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Chapter 767: Guanlong Nobles (Part )

Let’s not talk about anything else, just take Xue Rengui, the tutor under Li Yan, who is from one of the six major surnames in Guanxi.

The ancestor of the Hedong Xue family was Xue Jian, a marquis of a thousand households who was granted the title of Qianhu by Emperor Gaozu of Han, Liu Bang.

Its later representative figures include Xue Guangde, the Imperial Censor during the reign of Emperor Yuan of the Han Dynasty, and Xue Lan, one of the "Eight Talents" in the early Three Kingdoms period. Xue Guangde was upright and educated his descendants with the "honor of hanging carriages", so the family branch gradually prospered.

At the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, Xue Lan's descendants followed Liu Bei into Shu. After the fall of Shu Han, they moved back to Hedong County and became local tyrants with their own family armed forces and fortifications.

From the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties to the Sui and Tang Dynasties, the Hedong Xue family developed from a local tyrant to a first-class aristocratic family with many civil and military officials. There were more than 300 officials above the fifth rank, more than 20 prince consorts, and more than 30 major family branches that were conferred the titles of duke or marquis.

The Hedong Xue family is a microcosm of the development of the scholar-official families, but such a family cannot be considered a first-class family and is not qualified to be ranked among the Five Surnames and Seven Famous Family. In the Guanlong military aristocratic group, it is just a respectful role.

And one can imagine how terrifying the strength of those core member families is.

In Li Yan's opinion, when a whale dies, all things come to life. The power and resources held by these aristocratic families are actually the power that should have belonged to the court.

It is precisely because there is no great dynasty to rule this area that it is like a forest without tigers. Various birds and beasts have divided up the tigers' power. After enjoying the treatment of local emperors, everyone no longer wants to have another father above their heads.

Therefore, every time when facing the Central Plains and a force is about to become strong enough to unify the world, these people will prevent the world from unifying by various means such as hindering others, collaborating with the enemy, and inviting invaders, because they know very well.

With the emergence of tigers, the next step must be to integrate power and eliminate separatist forces.

Throughout history, even during the Five Barbarians period, when the land of China was plunged into chaos, it was only the people at the bottom of society who suffered, while these aristocratic families were not affected at all and continued to live a rich life of fine clothes, delicious food, luxury and debauchery.

When China was sinking and most of the people were treated as two-legged sheep, struggling in a dark hell, it is hard to imagine how they managed to avoid the wild beasts that were running rampant in the Central Plains for hundreds of years.

Therefore, history cannot stand up to scrutiny. It is terrifying and chilling to think about it carefully.

From this perspective, we can see that a saying is often heard during the Three Kingdoms period: The people of the world have received great favor from the Han Dynasty!

It really makes sense.
Without comparison, you don’t know what happiness is. In Li Yan’s view, even if it is for personal ambition and power, as long as it can bring peace and tranquility to the people of the world after satisfying personal needs, it deserves respect and recognition.

Although those founding emperors of the unified countries did so for their own ambitions and the prosperity of their families, objectively speaking, they did shoulder the heavy burden of the rise and fall of the country. Opening up borders, building the Great Wall, marrying princesses, and resisting foreign races were all meritorious deeds.
Even Li Yan, after reading thousands of years of history, can only be thankful that it was in his genes that he survived the prosperous and peaceful times before being reborn as a human being. Otherwise, he really doesn't know how he would have survived those smelly periods one after another.

The reason why unification was achieved after hundreds of years of turmoil was that these families, after the brutal and rapid development during the era of land grabbing, began to enter a period of mutual annexation and devouring.

Finally, they formed groups to compete and formed the Guanlong nobles, Shandong nobles, and Jiangnan Chinese clans based on regional divisions.

This was manifested in the long-term struggle between the Western Wei and Northern Zhou, the Eastern Wei and Northern Qi, and the Southern Liang and Southern Chen. Finally, the Sui Dynasty, supported by the Guanlong nobles, unified the world.

This is why in the process of unifying the world, various forces are constantly changing their chairmen, but it has not affected the development of the entire force in the slightest.

The Western Wei Dynasty, which split from the Northern Wei Dynasty, became the Northern Zhou Dynasty, the Northern Zhou Dynasty became the Sui and Yang Dynasty, and the Sui and Yang Dynasty became the current Li Tang Dynasty. The chairman of the board has been changing all the time, but the company's market value has been steadily rising and its performance has not been affected at all.

Ultimately, the ownership of the company lies in the hands of the board of directors, not the chairman, so the replacement of the chairman does not affect the development of the company.

Knowing the terrible power and influence of this group, the two emperors Yang Jian and Yang Guang were committed to weakening the strength of this group, trying to nationalize the real power of the dynasty and turn the chairman into the real president boss.

Yang Jian was lucky. He won over the wealthy families in the south of the Yangtze River through marriage alliances, and then held imperial examinations to select talents from all over the country. He was like boiling a frog in warm water, and changed everything little by little through the method of division and disintegration. Therefore, he encountered less resistance.

