Chapter 679: The Aristocratic Family and the Emperor Share the World
Su Mingzhe searched his memory and a strange look appeared on his face.

In the TV series "The Romance of the Tang Dynasty", Dai Ji became Li Jiancheng's concubine and gave birth to a daughter, Princess Gaoyang, to Li Shimin. Later, because she was angry that Li Shimin did not keep his word, she killed Li Jiancheng's five sons, broke off with Li Shimin, and was sent to the cold palace by Li Shimin.

But in his memory, Dai Ji was just a concubine of Li Yuanji.

After Li Shimin killed Li Yuanji, he saw Dai Ji and fell in love with her at first sight, so he placed her in his harem.

Unfortunately, although Dai Ji was taken into the harem by Li Shimin, she was just like Dai Ji in "The Story of the Tang Dynasty", with a bad temper. She showed no kindness at all when facing the new emperor Li Shimin.

After Li Shimin became emperor, the three thousand beauties in the harem all flattered him. He gradually became addicted to the flattery of other women and gradually forgot about Dai Ji.

Now, Dai Ji suddenly sang when Su Mingzhe came to the Ye Ting Palace.

Su Mingzhe couldn't help but ask Zhang Ananda:
"Does Dai Ji live there alone?"

Zhang Ananda answered honestly:

"Daiji lives with Princess Yin."

Prince Yin is Li Jiancheng.

Princess Yin was Li Jiancheng’s original wife, Zheng Guanyin.

Zheng Guanyin, born in the Zheng family of Xingyang, was beautiful, graceful, and elegant.

She was only 28 years old when the Xuanwu Gate Incident happened.

This age is when a woman is most beautiful.

Seeing Su Mingzhe's dazed look, Zhang Ananda thought his master had some new ideas, so he moved closer and asked:
"Your Majesty, do you want to go and take a look?"

"never mind."

Su Mingzhe shook his head.

Even if I wanted to go and see it, I would sneak over there at night. There is no way I would go there in broad daylight and give myself room for gossip.

When he turned around and went back to Hanyuan Hall, he saw Li Chengqian discussing a memorial with Fang Xuanling.

When the two saw Su Mingzhe coming, they hurriedly saluted.

"No thanks, it's all just empty formalities, Xuanling, please don't be so formal."

Su Mingzhe sat behind the imperial desk and motioned for the two to sit down as well, then asked:

"Xuanling, I want to expand the Imperial College today. Why are you objecting?"

"Your Majesty, it is not that I want to oppose the expansion of the Imperial College, but I know that the ministers of the court will definitely oppose it, so I have no choice but to oppose it."

Fang Xuanling knew that the emperor and his ministers needed to be open with each other, so he quickly expressed his thoughts.

In today's Tang Dynasty, it would be more accurate to say that the emperor and the aristocratic families share the world rather than saying that the Li family rules the country.

The situation in which powerful families controlled the country began in the Eastern Han Dynasty and reached its peak in the Eastern Jin Dynasty.

At that time, there was a saying in the world that "the king and the horse share the world."

The "Wang" here refers to the Wang family of Langya.

"Ma" refers to the "Sima family", the royal family of the Jin Dynasty.

What this sentence means is that the Jin Dynasty was actually ruled by the Wang family and the Sima family.

Later, during the Northern and Southern Dynasties, the power of the aristocratic families expanded further.

At some point, the saying of five surnames and seven clans began to appear in the Central Plains.

The Five Surnames and Seven Clans refer to seven super clans: Longxi Li, Zhaojun Li, Boling Cui, Qinghe Cui, Fanyang Lu, Xingyang Zheng, and Taiyuan Wang.

In order to fight against these super-powerful aristocratic families, the aristocratic families also united according to regions to form the "Longxi Group", "Guanzhong Group", "Shandong Group", "Jiangnan Group", "Hebei Group", etc.

Li Shimin is the representative of the Longxi Group.

The Jingzhao Wei family and the Hongnong Yang family are representatives of the Guanzhong Group.

The Longxi Group and the Guanzhong Group have close relations, are intermarried, and are connected by blood, and are also known as the 'Guanlong Group'.

The Wang family of Langya and the Xiao family of Lanling are representatives of the Jiangnan Group.

Wei Zheng, Fang Xuanling, Cheng Yaojin and others are all representatives of the Shandong Group.

Jiangnan Group, Shandong Group and Hebei Group are also known as the "Kanto Group" because of their geographical similarities and common cultures.

In addition, because of the different political power they controlled, the aristocratic families in the Sui and Tang dynasties were divided into the "Chang'an Group" and the "Hebei Group".

Among them, "Chang'an Group" refers to the legitimate government of the imperial court.

The "Hebei Group" refers to local outlaws.

These powerful families are so intertwined that it is difficult to tell which family is related to which other family.

Which family belongs to the same faction as which family.

These aristocratic families believed that the reason they could survive for a long time was because they controlled knowledge, the right to speak, and the population.

Now, Su Mingzhe wants to enlighten the people and make everyone in the Tang Dynasty as good as a dragon. But for these aristocratic families, this is no different from digging up their ancestral graves.

The ministers in the court are all representatives of the aristocratic forces, so naturally they would not allow Su Mingzhe to do this.

As the head of all officials, Fang Xuanling must take the initiative to speak and give Su Mingzhe a way out.

Otherwise, if we really wait for those ministers to speak, there will be no room for recovery.

When Su Mingzhe heard Fang Xuanling's explanation, his eyes became sharp and he cursed fiercely:
"You are such a jerk, not worth consulting with!"

