Guide to traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty

The father and son walked into the Chui Gong Hall. Ju Ming pointed to the north and said, "I have never even been to the East Palace, and I have never set foot in the Harem. There are many eunuchs and maids who refuse to leave. You can handle it on your own after you move in."

Zhu Guoxiang did not answer this, but asked: "Gen Yue was destroyed?"

"It was destroyed, but the mountain peaks are still there," Ju Ming said. "Waiyan Fu Palace has also been demolished a lot, and only the palaces and pavilions remain, which were used as barracks for King Qin's army during the siege."

Zhu Guoxiang expressed regret: "Zhao Ji worked hard on people and money to build it, so it would be a waste to destroy it like this."

Ju Ming smiled and said, "You can rebuild it too."

"Get out!" Zhu Guoxiang said angrily.

Ju Ming dragged a golden chair and sat down, crossed his legs and pointed at the throne in the Chui Gong Hall: "That seat is yours."

Zhu Guoxiang stepped onto the steps, sat upright, moved his butt left and right, and muttered: "I always feel so nervous, as if I am being lifted up by something, floating in the air and unable to use my strength."

"How does it feel to be alone?" Zhu Ming asked curiously.

"A bit." Zhu Guoxiang nodded.

Ju Ming said: "When I first entered the city, Zhang Gen and the others asked me to persuade you to ascend the throne and proclaim yourself emperor in Kaifeng."

Zhu Guoxiang asked: "Is it okay to proclaim yourself emperor now?"

Ju Ming said: "Once you proclaim yourself emperor, it will be justifiable. Many officials of the old Song Dynasty will change their banners, and the speed of unifying the world will be much faster. But to be honest, officials from various places defected too quickly. I always feel unsure, but it is just a change of flags." It's just a piece of skin, and it won't be digested for another three to five years. I first integrated the armies from various places, made adjustments through wars, and gradually incorporated them into a unified military system. The local officials arranged some county magistrates, leaving the higher-level prefects and prefectures needed. You do it."

"In the past few years, we have also discovered some talents," Zhu Guoxiang said, "and some of the imperial students you brought here are already qualified to serve as prefects."

Ju Ming said: "There are still a lot of demoted officials in Kaifeng city. I have already ransacked the houses of the notorious ones. I have also replaced and recalled dozens of county magistrates. Together with the demoted officials in Kaifeng, the total number is three to four hundred. These I really don’t know how to deal with people. If I use them, I won’t trust them, but if I don’t use them, I’ll lose the heart of a scholar.”

Zhu Guoxiang said with a smile: "Select dozens or hundreds of people with good knowledge of classics and history and literary talents, and let them enter the Hanlin Academy to compile books. Wouldn't this deal with a quarter of the problem?"

"That's right." Zhu Ming nodded.

Zhu Guoxiang added: "We will then transfer a large number of Sichuan's assistant officials to be top leaders, and arrange for a group of old Song officials to go to Sichuan to serve as assistant officials. This will not only promote the promotion of Sichuan officials, but also speed up the digestion of the new territory, and can also resettle Officials of the old Song Dynasty in Tokyo. Officials of the old Song Dynasty went to Sichuan to serve as the second or third leaders, and there was a top leader suppressing them, so they could not make any waves."

Zhu Ming praised: "Dean Zhu still has a way."

Zhu Guoxiang said: "There is no need to worry about proclaiming the emperor. We must first choose the capital."

"There are only three choices now, Chang'an, Luoyang, and Kaifeng." Zhu Ming said.

Zhu Guoxiang has some personal feelings: "Can't Beijing do it?"

"You mean Yanjing in Youzhou?" Zhu Ming asked.

"That's Beijing." Zhu Guoxiang said.

Zhu Ming shook his head and said: "Youzhou is experiencing wars, natural disasters, and famine and plague. In some cities and towns, there are only a dozen families left. I asked Pharmacist Guo, even in the most densely populated Yanjing, the people in the city There are less than 100,000 people left. Most of them are civilian men and the elderly and weak. When the Jin State sold the land to the Song State, they moved away the nobles, wealthy households, craftsmen, and young women."

