The family banquet dispersed, the Zhen family and the Cai family left at the same time, and Cai Yan followed Cai Yong and his wife out of the mansion that has now been renamed the General's Mansion.

Xiao Ren and Xiao Yi, who had just arrived in Chengdu today, ignored Guo Jia's orders and insisted on guarding Guo Jia. Guo Jia had no choice but to let Xiao Ren and Xiao Yi serve as personal guards in the mansion. The two of them had a hundred young men who were outstanding in martial arts among the children of the village, and they formed Guo Jia's personal guards together.

There is no doubt that these people are loyal to Guo Jia. In addition to their extraordinary martial arts, Guo Jia's personal protection is basically free of problems under their escort.

The study room that once belonged to Liu Yan in the mansion, Guo Jia often stayed here after he took over. First, Liu Yan's collection of books is amazing. The various schools of thought and sages are neatly piled up, which is dazzling. Although the Han Dynasty respected Confucianism alone, it was a ruling skill. Many high-ranking scholars still had a trait of various theories. Second, when Guo Jia needed to stay alone and meditate, he would appear in the study room.

After removing the low table, Guo Jia changed into a long table that was only used when sacrificing the sky and the earth in the eyes of others. He placed a backrest chair. Guo Jia sat at the table absent-mindedly flipping through the bamboo and wooden slips that recorded Shang Yang's reforms. His mind was obviously not on it.

After sighing slightly, Guo Jia was in a state of consciousness, and there was a balance in his heart.

Kill, or not?

The strength of the Yizhou gentry made him feel uncomfortable.

Kill, how to kill?

Can the less killing achieve the effect of setting an example? If you are not careful, you will force the gentry of Yizhou to share the same hatred against the enemy.

Killing too much basically means killing all the people. The scholars in the world are discouraged in front of Yizhou. The families in the world will inevitably hate Guo Jia in their bones. In the future, it will be difficult to get out of Yizhou.

If you don’t kill, how to suppress it?

Because of Guo Jia's position, he was unable to recruit the Yizhou gentry and could not let the Yizhou gentry serve him sincerely. The fatal reason was his origin. Guo Jia was disdainful in their eyes in the past. Even if he became the ruler of Yizhou, the Yizhou gentry still looked down on him. How could he be willing to serve him? Even if Guo Jiacheng recruited him with sincerity, he would not get their loyalty.

Therefore, if you do not kill the gentry, you can only suppress it. The gentry is different from the prominent clans. The lifeline of the prominent clan is the land. The lifeline of the gentry gentry lies in power. The prominent clan annexed land and privately hiding farmers. The gentry controls local governments, and they join forces with the prominent clans, deceive the superiors and conceal the subordinates. In common, officials and landlords collude with each other. There are also landlords among the gentry. However, the prominent clan is basically small and medium-sized landlords with large local surnames. At the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, the corruption in the government prompted small and medium-sized landlords to a large-scale annexed land, forming local wealthy and prominent clans. The strength of the gentry gentry is to control local authority and is higher than that of the prominent clans in class. Therefore, what Guo Jia first deals with is the protective umbrella of the prominent clan, which is the gentry.

However, how to suppress the gentry is a headache for Guo Jia. The formation of the gentry is like building a pyramid. If a scholar from a low-born family wants to make a name for himself, he must rely on the upper class of gentry. The upper class of gentry recommends officials for them and absorbs the lower class of gentry as the wings of the upper class of gentry. In the long run, the power of the gentry will be formed.

The Yuan family's four generations and three dukes not only sounded as if they were very honorable, but the clan forces run by four generations are incalculable. Therefore, the disciples and former officials are everywhere in the world. In fact, it can be understood that the Yuan family's minions have spread all over the country, and supporters are in chariots. Therefore, Yuan Shao's small Bohai prefect can attract countless famous scholars and generals to compete for their success. Yuan Shu lived in Nanyang, Jingzhou and actually gained the support of many gentry in Yangzhou. The Yuan family, one in the south and one in the north, almost received the support of 90% of the gentry in the world.

It is precisely because of this that the consequences of the whole body that Guo Jia temporarily bowed to the Qin family in Guanghan County. Suppressing the gentry and seizing power from them is equivalent to killing their lives. In the end, he will force them to rebel. What should he do?

Rubbing his temples in distress, Guo Jiaqing couldn't help but think of Emperor Wu of Wei who would become his lord according to the original historical trajectory.

Knowing that the gentry was a big trouble, Guo Jia had planned to serve Cao Cao in the past, but in fact, it was because in terms of political ideals, Guo Jia and Cao Cao were the same, and neither could tolerate the gentry. Cao Cao's approach was to use common people to suppress the gentry, and issued orders to seek talents repeatedly, and proposed that the strategy of employing talents was contrary to the filial piety and honest behind the prosperity of the gentry. Cao Cao gave all his empty positions to the gentry and gave all the real power to the common people. After he unified the north, he began to severely suppress the gentry. Xun Yu's death, Cui Yan's death, Kong Rong's death, etc. also had some meaning of suppressing the gentry.

Later, Cao Cao repeatedly stopped the troops in the middle of the battle, but the camps in the rear were unstable. In the final analysis, it was caused by the dissatisfaction of the gentry. After Cao Pi succeeded to the throne, in order to win the support of the gentry, a nine-rank Zhongzheng system abandoned the political line of Emperor Wu of Wei's struggle for the rest of his life to fight against the gentry. Cao Wei founded the country and won the hearts of the gentry, but it was eventually destroyed by the gentry, because a family of aristocratic families that were stronger than the three generations of the Yuan family, emerged, and the Sima family.