Seeing this, Fang Xuanling did not dare to defend those ministers.

At this time, Li Chengqian asked carefully:

"Father, the Analects says: 'The people can be taught, but they cannot be made to know; the people can be taught, but they cannot be forced. Why do you insist on enlightening the people?"

"Qian'er, you asked a good question."

Seeing Li Chengqian asking, Su Mingzhe was not angry. Instead, he looked at Fang Xuanling with a smile and said:

"Xuanling, can you tell the prince why we need to enlighten the people?"

Fang Xuanling smiled bitterly and bowed:
"I am an old and foolish minister, and cannot appease the emperor."

"Forget it. Xuanling doesn't want to tell you. Then I will tell you."

Su Mingzhe laughed at Li Chengqian and said, "Qian'er, let me ask you, how can you protect a pond from ever drying up?"

"If you want to keep the pond from drying up, you should increase revenue and reduce expenditure."

After all, Li Chengqian is the crown prince, so he knows the standard answer to this question.

Unexpectedly, Su Mingzhe nodded first, then shook his head and said:

"The only way to save money and increase revenue for a pond is to bring in streams and rivers, but this requires constant management and care, and is not a long-term solution. In my father's opinion, if you want to keep the pond from drying up, you have to move the pond into a river or into the sea."

"...?"

Li Chengqian and Fang Xuanling both had big question marks on their foreheads.

"Forget it. You can think about the truth behind this slowly. It is urgent to enlighten the people."

Su Mingzhe said to Li Chengqian, then smiled at Fang Xuanling:
"Since expanding the Imperial College is not an option, I will find another way. I will order Crown Prince Cheng Qian to be the Jingzhao Yin and take charge of the six officials of the Eastern Palace. Xuanling, please submit a memorial."

"The minister obeys the order."

Fang Xuanling did not expect that the emperor would actually delegate military power to the prince. He was surprised and happy.

In this way, the position of the crown prince will be stabilized and the country will have less turmoil.

Wait for Fang Xuanling to leave happily.

Only then did Li Chengqian kneel down and kowtow to express his gratitude.

"Kid, why are you being so polite to your father? From now on, the Tang Dynasty will be yours. I will let you take charge of the capital and the six officers of the Eastern Palace to train you."

Su Mingzhe asked Li Chengqian to stand up and sit next to him, and began to teach him how to be a good Jingzhao Yin and how to command the six generals of the Eastern Palace.

This teaching took an entire afternoon.

Li Chengqian's blood boiled when he heard this, and he immediately stopped taking Li Tai, the Prince of Wei, seriously, whose prestige in the court was no less than his own.

That's how the world is.

With military power and an army, you have everything.

Wait until dark.

Su Mingzhe waved his hand, signaling Li Chengqian to leave, but in the end he could not help but admonish:
"Go down and prepare first. Screen your friends in the East Palace carefully. If they are not up to standard, arrange for them to have unskilled positions as soon as possible. Don't delay important matters."

"My son understands."

Li Chengqian was not a fool, so he naturally understood that there were good and bad officials in his Eastern Palace, and many of them were not up to the task.

However, he has too few talented people at hand, and he cannot abandon them at will even if he wants to spend a fortune to buy horse bones.

Su Mingzhe didn't know that his son Li Chengqian already had his own ideas and thoughts.

Of course, Su Mingzhe doesn’t care whether Li Chengqian does good or bad things.

It's just a son.

If you can't teach your son well, you still have grandchildren to look after.

If you can't teach your grandson well, there are still great-grandsons to deal with.

I am immortal, so at worst I can keep teaching. I don’t believe that I won’t be able to produce a wise and enlightened ruler.

After returning to Ganlu Palace, Su Mingzhe shouted to the eunuch on duty:
"Wang De!"

"The slave is here."

Wang De, whose courtesy name is Fulai.

In "Empress Wu Zetian", Wang Fulai is also an old scoundrel who takes advantage of others' power to flatter the powerful and bully the weak.

Li Shimin gave Wu Meiniang a reward. In order to win over Wang Fulai, Wu Meiniang took most of it and gave it to him, but he dared to take it.

Later, the old dog beat to death a talented person who had spoken ill of him behind his back.

You know, there is a difference between high and low.

No matter how low her rank was, she was still the emperor's woman.

This old dog punished his master unscrupulously.

No wonder, in the middle and late Tang Dynasty, eunuchs were constantly causing chaos.

Su Mingzhe didn't know how many years Wang Fulai had been bullying the emperor in the harem, but after he helped Concubine Yan to the throne, he would let her get rid of this old dog.

You can't keep a dog that bites its master around.

"Your Majesty, would you like to order food?"

Su Mingzhe nodded silently, then said:

"Go ahead. Also... summon Xu Cairen and Wu Cairen to sleep with you tonight."

Wang De was stunned, a trace of confusion appeared on his face, and asked:

"Your Majesty, are you going to let the two of you sleep with me?"

"What do you say?"

Su Mingzhe glared at the old dog fiercely: "Go now!"

"Here."

Wang De smiled bitterly and hurried to do it.

When Empress Changsun was still alive, the emperor would have sex with several women in one night, but never at the same time.

Now that Empress Changsun is gone, the Emperor is free from all restraints and wants to have some fun.

Wang De was just a eunuch in Ganlu Palace and didn't dare to say anything.

It didn't take long.

Dinner was served first.

Su Mingzhe ate slowly. After another half an hour, Wang De led Xu Cairen and Wu Cairen into the hall.

(End of this chapter)