Chapter 949: Title and Military System
Chapter 949: Title and Military System
Dozens of people came to Shao's house.
In addition to the officials who followed him on the expedition from the beginning, there were also officials who came from Pingyang in advance and those who stayed in the court in Luoyang.
"The Jin Dynasty is corrupt, politics and justice are neglected, and the nobles are the worst off." After everyone was seated, Zhang Bin, as Shao Xun's substitute, took the lead in mentioning the first thing.
Before the Sima family usurped the throne, they knew to establish five ranks of nobility to share the benefits. Liang State was naturally no exception, but there were some differences.
"During the Former Wei Dynasty, nobles only enjoyed fiefs and no land. The Ming Dynasty was too lenient and generous. More than 500 countries all had fiefs and officials, and they were countries within countries." Zhang Bin continued, "I think we should restore the old system of the Han and Wei Dynasties, and give them empty fiefs and only enjoy fiefs."
In fact, if the fiefdom includes 10,000 households, the holder of this title cannot enjoy the rent and taxes of 10,000 households.
The policy of the Jin Dynasty was to enjoy one-third of the rent and taxes from these 10,000 households (equivalent to 3,300 households), while historically in the Eastern Jin Dynasty it became one-ninth (equivalent to 1,100 households).
In later dynasties, the concepts of one-third and one-ninth were no longer used, and the concepts of "real seal" and "true seal" appeared.
"Food fief" refers to the number of fiefs written in black and white, while "real fief" and "true fief" refer to the number of fiefs that are actually implemented. There is a big difference between them. Some people have a "food fief" of 5,000 households, and a "real fief" of 2,000, 1,000 or even several hundred households.
In fact, they are the same thing, that is, there is a gap between the theoretical fief and the actual fief.
"The first-class title is called 'king', with a fief of 10,000 households. This title is given to members of the royal family. Princes cannot be given the title of king without special favors. It is considered the first rank."
Only Shao Xun's biological son can be crowned as a king, usually with one character. Not every son can be crowned as a king.
"The second is the Prince of a County, with a fief of 5,000 households. This is a title given to members of the royal family at a lower level. It is considered as the first rank."
After the king's death, the heir to the title may not necessarily inherit the throne directly and intactly, especially if he is from a side branch of the royal family.
For example, one of Shao Xun’s grandsons might become a prince rather than a king.
In all dynasties, there was a system of inheriting titles by descending ranks, the main reason being to alleviate financial pressure.
"The third is the public fief of 3,000 households. This is for the royal family members who are demoted to lower ranks and meritorious officials. It is regarded as the first rank."
When it comes to the rank of Duke, meritorious officials can be conferred titles, and members of the royal family can also be demoted to the rank of Duke.
"The fourth is the Duke of a County, with a fief of 2,000 households. This is a title given to members of the royal family who have been demoted to a lower rank or to meritorious officials. It is considered the second rank."
From the perspective of the Jin Dynasty, there were one-character kings, such as King of Zhao Sima Lun, two-character kings, such as King of Donghai Sima Yue, dukes, such as Ma Teng of Pingchang Company, and even more below the duke.
The kings of the Western Jin Dynasty used counties as their kingdoms. The King of Zhao and the King of Donghai were actually "County Princes" (but their fiefs could exceed one county), and the Duke of Pingchang was a "County Duke."
The highest rank among the meritorious officials was the Duke of a County, who was guaranteed a fief of at least 3,000 households, or even 10,000 households, which was very generous.
"The fifth is the county duke, with a fief of 1,500 households. This is a title given to members of the royal family who have been demoted to a lower rank or to meritorious officials. It is considered the second rank."
"The sixth is the county marquis, with a fief of 1,000 households. This is a title given to members of the royal family who have been demoted to a lower rank or to meritorious officials. It is considered the third rank."
"The seventh is the county earl, with a fief of 700 households..."
"The eighth is the county lord, with a fief of 500 households..."
"The ninth is the county man, with a fief of 300 households..."
The title of "such and such grade" is the same as that of a meritorious official. It has no official rank or salary. It is just a level of advancement in rank, which is required for ranking in various court meetings and sacrificial activities.
"All the details still need to be perfected. I am just raising this matter today. You can consider it in detail after you go back." Zhang Bin said finally.
After hearing this, everyone had no objection.
Obviously, the Liang Dynasty could not be as generous as the Jin Dynasty, as the two dynasties started in different ways. To be more specific, the title system of Shao Liang was more like that of Cao Wei, but there were some changes. After all, times have changed.
