The rural drinking ceremony is an ancient cultural tradition in China.●⌒
The earliest traces can be traced back to the Xia and Shang dynasties, but the rural drinking system with clear records and institutional rituals began in the Western Zhou Dynasty.
"Book of Rites: Rural Drinking Ceremony" records: (Rural Drinking Ceremony) Those who are sixty sit down, and those who are fifty stand and serve to listen to political affairs, so it is wise to respect the elders. Those who are sixty have three beans, those who are seventy have four beans, and those who are eighty have five.
Beans, ninety means six beans, so it is also known as a way to support one's old age.
The so-called bean here does not refer to beans, but a kind of utensil used to hold meat sauce and pickles in the Western Zhou Dynasty. It is shaped like a tall plate with a disc shape in the middle. There is a handle under the plate and a ring foot under the handle.
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To put it simply, the rural drinking ceremony may have originally been a primitive etiquette used by our ancestors to celebrate a year's harvest and reward a year's hard work.
By the Western Zhou Dynasty, it had become an important political etiquette.
"Book of Rites: Kingship" makes it very clear - (drinking ceremony in the countryside) practice shooting skills, practice the teeth in the countryside.
Another chapter in the Book of Rites, "Dang Zheng" in "Di Guan", states in more detail: "Serve the people with etiquette, drink wine in order, and correct the teeth."
To put it bluntly, the rural drinking ceremony in the Zhou Dynasty was a political etiquette used by the rulers to strengthen their dominance and maintain social order.
Just like the party schools in later generations, they must emphasize studying the spirit of Comrade xx’s speech every year, thoroughly implement the spirit of xx, and work hard for the goal of xx, but in fact most of the people in the meeting are just here to have fun...
However, times are changing, and etiquette has also begun to change accordingly.
After the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, by the Qin Dynasty, the rural drinking ceremony had changed beyond recognition.
As a regime with a classical militaristic system, Qin hated all factors that might lead to social instability.
Qin's law covers everything and even wants to take care of the people's eating, sleeping, drinking and making friends!
For example, the Qin Law stipulates that anyone who drinks in a group of three or more people without any reason shall be fined four taels!
Under such a situation, the rural drinking ceremony of the Zhou Dynasty was only held once during the short reign of Qin. Even the vests were changed and became the so-called big wine.
The so-called "酺", "tongbu" and "大酺" means the king's order to spread virtue to the world and order the officials and the people to gather together and eat.
In this way, the rural drinking ceremony has completely changed from a folk behavior to a national political activity.
The Han Dynasty inherited the Qin system. The so-called Han Code was actually a renamed version of the Qin Code and a change in the wooden specifications and writing style of the records. Everything else was basically the same at the beginning.
Therefore, in fact, in the first ten years or so during the reign of Liu Bang and Queen Lu, an extremely strict control system was implemented over private gatherings and drinking among the people.
Even today, after Liu Che came to power, many places are still very sensitive to private gatherings of people, and county soldiers are often dispatched to arrest and punish them. Basically, it is the same as the police stations in later generations to catch gamblers and prostitutes.
Private gatherings of ordinary people and small landowners to drink alcohol are also one of the income-generating projects of most local governments.
Liu Che was the king in Hejian in his previous life. He was very aware of this current situation.
Which law do ordinary people hate the most?
This ban on drinking can at least be included in the top three!
Of course, the emperor of the Han Dynasty was not the elm-headed people of the Qin Dynasty who did not know how to adapt.
During the Qin Dynasty, there was only one grand banquet in total - that was in the 26th year of Qin Shi Huang, the year when Qin unified the world. Qin Shihuang ordered the private mass banquet to be granted to celebrate the unification of the four seas.
Other than that, not once.
As for the Han Dynasty, there was always Jiaqing.
For example, when the emperor ascends the throne, establishes a queen, establishes a prince, or celebrates the birthday of the queen mother, the people will order a large ceremony to celebrate the emperor.
Now, before Liu Che, were these edicts and decrees issued by the emperors of the past dynasties.
From these edicts and decrees hidden in Shiqu Pavilion, it can be seen that the tradition of Dayou implemented by the Han Dynasty originated from the year when Liu Che's imperial grandfather, Emperor Taizong Xiaowen, ascended the throne.
At that time, the new emperor, who had become emperor from acting king, could not wait to show his voice in politics.
This ‘Great Order’ can be regarded as a model of the emperor’s early political actions.
Liu Che examined the edict recorded on the bamboo slips.
He nodded while watching. For a new emperor like him, this was extremely rare learning material.
After reading these edicts, Liu Che told Wang Dao: "Go and invite the prime minister and the imperial censor to come to the palace to discuss politics!"
The system implemented by the Han Dynasty was slightly different from that of later generations.
Later generations, especially the emperors of the Song and Ming Dynasties, had to go to court almost every day, but the emperors of the Han Dynasty did not have to do this.
