"Oh? Could it be that Brother Xian already knows about this sect?!" Seeing that Xie Xin was not surprised, Gongsun Sheng immediately thought of it.
"Brother dissatisfied, the founder of the sect, Zhang Jiao, is a disciple of a good friend of mine. Not long ago, Zhang Jiao also came to me to ask for some funding." Xie Xin replied with a wry smile.
"Unexpectedly, it turns out that Brother Xian and Zhang Jiao have known each other for a long time." Gongsun Sheng suddenly asked, "Does Brother Xian know what is hidden behind Zhang Jiao's founding of the Taiping Sect?"
"This little brother didn't ask anything. In fact, if it weren't for the sake of his master, I really wouldn't pay attention to that guy." Xie Xin smiled and shook his head.
"Oh? Look at how good my brother is, but why are you dissatisfied with him?!" Gongsun Sheng became interested.
"It's nothing, I just look down on his character." Xie Xin did not criticize him.
"Haha, this person is a bit arrogant, but in our eyes, he is just a tool that can be thrown away after use. If he is more arrogant, we can hide it deeper." Gongsun Shengpai said.
He patted Xie Xin on the shoulder and spoke comforting words.
"Brother, what you want to talk about seems to be relatively large in scope and involvement!" Xie Xin asked with a smile.
"Let's not mention this for now! Dear brother, I'd like to ask you first, what do you think a noble family is?" Gongsun Sheng waved his hand and then changed the subject.
"In the impression, he should be a slave of lust for power?" Xie Xin thought for a moment.
"Haha, it might be okay if that's the case..." Gongsun Sheng shook his head, "To be precise, they should be some cowards who are in constant fear all day long."
"Brother, you are scolding yourself!" Xie Xin teased.
"You can scold me, it's true anyway! Although it's a bit embarrassing to say it, once you forget this, you will only become one of those unworthy aristocratic families." Gongsun Sheng said nonchalantly.
"Okay, let's not talk about this for now. Then, elder brother, can you tell me how to explain the so-called 'coward who is in panic all day long'?!" Xie Xin changed the topic at will.
In other words, he is also very curious about this.
"The reason why such a situation occurs is, to put it bluntly, we 'know too much'." Gongsun Sheng sighed slightly.
Without waiting for the thank you letter to continue asking, he instead asked: "If you are an ordinary citizen and you are working hard every day on how to survive 'today', have you ever had time to think about why you are
Do you want to live like this?"
"You probably don't have that much free time!" Xie Xin thought for a moment and replied helplessly.
When survival is a problem, survival is the most important, and other things can be ignored.
"So you have small assets and don't worry about survival. Will you consider how to further expand your assets?" Gongsun Sheng asked again.
"I'm afraid there are only a few people in the world who can be content with a small amount of wealth..." Xie Xin shook his head.
"Yes, everyone has desires. After being suppressed by 'survival' for so long, they are suddenly released and become even stronger.
But the question is, how do you get rich? At the same time, how do you ensure that your property will not be missed by interested people?" Gongsun Sheng was a little excited at this moment.
"Brother, don't you mean that this is the main reason for the formation of aristocratic families?!" Xie Xin understood a little bit.
"Yes, although there is still a slight gap, basically the formation of aristocratic families is actually because of this. On the one hand, they want to expand their wealth, and on the other hand, they have to worry about whether the wealth in their hands will be taken away by those in power.
By this time, they have enough resources to understand the world and its rules. At the same time, they also understand how powerless they are in front of the government.
It was from here that the prototype of the aristocratic family began to appear. According to the route it took, it was divided into three grades: upper, middle and lower. As for those guys who are just as wealthy as they are, they are what we call unworthy aristocratic families." Gongsun Shengrao
Explained with interest.
"In the age of power, that's how it is." Xie Xin said that he could understand.
In this era, it only takes one word from the king to wipe out an entire town. And local officials often only need one word to destroy a well-to-do family.
"So, how to classify the so-called third-grade families?!" Xie Xin asked casually.
