Xuande

Chapter 656
The last of the six departments is the Ministry of Rites.

It seems that this Ministry of Rites is a useless department, but it is not.

The so-called important affairs of the country are in the army and sacrifices. This Ministry of Rites is the place where "Jia De Tong Yi" was compiled, and it is the place where Liu Bei gathered all the talents in etiquette of the ancient literature school to formulate the next "constitution" of the Eastern Han Empire.

What the Ministry of Rites controls is the fundamental law of the entire Han Empire, the rules of the game of the Han Empire, and the ideological foundation of the Han Empire's rule of the entire world.

Because of the demise of the Jinwen School, "Baihu Tongyi" has been abolished in fact, and is no longer recognized as the "constitution" of the Han Empire.

At present, the Eastern Han Empire needs a brand new and instructive "constitution" to direct everyone's daily production and life actions, to replace those rules when the Jinwen School dominated the world.

Everyone needs to know how to do things, make friends, and daily life in the future, and what to do is right, so that they can be regarded as respecting the ancestors of heaven and Dharma.

The main reason is that everyone usually does too many bad things, so they need a little psychological comfort.

And this is where Liu Bei wants to implement his corrections to the Han Empire, replace the superstitious attitude of Chenwei with a secular attitude, and gradually realize the transition from a theocratic government to a secular government.

Therefore, the existence of "Jade Tongyi" is very necessary. Everything Liu Bei will do in the future needs "Jiade Tongyi" to explain him, endorse him, provide him with reasonable legitimacy, and avoid doubts and resistance from the world. .

And when the people of the world questioned and resisted, Liu Bei could also declare them as rebels and thieves through the relevant content in "Jiade Tongyi", and he himself could lead the king to wipe out the thieves.

It belongs to Dayiqiang claim.

Including everything that Liu Bei is doing at this stage, requires "Jia De Tong Yi" to provide legitimacy to ensure that everything he is doing now and the status quo of holding the imperial power on behalf of others will not be regarded as "overstepping" by others.

At the current stage, Liu Bei built six departments in the General’s Mansion to deal with the affairs of the various departments of the imperial court, and transplanted the power of the Luoyang court to the General’s Mansion as a whole, with the General’s Mansion as the central organization, and even replaced the Shangshu in a certain sense position of the station.

However, although Shangshutai had great power in the Eastern Han Dynasty, its rank was very low, so it was not infeasible to replace Shangshutai with the General's Mansion in essence.

In terms of rank, once the General's Mansion is established, the status will be very high. If there is another powerful general, then the status will be even higher.

It is enough to become the center of power of the entire Han Empire as it is now, and in essence hold the power to rule the world.

Nevertheless, Liu Bei is also fully aware of the instability and unsustainability of this stage.

The system of the General's Mansion with Liu Bei as the core is not stable, which also means that this secular government is not stable.

This secular government takes the Confucian school of ancient literature as its shell, but its essence is a powerful military group with Liu Bei at its core.

The background of the Luoyang court is a military power group, a military power group that highly relies on Liu Bei's personal prestige and ability.

The advantage of a military power group is that it has a strong rule and can subdue any disobedient forces. If there is resistance, it can all be wiped out. Therefore, in a certain sense, if it can promote social progress, this kind of government is the most suitable.

It has the highest efficiency, the strongest execution ability, the most thorough attack and liquidation on the opposition forces, and it is powerful and powerful.

But the problem is also military power.

This thing is highly dependent on the presence and actions of a macho military strongman.

When the military strongman is alive, or when the battle is undefeated, the government's deterrence is extremely strong, and it will do what it says, and it can do whatever it says.

But once the military strongman is defeated, or the strongman dies, and there is no successor, then the government will collapse at the speed of light, and it is difficult to have a stable inheritance model, which cannot last for a long time.

In this regard, Liu Bei has nothing to do, there is nothing like it in ancient and modern China and foreign countries.

