The film and television world begins with the battle for the throne in Kowloon

Chapter 766: Guanlong Nobles (I)

Li Shimin closed his eyes again and thought. It was not that Li Shimin was pretending, nor was he trying to be profound. It was just that he had discussed too many things with the prince today, and they were too profound. It was no less than fighting a tough battle for himself.

Coupled with the intimidating gaze just now, Li Shimin now felt that his energy was overdrawn, and a feeling of fatigue and sleepiness appeared in his head. Talking about these national affairs was really too exhausting and much more tiring than handling memorials to the emperor at ordinary times.

However, when he thought of his son in front of him, who was still full of energy and had bright eyes, Li Shimin couldn't help but smile bitterly. Young people are different. They are like a calf, full of energy and seem to have no idea what fatigue is.
In addition to physical fatigue, there is also a sense of powerlessness from within.

Li Shimin had to admit that he had learned a lot today. What the prince said made a lot of sense and left him no room for rebuttal. The history of the Han Dynasty was indeed different from that of other dynasties. Most of the other short-term dynasties only took the first step of the Han Dynasty.

This is the process of turning ore into iron as the prince mentioned, and most of them were only able to survive in a corner, and even Liu Bang had not yet achieved the unification of the world.

The Qin Dynasty, Cao Wei, Western Jin Dynasty, and Sui Dynasty, these short-lived unified dynasties, only took the first step and achieved formal unification. In fact, they were just scraps of copper and iron, containing a lot of impurities, far from fine steel.

As long as it undergoes a huge turbulence, it will collapse like a dead branch and rotten cotton, leaving only its shape!

When Li Shi thought of this, a deep-seated fatigue surged into his heart, and he felt infinite bitterness and unwillingness.

He had fought wars in the east and the west, captured cities and seized territories, and suppressed various rebel kings. He had risked the world's disapproval and forced his father to kill his brother. After thirteen years of painstaking efforts, he had only completed the first step.

Sure enough, it’s not that easy to conquer the country?

There are differences between different rivers and mountains. There is a huge difference between a river made of scrap copper and iron and a river made of fine steel.

The prince's perspective on things is really insightful and goes straight to the essence, which is different from that of ordinary people.

More importantly, Li Shimin felt from the bottom of his heart that the prince's insights reflected the true nature of the world, and that he was not a great scholar who had spent his entire life studying classics.

But now the court of the Tang Dynasty is full of talented people, such as Fang Xuanling, Du Ruhui, Zhangsun Wuji, Yu Shinan, Zhang Xuansu, Lu Deming, Kong Yingda, Yu Zhining, Li Baiyao, Du Zhenglun, Wei Zheng, Liu Li, Cen Wenben and other masters who are famous for their wisdom.

No one has ever expressed this view to me, let alone the prince's vision and perspective.

This made Li Shimin feel both lost and proud.

What made me disappointed was that I always thought those talented people were outstanding and stood out from the crowd, but the talent displayed by the prince was like an eagle soaring in the sky appearing in front of me, which greatly broadened my vision and perspective and allowed me to see a wider world.

Only then did I realize that what I thought was the world was just a small valley, and there was an even vaster world outside.

This is a difference in level.
At this time, Li Shimin even felt like a frog in a well, unable to see the ocean, dominating a small area of ​​water, and feeling complacent and self-satisfied for his tiny achievements.

Little did he know that the kingdom he was so proud of was nothing but a pile of scrap metal.

It is far from being comparable to the Han Dynasty. That empire, which he considered to be made of fine steel, only lasted for a mere four hundred years and almost changed color in the middle. So what kind of empire can last forever?

Or maybe there is no eternal kingdom at all.
When he thought of this, Li Shimin felt a deep sense of powerlessness. The world was too big and he was too small. Thinking of how he used to say that the Tang Dynasty would last forever, Li Shimin felt his face getting hot when he thought about it now.

Jane really doesn't know her place. She wants to live forever, but she should solve the problem of the past four hundred years first!
It has been four or five hundred years since the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, when the world was in chaos.

The chaotic and fragmented world lasted longer than the unified world. The world was in turmoil, with various forces taking turns to appear on the scene.

The emperor takes turns to sit on the throne, is it my turn today?
So many dynasties and emperors have passed, but there has never been another Han Dynasty. Now it is the turn of our own Tang Dynasty. How long can the Tang Dynasty last?

However, what made me different from those people was that I finally found the fundamental difference between the Han Dynasty and other dynasties. It turned out that although they were the same country, their qualities were different, just like the same people, some people had good health and could live to be 70 or 80 years old, while some people had poor health and died in their 10s or 20s.

A country, like a person, has different foundations, which determine how far it can go.

Thinking of this, Li Shimin broke out in a cold sweat.
Fortunately!

Fortunately, I discovered this problem early, found the cause of the problem, and found the key to the continuation of the dynasty, and I knew what to do in the future.

They will not be ignorant and blindly pursue the expansion of territory and temporary glory like before. They can learn from the founding monarchs of the Han Dynasty and repeatedly temper and forge their own Tang Dynasty. They can force out the impurities and forge iron into steel. Then, with such a talented prince taking over, they can temper the steel again and forge it into high-hardness fine steel, laying a solid foundation for the future of the Tang Dynasty.

