A Good Landlord in the Tang Dynasty: Emperor Yuan Cong

Chapter 203 Auspiciousness
"That's a good suggestion." Attendant Gao Shilian nodded appreciatively. He told Li Shimin, "At the end of the Han Dynasty, there were only thirteen prefectures in the world, which were divided into more than 100 counties. 241 counties, one county only governs one to three counties..."

Emperor Wen of the Sui Dynasty abolished all counties in the world, and changed the three-level system of prefectures, counties and counties that had been in operation for hundreds of years to a two-level system of prefectures and counties.When Emperor Yang of the Sui Dynasty ascended the throne, he merged some provinces and provinces, and then changed the prefectures into counties. There are 190 counties in the world, and more than 1255 counties under his jurisdiction.

Because the central government cannot directly govern nearly [-] counties, it followed the example of the Han Dynasty to set up a supervisory state to supervise the censors and supervise local counties.

"There are too many local states and counties, and the biggest disadvantage is that the local bureaucratic system is huge, which increases the burden on the court and the people."

At the beginning, Li Yuan set up a large number of prefectures and counties in order to recruit and appease, unite and win over officials and powerful people from all over the country, and set up more prefectures and counties, so that there will be more arrangements for officials and titles. This trick was indeed more useful at the beginning of the founding of the country.

But now that it is unified, the situation is different.

Now Datang has more than 400 states and more than 500 counties. The administrative divisions are confused. Many states only govern two or three counties, and a large number of states have the same name.

Not only did it bring about a huge local bureaucratic system, but it was also difficult for the central government to directly govern more than 400 states. There was a big disconnect between the imperial court and the localities.

Difficult to effectively control directly.

In the early years, the imperial court set up the Xingtai Shangshu Province, which was the dispatched agency of the Shangshu Province, directly governing a dozen or even dozens of states, but now all the Xingtais have been abolished.

Nowadays, many governor's mansions in various places have begun to take over some of the original Taiwan functions, but for the imperial court, the governor's mansion is in charge of both civil and military affairs. If this continues, the functions are too large and there is a risk of losing control, which is absolutely unacceptable.

In fact, Li Shimin had been discussing with his confidants before, how to abolish some Dudufu, and even change the original large, middle and lower Dudufu into the upper, middle and lower Dudufu, cancel the Dadudufu, and even reduce some of the Dudufu's powers.

However, if a large number of governors' mansions are withdrawn, or even the authority of the governor's mansion is reduced, then there will be a lack of a link between the central court and the local states. It is undoubtedly impossible for the Shangshu Province to directly manage more than 400 states.

Xingtai can no longer be set up, and the governor's mansion has to cut power.

Wu Huaiyu's proposal to set up ten ways in the world and send supervisory censors made them feel that it was a good suggestion. After all, the supervisory prefectures in the Han Dynasty set up governors to supervise them.

Huaiyu's ten ways of the world are actually not very different from Kyushu and Thirteen States, but because the second-level prefectures and counties are now implemented, they are no longer called states.

But this road is not a first-level official administrative division, but a supervisory road, which is completely different from the third-level prefectures and counties in the early Sui Dynasty.

Supervisory officials at the Dao level are only supervisory officials sent by the central government to inspect and monitor local officials and customs, and have no administrative power.

"My minister suggested that Gyeonggi should be used as a pilot first, and the counties and counties of Yongzhou Prefecture in Gyeonggi should be merged into one prefecture and [-] counties. After accumulating experience, the entire Guannei Road will be piloted at that time, and the province will continue to be merged. At the same time, officials will be sent to monitor the Guannei Road... "..."

Wu Huaiyu's proposal is more cautious. It does not mean that it will be rolled out across the country as soon as it comes. It will start with Yongzhou in Gyeonggi Province, then Guannei Road, then Longyou Road, and then Henan, Hedong, Shannan and other roads will be rolled out one after another.

While provinces, prefectures and counties were merged, officials were abolished, diverted and resettled.

"It's old enough to talk about seeking the country." Fang Xuanling praised.

Li Shimin was also surprised that Wu Huaiyu's suggestion was really timely and insightful.

"In the first year of Wude, the imperial court used Yongzhou to analyze and install Shimen, and in three years, Shimen and Wenxiu were used to install Quanzhou, and then Wenxiu was changed to Yunyang, and it was renamed Chiyang, and then Sanyuan was analyzed." Du Ruhui also felt that the changes were indeed frequent, and the state The area under the jurisdiction of the county has a small population.

