warring states careerist

Chapter 260
People are always like this. When the most difficult time is about to drown, a piece of wood is enough to make you happy.

But when the risk of drowning disappears, I will sigh that the board is thorny, if it is a boat, it would be great.

Song Gongzitian had such a state of mind at this time.

When the coup d'etat came and the Chu people besieged the city, all Zitian expected was to keep his duke position and not be expelled from the country by the people.

And when all these dangers were lifted, Song Gong was full of vigilance and panic about the growing popular movement in Shangqiu.

The people of the Mo family used funeral rites to delay the time. In order to keep his basic position, Duke Song had to be the one who maintained Zhou rituals, so that he could have enough soldiers for his own use.

Even though he was attending the funeral ceremony, even though he was busy making an alliance with the Chu people, Duke Song was still concerned about the situation in the city.

Because this matter is too important, so important that Zitian feels that his interests have been seriously threatened.

Originally, as a monarch, he also had his own fief. The land of Song State was not only owned by Song Gong. If all the territory of Song State could be occupied by the monarch, there would not be so many coups.

According to Zhou etiquette, a scholar has a fief salary, a doctor is twice as much as a sergeant, a minister is twice as much as a doctor, a minister is twice as much, and a monarch is twice as much as a minister.

This is different from the general taxation.

Taxes belong to the public in name. Taxes are for sacrifices and some daily ceremonial expenses. Fus are military obligations and military expenses. Even according to Zhou rituals, this is not something that the monarch can use privately.

However, the monarch's personal fief is a completely different situation. The taxes and taxes in the fief belong to the monarch himself, and some daily expenses are also obtained from the fief.

Part of the public land belonged to the State of Song, not to the Duke of Song. The Mohists seized this point and tried their best to ask the Political Council to have the power to discuss the use of these taxes.

The distinction between public and private has long been deeply rooted in the hearts of the people, but this matter is going smoothly, it is easy to achieve, and it is easy to explain the truth clearly.

This is what Song Gong is dissatisfied with.

Today, the policies within the nobles and monarchy's fiefdoms remain unchanged for the time being. The Mohist's base is the free common people in Shangqiu, not the serfs in the nobles' and monarchy's fiefdoms.

After Song Gong heard some rumors from his servants in the city, he sighed bitterly with his close ministers who were clearly on his side: "At first, I thought that the Mohist's method of farming cattle and cattle could levy more taxes. Originally, the two were not enough, but thinking about it now With the improvement of farming techniques, more taxes can be collected, but the Mohists clamored for the people to agree on the amount of tax.”

The near minister said: "Your Majesty, I'm afraid this matter can't be easier. The people are all villains, and the Mohists say it is beneficial, so why don't the people of the country follow? If you don't agree, what can you do? If you don't agree, the people will not agree." I want to expel you. Besides, if you don't agree, I'm afraid my father-in-law will agree..."

Zitian patted his leg and sighed, "How can I not agree to this matter? How can I not agree to this matter?"

"Everyone in the Mohist school has already explained the truth: the wealth of a king is the sum of the wealth of the people of a country, so if I were the king of Song, I would not have a penny and a half and still have all the wealth of Song. "

"The reason is this, even if I don't want to accept it, the public will not agree."

"But, what should I do above my fief and salary? The people in Shangqiu all use their private acres and set the tax amount. If I collect too much on my own fief and salary, the common people will be dissatisfied, and the hearts of competition will be lowered." , won't they be dissatisfied? Or run away?"

The close minister hastily said: "Yesterday I was in the market and heard Shi talk about this matter, but he said a way."

"It is said that the land of the king can be leased to the Consulting Yuan. The Consulting Yuan will then send people to manage it, and provide the wealth and food acceptable to the king every year. These wealth and food will be used by the palace."

"He also said that the annual payment for these lands will definitely be more than what the king received before!"

After Jinchen finished talking about this seemingly perfect solution, Zitian said angrily: "Could it be that we can listen to what this person says?"

"Would he be thinking about us 'princes and nobles'? Everyone knows that wealth comes from hard work, and that princes and nobles are all moths. You can't listen to his words!"

The close minister hurriedly bowed and said: "Your Majesty, I heard that the people in Peixian County have a lot of wealth. If you want to come to the Mohist School, there is also a way to manage it. Mo Di is a great talent, and his disciples are also talented. They said that if you rent the land to the Consulting Yuan, you can pay more. Wealth and food to support the government, this is what can be done."

Zitian smiled wryly and said: "Then what do I have left? Money? Food? If there is a coup d'état, where will my soldiers come from? On top of those fiefdoms, there are not only money and food, but also soldiers. .”

"If those lands do not belong to me, where will I have my own soldiers?"

The close minister said: "It is appropriate to say, Shangqiu and Li Yishi. If there is a national war at that time, the righteous teacher must fulfill his obligations. And if someone violates the contract, the righteous teacher will also maintain the contract. Sicheng, Dayin and others, even if they want to usurp it again , it is impossible."

"You have seen the methods of the Mo family. Tens of thousands of the Chu army can form an alliance. Are Dayin and Sicheng even stronger than the Chu army?"

Zitian gritted his teeth and said: "What the righteous teacher upholds is the covenant. Whoever respects the covenant is the Duke of Song. So what is left of me as Song Gong? What if I violate the covenant?"

"Even if I have money, food and silk by then, what can I do? Daily wine pool and meat forest?"

The close minister was speechless, knowing that this was an unavoidable problem, and also an inextricable knot.

If the monarch can abide by the contract, it sounds good, but if that is the case, what is the monarch?Just a rich man?A symbol of Song Dynasty?