"Before we talk about this, we must first talk about those families who are not well-off." Gongsun Sheng raised his cup and took a sip of tea. "The so-called families who are not well-off mainly refer to those families whose ancestors have served as officials or who have made a fortune due to chance.
.It’s just that they did not develop further, but just lived with the resources in hand.
Under such circumstances, they may be lucky enough to survive for a long time. But in more cases, they will be defeated after three generations, and then their descendants will start running for survival again. Or the court may change, or even some natural or man-made disaster may happen.
Their family was ruined.
In fact, it is precisely because of the appearance of this group of warriors that other unqualified aristocratic families clearly realized that ‘it is not possible to continue like this’, so those third-grade aristocratic families began to appear.”
Without waiting for Xie Xin to ask anything, Gongsun Sheng began to explain to him: "The so-called lower-class families are those that are attached to larger families. For example, the Yuan family or our Gongsun family have many middle-class families, and in the
Below them are even lower aristocratic families.
As for middle-class families, they disdain to rely on big families, but link their families with the imperial court. In this way, when the imperial court flourishes, they can obtain or even surpass the benefits of the big families. But similarly, once the imperial court changes
, they are often the families that deteriorate the fastest.
Finally, there is the big aristocratic family. In fact, this is the ultimate posture of the aristocratic family only after summarizing the long-term experience of the middle-grade aristocratic family.
To put it simply, when you have been attached to the imperial court for a long time, you have realized the fact that a change in the imperial court will lead to the destruction of your family, so while you are attached to the imperial court, while strengthening yourself, you also start to seek independence.
For example, the Yuan family, their four generations and three princes, relied on the imperial court to obtain absolute power. But at the same time, they also began to become independent from the Han Dynasty. The decline and even demise of the Han Dynasty had a gradual decline in their influence.
In fact, strictly speaking, our Gongsun family is almost in the same situation now.
Now in western Liaoning, our Gongsun family has absolute authority. Before the demise of the Han Dynasty, we were definitely like princes in western Liaoning. And even if the dynasty changed, we would only lose absolute control over western Liaoning, but here,
We are still existences that no king can touch casually.
In other words, our Gongsun family has reached the point where it is now, unless we encounter a tyrant who has no regard for the consequences, or a barbarian who can only kill but not govern the country, we can continue to pass it on semi-permanently."
"Then if there is an aristocratic family that starts competing in the nine states when the country is in turmoil, then what kind of aristocratic family is it?" Xie Xin asked.
"Haha, Brother Wei said before that the aristocratic family is a group of cowards. It exists because it knows too much and is worried about being destroyed by others. Once it has changed from a coward to a bold one, then it cannot be called a aristocratic family.
Yes." Gongsun Sheng replied with a smile.
Probably because he felt that the explanation was not enough, he continued: "To put it simply, for such a family, they have been blinded by the desire for power and have joined the emperor's game. From this moment on, they are no longer in the traditional sense.
A noble family, but a potential emperor.
Generally speaking, from the perspective of the major families of the Han Dynasty, the stability of the Han Dynasty is the most ideal state. Because only in this state can they obtain greater benefits.
But once a potential emperor appears, the moment of decision will appear.
Continue to follow the original emperor, or join the potential emperor.
These two roads lie in front of the world's aristocratic families.
The first person to follow a potential emperor, if he successfully defends his title, then the follower, even if he is from a low-grade family, can be upgraded to a mid-grade family after defending his crown. And a mid-grade family has a high chance of being promoted to a high-grade family.
The degree of improvement mainly depends on the order in which you defect. The earlier you defect, the greater the harvest will be. The later you defect, or if you even have to be forced by others to defect, then not only will you not get the benefits, but you will suffer a certain amount of suppression.
We should pay attention to one key issue, that is, from the moment the potential emperor appears, all the aristocratic families in the world will automatically be downgraded to middle-grade aristocratic families. To put it bluntly, this is why people below have always rebelled against those from big aristocratic families.
