In the beginning of spring in the eleventh year of the Luhou and Song Dynasties, the weather turned warmer and the ice melted.

In this precious farming time, the farmers have to work hard to cultivate. There is no idle land in Lu, but they are hungry and tired every year, and they want to starve to death. The grain harvested last autumn was all consumed in the civil strife called "Fall to the Four Capitals". In the end, two of the three ministers in Qufu died, one was destroyed, and only three of the four capitals fell. The vulgar peasants laughed and said with a chuckle, "The rulers don't know how to count, and they can't even tell the difference between three and four."

On the contrary, the nobles only need to pretend to follow the monarch to the cadastral fields, and not even a drop of sweat.

However, this year, the monarch said that he was unwell, and authorized the new Zhengqing Zhao Wuxi to do all the sacrifices, registrations, etc., so the scholars and officials did not dare to neglect, and they all came early.

On the day of the beginning of spring, General Zhao personally led the Qing doctor to the eastern suburbs of Qufu to hold a sacrifice to welcome the spring. After returning to the court after the sacrifice, he presented the monarch with wine and rewarded ministers, doctors and scholars in the court, and then at home, he praised and bestowed favors on the meritorious vassals who "made outstanding contributions to the stability of the state of Lu" in the past few years.

"Food city? Military merits granted to fields?" When Han Hu, who had been waiting bored in Lu, heard this, his eyes lit up, especially for the latter, he touched his needless chin and speculated: "Zhao Zitai wants to Do you want to imitate Duke Hui of Jin's actions?"

General Zhao's every move attracted the attention of everyone, and he couldn't hide it at all. In order to make Lu people look at his heart, he didn't want to hide it. It didn't take long for the news to come out.

Senior military officials such as Yang Tong Rong, Hu Hui, Yu Xi, Tian Ben, and Mucha received various food towns according to their military exploits. Most of them designate a small town of a hundred households, or a township, pavilion, or li, with a population of several hundred households, or dozens of households, and declare them to be the lords here.

But don't be too happy, the general said: "As a warrior, you can fight on a chariot and horse, but you can't get off the chariot and govern the people, and you probably don't bother to deal with tedious affairs. Therefore, the food town is still managed by the general's mansion. You can send small officials to manage them, and you can hand over the harvested grain and fabrics every year.” Not only that, if there is merit in the battle, the food town can be passed on to the descendants. If he receives no merit, the food will be returned to the lord after his death.

Although there were many restrictions, most of the Jin military officials were from the bottom of the society, and they were naturally overjoyed when they suddenly got a food town. It doesn't matter if it's real or fake. There is a precedent for Zhang Mengtan there, and they are embarrassed to ask too much. Anyway, Zhao Wuxi has already painted the cake in Jin. "Rich and noble do not return home, such as brocade clothing at night", this sentence is so good! The state of Lu was too small, but it was just a springboard for the generals to return to Jin for revenge.

Then there are the grass-roots officers and ordinary soldiers. The military soldiers now have a division, and each brigade has a sergeant who knows the text and hyphenation, and records the merits and demerits, rewards and punishments. The meritorious deeds made by the soldiers in previous wars were all recorded, and the rituals of drinking after each war were recorded. According to their performance, the third-class medals will be issued, the third-class merits are Sang Muxun, the second-class merits are bronze medals, the first-class merits are bronze medals, and the special merits are even shiny silver medals!

Military soldiers who did not make contributions naturally had to eat a big pot of rice in the military camp, and earn a living from the leader's salary or New Year's reward. But people who have meritorious deeds will be awarded some land and live a good life in food fields.

Sang Muxun can exchange ten acres of land. One house; bronze honors can be exchanged for 100 acres of land, five houses, three ministers, and one level promotion; bronze honors can be exchanged for ten hectares of land. There are ten houses, ten servants, and they are promoted to one level. As for the silver medal, it is only obtained by high-ranking military officials, and it can be directly exchanged for food and won the title!

Most of the military veterans have several Sang Muxuns in their hands. There are also many people holding bronze medals, but very few bronze medals. Therefore, the result of the reward is that there are many rich peasants who can barely support themselves and their families, and few landlords with more than ten hectares of land.

However, in general, nearly 100,000 mu of fields have been allocated. These fields are mainly concentrated around Onozawa and newly cultivated in the past few years. As for the incidental vassals, their main sources were the guards and rebels who were captured during the Song civil strife, as well as some uncle and grandson soldiers captured in the Battle of Jishui. They were promised that they would be free if they worked obediently for five years, so they all put on shackles and went to work for the new owner with a bitter face.

