Chu and Han contend for the throne

Chapter 553
On New Year's Day in 179 BC, Xiangzhuang, King of Chu, finally accepted the persuasion of the princes from all walks of life after repeated refusals. He first built an altar in the eastern suburbs of Luoyang to worship heaven, and then ordered the world to formally succeed the emperor.

On the same day, Xiang Zhuang issued the first imperial decree after succeeding to the throne, changing the country's name to Huaxia.

This sacred purpose caused great controversy in the court. The nobles, officials and gentry borrowed from Jiangdong were extremely resistant to it, but the nobles and officials in other regions were full of praise.

The next day, Xiang Zhuang promulgated his second imperial edict, formally implementing the imperial calendar, and appointed the year after Qin Shihuang proclaimed himself emperor, 220 BC, as the first year of the emperor, and the year Xiang Zhuang proclaimed emperor was the 42nd year of the emperor From then on, the chronology of the Huaxia clan went in another direction completely, and the various year names were replaced by the emperor's chronology of the eternal series.

In February of the 42nd year of the emperor, after more than a month of narrating and discussing meritorious service, Xiang Zhuang officially issued an edict to reward the officials. Qi Guogong, Zhong Limei were granted the title of Wu Guogong, and Yu Ziqi was granted the title of Yue Guogong. They were all hereditary and did not replace each other. With a salary of [-] shi, they were the dukes of the six major kingdoms of the Chinese Empire.

Thirty-six people including Xiang Ta, Xiang Tuo, Wu She, Jin Xiang, Hu Yan, Zi Che Shi, Xi Qilie, and Bai Limao were granted the title of Marquis of Che, all of whom were hereditary replacements, with a salary of two thousand shi.

The titles and rewards below Chehou are determined by the Martial Academy.

The Martial Academy is an institution for military officers that Xiang Zhuang came up with. It is somewhat similar to the Five Armies of the Ming Dynasty. Only then can they go to Zhechong Mansion in various counties to dispatch troops, and return the soldier seal letter to the emperor after the war is over.

Of course, this is just a general procedure, and there will be special cases, that is, border crossings.

Because the border is adjacent to the surrounding barbarian territories, such as counties such as Liaodong, Jiuyuan, or Longxi, wars will usually break out suddenly. If the barbarians come to fight and then go to the court, and then the emperor will send generals to lead the army to fight, it is obviously time. It is too late, so generals must be stationed in the border counties and given the right to command the troops.

Xiangzhuang imitated Ming Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang to set up six towns in Liaodong, Jiuyuan, Longxi, Guizhou, Minyue, and Dantu. Among them, Liaodong Town was responsible for attacking Wuhuan, Xianbei, Fuyu, Sushen, Goguryeo and other barbarians. The town is responsible for attacking the various branches of the Xiongnu, Longxi Town is responsible for attacking the Yuezhi, Qiang, Baima and other barbarians, Qianzhong County is responsible for attacking the barbarians such as Yelang, Louwo, and Juding, and Minyue Town is responsible for attacking the Shanyue, Baiyue, and Dantu tribes. The town is the commander of the navy.

The commander-in-chief of the border town has the power to command the army. If he colludes with the local governor, it is easy to form a military separatist regime. Therefore, in order to avoid the situation of separatism in the town, Xiangzhuang gave the commander-in-chief of the border town in charge of military affairs and the border county in charge of civil affairs. Shou has set a term of office, with five years as a term, and will never be allowed to be re-elected!

Although this system of "soldiers are stored in the government and generals are stored in the court" will more or less affect the combat effectiveness of the army, it can effectively prevent the emergence of warlords with heavy troops, which is conducive to the long-term stability of the empire.

In addition, the kings of Wei Wang Wei Cuo, Ju Wang Lutai, Qi Wang Tian Heng, Han Wang Han Xin, Han Wang Liu Heng and other princes will not be removed, but they will not be hereditary. In other words, these princes and kings can only ensure their own lifetime. Ronghua, their sons will not be able to inherit the title of the king, and can only rely on their own abilities to obtain glory and wealth.

After the establishment of the Military Academy, Xiang Zhuang immediately began to reform the civil service institutions.

The civil service institutions in Chinese history have undergone evolution, from the Sangong Jiuqing system in the pre-Qin period to the three provinces and six ministries in the Sui and Tang dynasties, and finally evolved into the highly perfect cabinet six ministries system in the Ming Dynasty.

When it comes to the six-part cabinet system, one cannot fail to mention Zhu Yuanzhang, the commoner emperor.

When people talk about the Ming Dynasty, the first impression is the domineering Jinyiwei and the gloomy Chang Gongquan, as if the Ming Dynasty was the darkest and most decadent dynasty in Chinese history. Speaking of Ming Taizu, the world's first The impression is Hu Lan's second case, peeling and stuffing grass, as if Zhu Yuanzhang was the most cruel and heartless emperor in feudal history.

In fact, this is basically the slander of the Ming Dynasty and Ming Taizu by the Manchu Qing Dynasty.

In fact, the Ming Dynasty is definitely the dynasty with the clearest officials, the lowest land tax, and the lightest burden on farmers in Chinese history, and Ming Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang is definitely the most politically wise emperor in Chinese history!

If it is said that Qin Shihuang, who has the same text, same track, unified weights and measures, and repaired roads everywhere, laid the foundation for the integration of various branches of China into a unified nation, is the same emperor through the ages. The second emperor of the ages, then Ming Taizu who perfected the bureaucracy to the extreme is the third emperor of the ages.

