Chapter 22 Sejong Chapter 22 The third year of Jianlong
In the third year of Jianlong (1020), in the summer, Emperor Liu Wenji, who had completed his first tour in his life, stationed himself in Kaifeng, Tokyo. This was the first time in more than ten years that the emperor of the Han Empire came to this city again.
For a long time, the Han Dynasty has been implementing the capital city system of "equal emphasis on both capitals and the accompanying capitals". However, the principle of "equal emphasis on both capitals" was actually somewhat broken in the late Kaibao period.
On the one hand, Empress Fu died in Tokyo, which made Kaifeng a sad place for Emperor Shizu. Coupled with his neglect in his later years, he basically no longer fulfilled his duties. By the Yongxi era, during the fourteen years, all of Emperor Taizong's thoughts and energy were
It was about the governance of the country, the improvement of the system, and the rectification of shortcomings. I went to Kaifeng once, but that was it.
As for the Pingkang period, Emperor Kangzong also stayed in Tokyo for a period of time. However, in Kangzong's view, everything in Kaifeng was available in Luoyang. At the same time, the palaces in Kaifeng were not as majestic as Ziwei City, and the palace gardens for hunting and playing were not as good as those in Luoyang West.
The garden was so vast and rich, and at the same time it was controlled by a group of Yongxi ministers, so he naturally had no interest in Tokyo. When Kangzong came to power, he was ambitious and could not be satisfied with just Tokyo. Going south and north was his choice.
When Liu Wenji succeeded to the throne, his main focus was on consolidating his position and reshaping imperial power. Entering the Jianlong era, as Liu Wenji gradually made his strong voice of the era, he finally had time to look beyond Xijing to Tokyo.
Just now it came into his field of vision.
Just like the concubines in the palace, the absence of the emperor's presence means falling out of favor, which means the decline of status and power in the palace. Although they are not completely the same, similar principles can still be applied to the status of the two capitals.
At least in the past thirty years, in the minds of many people, Luoyang, Xijing, was the most upright imperial capital of the empire, because the emperor and the central court were there, and everyone was accustomed to this.
But these people obviously do not include Kaifeng. In the minds of the people of Tokyo, they are the center of the world and the most reliable force for the rise of the empire, the pacification of the world, and the defeat of all barbarians. When Kaifeng provided support for Emperor Shizu's illustrious achievements,
Luoyang still only has the title of "ancient capital", but it is in a state of depression and dilapidation.
Of course, Kaifeng also has its proud confidence. Politically, although its status has declined, it is still the imperial capital, the legitimate imperial capital, and no one can take away the name and reality of "Tokyo".
In terms of population, Kaifeng was the only city in the Han Empire with more than one million people. In the past few decades, with the advancement of productivity and economic prosperity, large cities continued to pop up from the south to the north of the Han Empire. By the Jianlong era, ten
Cities with a population of more than 10,000 people abound, and some even exceed 500,000, such as Yangzhou, Jinling, Chengdu, Guangzhou, Hangzhou, Damingfu, and Youzhou, but they are still far away from the million mark.
Population size has always been an important measure of a city's comprehensive strength. The special thing about Kaifeng is that when the central government agencies and major functions were stationed in Luoyang, it still maintained a population of more than one million. To be honest, if
It doesn't take long for the imperial court to move back to Kaifeng someday. It only takes three to five years. With the conditions of Luoyang City, it will definitely not be able to maintain its status as a "million-dollar city". This is also where the gap between the east and west capitals lies.
Economically, there is no need to mention that in the third year of Jianlong, Tokyo City was still the most important economic center of the Han Empire, with the largest economic strength in the country, and its economic status was unshakable. It ranked among the best in the world, gathering water and land.
Goods are everywhere, which is Tokyo's unparalleled advantage.
In the past few decades, the southern economy has occupied an increasing proportion of the empire's economic territory, especially the southeastern region, which has visibly overshadowed the Central Plains and Hebei. But no matter how well it develops, its wealth will eventually be lost.
It also needs to be honest and provide a steady stream of transportation hubs. The empire has spent a huge amount of money to build Jianghuai water conservancy and develop north-south river transportation. This is also the purpose.
The salt, tea, grain and cloth transported from the southeast to the north every year is an extremely huge amount of materials, and most of these materials are transported through Tokyo and eventually reach Luoyang and are distributed to other northern prefectures and counties. Only this
The promotion of this item to Tokyo's economy is unimaginable.
At the same time, the southern coastal cities that combined the advantages of sea and land and accelerated urban development under the trend of overseas trade had huge potential, but their political disadvantages were difficult to make up for. Therefore, for a long time, Tokyo was in the imperial position.
The economic status is difficult to shake.
On the other hand, Luoyang has been experiencing food shortages since the Taizong period, and every year it is necessary to coordinate 500,000 to 1,000,000 shi of grain and rice from Kaifeng to stabilize prices and meet the needs of Xijing.