It's not that Zhao Wuxi didn't want to abolish the evil slavery, it was really limited by the times. After all, this is the primitive accumulation stage of totalitarian politics. He is a big slave owner himself. If he wants to make the people in the lands have a better life, in addition to developing productive forces, he can only exploit prisoners of war. They will replace the labor of full-time soldiers and atone for their sins with blood and sweat.

Because failure is a sin!

In fact, until the Warring States Period, the iron-blooded Qin state, which was praised by later generations as "replacing decadent slavery with an advanced feudal system", was actually an old-fashioned slavery state. As evidenced by the Book of Shang Jun and the Law of Qin, the number of slaves is not only the largest among the Seven Kingdoms, but also exceeds that of the Western Zhou Dynasty and the Spring and Autumn Period. By dividing the prisoners of war and slaves to produce food for military landlords, Qin was able to maintain expansion...

The Military Merit Granting Society was extended to the entire Right Army, and more than 10,000 grass-roots soldiers have since had a way to join the ranks.

These measures can be said to be innovative, but they failed to cause much shock in the country of Lu, because they were limited to Zhao Wuxi's territory and could only be regarded as Zhao Qing's family affairs.

All the above-mentioned actions of conferring and rewarding food cities and granting land for military merits were all entrusted by Zhao Wuxi to the family slaughterer Zhang Mengtan and a group of retainers, and it was difficult for others to talk about it. What's more, even in the eyes of the most intelligent Ru Zigong, Han Hu and others, this is just imitating Jin's "Zuozhou Soldiers" and "Yuantian System". They didn't see that Zhao Wuxi hoped to cultivate a military merit in Lu. The attempts of the landlord class, and the deep malice towards the old aristocracy...

What made the doctors of the State of Lu directly uneasy was that at the subsequent court meeting, Zhao Wuxi publicly announced that the county system would be tried out in the State of Lu!

...

"County system? Is it Qin's county, Chu's county, or Jin's county?"

"The general is from Jin, and naturally it is the county of Jin..."

The county system is not an invention of Zhao Wuxi. It existed in the Spring and Autumn Period. As early as two hundred years ago, King Wu of Chu destroyed Quanguo and rebuilt it into Quanxian County. Later, Duke Wu of Qin also crossed Longshan Mountain, and the front end pointed directly at Jirong. After the pacification, Jixian was established in the name of the family. Jin State was not reluctant to follow, and when Duke Wen of Jin and Duke Xiang of Jin arrived at the latest, they had already set up counties on the border, such as "Xianmao County" and "Guayan County", to name a few.

The county, Xuan Ye, was originally a special city on the border, and its main function was to garrison troops. With the passage of time, the administrative unit of the county has long been not limited to the border, and the county system has been fully promoted within Jin. Generally, counties can only be defined as having more than 10,000 households. There were originally forty-nine counties in Jin State, and later increased to more than fifty counties. They belonged to the monarch and the six ministers respectively. Most of the county officials were no longer hereditary. They became early bureaucrats, and the lord could be dismissed and replaced at any time.

General Zhao as a Jin person. It seems reasonable and reasonable to plan to implement the Jin state system in the state of Lu.

But it's not necessarily agreeable.

But the doctors of Lu State were a little reluctant. Mengsun said that he didn't come in Yunyi, and Ji Sunfai, who could only be Zhao Wuxie's foil, muttered secretly: "I have to toss again..."

However, he didn't let anyone hear him, and he hoped that Zhao Wuxi would offend the doctors in the East as much as possible. In that case, when there is a war after the spring ploughing, once Zhao Wuxi is defeated, he will be able to invite the doctors to take matters into their own hands!

Compared with the enterprising Jin people, the Lu people are conservative and timid, and are very reluctant to make changes, especially Liu Xiaji, who has become a representative of the conservative faction, strongly opposed it at the public meeting.

He argued with reason: "Lu State has its own national conditions, which is different from Jin State. Lu is governed by a doctor, and the doctor is based on the city, so the capital system can be used. I know that the general is a Jin person. Maybe you think Jin is something. It’s all good, but please remember one sentence, follow the local customs, don’t copy everything from Jin to Lu! I think it’s good to govern the country with capitals and herdsmen!”

Liu Xiaji's rhetoric won the approval of Dongdi and even the doctors of Xilu, but Zhao Wuxi disagreed. With a wink, Kan Zhi and Liu Xiaji started a debate in the courtroom.

"The bureaucratic system in the city is very good? Why do I only see the rebellion of Bo Zhu Zhao, the rebellion of Nankuai, the rebellion of Yanghu, the rebellion of Gongruomiao, the rebellion of Gongshan Buju? I have repeatedly rebelled against the monarch and ministers, and I see that the Lu country has not been ministers in recent decades.

After belittling the capital system, he praised the county system again: "Looking back at Jin, have you ever heard of a county that rebelled against its lord?"

