In the Ganlu Hall of Daxing Palace, Yang Ji and Yang An hurriedly walked into Yang Jian's imperial study. Yang Ji saluted Yang Jian: "Meet the uncle."
"This is a private occasion, and there is no need to be polite as a family! Sit down and talk." Yang Jian was in a very good mood. Although Yang Ji encountered huge risks, he was not even slightly injured after all. What made him even more happy was that the prince Yang Guang could He Ruobi, who assassinated Yang Ji, was used as a chess piece to attract a large number of Guanlong nobles. This move was very beautifully played.
As for He Ruobi, Yang Jian has done his best. No matter what his fate is, it can only be said that he brought it upon himself. If everyone knows about it and is not severely punished, how can he explain it to his deceased brother and Yang Ji? What's important is that if we don't punish them severely, wouldn't it encourage others' arrogance and resort to such illegal means as assassination to kill the royal family and political opponents?
"Here." The Manlu Hall is located in the palace city and is the third of the three halls. Its status is equivalent to the study room and living room of an ordinary person's home. Yang Ji was very familiar with this place and found a seat and sat down.
He asked: "Uncle, when I entered the palace, I heard that many heads of aristocratic families were arrested. Are you ready to attack them?"
"I would like to lock them up like Chen Shubao, but this is impossible." Yang Jian said with a bitter smile: "The hundreds of thousands of generals at all levels in our Sui Dynasty army are all the disciples and disciples of the Guanlong nobles and the close confidants of the old officials. If Once I take action in the capital, those people will not be able to rebel against the Sui Dynasty? And the soldiers and horses of other major states cannot be counted on. How long can we last with just a few of us and the soldiers and horses in the capital?"
When Yang Ji heard this, he asked in confusion: "Then why did uncle let brother arrest so many people?"
"I'm just using the topic to capture these people as bargaining chips in negotiations." Yang Jian laughed. His nephew is not only good at fighting and smart, but also strategic and responsible. He dares to fight hundreds of thousands of Turkic troops at critical moments. Speaking and defeating him, such a person is extremely rare in the civil and military affairs of the entire dynasty. Among the younger generation, I am afraid that no one can match it.
He smiled lovingly and said: "These are all matters of the imperial court, you don't need to pay too much attention to them. Moreover, you are too young and have experienced very little. If you get involved in this circle of right and wrong too early, it will do you no good at all. Now it’s enough to do your duty.”
"Yes!" Yang Ji also knew that Yang Jian was doing it for his own good, so he no longer dwelled on this issue. To be fair, although he knew that some things were unavoidable, he did not want to get involved prematurely in various dirty political struggles in the court. , if you become a politician who has exhausted all your agencies too early, it will be too tiring to devote yourself to conspiracies all day long. It is better to go to Liangzhou to fight in wars, bully foreigners, and do more meaningful things like fighting monsters and upgrading.
"Uncle, I have a question for you. What should I do if I accidentally make Tuyuhun angry?"
"Do you still need me to teach you? Of course I will kill him and then take possession of him." Yang Jian glared at Yang Ji and said, "That damn place in Tuyuhun is different from the northern grasslands. Although the land in Tuyuhun is barren and the climate is harsh, there is nothing It is of real use, but of great strategic significance. It has a condescending geographical advantage in our Great Sui Hexi Corridor and the northern parts of Liangzhou and Yizhou. As long as Tuyuhun is not destroyed, the Silk Road will become unsafe. Only by taking it Only by incorporating it into the Great Sui territory can the western part of the Great Sui Dynasty be completely peaceful. Just because of its strategic position, it must be conquered no matter how difficult it is, and even if countless dollars are spent every year in the future to support the soldiers and civilians above, this account must be acknowledged."
"Uncle is wise! Wait until I kill Tuguhun, and then send me to Youzhou to fight Goguryeo." Yang Ji thought to himself: If he takes the lead in destroying Tuguhun and Goguryeo, let's see what Yang Guang's prodigal son does.
"Goguryeo is not that easy to fight." Yang Jian looked serious and said: "Goguryeo has been encroaching on the territory of the Central Plains Dynasty since the Han Dynasty. Every inch of its land is a county during the Han Dynasty. Naturally, we cannot Let it continue to expand like this. Moreover, the east is a vast sea, and our future focus in the Sui Dynasty is in the west and north. If the western strategy does not go well, Goguryeo will definitely jump out to cause trouble, so we must destroy it before it becomes strong and completely solve it. Only in this way can we develop westward without worries about the future troubles in the Northeast. However, it has been entrenched in Liaodong for hundreds of years and has long been firmly established. With a population of 600,000 to 700,000 households and more than 3 million people, it can be fought. There are more than 600,000 people. At the same time, Goguryeo is not like the independent Turks. Its power is highly concentrated in the hands of the Goguryeo court. The system is the same as that of the Sui Dynasty. In addition, the Goguryeo people are brave and sturdy in combat and good at riding and shooting. Their strength is different. Look down on."
