Control your ancestors and create an immortal family starting from the Eastern Han Dynasty

Chapter 257 The Confucian Scholars Force the Emperor to Reign, and the Land Survey Establishes the Dynasty (Please Subscribe)
The whole world was in an uproar.

Even Gu Yi had never witnessed this scene in the course of thousands of years.

Whether in the imperial court or in remote places.

Almost everyone focused their attention on "corn".

This represents the interests of everyone.

The common people care, and the powerful clans care even more.

This applies to all independent forces as well.

Although they suppressed the people's praise of the Gu family, their interest in this "corn" was far greater than they had imagined.

Especially the Liao Dynasty.

Their arable land area was the largest among all nations, and their overall system was based on agriculture.

The help this corn provided to them was self-evident!

But again -

In this day and age, it is simply impossible for anyone other than the Gu family to bring back such a thing from overseas.

The Gu family was able to succeed.

It's all the result of generations of people forging ahead.

However, none of this guarantees success, so how could others possibly catch up?

That's simply impossible.

But it is precisely because of this that the importance of corn is amplified.

Clearly, Gu Jin understood this as well.

Therefore, we must be much more rigorous in this promotion.

—In fact, everyone in the world is hoping that the Gu family can directly share this crop.

Many people are involved.

The common people have simple aspirations, but when these aspirations are elevated to the level of certain interest groups, the implications become far more complex.

Even Gu Yi sensed a sense of moral blackmail.

They were all using high-sounding words like "righteousness for the world" and "benevolence and love for others" to force Gu Jin to quickly distribute the corn seeds to the world free of charge.

The most prominent of these is the Confucian school, which is gradually gaining power today.

That's right, it's the interest group headed by the Kong family.

In fact, current history has changed far too much from the original history. The resurgence of the Hundred Schools of Thought had already destined the gradual decline of Confucianism, which had a great impact on a series of related interest groups.

This includes the emergence of the Gu family.

In fact, from the very beginning, the status of the Confucius family had already been eliminated without anyone noticing.

It is important to know that in the original history...

Regardless of the past, let's take the Song Dynasty as an example.

Since Emperor Taizu of Song, Zhao Kuangyin, released his generals from their military power over a cup of wine and established the national policy of governing the country together with scholar-officials, Confucianism ushered in an unprecedented golden age.

During the reign of Emperor Taizong, scholars almost exclusively revered Confucius and Mencius.

The Duke Yansheng's Mansion, having been posthumously granted land by emperors throughout history, held an unparalleled and prestigious position.

At the height of its power, scholars throughout the land regarded the Confucian school as their standard, and eight or nine out of ten civil officials in the court came from Confucian schools or had close ties with them.

This brings not only a monopoly on the right to speak, but also substantial and astonishing benefits.

Under these circumstances, the Confucius Mansion in Qufu is no longer just a place for passing down poetry and etiquette, but a behemoth occupying the land of Qilu.

According to the old system—

The Confucius Mansion possessed vast sacrificial lands and school lands, and enjoyed the privilege of exemption from corvée labor and taxes.

Through this, the Kong family, along with their collateral branches and disciples, engaged in a shocking act of land annexation.

Historical records indicate that at its peak, its land holdings spanned across prefectures and counties, reaching a staggering million acres, and it provided shelter for tens of thousands of tenants and servants.

Where did these lands come from?

They resorted to all sorts of tricks and coercion, including annexation and consolidation.

Ordinary families, due to natural disasters or harsh labor, had no choice but to "donate" their land to the Confucius family. They were called tenant farmers, but in reality, they were private slaves who were exploited by the family for generations.

The Confucius Mansion was a self-contained entity, difficult to penetrate by law, and local officials dared not interfere, thus making it "a state within a state."

Countless people were deprived of their land, their means of survival, and toiled year after year, yet they were starving and poorly clothed, while the granaries of the Confucius Mansion were piled high like mountains.

His actions have long since deviated from the teachings of sages on "benevolent governance and love for the people," leaving behind only the name of "descendant of sages" while actually harming the people.

Just like the Gu family today.

However, unlike the Gu family, which insisted on putting the people first, the Confucius family did not.

This essentially meant that the Confucius family could never reach the peak of the original history again, although their status was still extraordinary.

But all of this changed with the resurgence of the Hundred Schools of Thought.