In the face of the fact, Liu Xiaji was speechless for a while, the rebellion and civil strife in the country of Lu in recent years. There are indeed too many things that are out of place between superiors and inferiors.

Zhao Wuxi's determination to implement the county system was very firm. He said to the crowd: "The benefits of a county are not only that. With a county, it is easier to levy soldiers, collect taxes, and defend against the invasion of enemy countries. Now in Lu, thousands of households, The small towns of a hundred households are uneven and difficult to manage, so it is better to combine several towns into one county, and then send county officials to govern it.”

When it comes to their own interests, it is rare for the doctors of the State of Lu to be shrewd and set up a county, which means that they will have an extra county official sent by Zhao Wuxi? They looked uneasy and dissatisfied.

The Marquis of Lu was still "sick" today, the monarch's couch was empty, and without the monarch as a buffer, there was a dead silence in the main hall. If one person had one vote, today's public meeting would definitely not pass.

Zhao Wuxi has already regarded the imperial court as a hall of words. Even if the decision cannot be passed, he can use the shogunate to bypass the imperial court and force it to pass! This is the power of an authoritarian official!

But he had to pay attention to his proportions and his methods. He would use a soft knife to slowly cut the flesh of the old aristocrats of Lu State, instead of slashing the blood and causing panic.

Centralization cannot be accomplished in a day or two, and the Eastland, which is still independent, accounts for one-third of the population of Lu, and it can also form a left army, providing more than 10,000 combat power. Directly kill the past, more than 20 cities and towns are not captured, this will make Lu chaos continue for several years, which is not conducive to Zhao Wuxi's goal. If these local snakes secretly resist the county system, I am afraid that the county officials who have been parachuted in the past will be like the county magistrates who arrived at the locality during the Eastern Han Dynasty and the Three Kingdoms, but were overlaid by the tyrants and gentry.

In that case, it would take at least ten years to use the county system to control the East and exterminate the entrenched power of the doctors. But Zhao Wuxi didn't have ten years now. He slaughtered the state of Lu, which has already made many people jealous, and the balance of the six ministers of the Jin state is gradually getting out of control, and war may break out at any time. If the eyeing foreign enemies can give him two opportunities for the autumn harvest, he will thank the Haotian God.

Seeing that the doctors in the East were dissatisfied, he was concerned, and added: "Of course, the county system is only a trial implementation, starting with the general's territory, and then gradually extended to the territory that has been returned to the public office. As for the East, I'm not going to do it right now..."

...

January and February were the seasons for new things to sprout. General Zhao's rule also injected vitality into the country of Lu.

The State of Lu officially carried out institutional reforms and followed the example of the overlord Jin State to implement the county system. On Zhao Wuxi's fief, which occupied one-third of the territory of the State of Lu, nineteen thousand-storied towns and nearly one hundred hundred-storied towns were merged into five ten-thousand-county counties.

The capital of the general was set in Jixi County, which is located west of Jishui, including the original Yuncheng, Xuju, Fan, Ji, and Tieshan Taoqiu. The governance is Yuncheng.

Next is Juye County, which is located in the south of Pushui and Dayeze, and has jurisdiction over Chengpu, Chuiqiu, Xianqiu, and Juye. Punan was originally a defensive land. Later, it became an occupied area of ​​Jin and Lu, and its ownership was still pending, but now Zhao Wuxi directly ignored Wei and annexed it brazenly!

reason? Anyway, the reason for submitting it to Jin is that Punan has been the inviolable territory of Lu's **** since ancient times. It was not until Wei Guo moved its capital that it was slowly occupied.

There is also Juancheng County, which is located at the westernmost end of the State of Lu. It is composed of Zhencheng, Qingqiu, Luqiu, and Qinyi in the former Wei State. A division of Liu Xiazhi is stationed to guard against Qi people and threaten them at the same time. Wei Guo.

The above three places are roughly the old sites called "Xilu", and the other two counties are newly acquired. Wenxian County is located on both sides of the Wenshui River, including Wenxizhitian, Qiyi, and Zhongdu. Kanyi has a special status because it is where the public mausoleum of the state of Lu is located. Therefore, it is independent of Zhao Wuxi's territory, and it is regarded as an enclave directly belonging to the office. In fact, because of his son, Dr. Kan has long been a die-hard loyalist of Zhao Wuxi.

Finally, there is Rencheng County, which is on the verge of Zhu State, including Rencheng, Qian, and Nexia Sanyi, as well as Kangfu Pass, which Zhao Wuxi intends to build into a southern fortress. Here, you can communicate with Song State, and you can also advance Zhu and Xue. , Teng and other small states in Si Shang.

"After the large and small cities were converted into counties, it seemed to be much easier to manage." Zhao Wuxi was very satisfied with this, and it was a headache to remember the names of all nineteen towns. Now there are only five counties left, and it is clear at a glance that county officials can be dispatched at any time.

