sweeping the world

Chapter 633 There Is No Perfect System?
The system of prefectures and counties has existed since the Warring States period. After the first emperor swept the world and unified the world, it was for the sake of the central group that the first emperor abolished the common feudal states and emperors in the Warring States period and fully used the prefecture and county system.

When Liu Bang established the Han Empire, although he proclaimed himself emperor, he was not the strongest. Even Han Xin's military strength was much stronger than him at that time, not to mention some princes and kings such as Peng Yue, so they continued to enfeoff. .

Liu Bang used various means to eliminate those princes with different surnames in the late period. Even Han Xin, who had been helping him, died at the hands of women in the end.

It was Liu Che's period that the enfeoffment system was curbed, but he did not completely abolish the enfeoffment system, but continued to divide the fiefdoms of the kings and princes with the Tweet Order.

When Liu Xiu rebuilt the Han Empire, he was very sensible and didn't enfeoff all the officials wantonly. He set up a system of how many households. These princes only have the right to benefit but not the right to manage.Facts have also proved the usefulness of clan enfeoffment, how many times it is because the prince surnamed Liu is not weak, waiting for the emperor to have no heirs before he can become a substitute, so that Jiangshan did not change his surname. (The imperial clans of the Eastern Han Dynasty were all heirs to the throne)

Of course, Liu Yan would confer kingship on his heirs, and would also give them the fiefdoms they deserved, considering issues such as the continuation of the Han Empire, but the local people would not choose land for enfeoffment.

Liu Yan also thought for a long time about whether a different surname should be crowned as a king, and he came to the conclusion that there cannot be a king with a different surname.Which of those dynasties without kings with different surnames is really eternal?It perished before it was time to perish.

The reason why Liu Yan does not plan to enfeoff kings with different surnames is very simple. Any country has its own rules, and the founding king must be more cautious about maintaining the state system. Since it is called the Han Kingdom, it is very difficult to continue the policies of the former Han in some systems. Is necessary.

Kings with different surnames are not divided, but meritorious ministers can be granted marquis. Now there are more than ten marquises in the Han Dynasty, but they are all Tinghou, with a maximum of [-] households and a minimum of [-] households.

The Tinghou of the Han Dynasty continued the policy of the Eastern Han Dynasty. They had no governance rights but only income rights. This was not only the case in the Eastern Han Dynasty, but also basically the same in all subsequent dynasties.

After the old land of the Han family is fully restored, Liu Yan will choose lands other than the "basic land" to give to the princes, and those lands will be given to the princes to govern.Not only is it the power of governance, but he will also give the power to set taxes, conscription, and build an army, which will only limit legislative power and diplomatic power.

The "basic disk" in Liu Yan's eyes is not the old land of the Han family in the Western Han Dynasty or the Eastern Han Dynasty. , all of Vietnam, all of the Japanese Islands, all of Australia, and Central Asia and Arabia.

Those areas that will be counted in the "basic disk", some have a very important strategic position, and some are extremely rich in resources. Having those areas is tantamount to mastering the future.

Liu Yan will pay attention to the Indochina Peninsula because he has already set his sights on the later generations of Asan's territory. He just wants to use it as the first feast to be divided up. The Western Regions go south, and when the time comes to occupy the territory, you will be able to divide the princes.

The territory of the Han Dynasty will become larger and larger, and how to divide the administrative regions needs to be more cautious. As far as the Chinese ancestors have used the feudal system and the county system, the administrative unit of the state was added later.

If you look at the division of administrative divisions in ancient China, you will find that they are all phenomena of wide-ranging governance. For example, a state shepherd manages millions of square kilometers of land, and there are county guards under the state shepherd who each manage hundreds of thousands of square kilometers of land. A county magistrate has to manage tens of thousands of people.

In ancient times, under the county magistrate, there was the county magistrate, then the county magistrate, and then there were the Liucao, plus the administrative staff such as the upstream, the rank, and the coward, and there were only dozens of civil servants in the county-level units. That's right, tens of thousands of people.

There are also townships under the county, and three elders are established in the townships.There is a li under the countryside, and the li is upright.There is a pavilion under the li, and the head of the pavilion is set up.

It can be said that in ancient times, a civil servant may have to deal with thousands of people. When the legal system was strict and the phenomenon of local tyranny was not serious, government orders could naturally be issued to the bottom. Level, the place is held in the hands of the squires.

