Han Shizu

In the autumn of the ninth year of Yongxi (1001), it has been almost ten years since Liu Yang ascended the throne. The new emperor has become the old emperor, and the Han Empire has appeared in the current world with a more stable and prosperous governance appearance.

In the past two or three years, under Liu Yang's urging, the imperial court further strengthened the construction of the rule of law and intensified its crackdown on those who violated laws and disciplines, stole the country and abused the people. Every autumn, hundreds of officials at all levels were taken to Luoyang Nan City and executed in public.

Still, it must be said that in terms of the efficiency of killing officials, it cannot be compared to Emperor Shizu, because he often killed large areas at one time, in groups, and in hundreds. But in terms of the frequency of killing officials, Liu Yang surpassed his father. He pursued the rule of law, punished according to the law, killed immediately when sentenced to death, and killed rationally.

Some emperors killed people, which would lead to separation of people's hearts, political chaos, and weakening of the country; some emperors killed people, but it would make people's hearts more unified, political clarity, and the country's prosperity. Liu Yang is obviously the latter, because he doesn't kill people randomly.

At the same time, even under a harsher administrative environment than Shizu's, the powerful bureaucrats of the Han Dynasty still had a flattering attitude towards the emperor Liu Yang: "Let you torture me a thousand times, and I will treat your majesty like my first love." It is really true now Competition in the officialdom of the Han Dynasty is too fierce, positions have long been saturated, and talents have been overflowing.

Especially in the autumn of the eighth year of Emperor Yongxi's reign, Liu Yang began to pay attention to the problem of overstaffing within the system. Through various investigations, understanding, and listening to the actual situation, he made a detailed determination of the number of officials at all levels from the central department to the prefectures, counties, and even towns and villages. There is no doubt that this is another huge disturbance in the official circles of the Han Dynasty.

The empire's system of court officials and appointed officials has been very complete, including civil and military casual officials and honorary officials, all of which have been established and have not changed much. On the contrary, there has never been a clear and clear positioning and management system for the "officials" who live under the official system.

Everything is actually handled by local officials themselves. They have great self-determination rights in the appointment of "officials". It can even be said that this is one of the most important powers of local officials, especially chief officials. The authority of many local officials also comes from this.

After all, the officials, who were several times or even ten times the number of officials, were the ones directly responsible for handling affairs and managing the people. They were also the tentacles of the Han Empire's ruling system that extended to local areas and the people. Local magistrates often influence the situation under their governance and determine the fate of their subjects by controlling the future and power of their officials.

To be honest, it is very easy for the emperor to deal with officials, just a piece of edict is enough, because their most important legal system comes from the emperor's order, and the power to govern is given by the court.

However, dealing with officials is not as simple as imagined, not only because of the huge scale, but also because of the intricate relationships and the key link that this group played in the social management model of the Han Empire. The country must be stable and the people must be managed, and the most inseparable thing is this group of officials.

Therefore, Liu Yang's rectification of "Han officials" and streamlining the number of people was only one of them. More importantly, he came up with a more detailed and standard management method based on the old system of miscellaneous articles. The point is to standardize the huge group of Han officials. One of the most striking features is that the imperial court divided the world's officials into twenty levels, which basically corresponded to the levels from clan nobles, central department officials to ordinary village officials, and annual salaries were paid according to levels.

This was another major project of the Yongxi Dynasty, and it was certainly not easy to do. Not to mention the vast number of Han officials who faced "unemployment" under the imperial rectification, even the chief officials in various places were very resistant because the imperial government stretched its hand too far. , reached into their "bowls" and stabbed them "in the buttocks".

Therefore, the progress of this work is extremely slow, comparable to tax reform, and there are many chaos. However, the "new regulations on officialdom" are still being established amidst bumps and bruises. Just as the tax reform eventually led to compromise, the same was true for the civil service reform. When the struggle reached a certain level, stability and balance still prevailed. However, in the process, tens of thousands of redundant employees were still laid off across the country.

Establishing a new official system, alleviating the problem of redundant officials, and finally reaching a consensus may not be the effect that Emperor Liu Yang wanted to achieve.

As a large number of officials were dismissed, the Han Dynasty's "surplus talent crisis" was further intensified. Few of the dismissed officials could not find a way out or a job. Those who could serve as officials were all capable. , at least you can accumulate a fortune and corresponding network resources.

However, it is obviously not that easy to let these "officials" who have worked hard inside or on the margins of the system to run other businesses, at least it is difficult to change their thinking.

Therefore, under such circumstances, another wave of "brain drain" broke out. The feudal states in the southeast, northwest and northwest of the Han Dynasty scrambled to recruit talents from the country and offered various tempting conditions.

