In the afternoon, Yuwen Wen looked at the "homework" of the emperor's grandson Yuwen Xu and felt very satisfied, especially when the other party was doing the multiple-choice question, he chose the real owner, which made him very pleased.

In this era, except him, no one realized what kind of power the class to which the owner belongs is blessed by the steam engine.

Many people still regard industry and commerce as a lowly business, and subconsciously regard industry and businessmen as a lowly person. Then perhaps in another thirty or forty years, when the real owner class, which is suppressed for a long time and is gradually growing, the ruling people can no longer get along with this "monster".

It may be difficult to make a relatively equal compromise at that time.

Of course, the grandson might be fooling him, just like Zhu Yun fooling his grandfather Zhu Yuanzhang in the early Ming Dynasty, he patted his chest and promised to treat the king well in the future. As a result, he immediately reduced the vassal state when the old man died.

Yuwen Wen didn't have the energy to think about whether his grandson made a choice this time. Anyway, if the development follows this momentum, the real owner class will inevitably have a great momentum in the future. As long as he lays the foundation in advance and his grandson is clear at that time, he will not cause any major problems.

Yuwen Wen put the homework aside and looked through a thick report.

He still has a lot to do now, and the enemy he wants to defeat is still surviving. He must finish it in time and have no time to think about retirement.

The content of the report is a survey on the current situation of the gentry in Hebei. One of the main data summarized in the report is the changes in the land possession of each gentry, the business conditions of the establishment of industries, and the changes in the number of tenants and farmers.

From these data, we can roughly see what state the aristocrats (Hebei region) are now in.

It can also be roughly judged how far apart the special class of the gentry is from the extinction of energy.

The enemies that Yuwen Wen is currently dealing with are the gentry and family politics. He has been fighting for nearly 30 years, and has been in the imperial examinations, which has long been lowering grain prices and has led to disguised depreciation of land, which is to dig out the roots of the gentry.

The current imperial examinations not only take Confucian classics, but also arithmetic (mathematics). Through the "Teaching Outline" and "Exam Outline" stipulate the learning and examination content, quickly shorten the academic gap between common people and gentry.

The traditional manor economy has now begun to collapse after nearly thirty years of impact.

The income of the gentry's manors dropped sharply, a large number of tenants and farmers fled, and they were defeated economically. Politically, because Yuwen Wen was stuck in the path to entry, no longer made any recommendations, recruitment, and forced the imperial examination system, so the children of the gentry had to take the imperial examination if they wanted to be officials.

The gentry could no longer easily enter the officialdom. Without preferential treatment, their monopoly advantages (politics, economy, culture) were no longer there, and their characteristics gradually became blurred.

What are the characteristics of the gentry?

Yuwen Wen believes that his political definition is roughly: the prefecture and county-level surnames, his father, ancestor, and great-grandfather, two generations of people served as governors, prefects or two thousand stone officials (standards of the Han Dynasty).

So what is the "small surname" (third-rate gentry) with a distinct surname?

Its definition is probably a county-level surname, a local tyrant, whose father and grandfather had served as officials of prefectures and counties or less than 1,000 stones, or who had served as governors, prefects or 2,000 stones.

If no one of his ancestors is an official, then this family belongs to the common people. If there is a lot of land, it is at most common people.

In short, the "official content" of a family is the difference between the gentry and common people. Although both are landlords, they have different social ranks because of the "official content".

Once a certain gentry cannot become a high-ranking official for two or three generations, the family will be defeated.

Yuwen Wen knew an example, that is, the Zhuge family of Langya in the Jin Dynasty.

In the late Western Jin Dynasty, the world was in chaos. King Sima Rui of Langya rebuilt the court in Jiankang. His trusted assistant Zhuge Hui (Zhuge Hui's aunt was Sima Rui's grandmother) was highly valued and was called "Zhongxing Sanming" by people at that time.

Among the many gentry tribes in the south, the Zhuge clan of Langya and the Wang clan of Langya were called "Wang Ge" and were first-class geniuses.

At that time, Xie Li, who was born in the Xie family of Chen County, proposed to Zhuge Hui for his son, but was rejected by Zhuge Hui. Although his words were polite, Zhuge Hui obviously looked down on Xie (You are so poor in the Xie family of Chen County, and you still want to marry my daughter?)

