The snowflakes fluttered in the wind like dandelions seeds, flying through rows of houses, pavilions, landing on eaves, tree canopies, ground, or on glass windows.

Not long after, the snowflakes falling on the glass window gradually melted and deformed due to the warmth on the other side of the glass, sliding down the windowsill, frozen again and accumulated.

On the other side of the glass window, in the warm room, Li Li sat by the fireplace, grilled skewers with the new Secretary Zhang Ying.

Although Li Li can make people prepare all kinds of meat, he still grills the "fish" series, mixed with dried squid, which is considered to be a self-entertainment.

Zhang Ying also grilled with a few skewers of fish and meatballs. The two of them grilled skewers and chatted, just like when they were in Poyang.

At this moment, just like back then, the two were discussing historical issues, like two old friends, chatting with skewers.

The reason why we discuss history is because Li Li wants to learn from the lessons of his predecessors and find out the "pulse of the times" contained in the current situation.

The world's general trend is that long-lasting division will lead to unity, and long-lasting division will lead to unity. The chaotic world that has been around for nearly three hundred years is expected to end.

However, after the unification of the world, it does not mean that everything is going well, because then, Jin also unified the world, but it triggered even greater troubled times.

Li Li didn't want his country to become the new Jin State, so he had to think about the trend of the development of the times, but it was not so easy to grasp the "pulse of the times".

As we chatted, we talked about a person: Wang Mang.

Wang Mang was a figure in the late Western Han Dynasty. He usurped the throne as a relative of the outside world and established the "New" dynasty.

He was promoted because the late Han Dynasty faced an unprecedented social crisis, so people hoped that a respected saint of the world would save the people, and Wang Mang was just right.

After Wang Mang came to power, he carried out various "reforms", such as "state-owned land" and "liberating slaves".

In the eyes of later generations, many of Wang Mang's governing ideas were very similar to those of modern people, so Wang Mang was nicknamed "Time Traveler" by later generations.

The time traveler defeated by Liu Xiu (Emperor Guangwu of Han) of the plane.

However, in fact, Wang Mang's governance did not transcend the times, but was retro.

The so-called "ancient" is the princess Zhou who had a national destiny for eight hundred years.

The knowledgeable people of that era believed that only by following the "ancient system" and using the legendary methods of the sage era can the country that was trapped in a dead end.

However, the consequences of using ancient etiquette to govern a country a thousand years later are naturally unsatisfactory.

Zhang Ying explained: "At that time, the country had serious land annexation, and the tyrants and powerful people occupied the vast majority of the fertile land in the world, good land, but the poor people had no place to stand."

"The people went bankrupt and became slaves or robbers. In the world, thieves arose. The situation was like water about to boil, a sign of the end of the world."

"So, many knowledgeable people are eager to find a way out, relying on ancient rituals and ancient systems, and Wang Mang is their representative figure."

"Since the land has been merged on a large scale, Wang Mang will implement the ancient system - the well-field system, implement the "king field" policy, prohibit land transactions, and collect land as 'king owned' (state-owned)."

"Since a large number of people have become slaves, it is okay to prohibit new slaves and the purchase and sale of slaves."

"In addition, in view of the lack of copper, chaos in the currency system, and the national fiscal deficit, reforming the currency system, exercising large amounts of money, and even announcing that all gold will be confiscated..."

Zhang Ying said this and smiled bitterly: "The land reform offended the powerful landlords in the world. These people strongly supported him at the beginning to be called emperor by Han Chan."

"The intention is good to release slaves, but the people have no place to stand, and they can survive by making cattle and horses for others. After being released, they have no land to plant, either starve to death or be a bandit."

"The currency reform uses big money and bad money to plunder the wealth of all classes. The currency system becomes more and more chaotic. It is better not to change it. Wang Mang's retro reform is too different from reality."

"People found that the reforms of this great saint were better than not to change. Their lives were worse than those of the Liu family emperor."

"People think about the Han Dynasty, so Liu Xiu, a relative of the Han Dynasty, rose up because of the times. He received the support of the Hebei tyrants, and soon turned the tide and continued the Han Dynasty."

