Chapter 678: The Tang Dynasty had only three million households
This day.
Su Mingzhe convened hundreds of officials in the Hanyuan Hall of Taiji Palace to hold a court meeting, preparing to implement several national policies he had thought about.
The Tang Dynasty held a grand meeting once a month, either at the beginning of the month or in the middle of the month.
This time the imperial meeting was held on March 15th.
After everyone went to court, they reported to the emperor the matters belonging to their respective departments.
Su Mingzhe did not express his opinions easily, but only referred it to the three ministers of the DPRK and the Central Government for discussion, expressing his attitude of governing from the top down.
Throughout the ages, court ministers have liked the emperor to rule from the top.
Only when the emperor rules from the top down can it mean that the country has entered an era of prosperity and that the government will be clear and bright.
The things the ministers talked about were quite complicated.
For example, Wei Zheng would talk about the work of the censor at one time, report on the affairs of the Prince's East Palace at another, and report on the data of the Young Master at another.
As the prime minister of the dynasty, Wei Zheng was responsible for so many things, which was also caused by a strange situation in the early years of Zhenguan.
In the early years of Zhenguan, Li Shimin ordered Fang Xuanling to reduce the number of officials in the province. There were only more than 600 registered officials in the country, which resulted in many officials holding multiple positions.
Local government affairs are basically handed over to local clans.
There are two things to explain here.
First of all, Fang Xuanling's province is overstaffed, and there are only more than 600 registered officials in the country. This does not mean that these 600 officials can manage the country, but because there are only so many reliable officials who can be used.
The second point is that there are only more than 600 officials in a country. From this, you can imagine that although the Tang Dynasty claimed to dominate the world, in fact, after leaving Chang'an City, the emperor's words would need the cooperation of the powerful clans to implement them.
The reason why these things happened during the Zhenguan period was mainly because the Central Plains had been in turmoil for four hundred years, and the total population of the country was only 3 million households, or more than 10 million people.
The population is only this small, but it is spread all over the country.
The vast territory and sparse population are the biggest characteristics of the Tang Dynasty at present.
If you want to govern a place, the court can only rely on the local noble families.
For this reason, Yang Guang implemented the imperial examination system and wanted to collect children from poor families for his own use.
As a result, these children from poor families failed to live up to their expectations, and those with a little talent turned to local prominent families one after another.
But those who have great talents lack awe of the imperial court.
The final result was that in the 23rd year of Emperor Taizong's reign, only 205 people were admitted through the imperial examination.
It has become a joke.
You should know that during the Ming and Qing Dynasties, the minimum number of candidates for an imperial examination was three hundred.
In other words, during the twenty-three years that Emperor Taizong of the Tang Dynasty was in power, the total number of scholars he obtained was not as large as the number of scholars he obtained in one imperial examination during the Ming and Qing Dynasties.
Under such circumstances, when Su Mingzhe governed the country, he did not want to confront those powerful factions.
Wait until the ministers have finished discussing the matter.
Su Mingzhe then said:
"The prince's majestic appearance, benevolence and filial piety are profound. Kong Yingda, Yan Shigu, Yu Zhining, Du Zhenglun, Wei Zheng and other officials of the East Palace have made indispensable contributions. I want to expand the Imperial Academy, recruit the youngest sons from all over the world, teach them, and broaden the people's wisdom, so that
I, the people of the Tang Dynasty, are all like dragons..."
In the Imperial College, it is divided into six branches: Guozixue, Taixue, Four Schools, Legal Studies, Calligraphy, and Arithmetic.
These differences are related to the official status of the students' parents and ancestors.
Among them, Guozixue, Taixue and the Four Schools are respectively aimed at officials of the third, fifth and seventh grades and above. They mainly study Confucian classics.
Legal studies, calligraphy, and arithmetic are open to children and common people below the eighth grade, and they mainly learn specialized skills.
