Three Kingdoms

Before Fei Qian leaves Heluo, there is one place he must first face and tell, and that is the head of the Heluofei family.

Anyway, if you say hello, they won't hold your thighs to prevent you from leaving. If you leave without saying goodbye, in this gentry circle in the Han Dynasty, which pays great attention to etiquette, it is basically equivalent to labeling yourself an arrogant person for the rest of your life. , is something that is worth the loss.

The aristocratic family began to take shape during the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period. It was not until the Tang and Song Dynasties that its power slowly faded. It was not until the actual implementation of the imperial examination system in the Ming Dynasty that the aristocratic family officially withdrew from the stage of history.

Before the Ming Dynasty, the first thing every emperor had to do was to face the aristocratic family head-on. He could not live without the aristocratic family, and he had to use various methods to restrict and suppress the aristocratic family. However, the real trick was to suppress the aristocratic family until they could not breathe. There are only a handful of people in history who are angry.

To put an end to why the Han Dynasty has always been trapped in the vicious cycle of power struggles between relatives and eunuchs, the most fundamental reason is actually the aristocratic family. In this era, most of the time, aristocratic families are good-hearted and guide the direction of the country. However, when family interests are involved, they often do things that harm the country. Therefore, almost the emperors of the Han Dynasty first suppressed the aristocratic families by relying on their relatives. Then when they saw that the influence of the relatives was out of control, they recruited eunuchs to suppress the relatives. When the eunuchs became powerful, they used the clear flow of the aristocratic families to eliminate the eunuchs.

Such a cycle has led to the fact that among all the dynasties, only the relatives of the Han Dynasty are the most famous, such as the outstanding Huo Guang, Wei Qing, etc., and there are also the useless Dou Wu and He Jin...

In the Han Dynasty, it was impossible to fight against aristocratic families by holding high the banner of conquering aristocratic families. Even with knowledge and knowledge that spanned a thousand years, it was almost impossible to seek good fortune, avoid misfortunes, and anticipate enemy opportunities. After all, at this time, most of the aristocratic families are some of the people who have the most advanced knowledge. The country still relies on the children of these aristocratic families, and the vast majority of ordinary people, let alone literacy, can't even count. How can you let these people How can an illiterate person suddenly know how to govern a country?

Feiqian belongs to the Heluofei family and originated from Qin.

Feizi, the ancestor of the Qin State, was granted the title of Qin by King Xiao of Zhou, and was known as Feizi of Qin in history. Some of Qin Feizi's descendants were granted the title of Marquis and the title of Peixiang, and they were called Pei Jun. His descendants have already granted the surname of the city and called it Pei. Later, Pei was divided into branches such as Fei and Fei, which gradually evolved.

This branch of the Fei family has been rooted in Luoyang for nearly a hundred years. Although it has not produced any high-ranking officials such as the Three Dukes, it has served as many officials in the court, local governors and county governors. Therefore, Fei Qian was promoted to be filial and honest at that time. To some extent, some local officials knew about the human nature of this relationship. Anyway, the local counties had the political task of promoting filial piety and integrity every year, so it was not a new thing to use it to please these aristocratic families in Luoyang.

Fei Qian felt like he would come to a place to meet local snakes in later generations, but in fact, the aristocratic family was basically similar in nature to local snakes.

The current head of the Fei family is named Min, Fei Min, with the courtesy name Zihao. According to his generation, he should be Fei Qian's uncle.

Feimin was then the official admonishment officer, specializing in discussion. He is an official subordinate to Guang Luxun, with a rank of six hundred stones. Although the official position is not as prominent as that of Sangong, he has the right to submit memorials alone, so it is considered one of the important official positions.

Fei Min was wearing a brocade robe, with a three-stroke beard, a square face, a slightly fat figure, a serious look, unsmiling, and a majestic look. When he entered the hall, he didn't even look at Fei Min, who was standing at the side with hands folded. Qian, after he was fully dressed and kneeling down at the middle seat of the hall, he seemed to suddenly see Fei Qian: "My dear nephew, are you okay?"

Fortunately, he was addressed as nephew, which showed that Fei Min set the main tone today and could still talk about family ties. If he was addressed as Shao Langguan, it would be clear that he was dealing with official business and rejecting people thousands of miles away.

The etiquette in the Han Dynasty was really tiring, and it was even more tiring when meeting an official family head. Fei Qian muttered to himself, but the etiquette was still in place, so he lowered his eyes and saluted and replied with some polite words.

In the Han Dynasty, juniors or subordinates were not allowed to raise their heads and look at each other when answering their elders or superiors, unless the elders or superiors specifically requested it. When answering, the highest gaze could only see the other person's chest. After answering, the eyes should be Dropping to the ground and looking directly into the opponent's eyes is either a provocation or a fight.

After the pleasantries, it’s time for the drama.

After hearing Fei Qian's excuse for leaving Heluo and going south to Jingxiang to study, Fei Min brushed his beard slightly, as if lost in memories, "Your father, Zi Yun is also very knowledgeable and well-informed. He traveled all over the country to study. It’s also a good story... My wise nephew has your father’s legacy and wants to improve his knowledge. If Zi Yun has a spirit, he will definitely be happy, but..."

Fei Min changed his subject, "But if you are studying abroad, what should you do with the more than 100 volumes of books left behind by Zi Yun? The road is high and far away, and the world is uneven. If you accidentally damage it and leave it behind, wouldn't you regret it for life?"

"What my uncle said is true. How about following my uncle's wishes?"

"In my opinion, it would be better for my nephew to temporarily leave Zi Yun's legacy at his uncle's house, and then return it to his nephew after he comes back from his study tour. This will alleviate the nephew's suffering from traveling around, and secondly, it can also preserve the son's health. Yun has no worries, my dear nephew, what do you think?"

