Yang Fan smiled and said: "Your Zhang family is the largest gentry family in Qinshui County, and can even be said to be the top gentry family in Zezhou Prefecture. Your Zhang family has cultivated and passed down family traditions for generations, and has produced countless Jinshi and officials. Your family
There are tens of thousands of acres of land. Sister Shi, are you willing to give it and share it?"
Zhang Fengyi was at a loss for words, her face turned slightly red, and when it was her turn, she really didn't want to do it.
Seeing Yang Fan looking at him with a smile, he became angry and said angrily: "Brother Yang, your family has more land. There are 500,000 acres of paddy fields near Jizhou. Not counting Zunhua. Are you willing to share it with brother Yang?"
one cent."
Zhang Wudian didn't take it seriously when Yang Fan teased his granddaughter. In the late Ming Dynasty, Xinxue spread, and society was more open and enlightened. The restrictions on women were also quite broad.
Zhang Wudian said with a smile: "Uncle Dingyuan's fields are all allocated to his own slaves for cultivation. It is true that no land rent is collected."
Zhang Fengyi and the Huo family were shocked. Uncle Dingyuan's land was no less than millions of acres. Such a large amount of land did not charge land rent. What a huge number it was. There were such great benefits to attaching to Yang Fan. How much did those people think of the Yang family?
Loyal. They can't find a better master in the world.
Zhang Fengyi immediately reacted and said: "Brother Yang, you run a workshop and make money by making iron. Since ancient times, the government has been monopolizing salt and iron, which shows huge profits. Now that the Ming Dynasty has liberalized iron making, you naturally don't need the fields.
rental."
At this time, the cook brought up a plate of salt-baked chicken. Yang Fan quickly invited everyone to try it.
Zhang Wudian drank a glass of rice wine and ate a chopstick of salt-baked chicken. He put down his chopsticks with satisfaction and said, "This salt-baked chicken is really good, fresh and tender, and soft in the mouth."
Huo also said: "It has rich flavor, crisp skin and smooth meat, slightly yellow color, crispy skin and tender meat, delicious bone and meat, and attractive flavor. It is indeed a delicacy."
Zhang Fengyi directly grabbed a chicken leg and started to chew on it.
Zhang Wudian put down his chopsticks and said with emotion: "The gentry are the pillars of the world, and they are also the greatest harm to the world. It's really hard to describe in one sentence."
Zhang Fengyi asked: "Grandpa, what exactly is a gentry and what does it mean to be a gentry?"
We use many terms in life naturally, but we never really appreciate their definition and connotation.
Zhang Wudian said: "Gentlemen are definitely not landlords, officials are as simple as that."
"The gentry has a big surname in the clan. Politically, they are big bureaucrats. Economically, they are big landowners. Academically, they are big intellectuals. In terms of military, they are big armed leaders. Xiaoqing, look at the whole Zhang family.
All in line. Therefore, my Zhang family is a standard gentry family."
Zhang Fengyi was fascinated by what she heard. She had never received such teachings from her grandfather. Obviously, this knowledge could only be spread among the most core children within the family.
"Gentlemen are also classified. Those who have been rich for thousands of years and have been passed down for hundreds of years are aristocratic families. Those who have a large local family population and can control small families are called big surnames. Culturally, those who have a monopoly on the inheritance of certain knowledge are called distinguished families.
"
Zhang Fengyi couldn't help but ask: "My Zhang family is a gentry family. So what is Brother Yang? He is obviously not a gentry, but he has great power."
Zhang Wudian was very satisfied with his granddaughter's inferences, but it was a pity that the granddaughter was a girl. It would have been nice to be a boy. Among the children of this generation in the clan, she was the most capable.
If she were a boy, she would definitely impart all her knowledge to others. Unfortunately, girls are outgoing, and sooner or later they will belong to someone else's family.
Zhang Wudian said: "Since ancient times, dynasties have had two legs. One leg is the clan, the gentry, and the gentry. They control the local economy, but highlight their leadership position in culture. The so-called millennium of culture, poems and books passed down from family to family, that is, control of the people.
ideas, and then control public opinion. Most of the family’s children serve as civil servants.”
