Li Shimin listened to Hou Junji's report, and his face was very calm. He said www.biquge.info "Continue to monitor, and do not act recklessly until the specified date." ”

"Obey." Hou Junji replied.

In this incident, except for a few people in the know such as King Li Su of Liang, the only person who can guess Li Shimin's mind is probably the text of Lang Cen in the Chinese book. Cen Wenwen is usually silent, except for the tasks assigned by the emperor, he talks about things and rarely says anything else.

Shu Wangfu.

"Your Highness, what do you think about the emperor's confiscation of civilian weapons?" Cen Wenwen asked.

Li Ke said: "Master, I don't think it's anything. Now that the world is peaceful, the people have a large number of weapons, which is a great hidden danger, and the fighting reported by the criminal department has caused huge casualties, and it is imperative to confiscate weapons. ”

Cen Wenwen said: "Okay, if Your Highness thinks so, then it is right. The minister came over today to remind His Highness that the emperor is serious this time. You have to remind your men that they must hand over their weapons as the emperor asks. ”

Li Ke said: "My father wants to collect weapons, I'm afraid he can't do it, the weapons are scattered among the people, everyone hides the weapons casually, how can you collect them?" There are also those wealthy and powerful families, they are very familiar with the local government, and the government will not seriously collect it, and this matter will eventually become a mere formality, and it will not be resolved. ”

Cen Wenwen said: "Your Highness, it is very dangerous for you to have such thoughts. I advise you not to underestimate the emperor's determination to collect weapons this time. What the emperor wants to do this time is far-sighted.

Think about it, it is said that the collection of weapons is the business of the local government, but why should it be handed over to the Ministry of War and Hou Junji's armed police force? Also, the minister noticed that Ma Xuanliang, the chief guard of the emperor's side, and Zhou Pan, the deputy chief manager, had not seen each other for a long time, what were they doing?

In short, the minister reminds you that you must give instructions to your subordinates, and act according to the emperor's opinion, even if you hand in the weapons now and can only get half the price, you must hand them over immediately, and do not pass the deadline. ”

Li Ke said: "Master, what does my father want to do? ”

Through clues, Cen Wenwen had already guessed Li Shimin's general goal, but Li Ke had an impulsive personality and was not a person who could keep secrets, so Cen Wenwen would not tell him the truth.

Moreover, even Cen Wenwen didn't expect how determined Li Shimin was!

Cen Wenwen said: "This minister is not clear, the minister knows that the emperor is very determined. I can only tell you that this time even the field army has secretly prepared for war. Anyone who dares to resist the emperor's determination will definitely be destroyed. ”

Li Ke said: "So serious? Master, I see. ”

What exactly does Li Shimin want to do? Who is his target?

In feudal society, in addition to the imperial power, there is also a huge force that can affect the imperial power - the gate lord clan.

Bureaucracy, as a social component, appeared in the Spring and Autumn Period, and began to replace the aristocracy as a new social component in the Warring States Period, and after hundreds of years of development from the Qin and Han dynasties, it began to enter the political arena as an independent social and political force at this time. It is customary to refer to them as the scholar class, the scholar clan, the gate valve clan, etc., which means the same, and the so-called gate valve clan is a family of senior bureaucrats who have been officials for generations. On the whole, it seems that the bureaucratic family is more appropriate.

First, its basic characteristics are that they are rich because of officials, but they are also officials for generations;

Second, for a long period of history after that, they were mainly involved in political activities in the form of clans

Third, they were not exactly the same as the bureaucratic class that later was completely dependent on imperial power and shared the fate of a certain dynasty, and they were a long-term and stable ruling class during this period.

To put it simply, a clan is a large interest group with a family as the core, formed through in-laws and disciples and other intimate relationships. For example, Yuan Shao, Cao Cao, Sima Yi, Sun Quan, Zhuge Liang and others in the Eastern Han Dynasty are the representatives of the gate valve clan.

The clan holds a large number of land and other means of production, as well as a large number of commercial institutions, has a large number of talents, and has a large number of clan children who serve as officials in the imperial court. It has a huge influence in all fields of politics, economy and culture.

As the emperor, Li Shimin's rights were also greatly restricted by these clans.

Throughout the Tang Dynasty, the children of the gate lord clan were able to occupy about 70 or so officials in the imperial court. The situation in the army is slightly better, but it is also flooded with a large number of children of the gate lord clan. Most of the officials in the DPRK and China also took pride in their clinging clans.

Let's take two examples to illustrate the influence of the Gate Valve Clan.

When Li Shimin was the king of Qin, he once sought the beautiful Cui woman as his wife, but people didn't look down on him as handsome and chic, but he married Cheng Yanjin, who was rude. The reason is that Cheng Yanjin was born in the gate valve clan.

Cheng Yanjin's great-grandfather Cheng Zhe is Sima of Yanzhou in Northern Qi, his grandfather is Sima of Jinzhou, his father is Dazhongzheng of Northern Qi, and his mother is from the Mo clan family. Li Yuan was an emerging aristocrat. Therefore, he was disliked by others.

The second thing is the system of dispersal of officials.

In 630, a flood was pressed for a month before it reached Li Shimin. Li Shimin ordered the redundant officials to be dismissed, and as a result, officials went on strike and 3,000 officials rallied in protest. In the end, the imperial court dismissed some officials, but in order to appease the dismissed officials, they had to pay their salaries, but they were not allowed to work, so there was a system of scattered officials.

Li Shimin had to rely on the gate valve clan, because he had no one to use, the people were uneducated, and there were very few talents among them. The officials were disobedient and withdrew, and they were replaced by these gate lords.

It can be said that Li Shimin created the rule of Zhenguan in the compromise and struggle with the gate lord clan.

One of the most terrifying aspects of the Gate Valve Clan is that it controls the main means of production - land. In order to seize the land, they took it by skill, and in the end, most of the land was concentrated in the hands of these clans, resulting in a large number of landless peasants, or reduced to slavery or vagrants, social unrest, and finally led to the demise of the imperial court, which was the case in successive dynasties. The Tang Dynasty was no exception!

Therefore, the gate valve clan is a cancer on the feudal dynasty.

The main clans of the Tang Dynasty were Cui, Lu, Li, Zheng, Wang, and the Guanlong group.

What Li Su helped Li Shimin to do was to completely disintegrate the power of the clan so that the imperial power could truly be fully exercised.

The power of the gate valve was too great, Li Shimin did not dare to act rashly, he accepted Li Su's suggestion, and slowly divided and disintegrated them without bounds.

First of all, through acting, the sale of land was stopped, and the momentum of land annexation was curbed. Secondly, through industrial schools, a large number of talents are reserved. The next step is to promote education throughout the country, and with a large number of talents, the constraints of the gate valve clan will be avoided.

Thirdly, the vigorous development of industry and commerce, and the gradual grasp of the economic lifeline by the imperial court, were also important measures to reduce the influence of the gate lord clan. In addition, the smooth progress of the reform of the military system has given Li Shimin completely different conditions from those in history.

This operation to collect weapons was also mainly aimed at the Gate Valve Clan. They have a large number of private armies in their hands, and this hidden danger must be eradicated.

Li Shimin still relied on the Gate Valve Clan on the surface, and none of the things he did seemed to be aimed at the Gate Valve Clan, but he was secretly disintegrating their power little by little.