Song Gexing

Chapter 249: The titles of the Chai family and the Qian family
A total of eight levels are the royal family: the first-rank king, the first-rank county prince, the third-rank general of the country, the third-rank general of the auxiliary country, the fourth-rank general of Fengguo, the fourth-rank lieutenant of Zhenguo, the fifth-rank lieutenant of auxiliary country, and the fifth-rank lieutenant of Fengguo. Knighthood.

Canceling the rank of second rank and raising the original minimum title of rank six is ​​the royal family's decision to adjust the titles this time. The reason is that the title of mother and wife cannot be consecrated from rank five below.

As the mistress of a royal title, it would be too much if she did not have a royal title. At the same time, the rank of each prince and heir would be cancelled.

Originally, the prince had a rank, but Zhao Fang felt that it was not necessary. Anyway, the prince would inherit the title in the end. Unless the prince died early, then the prince would be buried in the second rank, and the prince in the county would be buried in the second rank.

Moreover, in this reform, Han Qi and others were more thoughtful. It was stipulated that the prince's son was not allowed to participate in the imperial examination because he had to inherit the title.

The royal family in the Song Dynasty could take the imperial examination and become an official. Unlike the pig raising like in the Ming Dynasty, of course there were restrictions on the royal family being an official.

Don't even think about being a high-ranking official in the border areas. They usually serve as assistant officials or have a leisurely life in the yamen, but at least they don't have to have children and play around. This is much better than in the Ming Dynasty.

The royal family of the Ming Dynasty was indeed a weak point. Zhu Yuanzhang overused it, causing a war to seize the throne. However, Zhu Di, who had seized the throne, guarded against thieves as much as his brothers, and created a pig-raising model, which destroyed the entire Zhu Ming royal family.

To put it bluntly, many things were actually caused by oneself. If Zhu Di had not imprisoned the royal children like that, then the Ming Dynasty might not have collapsed like that.

The Manchu Qing was actually not strong. Compared to the Khitans, Jurchens and Mongols, they were much weaker. It can be said that the Qing troops entered the pass only through luck.

As long as Li Zicheng's head was not caught in the door, Wu Sangui would not have led the Qing troops into the pass. The Shanhaiguan Pass was a natural chasm, and Dorgon did not have the ability to break in.

The entire royal family turned into rubbish, which was the national policy of the Ming Dynasty that was fundamentally shaken. There were many times when enemy troops besieged the city. The princes clearly had money and food but were unwilling to pay a penny or a grain of food, causing the army to be unwilling to fight.

As long as the royal family is willing to contribute, many cities cannot be breached. The most typical one is King Zhou. Because he is willing to pay, Li Zicheng attacked Kaifeng City twice.

Even with an overwhelmingly superior force, Kaifeng was still unable to be invaded. In the end, Kaifeng was captured only after digging through the Yellow River to flood the city.

The ideal and ambitious King of Tang recruited militiamen to serve the king, but was ordered not to enter the capital and was then imprisoned. What kind of fool would it take to do this? The Ming Dynasty was already on the verge of collapse, and it was still worried about the royal family seizing the throne. .

The Song Dynasty also restricted the royal family, but it was too loose. Zhao Fang even consciously cultivated the children of the royal family. Not to mention his two younger brothers, he even used Zhao Zongshi in high regard.

Ordinarily, if Zhao Zongshi was in another dynasty, his outcome would be very bad. Even if the three brothers of Zhao Fang are here, don't forget that he was first raised as the prince by Zhao Zhen.

Before Zhao Fang was born, Zhao Zongshi was taken into the palace to raise him. Renzong did not give birth to Zhao Fang until he was 27 years old. This was a last resort choice for the generally short-lived emperors of Zhao and Song.

But for Zhao Zongshi, it was a disaster. Fortunately, Zhao Zhen was kind, and Zhao Fang was a soul from later generations. He did not fear him, so he had a good life.

"Those who are granted titles to the children of the royal family must ensure that the children of this branch have enough food and clothing, and the royal family must not be allowed to be helpless. Otherwise, the people of the royal family will be held accountable."