Zhang Fengyi understood, her family is like this. She said it very profoundly and explained it in a simple way.
"Uncle Dingyuan belongs to another category, which is called local tycoons. They include generals, military leaders, wealthy families, local evil forces, etc. They occupy land, workshops, and wealth, but they highlight their military power. They use force to intimidate the people. They have private property in their hands.
There are many soldiers, dependent people, clans, and slaves. They can turn the dependent people into military power at any time. Most of their children serve as military attachés."
Yang Fan nodded, Zhang Wudian said very clearly. He is essentially this thing. It is useless to say anything else. If someone has a gun, I will do it if you don't accept it. These two types of people, one controls thoughts and affects the people through thoughts.
And they have administrative power. They rely on violence and intimidation.
In India, these two types of people are Brahmins and Kshatriyas. In the West, the same thing happens. The Catholic Church has the Pope, the Orthodox Church has the Patriarch, and the Protestant Church has the Cardinal. Priests play mind control, while kings, nobles, and knights
They are Kshatriyas who rely on threats of violence.
Both hands must be strong, and both hands must be strong.
Zhang Wudian continued: "If both legs of a court are sound, it can walk as fast as flying, and no one is an opponent. If one leg is broken, such as in the late Eastern Han Dynasty and the late Tang Dynasty, the leg of the gentry was broken. The result will be a long-term civil war.
For example, in the Northern Song Dynasty and the Ming Dynasty, the strong and powerful had a broken leg. Therefore, the military was poor and weak. Now, both legs are broken. The gentry has become decadent, and the powerful and powerful are suppressed and lingering. "
Yang Fan said: "Actually, there is a third leg. That is imperial power. The emperor actually rules the world with the gentry and powerful people. If you look at a stool, it cannot stand on two legs, but it is very stable with three or four legs. The actual imperial power
It balances the two legs we can see outside by supporting the two hidden legs."
Zhang Fengyi became more and more excited as she listened, and asked: "What are the two hidden legs?"
Yang Fan smiled and said: "One leg is the eunuch. They are essentially the emperor's secretaries. They assist the emperor in handling government affairs. The other leg is the relatives, that is, the emperor's mother clan. Both of these people have extraordinary fighting power. Especially the relatives."
Zhang Wudian also deeply agrees. Don't you see that the nine-thousand-year-old Yin Jian is not far away? In the Ming Dynasty, the maternal relatives were not prominent, but since the Han and Tang Dynasties, the maternal relatives have commanded many famous generals. The maternal relatives are particularly capable.
"When the sons of the gentry and powerful men enter the court as officials, they are called the outer court. The prime minister is the leader, which is the prime minister's office. Most of the eunuchs and relatives work in the court, which is the inner court. That is, the palace. So Zhuge Liang warned the queen in his apprenticeship list.
Lord, the palace and the palace are all integrated into one, and there should be no similarities or differences in the punishments and punishments. The internal and external dynasty system was created by Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty and has been passed down to this day."
"Generally speaking, the internal dynasty makes decisions and the external dynasty executes them. Just like businesses, workshops, and shops, they all have proprietors and owners. Why have civil servants never been able to defeat eunuchs in history? In the Han Dynasty, there was the disaster of party imprisonment, and in the Sui and Tang Dynasties, there was the Manna Revolution.
In our Ming Dynasty, there are Liu Jin, Wang Zhen, Wei Zhongxian and others. Do you think that the shopkeeper can fight against the boss? Only the boss, that is, the emperor can deal with them."
Zhang Fengyi nodded and said: "Although the Ming Dynasty has abolished the prime minister, there is still a cabinet. There is a ceremonial supervisor in the palace to approve the red. In fact, it is the same as in the previous dynasty. There are checks and balances between the internal and external dynasties."
Yang Fan continued: "In fact, the emperor relied on these four kinds of people to rule the country. If you look at the civil and military officials in the court, if you go back to the bottom, are they all one of these four categories? The one who can balance these four forces is
Be a wise king, otherwise you will be a foolish king."
"Then is the emperor a wise king or a cowardly king?" Before Zhang Fengyi could finish her words, she received another big blow on the back of her head.
