In the Liangyi Palace, Li Yuan sent Li Shimin and Li Jiancheng away, and then left Zhang Chao behind. And Li Yuan finally sat on the chair, closed his eyes and closed his eyes to recuperate. Then Zhang Chao didn't know what to do next to him, because Li Yuan sent Li Jiancheng and Li Shimin away, leaving him as a foreign minister what he wanted to do. However, since Li Yuan didn't speak, Zhang Chao could only stay here and not leave without permission. However, after about a quarter of an hour, that is, about fifteen minutes, Li Yuan finally opened his eyes, and then began to talk to Zhang Chao.

"Recently, Shangshu's right servant shot Xiao Yu, and Chen Shuda in the middle of the servant, repeatedly said good things about King Qin in front of me, I hope you will investigate why they will help King Qin say good things. Find out why, and then bring the evidence to me. Li Yuan said.

Zhang Chao almost scolded, this Li Yuan is really a pit person! Actually let yourself investigate the two prime ministers, do you really think that you are too capable? Xiao Yu is the right servant of Shangshu, the nominal third-in-command of Shangshu Province, equivalent to the executive vice premier of the State Council in later generations, and the kind of member of the Standing Committee. And Chen Shuda is a servant, equivalent to the chairman of the People's Congress in the future, these two people are qualified to discuss things in the political hall! The political hall is a place where high-ranking officials of the imperial court discuss things, and in the Tang Dynasty, they can enter the political hall to discuss things, and they can be called prime ministers. The prime minister of the Tang Dynasty was a committee system, and anyone who could enter the political hall was the prime minister. However, although they do not have the same rights as the prime ministers of the past, they all have the right to deliberate. But Li Yuan actually asked himself to investigate them, did this really make Zhang Chao ask for trouble?

What's more, of course, Zhang Chao knew very well that Shang Shu's right servants Xiao Yu and Chen Shuda had already worn the same pants with Li Shimin. Both of them secretly supported Li Shimin, and they actually supported Li Shimin during the Xuanwumen Change. Before the Xuanwumen Change, they often said good things for Li Shimin, but in fact, there were already signs. Of course Zhang Chao knows this, and he doesn't even need to investigate, and it is clearly recorded in the historical classics. But can Zhang Chao say? In fact, there is no need to say much about this kind of thing, Li Yuan actually knew it in his heart for a long time. It's just that Li Yuan just wants evidence, and without evidence, Li Yuan has no way to move them. However, even if there is evidence, can Li Yuan move them? Everyone is also two prime ministers, which prime minister does not have a large group of friends and cronies behind him, and then represents the interests of a political group? So even Li Yuan is not able to remove the prime minister casually. So even if there is evidence, what can Li Yuan say?

"Hey, I just don't want them to go too far." Li Yuan said helplessly.

Zhang Chao understood that the reason why Li Yuan wanted evidence was not to dismiss them, but to tell them not to go too far. However, Li Yuan is actually pulling the bias now. Li Yuan persuaded the two of them not to go too far, but wasn't he actually helping Li Jiancheng pull the shelf? These two prime ministers support Li Shimin, so Li Yuan asked them to rein in, isn't that just a blow to Li Shimin? Li Shimin really didn't receive much welcome from Li Yuan, and Li Yuan attacked Li Shimin several times and did not support Li Shimin. is all his own son, why is Li Yuan so biased?

"That's wondering, why do I repeatedly favor the crown prince?" Li Shimin asked.

And Zhang Chao immediately couldn't help asking: "Your Majesty, the crown prince and the king of Qin are all your sons, and they are all handsome for a while." Why can't you let him compete fairly and always favor the prince? ”

"It depends on what you mean, do you think that I am unfair, and you may think in your heart that King Qin is better than the crown prince?" Li Yuan asked.

Zhang Chao immediately replied; "Don't dare!"

"Yes, the people of the world are actually better than built!" Li Yuan said.

"Then why is the emperor still ......?" Zhang Chao tried to ask.

Li Yuan immediately said: "Because the prince is the eldest son!" ”

"The eldest son?" Zhang Chao really can't figure it out, is this eldest son so important?

Zhang Chao really couldn't figure out why the ancients attached so much importance to the identity of this eldest son, and non-eldest sons could not inherit the family business. Zhang Chao didn't understand what the use of this eldest son was. You must know that in the later generations, all children have the right to inherit, and it is not that the eldest son and the second son are given special treatment. In ancient times, only the eldest son had the right to inherit, and the other sons were not able to obtain the right to inherit. And if it is a son-in-law such as the second son, then you can also get some good status, but those concubines can't, they can only leave the house with a part of the wealth and go on their own. They are all sons, why do they regard this eldest son as so important, and for this reason, a set of primogeniture inheritance system has been established. And many ancients regarded this as a sacred and inviolable thing, thinking that the inheritance of the eldest son is sacred, and no one can infringe on it, Zhang Chao really can't figure it out!

"Do you think that Lichu should be a chief or a virtuous?" Li Yuan asked again.

Zhang Chao didn't think about it and said: "You should be virtuous!" ”

Zhang Chao does not think that the order of birth determines the inheritance right, and in his heart he should be qualified to inherit the family business entirely by virtue of ability. This is also the consistent practice of many political and business families in later generations, which is to select the best person from several sons to obtain the right to inherit, so as to ensure that the family business can not be declined. However, in this ancient period, Lichang and Lixian had many supporters, but the vast majority of them supported Lichang's eldest son. However, Zhang Chao's thinking is different, he is from the later generations, so he naturally said Lixian without thinking about it, and chose a powerful person to be the heir, which is also his thinking in the later life.

"What is a virtuous? What is the standard of being virtuous? Li Yuan asked again.

"This ......" Zhang Chao was a little speechless.

Li Yuan saw that Zhang Chao had nothing to say, and then continued to ask: "What if you let Wei Chigong go to embroider and let Cheng Yanjin go to see a doctor?" ”

"This ......"

Zhang Chao really didn't know what Li Yuan was doing, and he actually used these two as metaphors. Wei Chigong and Cheng Yanjin are both two generals under Li Shimin, and they are both brave generals who lead troops to fight and charge. And Li Yuan said that it was impossible to let Wei Chigong go to embroider and let Cheng Yanjin go to the doctor.

"Your Majesty, how is this possible? They can't do this at all! Everyone's ability is different, and they must be used in the most suitable place, so that the way to use people is to employ people. There is no unusable person in the world. The shortness of employing people, there is no available person in the world. Therefore, the emperor's metaphor is really ridiculous. Zhang Chao said.

Li Yuan heard Zhang Chao say that his analogy was ridiculous, not only did he not get angry, but continued: "Yes, everyone's strengths are different. This is enough to show that the ability is strong, and there is no absolute saying about this. Some people are good at handling court affairs, and some people are good at leading troops to fight, but if they are allowed to exchange positions, it is difficult to say whether they can do it, and they may even miss the major affairs of the court. From this point of view, there is no absolute wisdom in this world, and whether or not he is wise depends entirely on whether he is used in the right place. However, there is no one-size-fits-all standard for whether you are virtuous or not, so this is controversial. You say he's wise, but others don't think so. And he himself doesn't think so, so this is a complete mess, who would admit that he is not virtuous? ”

So, since there is no one-size-fits-all argument for being wise. All enemies will not recognize that the other party is virtuous, and they all think that they are more distinct than the other party. In this way, the conflict will naturally come, and there will certainly be nothing to reconcile. In this case, the so-called Lixian is nothing more than an unsolvable matter. Then we can only choose another way, and that is to grow. Whether it is the eldest son or not, it is easy to judge, that is, from the order in which they were born. And if it becomes a rule, then it can solve a lot of disputes and maintain the stability of the country, do you understand the truth in this? ”

Zhang Chao suddenly became enlightened, because it turned out that the eldest son actually had his inner political wisdom. Because it is impossible to judge whether it is wise or not, there are a thousand Hamlets for a thousand readers, and this cannot be explained at all. And it is impossible for the parties themselves to think that they are stupider than others, so it is irreconcilable. There is no unified standard for Lixian, so although it is said to be Lixian, in fact, it aggravates their conflict. No one thinks that they are worse than others, so Lixian naturally aggravates the conflict.

