Guide to traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty

Luoyang, the imperial city.

Zhu Guoxiang's family lived here for more than a year, and returned to Lantian Wangchuan Valley after spring.

Prince Zhu Yang said goodbye to his grandfather on behalf of the emperor. He had just returned to the East Palace and was summoned by his father to talk.

Since there were no foreign ministers present, Zhu Yang's etiquette was more casual. He just bowed and said: "Father is well."

"Sit down," Zhu Ming asked, "What did you gain from studying with your grandfather last year?"

Zhu Yang replied: "Materialist dialectics is really the knowledge of heaven and man. Learning this method can investigate the root of all things."

Ju Ming asked again: "Have you finished the homework I assigned you?"

"It's done." Zhu Yang said.

Ju Ming smiled and said, "Then hand in your homework."

Zhu Yang temporarily resigned, returned to his east palace, and brought a paper bag.

There is a line written on the surface of the paper bag: Research on the system of Western Liao and Black Khanate.

Ever since Yelu Dashi allowed Ming Dynasty merchants to trade freely, Ming Dynasty merchants among the Ming Dynasty merchants have continued to send back a variety of information, involving officials, cities, geography, climate, crops, industry and commerce, agriculture and animal husbandry, etc.

The information was complicated and unsystematic, and even contradictory. Ju Ming asked his son to sort it out with his companion in the East Palace.

Not long after, Zhu Yang sat in front of his father again.

Because there were too many words, he did not read them all, but extracted the main contents:

"The Western Liao and Black Khanate are different from what we had guessed before. They are not a true feudal system, but more similar to the transition from a feudal system to a county system..."

"There are two methods of animal husbandry and farming in the Hezhong and Qihe areas. At the beginning of the establishment of the Black Khanate, nomadic herding gradually transformed into fixed herding or semi-nomadic herding, and more and more people are farming."

"In the beginning, the land was controlled by the clan leaders. As the central court centralized power to collect the land, the clan leaders chose to resist and resist. When outsiders invaded, the clan leaders cooperated and overthrew the original monarch, and the Black Khanate was established."

"The leaders of these clans were called 'Dihang', which has basically disappeared now, and 'Dihang' has become a general term for farmers."

"The earliest dihangs, that is, clan leaders, were transformed into milkks in the Black Khanate. Some milkks owned fiefs or a lot of land, and the children called them landowner milkks. More milkks did not have fiefs, and the land was also destroyed. To the annexation, the boy called him Yeoman Milk.”

"The land owned by Milk is private land on the Ming side."

"In addition to private land, Xiliao and the Black Khanate also had official land. This kind of official land was called 'Diwan.' There are two sources of 'Diwan' official land. One was war plunder, and the other was criminal confiscation."

"There are also temple fields and academic fields. This kind of land is called 'wakfu'."

"In terms of land tax, official land, school land, and temple land are often exempt from tax, or a small amount of symbolic tax is paid. However, the tax on private land is extremely heavy, which is one-third of the grain harvest!"

"Those local nobles who were enfeoffed are called Mukta. They are similar to the princes, scholars, and officials of the Pre-Qin Dynasty, but they are different from the princes of the Pre-Qin Dynasty and different from the princes of any time in China."

"Take a certain governor as an example. He has a title, official position, army and financial power. But the people in the area under his jurisdiction are not his personal subjects, but citizens of the entire country. This governor cannot treat the local people Take or take away, he also needs to abide by the laws of the country.”

"But over the past hundred years, this system has been unstable."

"The main reason is that the feudal nobles have a hereditary trend. Although they are still nominally appointed by the monarch, more and more feudal nobles are entrenched in one party. They continue to obey the monarch's orders and regularly send taxes to the monarch, but they often defy the monarch, and Arbitrarily increase taxes within the jurisdiction.”

"In the Western Liao Dynasty established by Yelu Dashi, the areas directly under the imperial court have improved. All officials were appointed by Yelu Dashi. But outside the direct areas, the feudal nobles still made the decision."

"In addition to the areas directly under Yelu Dashi, it also has relatively strong control over some areas. Those areas have to pay taxes to the Western Liao court, but each household only pays one silver coin to the Western Liao court every year, and the rest of the tax revenue goes to the local government. Feudal lord dominates.”

"In the Western Liao established by Yelu Dashi, what can really be completely controlled by the imperial court is Gaochang, Qihe and the land in the middle of the river. Moreover, he can only control the core areas of the land in the middle of the river..."

After listening to his son's homework, Ju Ming was relatively satisfied, and then asked: "Why did the Mukta feudal system of the Black Khanate collapse step by step?"

Zhu Yang replied:

"Because there is no imperial examination in the Black Khanate and there is no strict promotion system. Who is selected as a local official and which local official is promoted depends entirely on the monarch's preference. No... the monarch is still controlled by local forces. The aristocracy of the Black Khanate is As outsiders, they were able to establish the country in the first place with the help of the leaders of the Dihang clan."

"When the Black Khanate granted officials, it had to take care of not only its own heroes, but also the leaders of the Dihang clan. This country has never really controlled the place from the beginning."

"With the passage of time, the heroes of the clan and the clan leaders gradually merged into an emerging local force. Then colluded with the local religious leaders, and due to the influence of foreign wars, they became entrenched in the local area and were almost separatist. They became no longer princes. The princes can replace those local officials, but if they are not done satisfactorily, local rebellions may occur at any time.”