The Lie school absorbed the essence of Confucianism, making up for its weaknesses and incorporating the scientific theories promoted by the Gu Academy.

This resulted in scholars having no single choice, and the intellectual resources available to rulers for governing the country became unprecedentedly abundant.

The Confucian discourse system of "the Mandate of Heaven" and "I am the only one who is supreme" has faced unprecedented challenges and doubts. Its influence has been gradually squeezed out from the central government, its voice is not as strong as before, and the benefits it can seize have naturally decreased sharply.

In fact, the Kong family was largely helpless about this matter.

They certainly tried to resist.

But in the end, it was useless.

Even setting aside the present, in the original history, at the peak of the Kong family, they simply could not withstand a family of the Gu family's caliber.

They simply didn't have the guts to compete with the Gu family.

This also led to many changes, namely that the Kong family focused more on local affairs.

This also meant that they would focus their attention on corn.

But these people naturally wouldn't openly say anything to Gu Jin; they simply joined forces to put on a show of caring for the world.

Even the members of the Confucius family wrote a proclamation and circulated it throughout the land.

"We humbly acknowledge the grace of Heaven and the bounty of the land, which nurtures all people. We now hear that the Gu family has acquired a precious grain from overseas, named 'corn,' a sign of a bountiful harvest bestowed by Heaven."

“We have read the books of sages and know that ‘the benevolent love others’ and ‘generously give to the people and help the masses’ are the teachings of the sages.”

"The Gu family has held high office for generations, receiving the nation's favor. They should emulate Yi Yin and carry on the work of Hou Ji."

"."

The entire manifesto still follows the old Confucian principles.

This includes praising the immortals of the Gu family, and blatantly implying that Gu Jin should follow the example of Gu Kang in the past and directly promote corn to the whole world so that all the people of the world can enjoy the benefits.

Actually, this is a very smart move.

At a time when everyone is focused on "corn".

The Confucius family devised this system.

This will naturally bring them a lot of fame.

Almost everyone who reads this manifesto will exclaim about the "benevolence and righteousness of the Confucian family" and say that they are "truly worthy descendants of sages."

Of course, most of these people wanted to use this momentum to coerce Gu Jin.

As for ordinary people, they don't have that many thoughts, because most of them don't understand these things.

Even though the Gu family had been promoting education.

However, in the current era, it is impossible to make everyone literate.

Gu Jin remained completely unconcerned about the various tactics employed by these people.

Since the rise of the Gu family, it seems that many people have misunderstood one thing.

That means the Gu family members are not saints!

Even if they have the well-being of the world in their hearts, they must be mindful of the timing.

At least under the current circumstances, it is impossible for Gu Jin to fully promote the corn industry.

This has nothing to do with the world, but rather that he cannot afford to aid the enemy.

Leaving aside the surrounding independent forces, just looking at the arable land of the Liao Kingdom, if they were to obtain corn, it wouldn't be long before their national strength far surpasses that of the Song Dynasty.

How could Gu Jin possibly do something so foolish?

Of course, Gu Jin understood as well.

If he does this, it will bring unprecedented prestige to the Gu family and elevate their status once again.

But this would also cause the Gu family to lose its foundation.

From beginning to end, the Gu family has always upheld the concept of unifying the nine provinces.

Today, the Gu family is deeply rooted in the Song Dynasty.

If the Song Dynasty were to fall to the Liao Dynasty, the foundation of the Gu family would be completely destroyed.

He could not do that, neither for public nor private reasons.

This includes measures targeting the internal affairs of the Song Dynasty.

Gu Jin needs to deal with all of this properly.

And just as this group of people were filled with anticipation, Gu Jin finally made a move.

That very winter, he launched an unprecedented land survey campaign throughout the entire Song territory.

This is something he has always wanted to promote.

The territory of the Song Dynasty was already limited, and the lack of arable land was inevitable.

But before that, Gu Jin had not found a suitable opportunity.

The scope of interests involved in Dutian is simply too vast.

Ordinary people will also have some resistance to this, because it involves the amount of taxes they pay.

Even if you search through the entire annals of history, only those emperors whose prestige had already reached its peak were able to successfully implement the land reform. As for other emperors, they were either deceived or simply could not implement it at all.

But things are completely different now.

First of all, Gu Jin has the powerful tool of corn in her hand.

Secondly, the Censorate now has sufficient control over local areas.

