sweeping the world

Chapter 679 Arrival
As one of the three princes, Sang Yu, the imperial envoy, went to the south last year, mainly to carry out various purges against the local government, and indeed investigated many officials who were corrupt and broke the law.

Because of the constraints of the times, being able to be an official is basically not low-born, basically either a family or a son of a big family. From the perspective of the southern family (big family), Sang Yu's inspection of the southern counties is a way to further suppress the southern gentry. The division of the southern gentry itself, and the south as the defeated party, they have no leader who wants to fight back, and most of those who can be the leader want to keep a low profile.

When the central government sent the official document, Sang Yu was in Shouchun.

"The battle of invasion was won, but no food was obtained." As one of the three princes, Sangyu was naturally qualified to get some important information from the Dibao. He already knew that Huanwen won the first battle, but the Gupta Dynasty did not surrender.He had just finished reading another mansion newspaper, which said that countries in the west sent envoys to Han: "Not as reception envoys, but to supervise projects in various places?"

The construction of two national highways in Han Dynasty was something that had been discussed and determined early on. Preliminary work had already started in the seventh year of Yuanshuo. While organizing the people, various materials were also dispatched to the counties along the project route.

Sang Yu inspected the south more or less deliberately to suppress the southern gentry, the premise is that they have really committed crimes, if the gentry everywhere is peaceful, he has no reason to do it even if he wants to.

Sang Yu was patrolling in the south, and Cui Yue was patrolling in the north. The central government's attitude was a businesslike one, and officials arrested for committing crimes were from both the south and the north.

It has been eight years since Han was established, but it took less than three years to unify the north and the south. Last year, the northeast and grassland countries were just destroyed. The overall national situation seems to be booming. It is true that there are not many people who are not open-eyed and want to make trouble.

Official corruption cannot be completely banned in any era. Relatively speaking, corruption among officials from aristocratic families is relatively rare. On the contrary, corruption is most serious after the rise of the scholar class.

At present, there is no huge corruption in the Han Dynasty. Most of the corruption among officials is misappropriation of materials. If time permits, they will make up for it.This situation is basically based on the temporary embezzlement that the family needs, and the family will make up for it when it slows down. After all, the aristocratic family pays more attention to the future than the money.

"The current Jiankang Order is Wang Meng, right?" Sang Yu asked Yuan Qiao.The route of his southern tour has not passed through Jiankang, and he focused on the former Yuzhou area before, and asked: "The servant is going south this time, is he going to Jiankang?"

Yuan Qiao was the one who brought Sang Yu the Duke Wen of the Central Committee, and he would also be responsible for receiving diplomatic missions from various countries.

Wang Meng was an official in the original Jizhou before, and was later transferred to Jiankang to become the county magistrate.Official positions in the Han Dynasty were not divided into grades. Salaries were distinguished based on the number of people who pastored and guarded the city. Counties with a larger population were called "Ling", and counties with a smaller population were called "Chief". There were also county magistrates and magistrates. The distinction of the magistrate.

Recently, Liu Yan has been considering using the system of the Ninth Rank Zhongzheng System to plan official positions, that is, the system of first rank, second rank... to ninth rank. At the same time, he will also implement the three provinces and six ministries system, which requires an excessive process.

There is no absolutely perfect system in the world. It just depends on whether it is suitable. There must be a reason why the system of Sangong and Jiuqing was eliminated. The implementation of the three provinces and six ministries may be a historical trend.

Compared with the "big and integrated" of the Sangong and Jiuqing, the three provinces and six ministries are more detailed in the responsibilities of each department, which is also a step closer to the ruler's decentralization of power to the hundred officials.In fact, after the three provinces and six ministries were implemented, the prime ministers alone became three, no longer a single prime minister under the Sangong Jiuqing system, and because there are six departments, there will be six ministers, which is indeed one in terms of power. This weakening, to achieve the goal of consolidating imperial power.

The system of a country does not start to change just because of a word from the ruler. Every system change is a struggle for power. Liu Yan already had that meaning, giving enough time for all officials to compete, but official appointments Liu Yan still has the final say.

Not only does Liu Yan want to set up three provinces and six ministries, he will also establish a cabinet, and then there are foreign invasion departments, all of which need time to transition.

Sang Yu was thinking about whether to go to Jiankang ahead of time, and thought about giving up that idea.He didn't feel that those countries could afford his reception. They had the responsibility to inspect places, and then they were given the responsibility of supervising projects. There was no extra time wasted on seemingly insignificant things.

