Liangzhou City, Zhongshu Province.
In the huge palace, Zhou Jun sat on the top seat, Kong You stood on the lower peak, and there was no one else in the palace.
Zhou Jun looked at Kong You, who was standing with his head bowed, and said in a deep voice: "One night in Liangcheng, rivers of blood flowed. Eight thousand families disappeared into thin air...Bohong, you are really a good trick!"
Hearing this, Kong You bowed to Zhou Jun and said, "Please calm down, Your Majesty... You boldly ask, do you blame me for not notifying you in advance? Or do you blame me for being too ruthless?"
Zhou Jun said: "I led the troops to Fan Yang and entrusted all political and military affairs to you. You did these things in Liangzhou, but you didn't even give me a message beforehand?"
Kong You: "If You wrote a letter to tell the lord's family before launching the attack, and then threatened the palace so that they would not dare to act rashly, would the lord agree?"
Zhou Jun asked back: "By cutting off the clan members, you can collect evidence and demote them to guilty households, or you can induce and set up traps to make them attack each other, and then reap the benefits. Bo Hong, you can naturally think of these methods. I
Now let me ask you, tell me frankly, is the reason why you went on a killing spree against aristocratic families related to your family’s personal grudges?”
Kong You cupped his hands and replied: "You confessed to your lord that you did have some personal grudges in your heart when you killed all the nobles in Liangzhou... However, the powerful family is like a stubborn disease and always opposes the lord. If it is not uprooted, it will be destroyed."
If they have a chance to breathe, they can take root anywhere and cause disaster for thousands of years."
Zhou Jun was silent for a moment after hearing this.
Kong You: "Last year, You accompanied the Lord to Boling. In the Jingu Temple, the Lord once said this to You - Man is not born to be ruled. He has the right to survive, work, harvest and enjoy.
, does not come from gods or monarchs, all the rights he enjoys are inherent and should be enjoyed... After hearing this, You went back and thought for a long time, and finally understood the Lord's meaning."
Zhou Jun was stunned and said: "Do you understand?"
Kong You: "You's understanding is that the so-called imperial power only refers to the sky, so what is the true destiny? There are many people in the world who are bewitched by the divine right of imperial power, but they forget that they are the
The master of the world. If you want to return power to the people, you must first destroy the imperial power, and if you want to destroy the imperial power, you must first eliminate all the clans."
Zhou Jun: "Your understanding is not wrong. But if you think about it carefully, you will find another meaning."
Kong You was stunned on the spot and asked Zhou Jun: "Please make it clear, my lord."
Zhou Jun asked: "Throughout the ages, how many kingdoms and dynasties have stood for a few hundred years at most. After that, they disappeared like dust in the long river of history... Do you know why?"
After Kong You thought for a while, he replied: "When the water is full, it will overflow; when the moon is full, it will be short."
Zhou Jun shook his head and said: "That is the answer of a psychologist. The real answer is actually... No matter how powerful an empire is, it often requires the efforts of several generations or even more than a dozen generations if it wants to rise and prosper. However, if a country
If you want to decline or even perish, all you need is a foolish king."
Kong You: "Your Majesty, what you want to say is that the emperor is responsible for the rise and fall of a country?"
Zhou Jun: "No, the responsibility for the rise and fall of a country lies with the royal power."
Kong You was puzzled.
Zhou Jun: "In a country with the emperor as the supreme leader, royal power represents a will that cannot be questioned or defied. If the emperor is smart and resourceful, then he can coordinate the conflicts among his subjects and ensure that the country can maintain long-term peace and stability.
"But if the emperor only cares about enjoying himself and ignores the affairs of the government or seeks to disrupt the government, then all kinds of traitors will jump out to seize power wantonly and harm the country."
"When the traitors in the court reduce the strength and centralization of the country for personal gain, chaos will occur within the country. Those who are in power in the court and the nobles will often turn their backs on them when they encounter national turmoil.
The responsibility was placed on the ministers, generals and even the concubines of the harem, but few people questioned the emperor's ability and character. Because most of these officials and nobles came from powerful families and were inextricably linked to the royal family.
