Dahan first prince

Chapter 387 The Importance of 'Precedent'

Seeing Wang Ling kneeling in front of her, looking at her worriedly, Liu Ying bent down with mixed feelings, and helped Wang Ling up from the ground first.

When Wang Ling straightened up, but still had the posture of "Your Majesty doesn't give an answer, I can still kneel down again", Liu Ying smiled wryly and lowered her head, sinking into thought with a sad face.

How important is the mausoleum system?
Of course Liu Ying knew!

Liu Ying, who is not single as the emperor, knows it, but any official with a good brain and a good ass, even an unranked official without a salary of a hundred shi, must know it!

What was the primary social contradiction in the feudal era?
--land!
Who is it that exacerbates social conflicts through land annexation, thereby shortening the life expectancy of the regime?

—— Powerful!
The mausoleum system is one of the only two methods in human history to solve land annexation, local tyrants, and the central government's inability to control the local area.

As for another method, it is the state ownership of land in the new era of later generations.

In addition to the mausoleum system, which is very characteristic of Liu Bang, Emperor Gao of the Han Dynasty, there is and only the state-owned land system, which can prevent the regime from extinction due to land annexation, widening gap between rich and poor, and intensified social conflicts.

Preventing land annexation is a win-win move for the people at the bottom and the regime.

The reason is simple: for the feudal regime, collecting taxes from local tyrants and even powerful families is much more difficult and costly than collecting taxes from poor peasant households;

In addition, there is another reason that makes every feudal regime, including Liu Han, try to prevent land annexation-even in the end, no one has thought of other than the mausoleum system and land state-owned system. any way.

The emperor of the feudal regime is the greatest power in the world!

In this way, some people may find it very strange: how can the emperor be a powerful man?
But it is not difficult to find out with a little analogy: From a logical and essential point of view, the emperor and the powerful are basically the same species;
The only difference is that there can only be one powerful emperor in the whole world.

——As a local tycoon, it is natural to build a good reputation and strive to get a "squire" evaluation from the local people;

Then, as a feudal emperor, why doesn't he need prestige and fame, and why doesn't he need the people of the world to give him the praise of a "virtuous king"?

——The profit method of local tyrants is to give the land they own to tenant farmers for planting, and collect part of the harvest as tenant rent;
The feudal emperor, or the taxation of the feudal regime, is it not collected from the hands of the people all over the world?
As for other aspects, there is no need to mention it.

Aren't the courtiers and officials just the stewards and managers who manage the family business for the powerful?
Aren't low-level officials just slaves who do specific things?
Even the army can also find similar groups from the powerful hands.

——The border guards, aren’t they the thugs who guard the manor? ? ?
So, to put it bluntly, the most fundamental reason for the feudal emperor's malice towards powerful groups is nothing more than one sentence: I will never allow a second powerful family other than me to appear in this world!

Under this premise, even if the ancestral temple, the community, and even a series of factors such as political stability and social stability are put aside, it is only out of "I have become the only tyrant in the world, and I will never give the second tyrant a day." The feudal emperor will inevitably hate the local tyrants and even the later aristocratic families.

——every plant, every tree, every mountain and every rock under the sun belong to me!
——Even you are mine!

——You belong to me, so why do you rob me and enslave my people? ! !
Such a logical starting point is enough to ensure that any measures to suppress the powerful will go unimpeded in the Han Dynasty at this stage;
Similarly, any attempt to ban these measures will inevitably be stopped by the entire government and the opposition, and even the entire world.

The most important thing is: the feudal emperor would never think that the local tyrants and aristocratic families are powerful, which is a good thing for himself and the feudal dynasty.

Of course Liu Ying knew this.

Even though Liu Ying could not convince herself that she was the largest powerful patriarch of the Han Dynasty, the importance of suppressing local tyrants had never been forgotten by Liu Ying.

As for the suspension of the construction of Anling and Anling, it is definitely not that Liu Ying wants to use this to pave the way for the abolition of the Lingyi system in the future, but just wants to "be the first in the world" through such a move, and draw a red line for the local counties. .

——In order to let the people of the world have a peaceful life for two years, I didn't even repair the imperial mausoleum. How dare a county magistrate with a thousand sons and eight hundred shi dare to collect labor from the people?

But at this moment, when Wang Ling disregarded the dignity of the public and ministers, and knelt down in front of a large number of people on the construction site, Liu Ying finally reacted belatedly: I seemed to have ignored what.

precedent;

In the feudal era, and even in the entire human history, there existed a social law second only to 'greed'.

Even in the judicial construction of later generations, the judgment precedents of the same type of cases are still an important basis for later judges to judge cases;

However, in the feudal era, the huge energy of "precedents" was still far beyond the imagination of future generations.

——At the time of Ji Zhou, there was no such thing as the so-called Son of Heaven. The "Son of Zhou" in the population of later generations was actually collectively called: King of Zhou.

