[This is the aristocratic family of the late Tang Dynasty. While they were snatching opportunities from ordinary scholars, they also continued the style of doing things during the Wei and Jin Dynasties.]

[This phenomenon is similar to the caste system in India, which was a major cancer in ancient China. Huang Chao, who came from the bottom of society, was deeply poisoned by the aristocratic families.]

[Huang Chao took the imperial examination three times, but those who were selected to serve as officials in the court were always from aristocratic families.]

[During his third imperial examination, he decided to take one last gamble in order to seek fairness and chose to participate in the military examination.]

[After all, you can manipulate poetry and songs in secret, but you can’t cheat in the martial arts examination, which is a test of strength in front of everyone, right? ]

[However, just when Huang Chao tried his best and fought his way to the first place, the examiner rejected him on the grounds that he was not handsome enough, which made Huang Chao’s mentality collapse.]

……

“To be a soldier, you still need to look good?”

Zhang Fei was stunned for a moment, then he was furious: “These dog officials are too much! Is there any fairness at all?”

Zhang Fei was furious. This was completely denying ordinary people a chance to survive!
There is no fairness at all!

Since there is no fairness, is there any need for this so-called imperial examination to exist?
“Damn it! If I were Huang Chao, I would rebel too!”

Zhang Fei shouted without restraint, “Not only will I rebel, but I will also kill all these corrupt officials in the future to vent my anger!”

Zhuge Liang was startled and looked at Zhang Fei in horror. Thinking back to what Tianmu had said before, Huang Chao had solved the problem of the aristocratic families, a crazy idea suddenly occurred to him…

Could it be…

“No way…” Liu Bei also looked at the sky in shock. This Huang Chao… shouldn’t be so rebellious…

……

[However, Huang Chao was Huang Chao after all. He did not belittle himself because of his unsuccessful career, nor did he go on a spontaneous trip like Li Bai and Du Fu after they were frustrated. On the contrary, after seeing through all this, he attributed it all to the court.]

[He was filled with melancholy and heroic spirit, and wrote the poem “Poem on Chrysanthemum after Failure” which influenced the Tang Dynasty and even the whole of China.]

[When autumn comes on September 8th, I will kill all the flowers after they bloom. 】

[The fragrance of incense fills Chang’an, and the whole city is covered with golden armor. ]

……

During the Zhenguan period.

The emperor and his ministers, including Li Shimin, were all shocked.

“How could there be such a lunatic in the world!” Fang Xuanling’s face was solemn.

This poem can be said to be murderous and treacherous!

But to be fair, Huang Chao’s anger is understandable.

After studying hard for more than ten years, I don’t know how many hairs I have lost and how much effort I have put in, but in the end, it all means nothing. I can’t compare to others who have a better background. Anyone would feel resentful.

Li Shimin also understood Huang Chao’s anger.

The chaos of cheating in the imperial examinations in later generations had long deviated from the original intention of the court to establish the imperial examination system, and was definitely not what he wanted to see.

In addition, after seeing the actions of the children of the aristocratic families represented by Cui Luo, Li Shimin was horrified to find that although he should have been angry about Huang Chao’s rebellion, he found it difficult to feel hostility towards him.

More often than not, they were angry that their descendants did not fight for it, and left the Tang Dynasty in tatters.

“Perhaps, it is Li Tang’s fate that should be over.”

Li Shimin felt heavy in his heart.

The fact that the rulers and ministers of the late Tang Dynasty were so foolish, does it mean that the Tang Dynasty was doomed to fail?
……

【And Huang Chao actually did it. 】

[Huang Chao, who failed the imperial examination and returned home, fortunately had a family property to inherit. The Huang family was a well-known salt merchant family in Caozhou. They were engaged in smuggling, which was a business that cost them their lives but could make them a lot of money.]