Yuan Qiao delivered the official document to Sang Yu, had a banquet with him that night, and set off for Jiankang the next morning.

"Although the imperial envoy had the intention to suppress, he did not abuse his power." Wang Biaozhi and Wang Xizhi belonged to the same family, he was the second son of Wang Xizhi's uncle Wang Bin, and Wang Xizhi's cousin.This time he followed Yuan Qiao to the south as an official official, and the so-called official official was not a big official.

"Who is Mr. Sang? How can you arrange behind your back?" Yuan Qiao didn't feel bad for Wang Biaozhi. Seeing that he was born in the south, he reprimanded him: "Since you are already a member of the Han Dynasty, you can no longer use the old dynasty (small court) ) act."

Yuan Qiao's actual age is younger than Wang Biaozhi's, but his official position is higher than Wang Biaozhi's, so he is indeed qualified to say those words.

The current situation of the Wang family has long been no longer the prosperity of one of the four great powers of the small court of the Eastern Jin Dynasty. Because they supported the small court against the Han, the family strength has been reduced a lot, and they will inevitably be liquidated later. The children of the family are I haven't played much, but the loss of family wealth is really big, and the family servants have been disbanded except for those who are far away in the Indochina Peninsula.

The original four big clans of the Eastern Jin small court had their own situations after the collapse of the Eastern Jin small court. They basically had the same situation in terms of land holdings, and the difference was how many servants they could leave behind.Furthermore, whether anyone in the family is still an official, and what kind of official they are, is also one of the measures to distinguish the situation.

The Yu family had Yu Yi as a court captain, the Huan family had Huan Wen as a general in the southern expedition, the Xie family had Xie An as a general in the expedition to the west, but the Wang family had no officials who could handle it.Judging from the situation of each family, the Wang family is undoubtedly the worst among the four original families.

"Your Majesty admires Yi Shao very much, so don't cause more trouble for Yi Shao." The Yi Shao that Yuan Qiao said was naturally Wang Xizhi, and Liu Yan recruited Wang Xizhi to become a doctor. Although he was not a high-ranking official, Liu Yan often called him The conversation is an opportunity for the Wang family to rise again: "This time I got the job of receiving diplomatic missions from various countries, Shuhu must work hard."

Wang Biaozhi naturally responded respectfully.

It is nearly three hundred miles from Shouchun to Jiankang. Some sections along the way are best taken by water. After reaching Liangjun, the only way is by land.

When the Han Dynasty eliminated the small imperial court of the Eastern Jin Dynasty, it was also the aristocratic families that targeted the south, especially some aristocratic families that persisted in resistance.Those aristocratic families were wiped out by Huan Wen's army, but the benefits outweighed the disadvantages for ordinary people. A large part of the nationalized land was leased to the people.

The new year is coming, and spring is the time for farming. Yuan Qiao can see busy figures everywhere in the countryside all the way south. After comparing the scenes in the north and the south, he feels: "The climate in the north changes suddenly, and spring plowing is difficult. But the south is the same as in previous years.”

In the north, the people naturally want to farm, but there is neither snow nor much rain in the sky, which has a great impact on spring farming. Everyone is worried that even if they plant seeds in spring, they don't know whether they will be able to harvest in autumn.

The center of the Han Dynasty was very sure that the drought was coming, but it did not stop the people in the north from farming, just because it was one thing whether there would be a disaster, but preventing the people from spring plowing was bound to cause accidents.

After farming, the people in the north were conscripted by the government in the form of corvee. While the counties and counties recruited strong laborers, they also issued recruitment notices to attract more people who did not belong to corvee, instead of using compulsory administrative orders to deal with them. The people are concentrated.Of course, this happened because of the fear of accidents, so it could only be carried out in the normal way of corvee and persuasion. After the disaster really happened, the people would only be grateful.

Thanks to the repeated defeat of the nomads by the Han army, the Han State had no shortage of horses or cattle. It borrowed from the pre-Qin cattle leasing method. The north mainly used horses for farming, while the south used cattle for farming. There are official farm horses and cattle available for rent by the common people.

When Yuan Qiao saw the fields being plowed, it was basically people driving oxen to plow the fields. The people working on the fields were not of a fixed age group, but basically all the men, women, and children of the whole family were working.

"The north will suffer disaster, and the burden on the south will be even heavier." Seeing Yuan Qiao glaring at him, Wang Biaozhi had to explain: "Position does not mean tax increase, but a regional responsibility."