"When it comes to military combat effectiveness, weapons and equipment, fighting will, etc., our Sui soldiers actually have an absolute advantage. However, Goguryeo has dangerous mountains and rivers, and its terrain and climate are countless times worse than those of the grasslands. In the 18th year of the founding of the Emperor, I surrendered to Liang. Er and Wang Shiji were the marching marshals, and Zhou Luohou was the commander-in-chief of the navy. They led an army of 300,000 people to attack Goguryeo by land and water. However, when Liang'er led the Sui army by land out of Linyu Pass, it happened to be the rainy season, the roads were muddy, and the supply of food and grass was in short supply. There was a lack of food in the army, and the disease ravaged the entire army. The Sui army on the waterway, which was responsible for the supply task, was led by Zhou Luohou. They set out to sea from Laizhou and went straight to Pyongyang City. They encountered strong winds at sea and many ships sank. , all the logistics materials were buried under the sea, so the land and water routes were forced to return. In the end, eight to nine tenths of our soldiers died. Afterwards, Gao Yuan went up to the table and called him "Liaodong Dung Earth Minister Yuan" and told me about the Great Sui Dynasty. Proclaiming yourself a minister gives me, the Sui Dynasty, some face."
Yang Jian gave a wry smile, looked at Yang Ji, and said solemnly: "But both sides know that this false 'relationship between monarch and minister' is just to build momentum for the next war. So this war will have to be fought sooner or later. As for Goguryeo, The war is an unprecedented humiliation for our Sui Dynasty. One day we will annihilate Goguryeo and build the capital to comfort more than 200,000 heroic souls."
The status of the foreigners in Yang Jian's heart was just like that. Even if they were all dead, he would only applaud them instead of lamenting and sighing in a womanly way. After all, this is a struggle between races, and there is no mercy.
"I understand." Yang Ji suddenly remembered something and said with a smile: "If Wang Tong hears what uncle said, I'm afraid he will start jabbering again."
Wang Tong was a rare Confucian scholar in the world. Although he was only twenty years old, he was already well-known as a scholar. Especially his father, Wang Long, who had written "Essential Theory on the Rise and Decline" in the early years of the founding of the emperor and was praised by Yang Jianjian.
Not long ago, Wang Tong presented "Twelve Strategies for Taiping" to Yang Jian, advocating "respecting the king's way, promoting hegemonic strategies, reviewing the past and verifying the present, and bringing the world under his control", which was highly appreciated by Yang Jian.
But Wang Tong firmly believes that human nature is inherently good and possesses the "five virtues" of benevolence, righteousness, propriety, wisdom and trust. Only through education can we help people develop a complete personality, reach the state of "happy heaven and know destiny, exhaust all reason", and eventually become "gentlemen" and "sages".
Yang Jian, who always valued practical talents, didn't like to hear his empty theories.
Yang Jian was the emperor for so many years and punished countless corrupt officials. The highest record was the removal of hundreds of corrupt officials, incompetent officials, and incompetent officials in Jizhou, which made the prefectures and counties awe-inspiring. He vigorously purged the administration of officials, which enriched the state treasury and alleviated the poverty of the people. It can be said that the great success of the Sui Dynasty was mainly due to the rule of law.
And Wang Tong, a young boy who has never even been a county official, doesn't even know the fundamental reasons why the Sui Dynasty was rich and the people were healthy, but he talks about the goodness of human nature and the promotion of moral governance. This is not established with the Sui Dynasty. Is it contrary to national policy?
However, Yang Jian valued this boy very much and hoped that his thoughts would be more practical and less boastful, so he appointed him as the secretary of the Yizhou Sihu. He hoped that he would have more contact with the people at the bottom in order to improve his ideas. However, this guy was arrogant and resigned before taking office.
As an emperor, Yang Jian has a lot of talents. How could he take such an arrogant and impractical guy to heart? If Yang Ji hadn't mentioned it, he would have forgotten about this person.
