The film and television world begins with the battle for the throne in Kowloon

Chapter 1008 Li Shimin's Entrustment (Part )

Although Li Shimin was unsure, he had no choice now. He could only trust Li Yan. Only if Li Yan succeeded to the throne would there be minimal resistance, and he could also unify the power of the royal family and the kings to the greatest extent, reduce internal friction, and jointly deal with the most important enemy of the Tang Dynasty, the aristocratic family.

Suddenly, Li Shimin's eyes released a sharp light, staring at Li Yan intently and admonishing him: "This world is the result of the hard work and struggle of several generations of our Li family. I don't know how many people died and how much blood was shed for this."

"As the founding emperor, your royal grandfather was definitely not as incompetent as the outside world saw him to be, but he would rather endure my persecution and compromise to preserve the Li Dynasty. If the Tang Dynasty is lost in your hands, the spirits of our ancestors in heaven will never forgive you."

"If I entrust you to the wrong person, even I will not be able to give an account to my ancestors."

Li Yan was startled for a moment, then said firmly: "Don't worry, father. I know the importance of this. If I didn't have the ability to shoulder the responsibility of the country, I wouldn't have accepted this mission. I promise you, father, that even if I can't make the Tang Dynasty as great as you are, I will do it."

"I will also protect this vast land and pass it on safely to future rulers."

Li Shimin looked at Li Yan with sparkling eyes, as if he wanted to see through his son and see if he could live up to his trust.

Li Yan also looked at Li Shimin without blinking, his face solemn and his eyes determined, as if he had a strong sense of self-confidence and boundless confidence.

After a long time, Li Shimin's expression relaxed, with obvious fatigue showing on his face, and he nodded silently.

"Do you remember what my father and I spent several days discussing here in the third year of Zhenguan?"

"Of course I remember. It's about the aristocratic family."

Li Shimin frowned and said, "You gave me a lot of ideas back then, including those policies on land annexation. I have been trying to implement them over the years, but the effect is not very good and there is a lot of resistance."

"The local gentry relied on the support of the noble families in the court to pretend to obey the court's policies, distort the facts, use the local advantages to incite the ignorant people to target the court, and organize large-scale violent resistance to the law."

"Plus, a large number of officials who implement your policies are also from aristocratic families. Based on my experience over the past decade, I have finally come to the conclusion that your policies are good, but they are impractical and cannot be implemented."

At this point, Li Shimin looked at Li Yan with a complicated expression, but he did not blame Li Yan. After all, Li Yan was only in his teens at the time and did not have much life experience, let alone the most basic understanding of this society.

These measures were only proposed with the consideration of the actual effect being beneficial to the country. However, they did not expect that the existence of the aristocratic families would make it impossible to implement these good policies.

Not to mention Li Yan, didn’t I make a wrong judgment myself?

"However, I secretly spread the printing technology you gave me in the south. Over the years, a large number of books and classics have reached the homes of ordinary people."

"The Four Books and Five Classics are everywhere in the streets. You can buy a copy for just a few dozen coins. Ordinary people can also learn knowledge."

"After they opened their eyes to the world, they also constantly sought opportunities to advance in the court, and even the aristocratic families had to give in. In recent years, the court has opened up the imperial examinations, which are held every three years. More and more officials from grassroots backgrounds have entered the officialdom."

"All of this will help you accumulate deep strength to deal with the noble families in the future. Your starting point will be much easier than mine."

Li Shi was very happy. Fortunately, when the printing technology was first spread, it was not through the official channels of the court. Instead, it was treated as a business and distributed among the people in the south far away from Guanzhong. Using the East Factory's business as a cover, it also made a lot of profits.

Woodblock printing already existed in this era, and movable type printing itself was not very technically difficult, it’s just that no one thought of it.

After this guidance, businessmen soon figured out that books, as a medium for disseminating knowledge, were controlled by wealthy families. It was not that outsiders could not get them, but that the printing cost was too high, which hindered the circulation of books.

The convenience of movable type printing quickly opened up the efficiency of book production.

The huge profits also attracted a large number of merchants to join in. A large number of books came out and the prices kept falling. By the time the northern nobles noticed this situation and wanted to use their power to control it, the south was already full of classics.

Thinking of the great anger of the top leaders of the aristocratic families, some even said that the peak of the aristocratic families is about to pass, and the future belongs to the common people who will step onto the stage of history.

Li Shimin was secretly happy in his heart. Fortunately, those people didn't know that he was the one behind it. Otherwise, they would have attacked him long ago.

Li Shimin was thinking of something, his expression was stern, like a wounded tiger, his eyes emitting deep hatred: "Even my fate is inseparable from these policies. The noble families all know that this is aimed at them."

