Late Tang Dynasty Floating Life

Chapter 910 Methods
When Zhao Guangfeng and Xie Tong arrived, Shao Shude was already standing outside the wood drying kiln at the foot of Mang Mountain.

"In the past, if Zhu Quanzhong captured the towns of Yun, Yan, and Xu, what would he do?" Shao Shude asked.

What he asked was Xie Tong.

At that time, although Xie Tong had been gradually marginalized and squeezed out of the inner circle, as Zhu Quanzhong's earliest counselor, his qualifications were there, so he knew some things.

Xie Tong recalled it for a while, and said: "Xuzhou was given to Zhang Tingfan. He is an actor, and the power of Xu and Su is actually controlled by the Xuanwu shogunate. Xu Zhen received his household registration, military registration, and wealth in Bianzhou. .”

"Yun and Yan Towns, according to the tone at the time, at least one should be banned, and whoever has done a great job will be given. Maybe both will be released." Xie Tong replied.

Shao Shude was slightly surprised that Zhu Quanzhong compromised so early?
This so-called "seal" of Jiedushi is given to real power.Perhaps because he was close to Bianzhou, Zhu Quanzhong had high prestige and stricter control, but the nature was completely different. In theory, Jiedushi could rebel.

Before Zhu Quanzhong died, Ding Hui, the governor of Zhaoyi, and Liu Zhijun, the governor of Tongzhou, turned against him.

It can be seen that Zhu Quanzhong was very restrained in entrusting the feudal princes, and he was very stingy in giving, but he still gave a lot.When it was his son's time, Zhu Youqian, the governor of Hezhong, jumped repeatedly between Jin and Liang, and Yang Shihou, the commander of Wei Bo, was unruly and self-respecting.

If you give others a chance, the initiative to rebel or not is not on your side.

"Zhu Quanzhong has been fooling around for more than ten years, can he finally stop fooling around?" Shao Shude asked with a wry smile.

Zhu Quanzhong must also talk about his feelings and the future with his confidants and generals, and he often rewards goods, treasures, and beauties, but after more than ten years of doing this, he finally couldn't stand the pressure anymore.

Actually understandable.At this time, the highest honor and reward for warriors is the real power Jiedushi, which is also their highest pursuit.

You can fool for a while, but not for a lifetime.Relying on painting big cakes to convince the subordinates to continue to work hard, it is not bad to be able to paint for more than ten years. This is what troops like Zhu Quanzhong and Shao Shude can do from scratch.If it is an inherited army and territory, it will be difficult!

Zhu Quanzhong was the one who defeated Yun and Yan in the past two years. After more than ten years, his subordinates are no longer young, and they will die if they don't give an explanation.

Yun, Yan, and Xu three towns, Xu Zhen went down first, he was in the bag, and at least one of Yun and Yan was given out.

Shao Shude carefully recalled that Ge Congzhou seemed to be appointed as the military governor of the Taining Army, and his family moved to Yanzhou. Later, the whole family was captured by Liu Wei.

Ge Congzhou served as the military governor of Taining for eight years, and then Liu Renyu succeeded him. He served for more than two years until Zhu Quanzhong proclaimed himself emperor and incorporated him directly under the central government.

The Taining army took over the power smoothly, successfully cut down the vassal, and took it under the direct control.

The Probation Army (Xuzhou) seems to have briefly given Pang Shigu a year, but Pang Shigu took it away after his death.

In the Tianping Army, Zhu Quanzhong served as Jiedu envoy in person, and his deputy envoy was his counselor. I can't remember who exactly, until Zhu Quanzhong proclaimed himself emperor.

When Ziqing Town was destroyed, it was only two years since Zhu Quanzhong proclaimed himself emperor. I don't remember the specific situation, but there should be no more envoys, and the town was abolished.

After Zhu Quanzhong proclaimed himself emperor, he wanted to cut down the feudal domains and take power. In fact, the Taining Army and the Zhongwu Army were the ones who actually took back the power.

After Zhu Quanzhong's death, the power of Hezhong, Weibo, Chengde and other feudal towns could not be taken back at all, and even Zhang Quanyi in Luoyang, who was close at hand, could not be moved.