Generally speaking, if there is no sudden and important incident, it is a regular morning session every five days, and every first lunar month.
The emperor could make full use of the remaining time, whether it was sightseeing or having fun, no one would have any objections.
The regular meeting of the court was just held two days ago, so today is not the day to go to court, and the ministers are basically handling government affairs in the government office.
"promise!"
After Wang Dao accepted the order and left, Liu Che ordered someone to bring a piece of paper and drafted an edict on it. While writing, he also looked at his grandfather's edict for reference.
Half an hour later, when Zhou Yafu and Chao Cuo appeared in front of Liu Che, Liu Che had almost finished thinking about the contents of the edict and had initially written out a procedure.
"Your Majesty!" Zhou Yafu and Chao Cuo bowed hand in hand, and then asked, "I wonder what your Majesty has to do when summoning ministers to the palace?"
Liu Che handed the white paper in his hand to Zhou Yafu and Chao Cuo, and said: "Two beloved ministers, please take a look at the draft of my edict first!"
Zhou Yafu and Chao Cuo knelt respectfully and took the paper handed to them. As the prime minister, Zhou Yafu read it first and then handed it to Chao Cuo.
It took about a quarter of an hour for the two of them to finish reading.
Zhou Yafu and Chao Cuo looked at each other, and then both of them bowed: "Your Majesty advocates the ladder of filial piety, and your innocence is touching. I, the minister Yafu, are waiting for me to bow my head and express my gratitude to the world!"
This edict was basically a slightly modified version of Liu Che's grandfather's edict.
No one can fault it.
Liu Che nodded and said with a smile: "My Han family has always governed the world with filial piety. Since the prime minister and the imperial censor are both praised as good, then this big imperial edict will be like this!"
"Come here!" Liu Che ordered: "Record the edict!"
Several ministers who had been standing on Liu Che's imperial steps quickly walked down the steps, prostrated on the ground, and kowtowed: "I am waiting here, please give me your instructions!"
"I heard that the old man needs silk to keep him warm, and he needs meat to keep him full... Now I have inherited the late emperor's order and preserved the ancestral temple. I am now more than half a year old. From time to time, people ask the elders. If there is no gift of cloth, silk, wine and meat, what will he do with it?
The descendants of the world should be filial to their relatives. Now I heard that the officials should receive porridge or Chensu. How can I say that it means providing for the elderly? It’s all an order!" Liu Che had already prepared the draft, and now he spoke slowly, and the ministers in the audience hurriedly knelt down.
Use a knife and pen to carve this edict on the bamboo slips.
In the Han system, the emperor's edicts or policy documents were made in triplicate.
One copy should be given to the prime minister and the imperial censor, one should be kept in the Shiquge Archives for record purposes, and the other should be given to the person receiving the order or the officials, nobles, or relevant departments who carry out the order.
Any edict, if it is not recorded in Shiqu Pavilion.
So, even if it is true, it is false and has no legitimacy.
Therefore, the Han Dynasty had extremely strict requirements and systems for the storage and archiving of the emperor's edicts.
Basically, every edict is kept and reviewed by a dedicated person after it is completed.
Just in case, every month, the ministers at the Shangshutai will check the edicts in their custody one by one according to the catalogue.
Such a system ensured that no one could forge any of the emperor's edicts.
Similarly, in such a system, the Han Dynasty cannot have any secret edicts - even if there are, as long as there is no deputy edict registered in Shiqu Pavilion, according to the system, even if it is true, even if the emperor knows it, it is false.
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In his previous life, Dou Ying died from an edict that was not filed...
But then again, the old Liu family was very skillful in using unregistered edicts to deceive their ministers and even stab them with knives.
For example, Zhihou Bo Zhao...
Who can prove that Bo Zhao was just pretending to be an edict? Or was he really having an edict?
Everyone else is dead anyway, and there is no evidence of their death!
The ministers were slower in recording edicts. After all, it was difficult to use a knife and pen to write official script on bamboo slips.
Liu Che waited for a while and waited for them to finish writing before continuing: "A commander asked the county to: if the person is over eighty years old, he will be given one stone per month of rice, twenty kilograms of meat, and five measures of wine. If he is over ninety, he will be given silk.
Two ingots per person, three kilograms of wadding! Those who give gifts and rice should be inspected by senior officials. If the prime minister is less than ninety, he will send it to the officials! Two thousand stones will be sent to the capital officials to follow. Those who do not agree will supervise them.
!Those who are guilty and above the punishment do not need this order!"
Liu Che's edict was the most politically correct order in the Han Dynasty!
To govern the world with filial piety, everyone from the emperor to the common people must set an example, respect the elderly and provide for them.
Especially Liu Che's last edict, he, the emperor, personally ordered the deployment and required tasks and orders to be issued from the central to local levels.
