A Good Landlord in the Tang Dynasty: Emperor Yuan Cong

Chapter 832: Using the state as the country's princes and kings

Jiucheng Palace.

Emperor Li Shimin summoned Prime Minister Xiao Yu to see him. Not surprisingly, the emperor came to Xiao Yu to discuss the enfeoffment.

As the emperor's younger brothers and princes grew older, the matter of enfeoffment could no longer be postponed.

"Your Majesty, we definitely cannot use the enfeoffment system of Cao Wei. The enfeoffment of Cao Wei is just a nominal enfeoffment. Although they have titles such as kings and marquises, they have no real power. Although they have fiefs, they only have the privilege of eating towns."

Xiao Yu was a member of the enfeoffment faction and firmly advocated enfeoffment, believing that this was a way to ensure the long-term development of the Tang Dynasty. However, he opposed Cao Wei's enfeoffment. He believed that the Cao Wei clan had no political power in enfeoffment and that the power to appoint and remove officials within the enfeoffment was directly managed by the central government.

In addition, these feudal officials also had the obligation to supervise the clan king, and the clan king had even less power in the military.

"The envoys are all in name only but have no reality. The kingdom's envoys have more than a hundred veterans to defend the country. Although they have the title of prince, they are still as good as ordinary people."

Although Cao Wei had strong control over the clan, the clan failed to play the role of enfeoffing vassals and guarding the imperial court, and the world of Cao Wei was easily usurped by the Sima family.

"Your Majesty, if we want to divide the feudal lords, we must follow the method of the Han Dynasty."

Real enfeoffment must be implemented and actual powers must be given to the enfeoffed kings.

"If there were no clan kings to protect the vassal center, once someone rebelled and endangered the country, it would be difficult for the kings to devote all their efforts to protect the safety of the royal family, and the country of Li Tang would be in danger."

Li Shimin nodded frequently. Since he succeeded to the throne, he has always wanted to enfeoff.

It is not the current kind of enfeoffment that enfeoffs kings and titles in vain, but the enfeoffment that divides civil servants, clans, and vassal states. He wants Li Tang to be passed down from generation to generation.

Although the opposition between the DPRK and China has been loud in recent years, Li Shimin has never given up, and is now even more determined.

After experiencing the last Chengqian incident, he felt that he had acted rashly before and should not have given the wrong message to King Wei.

Recently, he even dreamed about the two brothers Jiancheng and Yuanji, and about the brothers killing each other that day at the Xuanwu Gate.

He was very afraid that Chengqian, Li Tai and others would do the same in the future.

Just like Huaiyu said before, there are some things that need to be considered.

"Xiao Xiang, please be specific today and come up with a draft for enfeoffment."

Xiao Yu paid homage to the prime minister several times over the years. When he left power, he had a very detailed idea of ​​the enfeoffment law. He immediately suggested to the emperor that the enfeoffment of the Tang Dynasty should follow the example of the Western Han Dynasty. In addition to the economic privileges of food and fiefdom, the enfeoffed kings had In addition, they should also be able to appoint and remove officials in the country on their own initiative.

The princes can collect taxes from the people of the kingdom and appoint and remove officials on their own.

Even with the state as the country,

According to the number of households in the fiefdom of each king, the princes were divided into several levels, and the number of princes' armies was set according to the level.

For example, a country with more than 30,000 households is called a big country, and the army of a big country can be divided into upper, middle and lower armies, totaling 5,000 people.

There are 20,000 households in the sub-state, and there are two armies in the country, totaling 3,000 people.

A country with less than 20,000 households is considered a small country. It has an internal army with 1,500 soldiers.

"Take a state as a country, each with its own soldiers and horses, and its own officials..." Li Shimin said softly, this 30,000 households is a big country, 20,000 is a sub-country, and 10,000 households is a small country. He can see that this is according to the imperial court. It is based on the prefecture levels established during the Taketoku era.

During the Wude period, those with more than 30,000 households were called Shangzhou, those with 20,000 households were called Zhongzhou, and those with less than 20,000 households were called Xiazhou.

