The Nameless of the Common Clans

The gentry in Jizhou panicked, and the Anping situation was settled. Because of the death of a county magistrate, the entire Anping County was killed from Jun Zhixin to Anping County. The gentry and their retainers in thirteen counties paid a price of tens of thousands of people. What is the concept of this? ? More than half of the gentry in Anping County were exterminated.

What's even worse is that Chen Mo controls a large amount of criminal evidence and publishes these evidence in various counties. Every family he kills is made public. Not only does it cost people's lives, but they also nail them to the pillar of shame. Even if they die, their names will be infamous for thousands of years.

At this time, the gentry in the counties of Jizhou suddenly became more honest. They were afraid that if Chen Mo continued to implement this, he would eventually become a wealthy gentry in the land. With a huge family fortune, there would always be a few scoundrels in the clan who liked to make trouble out of nothing, and some conflicts were unacceptable. Didn't you see that as the news gradually spread, people in all counties were looking forward to a thorough investigation from their own side?

The gentry in each county now don't bother to embarrass the newly appointed county magistrate. All families are staying at home and be honest, and they are even more strict with the children of the family not to act recklessly outside.

As a result, the new county magistrates in each county were able to exert their influence and began to quickly control the actual power of each county. The Jizhou New Deal began to be implemented rapidly, but this matter did not end so easily.

"General, have you ever thought that such an approach is contrary to human ethics?" In Yecheng, in the general's residence, the judge looked at Chen Mo with a gloomy expression.

After the city of Ye was completely conquered, Gao Gan was let go by Gao Shun in exchange for Li Shan's surrender, but Shen Pei did not let him go. It was just that Shen Pei was unwilling to surrender. Chen Mo did not make things difficult for him and just let him stay in Ye. He was not allowed to go out in the city. Apart from being restricted in his walking range and not being able to leave Yecheng, Shen Pei basically lived a pretty good life.

Yuan Shang's defeat made Shen Pei quite regretful, but as a prisoner, he couldn't interfere with anything. He just sat at home and drank every day. This time he heard about Anping, but he couldn't stay calm anymore. Just came to visit Chen Mo.

"Is it against human ethics?" Chen Mo looked at Shen Pei with some surprise: "I remember "Mencius. Teng Wengong" said that the sage has worries, so he makes the contract a disciple to teach people the human ethics: father and son have relatives, monarch and minister have righteousness, Husband and wife should be distinguished, seniority should be orderly, and friends should have trust. This is what Confucianism says. This is a great human relationship. Father and son come first. There is a distinction between respect and inferiority. The king and his ministers are most important. Although I don't fully agree with it, I don't know where I have it. Is it against human ethics?”

The judge was speechless, and then became a little depressed. Am I here to discuss human relations with you?

"The general's words are wrong. Human relations are not limited to these. The general is the hero of the world. Now that Jizhou has been established, how can we kill and kill the gentry in vain? How can we make the world return to its heart by doing this?" Shen Pei frowned.

"It's too big to have the world return to its heart." Chen Mo shook his head, looked at Shen Pei and said, "Besides, only the emperor wants the world to return to its heart. You call me General, and you want the world to return to its heart. On this point, Mr. Zhengnan has already surpassed Human ethics.”

"General, do you know what a scholar is?" Shen Pei didn't want to talk about human relations anymore, so he changed the topic.

"I know a thing or two." Chen Mo nodded: "Confucius once said: A scholar aspires to the Tao, does not lose his justice when he is poor, and never deviates from the Tao when he achieves it. This can be regarded as a scholar. Scholars are the backbone of the country, but Zhengnan should also know that the gentry They are not scholars. They live in one place because their ancestors are noble. This is a noble clan."

"Since the general knows this, he should know that the scholars' ancestors have contributed to the world, so they should be treated well by the world, and their descendants should be protected by their ancestors. This is not a bad thing. In this way, more people will be willing to serve the world first and be willing to do so. Does the general think that he has made great contributions to the country?" Shen Pei frowned.

"Of course, since one has contributed to the world, one should receive rewards from the world. It is not wrong for the descendants to be protected by their ancestors and enjoy the virtues of their ancestors. But if the ancestors have contributed to the world, does it become the capital for future generations to do evil, even if they plot to rebel against the country and kill innocent people in vain? , should we turn a blind eye?" Chen Mo accepted Shen Ping's words. He couldn't object to this. If this truth was overturned, who would still be willing to work for him? In addition to fighting for the world, everyone is fighting for the world, but more for themselves. They want to have a wife and a son, so that their descendants can have a better life. This is a simple request.

But this does not mean that the ancestors have contributed to the world, and descendants can do whatever they want. Everything should be done in a certain way.

"But even if the Anping gentry has committed a crime, the crime will not lead to death, let alone confiscation of the family and annihilation of the clan!" Shen Pei said sharply.

"Killing officials is the same as rebellion, does Mr. Zhengnan think so?" Chen Mo asked.

The judge nodded and said nothing. In this matter, it was obvious that the person who did this had a flaw in his mind. Then the judge said: "But it would be too much to kill the culprit, but the general implicates the innocent."

"Is it a crime?" Chen Mo shook his head and said: "Forcing good girls into prostitution is called innocence. Bullying the market and robbing women of the people is a crime. If these families are not openly resisting the law and want to protect the scum of their clan, why are they doing this? ? But I don’t know what’s wrong with me. Mr. Zhengnan said he won’t ask about the world anymore, so why come and question me openly?”