The capital cannot be built just as soon as it is built. There are many prerequisites.

If Yanjing is established as the capital, it is not enough to move a bunch of people to Yanjing City. There must also be sufficient population in rural areas outside cities. Surrounding states and counties must also have sufficient populations.

In this way, various supplies of materials can be provided to maintain the capital.

Zhu Di was able to successfully establish Beijing as the capital, in addition to his management during the Jin and Yuan dynasties, he also relied on Zhu Yuanzhang's immigration policy for twenty consecutive years. Because Emperor Yuan fled north and took away a large number of people, the north seemed extremely empty. Liaodong and Hebei were Zhu Yuanzhang's key immigration areas.

Without Zhu Yuanzhang's twenty years of immigration, Zhu Di would never have thought of moving the imperial court to Beijing.

To maintain the operation of a country's capital, millions of shi of rice each year can only be said to be a drop in the bucket. It requires the efforts of surrounding areas to provide a large amount of private material supplies and form a special capital economic circle.

"Then let's go to Luoyang." Zhu Guoxiang said.

Ju Ming said: "The land annexation in Luoyang is extremely serious, and there are also a large number of famous families, which are inextricably linked to the officialdom of the old Song Dynasty. If you want to make Luoyang the capital, you must deal with those big families."

"What are you going to do?" Zhu Guoxiang asked.

Ju Ming said: "Forced migration. Due to wars, natural disasters and heavy taxes, Henan, Hebei and Shandong all have large-scale ownerless lands. Split the big families in Luoyang, calculate their land, break up the forced migration, and use The ownerless land replaced their land in Luoyang. Part of the vacant land in Luoyang was awarded to meritorious officials, part to soldiers, and part to tenant farmers."

"These big families won't resist, right? And it seems that the impact will not be good." Zhu Guoxiang said worriedly.

Ju Ming smiled and said: "If they resist, they will take the opportunity to confiscate their homes. The charges are all ready-made. They miss the old dynasty and conspire to usher in the old Song Dynasty royal family!"

The Song Dynasty himself had done this by forcibly splitting up large clans and moving them around.

The Chen family in Yimen has not been separated for more than 300 years. There are more than 400 officials in the court, which seriously threatens local rule.

Under the suggestions of Wen Yanbo and Bao Zheng, Song Renzong was determined to take action against the Chen family of Yimen, and Bao Zheng personally took charge of the relevant work. The Chen clan was divided into more than 290 parts. According to the administrative divisions of later generations, they were scattered and moved to 16 provinces and cities across the country.

The Chen family of Yimen has not done anything harmful to nature, and there are still hundreds of people serving as officials. Shouldn't they be demolished at the request of the court?

"Where's the country's name?" Zhu Guoxiang asked.

Zhu Ming smiled and said: "Of course it is the Ming Dynasty. The place names are almost used, and no new ideas can be found by changing the names. In fact, 'Yuan' is quite good. It was Qianyuan, when all things began, and the six dragons were used to control the sky. . But I always feel a little uncomfortable with the name of the country, Dayuan, and Ming sounds more comfortable."

Zhu Guoxiang smiled: "This is systemic sabotage, and those officials will jump after hearing this."

"Become the King of Han first," Ju Ming said, "further improve the court team, enrich the provincial and ministerial framework, and then find a suitable time to proclaim the emperor and make the capital. In order to appease people and stabilize the north and south, I think we can continue to adopt the four-capital system. . Luoyang is the capital and Xijing, Kaifeng is the companion capital and Tokyo. Yanjing is tentatively designated as Beijing, and Jinling is tentatively designated as Nanjing."