For example, Ji Fa, King Wu of Zhou, Ji Song, King Cheng of Zhou, later Ji Lin, King Huan of Zhou, Ji Tuo, King Zhou Zhuang, and Ji Yan, King Nan of Zhou at the end of the dynasty, were all "kings of Zhou" without exception.

Even the father-in-law Ji Dan (dǎn), who laid the foundation for Zhou Wu to destroy Shang and was the grandfather of Wu Wang Ji Fa, was also honored by Wu Wang Ji Fa as: Zhou Tai Wang.

Even the founding king was only "Zhou Wuwang", and the founder of the dynasty was only "Zhou Taiwang". How could the feudal princes of the Zhou Dynasty be called "kings"?

In fact, at the very beginning, none of the lords of the Zhou Dynasty dared to call themselves "kings"—according to the etiquette system of conferring feudal titles between Ji and Zhou, the lords who were granted territories were all called so-and-so, and so-and-so. So-and-so, or so-and-so uncle, so-and-so son, or even so-and-so king.

Like the well-known Duke of Zhou, Ji Dan, and Duke Mu, Ying Renhao;

Another example is Qin Feizi, the first ancestor of the Qin Dynasty, and later Qin Hou, Qin Bo, and even Jizi, the ancestor of the Korean Dynasty who was named the "Korean King" by King Wu Jifa: Jizi Xuyu.

For a long time after the establishment of the Zhou Dynasty, the titles awarded to princes were strictly divided into six classes: Duke, Marquis, Bo, Zi, and Male, plus a "jun" according to land and population.

As for the king, there is only one king in the whole world, and that is King Zhou.

Then since when did these dukes, marquises, uncles, sons, men, and monarchs dare to call themselves "kings" and sit on an equal footing with the king of Zhou who is the co-lord of the world?

The first thing among them is naturally that the King of Zhou moved to the east, and the prestige of the Emperor Zhou was greatly damaged;
And the second, and the most important one, is a famous scene with a long history.

——Xuzhou Prime Minister.

The two sides in the incident were King Qi Wei who allowed Zou Ji to be his chancellor, and King Wei Hui who was defeated in the first battle with Sun Bin in Maling, lost his troops and generals, and lost his elite.

After the battle of Maling, Wei State lost the general Pang Juan, and the hegemony became more and more difficult, and it became weaker and weaker among the nations;
On the other hand, Qi State became stronger and stronger under the governance of the virtuous Prime Minister Zou Ji, and the cooperation of General Tian Ji and Military Advisor Sun Bin.

After the First Battle of Maling, in order to prevent the hegemony of the Wei State, Qi, Qin, and Zhao took the opportunity to launch a siege to Wei from the east, west, and north, intending to defeat Wei's ambition to dominate in one fell swoop;

However, being besieged on three sides by Qin State, which was just showing its strength, Zhao State with sharp soldiers, and the increasingly powerful Qi State, King Wei no longer had the heart to dominate.

In the 37th year of King Wei Hui (334 BC), King Wei Hui had no choice but to accept Wei Xiang's proposal, and led South Korea and some small countries to Xuzhou (now Xuzhou, Jiangsu) to meet King Qi Wei and respect Qi Jun, which is also known as Qi in later generations. Prestige is king.

For King Wei Hui's move, King Qi Wei knew very well: Wei Guo wanted to use this in exchange for Qi's retreat, and at the same time put King Qi on the stove and bear the anger of the princes of the world;

Therefore, the king of Qi, who dared not call himself king, had no choice but to honor Lord Wei as king.

This is the famous "Xuzhou Prime Minister" in history.

For Liexiong at that time, Xuzhou Prime Minister was just a game between Qi and Wei;
But for all the subsequent princes and monarchs, this matter is undoubtedly a 'precedent'.

Since then, among the heroes of the Warring States Period, there has never been a public, a marquis, an uncle, a son, a male, and a monarch. There are only "kings" one after another.

Even the title of "Jun", which can only be granted by the emperor of Zhou, has become a means for the monarchs of various countries to reward their ministers; in the Qin Dynasty, Lu Buwei, who retired from the prime minister's position, was bestowed by the first emperor Ying Zhengen For: Wenxin Hou.

This is the importance of 'precedent'.

Before King Qi Wei and King Wei Hui, none of the monarchs of other countries dared to call themselves "king" except for the successive kings of Chu after King Wu;
But after Qi, Wei and Xuzhou Xiangwang, the monarchs of all countries were unwilling to fall behind others, and they became "Xiangwang" in the end, and even became kings themselves.

Among them, there is naturally the inner factor of Zhou Tianzi becoming weaker and weaker, and even completely losing his majesty;

But the importance of the "precedent" of Xuzhou Xiangwang is also very important.

In the original history, the emperors of the Han Dynasty also changed their views of "Easy storage and separate establishment" several times because of similar "precedents".

