Guide to Traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty.

Chapter 1023 1018 [The Crown Prince Becomes the Prefect of Luoyang]

Luoyang, the imperial city.

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

Crown Prince Zhu Yang bid farewell to his grandfather on behalf of the emperor. He had just returned to the East Palace when he was summoned by his father for a talk.

Since there were no outsiders present, Zhu Yang's etiquette was rather casual. He just bowed and said, "Father, how are you?"

"Please sit down," Zhu Ming asked, "What have you learned from studying with your grandfather last year?"

Zhu Yang replied: "Dialectical materialism is truly a study of the relationship between heaven and man. If you learn this method, you can explore the root of everything."

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

"It's done." Zhu Yang said.

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

Zhu Yang temporarily took his leave, returned to his East Palace, and took out a paper bag.

There was a line of words written on the surface of the paper bag: Research on the Systems of Western Liao and the Black Khanate.

Ever since Yelu Dashi allowed Ming merchants to trade freely, Ming spies mixed in with the merchants have been constantly sending back all kinds of information involving officials, cities, geography, climate, crops, industry and commerce, agriculture and animal husbandry, etc.

The information was disorganized and even contradictory, so Zhu Ming asked his son to sort it out with Donggong's tutor.

Soon, Zhu Yang sat in front of his father again.

Due to the large number of words, he did not read out the entire text, but extracted the main points:

"Western Liao and the Black Khanate are different from what we previously thought. They are not true feudal systems. They are more like a transition from feudalism to the county system..."

"In the Transoxiana and Seven Rivers regions, there are two types of life: animal husbandry and farming. At the beginning of the establishment of the Black Khanate, nomadic life gradually changed to fixed or semi-nomadic life, and more and more people were engaged in farming."

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

"These clan leaders were called 'Dihang', which have basically disappeared now, and 'Dihang' has become a general term for farmers."

"The earliest Dihangs, or clan leaders, were transformed into Milks in the Black Khanate. Some Milks had fiefs or a lot of land. I call them landlord Milks. More Milks had no fiefs and their lands were also annexed. I call them self-employed farmers Milks."

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

"In addition to private fields, Western Liao and the Black Khanate also had official fields, which were called 'Diwan'. There are two sources of 'Diwan' official fields: one is war plunder, and the other is criminal confiscation."

"There are also temple fields and school fields. This kind of land is called 'Wakfu'."

"As for land tax, official land, school land, and temple land are often tax-free, or require a symbolic tax. However, the tax on private land is extremely heavy, at one-third of the grain harvest!"

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

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

“But for nearly a hundred years, this system has not been stable.”

"The main reason is that the feudal nobility has a hereditary trend. Although they are still nominally appointed by the monarch, more and more feudal nobility are entrenched in one area. They continue to obey the monarch's orders and send taxes to the monarch regularly, but they often pretend to obey the monarch and arbitrarily increase the tax amount in their jurisdiction."

"The Western Liao Dynasty established by Yelu Dashi saw some improvement in the areas directly under the imperial court, and all officials were appointed by Yelu Dashi. But outside the areas directly under the imperial court, the feudal nobles still made the decisions."

"In addition to the territories directly under Yelu Dashi, he also had relatively strong control over some other regions. Those regions had to pay taxes to the Western Liao court, but each household only paid one silver coin to the Western Liao court each year, and the rest of the tax revenue was controlled by the local feudal lords."

"The Western Liao Dynasty founded by Yelu Dashi was truly under the complete control of the imperial court in Gaochang, the Seven Rivers, and the Central Plains. Moreover, he could only control the core areas of the Central Plains..."

Zhu Ming was quite satisfied with his son's homework and then asked, "Why did the Mukta feudal system of the Black Khanate gradually collapse?"

Zhu Yang replied:
"Because the Black Khanate did not have an imperial examination system, nor a strict promotion system. Who to choose as a local official and who to promote depended entirely on the monarch's preference. No... the monarch was also subject to local forces. The nobles of the Black Khanate were outsiders, and they were able to establish their country with the help of the leader of the Dihang clan."

"When the Black Khanate granted official positions, it had to take care of both the meritorious officials of its own clan and the leaders of the Dihang clan. This country has never really controlled the local areas from the beginning."

