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

Chapter 973: Political Reform, the Duke's Court, the Upheaval in Youzhou, and the Discussion of the Covenant

Ever since Baijian moved to Kaifeng from Wei Bo.

He constantly reformed politics, trained the army, and changed the chaotic official and military systems that had existed since the end of the Tang Dynasty.

Let the army and people of Song know what they should and should not do.

In particular, in the third year of Tianyou, starting from the predecessor Song Gong Bai Yi, the "Song Code Chuxing" which had been compiled for more than ten years was published by referring to ancient laws such as the Tang Code and combining them with current actual conditions.

The Henan region, which had been in chaos for hundreds of years since the An-Shi Rebellion, has regained stability.

All of the above are what Baijian has gradually explored over the years in order to plan for the future in advance.

Therefore, the current Duke of Song’s Mansion is more like a small local court than a Duke’s Mansion.

In the eyes of the officials of the State of Song, Duke Baijian of Song was called a duke, but in reality he was a vassal king.

However, it was precisely because Bai Jian suppressed his own name that the Song State was able to strike back in many major battles.

Different from Zhu Wen, Wang Jian and others who needed to use titles to attract talented people, Bai Jian, as a son of the Bai family, the Bai family itself had a reputation and there was no need to add to it by building up a title.

At least now, less than two years after the fall of the Tang Dynasty, the Bai family cannot be so hasty to claim to be king and ancestor.

Otherwise, the thousand-year-old reputation of the Bai family and their oath of "not being a king" would be trampled upon by the Bai family themselves, which is not what a wise person would do.

Inside the mansion, a high wall separates the front and back palaces.

The rear palace was where Baijian and his relatives lived, just like the inner courtyard of the imperial palace.

The front office is where the heads of the three offices of the various courts are on duty.

As for the yamen where they worked, it was close to the government office, so they could return to the yamen as quickly as possible to handle affairs.

At this time, the heads of the three prefectures were not here, but in the main hall in the center.

There were guards in front of the palace gate, and the heads of various prefectures and departments inside the palace were respectfully arranged on both sides, with civil officials on the left and military officials on the right. They wore black double-winged hats and colorful round-collared robes, divided by color according to their rank.

Among them, purple is the highest and cyan is the lowest.

Bai Jian sat facing everyone, with a desk in front of him and a delicate cube-shaped wooden box in his left hand, which contained the seal of Eunuch Song, which was made by the Shaofu Supervisor of the Tang Dynasty.

Now that the Tang Dynasty has fallen, it has become a rare delicacy.

As for the official seals and official positions of the people present, since the imperial court had lost them, they were naturally cast by the public office in Baijian itself.

Baijian specially set up the "Seal Casting Department" and "Clothing Department" to cast official seals, tokens, and imperial seals, and to weave official uniforms, official hats and other expenses for officials.

In the Song Dynasty, if someone passed the examination of the Ministry of Personnel and was granted an official position and a rank and official title, he would need to go to the relevant department to receive an official uniform, official seal, and official position.

The official seal is specially made and unique. If it is lost, it is regarded as loss of office, and in serious cases, the official position will be revoked.

Since the official certificate is archived in the government, it can be reissued, but it is too troublesome.

If the official uniform is torn, you can pay money to buy a new one from the relevant authorities.

Looking at the civil and military officials standing respectfully in the hall, Bai Jian sighed that after several years of reorganization, everyone's meetings now finally had some semblance of an imperial court.

Unlike before when a group of people were crowded in a room, whispering to each other, I had to shout to maintain discipline every time.

Nodding with satisfaction, Bai Jian picked up a secret letter on the table and frowned.

After reading it, he put the secret letter on the table and said, "Yan Wang Liu Rengong was imprisoned by his son Liu Shouguang."

"When Liu Shouguang's brother Liu Shouwen learned about it, he gathered tens of thousands of Khitan and Tuyuhun troops to attack him, but he was also captured and killed by him."

"At this time, the State of Yan had already fallen into the hands of Liu Shouguang."

At this point, there was a commotion in the hall. Bai Jian was quite angry when he saw this and looked at an official on the left side of the hall.

The official took out his whip, slapped the ground with it, and shouted, "How dare you talk too much in front of me, my Lord? Keep quiet."

Everyone looked at this man with a murderous look on his face and were shocked and stopped talking.

Bai Jian nodded with satisfaction and continued:
"Last month, Jin Wang Li Cunxu led the Tiande Army Song Yao, Zhenwu Zhou Dewei, Zhaoyi Li Sizhao, Zhao Wang Rong, Beiping Wang Chuzhi and others to write a book with ink, honoring Liu Shouguang as Shangshu Ling and Shangfu."

As soon as these words were spoken, there was another commotion in the hall, even more chaotic than last time.

The officials in charge of discipline were unable to control it, so Bai Jian had to speak out himself: "From now on, officials below the third rank, unless they have the title of military and political advisors, are not allowed to speak nonsense in the court. Those who violate this will be dismissed and stripped of their titles."

After he finished speaking, the civil and military officials in the hall stopped talking, but communicated with gestures and winks. Many of them shook their heads, and the wings on their heads swayed.

He snorted in his heart. Fortunately, I was prepared. Bai Jian spoke again: "Palace Censor, from now on, anyone who whispers in the court and causes the two wings to waver will be recorded with their names and official positions, and will be punished after the court meeting."

In order to maintain discipline, Bai Jian set up left and right palace censors in the palace. The left palace censor held the court whip, and the right palace censor held pen and ink.

Hearing Bai Jian's words, the Right Palace Censor, holding a blank book in his left hand and an ink pen in his right hand, bowed slightly to receive the order, and then began to monitor the officials in the field.

After hearing this, no one dared to talk to each other anymore and could only communicate with their eye contact.

Bai Jian was very satisfied as he looked at the hall that he had cleaned up. He immediately called out, "Military Commander, you come and analyze Li Cunxu's intentions for the troops."

Zhang Nai, the military commander of the Privy Council, stepped out upon hearing this, turned his back to Bai Jian, and said to the ministers, "I think the King of Jin is doing this to make his troops arrogant."

"Although Youzhou is located in the north, it has many cavalrymen and has been a frontier town for a long time. The soldiers are brave and fearless, and the herdsmen are often on good terms with the chieftains of the grasslands."

"With strong fortresses and brave soldiers inside and powerful reinforcements outside, if we forcefully attack, regardless of whether we can defeat them or not, the time it takes will change the situation."

"That's what happened when Zhu Wen attacked Youzhou. He camped under the strong city of Youzhou for several months, and then I captured Mingzhou, and almost wiped out his entire army."

"I think the King of Jin wants to avoid a strong attack, make him arrogant, and make him cut himself off from the world. Seize the land of Youzhou at the lowest cost."

Nodding in agreement, Bai Jian asked again: "But several years ago, we decided on the strategy of Hebei, Guanzhong, Huainan, Bashu and Jiangnan."

"Now I am allied with Jin, both of us are aiming for Youzhou. If this leads to a breach of the alliance, and Zhu Wen, the old villain, gains an advantage, I really don't want that. Can you all give me some good advice?"

"My lord." Cui Shaojie, a military officer of the Privy Council, a fourth-rank judge of the Provincial Government, and a scholar of the Bianliang Academy, made a reply.

"In my humble opinion, you can station troops in Cangdi. First, Hebei is a vast land where you can train cavalry. Second, when the Youzhou incident occurs, you can seize the Yan State as quickly as possible."

"As for the State of Jin." Cui Shaojie looked up at Bai Jian, lowered his head and said, "The world is fighting for hegemony, life and death, please don't act like a woman, lest you be laughed at by the world."

"Although Jin and Song are allies, they are actually serving different masters in Liang. Otherwise, when General Kang Jie was trapped in Yongnian for years, the King of Jin would not have stationed troops in Luzhou and refused to move forward."

"I think that even if our army took Yanzhou, given the wisdom of the King of Jin, although he would be angry, he would not break off our alliance and be laughed at by Zhu Liang."

"Please consider the overall situation first."

At this time, the ministers above the third rank, including the Secretary of State Tian Weiyi, the Left Provincial Governor Jian Xianwen, the Xuanwu Army Jiedushi Bai Xi, and the Left Duzhishi Shao Ning, who had remained silent, all came out to make their requests.

With a sigh, Bai Jian took the rare step of admitting his fault and said, "I was mistaken in this matter. I will follow your request and General Cui's plan."

"Pass on this teaching, and appoint General Li Cunqian as the commander of the northern camp, leading the Xuanwu Cavalry, Xuanyi Army, Xuanren Army, and Dongya Army, a total of 40,000 cavalry, to station in Cangzhou, and choose a day to march north to Youzhou."

"Appoint Bai Xingjian, the governor of Cangzhou, as the deputy commander of the northern camp."

"I order Cui Shaojie, a military officer of the Privy Council and a judge of government affairs, to be the military officer of the northern camp to participate in the planning."

As soon as Duke Song gave the order, the cavalry, Xuanren and other troops stationed in the northern part of Bianzhou immediately began to move out of camp.

(End of this chapter)