Shao Xun carefully observed everyone's expressions.
Under this title system, members of the royal family could be downgraded every generation. That is, the prince would inherit the title and become a prince of a county, the other legitimate sons would become dukes, and illegitimate sons would become county dukes or even have no title at all.
This is somewhat similar to the royal family title system during the Northern and Southern Dynasties and even the Sui and Tang Dynasties.
There is a huge difference between legitimate sons and illegitimate sons. The eldest legitimate son of a prince inherits the title as a prince of a county, and the other legitimate sons are generally dukes. The emperor may show special favor and confer the title of a prince on a legitimate son, but that is another matter.
A bastard's son is more miserable, he may not necessarily become a duke, let alone a county duke. Some of them don't even have a title and are just given an official position - of course, a prince's bastard son is usually not so miserable, it usually takes two or three generations before he loses his title.
Members of the royal family without titles have to rely on themselves to fight.
There were too many people of this kind in the Northern and Southern Dynasties and the Sui and Tang Dynasties. For example, in the Tang Dynasty, there were members of the royal family who passed the imperial examinations and became officials. Those who were not so good at this relied on their family background to become officials, and some even became prime ministers or generals.
It is impossible for such a royal family member without a title who has been passed down for two or three generations, or three or four generations, to be supported by court officials to become emperor before the dynasty reaches its end.
Not to mention the distant past, it is extremely unlikely that a distant relative of the royal family like Sima Yue could become emperor, but it is possible for a powerful minister to do so.
On the contrary, King Sima Ying of Chengdu could have been enthroned as emperor, but he failed.
Looking at the Two Jin Dynasties, the Northern and Southern Dynasties, and the Sui and Tang Dynasties which inherited the system of the Northern Dynasties, there was neither the will nor the ability to support most of the royal family members, as that would have been too heavy a burden.
Becoming an official or fighting on the battlefield to make meritorious deeds is the best way out for remote royal families, otherwise they will just be lost in the crowd.
Compared with the royal family, if the title of a meritorious official is prefixed with "founding the country", it can theoretically be inherited from generation to generation. One person can be chosen in each generation to inherit the title, and no one else will have the title.
But in practice, it is difficult to pass on a title for three generations without being demoted, because the king will always find fault with you, fine you fiefdom, and demote you to a lower rank.
However, if one has made meritorious services, it is possible to be conferred the title again, but this will no longer be a founding title.
This system of nobility was basically improved upon by absorbing the Wei and Jin systems during the Southern and Northern Dynasties. Shao Xun was considered to have introduced it in advance. In short, it was a fictitious title, with no territory, and only enjoyed the rent and taxes of the people in the specified number of households where the title was located.
The Daliang Dynasty did not practice "real seals" or "genuine seals". The number of "food seals" was the number of households. Taking the "gong" as an example, one could collect 18,000 hu of grain, 13,500 pieces of silk, and 9,000 jin of cotton every year, which was enough to support more than a thousand full-time dependents and followers.
In this way, you will be decent.
******
We discussed the title for the whole afternoon.
I believe that it won’t be long before the news slowly spreads.
Many generals in Shao Xun’s group actually held titles from the Jin Dynasty.
Some were conferred by the Emperor of Jin, and some were obtained by Shao Xun on their behalf, but they were worthless and had no effect in Pingyang or Bianliang.
After all, this is no longer the Spring and Autumn Period. Back then, the system was "title-based", with officials being granted based on titles. Now, the system is "official-based", with officials being the foundation and titles being just the icing on the cake.
The first thing that civil and military officers pursue is official position, not title.
After dinner, they discussed military affairs again.
"Starting next year, several hundred infantrymen from the Mule Army and the Falling Goose Army will be sent in batches to fill the vacancies in the five battalions of the Silver Spear and Black Gun."
"Starting next year, we will expand the Yicong Army to 10,000 troops, the Luoyan Army to 5,000 troops, and the Youzhou Tuqi Supervisor Army to 2,000."
"In this way, we can recruit nearly 50,000 soldiers. The national economy is in a difficult situation, so we can only afford to support so many."
"In addition, the Central Guard, Central Commander, and Northern Army Commander will be dismissed, and the Privy Council, Training Council, and Military Supply Council will be added. The Privy Council will mobilize troops, the Training Council will train troops, and the Military Supply Council will be in charge of food and weapons."
