Zhou Jun stood on the side of the throne and glanced behind him first.
The throne was empty, and there was only one eunuch named Fan Jinian. As the leader of the eunuchs, he "supervised the court" for the emperor.
Under the throne, Zhou Jun stood with his back facing the officials.
Among the ministers in the court, the civil servants are on the left and the military officers are on the right. They stand in front and back according to their rank.
Among them, the most interesting thing is that among the civil servants, they are vaguely divided into two columns. Liangzhou officials are in one column, and Anxi officials are in another column. The two columns are far apart.
After the court meeting began, according to Zhou Jun's request, the progress of the war was first reported.
After Guo Ziyi came out, he said: "Fan Yang has been decided. Pinglu Jiedu envoy Pugu Huai'en will reorganize the Pinglu Army and the Lulong Army. They will also administer the Andong Protectorate, open mutual markets, and stabilize the border people."
"Li Guangbi, the envoy of Fanyang Jiedu, led an army of 70,000 people from Youzhou southward, and successively recovered Cangzhou, Dezhou, Jizhou and other places. The forward of the army had reached the northeast of Handan and faced off with Shi Siming's bandits in the Zhanghe area."
Zhou Jun asked Guo Ziyi: "What is Luoyang doing?"
Guo Ziyi: "According to the report from the spies, the fake Yan An Qingxu was granted a large number of official titles. Within half a month, more than thirty princes were granted the title, and envoys were sent to order Shi Siming to attack north. However, Shi Siming used the reason that the army was tired.
, refused the order to send troops."
Zhou Jun nodded and said: "I understand."
Guo Ziyi returned to the queue.
Among the ranks of civil servants, an official from Liangzhou came out and said, "Prime Minister, someone has a memorial."
Above the court, military officers generally addressed Zhou Jun as Commander-in-Chief, while civilian officials generally addressed him as Prime Minister.
Zhou Jun was a little uncomfortable hearing the word "prime minister" at first, but now he is gradually getting used to it.
After submitting the memorial, the Liangzhou official said: "The Prime Minister implemented the Good and Lowly Order in Anxi, which changed the death contract of the lowly household into a living contract, and also allowed the slaves to leave the master's family and establish a household on their own. This move will inevitably lead to the disobedience of the world.
Often, it caused great chaos in the country."
Hearing this, Zhou Jun frowned and looked at the Liangzhou official.
The Liangzhou official stood in the middle of the hall with his neck stiffened. Facing Zhou Jun's direct gaze, he showed no fear at all. He looked like he was threatening life and death.
Before Zhou Jun could speak, Cen Shen, an official from Anxi's Ministry of Personnel, stood up and said: "Since the implementation of the Good and Bad Order, the people of Anxi live and work in peace and contentment, and the prefectures and counties are all peaceful. Why is there so much chaos?"
The Liangzhou official said: "Most of the barbarians in Anxi are uncivilized barbarians. How can these barbarians understand the difference between good and bad? What I am worried about is that if the lowly households in the Central Plains learn about Anxi's order of good and bad, they will quarrel
It is time to implement the living contract for household registration. By then, the world, which was originally slightly peaceful, will probably be in chaos again because of this."
Du Fu, who was moved to the position of Minister of Rites, stood up and said: "In recent years, Anxi has seen a large influx of refugees from the Central Plains. Among the four towns, for every ten people, eight are Tang people and two are Hu people. Anxi is no longer what it used to be. Moreover,
, the people in Anxi do not pick up lost things on the road, old and young walk hand in hand, and they always respect the Tao. How can it be said to be contrary to the norm. Instead of believing in one-sided words, it is better to go to Anxi and have a look before making a conclusion. As for the Central Plains area, the law is not the same as that in Anxi. It is a different matter.
They are the same family, so why compare them?"
At this time, another Liangzhou official stood up and said: "There are many lowly households in Anxi who were exiled for crimes and worked as official slaves. Most of these official slaves were sinners and were already guilty.
