Liu Bei was also very happy to see that he was happy under his rule.

He had suffered from discord under his rule.

When he was in Xuzhou, Cao Bao was also nominally part of his troops.

As a result, because of the disagreement with Zhang Fei, Cao Bao switched to Lu Bu, and finally made Lu Bu occupy Xuzhou.

Therefore, after learning that lesson, Liu Bei paid great attention to the unity of his subordinates, and even if there were differences, they would often deal with them properly.

So later, although Zhuge Liang's family of Shu Han was dominant, due to Zhuge Liang's own ability and few internal differences, even after Liu Bei's death, Shu Han was quite stable.

Seeing everyone's harmony at this moment, Liu Bei smiled and said: "It's best if you can work together, Xiaoqing, Kong Ming, now that I have won the land of Yizhou, I almost have two in the world, what should I do now?" ”

Zhuge Liang asked, "What does the lord mean?" ”

Liu Bei said in a deep voice: "Cao Mengde also occupies the north, how many people are tens of millions under his rule?" If he grows stronger, I am afraid that there will be millions of soldiers, and I want to take advantage of his unstable foothold to capture Henan. ”

Shen Chen, Zhuge Liang, and Fazheng glanced at each other, and they all shook their heads slightly, seeing that everyone was in agreement, Zhuge Liang stood up and said, "The lord can't." ”

"Why?"

Liu Bei asked: "The Northern Expedition to the Central Plains and the revival of the Han Dynasty is my lifelong wish, and now that the opportunity has come, why not?" ”

Shen Chen said: "At this time, the Northern Expedition, both sides will lose, and it will be Sun Quan, Han Sui, and Ma Teng who will take advantage of the opportunity. ”

Liu Bei smiled: "I am not Han Zilu, and Cao Cao is not Dong Guoqian." It is the strong Qin and the strong Jin, even if the two compete and fail to immediately distinguish the winner and loser, I am afraid that it will be the countries such as Geng, Huo, Yu, and Yu that will be destroyed. ”

Zhuge Liang shook his head and said: "The current situation is by no means the time of the Spring and Autumn Period, and Sun Quan, Han Sui, Ma Teng and others are not small countries, and the lord still cannot be taken lightly. Jiangdong or Guanzhong should be pacified first, and Cao Cao should hold on to the north and south, and eliminate internal worries before the northern expedition to foreign troubles. ”

"Hyozhi, do you think so too?"

Liu Bei looked at Fa Zheng.

This time, he made the greatest contribution to the pacification of Yizhou Fazheng, which made him trust Fazheng very much.

Fa Zheng nodded and said: "Yes, my lord, it is indeed not appropriate to directly conflict with Cao Cao at this time, and the internal disputes should be resolved, and then the Central Plains should be expeditioned north." ”

"Hmm."

Seeing that the three important people under his command all had opposing opinions, Liu Bei nodded and sighed: "I don't know that it is difficult to compete with Cao Cao, but people have already reached the destiny of heaven, and I don't know how long it will take, so I am a little impatient." ”

Shen Chen persuaded: "Don't worry, the lord didn't worry, Gaozu only raised troops at the age of forty-eight, and it only took seven years to pacify the world. The lord's situation at this time is much better than that of Gaozu. ”

"Not bad."

Zhuge Liang also said: "The general trend of the future is divided into north and south. Cao Cao's land is mostly plains, and there is no danger to defend. Our army occupies the initiative, and can send troops from Guanzhong, Nanyang, and Jianghuai at any time, so that Cao Cao is tired of running for his life, as long as he can make the land of Jingzhou and Yizhou strong, and replenish more elite soldiers and strong generals, Cao can manipulate millions of people, and there is no need to worry. ”

Liu Bei asked, "Then what should I do now?" ”

Shen Chen and Zhuge Liang glanced at each other, then Shen Chen took out a booklet from his arms, walked to Liu Bei and presented it with both hands, and said: "Don't worry, my brother and I have already discussed countermeasures, and I have written a copy of "Xingguo Shu" and dedicated it to the lord. ”

"Oh?"

Liu Bei hurriedly got up and took the booklet, and when he opened the first page, he saw a few big words written on it-Inner King and Outer Tyrant!

"Inner king and outer tyrant?"

Liu Bei involuntarily read these words.