Fei Qian was silent for a long time.

He knew that the so-called temporary storage was just an excuse. Once it was handed over, there was no hope of getting it back.

In the Han Dynasty, knowledge was a priceless treasure, and as a carrier of knowledge, letters had an extremely high status.

In ancient times, these collections of books represented not only books, but also the heritage of a family and a kind of inheritance. A scroll of letters was worth thousands of gold, and many disciples from poor families were willing to pay any price in exchange for a scroll of letters.

On the one hand, Fei Min, the head of the Heluofei family, saw that Fei Qian was young and could be bullied. On the other hand, Fei Qian's family had no heirs and no successors. As the head of the Fei family, it was of course his duty to not allow what he had learned at home to be neglected. Of course, the most important thing is that these books are so valuable. As the head of the family, he only has around 800 and less than 900 volumes of books in his home. Fei Qian actually has more than 100 volumes. Isn't it possible that if he can get it, he will not know it. Come, he can claim to be a home with a thousand volumes of books! What a tempting title!

Fei Min had already coveted it, but now Fei Qian actually came to the door to give such a good excuse, how could he let it go so easily?

Fei Qian couldn't help but sigh in his heart, this is the so-called aristocratic family! In the eyes of aristocratic families, family comes first before country, family comes before country, and family interests are always above all else.

Helpless, people under the eaves have to bow their heads. What's more, Fei Qian is just a side branch, and he doesn't have much right to speak. The head of the family can meet him in person and ask for it on the pretext of "temporary storage". This is already based on the degree of kinship, and of course, more importantly, because of the There are many Tibetan books, and if you are from an ordinary poor family, you may even assign a domestic slave to come and take care of the problem.

"Good. What my uncle said is true, but..." Fei Qian knew that he could never refuse this kind of thing, but he couldn't give it too happily and let these guys take it lightly. "But my father loved talking about it most when he was alive, and he often couldn't put it down. , an unfilial son misses others when he sees things and cannot bear to be separated, so he must keep them with him no matter what."

Do you really think I, Fei Qian, is easy to bully? The most valuable Qi Lun cannot be given away!

As we all know, during the Qin Dynasty, the First Emperor of Qin burned books and harassed Confucians, killing all the Confucianists. In the Han Dynasty, the situation changed and it was Confucianism's turn to become more popular. It reached its peak during the period of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, and the government and the public were independent. Confucianism was respected and hundreds of schools of thought were abolished. Many disciples of the hundreds of schools of thought had no choice but to switch to Confucianism. Those who persisted in changing were killed and arrested, and even more were driven away and sent to the frontiers.

By the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, Confucianism was the only knowledge that could be promoted to the imperial court, and the most important academic work of Confucianism was the Analects of Confucius.

Since "The Analects of Confucius" was published in book form in the early Warring States Period, the words and sentences often differed due to oral transmission and hand-copied transcripts. At the end of the Western Han Dynasty, Zhang Yu, the advisor of Emperor Cheng of the Han Dynasty, compiled "Lun on Zhanghou" based on "Lun of Lu" and combined with "Lun of Qi", which has 21 chapters.

"Lun of Qi" was collected by Fei Qian's father during his study tour in Qi State. Although it was only a fragment, in the eyes of Confucianists at that time, it was worth a thousand dollars.

"This...this..." Fei Min's trembling beard was very reluctant to part, but Fei Qian raised the banner of "filial piety" high. He could not let Fei Qian fail to fulfill his filial piety. Wouldn't that violate the most important principles of Confucianism? Is it one of the fundamental moral principles?

"My nephew can just keep three or five volumes with him, that's enough, right?" Fei Min still refused to give up.

Fei Qian shook his head firmly.

"Oh, that's alright, just my nephew." Although Fei Min said it was a pity, he was satisfied that he could get most of them without having to quarrel with each other. After all, Fei Qian was considered a member of the Fei family, and making too much noise would make people laugh. , it’s just a pity that I can’t take full advantage of it, “Then when will my nephew leave?”

It means when should I go to your house to pick up the book?

"My nephew was invited by the Cui family. I am afraid that some trivial matters have not yet been resolved. I will leave in the first ten months of this month. I will inform my uncle at that time." - The Cui family may cause trouble for me, and I won't be able to leave if the trouble is resolved. If you can handle it, I'll give it a maximum of ten days. I'll let you know when I leave.

"The Cui family is the Cui family in the north of the city. I know it. My nephew is going to a high mountain and a long way to go. My uncle has nothing to give you. He can only prepare some expenses. I hope my nephew will not refuse. I wish my nephew a safe journey. You will succeed in your studies." - OK, I'll help you get it done, I'll give you a deposit, and you won't regret it, that's it.

When Fei Qian left He Luofei's house with five hundred gold, it meant that the transaction with Fei Min was completed. This is the helplessness of the side branch. Even if Fei Qian does not agree this time, Fei Min will find another way, but then he may not be as harmonious as now.

Pangzhi Feiqian handed over his collection of books in exchange for a certain range of freedom and protection from his master Feimin.

If Fei Qian has no development in the future, then these collections of books will be gone forever. Of course, if Fei Qian becomes powerful that day, these collections of books will even be returned in double amounts.

This is an aristocratic family. The head of the family has high rights and also has the responsibility to lead the healthy development of the entire family. Many times, the side branches are invisibly exploited by the head of the family. Of course, if the head of the family is incompetent, the elders of the family will hold a meeting, depose the head of the family, and replace the head of the family with talented people from other branches, and the wealth of the original head of the family will be divided up by others. , has since declined.

Underneath the gentleness and politeness of the aristocratic family, what is hidden is the bloody and cruel law of the jungle.