Since the war with the Northern Han.

After returning to the court, Gu Jin has been strengthening the various powers of the Censorate.

This was not because of his personal motives.

It was only because of his lack of ability that Gu Jin had to make this choice: to use the Censorate to more specifically control local areas and even the entire administration of the Song Dynasty.

The current development of the Song Dynasty far surpasses the original historical record.

Not only in terms of national territory, but also in terms of commercial dominance.

In addition, Emperor Zhao Dezhao completely neglected his duties.

If Gu Jin wants to do everything well, he must make reasonable use of various resources, including court officials and censors from the Censorate.

Strengthening the Censorate was something he had to do.

Because almost all of Gu's sons and grandsons now hold official positions in the Censorate.

Although these Gu family members are not particularly outstanding individually, when they unite as one, they can still provide Gu Jin with a great deal of help.

Now that everything has gradually stabilized, it naturally provides Gu Jin with the conditions to cultivate the land.

Of course, the most crucial reason is that external forces currently have no way to deal with the Song Dynasty.

Yang Ye remained steadfast in guarding Yanmen Pass, keeping the Liao army firmly outside the country's borders, and Gu Jin placed his complete trust in him.

As for the Liaodong region.

Then there's even less to worry about.

The overall strength of the Song army is actually better than that of the Liao army. In addition, the Liao state now has the ability to navigate the seas, so they cannot threaten the Song Dynasty at all.

This is the reality bestowed by God.

Moreover, to Gu Yi's surprise, Gu Jin came up with a rather advanced method to help the people better understand the various systems of the imperial court.

That is to start a newspaper.

However, to be precise, it cannot be directly called a "newspaper," because Gu Jin named it "Morning News."

Although the names are different, their actual function is no different from that of newspapers.

This move was completely beyond Gu Yi's expectations.

Even he himself was unaware of the existence of this form of communication.

However, this makes sense – after all, newspapers had long been obsolete in Gu Yi's time, and he would hardly remember them.

But this thing is perfectly timed for the Song Dynasty right now.

The flourishing of commerce and the smooth operation of canal and sea transport networks had already accelerated the flow of information.

In addition, the economy has continued to develop.

Is it not just the right time to launch such a "newspaper" that ordinary people can afford?
Gu Jin had clearly been planning this for a long time.

On the very first page of the newspaper, he detailed the key to this field survey and linked it to corn.

There are no profound principles in it, and it is not even the same as the usual memorials to the emperor.

It's just concise and straightforward plain language.

This ensured that ordinary people could understand his ideas.

And it wasn't just a simple sale; Gu Jin even had the censors of the Censorate actively tell the story in various places, in order to use the Gu family's top influence to encourage the people to develop the habit of reading this "Morning News".

And this happened almost simultaneously.

The news spread rapidly.

An unprecedented wave rose from Kaifeng and spread to all parts of the world.

The censors, who were already stationed in various places, did not hesitate at all. They immediately took action with lightning speed, bringing the people that Gu Jin had arranged to carry out an unprecedented land survey in various places.

This move can absolutely be described as groundbreaking.

Even the land surveys undertaken by the founding emperors of each dynasty could never compare to this one.

No one can stop Gu Jin.

Gu Jin's control over the entire Song Dynasty has, in many ways, even surpassed that of Zhao Kuangyin!

By the time these people realized what was happening, it was already too late.

Faced with a group of decisive and armored censors, these officials realized they could not incite the people, and they had already lost all means of resistance.

—The Morning News Records were indeed extremely useful.

For ordinary people at the bottom of society...

Compared to those local powerful families, they were naturally more willing to trust the Gu family.

This fundamentally cut off the basis for these local tyrants to cause trouble.

Of course, Gu Jin wouldn't completely block these people's paths.

Within a country, all forces need to be carefully balanced.

Otherwise, it will cause even greater chaos.

These powerful figures also have their own role to play!
—For example, maritime trade.

Only these people can step forward in this matter; ordinary people simply cannot afford the costs involved.

Gu Jin's intention this time was clearly to reorganize all the forces of the Song Dynasty, rapidly develop national strength, and move towards his desired goals.

Gu Yi could also confirm this.

The effects of this will be equally astonishing!
(P.S.: I'm begging for monthly votes! I'd be incredibly grateful for your support, brothers.)
(End of this chapter)