A thousand-year-old family that began with the Battle of Makino

Chapter 1012: Taizu passed away and his sons came to Beijing to assist in the administration of Daxia

The Seventeenth Year of Chengqian in the Xia Dynasty

February
Bai Jian, the emperor of Great Xia, sage, official, and master of the country, and head of the Bai family, died of illness in Wude Hall at the age of seventy-six.

The death knell rang throughout the city of Kaifeng. The originally bustling and prosperous city with hundreds of thousands of people suddenly calmed down that day, with every household dressed in white and hanging vegetarian ornaments.

When the gate of the Song Dynasty Palace was opened, the ministers who had been waiting outside the gate in mourning clothes walked towards the coffin where Bai Jian was, crying hysterically.

"Your Majesty, what will Daxia do without you?"

"Alas, God has not given me longevity, and has taken away my respect. How sad! How painful!"

Outside the coffin, the ministers entered the palace in order according to their rank and paid their respects to Bai Jian's coffin.

Crown Prince Bai Xi, with his son Prince of Qin Bai Mu, second son Bai Yi, third son Bai Yuan, youngest son Bai Xuan, as well as several princesses, princesses, and concubines of the late emperor, stood beside the coffin, facing the kneeling ministers with sorrow on their faces.

As for the Queen of Baijian, Bai Xi's biological mother, Queen Li, she had died eight years ago.

Therefore, after Bai Xi ascended the throne, there was no empress dowager to restrain him. He only needed to go through the mourning period before he could directly rule the country.

Half a day had passed before all civil and military officials of the fifth rank and above, clan members, and nobles in the capital had paid their respects in turn.

At this time, those who were able to stay in the coffin were all important ministers above the third rank, and the rest had been squeezed out of the palace.

"Your Highness."

Bai Xi, who was immersed in grief, looked up and saw two people talking.

One of them is the number one person in the current political arena of Daxia, Shangshu Zuo Pushe, Taifu, Tejin Rong Guanglu Doctor, and Duke of Liang, Bai Zhanwen.

One of them is the number one person in the current military of Daxia, Shangshu You Pushe, Tai Shi, Marshal of the Infantry of the Marshal's Office, and Duke of Wei, Bai Xiaoqiang.

"A country cannot be without a ruler for a day, and Daxia cannot be without an emperor for a day. We, the old ministers, ask Your Highness to ascend the throne to reassure the people."

Then, under the urgings and advice of his ministers, Bai Xi ascended the throne in front of Bai Jian's coffin without any surprise.

February 3rd
The new emperor of Great Xia, Bai Xi, came to power. The court recommended the late emperor Bai Jian to be posthumously named "The Most Holy, Most Wise, Great Divine, Great Mighty, Established the Realm of Profound Literature, and Original Filial Piety".

The temple was named "Taizu" and he was buried in "Yongchang Mausoleum".

After settling the affairs of the previous emperor, Bai Xi issued an edict to appoint Crown Princess Zhu as Empress and Prince of Qin Bai Mu as Crown Prince.

He also ordered that the brother princes stationed at the border were allowed to return to Beijing to attend the funeral of the late emperor with their relatives and guards, totaling no more than 50 people, under the protection of the dispatched imperial guards after they had dealt with local military affairs.

Finally, Bai Xi accepted the reign title proposed by Bai Zhanwen and named the next year "Pingning".

March

Bai Tao, the King of Yan; Bai Lang, the King of Qi; Bai Chao, the King of Yong; Bai Hai, the King of Chu; Bai Yang, the King of Shu;
Princess Bai Yun, the eldest princess married to Prince Zi;

Princess Baizhi, the daughter of Zhu Lingxi, the second son of Prince Jing;

Princess Baipu, the daughter of Liao prince Liu Yi;
Princess Pingle Bai Hui, wife of the imperial consort Kang Zhengqin;

Princess Pingxi Bai Qiang, wife of Wang Guijie, governor of Suzhou;

Princess Pingqing Baizhi, the wife of Tian Shanping, the Vice Minister of the Ministry of Revenue.

All the princes and princesses, along with their wives and husbands-in-law, arrived in the capital. Led by Crown Prince Bai Mu and Crown Princess Meng, they joined other princes and nobles of the royal family to hold an internal royal worship ceremony at the coffin.

April 3rd
After the renovation of Emperor Taizu's Yongchang Mausoleum in Baijian was completed, Emperor Bai Xi personally touched the coffin and brought the crown prince, kings, and officials to escort the late emperor's coffin to the burial site.

After Fengqiu was established, Emperor Bai Xi and Empress Zhu entered the mourning palace and observed mourning for a year.

The government of Daxia will be handed over to the 27-year-old Crown Prince Bai Mu for supervision.

