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Chapter 736 Two-in-one
After Qin Shihuang unified China, he learned from the lessons of the Zhou Dynasty and believed that the feudal system was not conducive to maintaining rule. No matter how large the territory was, it could not be handed over to others to help manage it. So the county system came into being.

Dividing the land into pieces and handing them over to officials for management may sound like the same as feudalism, but in fact there are big differences. Although the county governor has certain powers, he does not have the autonomy of the princes, and the title cannot be inherited.

At this time, it was no longer a chain enterprise, but a joint-stock company. The King of Qin was the chairman of the head office, and the governors of various places were just managers of branches sent by the head office. If they did a good job and were trusted, they would work for a few more years. If they did not do a good job and failed to achieve the performance assigned by the head office, they would be fired in a moment with a transfer order.

But the King of Qin could not make the final decision in the company alone. The ministers around him also controlled a lot of power. They were like directors in a board of directors, who both nominated the chairman and checked the chairman. Power was concentrated in the head office, that is, the central government.

Under the feudal system, as long as the princes fulfilled their agreements, the king could not directly command a farmer in the princely state. But under the county system, the emperor could directly manage everyone in the country through layers of officials. This is the centralized system, and power is concentrated in the central court.

The centralized system lasted until the Yuan Dynasty, and then changed again, from centralized to absolute monarchy. In theory, absolute monarchy is not a new system, but an extreme model of centralized system.

After driving out the Northern Yuan regime, Zhu Yuanzhang began to learn lessons and believed that the main reason why the previous Tang, Song and Yuan dynasties fell was that power was not centralized enough. The emperor could not have the final say and there were prime ministers and ministers sharing power, which made him very unhappy.

So he abolished all the positions in the court that could delegate power step by step, killed all the people who had the potential to delegate power, and held most of the power in his own hands.

At this time, power is no longer controlled by the board of directors, but by a certain person. The central government is no longer in control of the central government, but the emperor, so it is called a monarchy.

The effect is... obviously bad. If there is a diligent, smart, and lucky emperor, the country may develop well, but if there is a lazy and average-minded emperor, the country will immediately become weak.

Generally speaking, the offspring of a family are much less likely to be diligent and smart than to be mediocre and lazy. There is no way around it, this is human nature. Even a child with good talents will become abnormal and have great character flaws if he grows up in a harem environment.

Therefore, from a long-term perspective, the possibility of a country declining is much greater than that of becoming strong. The Ming and Qing dynasties are the best examples. There were capable emperors, but there were too few of them to achieve continuity. As long as one with a bad brain appeared, the defects would be magnified infinitely and there would be no chance to correct them.

But the poor results do not mean that they will not last long. When the Qing Dynasty replaced the Ming Dynasty, it not only copied this system, but also modified it to concentrate power more even in the hands of the emperor.

Does Huang Taiji not know the harm of monarchy? It is possible that he knows, or it is possible that he does not see. But he is also a human being, and like Zhu Yuanzhang, he cannot resist the temptation of power. As for the harm it brings to the nation and the country, I will be happy first, and I will not care about the flood after I die!
Since the monarchy is so bad, why did Hong Tao still use it? As I said before, there is no good or bad system, only whether it is suitable or not. If we put several systems that existed in later generations into the Zhou Dynasty, none of them would work. We can't say that all the systems in later generations are bad.

Based on Hong Tao's experience and knowledge, he feels that both feudalism and monarchy have positive aspects in the Ming Dynasty at this moment.

By enfeoffment, the court could save most of its energy, material and financial resources by giving the land to officials for limited self-government. Governing a place is a bit like raising a child. The more meticulous the parents are, the weaker the child's ability is. There is a saying that goes, "The children of the poor grow up early." If a child's family conditions are very poor and he lacks parental care since childhood, his self-reliance ability will often exceed that of his peers.

Autocracy means that the emperor has the final say in the court, which can save most of the debates, make the government orders smooth, and move forward quickly in the desired rhythm and direction. This is also the biggest advantage of centralization and monarchy, which reduces internal friction and concentrates efforts on major tasks.

Of course, it is far from enough to just bring out the advantages. If we don’t find ways to curb its shortcomings, the result may well be more harm than good.

What are the disadvantages of the feudal system? The central control is weak. Franchisees are independent and theoretically can ignore any additional orders from the head office as long as they fulfill their obligations.

What, add more content to the agreement later? Sorry, one party has no say, it has to be agreed upon by all parties. How long will it take to agree upon it? No idea.

In this case, if Hong Tao wanted to build a track from Beijing to the Yellow River, he could not start construction immediately. He had to first notify N princes passing by along the way and then obtain their consent.

The solution is also very simple. Don't give the fiefdom too much autonomy. For example, the military power, diplomatic power, and legislative power are all controlled by the central court, and only some civil, economic and personnel rights are given.

What are the shortcomings of a monarchy? Lack of self-healing ability. Everything is decided by one person, and the officials below are all yes-men. Even if they find that the order is wrong, they dare not object, and there is no way to find and correct the mistakes in time.

This shortcoming is actually quite unsolvable because it hits the weakness of human nature. As long as you do not deviate from the scope of human beings and stay in an environment where everyone's words are decisive for a long time, you will inevitably lose your judgment.

But Hong Tao was in a state of being both a human and not a human, and having had many experiences in governing, he felt that he could break away from the category of human and make up for this major defect.

In principle, as long as the above two points can be achieved, feudal monarchy is likely to have more advantages than disadvantages, and the two systems can be beneficially integrated. On the one hand, it can mobilize the enthusiasm of officials, and on the other hand, it can prevent the trouble of local out-of-control.

"When local officials govern local people, over time, aristocratic families will form. Their entanglements are extremely difficult to clean up. They keep servants and secretly store weapons, and they form alliances to cause trouble. How can we solve this problem?"

After listening carefully to the emperor's explanation of the division of fiefdoms, Yuan Yingtai was not convinced. Just saying that military power would not be given, but if this trend continues, it would not make much difference whether it was given or not after many years. As long as it could grow to a certain extent locally, the central court would not be able to know the specific situation at all, and would be like a blind man.

(End of this chapter)