A Shangzhou with 30,000 households was entrusted to the princes and princes as a large vassal state. It was promised to have 5,000 soldiers and form three armies. This strength is quite strong, with 30,000 households representing a population of nearly 200,000.

Compared with the clan system of the Sui and Tang Dynasties, it was indeed a big change. The clan kings had great real power.

Xiao Yu continued to say that the scope of enfeoffment was the emperor's sons.

Based on the current situation in the court, only the sons of the Supreme Emperor and the current emperor are eligible for enfeoffment. As for other clans, they are only granted titles but not lands.

However, the Supreme Emperor has a total of twenty-two sons, and today's emperor also has more than a dozen sons. If he really wants to enfeoff, there will be a lot of them.

Among the princes, the third son Xuanba died young, the fifth son Li Yuan was killed by Sui generals after he raised an army, and the eldest son Jiancheng Laosi Yuanji died in the hands of Li Shimin.

Lao Ba Yuanheng and Lao Jiu Yuanfang were born to Concubine Yin Defi and Zhang Jieyu. These two people used to be princes who formed a party. After the palace coup, they were purged by Li Shimin. Their sons only lived a few more years in the end. Years later, he publicly announced that he had died of illness.

Of the twenty-two sons, six are gone. Li Shimin is the emperor, and there are still fifteen emperor brothers left. The oldest, Liu Jing Wang Yuanjing, the seventh Han Wang Yuanchang, are only fourteen years old this year, and the youngest Xi Wang Yuanying is only four years old.

"I feel that the emperor's legitimate son can be granted the title of a big country. The emperor's concubine can be granted the title of a sub-state. The emperor's younger brother can be granted the title of a small country."    "The state is the country, but the army of the feudal country should be reduced. The three armies of the big country total 3,000 people. The sub-state Two armies, totaling 2,000 people. Small country and one army, 1,000 people."

"The feudal state should also implement the same laws and tax system as the imperial court. Three-thirds of the tax income should be retained in the state, one portion retained in the country, and one portion paid in tribute."

······

Li Shimin was willing to give some real power to the clan, vassal states, financial power, military power and even governance power, but he did not want to go beyond the scope of control.

The army of the kingdom is called the Guards Palace. The upper kingdom has three guards, the left, center and right. The subordinate kingdom has the left and right guards. The small country has only one guard house.

The Hujun Mansion was also established by the Princes of Qin and Qi at the beginning of the founding of the People's Republic of China. The Chief Guards the Army was of the fourth rank.

Li Shimin's original Qin Prince's Mansion had a total of six military guards' mansions, three on the left and three on the right, as well as a palace for relatives, tents and inner palaces. At that time, Li Shimin had as many as 60,000 to 70,000 troops directly under his command.

Under his six military guard houses, each guard army house has five unified army houses. Counting thousands of people in one unified army house, there are 60,000.

Obviously, it was impossible for Li Shimin to give such a large army to the feudal vassal states.

The monarch and his ministers discussed it very happily.

But when we talked about where to divide the enfeoffment, we finally had differences.

Xiao Yu believed that we should follow the example of the Western Han Dynasty or the Western Jin Dynasty, and naturally enfeoff to important places, such as Jingyang, Yiyouliang, Henan, Qingyue, etc.

These clan kings have to guard strategically important places in the world. Only in this way can they protect the central government at critical moments.

Li Shimin had previously agreed with this kind of enfeoffment, but Wu Huaiyu thought again and again that it could not be enfeoffed like this. It was okay to enfeoff the land, but the Han Dynasty had to enfeoff the hinterland of the Central Plains, so it could only enfeoff the border areas, and try to enclose as far as possible. Only in this way can it play the role of shielding the vassal center and prevent clan rebellions and chaos.

The clan must have power, but this power must be limited, otherwise the first person the clan will hurt is the center of the court, the emperor.

Li Shimin still listened to it to some extent. In addition, the imperial court has risen strongly in recent years. It has continued to attack the outside world, conquered many barbarians, and also brought many tribes into the land of control.

These places urgently need to strengthen control.