In Liu Yan's memory, the Ariake generation was the one who had the least power over local management. It wasn't that the emperor himself was stupid, but that he was slowly emptied out by those so-called scholars, and he encountered unprecedented resistance when he was waiting to take it back.

In the Ming Dynasty, the county level stipulated how much tax to collect, and then the local gentry helped collect taxes from the people. The government set the tax, and usually added several times the tax when the gentry collected taxes.

In addition, the Ming Dynasty could enjoy the privilege of not paying taxes and serving corvee after having achieved fame. While the squires imposed heavy taxes on the people, they coerced and lured the people to include their land under the name of the squires.To be able to be a squire in the Ming Dynasty, in fact, one has to be famous.

By the way, during Zhu Yuanzhang's time, people had to be promoted to be tax-free, and the tax exemption was also limited to acres. However, becoming a civil servant did not mean that you would not have to pay taxes at all.Scholars can be exempted from taxes. This is an unspoken rule created by a group of scholars themselves, and even the tax exemption limit has been eliminated.

At the beginning, Liu Yan recruited veterans to the countryside to become civil servants in order to buy the morale of the army. Later, it covered the care of disabled soldiers. Once it was implemented, it was found that it would help control the countryside, so it continued for a long time.

In today's Han Dynasty, as long as there are people living there, there must be retired soldiers. They fill all grassroots positions, especially the largest number of soldiers.Due to the fact that there are not many scholars in the Han Dynasty, as long as there is knowledge, there is a high chance of being appointed as the county magistrate of a certain county.

Even county magistrates can be appointed, and officials such as county magistrates are not a problem. This is also the most depressing point for some full-time civil servants.

However, then again, there is no rule in the Han Dynasty that civil servants cannot be transferred to military positions, and only those who do not have confidence in themselves will be depressed.After all, now is an era when there is no distinction between civil and military, and as long as you have enough skills, you can get on the horse, be a general, or be a minister.

Military veterans go to the countryside to become the grassroots. They, who have more national and ethnic concepts than ordinary people, can exert a great influence on the people, and at the same time strengthen the country's control over the countryside. Some people are uncomfortable with this group People limit their reach.

When the inspection team arrived in Xiangguo, Liu Yan was still thinking about how to determine the division of administrative regions. He moved into Miyagi and immediately summoned all the ministers.

"There are li above the pavilion, there are townships above the li, and there are counties above the townships. This is the basis of the system of counties and counties." Sang Yu was born in a wealthy family. He has a very solid cultural foundation, and he must be in a high position. Reading the classics, one must be familiar with the system of prefectures and counties. In just a few sentences, the system of prefectures and counties is briefly described, followed by: "The territory of the early Han Dynasty was larger than that of Qin. In the early days, there was a lack of local officials, and it was difficult to achieve the goal of generals like Qin." Administrative power was transferred down to the grassroots level, and later to the state level.”

In the early Western Han Dynasty, the rule of inaction was implemented, that is, to let the county level develop on its own, not to engage in frequent collection of corvees, and to let the people recuperate to the greatest extent.During the reign of Emperor Han Xiaowen and Emperor Han Xiaojing, the Han Empire did recover from the collapse of the period of hegemony, and the subsequent purge of princes and Lu's rebellion. The population also increased the fastest during that period.

Until Liu Che began to gather power, the countryside of the Han Empire was basically a happy park for various rangers to run wild. Rangers in the countryside were much more useful than official personnel.Of course, this was not allowed for a tough emperor like Liu Che. After several "severe crackdowns" on the rangers, control of the countryside was restored to the official government.

By the way, the administrative unit of "state" was established during Liu Che's administration, and the background was to strengthen the centralization of power.In the fifth year of Yuanfeng ([-] BC), he initiated the department governor system and divided the country into thirteen supervisory districts.The name of the surveillance area is named the state, and the highest official of a state is called the governor.In addition to thirteen prefectures, Sili Xiaowei Departments were established in seven counties in Sanfu (Jingzhao, Youfufeng, Zuofengyi), Sanhe (Hanoi, Henan, Hedong), and Hongnong.The so-called Sili Xiaowei Department is at the same level as the state, directly under the central government, and is in charge of the areas near the capital. Together with the thirteen states, it is called the Fourteen States.

Although the "state" was developed in the Western Han Dynasty, the states in the Western Han Dynasty were only supervisory areas, not real administrative areas.The real administrative region is only at the county and county levels, and the prefect of the county directly communicates with the central government without going through the state level.