But if the monarch doesn't want to do this, the conflict between the nobles and the organized people will make this Song Gong disappear even the name of Song Gong.

Moreover, with the size of the Song Dynasty, it seems that nothing can be done: external expansion is a dead end.

This kind of thing happened once or twice in small countries such as Song Zhengwei, and many exiled monarchs are living examples.

If 300 years ago, if this kind of thing was asked to the emperor of Zhou, the emperor of Zhou would naturally announce it to the world, and the princes sent troops to maintain the system of etiquette and law.

But now it is difficult for Zhou Tianzi to protect himself. He nominally respects Zhou Tianzi's three Jins, and because the Chu people can't easily intervene in the affairs of the Song Dynasty this time when they form an alliance in Shangqiu.

After thinking about it, Zitian also understood the pros and cons of this matter.

Yu You, as long as he abides by the contract and the things agreed by the Consulting Yuan, then his position as Duke Song is unshakable.

The people of the country originally had the power to abolish and establish a monarch. Although the issue of inheritance rights can only be within the public clan, it is still very easy to find someone in the public clan who is willing to be a covenant.

The advantage is that the rest of the nobles can't get involved, and there is no possibility of getting involved: the coup must be approved by the people of Shangqiu, and now the people of Shangqiu have been agitated by the Mohists, and they will only recognize the contract.

Yu Xi, that is, he can only be a symbol of the Song Dynasty, and he can't do anything he wants to do.You can't raise taxes easily, you can't go to war easily, and even in the future, you need to use money from your own salary to hire people to build a palace.

This is almost an impossible condition for the monarch of a big country to accept.

But at this time, Song Gong, even if he was resentful and dissatisfied, it was not unacceptable.

When going to war with the outside world, Zitian, who was originally ambitious, has been thoroughly educated and sober by the Chu people: the surrounding Zheng, Chu, and Sanjin countries cannot be defeated at all.

Before ascending the throne, Zitian despised his father, thinking that it would be impossible, so that it was impossible to restore the hegemony of Duke Xiang.

When he really ascended the throne, when he really faced the conspiracy of the nobles, the dissatisfaction of the people, and the siege of a big country, Zitian realized that what he could do might not be better than his father.

After thinking for a long time with dissatisfaction, Zitian finally shook his head, thinking that he should think about how to bargain with the Xunzhengyuan and the Mohists, let his fief land be rented out, and provide more wealth and food every year.

At least the land near Shangqiu had to do this, otherwise it would be impossible for the people above the fiefdom to see the people of Shangqiu without resentment in their hearts.

…………

In Sichenghuang's mansion, the imperial father's family, who had experienced the siege of the city, felt even more dissatisfied.

Originally, the emperor's father Yueling hoped to take advantage of the opportunity of the siege of the city by the Chu people to invite the three Jins to come to help, use this meritorious service to gain the recognition of the people, and then seize the judicial power from Zitian, thus preparing for the usurpation of the throne.

It's just that the appearance of the Mohist family completely ruined the plan of the imperial father Yueling: before the Three Jins sent troops, the Chu people were defeated. Now the people in the city only know the Mohist family, but they have no chance to know that the imperial father's family can invite the Sanjin to help.

Now that the deal is done, even though the covenant has been completed, the nobles will not be entrusted with the land within ten years, and the nobles' official responsibilities will not be lightly moved, but compared to the Sicheng clan's dream, after all, it is much worse.

Once the contract is successful, the Sichenghuang family will know that unless the inheritance rights are changed, there is no possibility for their own family to ascend to the throne.

Although my branch was separated from Duke Dai, since it has a family name, it is regarded as a branch and has nothing to do with the office.

With the inheritance law at this time, even if the people of the country expelled Song Gong, they could only elect one person from the public office to take the throne, and foreigners with foreign surnames were not eligible to intervene.

The emperor's father Zang frowned, and after a while he laughed at himself and said: "Now it seems that the Mo family's method of selecting the emperor may not be bad. If the emperor can choose, why can't Song Jun choose?"

"If you choose, you must be a famous person, and there is still a possibility for our family. Now that the Consultation Council is successful, I am afraid it will be difficult to do anything."

The emperor's father, Yue Ling, was flipping through some Mohist papers. Hearing what his father said, he got up and said, "That's not the case. From the perspective of the Mohist school, I'm afraid that [-]% of the Shenzhengyuan will belong to the Song Dynasty. But political affairs always belong to Ling Yin elected by the Consulting Yuan.”

"The choice of Ling Yin can only be chosen from the Court of Gentlemen, and non-nobles are not allowed to be appointed. Does father know the affairs of the Zhou Dynasty? Can he know the affairs of the Duke of the Republic?"

The emperor's father Zang nodded and said: "Of course I know. The regent governs and lives under the king, but the government orders are all issued by Duke Zhou and Gongbo."

The emperor's father Yueling waved his hand and said, "That's right. The Duke of Zhou counted the years with Cheng Wang, and after the establishment of the Song Xunzhengyuan, it was just like this. The years were counted by the name of Zitian, but all the government orders came from the Xunzhengyuan. Who is the real Song Gong?"

After he finished speaking, the emperor's father Zang thought for a while, and if he realized something, the emperor's father Yueling said again: "Da Yin and others, I'm afraid they won't agree with my family to be the Lingyin of the Advisory Council. We can't compare with them in the Gentleman's Court. Yes. But what about the House of Commons? This is a force that can be borrowed."

"The People's Court is afraid to listen to the words of the Mohists. What do the Mohists want? This is an exchange that can be considered."

(End of this chapter)