Cui Hong bid farewell to his father Cui Cheng and returned to his own villa.

"Young Master!"

In the villa, a scholar in his thirties had been waiting for a long time.

Cui Hong called respectfully: "Mr. Yan!"

Mr. Yan nodded and said, "How about you, or don't plan to tell the Secretary-General?"

Secretary-General is Cui Cheng's official position.

Cui Hong shook his head and said, "Everything is as you expected, and my father is as steadfast as ever. Before he could speak, he no longer allowed me to interact with Lu Qi. From his attitude, he could not tolerate us taking a risk. Tell him that he would only be bad things, so he didn't say anything."

Mr. Yan said: "No one is willing to take risks, but the current situation is not within our control. It is not wrong for the Secretary to be so cautious, but we can't wait."

Cui Hong looked a little embarrassed, but he was soon replaced by his conceit and said, "I think my Cui family is so brilliant. Even emperors like Sui Wen and Tangzong have always regarded comfort. Now they are swimming in the shallows and are playing with fish and shrimps. Now there is a great opportunity in front of you. If you are afraid of your head and tail, how can you achieve great things? I don't believe that Pei Min can have a lifetime of luck!"

His tone of reluctance and pride in his own bloodline.

As the Cui family, which ranks first among the five surnames and seven hopes, Cui Hongruo was born during the reign of Emperor Taizong and Emperor Gaozong, he did have the capital to be proud.

It’s a pity that Cui Hong was born in the Tang Dynasty after the prosperous Tang Dynasty and Wu Zetian.

The aristocratic clan originated during the reign of Emperor Wu of Han, when Dong Zhongshu proposed to "demolish all schools of thought and advocate Confucianism first."

Scholars who studied Confucian classics in that era monopolized the essence of the Confucian classical theory of Confucius and Mencius, and passed it on to generations within the family, thus mastering the discourse power of the entire national cultural system.

It is completely opposite to Confucius, the true Confucian ancestor, who has no different teachings and has taken the opposite path.

Therefore, some people say that Confucianism has imprisoned Chinese culture, and it is not groundless. It is just that the fact is not the fault of Confucianism, but the things done by a series of people who violate Confucius' core ideas have made Confucius, the ancestor, take the blame inexplicably.

Confucius was the first pioneer to pass on culture to the world and popularize knowledge to poor people, and to the most sages and teachers.

His apprentices who had been more than ten generations later violated this point, but Confucius took the blame.

To put it bluntly, if Confucius hadn't already become a cup of loess, his coffin lid would have been unable to hold back.

After hundreds of years of development, the Confucian scholar-official families, through marriage, alliance with each other, accumulated reputation, and formed a powerful aristocratic group through monopoly on knowledge.

The Yuan family, which was at the top of the aristocratic race during the Three Kingdoms period, was the representative, and the three kings of the four generations were so brilliant.

Putting aside the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, in the early days of the Three Kingdoms, Yuan Shao in the north and Yuan Shu in the south were the two strongest forces at the end of the Han Dynasty, one in the south and one in the north, respectively, and one in the north.

Although Yuan Shu is incompetent and cowardly in "Romance of the Three Kingdoms", in fact, at the beginning, Yuan Shu's strength was stronger than Yuan Shao because he was the legitimate son of the Yuan family and his political resources were more abundant than that of the eldest son Yuan Shao. Sun Jian, a tiger in Jiangdong, was an existence under Yuan Shu's command.

Fortunately, neither of the two Yuans obeyed each other and fought with each other, which made Cao Cao, who was dependent on Yuan Shao's wings, grow stronger little by little.

In the end, Cao Cao went against the trend with his talent and strategy, defeated the two Yuans and became the overlord of the world.

To put it bluntly, if Yuan Shao and Yuan Shu were not enemies of each other, they would revive the Yuan family together.

Cao Cao, Liu Bei, Sun Ce and Sun Quan, even if these people have the ability to overcome the world, they have to drink the northwest wind, and they have nothing to do with them.

In order to appease the aristocratic clans, Chen Qun of Cao Wei proposed the Nine-rank Zhongzheng system.