But Yang Guang was too impatient. He launched drastic actions, mobilized the entire country to launch conquests, and confiscated property and exterminated clans. This caused a strong backlash from this group, causing the whole country to be in turmoil. In the end, he was driven to Jiangdong and lost his country.

The Li family took advantage of the situation and, under the pretext of safeguarding the interests of the Guanlong military aristocratic group, gained strong support from this group. In just five months, they launched an army from Jinyang, penetrated into Guanzhong, and established the Tang Dynasty.

In a few years, he pacified many rebel kings at the end of the Sui Dynasty, including Xue Ju, Liu Wuzhou, Wang Shiyun, Dou Jiande, and Xiao Xian, and took control of the country. It can be said that the current Tang Dynasty, although it is the world of the Li family, is better to say that it is the world of the Guanlong aristocratic group, and the Li family is just a spokesperson.

Li Yuan and Li Shimin could conquer anyone they wanted, which was like making the pie bigger and everyone could benefit, so they could get strong support from this group. However, if they dared to attack the Guanlong Group.

As a lesson from the past, the bloody Sui Dynasty is right there.

Li relied on this group to accomplish things, but he was also extremely wary of this group in his heart. But now Li and this group are almost one, with their blood mixed together and their bones connected, and they are also bound by this group.

They can only do small and cautious actions like Emperor Wen of Sui Dynasty, and dare not start a big war, otherwise they will be abandoned by this group.

Li Shimin was well aware of the seriousness of the situation. No matter how talented and ambitious he was, he dared to face his father Emperor Li Yuan and decisively execute his brothers Li Jiancheng and Li Yuanji, but he did not dare to take ruthless action against this group.

Originally, it was thought that Li Yan, a young boy who had just grown up, did not understand the "truth" of the world, but unexpectedly, Li Yan saw things so clearly. Li Shimin knew that no matter whether it was Fang Xuanling or Wei Zheng, even a close minister like Changsun Wuji, dared to talk about these things with the young prince.

Because this was too sensitive, Li Shimin had discussed everything with his ministers since the uprising in Jinyang, but rarely talked about the Guanlong nobles. Even after he ascended the throne, Li Shimin only had some private communication on this matter with Fang Xuanling in the entire court.

But Fang Xuanling, who had always been omnipotent, remained tight-lipped and extremely cautious when this matter was mentioned.

Li Shimin looked around unconsciously. Although he had been repeatedly told that no one was allowed outside, as an emperor, Li Shimin still felt insecure. He knew that the influence of this group was everywhere, even in the palace.

Your every move will not escape the control of those people.

Everything else could be discussed, but even on the eve of the Xuanwu Gate Incident, Li Shimin had not been so cautious. This was the only topic he did not dare to talk about casually, for fear that it would fall into the ears of those people and arouse their vigilance.

Although Li was originally a member of the Guanlong nobles, he had been standing on the opposite side of this group since the day he transformed his family into a country. Those people had excluded Li from their private gatherings.

In history, there was a saying that Wang and Ma shared the world in the Eastern Jin Dynasty. In fact, it is also the case that Li and Long share the Tang Dynasty now.

Thinking of this, Li Shimin felt a strong sense of powerlessness in his heart. He lowered his voice and said seriously: "This is not a question you should consider."

"No, father, in fact, you and I both know that this issue is the core issue of whether the Tang Dynasty can continue for a long time. The others are just superficial." Li Yan had no scruples. After talking about such a sensitive topic, he had already observed the surroundings and made sure it was safe.

Li Shimin knew this, and thinking of Li Yan's outstanding performance tonight, he did not scold him, but said bitterly: "You are still young, you don't know how powerful and terrifying these people are."

"Do you know that after the Xuanwu Gate Incident, your royal ancestor specifically told me that no matter how much trouble I make in the Li family, I should not easily touch the interests of this group, otherwise the Tang Dynasty will become the second Sui Dynasty."

"Father has racked his brains and pondered over this matter, but the only solution he could think of was to do what Emperor Wen of Sui did, by supporting the Shandong clans and wealthy families, and then increasing the number of imperial examinations to select talents, in order to gradually eliminate their influence, but he did not dare to easily touch their fundamental interests."

Li Yan knew that the existence of these people was the fundamental factor causing instability in the country. With these people around, the imperial power was dispersed among various families. Facing external threats, if he wanted to launch a war, he had to satisfy the interests of these people first, and then launch a foreign war.

The profits gained will be divided up among these aristocratic families immediately.

Over time, social wealth continued to concentrate and land resources were constantly merged. The royal family had to either take the initiative to participate in it and grab the largest piece to maintain its own advantage, or cut its own flesh and blood to make up for the shortfalls of the people of the world.

The former will lead the aristocratic families to the opposite side of the people, and will eventually be overthrown by the people who can no longer survive. At that time, the aristocratic families will also abandon the royal family, use the heads of the royal family to apologize to the people, and use the royal family's flesh and blood to temporarily appease the angry people.

Then a new family will be elected and the cycle will begin a new one.

A century-old dynasty, a thousand-year-old family!
It is precisely because of this factor that powerful and far-sighted families will not take the initiative to compete to be the nominal masters of the country when dynasties change, but will become the real rulers who rule behind the scenes.

(End of this chapter)