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More than half an hour ago, in a private room in the Grand Hyatt Restaurant.
Sitting inside were five richly dressed and extraordinary-looking young men. Their nobility and elegance were obviously something that could not be cultivated by a humble family.
The five people sat opposite each other, but they did not deliberately maintain the order of seating. Among them, the young man named Xuan Ji from before was saying:
"Li Zexuan first flattened the book price, and then launched the "Datang Dictionary". Such behavior is tantamount to digging into the foundation of our Shandong gentry. I believe all brothers sitting here can see this."
"Xuan Ji is right. Since the establishment of Li Tang, the Shandong gentry has been suppressed repeatedly and has long lost its former glory. Now we have to pay attention to the actions of this man from Li County. He is trying to shake our family. The prestige of Shilin~!”
A slightly older man sitting next to Xuanji took over and said.
"Haha~! How can a small dictionary shake the foundation of our Shandong noble clan~? How could Cui Xuanji, Cui Shen, the Cui family of Qinghe and the Cui family of Boling ever be so timid~?"
Hearing these two people talking, the heroic young man sitting outside sneered dissatisfiedly.
It turns out that those sitting in this room today are all outstanding representatives of the Qiwang generation with the five surnames: Cui Xuanji of the Qinghe Cui family, Cui Shen of the Boling Cui family, Zheng Huaijie of the Zheng family of Xingyang, Lu Chengqing of the Fanyang Lu family, and Li Shi of Zhaojun. The surname is Li Jingxuan, and the five surnames Qiwang have come to five families now. Neither the Li family in Longxi nor the Wang family in Taiyuan have come.
To be elected as representatives of various families, these people certainly have their own merits. They may not be famous now. That is because the two generations of emperors, Li Yuan and Li Er, tried their best to suppress the Shandong gentry. Over the years, many of them will become prominent in the court.
For example, Lu Chengqing, during the Gaozong period, he worshiped the prime minister Cui Shen. Although this person did not do much in the officialdom, he later gave birth to a very awesome son named Cui Xuanwei. This person also served as the prime minister during the Gaozong period. The prime minister launched a coup in order to support the crown prince Li Xian to the throne during the Wu Zhou Dynasty, so he was granted the title of county king. The other two also had their own merits.
"Zheng Huaijie~! Today is different from the past. You and I have seen the plight of the family, and the emperor's ambition is also obvious. It's now, and you are still looking down on others. Do you have to wait until we are reduced to ordinary families? Will you wake up~?"
Cui Xuanji said with a displeased expression.
"Ha~! You are really unfounded~! The Cui family is a wealthy and distinguished family that has lasted for thousands of years. Even if the current emperor intends to weaken the family, can he really bring down the whole Cui family? Now, several of our major families have been suppressed. It’s true, but I think it was just the establishment of the Li Tang Dynasty, and the Li family in Longxi wanted to improve the status of the Guanlong gentry. At this moment, we only need to stay dormant, and when the prince comes to power, we will definitely have more opportunities~!"
Zheng Huaijie retorted somewhat disapprovingly.
I have to say that although this guy is a bit arrogant, he still has a good grasp of the overall situation.
In Chinese history, aristocratic politics, also known as aristocratic politics, sprouted in the Eastern Han Dynasty and fell in the late Tang Dynasty.
Therefore, some people feel that: from the Eastern Han Dynasty, through the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, to the Sui and Tang Dynasties, with the disappearance of the two major privileges of the economic "field-occupying Yinke system" and the political "nine-level Zhongzheng system" , and showed a situation of gradual weakening and extinction, during which there was no rebound.
In fact, this is a huge misunderstanding. Because, judging from historical facts, in China's aristocratic political era, there were two most glorious stages, one was the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, and the other was the Tang Dynasty. During the Tang Dynasty, especially in the middle and late Tang Dynasty, gentry politics not only did not dim; on the contrary, it became strangely brilliant again.