From then on, the children of the gentry were born with the privilege of becoming an official. The higher the official position of the gentry, the higher the family status, and the higher the official position their children could hold. Even later generations, even idiots and mentally retarded, were destined to be able to get good fortune. People with humble backgrounds, even if they have talents, were rejected by the officialdom and could only be destined to be subordinates for life.

There are no poor families at the top and no nobles at the bottom, so it begins here.

The true rise of the aristocratic families also originated here.

In the next four or five hundred years of the turbulent Five Barbarians in the Jin Dynasty, even if the Central Plains are bullied by the Five Barbarians, the various Hu and Han dynasties will change like a lantern.

All the aristocratic families thrive and maintain wealth and honor from generation to generation. They often have meritorious officials and celebrities. They always occupy the highest political status of the empire and even control the imperial power.

Of course, these aristocratic families are not without real heroes.

Xie An, who preserved the Eastern Jin Dynasty, Xie Xuan, who founded the Northern Army, Zu Di, who led his troops to fight the north, etc., were all the best heroes in the world.

But this cannot conceal the drawbacks brought about by aristocratic monopoly.

Emperors of all dynasties have seen this disadvantage clearly and have been exhausted to address this problem, but the effect is not obvious.

Especially Emperor Taizong Li Shimin, he used up all the means to target the aristocratic clans. While promoting and reusing the poor scholars of Guandong such as Wei Zheng, Ma Zhou, etc., they were allowed to become central officials, check and balance with the high-ranking clans. While compiling the "Clan Chronicle", he ordered the change of official positions to determine the level and divide into nine levels. He re-determined the gentry family, so as to belittle the old tribes of Shandong and overseas Chinese surnames, such as Cui Lu and Wang Xie, and raised the Guanzhong gentry whom the Guanlong group relied on. He also raised the family status of many heroes and poor ministers in the Tang Dynasty and raised the ranks of the Jin gentry. He even married his children through marriage and formed a strategic alliance.

That is, with the Li Tang royal family and the Guanlong family as the core, including the founding officials, the geniuses in the north and south, and the poor scholars from all over the country. In the order of new official positions, a new genius group was established to replace the old genius of the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties that had been reproduced for more than 300 years.

This big move also shows that Li Shimin does have extraordinary talents and has achieved considerable results.

But it still cannot change the overall situation.

At this time, a person appeared, Wu Zetian.

In order to consolidate his position, Wu Zetian used iron-blooded methods.

Facts have also proved that the best political method is to kill!

Li Shimin's half-lifelong efforts were not as good as Wu Zetian's word.

This first female emperor in Chinese history paved the way with his corpse and was determined to innovate. He severely cracked down on the gentry and the group of heroes of Guanlong, and promoted a large number of poor officials into the officialdom, and held a high position to participate in political affairs.

Although Wu Zetian was in a mess during her reign, her achievements in suppressing the aristocratic races were unquestionable.

As the first family of the past, the Cui family suffered the most severe trauma and has long since become different from the past.

The dominance of the country was greatly weakened, and Shilin no longer blindly put the family first.

Looking at the court, there are already more poor families than gentry, especially the choice of prime minister, and they are even more unfamiliar with the gentry.

However, although the Cui family declined, they still had a proud and proud mind and were still proud of being a member of the five aristocratic families.

The reappearance of the glory of the past was a matter of the fact that the children of the Cui family had been asking for since childhood.

Cui Hong also brainwashed the elders of his family since childhood, telling the family's past glory, asking them to be proud of themselves, in order to inspire them to push the Cui family to the peak again.

Not only Cui Hong, but also Cui Cheng back then.

What really does aristocratic races not tolerate kings of all dynasties is that they first and then the country, and put their own family first, and then the country is.

For the sake of the family's interests, the interests of the whole world are ignored.

Cui Xi, Cui Cheng and others bet on Princess Taiping, and the other bet on Li Longji.

According to the overall situation, the Cui family supports Princess Taiping.

Because Cui Shi is the man of Princess Taiping, although Princess Taiping has many men, Cui Shi is the most favored one among them, and the prime minister of the country.