At this time, when Yang Ji mentioned Wang Tong, he shook his head and laughed: "Wang Tong is a descendant of the Wang family in Taiyuan. Because of his reputation as a genius and prodigy, he has always been valued by the family. Since he was a child, he has lived in a world where he can reach out for clothes and open his mouth for food. How can you know how difficult the world is when you are well-dressed and well-fed? If you live in troubled times or go hungry for several days, you will not preach that human nature is inherently good. You have to remember that when you are ready to reuse a person, Don't look at what he says or how famous he is, but look at what he has done. Only in this way can you get real talents instead of rhetoricians. If you really want to use this kind of person, you'd better hire him. Throw it into a tough place and hone it.”
"Thank you, uncle, for your teaching." Yang Ji smiled, and he fully agreed with Yang Jian's way of employing people.
When he thought about it carefully, he found that the current center of the Sui Dynasty did not have many capable Confucian ministers.
Compared with the unparalleled Guanlong aristocracy, the Shandong gentry, which claimed to be authentic in Confucianism, was very weak in the center of the Sui Dynasty. If we look closely, there are three reasons. First, the Sui Dynasty focused on hard work and despised exaggerated Confucianism. After the nine-level Zhongzheng system was established, the Shandong gentry became dissatisfied with the Sui Dynasty, and most of them focused on family education rather than serving as officials.
Second, during the Heyin Incident, Er Zhurong massacred all the Shandong gentry officials in the Northern Wei Dynasty, causing severe damage to the famous families in Shandong, and they have not recovered to this day.
The most critical point is that the Sui Dynasty and the Northern Zhou Dynasty were in the same line. The Guanlong nobles established by Yuwentai were the core force of the Eastern Wei, Northern Zhou and Sui Dynasties, while the Shandong nobles mainly served Gao Huan's Western Wei and Northern Qi. In order to win the Zhou Dynasty, Yang Jian used the power of the Northern Dynasties to fight against the powerful Northern Turks and Nannan Chen. Therefore, he needed to unite all the forces of the Guanlong nobles, so he needed to compromise with the Guanlong nobles. As a result, most of the central officials of the imperial court came from the Guanlong nobles. , especially the army, was almost firmly controlled by Guanlong forces.
Emperor Yang Jian's lack of attention and the exclusion of Guanlong nobles left Shandong gentry with almost no place to establish themselves in the Sui Dynasty. They could only hold insignificant local positions through self-recommendation and recommendation, which were inherited from the nine-rank Zhongzheng system.
Although Yang Jian now began to support the Shandong gentry against the Guanlong nobles, and did not hesitate to let Pei Ju, one of the Wenxi Pei clan, serve as the powerful Minister of the Ministry of Civil Affairs, the Shandong gentry's power in the court was too weak before, so Pei Ju's rise was just an accident , an accident could not change the power structure of the Sui Dynasty. Traditional noble families such as the Taiyuan Wang family, Fanyang Lu family, Boling Cui family, Qinghe Cui family, Xingyang Zheng family, Zhaojun Li family, Longxi Li family, etc. A senior official of the imperial court appeared.
Yang Ji knew that Yang Jian's emphasis on talent, the rule of law, and disrespect for Confucianism had led to him being completely discredited by the Confucian scholars who held pens and wrote history books. His historical status was mixed, but his historical contribution was there, no matter how he was discredited. His achievements cannot be lost, so his status and existence can only be downplayed.
When talking about the Three Provinces and Six Ministries, the splendid articles praised the Tang Dynasty without hesitation, but ignored Yang Jian, and the "renting mediocrity" became the creation of the Tang Dynasty; whenever Daxing City was mentioned, it was said that the Sui Dynasty wasted people and money, But as soon as he arrived in the Tang Dynasty, his writing changed and he praised the prosperous Chang'an greatly. On the contrary, when foreign historians wrote about Yang Jian, they were able to give him the historical status he deserved from a fair and objective perspective.
If the Sui Dynasty develops in the direction that Yang Ji is familiar with, the Sui Dynasty will definitely be written in such a way that even the people of the Sui Dynasty do not recognize it. And he, Yang Ji, was probably turned into a butcher.
Thinking of this, Yang Ji said to Yang Jian: "Uncle, I want to do something in Liangzhou, which requires a lot of paper craftsmen. How about you arrange some outstanding paper craftsmen for me?"
"You want to make paper?" Yang Jian did not give an answer, but looked at Yang Ji: "Vajra slave, tell me the truth, what are you doing making paper?"