"Then Quanzhou in the north will be abolished, and Shimen, Wenxiu, Chiyang, and Sanyuan will be merged into one county.

At the beginning of the Tang Dynasty, counties were divided into five grades: Jing, Ji, Shang, Zhong, and Xia, with different grades. The county magistrates of Chang'an and Wannian were classified as the fifth grade, while the county magistrates of the lower county were ranked seventh, with a big difference.

Li Shimin looked at Wu Huaiyu for a long time.

A thought popped up suddenly, "Are you willing to be the county magistrate of Sanyuan?"

Wu Huaiyu was stunned, he is now the commander of the fifth-rank army in the suburban city of the prince's army, so he is going to be the county magistrate of the sixth rank?
The more officials become the smaller?
However, his present rank is only the court minister of the seventh rank, and he is going to be the magistrate of Ji county on the sixth rank. The county magistrate is different.

The county magistrate of Gyeonggi is not comparable to ordinary county magistrates.

"Your Majesty, the minister's family is in Sanyuan County. Going to Sanyuan to be the county magistrate does not comply with the avoidance regulations for officials working in different places." Wu Huaiyu answered after thinking about it.

There are also many avoidance systems for being an official in the imperial court. For example, under normal circumstances, you are not allowed to be an official in the local area.If encountered, those who are junior officials avoid, those who arrive later avoid, and avoid being transferred to another post.

"Your family is originally from Wenshui, Bingzhou, not Sanyuan." Li Shimin said so. He proposed to make Wu Huaiyu the county magistrate of Sanyuan, not to demote him, but to respect him.Wu Huaiyu is young, capable, and even knowledgeable, which in his opinion is commendable.

But relatively young, and sometimes unavoidable some floating waves.

Li Shimin thought about letting him go to Sanyuan as a county magistrate, and then calm down and do a few practical things down there, and make some solid achievements, so the road ahead will naturally be wider in the future.Although he is now the commander of the third rank, his job is still to lead the guards at the north gate,

Such an errand can be regarded as a qualification, and it is better to have the opportunity to go to exercise.

But Wu Huaiyu didn't appreciate it.

Li Shimin was a little disappointed that rotten wood cannot be carved.

Both Changsun Wuji and Fang Xuanling could not help shaking their heads silently.

"I recommend my grandpa to be the magistrate of Sanyuan County." Who knows, the next moment Wu Huaiyu was very shameless and recommended his father to be the magistrate of Sanyuan County face to face.

Samurai Ke is currently the official order of Zhengqipin Shenjifang.

Wu Huaiyu really thought about his father, and wanted him to go up to four levels in a row.

Li Shimin couldn't help laughing angrily.

Fang Du and the others laughed together, and the purple-robed Ma Zhou, who had been silent all this time, lowered his head in embarrassment.

"Your Majesty, although I, Aye, am 61, I have always been in the military before. However, I have a rich life experience. I came from a low-level background. I understand people's livelihood, know the sufferings of the people, and handle affairs generously. I was also very prestigious in Longqiao Castle before. to convince the people,
Before that, he also led the young and strong people of Sanyuan to organize township regiments to resist the Turkic plunder,

He has been in Sanyuan for ten years, and he knows everything about this place. Besides, there are many Yuan Cong soldiers in Sanyuan County who have settled down in their homes. He is also from Yuan Cong. ! "

Fang Xuanling said beside him, "Your Majesty, General Wu did a very good job in recommending Samurai Ke to be the commander of Shenjifang."

Li Shimin was stunned for a moment, thinking about it carefully, it seemed that this was the case too.

Except for being older, it seems that Wu Huaiyu should be more suitable to be the county magistrate than Wu Huaiyu in all aspects, but Li Shimin's original intention was to train Wu Huaiyu through hard work.

"Ma Zhou, what do you think?"

"Your Majesty, this matter involves the minister's relatives, and the minister should avoid it."

Li Shimin considered it for a while, but in the end he still rejected Wu Huaiyu's proposal of not avoiding relatives. The superficial reason is that the Shenjifang Department has just started, and it is still inseparable from the order of the samurai Ke.

"You recommend another one, don't just raise relatives, you can also raise talents." Li Shimin said, "The key is to have talents, the kind who are good at common affairs and practical work."

Wu Huaiyu thought for a while, but he remembered only one person.

"My minister recommends Zhang Xingcheng, the governor of Fuping County,"

Fang Xuanling looked at Wu Huaiyu in surprise when he heard the name, "General Wu knows this person?"