When Li Li had time, he read "Book of Han" and "Book of Later Han" and was familiar with this history, and he felt a bit like Wang Mang.

Wang Mang's three axes: land reform, release of slaves, and currency reform. He generally did the same.

Wang Mang offended the powerful landlords and touched the old vested interest groups, and he also offended many people.

However, he was not that stupid and knew to carry out appropriate reforms based on reality, rather than copying them.

But the most important point is that his army is very good at fighting. Whoever dares to raise an army to resist him will die.

Therefore, the smooth implementation of the inspection of temples, the inspection of the property, and the inspection of the land was promoted in disguise, which promoted land reform in disguise (a large amount of land began to pay taxes), and increased the number of households controlled by the court (a large number of hidden households, and temple households were converted into households).

Moreover, the currency is firm and there is no shortage of copper (with a guaranteed copper ore).

At the same time, the development of industry and commerce, the system of wing soldiers (official engineering teams) was used to absorb landless people and monks and nuns who returned to secular life, so that they could have a place to support their families.

With the extremely capable army watching the situation, the domestic situation is currently in harmony.

Compared to the world of Wang Mang's new dynasty, it is like a world.

But this is not enough. Li Li believes that the political system must also be reformed. The system since the Wei and Jin Dynasties has been out of place overall.

The imperial power and the national system that adapts to the unified dynasty must also be recast.

The former unified dynasty was the State of Jin, but the unification of the Sima family was just the beginning of a greater chaotic era, and its system was not dared to copy it.

As for the system of the Han Dynasty, of course, we cannot copy it, after all, the times are different.

The decline of the Later Han Dynasty (Eastern Han Dynasty) at the beginning proves that this system is no longer in line with the trend of the times.

"What was the trend of the times at that time? The local manor economy rose, the powerful transformed into aristocratic families, and new political forces began to take shape."

Li Li began to express his views and view the drastic changes in this era from the perspective of future generations.

"It is economic development that leads to changes in social structure, which has allowed the economic strength of local families to qualitatively fly over, and the great families become powerful, and the powerful begin to develop into worldly officials. The Qin and Han dynasties system has fallen behind."

"The local tyrants that Emperor Wu of Han tried his best to suppress were completely out of control during the reign of Emperor Yuan of Han, and rapidly expanded, with sharp social contradictions, which triggered a serious crisis, which led to the farce of Wang Mang's retro reform."

"But the facts proved that this road was not working, so the powerful landlords supported the royal family Liu Xiu to continue the Han Dynasty, and the powerful people ushered in great development in the Later Han Dynasty."

"The powerful officials of all generations have transformed into gentry, aristocratic families, and four generations and three dukes. They want to break free from the shackles of the old system and obtain greater benefits, so the world is in chaos and the Three Kingdoms are in power."

"In order to win people's hearts, Emperor Wen of Wei Cao Pi let the gentry control the Nine-rank Zhongzheng system. The gentry had this powerful weapon to occupy a large amount of resources and its strength quickly expanded."

"The nine-rank Zhongzheng system is the foundation of the aristocratic politics, and the nine-rank Zhongzheng system is the social status of the manor economy that is dominant."

"Manors of all sizes provide a large number of resources for the gentry, maintain family education, and maintain a network of relationships between disciples and old officials. They rely on the nine-rank central system to control political resources and suppress the cold and civilians."

Li Li said this and put forward his own opinion: "I think the pulse of the current era, economically, is still dominated by the manor economy."

"In terms of concept, there are still differences between scholars. People's admiration and envy of the gentry are still endless, and the gentry's self-pride will still be very popular."

"Although the poor scholars hate the gentry to control political resources, what they want is to become a member of the gentry. For hundreds of years, the deeply rooted values ​​are that the gentry is the upper class."

"Everyone looks up at the gentry, this is a huge inertia, not transferred by personal will."

"So, a hundred years later, officials will definitely write petitions one after another, asking the emperor to reduce rent and exempt the gentry from labor."

