The poor family is different from the poor family in later generations. It is somewhere between famous families and ordinary people. It refers to the landlords, rich peasants, and local powerful classes who have no worries about food and clothing. They don’t have to worry about their livelihood, but they can’t reach the threshold of aristocratic families. What’s important is that they lack historical heritage, family wealth, talents, and connections. If a generation fails to live up to expectations, it will easily weaken and disappear in the long river of history.
The wealth cannot last more than three generations, so it is very suitable to be used on a poor family with relatively small strength.
The people who most want to change their family's destiny by studying and becoming officials are also the group of poor families, not ordinary people who have a full meal and a hungry meal.
Before the proliferation of paper books, books that were considered rare and valuable were collected as heirlooms by aristocratic families. It was difficult for poor people to buy books even if they had money. When movable type printing and cheap paper books became popular all over the world, it indeed reduced the learning costs of poor people; but for many, many people, cheap paper books were just waste paper with more words.
First of all, ordinary people are illiterate. Even if they buy paper books home, they are just like waste paper.
Secondly, just because you know the characters does not mean you can understand the article: First, the Chinese culture is broad and profound. A word or an idiom often has several meanings. After being put together into a sentence, it will derive many meanings, even completely opposite meanings. All. The style of Chu Ci is exaggerated, rich in imagination, and full of metaphors; Han Fu is even more exaggerated, it is just an article piled up with gorgeous words, idioms and allusions; if you don’t have a rich vocabulary in your mind and know everything about it, Meaning, I have no idea what they are talking about.
Second, in the pre-Qin period, because there were fewer and more difficult ways to record cultural thoughts, the sages often had to carefully consider every word and sentence and think twice before inscribing a few words on bamboo slips. This resulted in the articles they left behind being subtle and obscure. However, these happen to be the most important contents that must be tested.
However, many people who know Chinese characters have no idea about idioms and allusions and the meaning behind them due to lack of experience, experience, knowledge, and weak foundation. Therefore, when they face these obscure classical works with allusions everywhere, , is completely illiterate, how can he understand the true meaning? How can I pass the test of others?
Therefore, people who are illiterate need a teacher to enlighten them; people who are literate but do not know its meaning also need a teacher to guide them. Otherwise, those cheap books will not produce knowledge, let alone cultivate the talents the empire needs.
The imperial court's decision to fully restore county and township schools and establish more than ten universities was a blessing in disguise for those who were illiterate and wanted to be literate, but who were literate but did not understand its meaning.
As the courtiers spread the news about this decision, Yang Ji, as the "initiator" and "promoter", undoubtedly gained a lot of popularity; many people with lofty ambitions but difficulty in making progress regarded him as such. Reborn parents are average.
Whenever Yang Ji's car appeared on the street, people who knew the honor guard and flags of Prince Wei's palace would get out of the way and salute silently. Although no one came forward to say anything, their practical way of expressing gratitude also made Yang Ji feel special.
However, everything has two sides. While he gained the gratitude and gratitude of the poor people, Yang Ji also gained the hatred of the nobles. But as Yang Ji said to Yang Guang, "No matter how much you do or how well you do, you will always be the same." There will be a small group of people who are dissatisfied."
In that case, how could he care? If you care, wouldn't you be making yourself uncomfortable?
At the end of the day, Yang Ji was summoned by Yang Guang to the Hall of Renshou. After sitting down, Yang Guang asked with a smile: "How does it feel to be a sage?"
Yang Ji shook his head and said in a deep voice: "To be honest, I really don't feel anything! All I have is a heavy sense of responsibility and mission."
"Your idea is very good and right. We, the emperors and ministers of the Sui Dynasty, should all go all out to repay this historical debt." Yang Guang nodded and continued: "But there are countless officials in the Sui Dynasty. , It is a matter of being loyal but not loyal to the emperor. Please help me think about it, is there any way to solve it? "
"What to solve?" Yang Ji didn't quite understand Yang Guang's intention for a while.
"Don't pretend to be stupid with me, you're not that stupid yet." Yang Guang looked at Yang Ji with a half-smile but not a smile, and said, "In our Sui Dynasty, there are a huge number of unofficial officials, honorary officers, and nobles who are just doing nothing. Officials, attacking officials. When I was the prince, I wanted to take action against this group and get rid of idle officials who were meaningless, worthless, incompetent and without virtue, so as to rectify the atmosphere in the court and save financial expenses."
"How many idle officials do we have in the Sui Dynasty?" Ever since Yang Guang mentioned the system of prefectures, counties, and counties, Yang Ji knew that he would have to face this conversation sooner or later, but when Yang Guang really put it before his eyes, he still felt breathless. Feeling angry. Yang Guang was determined to change this situation, which meant that he would become an enemy of the entire ruling class, and that the Sui Dynasty would conduct a thorough purge! At the same time, it also means that countless people will fall under the butcher knife of change; perhaps, the people who fall will be the Sui Dynasty and the royal family!