The chief of the county is the county magistrate, who is mainly responsible for taxation and household registration; the second is the county captain. Main military affairs; once again for the county judge, the main litigation prison. The power of these three county officials is very great. They are in charge of ten thousand households, more than a thousand soldiers, and even the magistrates in the county, but their titles are not high. He was temporarily held by Zhao Wuxi's retainer, who was directly responsible to the general and belonged to Zhengqing's private minister.

"The doctors in Xilu are going to be uncomfortable, and they have been running to the lower ministers a lot lately..."

Zhang Meng talked and laughed without saying a word. Everything was under their plan. The officials who had supported Zhao Wuxi in the civil war woke up and found that there were three more county officials on their heads, all of them generals. cronies. Because the military power has been taken away, they have no way to object. They can only go to the red-faced housekeeper Zhang Mengtan to complain and complain. The Lu people also speculate that General Zhao is going to cross the river and demolish the bridge?

"I'm not an ungrateful person, I'll give these doctors an explanation..." Zhao Wuxi's gaze shifted to the east.

Many of the doctors in the East were killed in battle, or eliminated because of their resistance to Zhao Wuxi. Those few unowned cities have long been coveted by the doctors, rulers, and patriarchs of Xilu.

want to? All right, just give it to you, just hand over the original territory to the general.

"The doctor of Xilu can make a choice. One is to stay in the original city as a doctor, but the army, government, and people must be handed over to the county and temple, and they only have the right to eat the city. The second is to move the city, I will be in the east. Find a city larger than the original for them, and move the family temple there."

As soon as this policy came out, the doctors of Xilu kept silent. Except for the unexpectedly handing over the city and the position of a county official, the rest of the doctors chose to move to the East, and they were scrambling to be the first, for fear of falling behind. to Haoyi.

There are no counties in the East, and more than 20 cities and towns are still in a state of intertwining. There, the magistrates can be free and have the final say on their own territory. Who wants to stay in Xilu to receive the bird's arrogance from the county officials?

There was some dissatisfaction, but after the relocation was completed a few months later, the doctors of Xilu found themselves caught in the middle of many doctors in the East, and the surrounding was full of hostile eyes. In order to compete for the land, the village, the people, and even a mulberry garden at the junction, the contradiction between the east and the west will become the main contradiction, and it is too late for them to curry favor with the general...

...

"The five counties in the west are only the first batch, and there will be another batch after the spring ploughing is over."

Zhao Wuxi planned to turn the surrounding area of ​​Qufu into Lu County, the Beibi area around Yangguan into Taishan County, and the surrounding area of ​​Feiyi into Fei County after a year and a half, all of which would be in his own pocket. They are not in the name of Zhao Wuxi's territory, but directly under the Marquis of Lu. General Zhao is waving "the banner of honoring the monarch and disobeying ministers", so he has to do some superficial work.

Fortunately, the Marquis of Lu understood that he was being put on a pedestal.

In addition, Meng's territory, Yunyi, can also be used as a county, but Wu Xie does not want to intervene for the time being, so as not to irritate the Meng's, so he will first digest the territory in his hand.

He roughly calculated that if the East Land was divided into zero, he could make up four counties, that is to say, the State of Lu could probably be reduced to thirteen counties! With a population of nearly one million, it is equivalent to Zhao Qing in the Jin State, or a large county in the Qin and Han Dynasties...

The situation looks great~lightnovelpub.net~ but Zhang Mengtan, who has a long-term vision, has hidden concerns.

"My lord, the state of Lu is now like a state with two systems. The west is the county system, and the east is the doctor's system. I'm afraid that things will be out of line in the long run. There must be a system that can cover the whole of Lu. Let the western region centralize power in the hands of the lord, and let the eastern doctors bow their heads..."

"That's right, I need a system that will rely on the monarch to lead the ministers, let the authority of the generals legitimately override the imperial court, let the foreign dynasty become a decoration, and let my private retainers take over the state affairs." Zhao Wu T-shirt thought for a moment, and revealed all the ideas that had been hidden in his heart for a long time.

"I'm going to set up a curtain in Yuncheng!"

PS: The 5,000-word chapter has two chapters at the top. I will do it today. The school is about to start. In July, I have to pack my things and go on the road.

(To be continued.)

PS: Thanks to book friend Tang Minhang, I Batian Dragon I, 1st Guards Tank Brigade, Backlight, Lonely Stone, czdxh042408, yyaJy2304, Tiansuizi, Dongdongqiang_80, Xiaoqi Civilization Miracle, Xunlang , Apocalypse Key, Liushui Taki, a reward from the God and Illusory Realm! Thank you for your monthly pass!