Chapter 72

Soon, he began whipping people again!

In the blink of an eye, another S-rank figure appeared!

And this person's appearance made Ying Su's eyes burn with extreme fervor!

At that moment, even the bloodline of his former self as a commoner was about to awaken!

It can be said that any commoner in Chinese history who could obtain fair treatment should thank this person!

Without this person, commoners would not know how much longer they would be oppressed by noble families!

Without this person, all commoners might have lived under a caste system like that of the "Three Indians"!

Without him, the common people of China would never have had hope of rising up!

Similarly, because of his appearance, there were no more nobles in China from then on!

And also because of his appearance, all those of high status were forced to look upon commoners with a new eye!

It was also because of his appearance that the so-called imperial examination system finally became somewhat fair!

Commoners could finally become officials!

Not only could they become officials!

They could also oppose those noble families in the Ruchaotang!

He is...

When autumn comes on the eighth day of the ninth month,

When my flowers bloom, a hundred other flowers die.

The fragrant array reaches the sky, piercing Chang'an,

The whole city is clad in golden armor.

Song Jiang, the rebel leader of Liangshan, shamelessly compared himself to this person!

"If one day I achieve my lofty ambitions, I dare to laugh at Huang Chao for not being a true man!"

Heh... Does he deserve to?

How dare he compare himself to that person?

That's right!

He is Huang Chao!

A person in history who truly defeated the nobles as a commoner!

A formidable figure who truly succeeded in eliminating the influence of the nobles!

053: Destroy the Xiongnu, Li Yuanba, set out!

In the late Tang Dynasty, the power of the aristocratic families was immense; one could say the scholar-gentry clans were like iron, while the imperial families were like flowing water!

Even as dynasties changed, the major aristocratic families stood firm for centuries without decline!

In the Ruchaotang, nearly eighty percent of all official positions, big and small, were monopolized by the children of the scholar-gentry!

Even with the implementation of the imperial examination system, the situation in the Ruchaotang could not be changed at all.

Even if commoners entered the Ruchaotang, they would be isolated by the power of the aristocratic families!

If they did not ally with the aristocratic families, they would get no opportunity for promotion!

At the same time, the major scholar-gentry clans would recommend their juniors to become officials in the Ruchaotang, firmly controlling the Ruchaotang!

And just at this moment, Huang Chao appeared!

Originally, Huang Chao was an honest man who wholeheartedly wanted to pass the imperial examinations and gain a position.

But alas, the imperial examinations at that time were also controlled by the aristocratic scholar-gentry families.

Huang Chao took the exams many times in a row but never passed!

Finally, he passed once, but the result was that the chief examiner said he was too ugly to be an official, so they forcibly rejected his exam paper.

In a rage, he directly wrote that poem which has been passed down through the ages!

Afterwards, without a second thought, he immediately began the uprising!

And it was only after the uprising that he discovered that breaking into Chang'an was actually much easier than passing the exams to enter Chang'an!

After breaking into Chang'an, he directly carried out a massacre against the major aristocratic scholar-gentry families!

And ironically, at that time, someone even wrote the "Treatise on the Aristocratic Families" to rank the major clans!

Almost all aristocratic scholar-gentry families took pride in being listed in the "Treatise on the Aristocratic Families".

The result was that after Huang Chao entered Chang'an, he went house by house and killed them according to the "Treatise on the Aristocratic Families"!

The "Treatise on the Aristocratic Families" directly became the Book of Life and Death of the King of Hell!

Under Huang Chao's massacre, these aristocratic scholar-gentry families were almost entirely wiped out.

The Cui family of the "Five Surnames and Seven Clans," once prominent, was slaughtered down to the dozens in the Hundred Family Surnames; many aristocratic scholar-gentry families were killed until their surnames were completely extinguished!

From then on, the aristocratic scholar-gentry families that had been a threat for hundreds of years were directly uprooted!

It was from here that commoners could finally be treated as human beings by the aristocratic families and nobles.

And precisely because of this, commoners could finally hold their heads high in front of the aristocratic families!

So... is this person suitable for implementing the "incorporating labor tax into land tax" policy?

In Ying Su's view, he is far too suitable!

In fact, he has already somewhat exceeded expectations!

In fact... Ying Su felt that the system placing him in the S-rank category was a bit of a slight against him!

The things he did could almost make him a god!

Yes, since Xia Qi usurped the throne, how many years have the common people of China been oppressed by nobles, aristocratic families, and scholar-gentry?

Yet, relying solely on himself, he forcibly wiped out all of them!

Any commoner should regard him as a god!

If not for him, commoners truly would not know how much longer they would be oppressed!

Then why must this person be s?

Oh! I understand!

His military ability was somewhat lacking, and his methods for employing people were also somewhat lacking.

Moreover, his own will to rebel was not firm enough!

Clearly, he had already rebelled, yet what he thought of was not becoming emperor himself, but how to change the current state of the imperial court!

But how could that decaying Tang Dynasty still be propped up!

The decline of the dynasty had long become a certainty!

Thus, it caused the outcome of his failed rebellion!

But whether his rebellion succeeded or failed!

What he did could absolutely be recorded in history with glory!

He was also absolutely a ruthless figure of his generation!

But... this person's heart for killing was so heavy; was he not afraid of causing chaos?

Facing Ying Su had thought this way at first.

But, it was just that one thought!

Zhang Liang's proposal for nobles to pay taxes and weaken noble influence was, in plain terms, still a reform.

And since it was a reform, how could there be no deaths?

During Shang Yang's reforms, how many people died in the State of Qin?

During Guan Zhong's reforms, how many people died in the State of Qi?

When Zhang Zhang Juzheng implemented the Single Whip Law, how many people did he kill?

Even Zhou Gongdan, whom everyone admires, was extremely ruthless when killing people!

Reforms cannot happen without deaths!

Before, Facing Ying Su thought Zhang Liang was the most suitable!

But, after Huang Chao appeared, Facing Ying Su felt Zhang Liang was not quite suitable!

Besides the reasons he mentioned, there was another reason: he was not ruthless enough!

In terms of strategy, no one could compare to him!

But compared to the ruthlessness in actual execution, he fell far short!

Li Si was equally unsuitable; he himself was a noble. If he were to carry it out, he would inevitably slacken in various ways, and the outcome of the reform would inevitably be a pot of half-cooked rice!