For the majority of officials, leaving their hometown and working hard in a foreign country obviously requires overcoming a lot of psychological difficulties. Some people are unwilling to go for it, but others want to make a fortune. In particular, he may be just a lowly official at home, but he can directly become an official in a feudal country. This contrast is simply a dimensionality reduction blow for Han officials who have been officials for a long time.

Therefore, in the past two years, various feudal states have recruited a large number of talents from the Han Dynasty. Regardless of their ability, they are all officials who have been tested by the Han Dynasty system and can be "fighted" when they are used.

And in this process, it was the Three Kingdoms of Anxi that gained the most. In the seventh year of Yongxi's reign, it took less than half a year for the Three Kingdoms of Anxi to work together to break through Puhualuo City and destroy the Samanid dynasty that had dominated the Hezhong area for hundreds of years.

After the three kingdoms divided up the Samanid dynasty's heritage, they began to establish Han rule based on military conquest. And this process is obviously more difficult than fighting.

Even if the aggressiveness and assimilation of the camp system are strong enough, a large number of talents are still needed to promote "Chineseization", which is precisely what the three countries are short of, especially Anxi and Kangxi, which have obtained large tracts of land from the Samanid Dynasty. Living in the second country.

Where can we find talented people? The mother country of the Han Dynasty has everything you need. Compared with the south, which has still not completely shaken off the impression of "barbarism", Central Asia, which has given birth to a brilliant civilization, has a glorious history and has close communication with China, is more attractive to the officials of the Han Dynasty. , especially those in the Midwest.

Compared with the past, there is an obvious difference between the brain drain phenomenon that occurred in Yongxi 7-9 years, that is, the proportion of spontaneous selection this time is very high.

In the past, under the guidance of the emperor, or the imperial court making arrangements, many people actually passively accepted the arrangements, and they were not necessarily happy in their hearts.

But this time, the situation changed, starting from the ideological changes. During this change, the concepts of the upper class of the Han Dynasty were also quietly changing, a change that had never occurred in previous imperial dynasties.

Not to mention anything else, at least they further realized the "wonderful functions" of each feudal state. Blocking foreign enemies and defending the central empire were only the most superficial and even the most insignificant functions, because a powerful celestial dynasty was not afraid of any external challenges.

In contrast, the "flood release theory" proposed by Emperor Shizu in his early years has become increasingly prominent during the Yongxi Dynasty.

The rebellious people, who are harming Tianhe, are killed and left with deep hatred, and moved abroad; the officials who commit crimes but are not punished with death are exiled; the displaced people who appear under natural disasters can also move abroad; including this " The redundant bureaucrats produced by the reform of the "official system" can still be exported.

It seems that any problem that arises within the empire has found a solution. After all, all problems lie in "people". Once "people" are solved, the problem will be solved.

And based on the affordability of each feudal state, there may be no upper limit in a hundred years. Their hunger for Han people and all kinds of talents is also visible to the naked eye.

At this point, we can make a brief summary. The Han Empire that entered the Yongxi era possessed a characteristic that no previous imperial dynasty had. And this characteristic that originated from Emperor Shizu is likely to have a profound impact on the future of the Han Empire and even world history. direction, bringing a sense of uncertainty. In the future world, at least in an Asian world shrouded in "Han unification", historical development will be even more exciting. In the ninth year of Yongxi's reign, many major events occurred in the Han Empire, such as the completion of a new round of "census work". The imperial court issued an edict requiring all prefectures and counties to check the population under their jurisdiction. The imperial court needed to get an understanding of the population of the Han Dynasty.

Since the completion of the tax reform, local governments have actually not cared so much about the population, at least not so much about the numbers. After all, tax collection is no longer based on population.

Therefore, the demographics that were once accurate, but always accurate, have gradually fallen into disuse. At the same time, in the past ten years, another wave of baby boom has occurred in Han Dynasty, which has cast a layer of fog on the population.

This even caused damage to the household registration system of the Han Dynasty. The household registration system was so important to the rule of the empire and it was a position that must not be abandoned. Especially during Liu Yang's tour to the west, he found that in some places, the household registration system was ineffective, and the government did not consider people's feelings and did not distinguish between families.

But it just so happens that there are some local tyrants and squires in the countryside who have a clear understanding of the local population situation. Their families have genealogies and villages have village lists.

As for why this happened, and why the gentry and local tyrants were more active than the government, it is self-evident. Do you really think that when the government restrains itself, the untouchables at the bottom of Guizhou can relieve themselves of their burdens, concentrate on production, and live happily?

In view of this, as early as the eighth year of Yongxi reign, an edict on the national census system was officially issued, and the various requirements for demographics in the edict were clearly and clearly marked.