"I can't say how many specifically." Yang Guang looked directly into Yang Ji's eyes and said word by word: "But I know that these idle officials combined are not much less than the official officials in the entire world. The reason why he is determined to deal with idle officials , and that’s why.”
"So many?" Yang Ji was also shocked.
"Otherwise?" Yang Guang said with a wry smile: "When Yuwentai entered the Guanzhong, he was a lost dog; in order to stabilize the people in the Guanzhong, he granted special titles to the old officials of the Northern Wei Dynasty who stayed in the Guanzhong, and in order to allow the local powerful to send troops and money to support him To resist the powerful Gao Huan, and to get a special seal, when the two are added together, there is a lot."
"When Yu Wenhu and Yu Wen Yong were competing, in order to gain more support, the two of them each sealed a large number of people. If Yu Wen Yong won, he would naturally be granted the title of Conglong Minister. As for the treatment of Yu Wen Hu's supporters, Except for Yu Wenhu's cronies and direct descendants, he not only dared not touch the rest, but instead used rewards to appease people's hearts. As a result, the number of idlers and officials suddenly increased again."
"In the process of deposing the Zhou Dynasty and establishing the Sui Dynasty, Aye made many promises and gave many rewards. Later, in order to stabilize the internal affairs and defend the Turkic Khanate in the north and the Chen Dynasty in the south, Aye not only recognized all the canonizations of the Northern Wei, Western Wei, and Northern Zhou, but also They also have to grant great titles to their descendants, relatives and friends, and if you add the titles granted to the descendants of the Northern Qi and Southern Chen monarchs, it would be even more."
"In fact, the 'unscrupulous' canonization of various dynasties and promising kings is an expedient measure. Everyone plans to unify the world and then go back to rectify the internal chaos. However, unifying the world is not easy? Although I, the Sui Dynasty, unified the world , but the great clans of the Guanlong nobles have also grown in size in the process of unifying the world, to the point where every great clan has the power to subvert the country."
At this point, Yang Guang sighed and asked Yang Ji with a headache: "With the situation on the other side, do you think I should rectify it or not?"
"Kings who can achieve great things have a heart that never gives up. Now that my brother has decided, he must achieve his goal regardless of the cost and by any means." Yang Ji said word by word: "In the past, Gao Huan used several methods to achieve his goal. The mess is a test for six people, and only by solving it can they pass. In the end, only Gao Yang can solve it."
Yang Guang smiled slightly and added: "Gao Yang drew his sword and cut off the tangled threads. He pulled them out one by one. This allusion means that he cut the tangled threads with a sharp knife."
After pondering for a long time, Yang Ji added: "The general trend of history always shows the inertia of chaos, excess, and great rule; excessive dynasties are either born of compromise or by killing, but no matter how the excessive dynasty is 'born', There are many powerful warlords and local forces left behind; and the people of the conquered places are not attached to them, so the world will easily lose control; if everyone kills them again, the world will soon enter a state of great rule."
"The Romance of Fairy Wood"
The Qin and Han, Sui and Tang Dynasties, Yuan and Ming Dynasties, and Min/Hua were all in this pattern.
"The Sui Dynasty is very similar to the Qin Dynasty. The internal problems are more complicated than the Qin Dynasty. My uncle, like Qin Shihuang, is making drastic changes, which has caused the two names of 'Qin' and 'Sui' to lose their interests. It was so bad that it became the target they wanted to overthrow.”
"I think bloody conflicts are inevitable during the process of change. Since brother, you have decided to rectify the 'mess' of idle officials, then proceed vigorously to the end, otherwise, if you continue to interrupt, you will suffer chaos. But the other party cannot be captured without mercy. Just sit back and wait for death, so brother must have a capable and loyal army. At the same time, he must be mentally prepared to fight again."
In Yang Ji's view, the reason why Yang Guang failed in history was that he made mistakes such as eager for quick success, trusting others, and imprecise methods during the reform process. The second is that he does not have the courage and skill of Liu Bang and Zhu Yuanzhang; to put it bluntly, at the beginning of the reform, he wanted to kill the family members, but he did not have the preparation and courage to destroy the country and rebuild it, so that he was restrained in everything in the later period. Many incredible things have happened.