Huang Chao, who returned to his hometown to inherit his family business, lived a peaceful life for several years until 874 AD, when a large-scale drought broke out in the Kanto region. The following year, a large-scale locust plague broke out. The country needed money for disaster relief, so the court turned its attention to the salt merchants represented by Huang Chao and Wang Xianzhi. 】

[In the eyes of the imperial court, these damn salt merchants are rich and easy to deal with. Who else should they deal with? The imperial court’s targeting this time caused the Huang family to bleed heavily, so that Huang Chao could not even pay the year-end bonuses to his employees.]

[As the saying goes, even an anxious rabbit will bite. At the end of 874 AD, Wang Xianzhi and Shang Junchang, both salt dealers, started an uprising.]

[Huang Chao immediately closed his ancestral business, brought along his nephew and a group of close friends and relatives, and gathered several thousand members of the local salt gang to join Wang Xianzhi.]

[The addition of Huang Chao also allowed the grass army to rapidly expand to tens of thousands of people, but Wang Xianzhi was not a person with long-term plans. When the rebel army was advancing triumphantly and the Tang army was constantly retreating, he wanted to accept the olive branch thrown by the court – to be appointed as a general by the court, and his descendants would share the title for generations, and be famous in the court and the country.]

[In order to take advantage of the imperial court’s promise, Wang Xianzhi immediately decided to put down his butcher knife and join the government, but the news soon reached Huang Chao’s ears and completely angered him.]

[Of course, this is not because he has a mental obsession with cleanliness, but because when Li Tang promised Wang Xianzhi benefits, he ignored him as a passerby. ]

[Huang Chao was very angry and the consequences were serious, so the furious Huang Chao chose to act alone.]

【And because Wang Xianzhi failed to appease his subordinates, he could only continue to fight with Li Tang. 】

[In 878 AD, the eldest brother Wang, who had left his second brother, was soon killed by the Tang army. Huang Chao also took over Wang Xianzhi’s position and was elected as the “Huang Wang” by the rebel army, known as the “General Chongtian”. ]

[A great demon king rose up, and fought from Anhui to Fujian, and from Fujian to Hunan, a total of 12 provinces, and most of the Tang Dynasty were messed up by Huang Chao. ]

[During this period, Li Tang had extended olive branches to him many times, but he slapped him back every time. I have fought to your doorstep, isn’t it a little late? ]

[Helpless, this cowardly Tang Xizong had no choice but to abandon his wife and children, completely ignoring the ministers in the court, and fled to Sichuan overnight. ]

[In 880 AD, Huang Chao successfully entered Chang’an and ordered people to select an auspicious day to officially ascend the throne and proclaim himself emperor, changing the country’s name to Da Qi.]

[Huang Chao’s entry into Chang’an also fulfilled the words he wrote when he was disheartened: “The fragrance of incense permeates Chang’an, and the whole city is covered with golden armor.”]

[After ascending the throne, Huang Chao did not forget his original intention. He did not first appease the people and the ministers in the court, but dismissed all officials above the third rank, and brutally slaughtered the people of these big families, even the royal family of the Li family was among those killed.]

[This scene amazed the dignitaries of the time.]

[Because before this, even a fierce man like An Lushan had to be respectful to the aristocratic families when he rebelled in order to gain their support.]

[When the Tang Dynasty poet Wei Zhuang saw the heads of the noble families on the streets of Chang’an, he could not help but compose a poem “Song of the Qin Woman”.]

[All the splendid carriages and embroidered wheels have been destroyed, and not even half of the mansions and gates remain. The inner storehouses have been burned to ashes, and the streets are full of the bones of the nobles.]

[Huang Chao also proved with his actions that there is really no better way to deal with class enemies like the aristocratic families except to destroy them physically and physically save them.]

[The Huang Chao Uprising almost completely eradicated the powerful clans that had lasted for 800 years, and the children of poor families finally had the opportunity to achieve positive transformation through their own efforts.]

【It was also from the Huang Chao Uprising that the goal of “selecting scholars regardless of family background” and “marriage regardless of family background” was truly realized on the Chinese land. 】

……

“Good kill! Hahaha! Good kill!”

