Six hundred and twentieth chapters just for survival
Xuchang, Tianlao.
"The wine is Fenjiu made from the water of the Fen River in Bingzhou. It is a strong alcoholic drink and has a strong stamina. Even those who are addicted to alcohol will fall unconscious if they drink this bottle." In the relatively tidy cell, Chu Nan said
Putting a pot of wine and a few dishes on the table, he looked at the two people in front of him and said with a smile: "In total, it has been almost five years since I last met."
Tian Feng remained silent, while Jushu poured a glass of wine for each of the three of them, put it to his nose, sniffed it, nodded and said, "The Prime Minister met with me once after his triumphant return. After that, the Prime Minister was busy with government affairs for about several months.
After that, he traveled throughout the six states and accomplished many great things. It lasted for three years, and it has been half a year since he returned to the imperial court. Added up, it is more than four years, but less than five years."
"Forgive me, you two. There are a lot of things to do. Since you have conquered this territory, you should manage it yourself." Chu Nan smiled and raised his glass: "I have nothing to do today, so let's see you two."
"It's rare that someone still remembers us." Tian Feng raised his glass and drank it all in one gulp. The strong wine went into his throat, like a fire rising from his lower abdomen. Tian Feng took a breath of alcohol unconsciously and looked at it with some surprise.
This wine is no longer as strong as it is strong.
"As long as I'm alive, I've been running around for a living, but I've never stopped my two family members from visiting the prison." Chu Nan said with a smile.
"We still believe in the credibility of the Prime Minister." Jushou smiled and said, "It's enough to know that your family is safe and well-fed."
Ju Hu, the son of Ju Shou, has now joined the army of Chu Nan. He is currently working in the Ministry of Personnel. His official position is not high, but he has many things to do and is very busy. He has come to visit several times. Compared with his father, Ju Hu is from a famous family, but he is still young.
People are more likely to accept reality. Under Chu Nan's rule, there were not many scholars, but there were some. Juhu had been living in the shadow of his father when he was in Jizhou. Although he had no worries about food and clothing, as a young man, who doesn't want to prove himself?
His father's life was not in danger. Chu Nan had already said that as long as he figured it out, he could leave the prison at any time. However, Ju Shou and Tian Feng never came out. It seemed that Chu Nan could not be blamed.
Juhu is very satisfied with his current life. Although he is not as worry-free about food and clothing as before, it feels good to gain status and respect bit by bit on his own.
He and Jushou had several arguments and eventually broke up, but they still came to see his father every month, talked about outside matters, and brought some of his father's favorite foods, so the two were never isolated from the outside world in Tianlao.
learn.
In contrast, Tian Feng's son has a typical playboy mentality. Without his father's protection, he cannot survive on his own. He went to prison several times and tried to get his father out so that he could continue to be his protective umbrella. He was frustrated.
Hu at least has his own ideas, and the dispute with Jushou is mostly about ideas.
But between the Tian family and his son, Tian Feng was almost angry to death.
"Time can change many things. Things that were unthinkable before may not be unthinkable now. The concepts that I insisted on in the past will feel funny in a few years. I have no other meaning in coming to Tianlao today. I just want to ask you two whether
Or should we keep the same idea as we did four years ago?" Chu Nan said with a smile.
"The Prime Minister now has a cloud of fierce generals and a rain of advisers. Whether we two return to official positions seems to make no difference to the Prime Minister?" Jushou said in confusion.
"No one would complain that there are too many talents, let alone two such talented people. I gave the Xun family a chance. Even if Xun Yu just stayed at home, I would not let him go. For talents, great talents
, I have always been tolerant." Chu Nan smiled.
He really doesn't feel too urgent now, so talking to the two of them is more like old friends reminiscing. If the two of them are willing to come out, Chu Nan will naturally welcome them. If they are not willing, Chu Nan will not force them.
Ju Shou and Tian Feng were a little silent, and they did not treat Xun Yu badly, but there was a line in between. If he crossed it, Chu Nan would not show any mercy when he started.
"It seems that you two haven't thought about it yet." Chu Nan said with a smile: "Don't worry, just come here today to see these two old friends and eat some food. My chef made it, and it tastes pretty good."
"Prime Minister, I have some unclear matters." Tian Feng was obviously a little over the top and looked at Chu Nan.
"Sir, it's okay to say so." Chu Nan nodded.
Tian Feng said: "I really admire the Prime Minister for being able to achieve today's hegemony. However, the Prime Minister has always made enemies of scholars along the way, and we are both famous people in Hebei. Why does the Prime Minister think that the two of us will defect to the Prime Minister?"
Chu Nan smiled, picked up a piece of egg, put it in his mouth, and said with a smile: "First of all, I never be an enemy of anyone, I just want to survive."
"Seeking to survive?" Tian Feng looked at Chu Nan: "The Prime Minister's quest for survival is quite costly."
Chu Nan didn't blame him. He thought for a while and said, "Look at how you look at the two words, seeking survival. You can seek survival for yourself, you can also seek survival for the people, and you can also seek survival for the world!"
"When I was a merchant in Xuzhou, I never imagined that I would be as successful as I am today, so what I asked for was just food and clothing for half my life. The life and death of others had nothing to do with me. I was seeking survival for myself."
