As early as the day before, the county magistrate had run away, and a few hours before the rebels were about to arrive in the city, the officers and soldiers turned into robbers and robbed the city. Almost all the shops were looted, and then they took the stolen goods with them.
The property left the city.
The rebel army easily took over Shangyang County. Compared with the last crazy plundering of the officers and soldiers, these rebel armies did not plunder the people's wealth after entering the city, but instead maintained order in the county.
After a day, the county finally settled down.
Lin Ye walked out of the room, walked to the study, opened the door, and An Zisheng glared at him.
"Shameless, traitor, traitor..."
Lin Ye took the paper ball out of An Zisheng's mouth, and the guy immediately started to curse, and the saliva almost sprayed onto Lin Ye's face.
"The rebels have entered the city, you can leave now."
When An Zisheng heard Lin Ye's words, his whole body suddenly felt like a deflated rubber ball, his energy and energy were gone.
"Rebellion...the rebels have entered the city, and the people of Shangyang County will suffer. I, An Zisheng, am reading books about sages, and I am reading a damn book about sages!"
An Zisheng muttered at first, then started swearing. He looked at Lin Ye with a cannibalistic gaze. Lin Ye felt that if he loosened his grip on this guy now, he would pounce on him like a dog and bite him.
"With a blind eye, you are indeed reading the sages' books in vain."
Lin Ye slapped An Zisheng on the back of the head rudely. An Zisheng felt pain and raised his head with anger and grievance.
"What you think you know is true. Let me tell you, it is the officers and soldiers in your eyes who robbed the shops in the county before the rebels arrived, stole a lot of money and left without caring about the lives of the people. But in your eyes, they are the robbers.
The same rebels maintained order after entering the city."
An Zisheng listened to Lin Ye's words and stared at him suspiciously. It was obvious that he didn't believe what Lin Ye said.
"I don't even bother to lie to you. You can go out and see for yourself and ask the people in the city if what I said is true."
Lin Ye untied the rope from An Zisheng, but An Zisheng did not rush towards Lin Ye and said angrily: "I will ask. If I know that you lied to me, I will make you pay the price even if I die."
…
…
An Zisheng walked out of the courtyard and was confused by the scene on the street at just one glance.
He read books about sages and sages, and books about the rise and fall of history. Every time he mentioned rebellion, it described how wherever the rebels went, the people suffered and every house was closed.
But on the street in front of me, the people were not in any panic at all. They were walking in twos and threes, talking and laughing.
Did he lie to me and the rebels didn't invade at all?
Yes, that must be the case.
An Zisheng felt that his judgment was correct. It was most likely that the rebels had changed their direction and did not come to Shangyang County, so the people were so relaxed.
Thinking of this, An Zisheng walked quickly to the street, stopped a passing citizen, and asked, "May I ask if the rebels have changed direction?"
The people glanced at him and said angrily: "What rebels? They are here to rescue us. If they hadn't come, the city would have been in chaos. Those green-skinned hooligans took advantage of the officials and soldiers to escape.
They went out to rob someone."
"The county magistrate has escaped. How is this possible? The county magistrate has said that he will live and die with the county."
An Zisheng trembled all over. When he was studying in the school, the county magistrate came to the school to encourage them as scholars and talk about the character of scholars. Later, there were rebels in Sanhe County, and he even went to the county government office to see the county magistrate. The county magistrate was righteous.
Tell him righteously that as a local official, he will live and die with Shangyang County.
"Coexistence is a waste. You are stupid if you study. The county magistrate has run away a long time ago, and those officers and soldiers are more hateful than bandits. They plundered all the shops in the city before escaping. Scholars like you, with your mouth and mouth and your sword, say
Those who do one thing and do another are the worst things."
The passerby took a sip and walked away, leaving An Zisheng standing there, looking confused and helpless.
Everything was different from what he imagined.
"No...that's not the case."
An Zisheng stopped another passerby. A few minutes later, he stood on the street in despair.
"Do you know why? Because everything you know about the rebels comes from the gentry and the powerful. To these people, the rebels are abominable, as inhumane as bandits, but to the poor and ordinary people
He said that the rebels were here to rescue them so that they would no longer be exploited by the landowners and nobles."
Lin Ye appeared behind An Zisheng. Seeing An Zisheng turn around, he continued to ask: "Do you know why a dynasty can only last for a hundred years or at most hundreds of years?"
"Because the emperor was immoral and the bureaucracy was corrupt, the people were in dire straits. People with lofty ideals rose up and rebelled. Hundreds of people responded to his call, and people gathered from all directions." An Zisheng replied.
"Wrong, the real reason is that no matter which dynasty or which emperor came to power, they failed to manage the lower levels. The imperial power did not go to the countryside, and the officials stayed in the county offices. The people in the village could see the biggest thing in their lives.