The Hongwu Emperor Zhu Yuanzhang was extremely excited watching the show and laughed out loud.

It’s so refreshing! It’s so refreshing!
If it were him, he would also kill all these corrupt officials!
……

“Is there no better way to eliminate class enemies than to physically eliminate them?”

Li Shimin did not expect this result.

To be honest, he still found it difficult to accept this result.

After all, as an emperor of great talent and strategy, Li Shimin hoped to eliminate the influence of aristocratic families on the court as much as possible during his reign.

The reason for this idea was, on the one hand, because he saw the ridiculous behavior of the so-called children of aristocratic families in later generations.

On the other hand, the existence of aristocratic families is itself a threat to imperial power.

If these aristocratic families were allowed to develop further, Li Shimin felt that the day would not be long before the aristocratic families mentioned on the sky curtain would become so powerful that they could influence the emperor’s appointment.

……

[Huang Chao was recorded as being so cruel in history books, killing 800 million people and using human flesh as military rations. Why did the people of the Tang Dynasty still support him and increase his army? ]

……

“Humph, the so-called brutality is just something made up by those scholars.”

During the Hongwu period, Zhu Yuanzhang snorted coldly.

Although Zhu Yuanzhang had little education, he was still clear that history books were written by the victors. Huang Chao failed, but scholars could write whatever they wanted, just like the anti-Qing people smeared their Ming emperor.

It is very likely that the fact that Huang Chao was described as cruel in history books was just an attempt by scholars to discredit him.

After all, this guy killed too many incompetent officials. Most of these incompetent officials were scholars who could control public opinion. In addition, Huang Chao had failed, so they could write whatever they wanted.

……

[If Huang Chao was really so cruel, could his rebel group have continued to grow? ]

[Let’s make another assumption. Let’s assume that there is another person named Li Chao today. He suddenly started an uprising and hanged many capitalists. His methods were extremely cruel. Anyway, he used all the cruel methods you can think of.]

[If you are an ordinary citizen who is exploited by capitalists, would you support or not support people like Li Chao? ]

[The oppressed and exploited people at the bottom of society will definitely support him, right? Even those with a little bit of wealth may not sympathize with the big boss.]

[The ones who really suffered losses were definitely those who were hanged. These hanged people had resources and backgrounds. Some of them escaped and were able to control public opinion. They would definitely say how bad Li Chao was.]

[Of course, Huang Chao himself also had problems.]

[As the leader of the uprising army, Huang Chao had fought for so many years. When he saw the prosperous Chang’an, he began to lose his fighting spirit and indulged himself in the decadence of life.]

[He himself also lacked control over the rebels, which led to them bullying ordinary people in order to plunder more treasures.]

……

In the early Han Dynasty, Liu Bang was shocked to see that Huang Chao was greedy for pleasure in his later years and eventually failed, and he couldn’t help but break out in a cold sweat.

Thinking back to the time when I first entered the Xianyang Palace, I was also blinded by the magnificent temple… the luxurious palace, the comfortable bed, the countless gold and silver jewels, and most importantly, the countless beautiful palace maids… Thinking about it now, I still feel quite satisfied.

At that time, he was only thinking about keeping these treasures and beauties.

As we all know, Hangu Pass is easy to defend but difficult to attack. We only need to send troops to guard Hangu Pass, and we may be able to hide inside the pass and become a rich man.

I remember that it was Zifang who asked Fan Kuai to ask himself whether he wanted to be a rich man or to conquer the world. Only then did he wake up and decisively (reluctantly) abandon Xianyang, and only then was he able to finally conquer the world.

Thinking about it now, I still feel lucky.

Otherwise, if he took this wrong step, how could he still be the founding emperor of the Han Dynasty?
……

[In that era of competition, Huang Chao was able to gain the support of the people of the Tang Dynasty. Another important reason was that the Tang army was even worse than Huang Chao’s uprising army.]