Classifying others as lowly households is part of the punishment. If the death contract is simply converted into a living contract, then where is the majesty of the emperor and where is the criminal law of the Tang Dynasty? "
Cen Shen replied: "Anxi is no better than the Central Plains. There are many small countries and they are surrounded by enemies. The Tang people are subject to restrictions everywhere. If they cannot unite, they will be bullied by the border people. Therefore, the Anxi good and humble order gave those officials and slaves an opportunity to make their hearts move towards the great nation.
The Tang Dynasty does not want to rebel. Only in this way can the Tang Dynasty gain a firm foothold in Anxi."
Many officials in Liangzhou came out one after another, without any concern for Zhou Jun's black face, and began to denounce the disadvantages of Anxi's good and humble order.
Officials from Anxi, many of whom were refugees, had seen the horrors of the Central Plains and had been cared for by Anxi, so they all came forward one after another and said that the conversion of untouchable households from dead contracts to living contracts could mobilize the production and defense of the untouchables.
Positivity will contribute to the development of Anxi.
The two sides went back and forth, and the original theory gradually turned into a quarrel.
Zhou Jun was impatient and just wanted to drink.
Gao Shi, the right-hand admonishment doctor, cleared his throat and said, "I have a few words to say."
Gao Shi was an official in Liangzhou, and he was worshiped by the Minister of Provincial Affairs and had the same position as the official. On the other hand, Gao Shi had always been on good terms with officials in Anxi.
Therefore, he opened his mouth and all the officials in the court stopped talking.
Gao Shi said: "First of all, the Anxi Good and Bad Order was only implemented in Anxi, and it was never said that it would be extended to the Central Plains."
"Secondly, if you read the law carefully, you will know that although Anxi Liang's decree changed the life contract of a slave to a life-for-hire contract, a low-income household is a low-income household, and there has never been any talk of freeing slaves at will.
"
"Thirdly, since the founding of the Tang Dynasty, there have been several wars in Anxi. Let's not talk about the distant wars, just take the Battle of Dunhuang that happened a few years ago. In that battle, the untouchables of the Tang Dynasty, including merchants and craftsmen, were
Private property was wantonly exploited by officials such as Wang Zhi, which made the people of Dunhuang lose their hearts. When the Tibetans finally invaded, many Tang people rebelled against the imperial court, more or less for this reason. Therefore, the Anxi Protectorate enacted legislation to protect the property of untouchables.
, which is also a helpless move.”
"Finally, it is a critical moment to fight against the rebels. Every tax from the imperial court must be raised to fight against the rebels. And the slaves have been added to the master's household registration and become hidden households. This will affect the imperial court.
The tax source is not conducive to the advancement of the war. Therefore, in the Anxi Liangbi Order, lowly households are allowed to separate from the main family and have separate households so that the court can calculate household taxes and so on."
Gao Shi's words finally stopped the debate in the court.
A conflict that broke out between Anxi officials and Liangzhou officials calmed down in this way.
This chapter is not finished yet, please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content! After the meeting, Zhou Jun left Gao Shi alone to talk.
Zhou Jun: "I heard that after the relocation order was issued, you wanted to resign?"
Gao Shi: "Prime Minister, I am fifty-four and already very old. I have long thought of resigning."
Zhou Jun: "Then why did you want to stay later?"
Gao Shi looked at Zhou Jun and said: "I talked to many people and heard some interesting things, which made me want to stay and see what the future of the Tang Dynasty will look like."
Zhou Jun: "Have you talked to someone? Who?"
Gao Shi: "Shilang Cen, Yuan Du... and many officials from Anxi. After talking with them, I gained a lot of knowledge and heard a lot of interesting things."
Zhou Jun: "Oh? Tell me about it."
