[The so-called Guanlong Group, which was a collection of aristocratic families, was the most powerful group of nobles at the time.]

[Whether in the Sui or Tang dynasties, these aristocratic families enjoyed certain privileges, such as the most important of which was not having to pay taxes. With vast fields, these aristocratic families became extremely wealthy, and a large number of their children became officials.]

[After gaining power, these descendants would give back to their families and support the younger generations. Over time, this led to a situation where the aristocratic clans monopolized power.]

[Even though the imperial examination system was established during the Sui and Tang dynasties, the promotion and selection of officials was still controlled by the major families.]

[Even great writers like Li Bai and Du Fu had to marry into a wealthy family as a son-in-law in order to have the chance to serve as an official in the imperial court.]

[Even a ruthless man like An Lushan had to get support from all the powerful families when he started the An Lushan Rebellion.]

[The existence of the aristocratic clans greatly compressed the living space of the lower classes. In order to avoid heavy taxes, many poor people voluntarily sold themselves into slavery and became vassals of the aristocratic clans, which directly led to the phenomenon of "the rich have vast fields, while the poor have no land at all."]

[The descendants of slaves will always be slaves, and the descendants of the aristocratic families will always be aristocratic families. Officials support each other's younger generations, so that power will always flow among a small group of people. Even if the world is in chaos, the emperor can take turns to sit on the throne, but the aristocratic families have stood firm for 800 years.]

[It just so happens that these aristocratic families themselves are seriously out of touch with the common people in the late Tang Dynasty. After becoming officials, these people simply cannot understand the lives of the grassroots people. ]

[This is not simply a matter of wealth disparity, but rather a matter of these officials from aristocratic families showing an inexplicable disregard for human life.]

[For example, in the ninth year of Emperor Yizong of the Tang Dynasty, which was 868 AD, a severe drought broke out in the Jianghuai area of ​​Henan, Shaanxi, and Henan.]

How severe was the drought? In Cheng'an County, Shaanxi Province, there was an inscription on the tomb of Jia Tao, which recorded that this official named Jia Tao was ordered to go to Luoyang to serve as a military officer in the 12th year of Xiantong.

[It stands to reason that Jia Tao's official position was not low, but he did not expect that the drought in Henan had lasted for three years, so the local government had no money to pay salaries, and Jia Tao was cut off from food all of a sudden, unable to make a living.]

[In desperation, he had to give up his official position and returned to his hometown, where he died two years later.]

[The drought recorded in this epitaph had already begun in the ninth year of the Xiantong reign. In order to understand the situation, the imperial court sent an inspector named Cui Ruo.]

[This Cui Luo is a descendant of the Qinghe Cui family, one of the seven surnames and ten families in the Tang Dynasty, a legitimate and prestigious family. He was able to become an official without taking the imperial examinations, entirely because of the influence of the Cui family.]

[Although these aristocratic families lived in the Tang Dynasty, their contempt for others was no less than that of the Wei and Jin Dynasties. These people came from wealthy families, so they knew nothing about the suffering of the people. Cui Luo was a typical example of such aristocratic family children at that time.]

[It is recorded in Volume 251 of Zizhi Tongjian that Cui Luo always thought he was a noble person, thinking that he was a high-level intellectual who was free from vulgar interests. Although he was an official, he only liked to talk about things, as if all the social problems of the Tang Dynasty could be solved in his study, and there was no need to understand the situation.]

[At that time, someone told him that since he was an official in the imperial court, he should personally experience the people's sentiments. However, he felt that he was a noble man and could not do such trivial things, so he handed over all the official work to his servants.]

[As for himself, he had no other dream in his life except to have his poems recorded in history, so he usually liked to be with writers.]

[This kind of lifestyle would be fine during the Kaiyuan Period of the Tang Dynasty, but now is a year of great disaster, so he is causing problems.]

[At that time, some people came to him and told him that they couldn't survive because of the drought. Cui Luo, who was an observer, actually pointed to the tree in his yard and said, "There are leaves on this tree. How can there be any drought?"]

[There are still leaves on this tree, how can there be a drought? ]

[After that, he severely whipped the people who had raised the issue. This ignited public resentment, and the disaster eventually led to the Wang Xianzhi Uprising.]

……

"Dog officer! Dog officer!"

Old Zhu was so angry that he almost fainted.

Cui Luo's appearance reminded the Hongwu Emperor of the corrupt officials who ruined his family when he was young. Zhu Yuanzhang looked at the starving people of the Tang Dynasty in the picture, holding Empress Ma's hand with tears on his face, and said sadly: "Thirteen grains of rice, only thirteen grains of rice."

"Even to this day, I still remember this number clearly."

"Only we ourselves understand that if our family could have enough food to eat back then, we would never have rebelled. In this world, there would only be one more honest peasant, Zhu Chongba, and there would never be the Ming Emperor, Zhu Yuanzhang!"

Speaking of the painful part, Lao Zhu drew out the Emperor's Sword angrily: "God damn dog official!"

At this moment, Zhu Yuanzhang really wanted to pick up the Emperor's Sword and go to the Tang Dynasty to kill this dog official named Cui Luo with one sword to vent his hatred!
But unfortunately, he couldn't do it.

Old Zhu wiped his tears and said in hatred: "Da Hu, check it for us!"

"We will kill as many corrupt officials as we find out!"

Zhu Yuanzhang's eyes revealed murderous intent: "We can't control other dynasties, but at least in the Ming Dynasty, in the reign of Zhu Yuanzhang, whoever dares to take bribes and break the law, we will kill him!"

……

Li Shimin's chest kept rising and falling. He really could not imagine that the children of the aristocratic families in later generations could be so absurd.

Simply unbelievable.

Have all the books of sages been read into the dog's stomach?
Don’t you even understand that water can carry a boat, but can also capsize it?

When he thought about how he often quoted this famous saying of Xunzi, and how the officials of later Tang Dynasty were so absurd, his anger was ignited to the extreme.

His eyes were filled with murderous intent.

……

[When the rebels reached Shanzhou, the local residents followed the rebels directly into Cui Rao's government office. Cui Rao was forced to flee. On the way, he asked a farmer for water. The farmer saw that he was wearing official uniform and simply threw him a urinal. Cui Rao put aside his elegant airs and drank it all in one gulp.]

[He was then captured by the rebels, who did not kill him, but simply cut off his hair and plucked out his beard to humiliate him, and then let him go.]

[Because of his incompetent work, Cui Luo was demoted to Guangdong by the court after returning to Chang'an. ]

……

"Great! This is so fucking satisfying!"

When Zhang Fei saw Cui Luo grabbing the urinal and drinking it all in one gulp, he clapped his hands in joy.

This kind of crooked official deserves this fate!
Aloof, what a bullshit!

As a senior official, he takes everything from the people, but he only knows how to talk big every day and doesn't care about the lives of the people at all. This kind of dog official deserves to be killed!
I really don’t know what he has to be proud of!
After reading a few books, you don’t know who you are anymore?
Pooh!
Not only Zhang Fei felt relieved, but Liu Bei standing next to him also had a smile on his face.

The only pity is that the imperial court did not immediately execute this corrupt official.

However, being banished to the hot and humid Guangdong was also a form of exile in disguise.

...(End of chapter)