It was not until the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty that the state changed from a supervisory area to an administrative area, and became a first-level administrative division above the county level, forming a three-level system of state, county, and county.The country is still thirteen states.This system lasted for about 400 years.

Cai You took the territory map to find Liu Yan. It was a matter of discussion with his colleagues. Before that, he had done a lot of historical data research, not to mention a lot of communication. It is impossible not to know the historical background under which the state became a real administrative region. .

The reason why the state became a real administrative region at the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty was that after the Yellow Turban Rebellion, the authority of the central government fell to the bottom of history.The state has become an administrative region in the true sense, which is precisely the main reason why the princes stand side by side.

"I think that the jurisdiction of the state can be reduced and more states can be divided." Sang Yu's suggestion is based on the premise of avoiding a state that is too powerful.Seeing that Liu Yan was still listening intently, he continued, "Maybe two or three counties can be established as a state?"

Liu Yan is very satisfied with the attitude of the ministers. In order to avoid excessive expansion of local power, the administrative area must not be too large, but should be reduced as much as possible under reasonable premise.

In fact, the scope of the state has been decreasing since the Northern and Southern Dynasties. Of course, this is because the central government is worried that the scope of the state will be too large to cause instability. to nearly sixty states.By the end of the Southern and Northern Dynasties, the number of prefectures had reached an exaggerated 300. In fact, the land of a state at this time was not as large as the land of a county in the early Han Dynasty.

"How about abolishing the state?" Xu Zheng saw that everyone looked over, and said carelessly: "Directly restore the two-level system of prefectures and counties in Qin Dynasty, or just have it."

At that moment, Cai You and Sang Yu directly covered their foreheads with their hands, Yu Yi and the others looked at each other, while Liu Yan remained expressionless.

Not to mention, when Yang Guang ruled the Great Sui Dynasty, the prefectures were really abolished, and the two-level system of prefectures and counties in the Qin Empire was restored.

"Look at what I'm doing?" Xu Zheng said naturally: "At the end of the Han Dynasty, the state was established, and a state and herdsmen each supported their own troops, which led to the separatist regimes and chaotic wars of the subsequent princes. After killing and killing, the Central Plains became Hu. Don't abandon the pastures of the captives and keep them in order to reproduce the chaos of the princes!"

At this moment, no matter how many words there are, no one can say it. The jurisdiction of the state is too large, and it is really a real hidden danger.

Liu Yan thought of a solution, which is to separate the military from the government, but in fact it still treats the symptoms rather than the root cause.He even knew that no matter how the administrative districts were divided, as long as the rulers were infuriated, no matter how they divided the administrative districts, they would not be able to prevent the ambitious people from strengthening their own strength. The system was to prevent that from happening to the greatest extent possible.

Now engage in military and political separation?That is really a separation of civil and military families. From now on, Congwen will only be Congwen, and when it is time to be Congwu, he will fall head first into Congwu. If there is peace for a long time, the status of military generals will inevitably be reduced again and again, and it will inevitably lead to the war between the two Song Dynasties. There was a situation like that in the Ming Dynasty, when civil servants climbed on the heads of military commanders to urinate and urinate wantonly. Don't blame the military commanders for not working hard, and even rushed to surrender to the enemy in a national war.

If you want to maximize the centralization of power, you really don't need the administrative unit of "state". In a true sense, restoring the Qin Empire's two-level system of counties and counties is indeed a good choice, provided that there are enough administrative personnel.

Looking at the dynasties and dynasties, it is true that the Qin Empire has the highest control over the country's grassroots, but it is only limited to enough administrators who are loyal to the central government. After destroying the six countries, a large number of people from the six countries are officials. Once they have nothing to do with the central government Ownership, even the two-level system of counties and counties can't be played.

So, what kind of administrative district system should Liu Yan choose to minimize the risk, but in fact the most important thing is that the officials and the people are at odds with each other.

[Later dynasties successively reduced the scope of the state successively, and even abolished the level of the state. It must be reasonable to do so] Liu Yan looked at Xu Zhengyi's one-to-many mutual confrontation, while thinking: [Since it makes sense to abolish the administrative level of the state, it should be abolished. 】

To be honest, Liu Yan is still more used to modern administrative divisions, but he knows that every era has its own system, and he can only use the losses suffered by countless ancestors as a lesson. I am most used to the modern military system, so why didn't I move here directly.

Later, the debate among the ministers came to a conclusion, that is, to abolish the administrative level of the prefecture, but they fell into the debate on whether to restore the two-tier system of prefectures and counties in the Qin Empire.

(End of this chapter)