The reason why everyone will react the strongest.
As for the group of aristocratic families who followed the original emperor, if the competition for the potential emperor fails, their power will not decrease, but will be further enhanced. However, once the competition for the potential emperor succeeds, then this group of aristocratic families will also follow suit.
As the original emperor everything collapsed.
Similarly, if those families that are attached to the potential emperor fail in the competition, they will disappear along with the potential emperor. Therefore, without enough courage and sharp eyes, few aristocratic families will go there in the first place.
Take refuge.
In layman's terms, the current emperor is a rare commodity, and the other potentials are also rare commodities. But if you want to be that rare commodity, you must act quickly and accurately."
"Then what would the Gongsun family do if they encountered such a situation?" Xie Xin teased.
"Haha, I'll just be a fence-sitter. Whoever has the upper hand, we'll go to. Even if we don't get much, we may even be suppressed, as long as the family doesn't die, we can still be promoted one day.
Yes." Gongsun Sheng replied with a smile.
"Last question!" Xie Xin took a sip of tea, "What is the connection between the three products of the aristocratic family mentioned before and the rare things to live in, and Zhang Jiao's Taiping Religion?!"
"To be precise, there is a big connection!" Gongsun Sheng smiled slightly, "If that Taoist Zhang Jiao founded a small sect, then we would not take any action. But he suddenly bought people's hearts with the intention of creating a super big sect.
If it is sent, then it is a huge opportunity for us."
"Although the Han Dynasty has declined, its power is still there. In this state, those families whose power has reached its peak and have no other choice but to choose to become potential emperors cannot rebel openly because they know that this will only
Was wiped out immediately.
But Zhang Jiao's founding of the religion just gave them a chance.
To put it simply, regardless of whether Zhang Jiao really wants to create a super-powerful sect, we will work together to push him forward and make him jealous of the king, and he will eventually have to become a potential emperor.
The emperor who has been ripened in this way is fundamentally unreliable, so he is destined to fail.
But Brother Wei said before that under such circumstances, the family that follows the original emperor and defeats this potential emperor will gain greater benefits.
In other words, this is a big deal with guaranteed profits and no losses. Because Zhang Jiao is destined to fail, and his side is destined to win. With such a safe deal, who would not do it?!
So let alone those families with evil intentions, we should wait for these families without ambition to come forward to make some soy sauce and drink some soup.
In this destined rebellion and counterinsurgency, the major families of the Han Dynasty will gain a lot. As for those who want to become potential emperors, they will use this opportunity to weaken the upper class as much as possible.
An emperor, and further improve his strength.
Only when the time comes, will they truly become potential emperors and join the game of emperors. In this way, their chances of winning will be greater, and the possibility of becoming real emperors will also increase.
.
At that time, the so-called Emperor's Game will truly begin." Gongsun Shengyue said, his mood and expression becoming more and more excited.
But after listening to his explanation, Xie Xin finally understood.
Why were the rebellions in the past dynasties, apart from the barbarians seizing power, why were there not first peasant uprisings and then local aristocratic families seizing the throne?
For example, in the Qin Dynasty, Chen Sheng and Wu Guang first came out to make a fuss, and then the major aristocratic families mobilized troops to compete in the nine states.
Another example is the Three Kingdoms. First the Yellow Turbans came out to make a fuss, and then with the help of Dong Zhuo's rebellion, the heroes divided the country.
In fact, each subsequent dynasty also had this shadow more or less.
It is not even an exaggeration to say that after the Ming Dynasty experienced a peasant uprising, a certain domestic family would have raised troops to seize power. But what they did not notice was that the Tatars also joined in and destroyed the country with the help of killing and brutality.
Rules forced him to become the emperor.
They fight back and forth just to further enhance their power, and as a result, the Chinese nation declines again and again. Why bother?
Xie Xin thought about all the things in history and couldn't help but sigh.
Perhaps, this is the feudal era, a characteristic of such a powerful era?