Gao Shi: "After the implementation of the Anxi Good and Lowly Order, the relationship between the master and the lowly household was no longer a master-servant relationship, but changed to an employment relationship. I originally thought that after the implementation of this order, the Anxi master's family lost their slaves, which was equivalent to
If you lose your private property, you will inevitably riot and protest. But in fact, the owners of slaves in Anxi not only did not cause chaos, but many people also welcomed this decree."
"The slaves no longer have to ask for food, clothing, housing and transportation from the master's family, which is equivalent to saving a lot of expenses for the master's family. Moreover, the slaves are paid according to the quality of their labor. This seems to benefit the lowly households.
It may lead to laziness and lack of diligence. But the fact is just the opposite. The more proficient the craftsmanship and the better the service, the slaves can stand out, get better living conditions, and get higher rewards. The master can also choose the right one by himself.
He is a servant and hires him to do the work for the family."
"Both the master and the servant will benefit. This is something I didn't think of beforehand."
Zhou Jun nodded and said: "Once the slaves are freed from the death contract, they will work hard not for survival, but for life."
Gao Shi recited this sentence silently, raised his hands and said, "The Prime Minister's words are thought-provoking."
Zhou Jun said to Gao Shi: "In your opinion, can Anxi's good and bad order be implemented in the Central Plains?"
Gao Shi shook his head without hesitation: "No."
Zhou Jun: "Why not?"
Gao Shi: "Anxi is a remote place, and aristocrats are not prosperous. In addition, a large number of refugees from the Central Plains have moved into Anxi, so the classification of good and bad in Anxi is not serious. But the Central Plains is different. In the past thousand years,
The rule of clans is so deep-rooted that no matter ideas, land, or population, they are firmly locked in the hierarchy of good and bad."
"If the Prime Minister implements the Anxi Good and Lowly Order in the Central Plains, then the powerful families will lose a lot of labor, tribes, private soldiers and family property. This kind of change will be almost as devastating to the powerful families.
."
"I assert that by that time, the Prime Minister will definitely become the target of attack by all the powerful people in the world."
Zhou Jun stared at Gao Shi and said, "What if I insist on pushing the good and bad order into the Central Plains?"
Gao Shi was stunned, and after thinking for a long time, he asked: "I dare to ask, why does the prime minister have to be an enemy of the clan?"
Zhou Jun breathed a sigh of relief and said in a deep voice: "Will the cultivated land in the Central Plains increase?"
Gao Shi: "The number of cultivable lands in the Central Plains has been determined and will not increase."
Zhou Jun: "Then the crops on the land will grow year by year?"
Gao Shi: "The output of thousands of hectares of fertile land in the Tang Dynasty was 80,000 hu of dendrobium. In disaster years, this number would drop a lot. Therefore, in the 100 years since the founding of the Tang Dynasty, grain output has only risen and fallen, but it cannot increase every year."
Zhou Jun: "How did the number of people in the Tang Dynasty increase compared to a hundred years ago?"
Gao Shi: "At the time of Taizong, the population was about 25 million. In the thirteenth year of Tianbao, the population increased to 80 million."
Zhou Jun: "How many times has the amount of land owned by the Guanlong clan since the founding of the Tang Dynasty doubled compared to now?"
Gao Shi: "Guanlong clan clans are only recorded with six surnames. From Taizong to the Tianbao period, the number of acres of land under their jurisdiction increased nearly eighty times..."
Speaking of this, Gao Shi's voice became lower and lower.
Zhou Jun: "The land in the Central Plains has not changed, but the grain output has risen and fallen. The population of the Tang Dynasty has tripled, but the land under the jurisdiction of the clan has increased nearly eighty times. Let me ask you, if this continues, how many more years will it take?
How many people in the Tang Dynasty had no land to cultivate and could only live by begging for food from wealthy families?"
Gao Shi stood there with a solemn expression.
After a long time, Gao Shi bowed to Zhou Jun and said, "Thank you, Prime Minister, for clearing up the confusion."