Among them, there are 300 students from Guozi, 500 from Taixue, 1,300 from the four majors, 50 from Law, and 30 from Calligraphy and Arithmetic.
If you look at the number of students at various levels of the Imperial College, you will know who controls the Tang Dynasty.
When Su Mingzhe said that he wanted to expand the Imperial College, all the ministers present blinked and asked the emperor to think again.
"My will has been decided."
Su Mingzhe didn't give everyone a chance to refuse, and directly issued a clear decree:
"Kong Yingda, when Xuanfu (Confucius) 'taught without distinction' and 'taught students according to their aptitude', he had three thousand disciples and seventy-two sages. As the Imperial Academy, you should learn from Xuanfu and not stick to the Five Constant Principles.
From now on, the expansion of law, calligraphy and arithmetic will be entrusted to you. Wei Zheng and Sima Caizhang will assist you. Guozixue, Taixue and the four schools will be handed over to Master Yan.
Gu was in charge, Yu Zhining, and Du Zhenglun assisted him on the left."
When all the ministers heard the emperor's order, they all immediately knew that this matter was the result of the emperor's careful consideration.
Many people turned their attention to Kong Yingda and Yan Shigu.
Kong Yingda was a kind-hearted elder who did not hesitate to offend the emperor for the sake of knowledge. When he saw Prince Li Chengqian making a mistake, he would even hold his neck and pull Li Chengqian to admit his mistake and correct it.
Now that Su Mingzhe has moved Confucius out, if Kong Yingda still wants to recognize his ancestor and return to the clan, he must hold his nose and accept this order to teach the children of poor families.
Wei Zheng and Sima Caizhang are also good-looking people.
After Su Mingzhe used the name Confucius, if he didn't want to receive a bad posthumous title after his death, he would definitely do his best to assist Kong Yingda in getting this thing done.
And Yan Shigu is a staunch supporter of the ninth-grade Zhongzheng system, and he especially hates children from poor families.
He was once demoted from an official position because he disliked the children from a poor family, but he still remained determined to do so.
Su Mingzhe did not expect that Yan Shigu could correct himself with just one order, and simply let him continue to use his remaining energy to teach the children of officials.
He also asked Yu Zhining and Du Zhenglun, two nerds who had lost their minds in reading and had a good reputation to be pragmatic, to assist him.
Anyone with a discerning eye in the court can see what Su Mingzhe wants to do.
Prime Minister Zuo, that is, Shangshu Zuopu Shefang Xuanling, knew that the matter was of great importance, so he hurriedly attended and bowed his head:
"Your Majesty's love for the people has been shared by the whole world. However, as spring plowing is approaching, please wait for some time before discussing the expansion of the Imperial College."
Fang Xuanling did not say whether he supported it or not. He only said that now is the spring plowing period and the people cannot be mobilized to serve.
In ancient times, the spring plowing period was the busy farming season.
When farming is busy, the country does not fight wars and cannot mobilize labor, otherwise it will be inconsiderate of the people.
This is common sense.
After hearing the reasons given by Fang Xuanling, other ministers followed suit.
Su Mingzhe saw that the first person to resist him was Fang Xuanling, the leader of the hundred officials. Although he had doubts in his heart, why did he not support him as his closest minister?
However, seeing that everyone agreed, Su Mingzhe could only frown and nod:
"The matter of expansion can be postponed until the slack time. However, everything will be done if it is planned in advance, and if it is not planned in advance, it will be ruined. If you decide in advance, you will not be confused; if you decide in advance, you will not be tired; if you decide in advance, you will not feel guilty; if you decide in advance, you will not be exhausted. Everyone After the Qing family returns home, they should think carefully about the pros and cons of this matter."
Seeing everyone resisting, Su Mingzhe was not in the mood to say anything else.
After the court meeting, Su Mingzhe called the prince Li Chengqian who was in charge of the government and planned to go to the East Palace to see his grandson.