"After a batch of government soldiers were transferred to the central army in Luoyang, there are still several thousand left. Xuchang and Yanzhou's hereditary soldiers also have several thousand each. In two to three years, the best and strongest ones will be selected to be transferred to government soldiers. The rest will be sent to important counties and large counties to serve as county soldiers."
"There are already seven guards on the list of the imperial soldiers: the Left and Right Flying Dragon Guards, the Left and Right Cavalry Guards, the Left and Right Jinwu Guards, and the Right Yulin Guards. In addition to the seven guards, there are 3,600 Puyang imperial soldiers, 3,600 Guanxi imperial soldiers, and 2,400 Jibei imperial soldiers, for a total of 70,800 people. At the beginning of the founding of the country, the imperial soldiers will increase to more than 80,000 people."
"All the imperial guards have offices in the imperial city. This is a major national event and should not be taken lightly."
After Shao Xun finished speaking, he paused to let everyone digest it.
Why did he attach so much importance to the palace soldiers?
In addition to their strong combat effectiveness, not having to pay military salaries every year, and being difficult to rebel, there is another factor that is difficult for outsiders to imagine: strong assimilation ability.
As for the military forces established in the last one or two years, most of their troops are Hu people, and the total number may be more than 100,000.
These people lived scattered in various defenses and had a low status - compared to when they used to be shepherds and slaves for the tribal nobles, it seemed that their status was not very low, and in fact their status had been improved, because the troops were not strictly speaking slaves.
They themselves have an admiration for advanced culture, and over time, they will gradually align themselves with their master.
If the master farms the land, they must also farm the land.
When the host family celebrates a festival, they will give some money and food to their followers, which will subtly influence their festival customs.
They will also slowly learn what the host says so that they can communicate.
They will also slowly change according to the clothes and hair accessories worn by the host family and the people around them.
As such.
In fact, it is the assimilation of advanced culture into backward culture.
This process lasted for two or three generations, and these Hu tribes were basically assimilated, because their production and living styles, language, clothing, festivals and other cultural characteristics had undergone tremendous changes.
As for how long the palace soldiers could hold out - the Tang Dynasty lasted until the late Emperor Gaozong and the reign of Empress Wu, which was about sixty or seventy years.
However, the Tang Dynasty's military forces were mainly concentrated in Guanzhong and Hedong (Road), and were deployed too densely.
In fact, during the Kaihuang period of Emperor Wen of the Sui Dynasty, the government soldiers did not have enough land, so Yang Jian had to move them out of the "narrow land" (Guanzhong) and settle them in the Guandong region, which had more abundant land resources.
However, due to the war at the end of the Sui Dynasty, the population dropped from 50 million to more than 10 million at the beginning of the Tang Dynasty, and the area became one with fewer people and more land, which was equivalent to a reset.
Therefore, the Tang Dynasty's policy of "mobilizing the troops in Guanzhong to confront the four directions", which was even more extreme than that of the Sui Dynasty, could continue to be implemented. However, the number of government troops in the Tang Dynasty was 600,000, and wars were extremely frequent.
The core of the fubing system is land, and honorary officials and the like are just icing on the cake.
There was not enough land to provide for honorary officials, and the military system collapsed.
They were given enough land, but no honorary titles were given. Instead, they were appointed according to their military merits. The combat effectiveness of the government soldiers was only reduced, but they were still a capable army.
The Daliang Dynasty had only 70,000 to 80,000 soldiers, and the land resources were abundant and mainly distributed in the Guandong region. This system could easily last for a hundred years.
Fifty thousand recruited soldiers were stationed in Luoyang, Bianliang, Liyang, Yewang and other two capitals and their surrounding areas to guard key points on the periphery.
The government troops suppressed the attacks from all directions and intimidated the Hu people and the gentry. This was basically the military layout at the beginning of the founding of the Daliang Dynasty.
In the future, the number of recruited soldiers will grow extremely slowly or even not at all, but the number of government soldiers will continue to grow until the system can no longer be sustained in more than a hundred years.
After more than a hundred years of assimilation, he has become worthy of China.
Even if the dynasty perished at that time, the emperor of the new dynasty could still inherit his achievements.
Success does not have to be achieved by me, or even in the Daliang Dynasty.
"That's all for today." After seeing that everyone had thought about it, Shao Xun clapped his hands and said, "Everyone take a copy of the proposal back, study it carefully, and send it back with your thoughts."
(End of this chapter)