"Uncle!" Facing Yang Jian, Yang Ji had nothing to hide, so he said: "From ancient times to the present, aristocratic families have controlled education. Their children have no worries about food and clothing, and can devote themselves wholeheartedly to the palm of their hands, so generation after generation Producing talents and being superior from generation to generation. However, children from poor families and ordinary people do not even have the opportunity to read and read. How can they compete with children from aristocratic families? With the development of aristocratic families, they have controlled more and more living conditions, learning conditions, and career advancement paths. Officials all over the world came from aristocratic families. They formed powerful interest alliances through marriages, teachers and students, affiliations, alliances, etc. While maintaining and improving their own interest system, they ignored the interests of the court. Throughout the dynasties, Whenever their imperial power weakened, they ignored the imperial decrees and even controlled the imperial court. Since the officials inside and outside the court were their 'own', even the emperor had to become a puppet for their interests."
"It's a good idea, but it's not easy." Yang Jian said with a wry smile: "The aristocratic families know where their advantages lie, so they try their best to suppress the poor people and strictly control their education. They don't let the poor people or ordinary people study at all. Opportunities. If ordinary people can’t read, they can’t be sensible and can’t be officials. How can we compete with them?”
Yang Ji solemnly said: "Why can aristocratic families have a monopoly on education? Why do all the talents in the world come from famous families, but it is difficult for people from poor families to get ahead? I think the reason is that the cost of learning is too high, and people from poor families are still afraid of expensive books. In the end, Ordinary people at the bottom dare not even think about reading. Nowadays, the paper used for writing is either extremely expensive rice paper or extremely poor quality bamboo paper, both of which are difficult to meet the needs of the vigorous popularization of books and knowledge. . So I went to find some papermakers to develop new paper that is as good as rice paper and as cheap as bamboo paper. As long as there is this new paper, everyone in the Sui Dynasty will have books to read, everyone can afford to read, and can use The sources of talents in the Sui Dynasty were diversified, and there was no need to rely too heavily on aristocratic families."
In fact, in the Sui Dynasty, it was only reasonable to say "rich in culture and military". The cultural carriers of the Sui Dynasty were mainly bamboo slips, silk books, silk books, and rice paper books. The price of books was very expensive, and the cost of learning literature was not much lower than that of learning martial arts.
Therefore, the term "Aristocratic Family Tianxia" is very appropriate to describe the Sui Dynasty. The aristocratic families not only monopolized official positions and power, but also monopolized cultural inheritance. They controlled the power of the Sui Dynasty and the world's top talents, and provided officials and officials for poor people. The cracks in the promotion door are shrinking, filling the hearts of poor people and low-level officials with resentment.
This kind of people never consider the background of the times and the power structure of the officialdom, nor do they know that the emperor also needs to compromise. They even turn a blind eye to the emperor's efforts on their behalf. They only complain that the emperor is not good or unfair, and then follow various noble families. , slogans issued by famous families, and they criticized the emperor with words and writings. When the resentment and resentment in their hearts reaches a certain level, it only takes a small inducement to burst out, and they will willingly become pawns of aristocratic families and become cannon fodder to subvert a dynasty.
It is actually not difficult to change this passive situation. After all, printing itself does not require much technical content. You only need to use cheap bamboo paper to print a newspaper that correctly guides public opinion.
But Yang Ji is not ready to break it now. First of all, the relationship between the royal family and the Guanlong nobles is very tense, almost to the point of incompatibility. If the Shandong nobles and the southern nobles are also angered, then the world will be divorced. Troubled times are not far away. Secondly, pioneers usually end badly. Yang Ji has no intention of being a pioneer like Shang Cai and Zhu Fuyan, or in other words, Yang Ji does not intend to do it himself.
However, Liangzhou was the bridgehead for the Sui Dynasty to absorb Western culture. It could use the name of Hu merchants and Hu people to research cheap paper and books that would change the trend. Then, with the help of the royal palace's caravans all over the world, cheap books and papers were handed over to merchants all over the country for sale, and distributed all over the world by surrounding the cities in the countryside. When a raging trend took shape, the aristocratic families could not stop it even if they wanted to.
Even if someone is unlucky, it is a businessman who died for money first. What does this have to do with Yang Ji?
When Yang Jian heard this, his heart suddenly became hot, and he looked at Yang Ji with burning eyes: "Vajra slave, are you sure about this new paper?"
Yang Ji couldn't keep his words and said with a smile: "I haven't tried it yet, how do I know?"
In fact, since Cai Lun improved papermaking using cheap materials such as bark, hemp heads, old cloth, and fishing nets, in addition to improving the quality of paper, it also provided conditions for the widespread use of plant fiber papermaking. After the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, plant fiber papermaking emerged in endlessly. Papers such as leather paper made of wolfberry bark, rattan paper made of rattan fiber, mulberry root paper made of mulberry bark, and straw paper made of straw emerged in endlessly. However, these papers each had their own shortcomings and could not bear the heavy responsibility of carrying knowledge until the appearance of rice paper. , its unique moistening and penetrating properties make dignitaries intoxicated.
