Since the founding of the country by Li Yuan, a balance has been formed between the central government of the Tang Dynasty and the power of local aristocratic families.
This balance is a tacit agreement reached between the powerful families. When the Li family founded the country, the world was like a big reshuffle. Therefore, the landlords of the powerful families worshiped the Li family as the emperor. At the same time, the emperor accepted outstanding children from all the major families in the world to serve as officials in the court. .
Of course, there are also emerging nobles who are rising. They are the heroes who followed Li Yuan and Li Shimin to conquer the country. Most of them started from the grass, such as Li Jicheng Yaojin, etc. These emerging nobles also occupy a certain position in the court.
Therefore, the current structure of the Tang Dynasty is that the emperor rules the world, with people from aristocratic families occupying most important official positions, supplemented by emerging nobles and scholar-bureaucrats, as well as a few children from poor families who passed the imperial examination and entered officialdom.
This structure is actually unhealthy, because the aristocratic family is too powerful and they have too much power in the local area, even greater than the emperor's imperial edict.
How could the Emperor of the Li family, who was accustomed to commanding the world and dared not disobey, endure this?
So in Li Zhi's generation, he made it his lifelong goal to weaken the family.
This affected Li Zhi's tendency to deal with government affairs. No matter what happened, as long as it involved a family, he would suppress it first.
This is the case for the eight prominent families in the south of the Yangtze River. From a fair standpoint, strictly speaking, both the eight prominent families and Li Qinzai are at fault. The most appropriate way to deal with it is as Dou Dexuan said, each playing fifty big shots.
But Li Zhi disagreed. What he wanted was to establish prestige, and to knock down the family's arrogance. At the same time, he also wanted to take this opportunity to kick out the officials related to the eight prominent families in the court, and hand over their positions to more trustworthy people.
Liu Rengui's memorial was equivalent to a crusade against the aristocratic family. When the courtiers saw Li Zhi's ambiguous attitude, they immediately understood which way the wind was blowing.
The courtiers went crazy and denounced the crimes of the eight prominent families in the south of the Yangtze River. They not only participated in the pursuit of the Shangguan family and raided the Liaodong County official vehicles, but also dug up old events from the past.
Of course, it cannot be the first time that the eight prominent families dare to do these arrogant things in Chang'an City. Only their long-term rampant behavior and the long-term tolerance of others can fuel the arrogance of the noble families and become more and more uncontrollable.
Therefore, we must take advantage of the eight prominent families and seize a lot of them.
From the forced buying and selling in Chang'an City, bullying others with power, the wanton acquisition of land in the Guanzhong area, to local interference in political affairs, resistance to imperial decrees, etc., all kinds of shady things in the past have been dug up.
The courtiers became more and more excited as they participated, and the eight prominent families finally became anxious.
A few days after the incident, the people in the court were in an uproar, and officials from eight prominent families were afraid to go to court to defend themselves.
Noble families perform their duties in the local area, and our officials from noble families are honest and honest in Chang'an. All the accusations are false. Some people are deliberately slandering. Please let the emperor know clearly.
As for rebellion or something like that, it was a huge trap. The noble family had always been loyal to their duties since the founding of the Tang Dynasty, with the Li family as the main body. The noble family had never supported troops, and they did not dare to have any dissatisfaction with the imperial court.
The matter is not over yet, no matter how loud the voice of self-defense is, it will not be louder than the whole city being impeached.
On the third day when the court officials visited the famous family, a decree suddenly came from Taiji Palace.
He ordered a division chief to thoroughly investigate the case involving eight prominent families in the south of the Yangtze River.
"Thorough investigation" means that as long as the court official's memorial contains the content of impeaching a prominent family, no matter whether it is true or false, you will investigate every piece of it. If you pull out the carrot and bring out the mud behind the case, you must also investigate it.
Officials from the eight prominent families panicked.
Who is not a piece of shit if he relies on his family's power to reach this position? Who can withstand investigation?
