warring states careerist

Chapter 659

From the very beginning of the intervention war of the succession of the Zhao Kingdom, the Mo family has been bargaining with Gong Zizhang, centering on one core: the distribution of spoils.

The "loot" that was distributed was the slaves and serfs in the fiefs after the aristocrats of the son dynasty were settled, as well as Yunzhong, Jiuyuan, and even Hetao that Zhao State could not get until the era of King Zhao Wuling.

These places are not owned by Zhao State now, so there is no way to talk about land distribution.

Lou Fan and Lin Hu are now very weak compared to the Central Plains. They have neither the Central Plains' organization nor the Central Plains' technology. The earlier appearance of iron and gunpowder made these settlements completely without the slightest advantage.

With the current strength of the Mo family in Gaoliu, it is not a problem to capture Yunzhong and Jiuyuan.

The problem is the population. Without the population, it is impossible to keep it, and it has no meaning at all.

Under the feudal system, population is both wealth and power.

The nobles bound the farmers to the land, and the entrusted land can be transferred together with the population. This is a fact engraved on some funerary bronze vessels.

Population means that nobles can have more levies, greater power, and more bargaining power with the monarch.

The reason why the aristocratic system restrains the development of productive forces also stems from this.

Controlling exile and exile is a crime, which prevents the population from migrating at will.

The Mohists want to maintain the dividing line between farming and nomadism along the Yinshan Mountains. There is no population, and the liberation of grassland slaves is not enough, and there are large cultural differences. Even if the climate and environment and new crops are suitable for nomadic farming, it will take time.

It is foreseeable that the son will rebel against himself and the state of Wei will interfere.

And this kind of foresight can also be turned into what the Mohists want.

If a group of Zhao nobles are not dealt with severely, the population will not be able to migrate to Yunzhong and other places. One radish has one hole, and the radish has to be dug to move the extra holes to other places.

If the price is too high, I have to plan in advance: If the Wei State is still a bully, the son Zhang must be the Wei State recognizes his position and the meeting will be made. Only when Wei Guo is half disabled can the son be let Zhang decided to completely break with the State of Wei, and with the momentum of the breakup, the Mo family immediately negotiated peace with Wei so that the State of Wei could calmly mobilize troops to deal with the State of Zhao.

Wei Guo was forced out, Xihe, Zhongshan, Zhao, Sishang, Chen Cai, Wei Guo could not deal with all sides, but could only choose one side.And in this circle, only Zhao Guo is the weakest. At least at this time, Zhao Guo is the most chaotic inside. If he does not interfere with Zhao Guo, he will face the situation of being surrounded on all sides.

Now that the situation has emerged, the old minister Gong Zhonglian, who had just succeeded Gong Zizhang to rely on his plan, passed away again, and the people in Handan were obviously not patriotic and did not do much to bargain there. When the Mo family came to talk again, Gong Zizhang was really helpless .

The position of Marquis of Zhao, there are too many people who can do it, and the bones of Duke Wu of Zhao are not cold. Is there any problem with his own son being a Marquis?

Therefore, nobles can wait and see and watch Wei Guo interfere, but his son Zhang can't.

Because when the Mohist envoys came to Zhongmu, the capital of Zhao, to put forward the conditions, Zhao Gongzizhang and the civil and military of the Manchu Dynasty knew that this was taking advantage of the fire, but they had no choice but to do it: the people in Handan and the merchants who provided war debts did not believe Zhaohou, but agreed Let the Mo family be the middleman, they are lending money and food to the middle man, and the middle man will repay them the interest and principal in the future. After all, they have no ability to punish the monarch for breaking the contract, and the things raised by the people are in the hands of the Mo family. What kind of battle is food fighting?

What's more, apart from an established field force on Gaoliu's side, Zhao Gongzizhang has not been able to pull out an army that can fight against the Xihe pawns of Wei State, the rebels of Gongzi Dynasty, and the farmers and soldiers of Ximen Baoye.

