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.
In the past two or three years, under Liu Yang's encouragement, the imperial court further strengthened the construction of the rule of law and intensified the crackdown on those who violated the law and discipline, stole the country and abused the people. Every autumn, hundreds of officials at all levels were imprisoned.
He was taken to Luoyang Nan City and beheaded 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 or even thousands. But in terms of the frequency of killing officials, Liu Yang was not.
To surpass his father, he pursues the rule of law, punishes according to the law, kills immediately when sentenced to death, and kills rationally.
Some emperors killed people, which would lead to separation of people's hearts, chaos in government, and weakening of the country; some emperors who killed people would make people more unified, have clear politics, and make the country rich and powerful. Liu Yang is obviously the latter, because he does not kill people indiscriminately.
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 was too fierce, positions were already saturated, and talents were 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. He investigated, understood, and listened to the actual situation from various parties, and made detailed determinations on 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 official and appointed official system has been very complete, including civil and military casual officials, and officials with honorary ranks. They are all established and have not changed much. On the contrary, for the "officials" who live under the official system, there has never been a single official.
Clear and clear positioning and management regulations.
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 are several times or even ten times as many as the officials are the ones directly responsible for handling affairs and managing the people. They are also the tentacles of the Han Empire's ruling system that extends to the local areas and reaches the people. And the local officials are often through
Control the future and power of officials to influence the situation under governance and determine the fate of the people
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 role this group played in the social management model of the Han Empire. The country must
To maintain stability and manage the people, the most indispensable 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.
It means to standardize the huge group of Han officials. One of the most striking features is that the imperial court divided the officials into twenty levels, which basically corresponded to the ranks from clan nobles, central department officials to ordinary village officials.
The level of the official is determined, and the annual salary is paid according to the level.
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 from 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 all the bumps and bruises. Just like the tax reform, it finally reached a compromise.
The same is true for civil service reform. When the struggle reaches a certain level, stability and balance still prevail. However, in this process, tens of thousands of redundant personnel are 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 there are also people who want to make a fortune. Especially if they are just a small and humble person in China.
Officials can directly serve as officials after arriving 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 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 system and can be "fighted" when they are brought out.
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 defeat Puhualuo City and defeat the Samanid dynasty that had dominated the Hezhong area for hundreds of years.
It was destroyed.
After the three kingdoms divided up the Samanid dynasty's heritage, they began to establish Han rule based on military conquest. This process was 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 exactly what the three countries are in short supply, especially Anxi and Kangxi, which have obtained large areas 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. Compared with the south, which has not completely shaken off the impression of "barbarism", it is still the Central Asia region that has given birth to brilliant civilizations, has a glorious history and has close communication with China. It attracts the officials of the Han Dynasty.
They are more capable, especially those in the Midwest.
Compared with the past, there is an obvious difference between the brain drain phenomenon that occurred in the 7th and 9th years of Yongxi's reign. That is, the proportion of spontaneous selection this time was 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 has changed, starting from the ideological changes. During this change, the concepts of the upper class of the Han Dynasty are also quietly changing, a change that has 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 discharge theory" proposed by Emperor Shizu in his early years has become increasingly prominent during the Yongxi Dynasty.
The people who rebelled were killed, and those who harmed Tianhe were left with deep hatred and moved abroad; the officials who committed crimes but were not punished with death were exiled; the homeless people who appeared due to natural disasters can also move abroad; including this "
The redundant bureaucrats produced by the reform of the official system can still be exported to the outside world.
It seems that any problem that arises within the empire has found a solution. After all, all problems arise from "people". Once the "people" are solved, then 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.
The direction of the world brings a kind of uncertainty. In the future world, at least in an Asian world shrouded in "Han tradition", the historical development will be 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 rule, and the imperial court wanted to measure the population of the Han Dynasty.
Make an understanding.
Since the completion of the tax reform, local governments have actually not cared so much about population numbers, at least not so much about the numbers. After all, tax collection is no longer based on population.
Therefore, the population statistics that were once inaccurate but always consistent have gradually become neglected. At the same time, in the past ten years, another wave of baby boom has occurred in the Han Dynasty, which has further added to the population size.
Mist.
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 could never be abandoned. Especially during Liu Yang's western tour, he found that in some places, the household registration system had already
It's in name only, the government doesn't care about human feelings, and doesn't know how to distinguish between people.
But it 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. I don’t really think that when the government restrains itself, the untouchables at the bottom of Guizhou can relieve their burdens, concentrate on production, and live happily.
Live life?
In view of this, as early as the eighth year of Yongxi reign, an imperial edict on the national census system was officially issued, and the various requirements for demographic statistics 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 military service and corvee recruitment. On the other hand, just like when Shizu visited Luoshan County privately, Liu Wenhuan and the ignorant people
As the argument goes, registering is also a way to protect 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 figure may not be accurate, but it has become a fact that the total number of main customers across the country has exceeded 100 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 foreign immigrants and did business, and even adopted encouraging attitudes and policies.
However, it is still an old problem. Not many people are willing to leave. If it is not impossible to survive, who is willing to wander outside. However, in the prosperous era of Yongxi, how can the people not be able to survive?
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, which 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. But compared to the deceased old prime minister, the living people were more concerned about the power void 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 in Luoyang to "paint the land and offer suggestions", 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 is not easy to come by. In terms of time alone, it took nearly forty years. At the same time, it is also because of the solid foundation laid by him through hard work and hardship in the first thirty years that he has made rapid progress in the past ten years.
.
From Yulin to Gyeonggi Province, then to Shangshu Youcheng, Finance Envoy, and finally to the top 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 has been the prime minister in the central government for more than 20 years and just became the prime minister in the new dynasty. Prime ministers and prime ministers often discuss politics in the same palace, and even have no status or treatment.
The disparity is too great, but 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 financial officer, who has real power and important positions. There is no doubt that he belongs to the imperial party. Liu Yang chose Li Hang for his contribution to governing the southwest.
The person who succeeded Li Hang was a man who was almost forgotten by the upper class of the Han Dynasty, Lu Mengzheng. The "disruption of the king's overthrow" had a great impact on his career. However, as the emperor, Liu Yang did not forget him, so he
Can he still become a feudal territory at the age of nearly sixty, or Jiannan Dao?
At this point, the "three heroes" who were once in their prime have become old ministers with bright heads and gray beards, and have become 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 Gong Hantong, Pingyuan Gongsun Li, Zhending Hou Cao Bin, Yangyi Hou Zhang Yongde, Mayi Hou Dangjin, Hongjiang Hou 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 gone away, remaining only in the memories of some old people and preserved in the writings of historians and literati.
The more obvious change is that in recent years, few people regard themselves as ancestors and old ministers anymore. Even Yang Ye usually just stays at home, silently paying homage to himself.