boat; the people are the water. Water can carry a boat, but it can also capsize it.' Emperor Yang's actions were tantamount to personally cutting off the water that could carry the boat!"

Li Chengqian's mind conjured up images of corpses filling ditches and women and children weeping as they bid farewell to their homes. Compared to the suffering of the disaster victims in Shandong, his disgust for Emperor Yang of Sui deepened.

"Secondly, they exhausted their military resources and launched three campaigns against Goguryeo without regard for the well-being of their soldiers!"

The second finger extends.

"If the first expedition had some strategic considerations, the subsequent two were somewhat driven by stubbornness, willfulness, and willful actions!"

"More than a million soldiers were mobilized, and the number of civilian laborers was doubled. What was the result? A defeat at the Battle of Sa River. Of the 350,000 troops, only 2,700 escaped!"

"The second and third conscriptions either ended in failure or were halted due to internal strife. Each conscription was a devastating blow to the livelihoods of people in Hebei, Shandong, and other regions!"

"What Your Highness saw in Shandong was merely the desolation after the locust plague, but under Emperor Yang's rule at that time, man-made disasters were worse than natural disasters, and for thousands of miles there was not a rooster crowing!"

Li Yichen's voice carried a cold, penetrating quality.

Thirdly, he was arrogant, extravagant, and dissolute, and his travels were excessive!

As he spoke, he extended a third finger.

"The dragon boats toured Jiangdu to the south, with their ships stretching for more than two hundred li. Every prefecture and county they passed through within five hundred li was ordered to offer food, which included the most rare and exotic delicacies from land and sea!"

"Those who cannot finish their food are buried alive! To build dragon boats and ceremonial guards, 'three or four out of ten laborers and craftsmen died'! He did not pursue the majesty of an emperor, but rather the ultimate personal enjoyment and pomp, regarding the people's hard-earned money as dust!"

Fourth, he rejected advice and covered up his mistakes, favoring petty people and distancing himself from virtuous ministers!

Li Yichen extended his fourth finger.

"Gao Jiong and He Ruobi, founding fathers and important ministers of the state, were executed simply for offering their advice! Yu Shiji, Pei Yun, and other treacherous officials, trying to guess the emperor's intentions, concealed the disasters and peasant uprisings, causing Emperor Yang to become deaf and blind, living in the deep palace, yet still believing that the world was at peace!"

"How can an emperor who cannot hear the truth not head towards destruction?"

Fifthly, he is suspicious, mean-spirited, and ungrateful!

As he extended the last finger, Li Yichen's tone carried a warning.

"He treats his subjects this way, and he treats his own flesh and blood the same way! Your Highness should know how he obtained the throne. After ascending the throne, he has been wary of and persecuted his brothers and nephews. With such a character, how can he expect his subjects to be loyal?"

"How could this not chill the hearts of his supporters? In the end, he was betrayed by everyone, died, and his country was destroyed. Was this a coincidence?"

These words, like a sudden storm, laid bare the corruption and cruelty beneath Emperor Yang of Sui's glamorous exterior. Li Chengqian listened with a grave expression, his dislike for Emperor Yang of Sui growing even stronger, bordering on a deep aversion.

An emperor who could act so recklessly and treat the common people as worthless is a great scourge to the country.

“What you say, sir, is like a knife to the heart. Emperor Yang’s downfall was truly… self-inflicted, and he could not escape punishment.”

"Your Highness's understanding of this matter is of utmost virtue."

Li Yichen's expression softened slightly, but his tone remained serious.

"Now, we can return to a more fundamental question: the demise of a large dynasty is often caused by multiple layers and complex factors. We need to distinguish between its deep-seated causes, superficial causes, and direct causes."

He held up three fingers and explained them one by one.

"The underlying reason, as I just mentioned, is that Emperor Yang's radical reforms, which were eager to break the monopoly of the Guanlong Group and attempt to establish absolute imperial power, touched the foundation of his rule, leading to the centrifugal force and backlash from the core interest groups."

"This is a shaking of the foundation, a fundamental prerequisite for the downfall of a dynasty."

"The superficial reason is that its series of tyrannical policies—endless corvée labor, war, and extravagance—led to unrest throughout the land, poverty of the people, and uproar across the world."

"This is like applying tremendous force to an already shaken foundation, causing the contradictions to intensify to an unprecedented degree and public resentment to accumulate to a critical point. This is a complete collapse of the social foundation."

“And the direct cause,” Li Yichen said sharply.

"When popular uprisings have spread like wildfire, and the ruling group also believes that the emperor can no longer protect their interests or even threaten their survival, they choose to abandon the old master and support a new one."

"At this moment, military mutiny and political betrayal combined to deliver the final fatal blow to the Sui Dynasty."

Li Yichen concluded: "Therefore, when I said earlier that 'Emperor Yang of Sui was too hasty,' I was referring to the deeper reasons. He may have seen the problems in his strategic direction, but his tactical execution was a complete failure."

"His personal misconduct and misrule were both the superficial cause and the fuse that ignited the immediate cause. These factors were interconnected and indispensable, and together they led to the rapid demise of the Sui Dynasty."

"If there were only deep-seated contradictions, but no perverse actions by Emperor Yang, the empire might have survived."