"But on the road to survival, I have seen too many injustices in the world. The high-ranking gentry can talk eloquently and pity the common people, but they cannot see that the people under their feet have plenty of food to eat and not enough to eat.
?Still don’t want to see it?”
"If I were a scholar, I should be like them. After all, no one would betray their position. Unfortunately, I am just a businessman. I can't change anything after seeing it. Although I am favored by my wife and am lucky enough to enter an official career, I know very well that in
For these noble men, I am still a merchant. If I follow the path of the princes and work hard to win over the nobles, given my father-in-law's reputation at that time and my background, not to mention the current situation, even Xuzhou may not be able to keep it!"
"At this time, I still seek survival, but what I seek is not just my own survival, but the survival of my father-in-law, my wife, and the loyal soldiers!" Chu Nan said with a smile: "It was also at this time that I began to look at the people's livelihood and the world.
, look at oneself, whether the princes are strong or weak, in the final analysis, it is just to see whether they can attract more people to my use. These people can be scholars or people, but since ancient times, although there are people
It is said that you should treat your superiors lightly, but no one has ever really practiced it. If you are not talented, I would like to be the first person to practice it."
"The slaughter of the Xuzhou nobles was not because they did anything wrong, but because their existence harmed people's livelihood!"
Tian Feng said angrily: "It's ridiculous. Since ancient times, the emperor has relied on scholars to rule the world. Scholars and kings have always complemented each other!"
"But now, the power of the gentry has long overtaken the imperial power. The gentry occupies a large amount of land, the population, and the people's livelihood of a state and a county are basically covered by the big network formed by the gentry and the powerful. There was imperial power in the past, but after Dong Zhuo's chaos
Before the dynasty, the imperial power had declined. I have been reading historical materials in the past few days and found some very interesting things. Emperor Ling used various means, including selling his officials and conferring titles, to break the control of the gentry over the officialdom and the local area!"
Chu Nan looked at Tian Feng and smiled and said: "We won't say whether this move is stupid or not, but even if it is stupid, it can be regarded as the Ling Emperor's counterattack against the scholars. What's more coincidental is that the Taiping Rebellion followed."
"Of course, there are many reasons for the Taiping Rebellion, but some things are really coincidental. After the Taiping Rebellion, all those who bought offices were purged by the Taiping Rebellion. On the contrary, the scholars and officials were not affected. Instead, they
In this chaos, military power was obtained."
"We don't talk about the abilities and virtues of these officials, but according to normal circumstances, there should be a small group of survivors, but there are none. According to our standpoint, whether these people are good officials or not, they are all
Belongs to the royal party."
"And as far as I know, the Taiping Sect was a guest of many aristocratic families before the uprising."
"After that, Emperor Ling was assassinated in Jizhou during his eastward tour. Although he was unsuccessful, Emperor Ling died the following year." Chu Nan said with a smile: "Many things seem a little unreasonable. For example, the original governor of Jizhou, Wang Fen, was
How do you have the courage to plot to assassinate the emperor? Why do you want to assassinate him? It is rare for a scholar to take the initiative to attack the emperor."
"What's even more interesting is that the participants in this matter range from Wang Fen to Xu You and He Yong. Although they are all considered celebrities, the one with the highest official position is just the governor of Jizhou. According to common sense, it is impossible to know their levels.
It is even more impossible to prepare in advance for the emperor’s eastward patrol route.”
Tian Feng and Jushou were silent, they naturally knew these things.
"These things seem to be accidental, but one day I was very bored. When I connected these things with the scholars, what I saw was a huge network." Chu Nan looked at the two people and said with a smile: "
I have never rejected the scholars, it is the scholars who have always rejected me, and I have never thought about butchering, but every time I make a government order, I must cut the flesh from the scholars in order to feed these tens of millions of people.
The people under the knife may be confused for a moment, or some may have done good deeds throughout their lives, but to me, you are a whole, so huge that even if I stand on tiptoe and look up, I can't even see it. There are so many of you in this world that I can see when I go out.
Almost everything I heard and heard was mastered by the warriors."
"I don't want to be mediocre all my life, and I don't want to start a business on my knees, so I have to do this." Chu Nan sighed: "Maybe you are not wrong, but when you put too many things into your pockets legally and reasonably,
, that’s wrong, this is not for me, nor is it just for the survival of the people, but for the survival of the world, can you two gentlemen understand?"
Seeing that the two of them were silent, Chu Nan took a sip of wine and said: "It's true that we cherish the talents of these two people. There are only so many talents in the world, and we can't bear to kill them. I can understand that you two don't want to come out, so I still say the same thing."
, if you two are willing to come out and do something for the common people in the world, and wash away some sins for the scholars, then come out and use it for me. Let's do something together. It's hard to say how future generations will view you and me. After all, the pen is written in
It’s in your hands, but I just want to be clear in my heart. That’s all I have to say. It’s getting late, so I’ll take my leave.”
After saying that, he stood up, pushed the door open, and strode away.
In the cell, Jushou smiled bitterly and said, "That's it for now, Yuan Hao, I want to... go out and have a look."
"It's time to discipline that evil son of mine!" Tian Feng sighed. It had been more than four years, and Chu Nan's words also made his position clear. As for himself... In four years, the outside world has changed. He