Even if it cannot last forever, it must at least last longer than the 400 years of the Han Dynasty.
After a long while, Li Shimin opened his eyes, gave Li Yan a complicated look, and then said firmly: "Don't worry, father is still young. Whether it is the rebellion of the princes, the abuse of power by meritorious officials, or the interference of the harem in politics, there will be no problems. Father will leave an iron country to you."

Li Yan shook his head slowly, but he did not feel relieved. Instead, he looked worried.

"Why, is there anything you need to worry about?"

Li Shimin's face suddenly became serious. "As soon as I ascended the throne, I established a rule that the harem cannot interfere in government affairs. Neither your royal grandfather nor I have ever granted fiefs to princes. The princes only enjoy titles and salaries, but have no actual territory."

"Although the princes like Li Daozong, the Prince of Rencheng, and Li Xiaogong, the Prince of Hejian, are still in command of the army, it is because the world is not yet settled and we need them to restrain the foreign generals in the court. Once we defeat Jie Li and the world is settled, I will naturally let them retire."

"After the generals return to the court and the soldiers are dispersed, the problem of arrogant soldiers and fierce generals will be solved. What else are you worried about?"

"Father, I am not worried about them. They are just a minor illness."

Li Yan pondered for a while before slowly saying, "Even if the emperor doesn't care, with my talent, I can handle it calmly. What I am worried about is the chronic diseases of the aristocratic families in the court, the Five Surnames and Seven Families, and the Eight Great Families of Guanlong."

With a "bang", Li Shimin's face suddenly became extremely ugly, revealing a fierce murderous intent that he had never revealed before no matter how shocked he was. In an instant, his teeth were clenched, veins on his forehead popped out, his body became extremely tense, and the knuckles of his fists in his sleeves turned white.

The question raised by Li Yan is the core issue that has shrouded the Central Plains for hundreds of years during the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties. Compared with these nobles, neither the harem's meddling in politics nor the military generals' abuse of power are considered big problems, right?
The so-called five surnames and seven families are the Longxi Li family, the Zhaojun Li family, the Boling Cui family, the Qinghe Cui family, the Fanyang Lu family, the Xingyang Zheng family and the Taiyuan Wang family.

The Eight Great Families of Guanlong are the Longxi Li family, the Langya Wang family, the Chenjun Xie family, the Hongnong Yang family, the Lanling Xiao family, the Taiyuan Wang family, the Zhaojun Li family and the Qinghe Cui family.

They have a common name, the Guan Sui military aristocracy group.

The four generations of emperors of the Western Wei, Northern Zhou, Sui and Tang dynasties all came from the "Guanlong aristocratic group". These aristocratic families used surnames as their main symbol and blood ties as their bond. The family members were of the same blood, sharing life and death, and rising and falling together.

Li Yan's understanding of these people, which is a collection of information and opinions from later generations, is better than that of contemporary people.

Aristocratic families, noble families, aristocratic families, powerful families, etc. actually all have the same meaning. It is a collective term for family background and status. It is a name for a class that has existed for hundreds of years in history.

A freak produced for various reasons, a terrifying existence that possesses many special rights, is a deformed political ecology.

The politics of the aristocratic families originated in the Han Dynasty, reached its peak in the Wei and Jin Dynasties, began to decline during the Southern and Northern Dynasties, and finally disappeared completely in the late Tang and Five Dynasties, leaving the stage of history. They once deeply influenced the course of history for hundreds of years.

So it is said among the people that there have been no dynasties that have lasted for thousands of years in history, but there have been families that have lasted for thousands of years.

Originally, the gentry were prominent families with generations of officials. They studied and researched Confucianism for generations and had a reputation, history, and were highly respected.

The powerful landlords are local people who have accumulated huge wealth through business, farming or even through improper means, and then have a certain political status through legitimate or illegitimate means. They have economic strength, but their political status is not necessarily high.

Since the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, the gentry and the powerful gradually merged to become the well-known aristocratic families, and were officially born as a class.

With the confluence of central court officials and local forces, the proportion of officials from aristocratic families in the officialdom has been rising. During the Jian'an period of Emperor Xian of Han, they accounted for 29% of court officials, and reached a peak of 80.8% in the Eastern Jin Dynasty.

Throughout the entire Southern Dynasties, the proportion remained above half.

During the Sui and Tang dynasties, this proportion was still high, but the data showed a downward trend. It was 67% during the Sui Dynasty, 56% before the An-Shi Rebellion in the Tang Dynasty, and still above % after the An-Shi Rebellion.

Since then, the data has been rising abnormally year by year, even reaching more than 89% at one point, surpassing the peak of aristocratic politics in the Eastern Jin Dynasty, but the actual influence is no longer comparable.

A large part of the reason for the increase in data is that the central court of the Tang Dynasty was no longer able to send officials to local areas.

From the end of the Han Dynasty to the late Tang Dynasty, no matter how the dynasties changed, the aristocratic families remained standing, always able to continue to hold high positions and continue to be honored and respected in the new dynasties. If history is the history of emperors and generals, then these eight hundred years are the history of the aristocratic families.

(End of this chapter)