Compared with expensive rice paper, the technology of many cheap papers is actually just a hair’s breadth away. If this technical barrier is broken, new paper can be created that is as good as rice paper at a lower price.
For Yang Ji, it is not difficult to push this. Because strictly speaking, these traditional handicrafts do not have much technical content. At best, they lack a simple creativity.
This is true for many inventions in human history. It’s not that some traditional crafts are so magical or difficult to make. The difficulty is that various traditional crafts are trapped by window-paper-like creativity. As long as this thin layer of window paper is pierced, it will suddenly open up and transform into another open space. If it cannot be pierced, it will always be looming and hazy.
The most typical example is movable type printing. High-ranking officials obviously use seals every day, but no one thought of using this method to print books until Bi Sheng appeared... Although it was just a small idea, who can deny Bi Sheng? What contribution has this creativity made to human civilization?
As for Yang Ji, although he couldn't create anything himself, he was more knowledgeable than the ancient craftsmen. Things that the ancients regarded as impossible were common to him. At critical moments, he could provide the ancient craftsmen with a stepping stone and an idea. .
"If you have this intention, I will naturally not object. I will arrange some papermakers for you." Yang Jian pondered for a while and then said: "Cai Lun originally improved the papermaking technology and claimed to be the sharpest sword in the world. If it is promoted, In the future, it could win the hearts of scholars from all over the world for the imperial court. Unfortunately, firstly, the technology was immature and not much paper was produced. Secondly, although there are no clear documents recording what happened that year, after the death of Emperor He of the Han Dynasty, Cai Lun began to make paper. The incident gradually faded out of people's sight, and no other Cai Lun came out to make paper, causing papermaking to stagnate for hundreds of years. There are even no relevant records of many papermaking techniques. Do you know why?"
Yang Ji said: "It should be that Cai Lun's papermaking has touched the interests of too many people, so the family members do not want the second Cai Lun to appear."
Yang Jian nodded and said solemnly: "Cai Lun served four young emperors successively. He was a prince, and he also served as a minister with the title of Jiuqing. However, after Cai Lun's glory, he committed suicide. The official The explanation on the surface is that Cai Lun committed suicide due to fear of crime due to a power struggle. But no matter how he declined, he was still a person who respected Jiuqing and Shangshu Ling! Judging from the current official system of our Sui Dynasty, he was one of the chief officials of the five provinces. Even if I would think twice about killing such a minister. However, in the Han Dynasty, a minister who was similar to the chief official of the five provinces was so frightened that he committed suicide in fear of crime. There are many articles about this."
Yang Ji frowned and asked: "Uncle, you mean that Cai Lun violated too many interests because of papermaking, so he became a person like Shang Pan and Zhu Fuyan?"
"The possibility is still very high, so you can make paper, but you can't let others know about it. If new paper is made in the future, you won't be able to receive this extraordinary feat."
Yang Jian looked at Yang Ji and said solemnly: "Just because this is a world dominated by aristocratic families, if poor scholars have more opportunities to study because of the new paper, one day the monopoly of knowledge by the aristocratic families will be broken, so once the new paper appears , you will definitely be attacked mercilessly, and at that point, Ah? and I may not be able to protect you."
Yang Jian's solemn instructions made Yang Ji feel a strong sense of warmth in his heart. He bowed his hands and said, "Thank you for your concern, uncle. I understand."
"As long as you understand." At this point, Yang Jian suddenly asked with a smile: "I heard that you won the beauty's heart in one fell swoop last night?"
Yang Ji said with shame: "I guess so."
"Yes, it means, if it doesn't, it doesn't. What do you mean by 'should be'?" Yang Jian snorted coldly and reprimanded with a look of disgust on his face: "A man who dares to love and hate is a man, isn't he just a woman? Since he has taken a fancy to it, then he will You should just get it at home decisively, what's there to worry about? The man's face has been completely embarrassed by you."
"..." Yang Ji's expression suddenly became strange.
If these words were spoken by anyone else, the listener would feel heroic.
But now, Yang Ji just wanted to laugh.
"The noble Guan Long must have been running around to take care of things. I also need to prepare. You should go back first!" Yang Jian glanced at Yang Ji and suddenly found that this kid was blushing and his neck was thick from laughing. After thinking about it for a moment, he came to his senses and said with embarrassment in his heart: "Go away!"
"Yes, yes!" Yang Ji smiled and ran away quickly.
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