Zhu Guoxiang said: "The project of moving the capital to Luoyang is very large, and we need to stabilize the situation before we can do it. The city wall of Luoyang must be expanded, and now there is not enough money and food. It will take at least three to five years before construction can start."

"The past three to five years have been used to deal with the big families in Luoyang." Ju Ming was not in a hurry.

Zhu Guoxiang asked: "In the future, will we implement a cabinet system or a provincial system?"

“Centralization is the general trend,” Ju Ming said.

In the Tang Dynasty, the system of three provinces and six ministries was implemented. The Zhongshu Province drafted the decree, the Menxia Province reviewed it, and the Shangshu Province implemented it. The system seemed to be rigorous, but in fact it was inefficient. Moreover, Zhongshu Province and Menxia Province relied on imperial power, and soon marginalized the Shangshu Province.

By the Song Dynasty, the overall trend was for the three provinces to merge into one.

Although the Song Dynasty retained the three provinces, its power had been weakened, and the power of the six ministries was also weakened. The power was in the hands of the prime minister and Zhongshu Wufang, who was under the Zhongshu clan.

In the last years of Xining, Song Shenzong ordered the reform of official positions without consulting Wang Anshi. Changing the Song Dynasty's Zhongshu Menxia system back to the Tang Dynasty's three provinces and six ministries system, the administrative efficiency became even lower, but some redundant officials and yamen were abolished, which saved 20,000 yuan in annual expenses.

This reform was institutionalized during the Yuanfeng period, so it was also called "Yuanfeng Reform".

The power of the prime minister was thus weakened and centralization was strengthened.

Without Yuanfeng's restructuring, Song Huizong really couldn't act arbitrarily. Because as the prime minister, Cai Jing could control the power without having to please the emperor so much, relying on Zhongshu's subordinate system, and the power of the prime minister was restricted by other institutions.

The above are just general situations, the reality is more complicated.

For example, the Six Ministries once usurped the power of three provinces, but the emperor took action to suppress it. The Privy Council was once able to suppress the prime minister, but gradually declined in the constant struggle for power.

The root cause is nothing more than the struggle for official power, financial power, and administrative power. The deeper level is the confrontation between imperial power and prime minister power.

The root of redundant officials in the Song Dynasty lies in the separation of powers and checks and balances. The establishment of the Council of Political Affairs divided the administrative power of the prime minister, the establishment of the Privy Council divided the military power of the prime minister, and the establishment of three envoys to divide the financial power of the prime minister.

It was divided and changed again and again. As a result, after Yuanfeng's restructuring, it formed a deformed four-dimensional monster that combined all the bad policies of the Tang and Song dynasties into one.

None of the good ones, but all the bad ones!

Ju Ming said: "The cabinet system was developed repeatedly in the Ming Dynasty. It is a compromise centralized system. The eunuch-controlled ceremonial supervisor plays a key role. You don't want to reuse eunuchs, right?"

"Of course not." Zhu Guoxiang said.

Ju Ming smiled and said: "But when the development reaches a certain stage, future emperors will definitely use eunuchs. The emperors of the Song Dynasty initially promoted Hanlin bachelors and used civil servants to suppress the prime ministers and the six ministries. They also firmly controlled the censorship, and the censorship could only be controlled by the emperor. Appointed personally. But in the end, it was discovered that Hanlin scholars and censors were unreliable, and they would flirt with prime ministers and ministers. As a result, eunuchs were constantly used, and by the time of Emperor Huizong of the Song Dynasty, there were so many great eunuchs."

Zhu Guoxiang said helplessly: "There is no perfect system once and for all. In politics, if you catch it, you will die, and if you let it go, it will lead to chaos. Let alone such a big country, even if I was the deputy dean before, the school was not full of chaos. A hundred years later Don’t think so much about it, future generations will adjust it. If you really can’t adjust it, then you’re just waiting for the country to fall. The system we design now should be as reliable as possible. In the general direction, it should be conducive to promoting science and productivity. develop."

"That's what it says." Zhu Ming agreed.