"However, as long as my Li family is on the throne, no matter what the cost, we will take back the imperial power that belongs to us." "You are also well aware of the harm of aristocratic families. During this period, I have never concealed the truth about the Tang Dynasty. I think you have learned something about the current situation of the Tang Dynasty. Tell me, what do you plan to do in the future?"

During the half month since Li Yan returned to Chang'an, Li Shimin discussed state affairs with his ministers during the day and called Li Yan to Chengqing Palace at night to tell him all the actual situations of the Tang Dynasty, including the people's situation, military strength, financial situation, etc.

Li Shimin used his last bit of energy to help Li Yan gain a clear understanding of the country within half a month. All first-hand information from various departments of the three provinces and six ministries of the court were open to Li Yan, and Li Yan could inquire about anything at any time.

After understanding the whole situation, Li Yan felt uneasy. The real situation was far more serious than he had imagined.

The dynasties between the Sui and Tang dynasties were not pure. Although they were countries, they were not the same as the Qin and Han dynasties.

The country was just a loose alliance left behind after hundreds of years of ravages by northern nomads in the Central Plains. Fundamentally speaking, there was no essential difference between it and the tribal alliance of the steppe Turks, except that its structure was tighter.

It is just wearing the cloak of the Central Plains dynasty.

The aristocratic families almost monopolized all the upper ruling power of the Tang Empire, and the royal family was just a spokesperson they put forward. To put it bluntly, whether it was the Yang family or the Li family, they put forward them to seek benefits for them.

It is not for the sake of the country, the people and their well-being; those are just words, the product of their desire to maintain a stable order and enjoy wealth.

More than 80% of the officials in the court belonged to this group directly or indirectly. The ones who really had the final say on the affairs of the court were not the emperor or the officials, but the heads and clan leaders of the aristocratic families scattered all over the country.

In the army, whether it is the Sixteen Guards of Chang'an, or the Zhechoufu in various places, the Dudufu in important areas, the Marching General's Office in the border areas, etc., more than 80% of the officers and soldiers at all levels in the army are directly or indirectly from aristocratic families.

In all prefectures, counties and cities across the country, more than 80% of the high-quality land is in the hands of these aristocratic families. A family with a slightly larger scale controls at least half a county, and this scale is still expanding.

The caravans and trading companies that led to all directions in Chang'an City were mostly sources of wealth for prominent families.

From the court to the local areas, from the army to the land, from wealth to population, the major families have woven an unbreakable network in all directions and in all dimensions, holding almost all the resources of the society in their hands.

The only way for ordinary people to get ahead is to work as their dogs, depend on them, and work hard for them for several generations, so that they can get some opportunities to manage their businesses and change their class.

Although Li Shimin has promoted a series of reforms in recent years, we can learn from Li Shimin's frankness that these policies have not been fully implemented and most of them have become formalities, which has given the grassroots people some hope.

In the end, it was not implemented, which caused many contradictions and conflicts between ordinary people and local tyrants.

The power of the aristocratic families in this era was far stronger than Li Yan had imagined. From the central government to the local levels, they were intertwined and dense, and had long formed a huge network of interests, like a thick dark cloud, covering the entire Tang Dynasty.

Ordinary people were simply unable to cope with it. If they dared to resist, they would be severely suppressed. In serious cases, there would be bloody massacres. After the chaos and cruelty of the Five Barbarians era, anything that happened in the Central Plains was not surprising.

The people are very accepting of this as long as they can stay alive and are not treated like livestock.

The previous Li Yan came from later generations and did not understand this era. He always felt that the power of the people was very strong. In fact, that was just because later generations entered an enlightened era, the status of the people improved, and various rights were greatly liberated.

Li Yan discovered it only after living in this era for more than ten years with his personal experience and the true perspective of being an emperor.

The people in ancient times were not like cattle and horses, but were cattle and horses.

It was even more prosperous during the Sui and Tang dynasties. It could almost be said that the power of ordinary people and aristocratic families was divided into 20:80. Even the 2% left by the common people was just a buffer zone left between the aristocratic families, just like the ridges and corners between two pieces of land in the fields, to avoid conflicts among the aristocratic families.

In fact, in this era, only the aristocratic families are needed to support the entire world, and ordinary people are just like cattle and sheep in a pen, with no status at all.

This era was a feast for aristocratic families. The so-called prosperous Chang'an and prosperous Luoyang were nothing more than places of entertainment for the aristocratic class.

Li Yan now understood a little bit why the Huang Chao Uprising in the late Tang Dynasty was so brutal. There was really no other way.

At the same time, it is also the bitter fruit caused by the endless greed of the aristocratic families.

(End of this chapter)