Before the Anshi Rebellion broke out, Yanqi Town began to implement the parliamentary system on a trial basis under the instruction of Zhou Jun, the then governor of Anxi.
Different from the national parliamentary system of later generations, the parliamentary structure and decision-making methods of Yanqi Town reflect an "extremely simple" political ecology.
The highest official of Yanqi Town was the envoy of Yanqi Town, and those who were promoted to this position were all appointed by the imperial court.
Some of the envoys in Yanqi Town did not understand the situation in Yanqi Town. When new officials took office, they still wanted to make great achievements and achieve great results.
But when I actually arrived, I found that the entire town, including finance, commerce, culture, education, laws, etc., were all completed spontaneously by a parliament composed of ordinary people.
Yanqi Town is divided into thirty-six areas according to the administrative divisions of Fangjie. Each area elects a member every year to participate in a body called the Council.
Including monitoring finances, supervising the government, penal sentencing, etc., all of which are determined by a unified vote by the council to determine the final result.
Even in addition to the garrison envoys, the appointment of other officials in Yanqi Town also enjoyed privileges that other town governments could not enjoy, that is, all officials were selected by the council, and after a list was formed, they were finally submitted to Qiuci Town for approval.
However, if the parliamentary system of Yanqi Town is copied to the Chang'an court, many problems will arise.
First of all, Yanqi was too young and the parliamentary system was relatively simple, which was far from meeting the needs of the entire national system transformation of the Tang Dynasty.
Secondly, the governor of Yanqi was appointed by the imperial court, and his power could be eclipsed by the parliament. However, the top leader of the Chang'an court is the current emperor. How the imperial power should be handled in the parliamentary system is a sensitive and complex issue.
question.
Finally, the council of Yanqi Town was responsible for the management of all affairs in Yanqi. Outside of the council, due to Zhou Jun's deliberate protection, no other force could restrain the Yanqi Council. But the Chang'an court was different. There were clans in Chang'an.
, officials, family members, etc., and the latter's power occupies a major position in the court. Even the emperor cannot complete the dethronement of the aristocracy in a short period of time.
Therefore, Sha Shiqing proposed that the Chang'an court should learn from the Yanqi parliamentary system. It may be simple to say, but in actual implementation, it is an extremely complicated issue.
Therefore, starting from the spring of the twelfth year of the New Year and lasting for one and a half years, the Chang'an Court, under the leadership of the Right Prime Minister Kong You and the supervision of the Emperor Zhou Jun, the entire Tang Dynasty began the first and unique political system in the entire history of China.
Transformation.
The Tang Dynasty was still a feudal monarchy. The three provinces and eight ministries in the imperial city were still the decision-making and execution center of the entire country. However, in addition, the parliament composed of civilian members acted as a supervision, review, and feedback role.
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In the entire imperial court's organizational structure, the department that had the greatest impact due to the emergence of the Parliament was the Yushitai.
Yushitai is the official discipline supervision department, mainly responsible for inspecting officialdom, impeaching officials, and correcting discipline.
The Yushitai consists of Taiyuan, Dianyuan and Chaoyuan, which are respectively responsible for the impeachment of hundreds of officials, supervision in the palace, and inspection of prefectures and counties.
At its peak, the Three Courts once had thousands of officials in various prefectures and counties in the Tang Dynasty, supervising the capital and other places, including inspection of schools, lihang, xitui, redemption of stolen goods, three divisions, inspections, prison litigation,
Military affairs, sacrifices, camp operations, Taifu cashiers, etc., almost all official affairs within the Tang Dynasty.
Nowadays, a small part of the supervisory function of the Yushitai has been transferred to the Jinyiwei, and most of it has been replaced by the Parliament.
Because of this, the Yushitai was gradually downgraded to the Metropolitan Procuratorate in the political structure of the Tang Dynasty, and was only responsible for recording and reporting documents.
Members of the parliament conduct supervision and review in various places. Once there is corruption and abuse of law by officials in Gyeonggi and prefectures and counties, members can use parliamentary channels to bypass the layers of reports in the government and directly convey them to the court, which directly reduces the risk of corruption.
