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

Chapter 1143 The Eight Pillars and the Twelve Generals (Part )
After the Northern Wei and Western Wei dynasties were destroyed, Yuwen Tai seemed to think that the reform was not a good idea, so he ordered to abandon the Han system and return to Xianbei customs. Therefore, the Xianbei people who had changed their Han surnames and names in the court changed them back. Not only that, even Han officials had to use Xianbei names.

Yang Jian was from Huayin, Hongnong County, and the 14th generation grandson of Yang Zhen, the Grand Commandant of the Han Dynasty.

The nickname of the Xianbei people was Naloyan, which means indestructible. The Xianbei surname was Pu Liuru, which was given to his father Yang Zhong by Emperor Gong of the Western Wei Dynasty.

However, after several changes of dynasties, the core strength of the Xianbei suffered great losses, which made the power of the northern Han people begin to stand out. After the betrayal of two generations of Xianbei royal family, some people proposed to use more stable and obedient Han people as chairman.

Although they had experienced many ups and downs, and had lived in the Central Plains for a long time, and as a result of Emperor Xiaowen's sinicization, the splendid culture of the Han nationality conquered the Xianbei people from the bottom of their hearts. After several generations of poetry and books, in addition to physical appearance characteristics and surnames,

Even most of the upper-class Xianbei people were indisputably Han Chinese.

The two tribes began to merge, not only in terms of blood, but more importantly in terms of ideology and culture, learning from each other's strengths and weaknesses, and integrating into a new civilization. The backward nomadic people were swallowed up by the advanced Han culture, and at the same time brought vigorous vitality to Han culture.

Under such circumstances, choosing the Han dynasty to consolidate status and interests became the general trend.

After Yang Jian came to power, he learned from the lessons of the internal strife and downfall of the previous two chairmen. He no longer competed with the shareholders, but cherished this hard-won opportunity to restore the Han Dynasty. He united the six major shareholders internally and tried his best to promote reform and development when conditions permitted.

Externally, he sought unity, drew the attention of shareholders, expanded the pie, and greatly improved the value of shareholders' shares. This made shareholders very satisfied, and in turn increased their support for Yang Jian.

With everyone working together, this period saw rapid development.

During Yang Jian's reign, he conquered the Chen Kingdom militarily, successfully unified the world that had been severely divided for hundreds of years, and defeated the Turks. He was revered as the "Saint Khan". In terms of domestic affairs, he created an advanced official selection system, developed culture and economy, and made the Sui Dynasty a prosperous country.

During the Kaihuang period, the Sui Dynasty had a vast territory, the four barbarians were submissive, and the population reached more than 700 million households. It was a glorious period of agricultural civilization.

However, under the appearance of prosperity, the core of the Sui Dynasty was still controlled by the military aristocracy. After decades of open and covert fighting, some families were no longer prosperous, and their shares were reduced, and some other families joined in and held shares.

In general, the Guanlong nobles were no longer limited to the six major families, and their internal structure was constantly changing. However, no matter how they changed, they were still the most prominent group of this era. Their combined strength could still easily overthrow the imperial power.

If Yang Guang was really a tyrant, he would not have touched the interests of the nobles, and he would naturally have been the emperor of peace. But he was a man of great talent and ambition, and wanted to take back the imperial power and become a true emperor.

As expected, the confrontation between the imperial power and the aristocracy repeated the fate of the Western Wei and Northern Zhou dynasties. The Guanlong nobles once again elected the Li family from the core member system, but they chose Li Yuan, who looked the most cowardly and easy to control, and was nicknamed "grandmother's face" by Li Guang.

Knowing the background of this era, we can understand why Li Shimin could easily launch the Xuanwu Gate Incident, replace Li Jiancheng, intimidate Li Yuan, and become the second generation emperor of the Tang Dynasty.

The most important point is that Li Jiancheng's wife was named Zheng Guanyin, from the Xingyang Zheng family of the Five Surnames and Seven Ancestral Clan, and was an authentic Han noblewoman. Li Shimin's wife, Zhangsun Wugou, was the daughter of Zhangsun Sheng, the great-grandson of Zhangsun Zhi, the King of Shangdang in the Northern Wei Dynasty, and the third son of Zhangsun Si, the Grand Master of the Northern Zhou Dynasty.

The ancestors of the Changsun family were a branch of the Tuoba family, a royal family of the Northern Wei Dynasty. In order to avoid suspicion from the main royal family, they changed their surname to Changsun.

In the eyes of the Xianbei nobles, Li Shimin was half one of their own, while Li Jiancheng was a pure outsider.

Yang Jian's wife was a Xianbei, so Yang Jian always regarded the Han and the Hu as one, and did not cause any trouble during his reign. Yang Guang's wife, Empress Xiao, was a descendant of Emperor Wu of Liang, Xiao Yan, and the daughter of Emperor Xiao Kui of Western Liang. She was a daughter of a Han noble family.

Yang Guang spread rumors about the peaches and plums, constantly attacked the Guanlong nobles, and launched three expeditions to Goguryeo, trying to eliminate the nobles through force. Of course, in Yang Guang's view, he was targeting the nobles, not the dispute between the Hu and Han.

In the eyes of the Xianbei people, they were all the same, their shares were going to be taken away anyway.

It is easy to speculate that if Li Jiancheng succeeded to the throne, he would most likely become the second Emperor Yang of Sui. Therefore, Li Shimin, who married a descendant of Xianbei and had great military achievements, like a warrior, easily gained the support of the Guanlong nobles.