"There are some things that cannot be surpassed. Killing officials. Looking at ancient times and modern times, who would dare to do it so blatantly, but they dare. Do you think I should be angry or kill people?" Chen Mo looked at the judge and his voice became more and more serious.

The most important thing when it comes to judging and matching is to kill officials. It was because of this that Chen Mo openly attacked the nobles of Anping County and killed tens of thousands, but instead he won a good reputation. But who is the judge, he is regarded as the top wise man in Jizhou, Naturally, it can be seen that the reason why those people killed the official was because Chen Mo deliberately tolerated it and made those people think that Chen Mo was easy to bully, which led to this step.

It is clear that Chen Mo is playing with people's hearts and digging holes for these people, but this cannot be said openly because Chen Mo has done nothing. This is the most helpless thing.

Shen Pei took a deep breath and looked at Chen Mo and said, "But the general arbitrarily changed the old law and implemented the new policy, which increased the taxes on the people. Have you ever thought that this practice is against benevolence?"

"How is it against benevolence?" Chen Mo asked back, "In the past, the court's tax law was 10% or 120% tax. Now I am 3% tax. Is this what Mr. Zhengnan said?"

Shen Pei nodded and said, "The general captured Jizhou and the world was divided into two. The general got one of them. Now, in the name of the court, he has taken a lot of good land for himself and exploited the people at will. If this continues, the people will be blamed. ? "

"But as far as I know, if the old law is used to collect taxes per head, the taxes paid by the gentry are extremely limited. However, the tenant farmers they hired worked hard, but in the end they only got less than one tenth of the money. Even so, they still had to pay taxes. I really can't see how the old law can help the people? Of course, people can't survive with this amount of food. At that time, the gentry distributed food to the people, and they had to be grateful to them for saving the food that should belong to them. If you say that Shanghai is nothing more than the reputation and interests of the gentry, is that right?" Chen Mo asked with a smile.

Shen Pei frowned and looked at Chen Mo: "This is the law of our ancestors. Our Han Dynasty has been following this law for four hundred years..."

"That's why the Han Dynasty has declined today." Chen Mo shook his head and said: "And since Wang Mang, the Han Dynasty has actually been divided into two periods. If you count carefully, whether it was founded by Emperor Gaozu or Emperor Guangwu, it has only been two hundred years."

The court has always tacitly approved the annexation of land by the gentry, but everything has a limit. As far as Chen Mo knows, the power of the gentry has expanded to the point where the imperial power has no place to collect taxes. If there is no reform at this time, the war in the world will not stop. The reason why the power of the gentry has not been completely suppressed is that if the gentry is completely destroyed, there will be no one to use in the world, so Chen Mo has always given the power of the gentry room to develop, but also restricted it.

According to Chen Mo's plan, most of the land in the world will eventually belong to the power of the gentry, but the remaining small part of the land must be in the hands of the court. In this way, the people will have a way to survive, and the power of the gentry will not expand to the point where the imperial power cannot be contained.

Of course, it is difficult to do this, so Chen Mo actively promotes the Three Schools to check and balance the aristocratic families. Everyone is still playing, but there must be room for the people to survive and for the people to know the court.

In terms of land, Chen Mo divides the land of the world into two parts, one of which accounts for 60%, which belongs to the power of the scholars, and the other is 40%, which belongs to the imperial power. You can also regard the people of the world as tenants of the imperial power, and the gentry in the remaining 60%, whether they merge with each other or reclaim wasteland, but don't affect people's livelihood. This is Chen Mo's bottom line, and it is also the bottom line of the court no matter which family becomes the emperor. Once this bottom line is crossed, it must be cleared.

Jizhou, however, is a place where the power of the scholars has expanded to the point that the court has almost no intervention. Even if Chen Mo conquers Jizhou, he still has to look at the face of the aristocratic families if he wants to govern the people. Therefore, he rarely used the butcher knife after entering Jizhou. If he did not slaughter a group of people, it would be difficult to obtain living space for the court, and it would eventually be difficult to escape the situation of being sidelined.

Shen Pei frowned. Chen Mo's words were a bit treasonous, but he couldn't refute them. Shen Pei tried to use ancient allusions, but Chen Mo could always use your allusions to refute your arguments from a novel angle.

Moreover, many things are known to everyone, but they cannot be brought to the table. They are rules that everyone abides by. But when someone uses the real rules on the table to suppress them, the rules under the table cannot stand.

There is a reason for the existence of unspoken rules, but these rules cannot be seen in the light. Chen Mo is now bringing many of the rules that have been seen in the light for hundreds of years to the table, so Shen Pei's argument naturally cannot stand.

If you say that the new law is all for the benefit of the people, that is definitely nonsense. The most important thing about the new law is to make profits for the court, so that the court can quickly collect money and grain for operation, but it hurts the interests of the gentry. Just like Chen Mo said, if the old law is used, the gentry can get benefits and then give a little to feed the people, so that the people will be grateful, and they will get both benefits and reputation. But when the new law comes out, not only will the interests be damaged, but the reputation will also belong to the court, so naturally they are unwilling.

"But the new law of the general is really a way to bring disaster." In the end, Shen Pei couldn't argue with Chen Mo, snorted coldly, and left.