[The great poet Wei Zhuang once said in his “Song of a Qin Woman” that “Thousands of warehouses and tens of thousands of silk boxes, only half of them were left after Huang Chao passed by.” “Entering the door and dismounting the horse like a whirlwind, emptying the room and emptying the bag like rolling soil.”]

[What I mean is that when Huang Chao was making trouble in this area, I was able to keep half of the money and food I had left. But when the government troops came, there was nothing left.]

[The common evaluation of Huang Chao in history is how cruel he was, because it is true that Huang Chao’s army ate people.]

[However, the reason why Huang Chao’s uprising broke out was that the common people of the Tang Dynasty had no other way to survive. In the “Old Book of Tang: Biography of Huang Chao”, it is mentioned at the beginning that people became bandits due to hunger, especially in Henan.]

[In other words, the fundamental reason for the uprising was nothing else but that the people of the Tang Dynasty had no way to survive.]

[Not only farmers have no way to make a living, but also scholars have no way to make a living. ]

[During the reign of Emperor Xizong of the Tang Dynasty, the imperial power was basically useless. The affairs of the court were either handled by eunuchs or by these ministers. Moreover, they were self-contradictory and full of cliques, which basically blocked the way for ordinary people to survive.]

[When a feudal dynasty could not leave a way out for the people, these people could completely find a way out for themselves, so much so that even many scholars in the Tang Dynasty joined Huang Chao’s uprising army.]

[So Huang Chao’s uprising, in essence, had little to do with Huang Chao himself as a salt merchant. Like the An-Shi Rebellion, it was the result of the Tang Empire’s court losing control over the lower classes.]

[As for why Huang Chao’s army ate people, it was because of the severe drought at that time and the scarcity of food. The key point is that although Huang Chao’s army was not a human being, the officers and soldiers of the Tang Dynasty were not much better. ]

[It is recorded in historical books that when the soldiers were besieging Huang Chao, they were defeated and robbed the common people. When Huang Chao entered the capital, he not only did not rob people, but also enforced strict military discipline.]

[So much so that some people at the time said with emotion that this gang of bandits was much stronger than the gang of Lao Li’s family.]

[To be honest, Huang Chao himself was not very educated. Although the poems he left behind are very classic, he was only a warlord after all. Therefore, during the Huang Chao uprising, ordinary people suffered a lot of damage. However, compared with some court officials in the late Tang Dynasty, he was actually a stronger person.]

[You should know that the most classic line in “The Song of the Qin Woman” is “The inner treasury was burned to ashes, and the bones of the nobles were trampled on the streets.” The one who trampled on the bones of the nobles was Huang Chao, but it was the officers and soldiers of the Tang Dynasty who turned the brocade in the inner treasury into ashes.]

[The history books record a conversation between Emperor Xizong of Tang and his concubines after Huang Chao’s defeat: ‘You are all children of noble families, and have received the grace of the country for generations. Why do you want to follow the bandits? ‘]

[The concubine replied: “The arrogant bandits were vicious and rebellious against the country. The country, with millions of people, still lost the ancestral temple and was forced to migrate to Bashu. Now your majesty is unable to resist the bandits, but comes to question a woman. Where did you put the ministers and generals?”]

【Tang Xizong stopped asking questions and ordered them all to be executed in the market place, because he knew that further arguments would only bring shame and be meaningless.】

[The chaos at the end of the Tang Dynasty was actually the inevitable result of the rule of local aristocratic families since the Eastern Han Dynasty.]

[Although there was an imperial examination system, family power still existed. This reliance on blood relations to pass on power made it impossible to adjust the gap between the rich and the poor in the late Tang Dynasty. In the end, after Huang Chao entered Chang’an, he directly destroyed them physically.]

……

During the Zhenguan period.

Li Shimin was speechless for a while.

At this time, he felt sad when he saw the decline of the Li Tang Dynasty, angry at the inaction of the emperor and officials, which forced the people to rebel, and guilty towards those people who were forced to live.

