"If the price of being a gentleman is to end up in such a miserable situation, then I, Cao Cao, would rather not have this so-called benevolence and righteousness!"

Cao Cao looked at the miserable end of Fu Jian in the sky and secretly vowed in his heart that he would learn from this and become a hero who could realize his ambitions.

At the same time, Liu Bei, who was far away in Sichuan, felt sorry for Fu Jian's failure and couldn't help but wonder if he was too kind at times.

If I had not insisted on so-called benevolence and righteousness back then, Mr. Fengchu might not have died at Luofengpo when he took Yizhou.

With the two gentlemen, Crouching Dragon and Phoenix, in his hands one day, Liu Bei... may be able to take control of Luoyang and return to the old capital.

……

[The most far-reaching peasant uprising - the Huang Chao Uprising. ]

[Huang Chao, who killed 800 million people and used human flesh as military rations, was labeled a brutal traitor by historians, but he removed a cancer that had plagued China for thousands of years.]

……

"Who has the ability to help China remove a cancer that has plagued the country for thousands of years?"

"My goodness, he killed eight million people, but this man is so murderous?"

"How could such a murderer be capable of such a feat?"

As soon as the new video title came out, it immediately attracted the attention of many ancient people, and many princes and ministers became interested.

"What kind of cancer can poison the land of China for a thousand years?"

Liu Bei frowned and thought to himself.

Zhuge Liang on the side thought about it, but also couldn't figure it out.

"Huang Chao, such a familiar name..." Li Shimin frowned, vaguely feeling that he seemed to have heard this name before... and it seemed to be related to the Tang Dynasty!

……

[If there had been no Huang Chao uprising, China would have been poisoned by another caste system like the Indians next door, and this caste system was the ancient aristocratic families.]

……

"nonsense!"

"How can it be!"

"Impossible! Absolutely impossible!"

As the answer was announced on the sky curtain, princes, ministers, civil and military officials from the Han Dynasty, the Three Kingdoms, the Wei and Jin Dynasties, the Sui and Tang Dynasties all blushed, with a bad feeling in their hearts.

It is impossible not to be nervous. In the Han, Sui and Tang dynasties when scholars were extremely scarce, the so-called aristocratic families were referring to them!
"Aristocratic family?" Li Shimin seemed to be thinking about something.

To be honest, he did feel the harm of the aristocratic families over the years.

These aristocratic families have many disciples in the court, and there are suspicions of many shady dealings. Most of the officials they promote are their own disciples and former officials. If this continues, will the Tang Dynasty be the world of his Li family, or the world of these aristocratic families?

Of course!
Even though he felt the threat posed by the aristocratic families to the imperial power, in this era when scholars were extremely scarce, only those aristocratic families could cultivate so many scholars.

And the dynasty still needed these scholars to govern the country.

In addition, his Li family originated from the Guanlong Group, which was itself a noble family, and even had influence from noble families. So even if Li Shimin wanted to eliminate the hidden danger of noble families, it would still be difficult to do so.

They could only think of ways, such as using the imperial examination system to select more people from poor families, to reduce the influence of the aristocratic families in the court.

“How did this person solve this problem?”

Li Shimin thought about it and still found it very difficult.

The aristocratic families had great influence, and he really couldn't figure out how Huang Chao solved this historical problem. Therefore, he became very interested in the way Huang Chao solved this scourge that had lasted for hundreds of years since the Han Dynasty.

……

[As early as the Han Dynasty, the selection of officials provided important power protection for the aristocratic families. The popular selection system at that time was to recommend filial and honest people. For example, Cao Cao was recommended as a filial and honest official, that is, he was recommended by other officials. ]

[However, officials generally recommend each other's juniors, so most official positions are passed among a small number of families, and the lower-class people have almost no channels for promotion. Over time, this has formed a family system, which is commonly known as the phenomenon that there are no poor families in the upper class and no noble families in the lower class.]

[This phenomenon lasted for hundreds of years. Even during the chaotic times of the Three Kingdoms and the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, it was still unable to stop the growth of the aristocratic families.]

[These nobles often owned large amounts of land and tenant farmers. They not only did not engage in production, they also did not pay taxes and constantly exploited workers. Their power was so great that literati even called it "a country lasting a hundred years and a family lasting a thousand years."]

[That is to say, a country's political power can only last for a hundred years, but aristocratic families can continue to exist for thousands of years. The most typical representative of this is the Hongnong Yang family.]

[This family, which has been passed down for hundreds of years, started with a man named Yang Xi, who was a doctor under Liu Bang. When he was chasing Xiang Yu, he grabbed an arm from Xiang Yu and was named Marquis of Chiquan by Liu Bang. Over the next hundreds of years, it continued to grow and eventually became the Hongnong Yang family, the most powerful family in the Central Plains.]

[Especially during the Sui and Tang dynasties, the power of the aristocratic clans became even stronger. Even the handover of imperial power between the Sui and Tang dynasties was nothing more than the result of the power game of the Guanlong Group.]

……

“It is unfortunate to be born in a chaotic world, but if you can turn chaos into order, isn’t it a blessing in disguise?”

Cao Cao sighed. Tianmu's narration made him feel very emotional.

In the late Han Dynasty, when family background was extremely important, if one was not born into a wealthy and powerful family, one's achievements in life would be limited.

If it were a peaceful and prosperous era, Cao Cao might have been only a captain of a military force, and Liu Bei, who came from an even humbler background, could have been only a mat weaver and shoe seller.

It was precisely because of this chaos in the world that he and Liu Bei were able to achieve unprecedented fame.

It is precisely because of this chaos in the world that some people with outstanding abilities can truly step onto the stage of history.

If it were truly a time of peace and prosperity, the court would be controlled by those aristocratic families, and people like him and Liu Bei would probably never be able to turn things around in their lifetime.

Time is also destiny.

"The aristocratic families have a long history and are deeply rooted. It is not easy to break the routine."

Cao Cao sighed. All the scholars in the world came from these ministers and officials. The world still needed these people to govern. It was not easy to recruit talents from all over the world.

Even if you can recruit talents from all over the world, how can you guarantee that these later generations will not become the new generation of aristocratic families?
How can you guarantee that these scholars of humble origins will not become even more greedy when they become officials in the future?

Tianmu once said it well: He who slays a dragon will eventually become a dragon.

Zhu Yuanzhang, the Hongwu Emperor of later generations, was born in a humble family, achieved great success, cared about the people, and refused to rule the world together with the literati. But what about a hundred years later?

The prince of the Zhu family almost bankrupted the imperial court, and these royal nobles were so rich but unkind that they were unwilling to give even a little money from their fingers to help the common people even if they died of starvation.

The root of the problem is that vested interests are unwilling to give up their interests.

Often, once people from the lower classes come to power, they exploit those below them even more harshly!
...(End of chapter)