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

Chapter 999: Tang Dynasty Declined and Xia Dynasty Prospered, Five Departments Equally Important, Lu Tai Appeared

The eleventh year of Xia Chengqian, the fourth year of Changxing in the Later Tang Dynasty
The Xia Kingdom captured Jiangling and conquered Shu. The territory of the Later Tang Dynasty retreated step by step, almost losing half of its territory.

Although most of them are vassal territories and newly annexed territories, the shrinkage of territory cannot be faked.

In contrast, the Xia Kingdom was making rapid progress with everyone working together.

In such a comparison, Li Siyuan appeared to be incompetent and lost territory.

If it were not for the support of Li Siyuan's military achievements before he ascended the throne, and the blessing of his status as Li Keyong's adopted son, he would have been overthrown by the people below him long ago.

Therefore, he urgently needed military merit to support his future rule.

Otherwise, the people below would rebel before he even dies, and the throne would certainly not be owned by his descendants.

March 5
Li Renfu, leader of the Dangxiang people in Xiazhou and governor of Dingnan, died.

The three armies established Xiazhou Zuodu Yaya and Fang'e Shi, and Li Renfu's second son Li Yichao as the regent. They also wrote a letter requesting that Li Yichao be appointed as the new Jiedushi.

The Dingnan Army's request for approval came to Chang'an. Li Siyuan was quick-witted and wanted to annex the Xiazhou Dingnan Army by "exchanging towns".

As a result, Li Yichao severely resisted.

Li Siyuan was "very angry" and dispatched troops to attack Xiazhou.

Unexpectedly, the Tang army failed to capture the city after a long siege, and the Khitans in the north invaded the border, leaving him in a dilemma.

Fortunately, Li Yichao also knew that his own border army alone could not compete with the Tang Kingdom, which occupied the entire Guanzhong, Hedong, half of Hebei, and Hanoi.

So he wrote another letter to Li Siyuan, explaining the pros and cons, admitting his mistake, and pointing out that the Khitans were now the public enemy. He asked the emperor to calm down and said he was willing to offer a thousand horses as a tribute to atone his sins.

Li Siyuan had a way out and took advantage of the situation. He accepted Li Yichao's apology and appointed him as the acting prime minister and the governor of Dingnan Army.

After resolving the rebellion of the Dingnan Army, the threat from the Khitans would be dealt with.

King Qin Li Congrong reported that the situation in the north was critical and that a general was needed to command the border troops.

After court discussion, the ministers believed that only Shi Jingtang and Kang Yicheng could take on this important task.

It just so happened that Shi Jingtang was unwilling to be the deputy commander of the imperial guards and volunteered to go north.

November

Li Siyuan transferred Shi Jingtang, the governor of Tianxiong Army, to serve concurrently as Shizhong, governor of Hedong, prefect of Taiyuan, and governor of Beijing, and also as the general manager of the Han and cavalry troops of Datong, Zhenwu, Zhangguo, Wesai and other places.

After Shi Jingtang adjusted the defense line and cooperated with the support of Xia Jibei Governor and Ji King Bai Tao, the Khitans were finally pushed back to the grassland.

However, although the Khitan and Dingnan issues were resolved, Li Siyuan's prestige dropped to freezing point due to the successive failures of the military expeditions.

Rumors spread in the army, and everyone believed that Li Siyuan no longer had the power he once had.

Faced with this situation, Li Siyuan could only order generous rewards to the soldiers in order to win over the hearts of the troops.

But the result was that the soldiers became more arrogant and the court was unable to control them.

November 26

No matter how chaotic the Tang Kingdom was, the Xia Kingdom still moved forward steadily according to its established strategy.

Bai Jian summoned important officials from various provincial governments to announce an important event.

"To date, there are 132 states and 563 counties in the Xia Kingdom. According to the current administrative divisions, it is no longer possible to command the states and counties smoothly. It is very difficult for the court."

"Your Majesty, I think we can restore the Daotai system of the Tang Dynasty and set up Daotai throughout the country, with each Dao managing a number of prefectures and counties, to reduce the pressure on the court."

Shangshu Zuo Pushe Bai Zhanwen was the first to step forward and make a proposal.

It is not difficult to guess that this was definitely instructed by Bai Jian.

"We second the motion." You Pushe Su Yangang, Minister of Revenue Cui Youguang, Zhongshu Shilang Zhao Qing, Menxia Shilang Teng Zhentao and other important civil officials all stood up and said.

Bai Jian nodded, thought for a moment and said, "The pre-Tang Daotai system is feasible, but it cannot be copied completely. It should be developed."