The emperor and the imperial court were not deaf or blind. It was impossible for them to know anything about what they had done in the past. It was just for the sake of stabilizing the overall situation that the emperor deliberately pretended to be deaf and dumb.
Now the emperor has ordered a thorough investigation, which shows that Liu Rengui's memorial has been planted in the emperor's heart, and the emperor has doubts about whether the eight prominent families are complicit in rebellion.
In any dynasty, once the word "rebellion" is involved, it will be a disaster for the family and the individual.
Even if there is no real evidence in the end, the skin will still be peeled off if you don't die.
While officials from prominent families panicked and went to court to defend themselves, countless letters were sent to the south of the Yangtze River, begging their families to come forward.
Disaster is imminent and reinforcements must be called for.
…………
In the late spring and summer solstice, the lotus flowers in the pond quietly revealed their tips, accompanied by bursts of frogs croaking, which brought a bit of peace to the irritability.
Li Qinzai was sitting on a deck chair in the yard, listening to the frogs croaking in the pond, feeling a little upset.
I fell asleep due to the noise.
Just as he was planning to ask Bu Qu to come over, go into the pond and catch all the frogs, and make fried frogs for dinner in the evening, Butler Wu came in a hurry to report that his disciples were visiting him.
Li Sujie rushed in first, followed by Li Xian, the two princesses of Yiyang in Xuancheng, as well as Xue Na, Gao Qi, Wu Minzhi and others.
Li Qinzai looked at the sky and saw that it was almost noon. He couldn't help but sigh and murmured: "I came here just in time for dinner. Everything is unlucky today. I am destined to be eaten by others..."
But for the sake of his disciples helping him beat up the eight prominent families in the past few days, let's treat them to a meal.
"Sir, you are very carefree and live a much more comfortable life than your disciples." Li Sujie stepped forward to salute and said with a smile.
The disciples behind him all saluted.
Xue Ne was not a disciple, but he was the most rude. When he came up, he picked up a cake on the low table next to Li Qinzai and put it in his mouth. He took a bite and immediately frowned: "It's a bit too sweet and not delicious."
He said it was not delicious, but Xue Ne picked up a piece and put it into his mouth.
Li Qinzai pointed at him, and then said sternly to his disciples: "If a person like this goes to someone else's house as a guest, he will most likely be beaten. Don't imitate him and be polite."
Li Sujie and others couldn't help laughing.
Xue Na clicked his tongue and said dissatisfiedly: "Eating two pieces of cake from you is so stingy!"
As he spoke, he picked up another piece and stuffed it into his mouth, looking at him provocatively.
Li Qinzai said calmly: "This piece fell on the ground just now. I picked it up and planned to feed it to the dog... But it's the same for you."
Xue Na burst out with a puff.
Li Sujie and others couldn't help but burst into laughter. Wu Minzhi laughed the most crazily, his whole body shaking as if having a convulsion.
Li Qinzai looked at him worriedly. This guy's madness seemed to be getting worse. How about letting Jin Dayan check his pulse? Even if the disease is incurable, he could still prepare for a rainy day and arrange a banquet in advance...
After everyone gathered around to chat, Xue Ne mentioned the feat of beating up a prominent family that day.
Everyone present participated, and the atmosphere suddenly became lively.
"I'm not bragging..."
As soon as Xue Ne raised his head, Li Qinzai immediately translated beside him: "He means that the blowing will start soon."
There was another burst of laughter, and Xue Ne's high spirits suddenly froze, and he said: "Brother Jingchu, please give me some face in front of your disciples. Besides, I worked very hard that day."
"There were more than a hundred people in the Kong family's house in Kuaiji, all of whom had their legs broken by me. My personal guard used an iron boring bar as thick as an arm. When the boring tool hit it, there was a click, and all the bones were turned out. I... Anyone who has been on the battlefield is terrified..."
(End of chapter)