On the surface, the Xuanwu Gate Incident was a fight between Li Shimin and his brothers for the throne, but in reality it was an attempt by the Guanlong nobles, centered around the Xianbei forces, to deter the Han imperial lineage represented by Li Yuan in order to secure their own interests and prevent the incident that happened to Yang Guang from happening again.

However, at this time, after hundreds of years of coexistence, the Hu and Han peoples had completely merged into one. The Xianbei nobles also had Han blood flowing in their veins, and some of them were even loyal to the Han family. The Han aristocratic families also continued to intermarry with the Xianbei superiors, and they united with the Xianbei nobles to jointly safeguard their own interests.

With the succession of the Sui and Tang dynasties, even the Xianbei people could not reproduce the prosperity of the Xianbei Dynasty, and could only choose their successors from among those who were more in line with their values.

The same is true for the princes who are vying for the throne.

Anyone who blocked his way to the throne would be ruthlessly eliminated, even if they were from the same ethnic group; and anyone who was willing to support him, even if they were from a different ethnic group, could share his wealth and glory. The defense against foreign invaders was far less important than one's own power and position. In history, there was almost no one who could single-handedly break into the palace, kill the crown prince in public, and replace him, and then force the emperor to abdicate and give the throne to his own emperor.

Li Shimin is unprecedented and unrivaled.

If it weren't for the complicated background of that era, no matter how capable Li Shimin was, he would not have been able to do such a thing.

His success is inseparable from marrying a suitable wife.

Facts have also proved that Li Shimin was more suitable than Li Jiancheng and he created the Zhenguan era of prosperity that was no less prosperous than the Kaihuang era.

Perhaps it was due to his own experience, or perhaps it was to lay the foundation for further sinicization in the future, Li Shimin's princes basically married Han women.

The bloodline of the Tang Dynasty at this time was no longer pure, as if it was a child born from the union of an farming nation and a grassland nation. The mainstream social conflict between Chinese and barbarians during the Qin and Han dynasties was a thing of the past, replaced by the conflict between the aristocracy and imperial power.

Whether it is the Guanlong nobles where the descendants of Xianbei are concentrated, or the Shandong nobles who pass down poetry and literature from generation to generation, or the Jiangnan Chinese who indulge in pleasure.

They all stood in opposition to the imperial power and once again became the 'new eight pillars' that restricted the imperial power.

No wonder people in later generations say that there is nothing new in history.

Dynasties kept changing, one after another, the pattern was still the same, the drama was still the same, it was just that it continued to be performed under a different guise. Now it was the turn of Li Chengqian, the third generation emperor of the Li family.

After checking all the information and learning about the history and the ins and outs, Li Yan couldn't help but sigh. From this point of view, it cannot be said that these aristocratic families usurped the power of the Central Plains dynasty.

Rather, the dynasty was originally established by others, and they owned the original shares, so it was only natural for them to get the share of the dynasty that developed on this basis. No wonder Yang Guang and Li Shimin both failed in the end. In the final analysis, they were not trying to quell the rebellion, but to carry out a large-scale plunder.

Taking the power of the other families back into the court is no less than expanding the territory.

For the imperial power, it is naturally just, but for the aristocratic families whose power has been passed down for hundreds of years, it is blatant robbery.

Li Yan finally came to a conclusion that the unification of the Tang Dynasty was only in form but not in spirit, or that the unification was only half completed, and its internal core was still scattered. It is not difficult to figure out why after the great unification of the Sui and Tang Dynasties, it fell into the chaos of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms.

In the final analysis, the chaotic situation at the end of the Tang Dynasty and the Five Dynasties was a continuation of the invasion of the Hu people during the Jin Dynasty and the Northern and Southern Dynasties, but there was a transition during the Sui and Tang Dynasties. The entire civilization evolved to this point and naturally formed a shape similar to the Central Plains Dynasty.

In essence, it is still an external manifestation of the process of integration between Hu and Han.

Li Yan sometimes thought with evil humor that if the Eighth Emperor of the Qing Dynasty lived in this era, he would propose to restore the "Turtle Council".

I'm afraid even if Zhang Tingyu were reborn, he wouldn't be able to refute it?
At the same time, Li Yan also completely understood the final mission assigned to him by the system. The system wanted him to put an end to the series of troubles caused by the Hu people since they came south, and to break the Mo family who secretly controlled the imperial power, whether it was the "Eight Pillars of the State" or the "Aristocratic Family".

Take back power and rebuild a true dynasty empire!

Lintao, located a thousand miles west of Chang'an City, was called Longxi in ancient times because it was located west of the Long River.

The Tao River, flowing from south to north, was the natural boundary between the Xu, Di, Qiang and the Huaxia peoples in the pre-Qin period. Lintao, located on the east bank of the Tao River, was the military, cultural and political center of the western end of the pre-Qin period to resist foreign invasions.

After Qin Shihuang unified China, he began to build the Great Wall from the east bank of the Tao River at Sanshidun, north of Lintao City, and extended eastward to Liaodong, forming the basic outline of the Qin Dynasty Great Wall. Therefore, the Tao River and the Great Wall became a common barrier in the northwest of the Central Plains Dynasty.

With Lintao as the core and including the surrounding area of ​​a thousand miles, Longxi County was established, which became one of the thirty-six counties of the Qin State.

The Longxi Li family is deeply rooted in this land. Almost all of the Hexi region, with Lintao as the core, is home to Li family branches. After hundreds of years of inheritance, the Longxi Li family has grown into four ancestral houses, 26 main branches, and hundreds of other branch houses.

The vast majority of them grew rapidly after the establishment of the Tang Dynasty, relying on the Li family's powerful resources.

(End of this chapter)