Although Zhu Yuanzhang was born in civilian clothes, his political wisdom is unprecedented!
Replace the prime minister with a cabinet scholar, replace the metropolitan governor's office with the five-army governor's office, give the low-level censors the privilege of saying nothing, no power and no impeachment, set up Jinyiwei to monitor all officials, and set up the East Factory to check and balance Jinyiwei. All these all reflect the extraordinary wisdom of Zhu Yuanzhang, the commoner emperor.

In particular, the establishment of a cabinet scholar to replace the prime minister is a classic.

The prime minister is responsible for assisting the emperor in handling the national government affairs. One of the most important powers is the right to appoint and remove personnel. Through the appointment and removal of officials at all levels, the prime minister can easily cultivate a system that is only loyal to himself, and then empties the imperial power. Wait until the power of the prime minister penetrates After entering the army, the change of dynasty may be inevitable.

From the time when the prime minister appeared in the pre-Qin period to the end of Ming Taizu, no emperor could think of a way to effectively restrict the power of the prime minister in more than two years, but Ming Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang did it.

Replacing the prime minister with a cabinet scholar is not as simple as distributing the power of one prime minister to multiple university scholars. The key is that the rank of a university scholar is only five-rank. The emperor has a lot of choice when appointing a cabinet university scholar. In other words, seniority Officials with low prestige can also become grand scholars as long as they have the emperor's trust.

In this way, the cabinet actually became the secretarial team next to the emperor. Without the help of the imperial power, the cabinet would not be able to suppress the six ministries, and it would be impossible to challenge the imperial power. He has unparalleled network resources, but he is subject to the control of the cabinet, and also loses the possibility of challenging the imperial power.

Therefore, Xiang Zhuang decided to learn from Ming Taizu and adopt the six-part cabinet system.

Of course, the reform of civil service institutions is much more complicated than that of military service institutions.

The Martial Academy is just a very general institution. To put it bluntly, it is to build a few courtyards, so that those princes, Chehou, and young generals who graduated from Taixue have a place to drink tea and chat. The division of military ranks in the Martial Academy is also simple. In addition to Duke Guo and Marquis Che, there are three ranks below him: General, General Zhonglang, and Captain.

Civilian agencies are different. In addition to the cabinet, there are six ministries, the Metropolitan Procuratorate, and huge local agencies.

Xiangzhuang began to reform the civil service organization from the beginning of the 42nd year of the emperor, and it was not completed until the winter of the 43rd year of the emperor.

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In the spring of the 44th year of the emperor, Xiang Zhuang visited Jiangdong for the first time after he became emperor.

However, the first stop Xiangzhuang arrived at was not Ziling, but the Dantu Navy Camp.

The first major event that Xiang Zhuang did after becoming emperor was not to immigrate from Jiangdong, Bashu, and Hebei to fill the frontiers, let alone send troops to conquer the Xiongnu and Yuezhi, but to pretend that the god entrusted a dream to draw a map of the Pacific Ocean and ordered Dantu Jiang Ji, the first navy commander in town, led fifty large ships across the ocean to find the American continent.

As a traveler, Xiang Zhuang is well aware of the huge rewards that great sailing sports can bring.

Spices from the South Seas, silver from the Americas, and gold from Africa come second, but the key is that high-yield crops such as sweet potatoes, potatoes, and corn in the Americas must be obtained!

In real history, neither the strong Han nor the prosperous Tang Dynasty could allow the actual rule of Chinese civilization to go beyond the Yellow River and the Yangtze River. Although the strong Han defeated the Xiongnu, they were simply unable to complete the actual control of the desert. Although there was a military presence, the duration was very short, and it was too late to assimilate the various ethnic groups in Central Asia.

The reason for this is that the biggest shackle is the population. Whether it is a strong man or a prosperous Tang Dynasty, her population size is not enough to support the actual rule of Mobei, Central Asia, Far East, Southeast Asia and other surrounding areas.

If the powerful Han or the prosperous Tang Dynasty had a population base of hundreds of millions, they could gradually erode the living space of the surrounding barbarians through huge immigration projects, and then the living environment of the Chinese nation would be greatly improved. There is absolutely no chance for the tragedy of the Six Kingdoms, the Mongolian Yuan, and the Manchu Qing to rule the Central Plains.

The traditional sphere of influence of the Huaxia nationality is concentrated in the Yellow River and the Yangtze River.

Someone has done calculations. Based on the productivity of the Qin and Han Dynasties, the Yellow River and the Yangtze River Basin can support about 5000 million people, and 6000 million people is the extreme value. If this limit is exceeded, severe famine will be triggered, which will lead to a series of sharp social conflicts. The Yellow Turban Uprising at the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty was triggered by famine.

If Xiangzhuang wants to get rid of the shackles of population, it must introduce sweet potatoes, potatoes and corn!

Therefore, after Xiang Zhuang proclaimed himself emperor, the first major thing he did was to send sailors to travel across the oceans to find sweet potatoes, potatoes and corn in South America. This is the material basis for the population explosion of the Chinese nation. , It was also after the introduction of these high-yield and drought-tolerant crops that the population experienced explosive growth.

Jiang Ji's naval fleet set sail from Dantu Port in the spring of the 42nd year of the emperor. Two full years have passed. Just when Xiang Zhuang thought that the naval fleet had been destroyed by a storm in the Pacific Ocean, half of the fleet A month ago, I suddenly received a letter from Xuan Yiwei from Panyu, and the navy fleet has returned to Panyu Port!

Xiang Zhuang was overjoyed when he heard the news, and immediately arranged for the prince to stay in Luoyang, but he hurried to Dantu Port to welcome Jiang Ji's triumphant return in person.

(End of this chapter)