Shortly before the imperial court issued an edict and Pei Gaidong went to the king, he first sent two people to leave Chang'an and set off for the east.

These two are his younger brothers, one is Pei Tong Pei Xingzhi, and the other is Pei Zhan Pei Yishen - Pei Zhan was ordered to go to Luoyang to build a tomb for Pei Cai's deceased brother Pei Song.

Pei Song was killed by Chen Chuan in Pengguan in the past, and he was buried hastily, and the specific location was not very clear even to the domestic servant Pei Fu and the Chen Wubu general Li Tou who took in Pei Fu. Later, Pei Gai led the army to the Northern Expedition and recovered Henan County, and immediately ordered Pei Fu to visit, but unfortunately he searched for a long time and had no news. Because Pei Gai's soul came from the later generations, he did not have any actual family affection for the titular brother, so since this matter was delayed for a while, it was gradually forgotten because of the military and political affairs.

It wasn't until he was reprimanded by Fan Xuan behind his back in school, saying that he "didn't know etiquette", that Pei Gai realized that something was wrong, after all, he was in this world, and he still had the name of Wenxi Pei's descendant, so he couldn't add more attention to the secular etiquette. Even if Pei Song's remains can't be found—which is a common occurrence in troubled times—his tomb should still be built so that it can be sacrificed.

So he ordered his younger brother Pei Zhan to represent himself and go to the outskirts of Luoyang, next to Pei Zhan's tomb, to build a mound for Pei Song. Pei Yan was killed by Sima Lun in his prime, wrapped in a straw mat, and buried outside the city, and then Emperor Hui of Jin reversed his official and reburied with a Qing ceremony - still in the suburbs of Luoyang, because his hometown Wenxi had fallen into the hands of thieves. And when Pei Gai recovered Hedong, Pei Wei and others suggested that Pei Wei's tomb be moved back to his original hometown, Pei Gai smiled and said to Pei Wei: "Uncle will also want to be buried on Pei Bai's side after a hundred years?" ”

When Pei Wei heard this, he couldn't help but be stunned - then if I don't return to the ancestral grave, can I still be buried elsewhere? But he felt that Pei had something to say, so he was not in a hurry to answer, and asked instead: "What is the meaning of the covenant?" ”

Pei Gai smiled and said, "I once said that where my body is, it is Pei Bai." I pity my uncle, but I love trees and not people. ”

Pei Wei hurriedly surrendered his hand: "Where the text is going, I will naturally follow." "If you return to the funeral, then I will go back too; If you don't have that plan, then I'...... It's safer to follow you.

Pei Cai deliberately wanted to cut with many clansmen in his hometown. The specific step he will go in the future depends on the changes in the situation, and he has not considered it too deeply - in fact, from a certain point of view, he also forces himself not to think in advance - but after the world is settled, it is inevitable to weaken the power of the clan, try to release the land occupied by the big family, and divide the land to ordinary farmers, which is a long-planned strategy. In this case, he might as well compare himself with Han Guangwu for the time being, he doesn't want to have any more things like "Yingchuan and Hongnong can be asked, but Henan and Nanyang can't be asked......

Therefore, on the pretext that Pei Wei's tomb was erected by the first emperor and could not be moved without permission, he politely refused the request of Pei Wei and others, and let his father still lie down in the suburbs of Luoyang. Since this is the case, then the new Pei Song's well-dressed mound naturally has to be in Luoyang.

As for Pei Tong Pei Xingzhi, he was specially appointed by Pei Gai as the Wenxi County Order, and went back to his hometown to rectify family affairs.

As a rule, people in this county are not allowed to serve as officials in this county, but Pei should be in power, and he has destroyed the system so slightly, not many people dare to speak out against it-Chen Hao is responsible for picking up the legacy, and he has raised it, but he has not given advice. Pei Tongnai was instructed by Pei Gai, and after handing over the letter, he drove to his house.

Pei Shuo and the others hurriedly came out of the dock to greet each other, Pei Tong pointed to the huge courtyard, pouted, and said: "Since the country has regained its joy, and destroyed the Hu rebellion, driven the thieves to the north of the West River, and the territory is peaceful, then my family still needs to build a dock fort and a wall, and wait for the city?" Do you want to use it to resist the king? ”

Pei Shuo hurriedly promised: "It's a mistake of old decay, and it should be ordered to level the trench and destroy the ruins." ”

This is also the trend of the times, and it has to be. On the one hand, after the Pei army recovered Hedong, led by the Xue family, they withdrew the fortresses built in the old days, and even the strong Xue Qiang wall was also picked up - Xue Ning withdrew this fort, feeling a little painful, but considering that this fort was named after his brother "Xue Qiang", he ...... It's okay to pick it up - Pei Shuo is still delaying not demolishing it because there is no explicit order in the county. Since Pei Tong pointed it out to his face today and said it very seriously, how dare Pei Shuo disobey?