What's even more terrible is that after the siege of Yanmen ended, Yang Guang hurriedly deployed countless loyal and famous generals in various states (big states), and he deployed Zhang Xutuo, Xue Shixiong, Guo Xuan, Li Jing, Wang Rengong, Wang Wei, Gao Junya, Yao Junsu, Yin Shishi, Gu Yi, Wei Xuan, Qu Tutong, Song Laosheng and other generals, except Qu Tutong and Wei Xuan, were all Sui soldiers. Fight to the death. But even Qu Tutong and Wei Xuan fought until they could no longer fight, and then they were forced to surrender to Li Yuan; and Li Jing, who became the military god in the Tang Dynasty, immediately ran to Guanzhong, preparing to report Li Yuan to Yang You …
It is a pity that those loyal and famous generals did not lack the courage to fight to the end and did not let down the Sui Dynasty until their death. However, Yang Guang, the emperor, lost his fighting spirit, gave up all the previous reasonable arrangements, and betrayed the generals and soldiers who were loyal to him. .
If he has the ambition and courage to clean up the country, and is stationed in Luoyang as firmly as Mount Tai, he can easily wipe out all the rebel kings in the north with just his well-equipped and terrifying Xiaoguo army and several large granaries. Li Yuan, who was suppressed by Wang Wei and Gao Junya, probably didn't even have the courage to rebel.
Yang Guang suddenly understood that bloodshed was inevitable during the revolution! Since the storm will eventually come, it is better to let him come with great vigor. It was just Yang Ji's 'rude' idea that even him was frightened, so he asked Yang Ji in a deep voice: "Do you mean to remove all official positions such as generals and honors?"
In fact, he had a rough idea in his mind, which was to merge the casual and honorary officers. This move was tantamount to abolishing the honorary officers and making those honorary officers obtained through family connections disappear. Then, like the prefectures, counties, etc., they took advantage of the merger to clean up the scattered officials who were the descendants of the nobles. They demoted those who should be demoted and withdrew those who should be withdrawn.
Wait until the situation is a little more stable, and then start with the titles, reducing the nine titles of king, prince, prince, prince, county prince, marquis, uncle, son and male to the third grade of princes, princes and marquises, so the titles below marquis Officials directly deprived them of everything, and those above the rank of Hou also took the opportunity to eliminate many.
However, listen to what Yang Ji means.
Is he planning to cut it across the board?
It's too radical, it's unacceptable.
Yang Ji shook his head and said: "I think idle officials can be changed but cannot be removed. Otherwise, you will end up with the unkind image of 'the best birds are hidden in the bows, and the cunning rabbits are dead and the lackeys are cooked'. And the people in the world only see that you are right" The descendants of the heroes are attacking, but they don’t know your intentions and painstaking efforts. Under the rumors spread by everyone, their impression of you and the imperial court will be greatly reduced. Under disappointment and fear, not only will they not be willing to contribute to the imperial court anymore, but they will also be easily harassed by others. .”
Yang Guang's heart suddenly moved and he frowned: "Then your method is...?"
"I don't believe that those aristocratic families with many idle officials have no complaints from the public at all. We can send people to conduct a thorough investigation secretly, find out the perpetrators one by one, and then encourage them to make trouble. The bigger the trouble, the better. Afterwards, if you publicize their evil deeds, the people will definitely Stand on the side of the imperial court." Yang Ji looked at Yang Guang and said: "With more than ten or twenty offices in various places, we will have the momentum for major reforms. By then, the general trend and the people's support will be in hand. Aren’t these idle officials at my brother’s mercy?”
In Liangzhou, Yang Ji used this method to kill local powerful people who did evil things; but Yang Guang's position was too high, and he could not see and look down on the "grassroots" living at the bottom.
As for listening to public opinion and the voice of the people, it didn't even exist in his mind as an emperor.
Yang Guang did not express his position immediately and pondered for a long time. He was still slowly reviewing the pros and cons of Yang Ji's method. After a while, he said: "This method is very safe and can win the hearts of the people. The only disadvantage is that the results are slow. "
Yang Ji said: "Brother is not yet forty, so he has a lot of time to govern the world. And when we investigate one by one, we can still train the army, develop people's livelihood, organize education, and build local areas, so why focus on one thing? Moreover? How can this big problem, which has existed for hundreds of years in troubled times, be solved in just one or two years? Do you really want to have a major civil war?"
Yang Guang was enlightened after hearing this, and said with a smile: "Today's Great Sui Dynasty was hard-won. If it was not forced, who would want to fight a civil war?"
After finishing speaking, he added: "You are right, I am confused. You should go back first!"
"Here!" Yang Ji bowed and left.
——————
[History: On April 14, the third year of Daye, Yang Guang changed the honorary officials below Shangzhu State to Dafu; he set up a Shaofu prison in Taifu Temple, which was combined with Changqiu, Guozi, Jiangzuo and Dushui to form five prisons; The left and right Yiwei and others were also added and changed into the Sixteenth Guards House; the titles of uncle, son and male were abolished, leaving only the three titles of king, duke and marquis. 】