To convey risks and political cover-up.
Since the parliament participated in the discussion of political affairs, the huge court hall was divided into two parts during each morning dynasty. The court officials stood in the front closer to the emperor, while the private members stood slightly further back.
People who participated in the court meeting jokingly called this clear distinction "front yard" and "back yard".
Later, because calling the Parliament the backyard was suspected of elevating the status of members, people habitually changed these two names to "House of Lords" and "House of Commons".
Of course, officials are at the top and the people are at the bottom.
On the fifth day of October in the thirteenth year of the New Yuan Dynasty (773), important news came from the Chang'an court - the civil strife in Tubo.
In the words of Hehuang Jiedushi Guo Xin, the current civil strife in Tubo is a perfect reflection of "the piles of corpses and the smell of grass and trees, and the blood flowing in Sichuan Yuandan".
Twenty-one of the Nine Wings in Tubo, a total of more than 100 tribes, broke out in riots, affecting a population of more than 6 million.
More than 20 commanders and subordinates from various Tubo tribes were killed in the battle, and countless ordinary soldiers and civilians died.
At the Xanma Pass to the west of Dafei Sichuan, hundreds of Tibetan people fled across the mountains and ridges to Shanzhou every day, which also brought developments in Tibet to the Tang Dynasty.
Emperor Zhou Jun read the memorial written by Guo Xin and listened to the Ministry of War's report on the entire incident.
A few years ago, the strategy of using commerce as a weapon to attack the Tibetan economy, initiated by the Municipal Ministry and coordinated by the Privy Council, the Ministry of War, the Ministry of Household Affairs and other departments, began to be formally implemented.
Hehuang Jiedu opened trade to Tibet, but it did not accept cattle, sheep, ore, gold, silver and other goods. It only accepted wool as an entry commodity.
Although the Tubo people did not understand why the Tang people wanted to collect the worthless wool instead of gold and silver, but with the mentality of not letting it go, they took out the wool collected by various tribes and exchanged it for tea, silk, etc.
Ceramics and other products.
The mutual trade continued like this for a month. What made the Tubo people feel something was wrong was that after tens of thousands of kilograms of wool were purchased by the Tang people, the price of wool not only did not fall at all, but began to rise slowly.
This chapter is not over yet, please click on the next page to continue reading! Later, some Tibetan merchants disguised themselves and came back from the Tang Dynasty to inquire about the news.
The long wool of the Tubo people costs about 30 yuan per pound, but it is transported to the workshop in Chang'an, processed into wool blankets using Lou looms, and then sold to Mobei, Silla, Japan and other places. One pound of blankets
It can be sold for 1,300 yuan.
The profit of more than 40 times was placed there, which shocked the Tibetan people to the point of numbness.
The originally worthless wool on the plateau suddenly became worth as much as gold and became a treasure that all tribes competed for.
On the one hand, the Tubo people began to be reluctant to sell wool; on the other hand, the Tang people began to continue to increase the purchase price.
The price of wool in Tubo soared from 30 yuan to 100 yuan per pound in just three months.
Under the impact of such a price, the Tibetan people sold out all the domestic wool stocks, and then began to turn their attention to the breeding industry.
Plateau pastures are not as concentrated and developed as those in the plains, and sheep grazing often requires space for other livestock.
Therefore, some smart Tubo civilians began to carry out a series of sexy operations in order to make a lot of money from wool.
First, these civilians cleared and leveled the land where horses, pack cattle, and even crops were originally grazed.
Then, they began to raise a large number of sheep on the cleared land.
Then, since the maturity cycle of plateau goats usually takes six to twelve months (varies vary depending on the altitude), when these mature goats begin to produce wool, Tibetan herdsmen will harvest the wool and pass it through
Trade with each other and exchange for high-value Tang goods.
These Tang products, such as tea and silk, could be exchanged for a large number of war horses, pack cattle and grain when brought to the markets in Tubo.
The Tubo herdsmen finally gave part of the war horses, pack cattle and grain to the landlords and nobles as tribute, and the rest was the "price difference" they earned from the transaction.