Shen Chen said: "Yes, it is the inner king and the outer tyrant. Internally, it is kingly, and externally it is domineering. ”

"I know this royal and domineering, but how to implement it?"

Liu Bei flipped through this booklet, the content in it cannot be said to be obscure, it can only be said that there are many strategies, one by one, and you still need to understand the words one by one, it is better to let Shen Chen Zhuge Liang talk about it in detail.

Shen Chen said: "The content of the royal road is also known to the lord, unify the forces of Jing and Yi, and carry out internal and external reforms. For a country to be strong, it must unite all its people against external enemies, and in order to unite all its people, it must satisfy the interests of the majority. ”

Liu Bei closed the booklet, put it on the table and said: "Xiaoqing said about class before, what we have to do is to help the lowest class, that's the truth." ”

"Not bad."

Shen Chen looked around at everyone and said, "Everyone, what is the class? It is the national wealth occupied by people of different statuses, such as the Son of Heaven is the highest class, followed by the three princes and nine kings, and then decreases layer by layer. But in a nutshell, I divide the class of the Han into five tiers. ”

"Which five floors?"

Fa Zheng and Zhang Song were very curious.

Regarding the discussion of class understanding, Shen Chen actually discussed it with Zhuge Liang, Xu Shu, Pang Tong, and Ma Hui of Pang De Company.

They were extremely shocked by Shen Chen's profound thoughts, this kind of dialectical thinking was beyond their comprehension.

However, under this kind of thinking and analysis, many complex questions have become extremely simple, so that they have a clear understanding of why the situation in the last years of the dynasty occurred.

Shen Chen thought for a moment and shouted outside, "Someone." ”

Chen Zhi walked in and arched his hand: "General." ”

"Get a pen and paper."

"Yui."

Chen went out to get pen and paper.

Shen Chen sketched a pyramid structure on paper.

But unlike ordinary pyramids, the first layer has a small area, and the largest area is the second layer, and then it becomes a normal pyramid upwards.

Now the structure of the Han Dynasty is very similar to the Indian caste system, the lowest level is the slaves, but the number of slaves is far less than that of ordinary people, so in terms of structure, it is naturally different from the ordinary normal pyramid.

As a professional architectural designer, the painting of this pyramid is almost perfect, and each layer is marked, and Fazheng Zhang Song, including Liu Bei, has come over.

"Look, everybody."

Shen Chen pointed to the pyramid at the top and said, "The highest class is the Son of Heaven, and I call him the highest ruling class. ”

"Hmm."

Fa Zheng nodded his chin slightly and said, "The power of the Son of Heaven is indeed the greatest. ”

Shen Chen pointed to the second layer and said: "This is the bureaucratic class, from the top to the three princes and nine secretaries, down to the county order and the county prince, although they have different ranks, they all have the power to kill the people at the bottom in their hands. ”

"The commander of a county can decide the life and death of the people of a county."

Zhang Song sighed: "I have seen this kind of thing countless times, especially in this kind of troubled times, there is no order in many counties, whoever has soldiers in his hands is the county order, and he can kill the county people at all." ”

Shen Chen pointed to the third layer and said: "This is the wealthy class of the family, these people are often attached to the existence of the second-layer bureaucratic class, and the bureaucratic class has become the umbrella of the powerful class of the family. ”

"That's true."

Liu Bei also nodded: "Although my father was a county magistrate back then, he was an honest official, and after my father died of illness, the family was also in the middle. However, many of my father's colleagues joined forces with the local powerful families to seize and plunder the people. It is precisely because of this that I am not used to the officialdom, and I do not want to go along with them, so I angrily whip the superintendent. ”

Back then, in the face of the extortion of the postal governor, Liu Bei could actually bribe. Although I don't have any money in my hand, I have power in my hand. As the county lieutenant of a county, he is regarded as the third-in-command in the county, and it is still very easy to engage in forcible seizure, but he didn't want to do that, so he whipped the superintendent and abandoned the official.

There are still some such examples in the Eastern Han Dynasty, such as Julu Taishou Sima Zhi, in the face of the blackmail of Emperor Liu Hong of the Han Dynasty, he was unwilling to stretch out his hand to the local people, and finally committed suicide, choosing to make the Emperor of the Han Dynasty turn back.