However, if it can be established, it can reduce the conflict to a certain extent. The so-called establishment of the eldest son in Confucianism is to establish the absolute inheritance right of the eldest son, so as long as the absolute inheritance right of the eldest son is established and the absolute priority inheritance right of the eldest son is established, then a perfect inheritance system is established. With this inheritance system, it is possible to avoid the struggle for the right to inherit the throne to a large extent. Because the second son saw that he was born a period of time late, then he could only accept his fate, and some people even gave up the idea of fighting for inheritance. Once primogeniture is customary, it can avoid a lot of conflict. Although it may not be able to completely resolve the conflict, it can reduce most of it, after all, not everyone is a second son like Li Shimin, who has the ability, means and ambition. The vast majority of princes are also mediocre people, not the kind of ability, means and ambition they have. Those who are mediocre can only choose to accept their fate in the end.

The primogeniture system reduces conflicts, so that a dynasty can be more complete and avoid too much internal friction. There is his profound political wisdom in this, so it must be justified to exist. However, this can only exist in this feudal dynasty, and it is impossible in later generations. Because in ancient times, it was the era of the family world, a country was a family with one surname, and the throne was hereditary. And it is precisely because of the world of one family and one surname that people in this family will want to fight for inheritance.

The later generations in which Zhang Chao lived were an era of a republic and belonged to the public world. Zhang Chao was born in the Republic and grew up in the republican era, which was already an era when the idea of democracy and republican thought was deeply rooted in the hearts of the people, and it was definitely not a world with one family and one surname. Therefore, in this way, everyone selects talents and talents to manage the country, rather than relying on blood inheritance. So in that republican era, talents were also selected by election, so that rules were formed, and there was no fear of accidents. In addition, in later generations, China's republican ideology was deeply rooted in the hearts of the people, and no one would do the kind of stupid thing that regarded the country as their own family, because the people would not agree.

However, in ancient times, this hereditary system must have faced family strife, so in order to avoid strife, a suitable inheritance method will be established. However, if there is a lot of trouble for the sake of inheritance, and there is great internal friction, then maybe the family will also decline. The primogeniture system is a way to resolve conflicts and maintain the family from excessive internal friction and decline.

Therefore, the primogeniture inheritance system is a way to alleviate contradictions in the ancient family world. Because the thinking of the ancient family is deeply rooted in the hearts of the people, everyone thinks that the country is a family with one surname, and naturally family members are qualified to be the "head of the family". In this way, the primogeniture inheritance system that alleviates family conflicts also came into being, so that the family will not decline due to internal friction. And this kind of thinking is not so easy for Zhang Chao, who was born in the republic and grew up in the democratic era, if he does not cross over, he may be difficult to understand the political wisdom in this primogeniture inheritance system.

"Your Majesty, I understand, and I will immediately start investigating the matter of Xiao Servant and Chen Servant. However, the minister still thinks that it is useless for you to do this, Your Majesty. Zhang Chao reminded.

"There you go! I know it's useless, I'm just asking for peace of mind! Li Yuan said bitterly.

Zhang Chao could see that Li Yuan seemed to be a few years older again now, because he didn't look like a supreme emperor now, just an old man. One watched his sons kill each other for the throne, and then he had nothing to do. Li Yuan does not have absolute binding force on his two sons. If Li Yuan had absolute control over the situation, he would definitely not hesitate to abolish Li Shimin, and then let Li Jiancheng become the crown prince. But Li Yuan didn't, this was the congenital deficiency of the Li Tang Dynasty, and Li Yuan couldn't absolutely control the two sons.

"Your Majesty, in fact, since it is not like this kind of internal friction in private, it is better to make the contradiction public. Why don't you let the princes run for succession by themselves, and then let all the people in the world elect the crown prince? In this way, everything has rules, and the eyes of the people are bright, if the prince is allowed to run for election by himself, wouldn't it be great? When the time comes, let them run openly, so that there will be no excessive internal friction, and then let the court decline. And open elections also avoid a lot of internal friction, as long as the rules are formed, it is also a good method. Zhang Chao said.

Zhang Chao's method, in fact, hopes to combine the royal inheritance with democratic elections, so that it is still a good method in Zhang Chao's heart, which can avoid abnormal internal friction in many families, and allow everyone to elect a virtuous emperor.

After Li Yuan heard this, he suddenly fell into deep thought, because isn't this a very good way? Since it has become inevitable for families to compete for inheritance, it is better to compete openly and fairly, and then let all the people in the world judge. As long as you can get the support of all the people in the world, you can inherit the throne smoothly. And in this way, a lot of civil wars can be avoided, and a new rule can be formed, so that Lixian is also possible, after all, all the people in the world have recognized, and it is also a method. Even if they lose, they will lose convincingly, so that they will all admit defeat and will not regret it. But soon Li Yuan also shook his head immediately, obviously thinking that this method was not suitable......