The Xie family of Chen County was later called "Xie" by Wang Xie. After moving south, the Xie family was just an ordinary gentry at the beginning, and was even considered a vulgar nouveau riche by first-class gentry, so naturally they were not taken seriously by Zhuge Hui.

However, the descendants of Zhuge's career were not satisfactory, while the Xie family was smooth sailing. So after several years, when Xie An's son Xie An and Xie An's nephew Xie Xuan commanded the Jin army to fight the Qin army in the decisive battle between the Feishui and the Qin army, the Zhuge's family had already declined.

Now when it comes to the surnames of the Southern Dynasties, everyone knows "Wang Xie", and how many people remember the original "Wang Ge"?

Therefore, it is very necessary to deal with the aristocratic family, politically cut off the other party's power and marginalize the other party.

In order to deal with the aristocrats, Yuwen Wen made sufficient preparations and took action.

Politically, the gentry is unsustainable, economically, the other party goes bankrupt or its income is sharply reduced. In terms of knowledge, public school systems and exam-oriented education can quickly cultivate common people, so that the children of the gentry elites will be submerged in the battlefield of the imperial examination and completely lose their advantages.

This is the effort Yuwen Wen made to deal with the enemy. He has persisted for almost thirty years, and now the effect has come out.

The gentry manors are declining and have to transform, but they cannot completely separate from the tradition. Even if workshops and workshops are opened, the scale is not as large-scale workshops as those of the real owner class, and their economic strength is much worse.

Many tenant farmers and farmers broke away from their personal dependence and went to work, and the human resources in the hands of the gentry dropped significantly.

The children of the gentry did not have the advantage in the imperial examination. In the latest imperial examination, the children of the common people accounted for 70% of the Jinshi.

The aristocrats who no longer have political, economic and cultural advantages have ushered in the afterglow of the sunset.

However, it is still very early to die.

Because the centipede insect dies and does not become stiff.

The investigation report that Yu Wen Wen saw had many results of the people's situation. Investigators investigated various places in Hebei and found that the reputation of the gentry was still very high.

Even if the children of the gentry have no official position and no show of traveling, they are still shining in the eyes of everyone.

It can be said that even if the children of the five surnames and Qiwang did not have official positions and walked on the streets in a common clothes, they seemed to others to be stronger than those of the ministers and exuded a noble atmosphere.

In the eyes of the world, children of aristocratic families are the real nobles, and dignitaries all think that they or their children and grandchildren can marry women from five surnames.

The concept of family that has been formed over hundreds of years has been changed after thirty years. It seems like a delusion now.

This reality made Yuwen Wen very upset. Looking at the facts recorded in the report, it seemed that the children of ordinary families were the righteous protagonists in the story, the handsome and handsome young hero.

And he is a villain with a disgusting face and a bad thing.

Yuwen Wen put down the report, drank a cup of tea, and continued to think about it.

Now, unless the human body is destroyed, the afterglow of the gentry still exists.

The gentry of the Southern Dynasty was dug up during the Hou Jing Rebellion and had no hope of revitalization.

The real end of the gentry era in history was the White Horse Change in the late Tang Dynasty (the disaster of the White Horse Post). A large number of officials from the gentry were massacred and the family was completely destroyed, and they withdrew from the historical stage.

Now it seems that the five surnames and seven hope children living in the peacetime, as well as many children of the gentry, even if they do not have official positions, they are still famous and are still the "natural noble species" in the eyes of the world.

The high-ranking officials and nobles will still fight for the sake of marrying the five surnames of women. This is the reality.

If you want to completely dying the gentry, unless...

Yuwen touched his beard and continued to think about it.

Times have changed. Due to the rapid development of productivity, the manors of the gentry declined rapidly. Although they have transformed into opening workshops and workshops, they have only gained food and clothing, and their competitiveness is not as good as large workshops.

In another thirty or forty years, perhaps the industrial age is coming, and in the face of the power of the times, all outdated things will be wiped out, including the gentry.

In history, the rolling Yellow River water next to the White Horse Post swept away countless pillars of the gentry. Now and in the near future, the wave of the era formed by the steam engine will also "rush" all the gentry.
Chapter completed!