For example, Taizu Liu Bang, due to the "eldest son inheritance system", dispelled the idea of ​​Yi Li Liu Ruyi, and still used the eldest son Liu Ying as the reserve, which can be regarded as setting a precedent for future generations of kings;

And the later Wendi Liu Heng also gave birth to the plan to abolish the prince Liu Qi and Yi Li's youngest son Liu Yi;
——When the thought was the strongest, even Jia Yi was sent by Liu Heng to be Liu Yi's Taifu!

But in the end, influenced by the precedent of "Taizu originally wanted to have a young son, but he still established a eldest son", Liu Heng gave up the idea of ​​setting up another Yi Chu, so that Liu Qi was able to inherit the throne after 23 years as the crown prince. The position of emperor of the Han Dynasty, known in history: Han Xiaojing.

In the reign of Emperor Jing, Emperor Jing Liu Qi also had the idea of ​​setting up Yi Chu separately, but also out of respect for the "precedent", he did not set up another at the first time. Instead, according to the eldest son inheritance system, the eldest son Liu Rong was established as Crown Prince Chujun.

It's a pity that no matter how great the energy of the "precedent" is, it is no greater than the "old dog" of the crown prince Liu Rong's mother Su Ji;
Shocked by the sound of an old dog, Emperor Jing Liu Qi, who was already critically ill, managed to survive, and quickly let Su Ji die of illness, and because of his crime, Liu Rong was abolished as the crown prince and demoted to Linjiang King.

Afterwards, Emperor Jing Liu Qi, who was already critically ill in the seventh year of his succession, actually gritted his teeth and stood on the throne for another nine years, just to let the crown prince Liu Che grow up.

Before this, whether it was Emperor Wen Liu Heng or Emperor Jing Liu Qi who had the idea of ​​"establishing a child" for the first time, they all gave up because of "precedents";
But after that, the eldest son inheritance system no longer has the sanctity of the past.

But this time, out of the consideration of "supporting the people", Liu Ying ordered to stop the construction of Anling and Anling Town, which set a very harmful precedent for future generations.

——The abolition of the mausoleum system is naturally very difficult;

But if Liu Ying's 'precedent' is used, the construction of the mausoleum and mausoleum will be suspended first, and then the suspension period will be extended indefinitely until the emperor dies...
"Whoo~"

"Careless..."

With lingering fear in her heart, she let out a soft sigh, and Liu Ying smiled wryly and shook her head, looking at Wang Ling with gratitude.

This time, when Liu Ying came to Anling for inspection, she did not call Wang Ling to accompany her.

So this time Wang Ling came here on his own initiative, in the name of 'accompanying the inspection', to dissuade Liu Ying.

For Wang Ling's move, instead of feeling dissatisfied, Liu Ying felt bursts of gratitude in her heart.

After thinking for a long time, Liu Ying finally raised her head with a smile, but she didn't look at Wang Ling immediately, but looked at Yangchengyan, the Shaofu, who was still terrified beside her.

"I would like to send someone from the Shaofu to tell the Prime Minister on my behalf: I want to stop the construction of Anling and Anling Town, but the Marquis of An Guo desperately advises me, and I have no other way."

"Thus, everything in Anling and Anling Town is the same as before. In the spring of next year, the powerful and wealthy households in the Kanto region should move to Anling Town."

"In addition, the prime minister issued official documents to the local counties and counties in Guanzhong, expressly stating that here, I want to stop the construction of mausoleums and towns, but it is something that the Marquis of An Guo hinders."

"——The remonstrance of Marquis You'an, don't miss every single word. It is a county in Guanzhong, and all the officials and assistants with more than a hundred stones are familiar with it!"

Hearing Liu Ying's words, Yang Chengyan raised his head in astonishment!
After seeing the determination in Liu Ying's eyes and the unquestionable strength, she had no choice but to bow down and accept the order.

But in front of Liu Ying, Wang Ling was already in tears, full of relief, but also a little guilty, and bowed to Liu Ying again.

"Sir, panic..."

Seeing the attitude of the two, Liu Ying didn't say much, just nodded with a smile, and continued to walk towards the construction site in Anling Town not far away.

——As the Son of Heaven, Liu Ying could not "change orders day and night" in theory and overthrow her own orders by herself.

But on the other hand: for Liu Han Sheji, it is definitely a very cost-effective solution to add another chain to the mausoleum system by "even the emperor has to change his orders day and night".

"Emperor Zongxiao of the Han Dynasty has been in power for more than ten years, and there is only one change in the imperial order, which means that he wants to stop the affairs of the mausoleum and the town, and then finally give up." For every emperor of the Han Dynasty and every courtier in the future, It will be an insurmountable mountain!
So this move may damage Liu Ying's personal prestige;
But it is also this move that can be the key to prolonging the life of the Han Dynasty for another hundred years.

Sin is in the present age, merit is in the future, sin is in the body, merit is in the world, nothing more...
(End of this chapter)