My older brother is Gao Huan.

Chapter 574 What the general says must be right!

Why were powerful families able to challenge imperial power at their peak?
Just like Emperor Ling of the Eastern Han Dynasty, who opened the floodgates even slightly in order to suppress the Yellow Turban Rebellion, leading to the rise of various warlords across the land.

Because powerful families control land and people.

This is why Gao Yu chose to cooperate with aristocratic families during the process of unifying the world. He first ceded benefits to them, maintained their political privileges in exchange for their support, and then gradually eroded and eradicated the aristocratic families by slowly boiling them like frogs in warm water.

We have to do it.

Whenever a powerful and influential family becomes a troublemaker, troops are dispatched to suppress it, and this suppression process is rarely smooth.

Either they can't win at all, and they have to give up more benefits in exchange for other people's support.

Or you might suffer heavy losses and finally manage to take over a powerful family, but what good would that do?

There are so many powerful clans, how can we possibly defeat them one by one?

If he really did that, he would be similar to Liu Yu, who defeated the powerful families, only to find himself too old to do so.

Gao Yu is currently eroding the roots of aristocratic families little by little.

First, he used his prestige to forcibly reclaim all the unclaimed lands that the aristocratic families had seized during the chaos of war, and then investigated them one by one according to the land survey conducted during the reign of Emperor Xiaowen.

He then distributed the land to the local militia, allowing them to recruit a large number of displaced people as their retainers.

Thus.

Without this, established families would be unable to continue to grow stronger.

Further promoting the commodity economy and the emergence of the urban class would give the displaced people who would otherwise flow into the economic system of aristocratic manors an additional option: they could go to the city to sell their physical labor to make a living.

As long as the powerful families no longer have enough people in their hands, they are nothing to fear.

Gao Yu chuckled a few times, then asked, "I heard that the general intends to mobilize a large army from Shandong to the front lines to fight against the traitor Erzhu Rong. Shandong is so far away from Erzhu Rong, while Hebei is where we need to face Erzhu Rong's army head-on. Don't you have any complaints?"

The man scratched his head. "That's what I thought at first too, but my son told me something about 'if the lips are gone, the teeth will be cold,' and that if Hebei falls, Shandong won't be able to rest easy either... I don't understand these things."

"but……"

"All I know is that since it was a decision made by the general, it must be the right one. The general rose to power in Shandong, how could he possibly mistreat us, the people of Shandong?"

"If it weren't for the general, my son would probably still be farming for wealthy families. How could he have the opportunity to achieve merit and have others serve us?"

Upon hearing this, Gao Yu couldn't help but chuckle.

Liu Yi and the others beside him also laughed.

Gao Yu didn't really expect these ordinary people to have any sense of national identity.

After all, in this era, even if you are from Shandong, if you are not from the same village, you will be regarded as an 'outsider'.

At least it proves...

My base in Shandong remains very stable and solid.

Just then, after a brief scramble, one player launched a long ball forward, and the striker, before the ball even hit the ground, unleashed a powerful shot that found the back of the net!

"it is good!!"

"Beautiful!"

"…………"

The onlookers applauded and cheered loudly!
Gao Yu then realized...

There was a large crowd gathered not far away, seemingly placing bets?

Sure enough, these spawned black and gray industries show that gambling doesn't need to be taught at all.

“Changyou”.

"exist."

"Make a note of this matter and send a letter to Liu Taozhi to investigate... The soldiers' land must not be bought or sold privately, nor used for gambling."

"Yes."

The participants were definitely wealthy and leisurely people, such as the families of the soldiers.

They were a group of 'privileged' individuals created by Gao Yu through the Fubing system. They were gamblers who had lost everything and were only thinking about recouping their losses. In their eyes, there was no such thing as a red line.

however……

The farmland belonging to the Fubing (府兵) was a red line drawn by Gao Yu for the Fubing system.

"Let's go check out the nearby military academy and school." Gao Yu got up and left, leading Liu Yi and the others outside the city.

Military academies are usually set up together with training grounds, and so are schools, since they are all built around the military system. Gao Yu has not yet promoted education to the entire population.

At least we need to wait until the literate artisans are more skilled and movable type printing is fully operational, so that the price of books can be further reduced.

At the same time, schools also need to cultivate a large number of literate people who are "neither good nor bad".

These people lacked talent and were not qualified to participate in the provincial and imperial examinations. There were also not enough low-level official positions available to them. Therefore, they could be sent to schools to serve as teachers and teach people to read and write.

Anyway...

We still need to build up the quantity first. As long as there are enough people, there will always be one or two exceptionally talented individuals.

A group of people came to the outside of the city.

As soon as they approached the drill ground, they were stopped by the soldiers on duty.

"Military camp restricted area, unauthorized personnel are prohibited from entering!"

Liu Yi didn't even need to step forward; a soldier who served as a captain in the Xuanjia Army stepped forward and showed the unique waist tag of a Xuanjia Army soldier.

The soldiers on duty were visibly taken aback, but they still didn't put down their halberds and continued to block the way, saying, "Let us go and report first..."

"Wait a minute."

Liu Yi stepped forward.

"General Liu?"

The soldiers on duty recognized Liu Yi at a glance. After all, he was Gao Yu's personal guard who had been with him for many years. How could they not recognize him?
The soldier looked up at the tall figure still sitting high on his horse and swallowed hard... He seemed to realize something.
Gao Yu dismounted and stepped forward.

"General..."

The soldiers were both excited and a little scared, and wanted to bow down in respect.

Gao Yu quickly reached out to stop him, patting his shoulder with a smile, "You did a good job. This is how it should be done when guarding the camp gate. What is your name?"

The soldier was at a loss and stammered, "Reporting to the Prime Minister, my name is Li Yu."

"it is good."

Gao Yu smiled and nodded, "I came here on purpose without telling anyone, so please don't tell anyone either."

"Here!"

Li Yu quickly stepped aside to make way, much to the envy of the other guards.

Things are different now than before.

In the past, the lower-ranking soldiers had many opportunities to see Gao Yu, but as Gao Yu went to Ye City and became the prime minister, the lower-ranking soldiers had fewer and fewer opportunities to see him.

Not to mention that Gao Yu personally remembered his name.

Li Yu was so excited that he was trembling. Feeling the envious gazes of his comrades, he couldn't help but show the same smile as when he was at the 'victory' parade. He was so proud that he subconsciously straightened his back!

The other end.

Gao Yu was also instructing Liu Yi beside him, "Check which prefecture the soldiers of Lu County belong to, and who is currently in charge of this training ground. In the name of Tian Ce Prefecture, reward them and give that soldier a third-level merit."

"Here!"

A thousand-mile embankment was destroyed by an ant nest.

The soldiers guarding the camp gates of the drill ground could glean some clues from this.

The soldiers of Shandong had not yet degenerated and still maintained extremely high combat effectiveness; military discipline was also a direct reflection of their combat effectiveness.

This proves that they did not relax their efforts in the slightest despite Gao Yu's departure.

Gao Yu naturally deserves high praise, setting a benchmark for others.

Don't even say it...

This 'incognito visit' yielded very satisfactory results for Gao Yu, who was quite satisfied with all aspects of the observation.

The soldiers maintained excellent military discipline, and their martial arts skills had not deteriorated.

The overall social class transformation in Shandong is also progressing slowly according to the path he envisioned, and everything is on the right track.

(End of this chapter)