It's just that there are still too few examples like Sima Zhi and Liu Bei, most officials are faced with the exploitation of the upper echelons, have no money, and dare not engage in those families with stronger backgrounds than them, so they can only stretch out their hands to the people, so that even after the Yellow Turban Rebellion was put down, the uprisings continued, and the Han Dynasty became full of holes.

"The last two classes are divided into the common people and the slaves. The interest groups formed by the bureaucratic class and the wealthy and powerful classes usurped the land of the common people and used the labor power of the common people to absorb a large amount of wealth. Cao Cao's father, Cao Teng, paid 100 million yuan to Emperor Ling in order to be the third duke, which shows the wealth of these people. ”

Shen Chen finally pointed to the fourth and fifth layers: "And their wealth is based on the seizure of the common people and the slave class. They turned the people's land into their own land, and the common people into their slaves, without paying taxes to the imperial court, and all the land income went to them, and the final result was that they became rich, and the people were poor, and they could not afford to eat, and finally chose to rebel. ”

This was the root of feudal land annexation.

In fact, the ancients didn't know these things, otherwise there wouldn't have been so many reforms in the past dynasties, but their cognition was more general, unlike Shen Chen, who had experienced modern education in later generations, and a history book for junior high school and high school had an extremely profound analysis of ancient society.

Therefore, after the explanation is clear, it is clear to everyone at a glance.

After hearing this, Fa Zheng only felt that many doubts had been solved, and he immediately said in awe: "Xiaoqing's words are deafening." ”

Zhang Song also sighed: "In the past, when I read "Historical Records" and "Book of Han", I also had some such thoughts, but I couldn't get to the point, but now after listening to Xiaoqing's analysis, I understand the reason for these truths. ”

Shen Chen said with a smile: "In fact, everyone doesn't understand these truths, but no one has discovered these and found them." For example, Shi Dan, a minister in the late Han Dynasty, once advocated "limiting land and limiting slaves", but after all, it could not be realized because it offended the bureaucrats and the powerful interest groups. ”

Liu Bei hurriedly asked, "Is there a way to solve it?" ”

Fazheng, Zhang Song, and Liu Bei all looked at him, but Zhuge Liang's complexion did not change at all, because he had discussed this issue with Shen Chen countless times.

"It's a pity."

Shen Chen shook his head: "There is no solution to this problem, there is no way to solve it." ”

"No solution?"

Liu Bei muttered to himself: "But Kong Ming Xiaoqing, you told me that the division of Jingyi officials can solve many problems." ”

"It's only a preliminary relief, not an eradication."

"My lord, think about it, strictly speaking, the Son of Heaven and the people should stand aside. Because the people are the foundation of the rule of the Son of Heaven, without the people, the Han Dynasty is just an attic in the air, and it will inevitably collapse. Mencius has long said that "the people are precious, the community is secondary, and the monarch is light", which shows that the sages have long seen it thoroughly. ”

"But this does not mean that every Son of Heaven can have such an understanding, His Majesty Emperor Wen and His Majesty Emperor Jing know, does Emperor Huan and Emperor Ling know? Once the Son of Heaven lacks such an understanding, it is easy for a government decree to be issued, which will affect all the people, and the Emperor Ling ordered that the officials and people in the world should pay money for repairing the palace, and pay ten yuan per field, plus countless harsh taxes and miscellaneous taxes, will eventually crush all the people. ”

Shen Chen explained: "And except for the Son of Heaven, every generation of courtiers has selfish intentions and wants to accumulate wealth for the family. In this way, a generation of three princes and nine kings can create more than a dozen families and heroes, passed down from generation to generation, how many households can be created? For example, the fourth generation and the third prince of the Yuan family, protégés and former officials are all over the world, and the family industry and wealth they own are more than 10 billion? ”

Fa Zheng muttered: "Yes, as the first generation of powerful families at the founding of the country, the lords who followed Gaozu and Guangwu to fight the world will give rise to a large number of top wealthy families. Although time has passed, and there are always broken families in every dynasty, such as the Deng family, which has been declining for decades, there will always be new wealthy families who continue to fill the vacancies. ”

"Exactly."