This matter is not a simple Zhao internal affairs at all. To put it bluntly, it is the war between the Mo family and the State of Wei interfering in the succession of the State of Zhao, and both sides rolled up their sleeves and went directly to the field.

The conditions of the Mohists actually sound quite simple.

One is the land of several towns near Gaoliu, which Zhao Gongzi Zhang granted to the people, and the people governed there. Grandpa Zizhang has no authority to govern—understanding the legal power of the feudal system, Gongzizhang wants to entrust the vicinity of Gaoliu to a nobleman, and the main body of this nobleman is all the people.

The second is to reform the border system, open several ports for mutual trade, and set up a department for collecting tariffs. The Mohists participate in management and construction, and use this as a repayment of the war loans previously paid by the people and businessmen.

The third is that once the rebellion of the Prince Dynasty is eliminated, the Mohists need at least [-] serfs and slaves originally owned by the rebellious nobles to enrich Yunzhong, Jiuyuan and other places.

It sounds like these three conditions are quite simple, and they can make Zhao Guo prosperous and strong, don't have to worry about the intrusion of Loufan Linhu in the north, and can repay the loans of the people, and by the way, enrich the north.

Originally, in many places, Marquis Zhao was not capable of directly governing, and the feudal system was directly governed. Marquis Zhao, the nobleman's territory, could not collect taxes at all and was not qualified to manage it. When the centralization of power in later generations was initially effective, he asked Lord Pingyuan to collect taxes and was dissatisfied by Lord Pingyuan. .

However, if this is another loyal nobleman, it would be okay, but the Mo family has done it once in Sishang, and this is to follow the example. How could Young Master Zhang not know how to learn from the experience of Song State?

Besides, granting the land there to the people is a formality, but sometimes the form is far more important than the substance.

More than ten years!Zhao Guo never received a copper coin from Gaoliu, nor did he receive a single person who served in the military. It's not that Zhao Gongzizhang didn't know what the land system was like there, but there was no formal recognition.

It is actually the same when Li Mu is stationed in northern Xinjiang in the later generations. The military tributes are all taken from the local area and used in the local area, but the form is completely different from the present.

Now that it is formally admitted, what do Zhao people in other places think?Why are people in Gaoliu able to own land, but we still have to be serfs for nobles?

Therefore, the focus of this negotiation is not the governance of the north, nor the thoughts of the Mohists. The focus is the statement of the Gaoliu area.

You can say anything about entrusting it to a nobleman. If the nobleman is willing to reform and benefit the world, then do whatever you want.

However, it is absolutely impossible to grant it to the people, if it shakes the foundation of the country.

The two sides tore up for several days, and Gong Zizhang proposed a compromise plan: Feng Qu will be named as Gao Liu, and then reformed as Gao Liujun, Zhao Guo will not care.

But the Mohists gritted their teeth, claiming that this was a matter of principle and could not be compromised, and the Mohists did not accept any fiefdoms or titles of nobility.

Gong Zizhang compromised again, saying that otherwise, a county will be set up there and you will be given the post of county guard. This is not a hereditary noble, so you can make fun of it.

The Mohist said that it was not enough, and the very simple issue of ownership must be clarified. If Gongzizhang recognizes a country as a public, then the Mohists are willing to be a county guard on the basis that a country is a public rather than a private possession for the benefit of the people; however, if Gongzizhang cannot Recognizing that the state is a public instrument and a covenant between the monarch and the people, then the Mohists will never accept this private property steward and retainer.

Young Master Zhang was also young, and he was furious at that time: "Just war, unjust war! As long as there is a war, people will die. How can there be such a thing as a righteous war or an unjust war? Let Gao Liu's people only fight righteous wars? This Righteousness and injustice all depend on the mouth of your Mo family!"

"Haven't your Mo family ever fought a war? Didn't you take the initiative to go to the grassland to conquer? No one was killed in the conquest? Is that righteous or unrighteous?"