"No, if that's the case, then the emperor is just a puppet of the family! How can the people be illiterate, so how can they take on such a heavy responsibility? Li Yuan said politely.

Zhang Chao sighed again, it seems that the education penetration rate is too low. Zhang Chao's method of running for the crown prince is actually a combination of democracy and hereditary system, in fact, isn't this a method? However, Zhang Chao ignored that the literacy rate in this era is too low, and the vast majority of the people cannot shoulder this political responsibility. If there is not enough culture, then the so-called democratic elections are an absolute farce. Therefore, if the election is really opened, it will definitely become a farce of the family in the end. Because the people can't bear this responsibility, it's easy to be fooled by those big families, and then elect according to the methods of the big families, which is fatal.

Therefore, the so-called democratic system cannot be implemented when the cultural penetration rate is not high. To increase the popularization rate of culture, it is necessary to raise the economic level so that everyone can have the capital to learn culture. To raise the economic level, it is necessary to increase productivity, and if productivity is not good, it will naturally not be possible for more people to get out of agriculture and learn culture from production. Therefore, this is also a link, and it is not something that can be easily solved. So this gave Zhang Chao a headache, and he didn't know how to solve this situation. Therefore, Zhang Chao's imperial power election system is actually very absurd and an unrealistic method. Of course, Li Yuan knew about this proposal, but it was impossible to realize it.

"Your Majesty, the minister retires!" Zhang Chao said.

Zhang Chao returned home, and then called Liu Renliang and them.

"Next, the east wind is going to rise!" Zhang Chao said.

Liu Renliang asked puzzledly: "What is the east wind?" ”

"The east wind of the East Palace! Now the crown prince and the king of Qin have reached a very critical time. At this time, the slightest carelessness in the court will also fall into a bloody storm, so we must be careful. Zhang Chao said.

And Liu Renliang immediately asked: "Zhang Yushi, what should we do next?" ”

"The so-called crisis crisis, in the midst of danger, naturally has its own opportunities. And at this time, those big families have also put their energy into the battle for succession, and the blockade against us will inevitably be relaxed countless times. We can take advantage of this time to develop vigorously, and then we can get the development opportunities well. The family doesn't have the time and energy to pay attention to us now, and our poor family is just a disease of ringworm to them, and they won't pay too much attention to it. You don't see that they seem to be very defensive of us now, but they don't actually take us seriously, they just treat us like children. Especially at this time, they are more for the battle for succession, and they will not take us seriously. Therefore, since they despise us, then we should also develop ourselves. At this time, they will not have the energy to limit us, and we can take advantage of this time to develop and strengthen our foundation. As long as our foundation is solid, then everything will be very easy. Zhang Chao said.

And soon Liu Chun also began to say: "We now have more than 70 people who cooperate with us, but they are all eight or nine petty officials, and none of them are high-level. ”

"Of course, there is no cold door for the top grade!" Zhang Chao said with some sneer.

"Next, we're going to train our people and make them understand what our class is all about. Let them understand how the scholars look down on our Hanmen, and let them understand that only by uniting our Hanmen can they survive in peace. If they are not united, they will only be treated as dogs by the scholars. Zhang Chao said.

The few people present were also obviously full of anger, because they finally knew the attitude of the scholars towards their humble family. In the eyes of those scholars, the poor family was just a brute, which made their dignity as human beings a great insult. So they all chose to be very angry, since they knew the attitude of the Shi clan towards themselves, then they also knew that it was impossible for them to get together with the Shi clan. The scholars look at people completely by their bloodline, and their so-called bloodline is completely based on the fact that they are too high in the case of belittling the Hanmen. They elevate their status by insulting the poor and looking down on the poor door, which is tantamount to pushing themselves to the opposite side of the cold door. Therefore, after Zhang Chao told everyone the views of the scholars on the cold family, then these cold officials also completely planned to fight against the scholars. Therefore, in this reform comrade meeting organized by Zhang Chao, the cohesion of the officials of that poor family is unprecedentedly improved. And all of this was also the death of the scholars themselves, and they insulted the Hanmen themselves, which forced the Hanmen to unite against them. They insulted the dignity of the Hanmen, and then achieved the effect of elevating themselves, so this is tantamount to pushing the Hanmen to the point of unity.