Sky Curtain: The Overlord Charges into Battle, Shocking Emperors of All Dynasties

Is there any connection between the Yang family of Hongnong and the Sui Dynasty established by Yang Jian?

After all, they all share the surname Yang.

We are also very curious about whether our bloodline has been passed down to future generations.

Many other prominent families gazed longingly at the sky.

If the Yang family of Hongnong can be passed down to future generations, then ours certainly can too.

Speak up, and we'll never call you lowly people again.

After all, they might be our descendants.

During the Western Han Dynasty, Liu Bang used war to relocate the nobles of the six former states, completely severing the connection between the nobles and the local areas, thus freeing up vast territories for the meritorious officials of the Han Dynasty.

Basically, most of the powerful families that emerged later in the Han Dynasty were able to enter the imperial court and serve as officials. They gradually evolved into powerful families through their influence after becoming officials.

Because the Western Han Dynasty implemented the recommendation system, local officials recommended filial and incorruptible individuals. In addition to their talents, they also valued the person's moral character. However, over time, this evolved into valuing moral character above all else.

In this way, powerful local clans manipulated public opinion, staged performances, and promoted each other to enter the imperial court generation after generation. They also used their power to collect classics, began to boast of passing down their knowledge through scholarship, and ultimately monopolized official positions.

As for this kind of showmanship, the easiest and most acceptable way to demonstrate one's talent is through filial piety and brotherly love. As long as a person is filial, they can enter the court and become an official. However, whether someone is truly filial or not depends on their self-promotion.

In their pursuit of official positions and to demonstrate their filial piety, some individuals went to extreme lengths. Among the most disgusting examples of filial piety in the Twenty-Four Filial Exemplars of ancient China, some occurred during the Han and Western Jin dynasties.

For example, Guo Ju buried his son alive to save food for his mother, which was a complete disregard for human ethics.

"They've gone mad! People in later generations have all gone mad!"

Zeng Shen clutched his head, shaking it in anguish. This example was utterly shattering his understanding; he simply couldn't comprehend it.

He does advocate filial piety, but not this kind of blind obedience.

What father would bury his own son alive? If he actually did, the whole charade would be a failure.

Zeng Shen firmly believed that there was an 80% chance that the body would not be buried in the end.

After all, this was merely a means to gain official position; once it was buried, there would be no turning back.

However, the ideas promoted in this story are simply a cancer!

Anyone who actually believed that and did it is a complete idiot!

During the Eastern Han Dynasty, a taxi driver's expression changed drastically; his face turned deathly pale.

How could Tianmu so blatantly reveal these things!

Why can't we just keep this to ourselves?

If you praise me today and I praise you tomorrow, won't we gain fame?

After Tianmu said this, how will the people view any future stories of filial piety? How will the emperor view them?

Ultimately, this situation is somewhat related to Emperor Guangwu Liu Xiu's process of restoring the Han dynasty.

During his restoration of the Han dynasty, Liu Xiu received help from local powerful families, or local magnates. Liu Xiu also attempted to weaken the power of these local magnates, but war broke out everywhere, and Liu Xiu was ultimately forced to compromise. The power of the aristocratic families throughout the Eastern Han dynasty continued to expand.

[Furthermore, during the Eastern Han Dynasty, most emperors were infants, and power was alternately held by maternal relatives and eunuchs. The central government was powerless to suppress local officials. These powerful families passed down their Confucian classics and relied on the recommendation system to enter officialdom generation after generation. They annexed large amounts of land in the localities, established estates, and also maintained a large number of private armies.]

During the chaotic period at the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, these powerful families made numerous investments, and most of the forces in the three kingdoms of Wei, Shu, and Wu were composed of members of these families. It could even be said that the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty was a major civil war among powerful clans.

For example, Yuan Shao, whose family had held high office for four generations; Zhou Yu, whose family had held high office for two generations; the Zhuge family of Langya, known for its powerful military force; the Xun family of Yingchuan; and the Sima family of Henan...

There may have been a few talented individuals from impoverished backgrounds during the Three Kingdoms period, but most of them were at least members of local clans who controlled a region.