"Once this hole is opened, it will inevitably go back to the old path. A large amount of land and household registration will begin to disappear from the yellow book of the government, and once again become the land and hidden households of large and small manors."

"People's pursuit of noble families and noble aspirations for the pure and simple gentry will give these naturally noble races a chance to make a comeback sooner or later in politics."

"Especially high-ranking officials at the prime minister level may still be controlled by the children of aristocratic families, because the families have been in marriage for a long time, support each other, and manipulated elections, which will achieve twice the result with half the effort."

As Li Li said, he took a bite of the fish ball: "If they can't fool my son, they will fool my grandson... Emperor Xuan of Han's concern for his son Emperor Yuan will sooner or later."

The topic was a bit sensitive, but Zhang Ying still asked: "This matter is probably inevitable. What can Your Majesty do?"

"The ancestor system is used to suppress it." Li Li replied, and Zhang Ying smiled: "The ancestor system is just a tool. If it is easy to use, use it, and if it is not easy to use, replace it."

Li Li retorted: "What I said is the ancestral system with nobles and nobles. They are a group of people, not one person, nor the imperial teacher Xiao Wangzhi who was casually played with by Emperor Yuan of Han."

Zhang Ying asked again: "What if the nobles are too big? No emperor likes to be chanted by the nobles all day long, because the nobles' chant sounds like a threat to the emperor."

"If the emperor is wary of the nobles, he will inevitably be murderous. In the emperor's view, the ancestral system supported by the nobles is a shackle and he wants to be eliminated more and more."

Zhang Ying then raised an extremely sensitive topic: "In the future, the world will be unified, the world will be peaceful, the birds will be gone, and the cunning rabbits will die. What will the emperor's view of the nobles?"

"Your Majesty often says that the general trend of the world will be united after a long separation, and long separation will be united after a long separation. Then, since Jin, the division of the world means that the imperial power has declined..."

"And the unity of the world means that the strengthening of imperial power has become inevitable. So, how can the continuously strengthened imperial power tolerate nobles who have deep connections in the army but also point fingers at the new king?"

"When the new king makes the nobles fall into pieces, then will the resurgent gentry take the opportunity to fill the gap?"

This gamble was well raised, which made Li Li speechless.

Zhang Ying continued: "Your Majesty is good at fighting, so he will not regard the martial eunuchs as a threat, because no one can threaten His Majesty."

"But what happened? Compared to His Majesty who came out of the sea of ​​blood, his Majesty's children and grandchildren, facing these martial merits, wouldn't they have any other thoughts?"

"I'm afraid it won't work to use nobles to restrain the emperor. So who should come? Eight House Secretarys?"

Zhang Ying also said: "Now, Your Majesty has set a system. Eight ministers have a five-year term and are not allowed to be re-elected. Except for the minister Zuo Pushe, the candidates are all selected by the emperor from the court."

"This system is good. Now that the ancestor servant She has taken office, he is doing a lot of work. The courtiers are also preparing for a new round of court promotion in five years, and people are determined."

"But in the future, once the gentry makes a comeback, the ministers can already imagine what they can change this system."

Li Li thought for a while and said, "There are no poor scholars in the eight zodiac signs, and the imperial examination has no future?"

This summary is very vivid, Zhang Ying nodded and added: "Maybe, there will be various conditions for various reasons, such as if you want to take the imperial examination, you must recommend it."

"Preferees must be officials of a certain level or above, or cancel the ranks of the ranks to show fairness."

"Fair?" Li Li murmured, looking unhappy:

The educational resources of the gentry and common people are very different, and this will take one or two generations to change. The so-called fairness of the imperial examination students and the same rankings is actually unfair.

It is obvious that as long as his children and grandchildren are fooled, Zhang Ying's "prophecy" has a high probability of appearing.

Seeing that his series of attacks made Li Li silent, Zhang Ying gave a suggestion: "Your Majesty wants to set the ancestral system and use a specific group to maintain the ancestral system and avoid the troubles of descendants."

"But, I think it's not appropriate to take this responsibility with nobles. It's better to..."
To be continued...