Shen Chen nodded, pointed at Zhuge Liang, then pointed at himself, and said seriously: "It's not even just them, in the future, if we follow the lord to calm the world and restore the Han Dynasty." Our heirs will also become wealthy families, and they will begin to encroach on the interests of the common people for the sake of their own family interests, eating the wealth of the country like moths, so there is no solution to this problem at all, as long as there is a bureaucratic class, it will definitely give rise to wealthy families. ”

Liu Bei frowned and said, "What if the power of officials is limited and the status of the people is higher than that of officials?" ”

Shen Chen shook his head: "There are too many constraints on officials, which will make those officials who have the intention of benefiting the people have no room to exert themselves, the power is too small, and the status of the people is higher than that of officials, how can they govern the people?" If the authority of the law cannot be exerted, it will inevitably lead to further confusion. ”

"Unless each generation of emperors has to carry out a reform and let those wealthy families hand over their fields, there is really no way to solve this problem."

Zhuge Liang also said: "The people, officials, and the state contradict each other and depend on each other. If the law is strict, the country will harm the people. Confucius once said, "Tolerance is to help Meng, and Meng is to help Guang", and the sages have long seen through the way to govern the country. It's just that the rulers that Xiaoqing said often do things according to their own hearts, and if they are virtuous, the country will be prosperous. If there is a faint son of heaven, the country will decline. ”

"yes."

Shen Chen sighed: "This is why the dynasty is often only two or three hundred years old, fortunately there was Guangwu at the end of the former Han Dynasty, and there was a lord at the end of the present dynasty, if it were not so, I am afraid that the day when Cao Thief will dominate the world is the time when the new dynasty replaces the Han Dynasty." And in the future, as time passes, the old dynasty will always be replaced by a new one, this is a law. ”

"The reason for this law is that the land is more and more occupied by the wealthy families, and the people occupy less and less land."

Fa Zheng was extremely clever and immediately said: "When the dynasty was first established, the situation of land annexation was broken because of the war. There are a lot of ownerless fields, but with the passage of time, one or two hundred years of Chengping, generations of bureaucrats and the families behind them have embezzled the land, and the people's fields are getting less and less. ”

Shen Chen said: "Yes, Kuang Heng stole light when he was a child, and when he grew up, the son of tomorrow gave him 310,000 mu of land, and he also stole more than 40,000 mu of land in the next county, so you can know the greed of these people." With the passage of time, any dynasty loses too many lands and people, and it is the end of the years, and the former Han and the present are the examples. ”

Liu Bei's face became very heavy, and after a long time, he said: "Xiaoqing's profound understanding of this makes me embarrassed, so according to Xiaoqing's meaning, even if I recover the Han Dynasty, can it only last for two or three hundred years?" ”

"Under normal circumstances, this is the case, and even if you are unlucky, you will encounter the hidden danger of Emperor Jing's Excellency in the early Han Dynasty, and the Seven Kings Rebellion will perish before two or three hundred years. After all, even with the wisdom and martial arts of His Excellency Emperor Jing, he barely managed to quell the rebellion of the Seven Kings. If there is another mediocre and incompetent emperor, there will be a rebellion of the eight kings, which will be a disaster for the country. ”

Shen Chen remembered the Jin Dynasty of the Sima family.

In fact, strictly speaking, the strength of the Jin Dynasty is not weak, and it is still easy to beat a northern nomad.

But it was the infighting of the Eight Kings Rebellion that led to the serious depletion of the strength of the Han people.

In this case, the Eight Kings even recruited northern nomads to enter the Central Plains to fight for them, and the result was that the more and more they played, millions of nomads went south, so that the Five Hu Chaos, and the Western Jin Dynasty only existed for 51 years before perishing.

"Is there really no solution?"

Liu Bei was stunned.

Although after death, it will be a flood.

However, his ancestors could not be passed down for generations, which also made his sense of mission extremely frustrated.

Shen Chen said: "It can't be solved forever, but there is a way to extend the life of the dynasty, and this is what we have to do." ”

"Xiaoqing, say it quickly."

Liu Bei cheered up and said: "It's good to be able to make the country last for a long time." ”

Shen Chen said: "At present, what needs to be solved is the increasingly acute land contradictions, and it is necessary to start using knives against the powerful families in Jingzhou and Yizhou, although it will be very painful at the beginning, and even cause a lot of civil strife, but just like a person who has been hit by a poisoned arrow, it is poisonous and poisoned into the bones. Although it hurts to break the arm, it is better than a person being poisoned. ”

Liu Bei said worriedly: "It's just that the Jingzhou family is strong, and it has more intersections with Xiaoqing Kong Mingshiyuan...... They ......"