Send warmth to all registered elderly people over the age of 80 in all jurisdictions.
The weight of this warm gift package is not light!
Each person gets one stone of rice, twenty kilograms of meat, and five measures of wine per month!
If you are a ninety-year-old man, add two pieces of silk cloth and three pounds of cotton wool as raw materials for warm clothing.
Such a reward is quite generous!
Even if the Celestial Dynasty in later generations would send warmth to the grassroots under the boss, it would be nothing more than that!
Never doubt the efficiency of the Han bureaucracy and their control over grassroots political power.
Don’t forget that the Han Dynasty was established on the basis of the Qin Dynasty. The entire civil administrative agencies and units of the Han Dynasty were basically copied from the Qin Dynasty system.
The Qin regime, a classical militaristic system, extended its tentacles unprecedentedly deep into administrative units at the private village level, and even directly to the heads of households themselves.
The same was true for the Han Dynasty. Under the policy of establishing households and equalizing the people, no one could escape the control of the government.
Therefore, the Han Dynasty government was actually able to have direct dialogue with the most basic local village level.
For example, Liu Bang and Emperor Taizong Xiaowen personally summoned the grassroots administrative personnel of the people: the three elders.
A basic data can show how strong the Han government's control over the people is!
Liu Che had a volume of world population data compiled by the Prime Minister's Mansion. One of the entries said, "There are 1,670 people in the world who are over ninety years old, and there are 2,823 people who have received the rod over the age of seventy."
The number of recipients who are accurate to single digits is enough to ensure that the administrative control ability of the Han Dynasty can surpass all Chinese feudal dynasties except Qin.
Because these so-called ‘scepters’ are the three elder groups in history books.
These people are equivalent to the deputies of the National People's Congress of the Han Dynasty. They can enter and leave official offices without paying homage to the officials. They can walk around the city without taboos. They do not need to pay any taxes or fees. In the Han Dynasty, they are the only ones who can compare with this group of people.
The privileged ones, apart from the noble class, are the old Shandong brothers who followed Liu Bang to conquer the world and settled in Guanzhong.
To this day, the princes are half dead, and the old Shandong brothers who followed Liu Bang into Guan Conglong are also dead and sick.
Politically, these three elders became the backbone of the Han Dynasty regime.
Because these recipients of the rod all have a common characteristic.
According to the law set by Liu Bang, if you want to be the third elder and enjoy the privileges of the court, you must meet one condition. This condition is that you are "over fifty years old, have spiritual practice, and can lead others to do good."
In feudal society, this condition actually stipulated that the candidates for the three elders must be the patriarch of the local clan or a well-known local person who is more powerful than the patriarch.
Such people basically have a certain cultural foundation and are familiar with social reality. They have either served as soldiers, fought in wars, and made meritorious service as officers, or they have served as officials and have served as official officials with at least eight hundred dan of actual duties.
They are not officials, but they are part of the bureaucracy!
Therefore, in a sense, the current Han Dynasty is actually still the militaristic government of the Qin Dynasty in its heart, but it is a little gentler and more obscure.
But changing the soup does not change the dressing.
Historically, it was not until Zhaoxuan that the Han Dynasty slowly transformed into a political power with Confucianism and Legalism at its core. After Yuancheng, it degenerated into a community of bureaucrats and landlords.
Once you understand this, you can understand the purpose of Liu Che's edict.
Just as Jia Shan said at that time: The emperor is the emperor, and all the people in the world have the duty to serve as ministers. However, the three elders are raised in the university, personally holding the sauce and feeding, holding the title and drinking, the blessings are in front, and the blessings are behind.
With the staff in hand, the senior officials will march forward, recommending virtuous people to assist themselves, and asking those who can correct them to give direct advice. Therefore, with the dignity of the emperor, respect the three elders and treat them with filial piety!
To put it simply, if you want to have a stable rule, you must bribe these three elders and make them fight for the interests of the Liu family. You must praise them and give them corresponding treatment. In this way, the world will be peaceful!
And the Liu family has always done this.
Of course, the three-elder system is not without its flaws.
At least Liu Che knew that the hotbed of the aristocratic family system after Zhaoxuan was the three elders system.
However, at present, no other political force or person can replace the three-elder system.
Moreover, Liu Che doesn’t think that after the examinations, any wealthy families will emerge!
As long as the examinations are not abolished, there will always be an upward path at the bottom.
A wealthy family?
Haha, I will probably be beaten into a dog by the literati!
Everyone who has read history will remember how strong the literati class in the Song and Ming Dynasties was!
These guys, even the emperor still criticizes and the prime minister is an invincible group of verbal abusers! (To be continued, please search Piaotian Literature, the novel is better and updated faster!
ps: My health is much better~~~~ I should be able to fulfill my promise from the past few days tomorrow~ Damn it~~~~~~~~