Guo Jia was still at a loss after thinking about it. He could not copy Cao Cao's approach, because Cao Cao used the emperor to order the princes, and was nominally a Han minister, and his status could barely convince the public. However, Guo Jia could not even make the aristocrats surrender to him in name. The confrontation between Guanghan was a good example of this.

Just as Guo Jia closed his eyes and rested for a while, the door of the study was pushed open from the outside. He looked up and saw Cai Yan, who was wearing a pink dress, carrying a food box and carrying a few folded clothes.

"Why are you here?"

Cai Yan smiled softly, put the food box and clothes on the table, walked around Zhuo Hou, stood beside Guo Jia, lowered his head and looked at the bamboo and wood slips in Guo Jia's hand.

"I miss you, so I slipped out of the mansion. I didn't expect that my husband was still busy with political affairs in the study every day. Oh? Is your husband going to follow Shang Yang?"

Hearing her playful tone, Guo Jia reached out and took her into her arms, placed her on her legs, leaned forward, warm and soft, her tight nerves relaxed a little.

Guo Jia, who was buried in Cai Yan's neck, said in a muffled voice: "I'll just take a look."

It is unrealistic to imitate Shang Yang's reforms. Cai Yan just thought that Guo Jia wanted to learn from Shang Yang to carry out reforms.

"I brought you some pastries and two clothes, one made by the Qiao sisters, and the other was sent by the eldest lady of the Zhen family. It should also be from her hands." Cai Yan, who was sitting in Guo Jia's arms, hugged him with his back hand, hooked Guo Jia's hair on his temples, rolled up and then loosened it.

Guo Jia raised his head, withdrew some distance, staring at Cai Yan with strange eyes.

Seeing his expression, Cai Yan, who was smiling lightly, leaned over and looked at Guo Jia, and said with a smile: "My husband must be thinking in his heart: another woman sewed clothes and sent them stitched and threaded, but the person next to her pillow only sent a box of pastries. Whose husband is it?"

Covering his mouth and coughing a few times, Guo Jia raised his eyes to the sky and said seriously: "Don't judge a gentleman's belly by his villain's heart. How could I be petty about such trivial matters? My wife's gifts are far more touching than others' clothes. The gifts are light and affection is heavy..."

Guo Jia, whose voice was reduced, was no longer confident. Seeing his stubborn look, Cai Yan smiled so hard that his eyes were as silk. His slender fingers streaked across Guo Jia's cheeks and his foreheads were close. Cai Yan said softly: "Why do you think that I don't care in your heart, I won't be too arrogant, but if you have a good mood, I can play a piano song for you for your entertainment."

Playing the piano in the quiet late at night? Guo Jia didn't have the leisure and elegance. He hugged Cai Yan and kissed her gently, leaned on her shoulder and said lightly: "Wife, you say good things to them in front of me, they won't know, why bother?"

Cai Yan sat upright from Guo Jia's arms, blinked his clear and watery eyes, and laughed and said, "It's really impossible to hide anything from you. It's a long time to see people's hearts. I can only do this for my husband."

Guo Jia's face was normal, and he was actually very moved. Cai Yan didn't want the title of a wife, but he really wanted to work hard for a harmonious family, deliberately highlighting other people's friendship in front of him. Thinking of the things that made him distressed, Guo Jia asked: "Wife, what should I do if I say I should take advantage of the Yizhou gentry?"

Cai Yan once said that when Guo Jia is in charge of a state, whether the aristocrats kill or stay is in one thought, which represents Guo Jia's strength, but the focus is that one thought can become hegemony and can destroy one's future.

After raising his face and thinking for a while, Cai Yan said softly: "If you can't use it for you, you can eliminate future troubles."

Guo Jia, whose face turned gloomy, curled his lips and said, "Nonsense."

He rolled his eyes at Guo Jia, and Cai Yan continued: "Those who have already served in Yizhou will never surrender. However, the younger generation of Yizhou who have not yet served in Yizhou can also emerge in many people. These people can be used."

This makes some sense. Guo Jia thought about it carefully and asked in a suspicious voice: "However, the gentry of Yizhou is connected with each other and it will move the whole body. If I kill the real power of these gentry families, will the young scholars use it for me?"

Cai Yan chuckled and shook his head and said, "I don't know who is judging a gentleman's heart by the heart of a villain. The world is bustling for profit. This is true. But the husband cannot regard all the scholars in the world as mediocre and profiteering. Reading books of sages, cultivating oneself, managing the family, governing the country and pacifying the world, and having great ambitions, where are there? Family interests are certainly the shackles carried by a priest's children, but if the husband can untie the shackles on them, will the priests all be short-sighted? His husband is from a humble origin and his advisers Xi Zhicai and Xu Shu, are you the only three of you determined to seek welfare for the people and to set peace for the country?"

As if he was enlightened, Guo Jia suddenly realized his mind, and after thinking with a little excited expression, he hugged Cai Yan and kissed him hard, suppressing his excitement and said in a deep voice: "Wife, I'm apart for a few months, don't you miss me?"

Cai Yan's red eyes were rushing to the face, and said with a charming look, "I think, as long as my husband is not afraid of my father coming to the house tomorrow, I will let my husband take care of it."

Resisting the desire to burst out, Guo Jia tidied up Cai Yan's clothes with his own hands, reached out to touch her face, and smiled bitterly: "Can your father not cause trouble?"
Chapter completed!