Of course, this was a tedious and difficult task, but the court had reasons to implement it. Although almost everyone in the Han Dynasty valued land, in the eyes of the rulers, population, especially those who were willing to enslave, was the most important thing. The most precious wealth.

Counting the population is also a process of counting the "wealth" of the empire. At least if the population is clear, it will be more accurate when it comes to recruiting military service and corvee labor. On the other hand, just as Liu Wenhuan argued with the ignorant people when Shizu visited Luoshan County privately, registering is also a kind of protection of the rights and interests of the people, especially now that taxation is not based on head.

Although it is generally difficult for ordinary people to win a lawsuit if they cannot meet an upright official, but if they are unknown, they will definitely not win.

By the autumn of the ninth year of Yongxi's reign, the Ministry of Household Affairs had compiled a rough figure based on the data reported by various places. This number may not be accurate, but it has become a fact that the total number of main customers across the country has exceeded 1 million.

Counting from the Kaibao Year alone, almost forty years have passed. The overall stable social security environment, the rapid increase in food production, and the growth of three generations have jointly triggered this population explosion in the Han Empire.

This result not only surprised Liu Yang, but also made him deeply worried. How difficult it is to feed so many people!

Fortunately, there are still major feudal states. Starting from the ninth year of Yongxi's reign, the Han Dynasty no longer set any obstacles to immigrants and business, and even adopted encouraging attitudes and policies.

However, it is still the same old problem. Not many people are willing to leave. If they can't survive, who is willing to wander outside. However, how could the common people not survive in the prosperous age of Yongxi?

But no matter what, the Han Empire in the Yongxi era has gradually reached the pinnacle of the feudal empire for thousands of years, surpassing any previous era.

By the ninth year of Yongxi's reign, the upper-level power structure of the Han Empire had undergone another huge change. This huge change was reflected in the replacement of Shangshu Ling.

Lu Duan, a veteran minister who had been prime minister for more than thirty years since the Kaibao Year, passed away, less than half a month after he resigned as minister.

For an old minister like Lu Duan, his funeral was naturally well managed and his posthumous reputation was highly respected. Compared with the deceased old prime minister, the living people are more concerned about the power gap left by Lu Duan.

Even more decisive than his previous decision on the selection of privy envoys, Liu Yang directly appointed a new minister: Zhang Qixian.

At this point, Zhang Qixian, a scholar from a poor family who stopped to "paint the land and offer advice" in Luoyang, was able to squeeze all the meritorious officials behind him and ascend to the top position of ministers, and also completed a "good story between emperor and minister" with Liu Yang ".

Of course, this achievement was hard-won and took nearly forty years in terms of time alone. At the same time, it is also because of the solid foundation laid by him through hard work and hardship over the past thirty years that he has achieved "rapid progress" in the past ten years.

From Yulin to Gyeonggi Province, then to Shangshu Youcheng, Finance Envoy, and finally to the summit of Shangshu Ling, this three-level jump was completed in ten years. This kind of opportunity is really difficult to replicate.

If others don't mention it, let's talk about Lu Duan. He had been prime minister in the central government for more than 20 years before becoming prime minister in the new dynasty. The prime minister and the prime minister often discuss politics in the same palace, and there is not even too much disparity in status and treatment. However, sometimes the gap between the two is really a chasm.

Zhang Qixian's appointment as prime minister will inevitably involve a series of personnel changes in the imperial court, especially the important position of financial envoy, which is undoubtedly an imperial party. Liu Yang chose Li Hang for his contribution to governing the southwest.

The person who succeeded Li Hang was a man almost forgotten by the upper class of the Han Dynasty, Lu Mengzheng. The "Trouble of Overthrowing the King" had a great impact on his career. However, as the emperor, Liu Yang did not forget him. Therefore, he was still able to become a feudal territory, or Jiannan Road, when he was close to the age of sixty.

At this point, the "Three Heroes" who were once in their prime have become old ministers with bright beards and truly dazzling stars in the political arena of the Han Dynasty.

While the situation in the dynasty was constantly changing, a series of ancestors including Hanoi Gonghantong, Pingyuan Gongsunli, Zhendinghou Caobin, Yangyihou Zhang Yongde, Mayihou Dangjin, Hongjianghou Qin Zaixiong, Gaoyang Bo Liu Tinghan, Dongyang Bo Li Chongjin and so on Many meritorious veterans and influential figures passed away one after another.

With the passing of these heroes and nobles, the traces belonging to Emperor Shizu have further faded, and that era has completely faded away, remaining only in the memories of some old people and in the writings of historians and literati.

The more obvious change is that in recent years, few people regard themselves as the ancestors and old ministers anymore. Even Yang Ye usually just stays at home and silently pays homage to himself.