"I met him not long ago. He was the director of Fuping County. He was elected as a candidate in Beijing. His family was poor. He borrowed Beijing debts. He couldn't pay the money when it was due and was forced to pay the debts. I just met him and later borrowed money from him. After repaying the debt first, he invited me to his home for a meeting, chatted with him, and found that he is very talented."

Fang Xuanling said to Li Shimin, "Your Majesty, Zhang Xingcheng is a disciple of Liu Xuan, a famous scholar in Hejian. .

In the fourth year of Wude, the Tang Dynasty destroyed Wang Shichong, and Zhang Xingcheng returned to the Tang Dynasty. He was appointed as Gushu County Captain and was responsible for the calculation in Beijing instead of the county official.

In the seventh year, Zhang Rui, the servant of the Ministry of official affairs, recommended Fuping as the master book. Calculating the time, it should have just expired. "

Li Shimin listened, "Then what is this person's ability?"

"This man once studied under famous scholars. His ancestor was Zhang Cang, the prime minister of the Western Han Dynasty. His family was in decline, but he was upright and enforced the law strictly. I heard that he was not afraid of power when he was in the local government. He was talented, knowledgeable and capable."

Chaju became an official in the Sui Dynasty, which shows that at least he came from a poor family.It was not easy to be a Yuanwailang in the Sui Dynasty. Wang Shichong also named him Duzhi Shangshu, which shows that he is very capable. After all, it is one of the six Shangshu.

Although after returning to the Tang Dynasty, he was only a county lieutenant and chief bookkeeper, but during his time in Beijing, he was able to pass the Jinshi examination and be recommended by the Minister of the Ministry of Officials. This person must be good in all aspects.

It's just that I don't know how to reduce it to the point where borrowing debts from Beijing is not enough to make people press for debts.

However, Li Shimin likes this kind of poor official, which shows that this kind of official comes from a humble background and is not corrupt.

"Tomorrow Zhang Xingcheng will be summoned to meet with the other party. I will personally test his ability. If he is really talented, he will be the county magistrate of Sanyuan."

Gushu County Captain, Chencang County Captain, and Fuping Chief Bookkeeper Zhang Xingcheng held three official positions in the Tang Dynasty.

But it is estimated that it was influenced by Wang Shichong who once served as the Minister of Duzhi.

But now, the post of Sanyuanji county magistrate on the sixth rank is already beckoning to him, all because of Wu Huaiyu's words.

"Wu Huaiyu, it's up to you to inform him yourself."

The emperor also deliberately gave Wu Huaiyu a chance to win a favor, and asked Zhang Xingcheng to remember his favor.

"If this person is incompetent, I will also hold you accountable for improper recommendation."

The proceedings are over.

Li Shimin was about to stand up and leave, Wu Huaiyu said, "Your Majesty, I have auspicious wishes to offer today."

"Xiangrui?" Li Shimin looked at him suspiciously. "What?"

"corn!"

Li Shimin was even more puzzled when he heard the name. Jade and rice are connected together. What is that, which is like rice grain, but can form jade?
"Your Majesty, this corn is temporarily stored at the gate of the palace. Your Majesty, please allow me to fetch it."

"What is this corn that can be called auspicious?" Li Shimin couldn't help being curious, but he warned Wu Huaiyu not to deceive him with those false things.

"Your Majesty, corn is a kind of crop. It grows tall stalks like sorghum. Corn cobs can be formed on the stalks. A corn cob can be dried to remove two or three taels of corn kernels. The yield per mu is slightly higher than that of rice, wheat, and millet. Although there is not much difference in plain areas, corn is drought-tolerant and even slightly salt-resistant. It can be planted in all directions, especially in mountainous areas. It can be planted in spring and autumn.
Corn can be eaten fresh, or it can be harvested and stored in the sun after it matures, and it can be ground to make flour and used as grain…”

The more Li Shimin listened, the more surprised he became, and finally he couldn't help standing up. He is drought-tolerant and even slightly salt-alkali tolerant. It can be grown in both northern and southern climates, as well as in mountains and plains. The yield is quite high. Isn't that the same as wheat and rice? Yield, and the advantages of millet drought tolerance?
"Hurry up and fetch this corn, I want to take a good look at it!"

The Turkic invasion has just been repelled, and now the food prices in Chang'an have begun to fall, and the imperial court is also stepping up the mobilization of food from all over the country to Beijing, but it is foreseeable that there will still be a large food shortage when the crops are not harvested next year, and there will definitely be famine.

Food is the most important thing for the people, and food is a matter of great concern to the court and officials.

(End of this chapter)