"But when all three come together, it means that fate has run its course and there is no way to reverse it."

Li Chengqian remained silent for a long time, sitting on a large rock, his gaze fixed on the desolate fields in the distance, his heart churning like a stormy sea.

He understood that governing a country requires not only seeing the deep power structure, but also being constantly vigilant about one's own words and actions to avoid becoming the tyrant who ignites all the fuses.

Balance, patience, restraint, and... reverence for the power of the people and listening to advice are all indispensable.

"The gentleman analyzed Emperor Yang of Sui and said that the key to his downfall was that he angered the core foundation of the Guanlong Group and suffered a backlash from it."

"So, according to this logic, when our Great Tang Dynasty was founded, the Guanzhong nobles were still the pillars of the court, and the powerful families of Shandong and Jiangnan were also deeply entrenched."

"These powerful families, seemingly numerous and influential, can influence the court and even... the succession of the throne."

"However, the students' personal experience in Shandong, cutting off their henchmen and breaking their alliance, although their reaction was fierce, could not truly stop the students from carrying out disaster relief and rectifying officialdom."

"They seem... yet they are not invincible."

Li Chengqian's brows were furrowed, revealing his inner conflict and contemplation.

"What is the true extent of the influence and destructive power of these powerful families? Are they truly giants capable of overthrowing dynasties, or... outwardly strong but inwardly weak?"

"I am truly confused, please enlighten me, sir."

Upon hearing this, Li Yichen smiled approvingly.

This is exactly the direction he wants to guide the discussion.

"Your Highness's question gets straight to the point."

Li Yichen spoke slowly, his voice steady.

"Powerful families are not simply giants or outwardly strong but inwardly weak."

"Its power is real and undeniable, but its weaknesses are equally fatal. It needs to be analyzed carefully from multiple perspectives."

"First of all, we must acknowledge that its influence and destructive power are, in some respects, very real."

Li Yichen began to systematically expound on his knowledge of historical perspectives, integrating them into the context of this era.

"Firstly, they have a strong economic foundation. Through hundreds of years of land annexation, they have controlled a large number of estates, tenants, and the benefits of mountains, forests, rivers and lakes."

“It is no exaggeration to say that families like the Cui, Lu, Li, and Zheng families in Shandong had ‘hundreds of households sharing one household and thousands of people sharing one household registration.’”

"The imperial court's taxes and corvée labor largely depend on them for collection. If they obstruct the process, either by concealing household registrations or shifting the burden of taxes, the national treasury will inevitably suffer."

"The reason why they were able to control grain prices in a short period of time during this disaster relief effort in Shandong lies in this."

Li Chengqian nodded slightly; he had already experienced this firsthand in Yanzhou.

"Secondly, their political influence was deeply entrenched. Since the Wei and Jin dynasties, the Nine-Rank System had ensured that 'the upper ranks had no commoners, and the lower ranks had no nobles,' allowing sons of high-ranking families to 'advance smoothly and rise to high positions.'"

"Although this dynasty has opened the imperial examination system to break the monopoly, the children of aristocratic families, relying on their accumulated family learning, connections, and reputation, still find it far easier and faster to enter officialdom and rise through the ranks than those from humble backgrounds."

"His protégés and former officials are spread throughout the various departments of the court and the local prefectures and counties, forming an invisible yet resilient network of relationships."

“If the implementation of a policy touches upon its fundamental interests, this network will generate resistance, either overtly or covertly. Your Highness should have experienced this when you were in Chang'an.”

Li Chengqian snorted coldly, recalling the officials who cheered for the Prince of Wei or criticized his behavior, many of whom came from aristocratic families.

"Thirdly, they wield significant cultural influence. They monopolize the interpretation of classical texts, dominate public discourse and critique, and control the direction of public opinion. Surnames like 'Cui, Lu, Li, and Zheng' are, in many people's minds, symbols of nobility and orthodoxy."

"They can shape or even damage a person's reputation, and even influence the emperor's opinion, through writing books and commenting on people. This soft power is sometimes sharper than swords."

Li Yichen paused, giving the Crown Prince time to process the information, before abruptly changing his tone and becoming more penetrating.

"However, Your Highness, these seemingly powerful forces are already beginning to falter in the world today, especially in the Zhenguan era founded by Your Majesty, and their 'paper tiger' nature is being exposed more and more daily!"

Li Chengqian's spirits lifted, and his body unconsciously leaned forward.
"Sir, please speak quickly!"

"Firstly, the stripping away of military power is its greatest weakness!"

Li Yichen hit the nail on the head.
“In previous dynasties and earlier periods, powerful families often possessed a large number of private troops and soldiers, forming a semi-independent military force.”

"However, since the Western Wei and Northern Zhou dynasties implemented the Fubing system, and especially since His Majesty of this dynasty further improved the Fubing system, military power has been highly concentrated in the central government and in the hands of the emperor."

"Powerful clans can no longer rely on their private armies to contend with the imperial court as they once did. They no longer have the military power to overturn the table!"

"This is the fundamental reason why they ultimately chose to compromise and cut their losses in the face of His Highness's dominance in Shandong!"

A sharp glint flashed in Li Chengqian's eyes!
Yes!

(End of this chapter)