On the other hand, Pei Gai once intimidated Pei Shuo, saying that he would "break Pei's family and cut down Pei Bai", Pei Shuo was also worried that he would not destroy the wall and be caught by Pei Cai as an excuse. For Pei to deliberately cut off from the family and weaken the Pei family, even Pei Wei and others can't see his true meaning, and Pei Shuo naturally can't understand it. In his opinion: Because I have been in charge of the Pei clan for a long time, and Pei should be young, he not only has no family relationship with the clan, but also fears that it will be difficult to recover the clan power, so he must suppress me and those who have been rampant in the clan in the past......

In fact, Pei Shuoxin said, I have no intention of arbitrarily exercising power, this heart can be expressed every day, but it is forced by the times, and I am evil, but I am not allowed to dissect my liver and guts and distinguish carefully......

It was also since I entered the Hu camp that I had the will to die, but when I was old, my brain couldn't turn around for a while, and I even wanted to die in front of Pei Gai, so in the eyes of the other party, it was really a threat.

He was worried that Pei Tong came here to carry out a great liquidation on Pei Gai's orders, so he hurriedly agreed that he would dismantle the unnecessary defense facilities as soon as possible; Immediately hinted to Pei Tong, since Da Sima is busy with state affairs and does not return to his hometown, it is better for the county to take care of the clan affairs for the time being, I have long wanted to unload this burden.

Pei Tong pretended not to know what he meant, and did not express his position, but just asked Pei Shuo and others to lead, first went to see Pei Bai, then worshiped the ancestral tomb, and then entered the ancestral temple to worship the ancestral tablet. That night, although Pei Xingzhi stayed in the village, he politely refused Pei Shuo's banquet and hospitality, and returned to the dormitory early on the excuse of being tired on the way. But he didn't turn off the lights and fell asleep, but sat in the room, as if he had something to do......

As expected, in the middle of the night, people from the tribe came to visit one after another.

Pei Shuo is in charge of the clan government, naturally some people are happy and some are worried, some people rely on it to get benefits, and some people are alienated and suppressed, which is also reasonable, no one can really achieve a bowl of water - even if it is level, those who should be dissatisfied will be dissatisfied. It was difficult to shake Pei Shuo's power before, and no one dared to take the initiative to jump out to make trouble, so now Pei Tong came here on Pei Gai's order, this is a sign of change, naturally those opposition parties will come to Pei in an endless stream to inform Pei of the old patriarch's troubles.

Pei Tong came here, not only with Pei Gai's instructions, but also under Pei Wei's guidance, so he received those clansmen who came to the door one by one, gradually analyzed the situation, and touched the factions and disputes within the Pei family. stayed like this for three days, Pei Shuo's heart hung high for three days, but he didn't dare to stop those villains, for fear that the disputes would be put on the surface, which would be even more detrimental to his relatives.

Pei Shuo is mentally prepared, I can sacrifice, I am from the Shu clan, and I have no heirs, what is there to fight? But I hope that Pei Tong will come here, not to harm the lives of his clansmen, and to be a little merciful to those who have benefited from relying on me in the past.

Three days later, Pei Tong took the initiative to ask to see the genealogy and the clan deed—an order issued in the capacity of a county order—but Pei Shuo did not dare to conceal it and prepared to report it. After Pei Tong viewed, he couldn't help but be surprised, only then did he know that there were more than 1,000 men in Pei's family, including dependents, slaves, and tenants, with a population of tens of thousands and nearly 10,000 hectares of land...... In other words, eighty percent of the population and land in Wenxi County are in Pei's!

Therefore, he asked Pei Shuo: "The imperial court has its own system in Zhantian, and my family has more than ten times the system, what can I do?" ”

Pei Shuo explained: "In fact, most of the families in the clan have been divided...... "Dividing is dividing the family, so since it is not a family, the number of fields occupied can no longer be counted according to one family, and it is impossible to be classified into one household just because of the same clan-" Before Hu Kou was forced to reunite. ”

Pei Tong said: "In this case, now that Hu is dead, he should be divided again." When Pei Shuo heard this, he couldn't help but look embarrassed.

Pei Tong also knew that Pei Shuo was just a quibble, and with the customs of the time, the people lived together, and there would not be too many separate ones. Moreover, between the previous division and merger, the fields and houses were mostly in the hands of their own clans, and it was quite difficult to disassemble them. Most of the people of the same clan who came to complain a few nights ago claimed that a certain house and a certain field were originally mine, but later they were taken by their own family, saying that they were arranged for a unified arrangement, and as a result, they were reassigned to me to a poor house and barren land - the old thief Pei Shuo is too unfair!

As for the truth of his words, Pei Tong was naturally in a hurry to distinguish - and he didn't want to really do any research to find out the inside story.

So he took the opportunity to reveal a little bit of these tricks to Pei Shuo, and proposed to split the family. For the former, Pei Shuo was naturally busy shouting grievances, he knew that he couldn't really achieve a bowl of water, but since he grasped the clan power, he tried his best to uphold the public heart, and he didn't want to deliberately suppress anyone; For the latter, it is extremely difficult to say -

"The county is respectful and graceful, and the same clan gathers for several generations, supporting each other, and gradually becoming a custom, and there are very few people who are willing to separate. And if you want to divide it, that is, you should divide it into houses and land, and it is difficult to determine the amount and it is easy to cause disputes, which is not easy......"