Once Princess Taiping is successful, it goes without saying that Cui Shi's status is.

The Cui family will also gain the greatest benefits and embark on the road to revival.

It was just a congenital coup, with the five kings coming out together, and with the assistance of Guo Yuanzhen, Pei Min and others, Princess Taiping lost completely while having the advantage.

Even if Cui Cheng is there in the Cui family, they will inevitably lose a lot of money.

This is also the reason why Cui Hong said that Pei Min was lucky.

Cui Cheng took over Qinglong from Cui Shi.

But Qinglong is not only the inner guard of the past, but also Princess Taiping's own confidant. They are loyal to Taiping and oppose Li Longji.

Cui Cheng divided one into two parts, and served Li Longji with those who were willing to surrender to the Tang Dynasty, and controlled the tokens obtained by those loyal Princess Taiping through Cui Shi to serve the Cui family and the aristocratic clans.

Cui Cheng gave this power in the dark to his son Cui Hong.

Cui Cheng has a frivolous appearance but a calm and steady inside. He is now the only big figure in the Cui family who has a status in the court, and he also holds a powerful weapon like Qinglong. He has a very high status in the Cui family. He controls his way of speech and develops slowly step by step.

Cui Hong initially followed his father's footsteps.

But he was young and conceited, arrogant, and was a little depressed and frustrated. He clearly had powerful power, but he wanted to pretend to be a grandson.

Until I met Mr. Yan and Lu Qi.

Cui Hong, if he meets a like-minded confidant, began to deviate from Cui Cheng's layout.

Becoming radical, full of expansion, and even starting to recruit soldiers, it also caused today's crisis.

If he could start from scratch, Cui Hong would definitely choose not to make things difficult for Zhan Peng at this moment.

But there is no regret medicine to take in the world, and Cui Hong is arrogant and does not admit his mistakes.

He believed that he would win the final victory!

Because he is Cui Hong!

He is the most famous descendant of the Cui family among the five surnames.

"Does Mr. Yan have any ideas about Zhan Peng? Lu Qi's opinion is to kill him, use thousands of cuts to deal with him, and impose him as a result of death, and vent his hatred in his heart." Cui Hong consulted Mr. Yan's opinion.

Mr. Yan said: "No wonder Lu Qi has this attitude. This person is vicious. Although he is a number one person, he will definitely become a great person, but he will not last long."

He pointed to his chest and said, "He is too small! Because Zhan Peng brought out his sister Gongsun and pulled Pei Min, so that his original plan would be changed again and again, and would be out of control. He naturally wanted to kill him to vent his anger..."

"But we are different. Now that things have come to this point, killing Zhan Peng will be useless. If we win, Pei Min, Qingyu Alliance and even our enemies will die, Zhan Peng's son, daughter, apprentice and others will also lose their protection. As long as we control one of them, we are not afraid that Zhan Peng will not serve us. Keeping him will be beneficial to us. If it is, if it fails, it will not be too late to kill him again."

Cui Hong looked at Mr. Yan with certainty and said, "They will not fail. They are in the light, we are in the dark. This time we point directly at Your Majesty's fatal point. Even an emperor like Emperor Wu of Han will lose his rationality when touching his negative scales. He can almost kill all his family. Today's priest may not be comparable to Emperor Wu of Han."

Mr. Yan also nodded and said, "Now everything is ready, only the east wind is missing."

Cui Hong naturally knew what Dongfeng was and frowned and said, "It's just that Monk Mingwu hid it very deeply, and it was difficult to find it for a while. I think it's better to send someone to contact Concubine Wu Jie. If Mingwu was the person she arranged it, I believe she must know the whereabouts of the thief monk."

"Yes!" Mr. Yan agreed: "Since you want to contact us, you can reach a strategic alliance. Let him blow the wind by his majesty, we will help her achieve her wish, and she will help us get a high position. Our Majesty has the softest ears."

After a pause, he said again: "We can also give Pei Min eye pills and tell Wu Jieyu that she has fallen to this point today because Pei Min helps the queen. If Wu Jieyu is really a member of the Wu family, he will help us stab Pei Min hard, so that our plan will be more effective."
To be continued...