At this point, Luoyang could not be too arrogant when facing Kaifeng. At the same time, some petitions from Tokyo also reached Tianting through various channels, hoping that the imperial court could move back to the old capital where the founding of the industry was laid, and Luoyang raised
I can't afford the imperial court, but I can in Kaifeng.
This time, Luan Jia settled in Kaifeng, and was even regarded as a victory over Luoyang by some Tokyo citizens who were full of honor. In fact, some people have already instigated a joint petition to allow the emperor to be permanently stationed in Tokyo.
Of course, as far as Emperor Liu Wenji was concerned, there was no idea of moving the imperial court any further. It was really not necessary, and it was not necessary for the time being. At the same time, this was a big project in itself, which often cost the people and money. Liu Wenji was not the emperor, so he only had to make these decisions.
One sentence can make it happen, but he has too many things to worry about, even more than Emperor Taizong.
After returning from this southern tour, he visited Tokyo. This was planned before the tour. Liu Wenji made this decision, on the one hand, he valued Kaifeng's huge and important supplementary role to Luoyang, and on the other hand, he also wanted to appease the people of Tokyo.
There are various factions within the imperial court, including two factions in the capital, which have lasted for more than half a century. The Xijing faction naturally has many supporters and is strong, and the Tokyo faction is no less generous.
After all, they were the ones who ruled the empire in the early Han Dynasty. Liu Wenji did not dare to underestimate these, and it was necessary to give them some comfort.
As for the choice of Kyoto, even though Kaifeng has many good qualities, a single flaw is enough for the emperor to give up unless necessary. Kaifeng is a flat area with no danger to defend, and does not possess the "physical victory" attribute that a capital city should have.
As time goes by, Kaifeng has completely become a peaceful city. From a military perspective, Kaifeng has no military security except for the forbidden troops, patrols, and guards stationed to protect its security.
Word.
Furthermore, floods occur from time to time in the Huang and Bian river basins. Even though the court has invested a lot of human, financial and material resources in regulating the two rivers and building dams, due to the limitations of the times and technology, they only try their best, and the problem of the Yellow River remains.
A knife hanging over the heads of the officials and people of the two rivers in the Central Plains. Due to the topography, Kaifeng faced a greater threat than Luoyang. In the former, the battle of the Huazhou River caused heavy losses to the officials and the people. In Liu Wenji's plan, this time too
You have to go and see it in person to soothe people's livelihood.
Liu Wenji's southern tour began in the autumn of the second year of Jianlong. With the consolidation of imperial power and the stability of the political situation, the Han Empire ushered in a highly prosperous golden development period.
Many signs of prosperity are visible to the naked eye, and some data have even been provided to support it. For example, the empire's various taxes for the entire year in the first year of Jianlong totaled 91.5 million copper coins. It is impossible to say which one will be in the future.
Years ago, the population exceeded 100 million.
Of the more than 90 million yuan in tax revenue, gold, silver and copper coins have accounted for more than half. Various types of grain, grain, silk and silk are still important tax carriers. With the increase in the proportion of coins, it has even aroused the concerns of many conservative bureaucrats.
After all, compared with gold, silver and copper coins, real grains and silks are more reassuring. At the same time, official warehouses and charity warehouses in various places need to be filled, and the demand for the use of physical goods by the imperial administration is also very high.
At the same time, the proportion of commercial taxes has also been further increased. In addition to urban and municipal taxes, which account for the majority, the amount of customs duties at river, sea and land ports has increased significantly. The tax revenue of the five major customs alone was as high as 8 million yuan that year. Of course, this is
Based on the increasingly prosperous overseas trade, the results of decades of overseas colonization and development by the feudal state of Liu and various nobles have begun to be truly realized.
By the Jianlong period, the Han Kingdom's foreign trade, in addition to its traditional trading partners such as Korea and Japan, mainly consisted of the Liu family feudal states surrounding the empire. Of course, trade with Tianzhu and the Dashi region continued,
But the scale is shrinking day by day, especially the latter.
There are many reasons. The violent conflict between the Han civilization and the Yisl civilization is a very important reason. Even though such things as "fighting on land and passionate trade on sea" do happen, political, religious, and cultural issues
The restrictions are also real.
On the other hand, those feudal states in Nanyang that controlled the east-west waterways actually formed a barrier in the process of trade between the empire and the West. Although they did not prevent Western merchants and merchant ships from going to the empire to conduct trade.
, but there are also a large number of Arab merchant ships that return home immediately after completing transactions in Nanyang and obtaining the required goods.
It must be mentioned that due to frequent wars in the Dashi region and the obstruction of YSL civilization, the trade between the Han people and Europeans was seriously affected. From this period onwards, the exploration of new waterways and new merchants sprouted in both regions.
road ideas.