The five people formed the Provisional Regency Council, which was composed of the Privy Councillor Luo Minghan, the Minister of the Three Departments Shao Ning, the Chief of the Political Affairs Hall, the Prime Minister, and the Minister of Personnel Liu Fansheng, the Prime Minister and the Minister of War Su Xiaohui, and the Grand Commander Bai Shijin, and served as the Regent Ministers. The 61-year-old Duke of Lu Bai Zhanwen and the 63-year-old Duke of Wei Bai Xiaoqiang led the left and right supervisors of the Regency Council.

This formed a special structure in which the crown prince supervised the country, the two dukes supervised and assisted, and five ministers assisted in the administration, who were responsible for all military and political affairs during the one-year period of Emperor Bai Xi's mourning.

In order to stabilize the local area, Bai Xi appointed inspectors to monitor all officials, both big and small, within a year before closing the palace to observe mourning.

To prevent them from having any inappropriate thoughts while the central court is silent.

In addition, the current Daxia civil officials are the same as the military officials, from the first rank down to the ninth rank, which are used to grant meritorious officials and increase their salaries.

[Civil officials] above the third rank: Special Advancement and Honorary Guanglu Dafu (from the first rank), Ronglu Dafu, Guanglu Dafu, Zhengyi Dafu, Tongyi Dafu.

Fifth rank and above: Taizhong Daifu, Zhongsan Daifu, Chaoyi Daifu, Chaosan Daifu.

Below the fifth rank: Chaoyilang, Fengyilang, Chaoqinglang, Chaosanlang, Jieshilang, Chengfenglang, Dengshilang, Jiangshilang.

In Daxia, the four most important parts were official positions, casual officials, honorary officials, and titles. There was also a special official title system including additional officials, honorary titles, and envoy officials.

Among them, the official positions are those that are granted real positions, which means real power.

Sanguan, also known as rank officials, are mainly responsible for determining the rank and salary of officials and usually follow people.

If the rank of a civil servant is equal to that of a casual official, it is called the original rank.

If there is no equality, a person who holds a lower rank as an official but holds a higher position is called a guarding official; otherwise, he is called a performing official, and his treatment is based on the rank of the official.

An honorary title is an honorary title, which comes with benefits every year. One can serve as an official and enjoy certain privileges such as exemption from corvée, taxes, and the right to marry concubines.

The "scholars" who passed the provincial examination were awarded the lowest rank of Jiangshilang, which was the lowest level of honor.

Needless to say, the title of nobility is similar to that of an honorary officer, has certain privileges, and can break through certain restrictions on land and slaves.

Moreover, they will have fiefdoms and food salaries, which can be passed down to future generations.

Generally speaking, the title of Daxia was inherited according to the principle of "inheritance for three generations, with each generation extending the favor."

For example, if someone is granted the title of Duke of a country and is given a fief of 10,000 households.

His eldest son, eldest grandson, and eldest great-grandson will still inherit the title of Duke.

However, the eldest son inherited a fief of 5,000 households, the eldest grandson inherited a fief of 2,500 households, and the eldest great-grandson inherited a fief of 1,300 households.

The remaining descendants shared the other half of the fiefdom and were conferred titles according to the fiefdom.

If the inheritance is more than 2,000 households, the title of County Duke will be given; if the inheritance is more than 1,000 households, the title of Marquis will be given; if the inheritance is more than 700 households, the title of Earl will be given; if the inheritance is more than 500 households, the title of Son will be given; and if the inheritance is more than 300 households, the title of Baron will be given.

If the number of officials is below 300, they will be granted the title of nobleman (Shangzhuguo, Zhuguo, Xunshi) until there is no more fiefdom to be granted and the title will be taken back by the court.

The result of this is that if the children of these nobles within three generations do not live up to their expectations and have no new achievements, even if they have titles of nobility, they will not be granted corresponding fiefs.

Such nobles whose titles and fiefs do not match are called "Menggui"; nobles whose fiefs and titles are equal are called "Shigui".

Bai Jian, the first emperor of Daxia, used a series of "high salaries to support the rich" tactics to gradually take back the real power of local military commanders, as well as the warlords and princes who had surrendered to Daxia.

For example, Wang Shifan, Liu Shouguang, and Zhu Jian all had their influence in the local area divided by Bai Jian through political means.

Even though they still have some old subordinates and retainers in the local area, they can no longer pose a threat to the central government or even the local Daxia military and political system.

They also changed their original royal titles to further reduce their influence on their original separatist territories.

As a result, after Daxia destroyed Jin, there were almost no warlord forces entrenched in the local area except for the newly annexed Dingnan Army.

As for Qian, the King of Qian was a relative of the royal family and had lived in Yunnan for generations. He was an important means for the imperial court to control the local indigenous tribes in Yunnan. He could not be compared with the warlords in the mainland.

(End of this chapter)