Zhuge Liang arched his hand and said: "Xiaoqing and I have persuaded several major families that they are willing to give up their land. It's just that if the lord wants to be more gentle, so as to avoid large-scale civil strife in Jingzhou and Yizhou, he still has to make a deal with them, and if he can redeem them at a low price, he can redeem them, and if he can grant official positions to the children of talented families in exchange for fields, he will grant them official positions, and appropriately give them some benefits, which is a good thing for us and them. ”

"Hmph."

Fa Zheng snorted coldly: "The family is a group of silverfish of the country who have swallowed up the country's property, if I come to hold a knife, I will kill them and leave no chickens and dogs." Also make a deal with them and give them some benefits? Lord, you must not be too kind. ”

Shen Chen said: "Filial piety cannot be conservative, people must learn to be flexible." The family has accumulated a hundred years of wealth, and the family heritage is strong, and if it causes civil strife, it may hurt the fundamentals. What's more, there are many talents under the command of the lord who are born in these powerful families, although it is true that the powerful families have embezzled the fields, but they can't hurt the hearts of these people. ”

Zhuge Liang, the Kuai family, and the Huang family are all in-laws. There are also the Pang family of the Pang Tong family, the Xi family of the Xi Zhen family, the Xiang family of the Xiang Lang family, Liu Bei now has many children of the big family under his command, and if he really uses them, it is inevitable that he will deviate from morality.

Fa Zheng glanced at him and Zhuge Liang, and did not speak.

Although he is good at military strategy, he is slightly inferior in political strategy, and he will only stick to the old ways but will not be flexible.

Historically, after Fa Zheng formulated the "Shu Branch", due to the strict rule of law in Shu, he cracked down on the local Haoqiang forces, and Haoqiang was very dissatisfied and resisted the Shu Han regime with a negative attitude, resulting in Liu Bei's unstable foundation.

If it weren't for Zhuge Liang to turn the tide, change the policy strategy, and finally govern Bashu well, I am afraid that Ji Han would not have lasted for so many years, and would have collapsed due to internal and external troubles.

Liu Bei set the tone and said: "At this point, I support Xiaoqing and Kong Ming, Xiaozhi and Ziqiao to govern Jingzhou in the future, and they must not be too strict." ”

"Yui."

Fa Zheng and Zhang Song should be hand-over.

Liu Bei said again: "Let Xiaoqing Kong Ming handle the matters that give up their interests, and I will follow your advice on these things." ”

"Thank you, Lord."

Shen Chen and Zhuge Liang also gave up.

No way.

They are indeed too deeply involved with the major families in Jingzhou.

If it really gets bloody, it will inevitably kill and injure many relatives and friends, and it is impossible for people to be completely selfless, unless relatives and friends have committed crimes, they can be appeased as much as possible.

After all, strictly speaking, this is the ruling class represented by Liu Bei, forcibly seizing the land of the big families to give it to the landless people.

It is the interests of the family that is harmed, and if it cannot be appeased, the consequences of civil strife are unimaginable.

Shen Chen said: "Cracking down on the powerful family and returning the land to the people is the top priority at present. The specific methods have been written in "Xingguo Shu", if Xiaozhi and Ziqiao do not understand the situation in Jingzhou, they can use this volume for reference. ”

"Thank you, Xiaoqing."

Fa Zheng and Zhang Song both thanked each other, because this "Xingguo Shu" will indeed help a lot.

When they first arrived, they didn't know much about the situation in Jingzhou, and if they had "Xingguo Shu", they would be much better if they implemented it.

Shen Chen said: "In addition to these, Shuzhong also has some other suggestions, such as selecting talents, improving the efficiency of the government, strengthening centralized power, abolishing slavery, and so on. It's just that everything must be done step by step, and we can't be in a hurry, step by step, solve the fundamental problems first, and then gradually improve the system. ”

"Don't worry."

Fa Zheng said in a deep voice: "I will be careful." ”

"There is Lao Xiaozhi."

Shen Chen bowed his hand, and then said solemnly: "Next, let's talk about foreign tyrants!" ”