"I mean to change the road to a highway, and no longer be a supervisory district like the former Tang Dynasty, but an administrative district of the nature of a state or county."

Everyone looked at each other, not quite understanding Bai Jian's thinking, and said decisively: "Your Majesty, please explain clearly."

"I intend that officials at the prefecture level will be divided into five parts, namely civil affairs, criminal affairs, finance, military affairs, and education affairs, and they will be independent of each other."

"The heads of the five departments are appointed by commissioners sent by the central government to represent the central court."

"The civil affairs department is set up with a 'Chengxuan Zhengshisi', and a 'Chengxuan Zhengshi' or 'Buzhengshi' is appointed to handle all civil affairs within the prefecture, and he is a third-rank official."

"The criminal administration department has a 'Tidian Xingyushisi', which has a 'Tidian Xingyushi' or 'Xingyushi' who is in charge of all criminal cases within the province, and is a third-rank official."

"The finance department of the Ministry of Grain and Oil was set up with a third-rank official who was in charge of all the finances of the province."

"The military affairs are handled by the 'Duqian Bingmashisi', which has a 'Duqian Bingmashi' or 'Bingmashi' who is in charge of all military affairs within the route, and is a third-rank official."

"The Education Administration is set up in the 'Supervisory Education Administration Office', with a 'Supervisory Education Administration Envoy' or 'Education Administration Envoy' who is in charge of all education affairs within the province, and is of the third rank."

"In contrast, the provincial governor was abolished and the prefect was appointed as the fifth rank."

"There is also a Tongpan, a fifth-rank official, who serves as the governor's deputy and assists him in handling all matters within the state."

"Under it, there are five other departments, including the five departments of judgement, namely, 'Judge the civil affairs of a certain state', 'Judge the criminal affairs of a certain state', 'Judge the financial affairs of a certain state', 'Judge the military affairs of a certain state', and 'Judge the academic affairs of a certain state'."

"The five judges are managed by the Tongpan. All the Caos are directly under the Zhizhou."

"The judge is of the sixth rank, and the Cao official is of the sixth rank."

"In the county, there is a county magistrate, who is still assisted by the county magistrate, the chief clerk, the warehouse keeper, the prison keeper, the county lieutenant, and the instructor."

"Among them, the chief clerk assists the county magistrate in managing civil affairs, the warehouse manager assists the county magistrate in managing warehouses, the prison manager assists the county magistrate in managing criminal law, the county lieutenant assists the county magistrate in managing military affairs, and the education manager assists the county magistrate in managing the county school."

"The county magistrate is of the seventh rank, and the county magistrate is of the seventh rank. The county clerk and other county assistant officials are of the eighth rank, and the other lower-ranking officials such as the inspectors, historians, and village chiefs are of the ninth rank or the ninth rank."

"Of course, there are also clerks, yamen runners, legal advisors, coroners and other low-ranking officials, who form another system."

This was the first time that Bai Jian spent a long time explaining the specific official system to his subjects, because this reform was equivalent to a subversive change to the existing local official system.

The possibility of a local area dominating the market is completely eliminated.

It took a lot of time for Bai Zhanwen and others to sort out the relationship.

"Your Majesty is wise. This kind of arrangement can indeed help us control the local areas at a deeper level. However, setting up five departments at the road level is too redundant."

"Furthermore, there are five departments working together without a leader. This is fine in the Gyeonggi region, but if it is in a remote area, will it cause a slow response?"

"Moreover, different regions have different emphases on a certain matter. For example, Qingzhou focuses on education, Jibei focuses on military affairs, the newly annexed Chengdu focuses on civil affairs, and Kaifeng focuses on business affairs."

"How can we ensure that other departments do not hold back this department? I am afraid that it will not be able to solve specific local issues just by giving equal weight to the five departments."

Minister of Revenue Cui Youguang generally agreed with Bai Jian's assumptions, but was still worried that local power was too dispersed and that it was impossible to concentrate efforts to accomplish major tasks.

Bai Jian had a plan for this, and said, "I have anticipated this. If a certain place focuses on one thing, the central government will send a commissioner to inspect that road and be responsible for that thing. We can appoint and remove them at will."

"If a war breaks out there, we can send a governor to take charge of the military affairs of the route and supervise all military and political affairs of the route. The governor-general of the region must also cooperate. This will avoid the worry of the local area being too powerful to be controlled."

After hearing what Bai Jian said, Cui Youguang no longer had any objections.

Seeing that no one had any objection, Bai Jian handed the matter over to them, asking them to draw up the details as soon as possible, submit them to him for approval, and implement them as soon as possible.

"Your Highness, I will obey your command."

(End of this chapter)