Chapter 171: Acting Against Heaven? (There's Still Another Chapter Later)

Touching interests is far harder than touching souls.

Ever since arriving in this land and replacing the Zhou King, almost every day's experience has made Gu Xuan deeply feel this point.

Without a doubt.

As the Zhou King His Majesty, he is the supreme existence in the entire dynasty, theoretically the person with the greatest power.

However, when he truly wanted to make some improvements.

He would immediately know what kind of existence is the true power foundation on this land.

He would also immediately understand what kind of vast and ancient force his so-called "pacifying the interior" has to oppose.

In a certain sense, the various landlords large and small represented by the aristocratic clans within the entire dynasty are the true owners of this land.

They are the most deep-rooted and intricate interest group precipitated by the Great Zhou Dynasty over thousands of years.

Or rather, what Gu Xuan has to oppose is the dynasty's chronic ills and inertia accumulated over thousands of years.

Even, it is a certain general trend of Tian Xia!

With one person's power opposing the general trend of Tian Xia, is that not a mantis trying to stop a chariot?

What he has to do is to act against heaven, how difficult it is!

……

In fact.

Among the successive Zhou Kings, there have not been lacking two or three ambitious rulers who wanted to change this dark situation.

Standing at such a high position, they likewise saw the erosion and harm of the landlords represented by the aristocratic clans to the entire dynasty.

When a dynasty develops to a specific stage, interest distribution gradually becomes a world of difference, class solidification is severe, the commoners live in bitter hardship, possessing no mobilization ability nor cohesive power.

If not reformed from within, it will sooner or later completely collapse.

And for the Great Zhou Dynasty, this point is already quite obvious.

The once flourishing dynasty, continuing to the present, is already beset by internal and external troubles, the people cannot survive.

Even the former vassal state the Jie Tribe, within the Great Zhou's borders they flaunt military might, burn kill rape plunder, simply a completely unscrupulous tyrannical appearance.

They began to mock the Jin Ren's "cowardice", and further looked down upon every Jin Ren they came into contact with.

Even a so-called Jie Tribe envoy dared to brazenly molest Jin Ren women in the Imperial Capital, not fearing any punishment at all.

Of course all this, with Gu Xuan's extermination of the Jie Tribe, has completely become the past!

However.

Those two or three ambitious rulers of the past merely barely managed to unify military strength and expel external threats.

When they wanted to make moves internally, not a single one failed to pass away due to various causes, and all kinds of causes of death existed.

Some died from accidentally falling into water.

Some caught a slight cold, yet after being "treated" by the Taixue Yuan, their condition worsened severely, ultimately passing away on the imperial bed.

There was even one who was strangled to death by a trusted eunuch.

And so on, too many to enumerate.

In Gu Xuan's view, it can be bluntly understood as: for the various aristocratic clans, Your Majesty the Zhou King, if you get along peacefully, then naturally you are everyone's sovereign.

But if things are discordant, then sorry, it's better for Your Majesty to rest in peace in the earth!

After these ambitious rulers died, without a doubt, the court administration and even military strength once again fell into the joint control of the various aristocratic clans.

Only a supported "weak" Zhou King most conforms to the interests of the great clans.

Thus they can continue to stand high above, continue to unscrupulously cling onto the billions of all living beings and suck blood.

……

Facing this dark world's faintly invisible yet truly existing vast and heavy iron curtain.

Gu Xuan has not not thought of directly "using one force to drop ten meetings".

That is, simply and directly, using violence to smash this filthy rotten world.

For example, secretly supporting a figure similar to Huang Chao, to enact "the heavenly street trampled with the bones of dukes and ministers".

For another example, selecting several thousand to tens of thousands of elites more loyal to himself from the Forbidden Army, to directly physically eliminate the various aristocratic clans.

And so on, etc.

But it is very obvious, these ideas can only count as last resorts, unless absolutely necessary, they still cannot be adopted.

Examining closely, the main reasons are several points.

First, in this current era, the aristocratic clans' power cannot be underestimated, and is not something a figure like Huang Chao can deal with.

In fact, the imagined aristocratic clans are an entire family old and young all at the Tianzi Jiao Xia, retainers two thousand, clan members eight hundred, one imperial edict, slaughter at will.

And the real aristocratic clans are a local giant in some region, moreover intricate and deep-rooted, in the Chao Tang there are spokespeople, clan members thousands, tenants tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands, core retainers also thousands to tens of thousands, no different from a local emperor, and resonating distantly with allies among great and small clans throughout the country.

And in ancient Chinese history, the reason Huang Chao could succeed was because the era had already changed.

First the Xian Jin Zhi Du gradually broke the aristocratic clans' monopoly.

Then through Emperor Taizong Li Shimin, Emperor Gaozong Li Zhi and other emperors continuously weakening the aristocratic clans, these people slowly lost their foundation.

By the middle-late Tang Dynasty period, regional warlords divided territories, wars never ceased, the various great clans were even scared into fleeing to the Capital City to cower, only then giving Huang Chao the possibility of catching them all in one net.

If swapped to the flourishing period of the Gate Valve Era, like during Dong Jin, Huang Chao would probably have been hammered to death as soon as he showed the slightest sign of moving.

And the Great Zhou Dynasty Gu Xuan is currently in, after thousands of years of accumulation, the landlord forces represented by the aristocratic clans are even more terrifying.

Second, destroy then establish, "destroying" may perhaps not be difficult, the difficulty lies in being able to establish a new world.

Otherwise, killing a batch of evil aristocratic clans, it's hard to guarantee a new batch won't appear again.

If there isn't a more advanced concept to serve as support.

Smashing this old world, so what, it would only form a new cycle of reincarnation!

Therefore.

After Gu Xuan had largely taken control of the Central Forbidden Army and generally controlled the three major Border Army groups of the North Border and Xi Jing, he did not act rashly.

He did not expose his intentions.

Instead, he acted like the Zhou Kings of all generations in the Great Zhou Dynasty's Ancient History; the reason he unified military strength was to better consolidate his great power as Zhou King and better secure his position.

No one expected that his true purpose was actually to eradicate the aristocratic clans that had persisted for thousands of years!

Even among those two or three outstanding rulers among the Zhou Kings in Ancient History, none had such understanding, because it surpassed their vision and knowledge!

Gu Xuan did not doubt at all that even though he was Zhou King His Majesty, if those aristocratic clans perceived his thoughts, who knew how madly they would deal with him.

That would mean endless assassinations and murders...

Even someone as strong as Gu Xuan, with unmatched martial force, godly enough to fight a thousand men, did not claim he could guard against it every moment.

Because there is the saying that one can be a thief for a thousand days, but there is no guarding against a thief for a thousand days.

And even so, he still remained cautious.

In these days, most of his time was spent stationed within the Central Forbidden Army's camp under the pretext of rectifying the army.

Chapter End