It was good for the feudal kings to be in charge, but after all, Li Shimin was still reluctant to let his sons go to the wilderness.

So at this time, he and Xiao Yu proposed that in the future, his brothers would be gradually enfeoffed to those barbaric places where Ji Sui surrendered to build a country, such as southern and central Guizhou Annan and other places. Anyway, the population there is small, so more land should be allocated to build the country. vassal states,

As for his own sons, the concubines can be enfeoffed to Lingnan, Longyou, Liaoxi, Hetao, Daibei, Anxi and other places.

As for the legitimate son, he will definitely be treated more favorably. He can be enfeoffed to Bashu and Wuyue. It's too far away and I really can't bear to part with him.

Fortunately, he only has three legitimate sons. In addition to the prince, they are the King of Wei and the King of Jin. He even considered that King Li Tai of Wei would be granted the title of Jianzhou in Fuzhou, and the King of Jin would be granted the title of Datong or Dingxiang.

Li Shimin said to Chu Suiliang, the daily servant who was taking notes at the side of the palace, "Please record and sort out the enfeoffment matters that I and Prime Minister Xiao just discussed, and then make a copy and send it to Huaiyu on a quick horse. I want to hear it." His opinion.”

If this matter can get the support of Wu Huaiyu, then Li Shimin thinks it can be implemented. After two years, the sixth brother Jing Wang Yuanjing and the seventh brother Han Wang Yuanchang are also sixteen years old, and the third prince Wu King Li Ke, the fourth prince Wei King Li Tai and the fifth prince Qi King Li You, who is already fourteen or fifteen years old, can be one of the first to formally establish a feudal state.

Xiao Yu still had a strong opinion, "Your Majesty, if you want to enfeoff, then grant it real power, otherwise it will be the same as Cao Wei's enfeoffment, and it will not play the role of the center of Pingfan."

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Wu Huaiyu and his family were not walking very fast, and he was not in a hurry.

Anyway, the autumn weather is crisp, the wind is sunny, and it is quite easy to walk sixty miles a day with a carriage and horse. It is basically equivalent to half a day of walking and half a day of rest.

Everywhere along the way, the guards set up camp, while Wu Huaiyu took his wife, concubines, children, and several accompanying brothers-in-law, nephews, and other relatives to enjoy the mountains and rivers nearby, which was very relaxing and comfortable.

Fan Xuanfu felt sorry for Huaiyu and refused to turn over the signs. He basically rested in Xuanfu's tent at night. As usual, he chatted and drank tea, and then wrote Zizhi Tongjian, which he then wrote to the Emperor of Jiucheng Palace and the Supervisor of Chang'an. The prince replied,

About two o'clock in the morning, I fell asleep.

However, there are exceptions. Li Qing and Yang Muyun are somewhat special among concubines, and cannot be compared with other concubines, so sometimes they will come to borrow martial arts from Fan Xuanfu, and Fan Xuanfu is also difficult to refute.

But the privilege was only given to two people, and the others were jealous and had nothing to do. Xuan Fu said that A Lang should have a good rest, and Li Qing and Yang Muyun could only borrow someone every two or three days.

This journey has been quite easy, and Wu Huaiyu still has a lot of time to spend with his wife, concubines, and children.

He received a letter from Li Shimin halfway. Regarding the enfeoffment, the emperor's thoughts were obvious, and he even had specific arrangements for the enfeoffment.

After reading it, he could only shake his head. Although there were so many people who opposed the enfeoffment, the emperor was still very determined. The emperor listened to Wu Huaiyu's improved version of the enfeoffment proposal, but obviously not much.

In his opinion, the emperor's current version of the enfeoffment law still has too much power. The plan is to grant Li Tai a seal in Fuzhou, Li Zhi in Yunzhou, King Yuanjing of Jing in Bozhou, King Yuanchang of Han in Yongchang, and King Li You of Qi in Yuzhou...

With the state as the country, the big country has an army of three thousand, three-thirds of the tax, and the officials are appointed by themselves...

This is actually the independent kingdom of the trumpet.

(End of this chapter)