In the early Tang Dynasty, the Shandong gentry were indeed greatly suppressed. Firstly, the "Guanlong Military Group", which had contributed to the founding of the Tang Dynasty at that time, still had great power; secondly, the emperor deliberately suppressed it; thirdly, he was vigorously promoting In the imperial examination system of the 1940s, many courtiers from the common people appeared, but at that time the "five surnames" were not adapted to this way of serving as officials; the fourth was the jealousy of powerful court officials from poor families.
But after Wu Zetian came to power, on the one hand, he suppressed the veterans of the Guanlong aristocracy and eliminated political resistance; on the other hand, he began to reuse the Shandong gentry, such as Li Jingxuan, who came from the western ancestor of the Li family in Zhao County. It was at this time that after being appreciated by Empress Wu, Entering the center of power.
After the "An-Shi Rebellion", the political center of the Tang Dynasty was rebuilt. The authorities no longer suppressed the gentry as harshly as during the period of Li Yuan and Li Er. The "Five Surnames" also made a comeback with the help of the imperial examination system, and the momentum was fierce.
For example, it is difficult to find the Zheng family in Xingyang who was the prime minister during the prosperous Tang Dynasty. However, since the mid-Tang Dynasty, there have been more than ten prime ministers and important ministers in succession, so there is a saying of "Zheng Ban Dynasty";
Another example is the Cui family in Qinghe. In the Tang Dynasty, ten people from their branches including Nanzufang, Qinghe Dafang, Qinghe Xiaofang and Qingzhoufang served as prime ministers. Before the "Anshi Rebellion", only two people served as prime ministers. After the incident, they entered the central government. In the Tang Dynasty, there were eight prime ministers one after another.
The reason for the re-emergence of the Shandong gentry was of course crucial to the change in the attitude of those in power. Another factor was that after adapting to the imperial examination system, the rich family tradition and intellectual tradition gave them a special advantage in the imperial examination. .
For example, Fan Yanglu's family, in the Tang generation, especially from the mid-Tang Dynasty onwards, there were more than a hundred people who became Jinshi. The amount is astonishing. You must know that in the Tang Dynasty, the Jinshi examination was the most difficult among the imperial examinations, and the number of people admitted was very small. The Lu family was able to achieve this result with the help of family tradition and rich knowledge.
Therefore, if the family wants to develop, it still has to wait for the opportunity.
Li Jingxuan nodded and said: "Xuan Ji, although Huai Jie's words are offensive, they are not unreasonable. At the moment, we should be patient and build up momentum instead of taking the initiative to cause trouble~!"
Lu Chengqing frowned and said: "Jingxuan's words are wrong. Since Li Zexuan appeared in Chang'an, his rise has been astonishingly fast. Everything Qingguan has done seems to be deliberately against us. Recently, I heard that To say that he wants to build the Yanhuang Academy and develop engineering is really the most outrageous thing in the world~!
Qing suspects that he should be a tool specially arranged by His Majesty the Emperor to suppress several of our famous families~! The situation at this time is like boiling a frog in warm water for us. If we don't take action early, sooner or later our foundation will be eroded away~! If the Cui family wants to deal with Li Zexuan, our Lu family is willing to help~! "
Cui Xuanji smiled and said: "Brother Chengqing is really far-sighted and understands the righteousness~!"
After saying that, he turned to Zheng Huaijie and Li Jingxuan and said with cupped hands: "Brother Zheng, Brother Li, time waits for us~! If Li Zexuan is allowed to continue to behave like this, the situation of our family will be even more worrying~! Please consider it carefully~ !”
Cui Shen spoke up and said, "Huaijie and Jingxuan, I believe that with your perspective, it's impossible not to see the threat posed by Li Zexuan. Please put the overall situation first~!"
In the current situation, three of the five families have formed a united front. A look of hesitation appeared on Li Jingxuan's face. After a moment, he stood up and cupped his hands and said: "In that case, I, the Li family of Zhao County, are also willing to contribute, but just now The matter is serious, Jingxuan still needs to discuss it with my father~!"
"It should be so, it should be so~!"
Cui Xuanji showed a hint of joy, nodded and smiled repeatedly.
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