The official is the head of the village."
"Isn't it like this in all dynasties? The people in the countryside haven't read many books. It's most appropriate for the village chiefs and squires to be responsible for management." An Zisheng retorted, because that's what the book says, fool the people, fool the people, tell them about the books.
These people don't understand the truth, as long as the village chief conveys the policies promulgated by the court.
"It is precisely because of this that no dynasty can last long, and can only last for a few hundred years at most. The Jing Dynasty existed for four hundred years. Emperor Wenzong at the time of its collapse was called a rare diligent and wise king. The Liang Dynasty existed for three hundred years.
Sixty years later, the last Emperor Chengzong tried to improve the civil service, but he still failed to prevent the collapse of the dynasty."
Regarding the history of other worlds, Lin Ye also read a lot of history books during the time he was imprisoned. He knew some historical deeds of the past dynasties. He mentioned these two dynasties and the last emperor. As a scholar, An Zisheng naturally did the same.
understand.
"Then can you tell me what caused it?"
An Zisheng asked back, so many great scholars in the past could not explain it clearly, so he did not believe that Lin Ye could explain it clearly.
Lin Ye smiled, "Small, I definitely wouldn't be able to explain it myself, but I stand on the shoulders of giants."
"Because the imperial power did not go to the countryside, because every dynasty never really cared about the people at the bottom." Lin Ye thought of the research of a scholar he had seen, and directly copied it: "When every dynasty was prosperous at the beginning, then
This is because after the war, the population was small, and the land was abundant. Everyone had land to divide, and the people would not starve. However, as the world stabilized, the official and gentry class emerged. The officials and gentry enjoyed various privileges, but the common people could not.
, in times of disaster or illness, in order to survive, they had no choice but to sell their land to gentry landlords and then become tenants."
"From the royal family to officials, no one cares about the life and death of these tenants. Just like you scholars, you claim to read sages and sages every day, and you talk about putting the people first, but the people you talk about are not the poor people, but the poor people.
Referring to those country sages and gentry."
"The reputation of an official is in the hands of the virtuous gentry, because poor people have no access to officials, and the court's evaluation of officials only stays at one level. Therefore, the so-called parents, officials, love the people as much as their children.
For the sake of good reputation, the officials kept treating these country sages and gentry well. While the country sages and gentry desperately exploited the people at the bottom and plundered their land, they praised the officials. The officials and the squires were enjoying themselves.
No one will care about the life and death of the real people at the bottom."
"I want to refute me, but I think what I said is wrong." Seeing An Zisheng open his mouth to refute, Lin Ye sneered and said: "Take you as an example, you are a scholar, and you haven't even obtained any honors, but you only know about the rebels.
Just listen to those gentry. If you become an official and are surrounded by officials and gentry, you will no longer be able to listen to the voices of the people at the bottom. You will be intoxicated by the rivers, seas and seas woven by the gentry and landlords, and think that you are
A good official."
"It is precisely because of officials like you who think they are benefiting the people, coupled with corrupt officials, that all dynasties can only last for hundreds of years."
An Zisheng opened his mouth and wanted to say something several times, but he found that he couldn't argue. He was a scholar, and he understood some truths as soon as he heard them. He didn't understand it before because he didn't think about it in this way, or at least not at all.
No scholar in the world has ever thought about it this way.
Because when they were studying, even poor scholars were kind-hearted when they came into contact with the gentry, and would even donate money to them. For example, in his school, every year the squires donated hundreds of taels of silver to
How could they think that these squires were bad when they were given the expenses to buy the Four Treasures of the Study?
An Zisheng knew that if there had not been this rebellion, if he had really been admitted to the imperial examination and worked in a county, he would have been deceived by the gentry just as the man in front of him said because of his good impression of the gentry and the wise.
Seeing An Zisheng's doubts about life, Lin Ye felt happy in his heart. What he said was only the apparent reason. The actual reason was insufficient productivity. As long as the existing land could not satisfy the people's survival, even the court would be full of people.
It is useless to have upright officials and bring peace to the world.
When the world is at peace, people are working hard to give birth to offspring. When the population increases and the land is not enough, conflicts will still break out.
"Thank you for your teaching."
After a long time, An Zisheng suddenly bowed to Lin Ye and said seriously: "If it weren't for Mr. Lin, I, An Zisheng, would never have awakened to this truth even if I read books about sages all my life."
Lin Ye accepted An Zisheng's gift harshly, then waved his hand and said, "Okay, now that you understand this, just do whatever you need to do. I still have things to do."
An Zisheng saluted again and turned to leave. Lin Ye looked at An Zisheng's leaving figure. This scholar was an interesting person.