The power has been released, but you still want to take it back, is it that simple?
You have 20 forbidden troops, and I have only [-] miscellaneous soldiers. Do you think I have no strength, dare not resist, and if I say that I will take power smoothly, I will take power?What a joke!Talk with a knife in your hand, and then you kill me, how can I know the current affairs?If you can't beat it, you won't resist?
Zhu Youzhen, the last emperor of the Liang Dynasty, did not have the prestige of his father, and he had foreign enemies in the east of the river, so it was extremely difficult to take power. Therefore, his attitude towards these feudal towns was tolerant, as long as they did not surrender to the enemy, but things were obviously not that simple.

"You guys already know about Luoyang, some things can't be fooled any longer, is there a solution?" Shao Shude asked.

"Your Majesty, if the Zhongwu Army is abolished, the Zhao family is likely to rebel." Xie Tong said: "Although the Zhongwu Army is deep in Henan and will eventually be wiped out, but Your Majesty asks himself, if you change places, will you rebel?"

Shao Shude seriously thought about it from the perspective of a martial artist, and said: "Even if there are only three thousand soldiers, I will rebel. Externally contact Yang Xingmi, and internally win over veterans who have accumulated a lot of dissatisfaction for a long time. Alas, these feudal towns in the Central Plains are too rebellious. , not as good as the towns in the northwest of Beijing."

"The towns in the northwest of Beijing are all the Shence Military Department, and the imperial court has stricter control, of course they are not the same." Xie Tong said with a smile.

In short, the Guandong feudal town is not bathed in the light of saints, has no awe, is not obedient enough, and has too many arrogant soldiers, let alone the Hebei feudal town.

"My lord, in fact, what I said just now was serious. The Zhao family may not be against it. It is different for each feudal town, so it cannot be generalized." Xie Tong said: "But there are some things that cannot be gambled. If you lose the bet, you will be very troublesome. Big."

"Then tell me about these towns, which ones will be rebelled and which ones will not be rebelled?" Shao Shude asked.

Xie Tong hesitated, but said: "This matter cannot be generalized."

Shao Shude smiled, knowing that Xie Tong didn't dare to offend others at will, so he let him go, saying: "Those who connect with the enemy are easy to rebel. Sergeants who are rebellious are easy to rebel. Those who are extremely ambitious are easy to rebel. That's all, that's all. Tell me how to handle this."

"Your Majesty, dealing with Zhao Yan only treats the symptoms, not the root cause. The problem has always existed, and it still needs to be solved." Xie Tong said: "The feudal town has been separated for 40 years and [-] years, but before the Sang Luan, except for the border counties, there were no Jiedu envoys in the mainland. Even after the Sang Rebellion, there were only eight towns in the northwest of Beijing in the border area of ​​Kansai. If there was no threat from Tubo, these eight towns would not have been established. The old man in Kansai is still willing to accept other alternatives."

"What alternative?" Shao Shude asked.

"Conferring kings or kings' meritorious officials, but respecting the titles and others, and eating their titles." Xie Tong replied: "There is a system in the country, there is no land for setting up titles, and the officials are not in office. A prince of the first rank eats and seals ten thousand households. The first-rank county king granted food seals to five thousand households..."

Of course, this number is theoretical.

Just as in theory, a piece of money is a thousand wen, but in fact it is eight hundred wen, the number of food seals for princes and county kings depends on "real seals" and "real food", not everyone can reach this figure.

In addition, the food seal is "distribute food among the counties and transfer it to rent", so there is a difference.The economic strength of each state and county is different, and the population of each household is also different, which leads to differences in the amount of taxes.

The food seal will also decrease.

For example, in the fourth year of Emperor Xuanzong's Kaiyuan (716), it was stipulated that "from the beginning of the seal to the great-grandson, the three points of the seal will be reduced by one."

In the 22nd year of Kaiyuan (734), a new regulation was issued: "All princes and dukes below the food seal, who should be inherited by their descendants, will be reduced by two after the funeral."

The meaning of this is very clear, each generation of the food seal of the title will be reduced by 20%.