Ju Ming asked again: "Do you think Xiliao can last long?"

Zhu Yang shook his head and said, "It is congenitally deficient. In a few decades, if there is no strong monarch, Western Liao will inevitably become the second Black Khanate. By that time, the emperor of Western Liao is nothing more than the Zhou emperor, the so-called common lord of the princes but can only rule a corner."

Zhu Ming asked, "What do you think is the most important thing for a monarch?"

Zhu Yang connected the history of China and the Black Khanate, and after careful consideration, he answered, "People and money. People are officials and generals, and money is money and grain taxes. With people and money, the army and the people can be governed, so it must be controlled by the monarch. And this control must have a set of systems, otherwise it will inevitably be lost..."

Said At this point, Zhu Yang suddenly laughed and said, "I finally understand what etiquette is. Etiquette is a system, a law, and a righteousness. Imperial examinations are etiquette, criminal law is etiquette, and benevolent government and love for the people are also etiquette. Etiquette is a set of rules, rules that are recognized by the monarch, his subjects, and the people. The monarch's tyranny is disrespectful, the corruption of officials is disrespectful, the lack of military preparations is disrespectful, the unrighteous customs are disrespectful, and the decline of taxes is also disrespectful, which correspond to different mistakes in administration. However, officials, soldiers, and civilians have their own demands and interests, and it is very difficult to reconcile the etiquette. Achieving a perfect state of harmony may be called moderation."

"Hahaha!" Zhu Ming laughed.

Although this prince is still very immature, he has connected all kinds of knowledge taught by his grandfather, father, and teachers such as Hu Anguo.

Putting away his laughter, Zhu Ming said, "From now on, you will be the prefect of Luoyang. You must attend every imperial meeting, except when you are sick."

"I obey your order!" Zhu Yang was overjoyed.

The training of the prince has always been a big problem in all dynasties.

The Tang Dynasty's Donggong system was so terrifying that it could almost be called a small court.

Let's put it this way, even if the emperor and officials of the Tang Dynasty suddenly died collectively, the prince could take over the country immediately with the officials of the Donggong.

The prince and the Donggong officials could take over the government at any time, but they couldn't actually take over. Would anyone want to go further?

Therefore, in the Song Dynasty, the Donggong was gone.

Although the official positions of Zuoyou Chunfang (i.e. Donggong) were still there, most of them were empty titles and were held concurrently by important officials of the court. They were even too lazy to build a special Donggong. If a prince was made a prince, his original palace would be changed to Donggong.

The prince's duties were only two: study hard and greet his parents.

The Northern Song Dynasty also let the prince be the prefect of Kaifeng, but his power was really limited, and he couldn't even completely control the Kaifeng government office!

The prince of the Tang Dynasty had too much power, and the prince of the Song Dynasty was too harsh.

Zhu Ming's idea is to compromise the Tang and Song Dynasty Donggong system. At least when the prince is the prefect of Luoyang, the full power of Luoyang Prefecture must be handed over to the prince. At the same time, let the prince participate in the imperial court meeting and have the power to participate in politics.

Let the prince be the prefect of Luoyang in order to familiarize himself with the local office process.

Let the prince participate in the imperial court meeting in order to familiarize himself with the central office content.

Another preparatory institution is the Prince's Academy, including Zishan Hall (cultural knowledge) and Wubei Hall (military knowledge). Before the prince reaches adulthood, he must learn basic cultural and military knowledge, and then observe politics in various institutions in the imperial city for several years, and serve as the prefect of Luoyang at around the age of 25 - the specific age can be advanced.

The assistant officials of the Luoyang government must be selected from those with good character and political achievements to assist the prince in handling various affairs of Luoyang Prefecture.

The prefect of Luoyang cannot be too long, and the prince can serve for a maximum of six years.

After the prince resigned from the post of Luoyang prefect, he could continue to participate in politics, or he could be the prefect of Kaifeng. At critical moments, the prince could be made regent. The specific appointment method depended on how the emperor arranged it at that time.

In fact, there were very few emperors who had a very long wait time.

Under normal circumstances, after the prince resigned from the post of Luoyang prefect for a few years, the old emperor was basically dying of illness.

Zhu Yang happily accepted the order, but Zhu Ming looked at a secret telegram sent from the Hexi Corridor.

Yelu Dashi is very likely to be critically ill!

Yelu Dashi has fought all his life and has various old injuries. In the Battle of Katwan two or three years ago, although the Western Liao army won a great victory, it suffered heavy casualties and Yelu Dashi himself was beaten into a bloody man.

Since then, Yelu Dashi's health has been declining.

A big Ming spy who mixed in with the merchants sent a secret telegram this spring, saying that Yelu Dashi had not made a public appearance for more than half a year, and even the hunting activities last autumn were suddenly cancelled.

This was not in line with Yelu Dashi's character. He would lead his troops to hunt feudal lords every year, and often personally went to inspect the local areas.

There was only one possibility for not showing up for more than half a year: his body was extremely weak.

"Your Majesty, the old Goryeo king, the royal family, and the clan have entered the capital. The Ministry of Rites would like to ask Your Majesty when to arrange an audience."

"Three days later."