In years of disaster, all dynasties have done this to increase taxes on areas that were not affected by the disaster. It is simply an approach of tearing down the western wall to make up for the eastern wall.

Liu Yan has naturally received similar suggestions, such as tax increases for areas not affected by the disaster.After careful consideration, he didn't accept the opinion, but he didn't block the suggestion. He vaguely mentioned that he should take the next step according to the situation he faced.

"The big man conquered Gupta just to plunder food." Yuan Qiao sighed out of nowhere, "I hope to get more food, otherwise..."

otherwise?Foreign plunder cannot guarantee food, and domestic tax increases will become inevitable. At that time, the South will definitely cry out.

Entering the boundary of Liangjun, Yuan Qiao received a notice from Jiankang, saying that the first batch of envoys had landed at Jingkou, and Wang Meng, the order of Jiankang, made arrangements to allow the envoys to enter Jiankang City.

The first group of missions to arrive in Han was from Persian Sassan, Liangsatrapu, Kalabalas, Lambazina, and Jidoro (the remnant of Guishuang). No prior notification.

"The remnants of the descendants of Guishuang?" Of course Yuan Qiao knew about the former Guishuang Empire, and was quite surprised that there were still remnants: "The Jiankang Order didn't arrange a residence for Ji Duoruo?"

The Jidoluo dynasty was not included in the list that Wang Meng received. In fact, the Jidoluo envoy was temporarily brought in by the Persian Sassanids. If the Han Dynasty was not notified, then don't blame Wang Meng for not receiving it with official etiquette. .

Yu He is the third son of the late Yu Liang. He is currently the magistrate of Jiankang County. He was assigned by Wang Meng to receive Yuan Qiao and his party in the Yangtze River. Some things need to be communicated in advance.

Yuan Qiao didn't think there was anything wrong with Wang Meng's doing that. Han is a big country in the world, so there is no need to look at anyone's face. On the contrary, others should look at Han's face.

"The Jiduoluo Mission is currently being taken in by the Sasanian Mission, and He's superior has not interfered." Yu He seems to be a very stable person, but he is actually Xie Shang's son-in-law. He married Xie Shang's eldest daughter, Xie Seng Yao, and then Because Xie Shang's other daughter married Yin Xin of the Yin family, and because of his brother-in-law's relationship with the Yin family is also very good.

Marriages between aristocratic families were very frequent, and each family basically had some kind of relationship. It was precisely because of this that aristocratic families were more fearful of the rulers.

The envoy of the Persian Sasanian Mission was born in the royal family, and his name was Kianoush Arta Ardashir.The deputy envoy is Egutay Bahram.The number of their entire mission reached 600 people, and there were as many as [-] ships carrying people and goods.

The second largest is Liangsatrapu, with more than [-] people in addition to the principal and deputy envoys, and the ships they take are provided by Han.The remaining envoys from various countries ranged from dozens to hundreds. Except for Calabasas, who also took their own ships, the rest were all on Han ships.What they all have in common is that they carry a lot of cargo.

Yuan Qiao was not surprised to hear that a member of the Persian Sassanian royal family came. For the royal family of a foreign country, if the king came in person, he would pay attention to it, and the prince would also be taken seriously. No country has a large number of royal family members. people?
"Embassy missions from various countries carry a large amount of goods. Except for a small amount of tribute, the rest are all for trade with the big man." Yu He is very worried about this: "The people who are outsiders are too ignorant. The goods are brought to the market for sale."

Every country has its own specialties. There is no shortage of ivory, gems and other things in Asan. What the Persians can get their hands on are blankets.

"The goods they brought to the market didn't sell much." Yu He was telling it as a joke, saying some interesting things, and then went on to say: "The envoys bought a lot after they arrived at the market, and they almost saw something. Just buy anything, especially silk."

The Central Plains dynasty would not understand the obsession and desire of various countries for silk. In fact, the amount of silk traded among the people was not large. It was basically purchased in bulk by families who could afford it, and then it was a special supply for the royal family, so there was not much silk on the market. .

It is a matter of course that the goods brought by the envoys to Han were not sought after. People would buy ivory and the like, and gems and the like could not be sold because of the different national values. After all, Zhu Xia liked jade. Not any gems, even pearls will be more sought after than gems.

"As long as they pay taxes, it doesn't matter how they do business." Yuan Qiao really didn't care, but it was because of the actions of the various envoys that he felt contemptuous.

(End of this chapter)