"As time went by, the heroes of the tribe and the clan leaders gradually merged into a new local force. After colluding with local religious leaders and influenced by foreign wars, they occupied the local area and became almost separatist, becoming princes who were not princes. The monarch could replace those local officials, but if they did not do a satisfactory job, local rebellions could occur at any time."

Zhu Ming asked again: "Do you think Western Liao can last long?" Zhu Yang shook his head and said: "It is inherently deficient. In a few decades, without a strong monarch, Western Liao will inevitably become the second Black Khanate. By that time, the emperor of Western Liao will be nothing more than the emperor of Zhou, the so-called common ruler of the princes but can only rule a corner."

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

Zhu Yang connected the history of China and the Karakhanid 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, we can govern the army and the people, so it must be in the hands of the monarch. And this control must have a set of systems, otherwise it will inevitably be lost..."

At this point, Zhu Yang suddenly laughed and said, "My child finally understands what etiquette is. Etiquette is a system, a law, and even more so, justice. The imperial examination is etiquette, the 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. A tyrannical monarch is disrespectful, a corrupt official is disrespectful, a lack of military preparations is disrespectful, unrighteous customs are disrespectful, and a decline in taxes is also disrespectful, which correspond to different mistakes in governance. However, officials, soldiers, and civilians all have their own demands and interests, and it is very difficult to reconcile the etiquette. Being able to achieve a perfect state of harmony may be called moderation."

"Hahahaha!" Zhu Ming laughed continuously.

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

Stopping 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 command!" Zhu Yang was overjoyed.

The training of the crown prince has always been a major issue in every dynasty.

The Eastern Palace system of the Tang Dynasty was so terrifying that it could almost be called a small court.

Let’s put it this way, even if the emperor and all the officials of the Tang Dynasty suddenly died collectively, the crown prince could immediately take over the country with the officials of the Eastern Palace.

The Crown Prince and the officials of the Eastern Palace can take over the government at any time, but they are actually unable to do so. So will anyone want to take a step further?
Therefore, by the Song Dynasty, the Eastern Palace was gone.

Although the positions of Zuoyou Chunfang (Eastern Palace) still existed, most of them were honorary titles, held concurrently by important officials of the court. They were even too lazy to build a special Eastern Palace. If a prince was made crown prince, his original palace would be converted into the Eastern Palace.

The prince now had only two duties left: study hard and greet his parents.

The Northern Song Dynasty also appointed the crown prince as the prefect of Kaifeng, but his power was so limited that he couldn't even fully control the Kaifeng government office!
The crown prince of the Tang Dynasty had too much power, while the crown prince of the Song Dynasty had too much power.

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 should be handed over to the prince. At the same time, the prince should be allowed to participate in the imperial court meeting and have the power to participate in politics.

The purpose of letting the prince be the prefect of Luoyang was to familiarize him with local office procedures.

The purpose of allowing the crown prince to attend the imperial meeting is to familiarize him with the central government's office work.

Another preparatory institution was the Prince's Academy, which included the Zishan Hall (cultural knowledge) and Wubei Hall (military knowledge). Before reaching adulthood, the prince had to learn basic cultural and military knowledge, and then observe government affairs in various institutions within the imperial city for several years, and then serve as the prefect of Luoyang around the age of 25 - the specific age can be advanced.

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

The prefect of Luoyang could not serve for too long, and the crown prince could serve for six years at most.

After the prince resigned from the post of Luoyang prefect, he could continue to participate in government affairs, or he could be appointed as Kaifeng prefect. At a critical moment, he could also be made regent. The specific appointment method depended on the arrangement made by the emperor at that time.

In fact, there were very few emperors who could serve for a very long time.

Under normal circumstances, a few years after the crown prince resigned from his post as prefect of Luoyang, the old emperor would basically be dying of illness.

Zhu Yang happily took the order and left, but Zhu Ming was looking at a secret telegram sent from the Hexi Corridor.

Yelu Dashi is very likely to be critically ill!

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

From then on, Yelu Dashi's health gradually deteriorated.

A Ming Dynasty spy who was mixed up in 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 went to inspect the local areas in person.

He hasn't been seen for more than half a year. There is only one possibility: his health has become extremely weak.

"Your Majesty, the former ruler of Goryeo, the royal family, and the clan have already arrived in Beijing. The Ministry of Rites would like to ask Your Majesty when to arrange an audience with them."

"In three days."

(End of this chapter)