As long as the royal family of the country is not in the five servers, no one cares about it, they can take exams, become officials, do business, and serve in the army without any restrictions.There have been many clan officials in the country, even the prime minister.

"Tell me about the rules in the face of difficulties." Shao Shude said.

“大王。”学富五车的赵光逢抢答了，只听他说道：“郭子仪有再造社稷之功，爵封汾阳郡王，实封两千户。咸宁郡王浑瑊实封1800户。临淮郡王李光弼实封1500户。大宁郡王仆固怀恩实封1500户。西平郡王李晟实封900户。博陆郡王李辅国实封800户……马燧700户，段秀实500户……李芃100户。”

The gap between the county king and the county king is indeed huge.

Generally speaking, Wufu has more county kings, and civil servants get very few county kings. Li Peng even only has a hundred households, which is better than nothing.

"Mr. Guo Ling sealed two thousand households. After his death, Guo Yao also had two thousand households. Guo Yan and Guo Xi only had one thousand households." Zhao Guangfeng continued: "The court has no money."

Shao Shude nodded.

In fact, after hardships, there are no rules for the number of food seals for Prince Chang'an.After the death of Guo Ziyi, the king of Fenyang County, the eldest son Guo Yao succeeded the prince of Taiyuan County, and he was still the food seal of two thousand households.After Guo Yao's death, Guo Ai, the sixth son of Guo Ziyi, took the title of Duke of Dai, enfeoffing [-] households.After Guo Ai's death, Guo Xi, the third son of Guo Ziyi, succeeded him as the Duke of Zhao, and there were still a thousand households...

Strictly speaking, Guo Ziyi's title of King of Fenyang County is only "up to the body", and the descendants of the descendants are all granted by the emperor, and it only lasts for one generation, but the Guo family and the royal family are married and continue to be titled. The rules have been messed up, which is also the strange situation after the Anshi Rebellion.

"My lord, it is not unacceptable for Kansai warriors to give food seals. It is the most difficult at the beginning, but as long as you keep pushing it, it will become easier and easier in the future. No one will think about it anymore and take those unrealistic things. It is." Zhao Guangfeng said.

"During the Tianbao period, a household paid two dendrobiums of millet, six feet of silk, four feet of silk, a household tax of 250 yuan, and a local tax of eight buckets of millet." Shao Shude calculated carefully, and a household paid about 2.8 dendrobium of millet and 2.5 of silk. 250 Wen for horses and money, corvee and the like are not counted—since food seals are to be counted, it is natural not to count the chaotic and unfixed tax rates.

If 14000 households are given food seals, and according to the tax rate and tax system in the era of the equal-field system, they can get 12500 dendrobium, millet, 125 pieces of silk, and [-] million yuan a year.

The income is actually pretty good.Shao Shude is a Jiedu envoy of a big town, with an annual salary of 3600 yuan (1000 yuan in theory, but 2000 yuan in real money). An ordinary Jiedu envoy cannot get this much money, more than [-] or more than [-] is normal.

Given the high quality of Henan silk, 12500 bolts of silk are worth [-] coins.It would be even more serious if the food was sealed in the Beizhou area of ​​Hebei, because "Qinghe silk" is famous all over the world and is more valuable.

"Your Highness, you can't indiscriminately confer titles on princes, food seals are enough to satisfy people." Zhao Guangfeng reminded: "On the other hand, [-] households are a little too much. When descendants inherit the title, it is best to reduce it by two. In fact, It can motivate the soldiers to fight the enemy bravely. Those who have done meritorious service can also add food seals. Starting with a hundred households, the greater the credit, the more food seals will be added. With some honorary titles, it is almost the same. If the credit is too great, If there is no reward, just shade his nephew."

Of course, all the above discussions have a premise, that is, proclaiming the emperor and founding a country.

"You should work out the details carefully with Chen Changshi. Rules such as noble titles, food seals, and demotions must be established." Shao Shude said: "Remember, this is a secret and must not be disclosed."

"Of course." The two replied in unison.

"It should be kept secret, but not too secret." Shao Shude added.

These words are very contradictory, but Zhao Guangfeng and Xie Tong both understand.

(End of this chapter)