In the barbaric expansion of Southeast Asia, some nobles and businessmen even suggested that it would be more beneficial to send troops to Arabia to cooperate with the Anxi Three Kingdoms to destroy the Abbasid Empire, overthrow the YSL world, and completely open up trade routes.
Selling silk, porcelain, tea, and cotton from the Han Dynasty to the world
Of course, so far, this is just a voice, a greedy desire for expansion inspired by the Nanyang colonization movement. There are still many practical difficulties and conditions to put it into action, but Nanjinzhou
Some maritime merchants from the "South Liang Kingdom" (from the lineage of Liang Xiao Wang Liu Xiao, who had no heirs during his lifetime and was succeeded by Lu Wang Liu Yan's son) were already organizing fleets and planned to continue exploring southward along the African continent.
Although there are still many problems within the empire, on the whole, it still presents a "prosperous age" atmosphere, just like when Taizong was in power. After entering the second year of Jianlong, some people in the court were already shouting
"Jianlong prosperous age" refers to Wang Zeng, the envoy of Xuanwei.
But regarding this matter, Liu Wenji did not dare to admit it openly and accept it as a matter of course. How could a prosperous age be so easy to create? At least, the difficulties and resistance encountered in the process of rectifying national affairs made Liu Wenji not dare to take it lightly.
At the same time, Liu Wenji, who had personally experienced the entire Yongxi era, knew very well what the political conduct and people's sentiments were like during the Taizong period. Compared with the Yongxi dynasty, his Jianlong dynasty was far worse.
Not to mention anything else, the good political style of the Taizong period has not yet been promoted. Take the anti-corruption in officialdom as an example, the rules are still the same as those inherited from Taizong, and supervision and law enforcement have also given strong support.
However, the trend of corruption still persists, rising and falling one after another.
The corrupt officials in the world are like fighting guerrillas with Liu Wenji. Before they are caught, they are all loyal ministers and good officials. Once they are found out, they are hiding evil and evil. Some people don't even want to pretend, almost.
Tell Liu Wenji clearly: being an official is okay, but being honest is not okay.
As for frugality, the same is true. Liu Wenji greatly reduced the palace expenses in Ziwei City, compressed the number of palace servants that increased during the Kangzong period, and discarded all luxuries.
The emperor lived an "ordinary" life in the palace, but most of the dignitaries outside the palace remained extravagant and comparison-prone, without the consciousness of the Taizong period at all. In the final analysis, they still lacked the most sincere respect for today's emperor, especially those who have served as heroes.
In your noble family, it’s enough for you to be the emperor. How can you care about how everyone eats, drinks, and defecates?
That is to say, after Liu Wenji dealt with Princess Pingyang's consort Zhu Xi, those people just restrained themselves a little. Princess Liu Fei of Pingyang, Taizong's legitimate daughter, and Zhu Xi's consort Zhu Xi were extravagant in the first year of Jianlong's reign.
He was exiled to Yanshan North Road by Liu Wenji for ten years.
This was obviously a chicken, but what troubled Liu Wenji was that after this incident, there were rumors that the emperor wanted to continue to attack Empress Dowager Murong. By the Jianlong period, Empress Dowager Murong, who basically lived in seclusion in Ciming Palace, was alone.
, the Murong family was often ostracized during the reign, and some nobles felt pity for them. But the emperor would not even spare his own sisters, nor even the Empress Dowager Murong's only relative, Princess Pingyang, so how could we talk about benevolence, filial piety, and filial piety?
Therefore, the situation of the empire is constantly improving, and the country's development is continuing to improve, but the various pressures and worries faced by Emperor Liu Wenji are also constantly accumulating. Liu Wenji chose to go on tour in the second year of Jianlong, in addition to observing the political situation and inspecting the results of rectification
, it also has the meaning of going out to relax.
It was still the same, learning from the lessons of Kangzong and following the legacy of Taizong. The scale of the patrol was very small, and the total number of personnel in the entire camp was less than 3,000, most of whom were accompanied by imperial guards. The rest of the personnel, except for a small number of internal servants,
, are all capable ministers and officials drawn from the central ministries and yamen. As for the prime minister, they are accompanied by Wang Qinruo and Ding Wei.
Ding Wei was the governor of the capital at that time, and the former appointed the prime minister Zhang Shixun as the governor of the southeast, which led to major changes in the personnel of the political hall. After some wrestling, Ding Wei, who was the chief envoy of Hunan at the time, was quickly promoted to Beijing and became the prime minister.
Serve as the governor of the capital.
As for the destination of the tour, it is understandable to choose the southeastern region. It is the economic center of rapid development of the empire and an important financial and taxation place. More importantly, Liu Wenji spent a long time in Shanghai and Jinling during the Qianlong period.
For him personally, it has special feelings and is a place where he accumulates political capital. It is of great significance and also has the meaning of "returning home in glory".