Pei Tong smiled secretly in his heart: Didn't you just say that many families were separated in the past? It's inconsistent with what you're saying at this point.

Pei Xingzhi was born to his father Pei Cui when he served in Luoyang, and then followed his father and brother to various places until he entered Chang'an as a lang, he was the same as Pei Cai, except for a few occasional clan sacrifices, basically never returned to Wenxi's hometown, and did not know much about the situation in the clan. But at that time, wealthy families were everywhere, and he had a little bit of a clue about what the internal situation was.

Let's not mention the troubled times, the main purpose of living in the same clan is to seek support - theoretically speaking, when there are still foreign surnames in the county and township, the oppression of the clan power on the clansmen is always less than the oppression of foreign surnames. Then the Shu clan and the clan rely on the clan, and the near branch relies on the clan and can reap more benefits, so in general, there are few people who are willing to divide - dependence, slaves, and tenants are not included, it is purely forced by the situation, and it has to be attached to the door wall.

Of course, when the family expands to a certain size, there will be people who will deliberately divide it out. One situation is that they were forced to migrate due to eunuchs and gradually alienated themselves from their own tribe - the two branches of Eastern Pei (Pei Wu, Pei Wei) and Western Pei (Pei Bao, Pei Cui) both belong to this category; secondly, they feel that their family has better development prospects, and they are worried that they will be suppressed by their clans and descendants, so they take the initiative to move out; The third situation is that the land in the clan is insufficient for cultivation, and they are forced to find a way to survive in other places, even in other townships and counties.

For now, it seems that these conditions do not exist in Wenxi's family. First of all, most of them have moved out at the beginning of the troubled times, and even died in a foreign land, as for those who stay in their hometowns, most of them are pure landlords or even old farmers, and they have no courage and ability to break into the world alone; Secondly, after the war, many people in Wenxi County died, and many households were lost, and Pei's family took the opportunity to annex a large amount of land, and there was no problem of no land to cultivate for the time being.

At this time, they were asked to separate their families, and even if Pei Shuo agreed, it is estimated that no one would be willing to respond—even those who were dissatisfied with Pei Shuo's power.

So Pei Tongxian called Pei Shuo "uncle", pretending to stand purely on the position of the same sect, and dissected the liver and gallbladder to the other party - "The grandson was ordered to guard the pasture and Wenxi, seeing the household registration and land in the county, seven or eight out of ten are in my Pei's family, natural government affairs are difficult to manage, and taxes are difficult to adjust......"

Pei Shuo was about to interject, but was stopped by Pei Tong waving his hand. Pei informed the old man what he wanted to say, it is nothing more than that since we are of the same clan, we naturally support your governance, and the specific rent will definitely be in supply, and so on. Therefore, he smiled and said: "The household is easy to manage, the small people are easy to govern, and the family is difficult to control, and its power does not enter the public gate, and in the clan - the uncle has also been a county guard, so he naturally knows this kind of thing, and it is useless to perfunctory grandchildren." ”

Lies, empty words, and clichés, don't talk about it, the specific clan's constraints on the power of local officials and even the encroachment can be seen by anyone with a little knowledge.

Pei Shuo took a long breath and arched his hand slightly: "The county is on top, and I don't dare to call my ancestor." But please make it clear, what does Da Sima want to do with me, and how to deal with Pei's family? I was in charge of the clan politics before, but I really had no talent, so I made a family under the rule of Hu to seek perfection; However, I have no intention of betraying Jin, and my clansmen do not dare to be outside of Da Sima. If Da Sima has a grudge in his heart, he is willing to bear it on his shoulders, and he will live and die; I hope not to cut down the branches and leaves of Pei Bai, and not to cut off the roots of Pei Bai.

"Since the ancestor of the tomb was sealed in Jie, living in the east of the river, stretching for thousands of years, more than 20 generations, it has been dominating a county, famous all over the world, it is not easy. Da Sima to Pei's descendants, a very popular minister, to hold the country, and the county uncle, brother and so on are also in high positions, the news came, the family celebrated, all led and looked at the king's teacher, Hu Kou's chase, all want to defend the big Sima, such as the county respect, how dare he have his thoughts?

"Only Pei Shixing, Pei Baimao, began to have the merits of Juguang Gong (Pei Mao), Wen Xinggong (Pei Qian), Ji Yan Brother (Pei Xiu) and Yimin (Pei Wei); Only Pei's Sheng can be the wings of the great Sima, and he will go straight to the clouds. I don't know why Da Sima didn't care about this, and decided to blame the same sect? ”

Pei Tong coldly listened to the old man finish saying this big set of words, the corners of his mouth twitched slightly, and he asked rhetorically: "Da Sima is a little longitudinal, difficult and difficult, and he can succeed. As for the Wenxi clan, what is the merit?! ”