After not seeing each other for the past few days, Su Mingzhe really misses her.
After seeing his grandson in the East Palace, Su Mingzhe lectured Li Chengqian again:
"Qian'er, you are the heir apparent. Do you spend your days riding horses and shooting arrows inside the palace? What do you mean? If you are energetic, you can help me deal with more memorials in the Taiji Hall..."
"My son, I obey!"
Li Chengqian felt a little baffled that he was being reprimanded.
Because Li Shimin conquered the world on horseback, he taught his children to also like horseback riding and archery.
Li Chengqian learned how to bend a bow, shoot arrows, and hunt on horseback just to please his own father.
Now, Su Mingzhe stopped Li Chengqian from riding horses and shooting arrows.
Li Chengqian naturally felt extremely aggrieved.
Su Mingzhe also knew that the call he made was confusing and could easily arouse the eldest son's rebellious psychology, so he had no choice but to explain to him:
"Qian'er, we can conquer the world immediately, but we cannot rule the world immediately. There is an old saying that 'if you forget to fight, you will be in danger', but there is another sentence 'If you are willing to fight, you will perish'. You are the next emperor of the Tang Dynasty. Following the old events of the Han Dynasty, You should respect the strategy of recuperating and recuperating..."
Teaching my son is the most troublesome.
Especially teaching the prince.
Su Mingzhe didn't want to speak too harshly, lest he cause the prince to panic, but he also didn't want to speak lightly, lest he wouldn't take it seriously.
After some instructing, Su Mingzhe and Li Chengqian came to the door of Tai Chi Hall again:
"Well, go and deal with the memorial. If you don't understand anything, just ask Liang Guogong (Fang Xuanling)."
"My son, I obey your orders."
After Li Chengqian got the order, he went to the imperial study room next to Hanyuan Hall to deal with the memorial.
Su Mingzhe, on the other hand, had nothing to do and began to walk around the palace at will. He also thought about how he should compete with the ministers and make them support him wholeheartedly.
In the early Tang Dynasty, although it had already unified the world.
However, due to the sparse population, there are only 3 million households and more than 10 million people. This means that if the central government wants to control the local area, it can only rely on local aristocratic families.
And these local prominent families, relying on their local power, will support a certain force to rebel once they are in a bad mood.
This is also the main reason why local unrest has been unable to be quelled three hundred years after the founding of the Tang Dynasty.
Su Mingzhe thought about it and finally believed that the key to breaking the situation was population.
In fact, the population of the Tang Dynasty must be more than 10 million.
However, a large number of people were controlled by local powerful families and did not go to the yamen to register.
Therefore, if Su Mingzhe wanted to have more people, he could only choose the path of encouraging births.
Only by encouraging childbirth, when the population increases, the number of talents will naturally increase.
After thinking about this, Su Mingzhe felt relaxed for a while. He was about to return to Tai Chi Palace and summoned Fang Xuanling to discuss national policies with him. Suddenly, he found that he had walked around and ended up in a strange, secluded and elegant place.
"Ananda, where is this place?"
As the emperor, Su Mingzhe asked if he didn't understand.
Zhang Ananda, who was serving at a distance, heard the emperor's question and quickly came over and replied:
"Back to Your Majesty, this is Yeting Palace."
After hearing this, Su Mingzhe frowned:
"Yeting Palace?"
Yeting Palace is where palace maids, eunuchs, and prisoners' children live and work.
Su Mingzhe was a little surprised, how did he get here.
However, he then remembered that he was walking from east to west with Li Chengqian back to Tai Chi Hall.
After Li Chengqian entered Tai Chi Hall, he continued walking westward.
And Yeting Palace is to the west of Taiji Palace.
Didn’t I just come here?
Su Mingzhe figured it out and was about to turn around and leave, but suddenly he heard a clear and loud song coming from a house not far away.
Seeing that the emperor was seduced by the singing, Zhang Ananda quickly reminded him:
