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

Chapter 984: Diligent Administration and Aspirations, the Great Xia Law, the Prototype of the Ninth Rank Official

June 5, the third year of Xia Chengqian

The name of the Palace of Diligent Administration is just like its owner. Since the founding of Daxia, Bai Jian has indeed been diligent in his work and has hardly taken a day off.

Especially for the Bai family who are determined to change the country's destiny, as the head of the Bai family and the emperor of Daxia, Bai Jian must lay a solid foundation when the country is just established and all obstacles are not so great.

Only in this way can we realize the speculations and explorations of our ancestors for hundreds of years.

Bai spent thousands of years studying literature and observing, and during this time he personally took charge of the details more than once. Although there were failures, there were also successes.

All of this is done to realize the ideal of universal peace, harmony and prosperity for all.

During this period, Bai experienced difficulties in its early stages, experienced the erosion of comfort, and also experienced extreme lows, but none of these broke its persistence.

Since the defeat of Northern Xia, the Bai family's ancestors have been constantly exploring how to avoid the barbarian invasions caused by the decline of the country's fortunes.

This time, Bai Jian and his descendants will uphold the vision of their ancestors and write their own chapter on the land of Daxia.

He is a practitioner and a founder. He cannot stop and cannot slack off at all, because he is not alone. He carries the hopes of countless predecessors.

"Your Majesty, the Minister of Justice Wei Zhengsong, the Minister of the Supreme Court Du Tai, the Imperial Censor Fu Benji, the Imperial Clan Bureau (formerly the Imperial Clan Bureau) Zong Cheng Bai Baoheng, the National Studies Doctor Bai Zerong, the Imperial College Doctor Song Yanming, and the Left Military Governor Kang Yanxiao have arrived outside the palace."

"Xuan."

"Your Majesty, I pay my respects to you. Long live the Emperor."

"Your Majesty, please excuse me."

Bai Jian sat behind the imperial desk, wearing a bright yellow turban and with large bags under his eyes. Although he looked tired, he still pulled himself together and raised his hand to ask them to stand up.

"You are all experts in law. As early as the Song Dynasty, I entrusted the laws and other regulations to you for discussion and promulgation. You have come together today. Do you have good news to tell me?"

Doctor of Chinese Studies Bai Zerong is over sixty years old this year. He is the oldest among them and an old minister from Bai Yi's period. He has chosen law as his lifelong career since the academy period.

When he was young, he was admitted to Songxi Academy, where he became a disciple of the legal expert Bai Shaochun and became proficient in the official laws of various dynasties.

After graduating from the academy, he was able to enter the Xuanwu Military Town during the period when Bai Yi was in power. At that time, Bai Yi was not the Duke of Song, but the Duke of Liang.

Bai Zerong was able to join Bai Yi's court and work under Gongsun Yanhong, a famous legal expert, judicial officer of Bianzhou, and chief clerk of the military office.

Later, Bai Jian took control of Bianzhou. Gongsun Yanhong died of illness, and Bai Zerong was promoted to the position of judicial officer. Soon he entered the shogunate and served as a secretary officer, becoming Bai Jian's legal adviser.

Jizhi Baijian was changed from Duke of Liang to Duke of Song, and gradually established the official system of Song State.

Bai Zerong was granted the fifth rank of provincial governor and judicial assistant, and was one of the compilers of the new law of the Song Dynasty, "Song Law Chuxing".

Later, Tian Weiyi, the minister who was in charge of compiling "The First Edition of Song Law", passed away, and Bai Zerong became the number one legal expert in the Song Dynasty.

By the time Daxia was established, Bai Zerong was already very old. Taking his health into consideration, Bai Jian stripped him of all his official titles in the court, conferred him the title of Marquis of Shangluo County, with a fief of 1,300 households, and appointed him as a Doctor of National Studies and Law.

Today, Bai Zerong has become a great figure in the legal community of the Xia Kingdom. Wei Zhengsong, the Minister of Justice, and Du Tai, the Minister of the Supreme Court, are both his students.

"Your Majesty is wise and sage. We are here today because the draft of the New Laws of Daxia that your Majesty ordered has been released. We have come here specially to ask your Majesty for your decision." After Bai Zerong finished publishing a small book with a cover made of cardboard and "Provisional Draft of New Laws of Daxia" written on it, he handed it to the eunuch Li Da who was waiting on the side.

Li Da took the draft with both hands, walked closely to Bai Jian, and respectfully placed it on the imperial desk.

Before Li Da returned to his seat, Bai Zerong took over three memorials from the Imperial Censor Fu Benji and presented them to him:
"Also, the official ranks and salaries of Daxia officials that Your Majesty has asked me to draft, as well as the drafts of Daxia school officials and Daxia military positions, have all been completed in the first stage. I would like to ask Your Majesty to make your decision."

When Li Da presented the three booklets "Daxia Official Regulations", "Daxia Academic Officials" and "Daxia Military Products", Bai Jian asked someone to sit down and watch. Then the hall fell into silence, with only the sound of Bai Jian flipping through books.

Among them, "Daxia Official Regulations" was commissioned by Emperor Bai Jian, who set the rules and ideas. It was compiled by Prime Minister Bai Zhanwen, Vice Minister of the Ministry of Personnel Zhang Shiliang, Doctor of Chinese Studies Bai Zerong, Doctor of Imperial College Qiu Cai and others.

It was conceived and compiled based on the official systems of past dynasties and combined with the present.

It mainly includes the ranks of Daxia officials, their corresponding salaries, various preferential treatments they enjoy, etc., which are set down in written form to avoid confusion.

According to official regulations, Daxia officials were divided into nine ranks and eighteen levels. From the ninth rank up to the ninth rank, each rank was given a corresponding amount of rice, money, and cloth as salary every year based on the market price of the place where they served.

Starting from the ninth rank, the salary of the lowest-level official in Daxia, with tax exemptions and benefits, was enough to support a family of six.

Moreover, Daxia officials usually do not only receive salaries as official officials, but also salaries of corresponding ranks for casual officials and nobles.

Among them, officials in official positions can receive corresponding salary of rice, money and cloth.

Officials could receive a small amount of salary, while nobles received a correspondingly large amount of money and grain every year.

Starting from the ninth rank, one can receive the salary of a civil official.

Starting from the fifth rank, one can receive the salary of Wenxunxiezhengshuyin.

The "Daxia Xueguan" developed from the system of schools in various states, counties and the Bianliang Academy during the Song Dynasty.

It includes the academic institution Imperial College, the national-level institutions Guoxue and Taixue, and local county schools, all of which are integrated into one system, referred to as the academic system.

The compilers include Minister of Rites Bao Ziqing, Doctor of Chinese Studies Bai Zerong, Doctor of Imperial College Song Yanming, Chief Academician of the Imperial College Bai Qingyuan, and Left Palace Attendant Liu Zhi.

Among the school officials, there are those who are specifically responsible for general affairs, and there are also those who are specifically responsible for education.

Although the educational directions of the National Academy and the Imperial Academy are different, their systems are the same.

Each of them recruits 300 students every year, with a three-year study period, for a total of 1,800 students, or 900 students each.

The college has six departments: economics, science, law, calligraphy, mathematics, and engineering. Each department has a doctoral student in charge of the education in that department, and under him there are several teaching assistants, classics, and lecturers who are responsible for assisting the doctoral student.

Bai Zerong was a doctor of Chinese studies and law, Qiu Cai was a doctor of classics at the Imperial College, and Song Yanming was a doctor of science at the Imperial College.

These three subjects account for the largest proportion of students in the National and Tai Colleges, accounting for about 80% of the students in each college.

Therefore, they were also called "upper three subjects" by the national students and the imperial students, while the literature, mathematics and engineering subjects were jokingly called "lower three subjects" by them.

(End of this chapter)