Western Han Dynasty

Liu Heng and Liu Qi were utterly perplexed.

That's impossible! Our Han emperors have always been wary of this!

They had been relocating powerful local families to the vicinity of the mausoleum, their intention being to weaken these local magnates.

This was practically an ancestral rule established by Emperor Gaozu Liu Bang.

Which emperor listened to the slander of his ministers and abolished this system?

Their intentions are sinister; they deserve to die!!!

Emperor Xuan of Han, Liu Xun, couldn't help but feel a sense of sorrow.

He seemed to know when this situation would change.

"The one who has brought chaos to our Han dynasty is the Crown Prince!"

Pingjun, what should I do?

Liu Xun seemed to be stuck in a quagmire, struggling violently within it.

On one side was the vast empire of the Han Dynasty, and on the other was the only memento left to him by his deceased wife.

Eastern Han Dynasty

Liu Xiu clenched his fist tightly, his expression shifting between anger and uncertainty.

Why were all the emperors of the Eastern Han Dynasty infants?

Even if an emperor dies young due to an unexpected accident, not every emperor can die young.

It was exactly as described on the sky, indicating the situation in the Ming Dynasty. If there wasn't a conspiracy involved, Liu Xiu wouldn't believe it at all.

The Ming Dynasty had civil officials, but was the Eastern Han Dynasty really dominated by eunuchs and imperial relatives?

Liu Xiu had personally witnessed the harm caused by maternal relatives.

Wang Mang, this rebel, was also a relative of the emperor's family before he actually plotted to usurp the Han throne!

However, the threat posed by local powerful clans was so great that even Liu Xiu himself was forced to compromise.

If the powerful clans were to be suppressed again, it would be no less difficult than Liu Xiu conquering the world again, and perhaps even more so.

New Dynasty

"Liu Xiu?"

Wang Mang lowered his head and murmured the name.

Liu Xiu established the Eastern Han Dynasty, doesn't that mean my new dynasty has been overthrown? Now the name of this person has been revealed on the sky beforehand.

If I had sent someone to eliminate Liu Xiu in his cradle beforehand, my new dynasty might have lasted for over a hundred years!

"Grasp!!!"

"A nationwide manhunt for Liu Xiu is underway. If he is captured, execute him on the spot!!!"

The epic battles of the Three Kingdoms lasted for decades, and almost everyone believed that the final victor would emerge from among the three kingdoms. But who would have thought that the Three Kingdoms would fall to the Jin Dynasty!

[The cuckoo usurped the nest, the Jin dynasty replaced the Wei dynasty, and then unified the Three Kingdoms. The vast land and the boundless mountains and seas were ultimately usurped by the Sima clan.]

However, Sima Yi himself broke the oath made at the Luo River, and Sima Zhao caused the death of Cao Mao, the last emperor of Wei, on the long steps. The legitimacy of the Jin Dynasty was even lower than a stone in a stinking ditch.

In order to maintain their rule, the Sima clan had no choice but to win over powerful families and modify the Nine-Rank System, which Cao Pi had established to suppress powerful families, turning it into a tool for maintaining their status.

From then on, officials were divided into nine ranks, and people were divided into nine ranks as well. The upper ranks had no poor families, and the lower ranks had no aristocratic families. It was even said during the Eastern Jin Dynasty that "Wang and Ma share the world!"

Compared to these powerful aristocratic families, the power of the emperor appeared extremely weak.

At this moment, mansions, estates, and fortified villages crashed down from the sky, seven of which were particularly tall and magnificent, even towering above the palace walls. Seven large characters rose from these seven mansions.

Cui! Cui! Lu! Li! Li! Zheng! Wang!

Using these seven enormous mansions as focal points, a sudden red light emanated from them, extending red lines that connected the other courtyards and fortified villages of all sizes into a massive, sky-covering net, firmly locking the five-clawed golden dragon above the central palace, rendering it immobile.

This scene is breathtaking and takes your breath away.

The vast network of powerful clans, large and small, not only imprisoned the emperor but also firmly confined the entire society, turning it into a stagnant pool.