This is an imperial decree issued by Zhao Fang to the royal family. In view of the fact that in history, many royal families went to work as part-time workers, even begging.

To put it bluntly, it is the selfishness of human nature. The descendants of the first generation prince are fine, and their brothers can usually take care of them. However, as the descendants multiply, the bloodline gradually becomes distant.

After three generations, many people were unwilling to take care of it, let alone the more distant bloodline. Zhao Fang did provide business dividends to the clan house for this matter a few years ago.

However, it is impossible for the Zongren Mansion to be distributed to everyone, and the dividends are not distributed according to the principle that those with titles in each branch will receive and distribute on behalf of each other.

But gradually he discovered that after receiving the dividends, some people did not give them to distant branches, but instead kept them for their own use.This death order was issued precisely for this matter. If you dare to intercept it, be careful of your title being deprived of it.

……

The fifth-level title of Duke, Duke and Bozi plus the title of County King makes a total of six levels. As the title of Minister of Civil and Military Affairs, the original twelve levels are cancelled.

The difference is that the civil servants are migrant nobility, which adds the title of county king to the original posthumous title. Now living people can also be crowned kings.

"The Chai family and the Qian family have the titles of county kings. What do you think?"

The next step is how to reward titles. Naturally, Zhao Fang cannot start with the current hundred officials. This is a title reform, not a reward for the founding of the dynasty. The founding group of people must have a final conclusion.

Chai Rong's descendants and Qian Hongchu's descendants have now lost their titles. Zhao Fang must replace them. The ancestor worship must not be interrupted. This is the most important thing of the ancients.

The Qian family is okay. Although the title is lost after three generations, the Qian family has a large number of talents. There are still dozens of officials in this generation, and the senior officials are constantly rising.

Qian Mingyi is a branch of the Qian family. Although he is not granted the title of Duke like his uncle Qian Weiyan, he is still a third-rank official and is now the censor of Zuo Qiandu.

The Chai family was relatively miserable, because the direct line of the Chai family was extinct. There were only seven sons recorded in Chai Rong's history books, and the first three died in the Later Zhou Dynasty.

Chai Zongxun, who succeeded Chai Rong, was the fourth son. He succeeded to the throne when he was only eight years old. He died at the age of 20, leaving a son. However, when Zhao Zhen became emperor, this man also died and left no heirs.

The remaining three disappeared unexpectedly. They disappeared in the second year of Qiande in the Song Dynasty.

This is actually very strange. The Song Dynasty has been established for five years in the second year of Qiande. If you wanted to kill them, why would you wait so long? But if you didn't want to kill them, why would they disappear?

The three teenage children disappeared together. There is only one explanation other than secret deaths, and that is that they were taken away by Chai Rong's henchmen.

At that time, Zhao Kuangyin was busy attacking Hou Shu, and he really had no time to meddle.

In the Zhenzong Dynasty, there was an official named Lu Xuan who served as the defense envoy in front of the palace. Later, he was promoted to Privy Councilor Tongzhi and was granted the title of Marquis Wulie. It is said that it was the missing Chai Xijie who changed his name.

Anyway, Song Zhenzong didn't care whether he was Chai Rong's son. The kindness of the Zhao Song royal family can be seen, because this rumor has been around for a long time, but Zhenzong did not interfere with this matter.

In the Renzong dynasty, Chai Zongxun's line was extinct, so Zhao Zhen had no choice but to find the elder of the descendants of the Chai family to succeed him. However, at this time, the Chai family had long lost the title of king, and only had the title of Zheng Guogong, and it was only a false position.

As for the official Chai in Water Margin, he is a completely made-up character. There are also people from the Chai family serving as officials in the court, but they are all branches.

After Zhao Gou, Emperor Gaozong of the Southern Song Dynasty, went south, he tried hard to find a descendant of the Chai family, Chai Shuxia, to inherit the dukedom of Zheng.

The only one who can be called a direct descendant is the one raised by Pan Mei, but that person changed his surname to Pan, so naturally he cannot be the heir to the Chai family.

(End of this chapter)