The envoy of the Mohist school immediately said: "Justice or unrighteousness is determined not by the words of the Mohist school, but by the rules of the Three Tables of Mozi. The will of heaven is the first, and what is in line with the interests of the people is righteousness. What does not conform to It is unrighteous."

"Of course the Mohists have sent troops to the grasslands and fought wars, that's because it's a righteous war."

"Why fight for righteousness? Because under the Nine Layers of Paradise, every progress is righteous."

"Prairie people don't farm but only graze, and they often go south to plunder border towns. Looting is not production but damages production. Therefore, in order to prevent production from being destroyed, of course we must fight."

"Secondly, there are head slaves in grassland settlements. Shepherd slaves don't want to fight wars but only think about grazing, and the main initiators of looting are those settlement leaders, so every time the Mo family goes to kill some grasslands that wage unjust wars My lord, punish the unrighteous for righteousness."

"Finally, lands such as Gaoliu and Yunzhong are suitable for farming, especially corn, potatoes and other crops. If you want to change the life of the barbarians, you must promote farming there so that the people have food and clothing. Some grassland settlements If the nobles hinder this kind of progress, then they deserve to die and be wiped out, so fighting is for the benefit of the people of the world.”

Debate is what the Mohists are good at, and the Mohists have their own theoretical system, which talks less about virtue and more about benefits, because the Mohists' interests are unified, and talking about benefits is about righteousness. As for whether this righteousness is recognized by Gong Zizhang, that is not Mohist Questions for the envoy to consider: If you don’t agree, you won’t accept the conditions. Everyone breaks up. You flee the country and become a prince in exile. Our Mohist school continues to promote our theory, whether you can beat the prince or not. Our business has nothing to do with you who will go into exile at that time.

The courtiers around Gongzizhang also understood what the Mohist meant, that is to say, the military tax in the Gaoliu area will be kept for themselves, and the management of the grassland will absolutely guarantee the safety of the northern part of Zhao State. The people who will definitely send troops to attack and fight to the death to defend their "progressive" life.

And if Zhao Guo launches a war abroad, I'm sorry, don't even try to mobilize every soldier in the Gaoliu area.If there is another coup in Zhao State, Gao Liu will not send troops unless there is a change caused by the change that benefits the people and a struggle against the change.

It kind of means staying in the northern border to build the Great Wall of flesh and blood and not participating in the disputes in the Central Plains.

It's just that these people forgot a problem, or didn't consider a problem at all. There is another standard of "righteous warfare" in this treaty, which is still brewing.

That would be a thunderstorm, but it's just that the thunder hasn't happened yet, and the dark clouds haven't even spread yet.

Zhao Guo wants to become a powerful country, and there are several problems to be solved. The integration of Dai Guo and Zhao Guo culture is the first, the centralization reform is the second, and the capture of the nine original clouds is the third. Only after the nobles have completed these three items can they compete with Qin to the end.

Although Shi is dismantling the Jin Dynasty, although the biggest threat to Sishang is Wei, the Mo family does not raise tigers. The only tiger that wants to raise is Qin, which has locked up the strategy of Nanzheng, Hanzhong, Bashu, and forced him to go west.

As for Zhao Guo, he was still forced to find a way out in the Central Plains.Finding a way out in the Central Plains will inevitably cause friction with Wei and Qi.

Although Zhongshan State is suitable to use its restoration to weaken Wei State and trick Zhaohou to resolutely oppose Wei, it may not be really good for Zhongshan State.With the presence of Zhongshan State, Yunzhong Gaoliu and other counties will be ranked behind the strategic center of gravity of Zhao State, so it is not possible to turn their faces so early.The Zhongshan Kingdom card has been used up and can be discarded.

The Three Jins have already been dismantled, and we have to prepare for the fact that there will be no chance to form an alliance in the future. Just like blocking the southern Zheng Hanzhong and forcing Qin to seek west, blocking the northern cloud, that is also forcing Zhao to reconcile in the future. The conflict between Wei and Hanqi could not be broken off.

(End of this chapter)