.When the royal power flourishes, the Xian family will prosper; when the royal power declines, the Xian family will decline. Under this premise of both prosperity and prosperity, the powerful noble families will tend to maintain the royal power."
"However, for those other nobles who do not hold power in the dynasty, as well as those thousands of people, their rights to survive, work, harvest, and enjoy do not come from the emperor of the dynasty. Everything he enjoys
Rights have nothing to do with the court. When the country is in chaos, they cannot find a channel to express their demands upwards. The only thing they can do is to gain power through riots in an attempt to complete a new round of dynasty changes."
Zhou Jun drew a circle in the air with his finger: "This is like a vicious cycle. First, there is a foolish king in the country who ignores the government affairs and disrupts the government; then, a traitor comes to power and begins to control the government affairs for the sake of profit.
Self-interest began to continuously weaken the centralization of power and damage the royal power; then, when the royal power declined to a certain extent, those clans that failed to enjoy the dividends of the royal power would find an opportunity to take advantage of it, and choose to incite rebellion and try to complete the project.
A change of dynasties; in the end, a war will break out across the country between the old clans who are loyal to the emperor and the new clans who seek power, and whoever wins will be in power."
Having said this, Zhou Jun asked Kong You: "This is why an empire will surely perish no matter how long it lasts, but how to break this cycle? Do you have any idea?"
After thinking about it, Kong You replied: "Choose the successor to the imperial power carefully to ensure that there will be no foolish emperor who will harm the country and the people?"
Zhou Jun shook his head and said: "No matter how perfect the selection system for the successor to the throne is, it is impossible to ensure that every emperor who succeeds will be a wise king... What's more, some monarchs who performed well when they first came to power have become worse in their later years.
It is not unusual to be in a state of insomnia."
This chapter is not over yet, please click on the next page to continue reading! Kong You: "Then, kill all the nobles in the world so that no prominent clan will fight for power in the world."
Zhou Jun shook his head again and said: "There are endless clans that can be killed. The so-called clans are actually the product of power. As long as the royal family still exists and as long as the bureaucracy still exists, even if all the old clans are killed, new clans will always appear.
.In the final analysis, the concentration of power and the lack of effective supervision mechanisms are the biggest reasons for the continuation of the clan."
Kong You had some epiphany: "You're killing all the nobles in Liangcheng this time, as the Lord said, is it just a way to treat the symptoms rather than the root cause?"
Zhou Jun nodded first, then shook his head, and finally said: "You slaughtered all the clans in Liangzhou this time. Although you acted in an extreme way, the results were mixed. The good thing is that without the constraints of the clans in Liangzhou, I can take drastic measures next."
The reform has given the country a completely new look; but the bad thing is that it has broken the rules of the power game and put us in an extremely disadvantageous position prematurely."
Kong You was silent in thought.
Zhou Jun waved his hand and said: "But speaking of it, the advantages of doing this outweigh the disadvantages. For me, in order to break the vicious cycle of the rise and fall of the kingdom, sooner or later I will declare war on the world's elites. Please help me take this step first."
It's not necessarily a bad thing if I come out. At least, without the Liangzhou clan holding me back, I can show my talents in Anxi, Hexi, Shuofang, Hebei and other places without any hindrance."
Kong You bowed to Zhou Jun and said: "You acted rashly and made the Lord work hard. It is really a big mistake."
Zhou Jun: "Bohong, although you and I are called masters and slaves, we are actually close friends. I treat you like a relative and a friend, and I have never had any selfish thoughts. What annoys me most about this incident in Liangzhou
Yes, you thought of your own wisdom and concealed it but failed to report it, thus betraying my sincere heart."
When Kong You heard this, he hurriedly knelt down and bowed his head to Zhou Jun: "You are so smart and act recklessly that you have betrayed the trust of the Lord."
Zhou Jun sighed and said: "I'm afraid you won't be able to stay here after causing such trouble in Liangzhou City. I will demote you to Anxi. If you go there, remember to assist Feng Changqing and handle all affairs."
Kong You tapped his forehead on the ground and said "Hey."
This chapter has been completed!