“Water can carry a boat, but it can also capsize it. I remind myself of this all the time, and I hope that the emperors and officials of the Tang Dynasty in the future can understand this truth. But why, why… they don’t fight…”

At this moment, Li Shimin deeply felt the feeling that ‘the lesson mankind has learned from history is that it has never learned any lesson from history.’

Water can carry a boat, but it can also capsize it. What a simple truth, yet…

Maybe this is human nature.

I don’t know whether those in power in the future can always remind themselves.

………

[It is undeniable that Huang Chao made a huge contribution to the demise of the aristocratic families. But to say that he ended the aristocratic families with his own efforts is a bit too much. ]

[In fact, before Huang Chao, there were four large-scale attacks on aristocratic families in history. Unfortunately, the aristocratic families were still able to make a strong recovery. The reason was that the cost of studying was relatively high at that time, and only the aristocratic families had the foundation to cultivate a large number of scholars to help the emperor manage the country. This is also the main reason why those aristocratic families were able to revive. ]

………

Eastern Han Dynasty.

Eunuch Cai Lun looked at Tianmu and nodded repeatedly, feeling that what Tianmu said made sense.

In the Spring and Autumn Period, studying was something only the nobility could do, unless you could meet Confucius, who advocated education for all. In that case, you only had to present him with ten pieces of dried meat and then you could learn from him.

As for the Han Dynasty, the powerful families were rampant and it was impossible for ordinary people to study.

The bottom line is that the cost of studying is too high.

Just wanting to have books to read was already difficult. In that era, since there was no printing technology, books were very precious and records could basically only be made by hand.

For books with tens of thousands of words, hand-copying is simply too slow. Many books with a large number of words may take you half a month to finish copying.

Secondly, even if there are books, there is no one to teach. It is almost impossible for ordinary people to find a famous teacher.

Moreover, the cost of pens, ink, paper and inkstone is very expensive, which is simply unaffordable for ordinary families.

Therefore, studying and practicing martial arts are not things that ordinary people can access.

“I hope that my improved papermaking technique will allow people all over the world to have books to read.”

Cai Lun looked at the piles of rags, broken fishing nets, tree bark and other materials outside his house and clenched his fists secretly.

In fact, he came up with the idea of ​​improving papermaking technology because he saw that the national treasury had to spend huge sums of money every year to purchase silk and bamboo slips for writing, while the hemp paper available in the folk was too rough for writing.

He believed that with the promotion of his improved version of papermaking technology, the cost of reading would be reduced, alleviating the plight of ordinary people who had no books to read.

………

[Although the Huang Chao Uprising dealt a heavy blow to the aristocratic families, it was not enough to completely eradicate them. The key point was that after the An-Shi Rebellion ended, the entire Tang Dynasty fell into chaos. In addition, the constant alternation of political power during the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period greatly compressed the living space of the aristocratic families, and eventually caused them to fall into decline.]

[For example, after the An-Shi Rebellion, the Li Tang royal family directly appointed more than 300 Jiedushi. These Jiedushi were basically military generals with swords, who had fought their way through the battlefield. They did not indulge the aristocratic families that had come before.]

[In order to expand their own ranks, these soldiers robbed and seized what they could from these aristocratic families, causing those aristocratic families to lose a lot of their interests.]

[Then, during the chaotic Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period, the situation became even worse. The pen was no match for the gun. Although many aristocratic families still managed to survive, their living space became smaller and smaller. It was difficult for them to survive, let alone revive.]

[In the end, the Northern Song Dynasty finally settled down, but who would have thought that they would encounter a tactical master, Zhao Kuangyin, who, after dealing with the military generals, began to take action against the civil officials, such as establishing new education and reforming the imperial examination system. In addition, the popularization of printing and paper later greatly reduced the cost of learning, which gave many poor children more opportunities and ultimately put an end to the road to the revival of the aristocratic families. 】(End of this chapter)