If we want to find a stable inheritance model, in this era, the group played by Emperor Zhang of the Han Dynasty is the most effective and the one that can maintain peaceful rule for a long time. The model is much more stable than Liu Bei's military strongman model.

After Emperor Hanhe, the Eastern Han Dynasty produced several generations of baby emperors and young emperors, which shattered the majesty of the imperial power. Even so, the Eastern Han Empire still lingered for more than 100 years before it completely collapsed.

This is the stability of theological nature.

So sometimes in his spare time, Liu Bei would also lament that he has the idea and action preparation to eradicate the evils of the world, but it is difficult to guarantee that this model can continue, unless he upholds the mentality of "I will take care of him after I die". , that can indeed be ignored.

If you want to be stable, there is really no other possibility except to engage in mystery, or to pray that future generations will be wise and capable.

As for the one-step leap forward to elections and the like, it is better to pray for future generations to be wise and capable, which is more reliable.

Liu Bei also thought that if he really became the emperor, then he would remove all obstacles, vigorously develop technology and expand outward, find more overseas territories, and expand people's desires to the whole world...

Maybe also a way.

This is a road that ancient China has never traveled, and no one knows what the result will be.

But if you continue to stay on this three-acre land and roll in, it will definitely not end well.

So if there is no other good way out in the end, Liu Bei may have to take such an unimagined path.

Looking at the efficient and somewhat fanatical Luoyang court driven by him, Liu Bei was deeply moved—this situation will not last for a long time, because after the slavery movement, Liu Bei will start preparing to save the land.

The slavery restriction movement did not harm the interests of the vast majority of the ruling class, but aimed at the small and medium-sized landlords and ordinary wealthy households. It is tantamount to inheriting the legacy of the Han Dynasty. It was miserable, and a big piece of fat was cut off from them, and everyone shared it.

A part of this piece of fat was indeed given to the lower class of the common people, and it was not a lot. The allocated land, exemption from taxes for three to five years, and a series of relocation expenses were all huge sums of money. expenses.

This huge expenditure alleviated the sharp social contradictions of the big man in a certain sense, relieved the pressure on the people, and allowed more people to have food. It was a political reform with good results.

However, the fundamental problem of the decline of the Han Empire has not been resolved.

Because the leeks of the richest group of people are not so easy to harvest, if using the ruling class to harvest the leeks of the small and medium landlords can still get a certain sense of response, it is purely at odds with the ruling class to engage in farming across the country. Happy.

Even the group of people who are most deeply bound to Liu Bei's interests will probably be unhappy, and may not support Liu Bei so smoothly.

And the crux of the problem is that once the land is saved, there must be a massacre, killing a large number of the original ruling class and replacing it with a group of new people, which is almost tantamount to a revolution.

In this way, the foundation of the entire Han Empire will be replaced, the existence that originally supported this ancient empire will completely change its appearance, and the new group of people will especially need someone who can guarantee the consolidation of their interests.

Liu Xiu did not have the confidence to complete the matter of Dutian, and had no way to implement it to the end. Therefore, the underlying operating logic of the Eastern Han Empire has not changed, but if Liu Bei succeeds in promoting it, the operating logic of the Eastern Han Empire will change.

What is certain is that there will inevitably be a large-scale decisive battle within the Luoyang court.

Liu Bei squinted his eyes and turned his gaze out of the window, beyond the layers of fog, as if he could see the future ten or even decades later.

The slavery restriction campaign against the four prefectures of Liangzhou, Youzhou, Jizhou and Yizhou was the main theme of the three years of Jian'an.

After March of the third year of Jian'an, the slave restriction operation was the main work of the central system of the entire Han Empire, and through this series of work, Liu Bei also successfully used the General's Mansion to control the power of the entire Luoyang court.

By the end of the third year of Jian'an, everyone has already recognized that at this stage, the so-called four-assistant system has actually become Liu Bei's one-man show. Give orders.

His orders were the emperor's orders, and his will was the emperor's will. In fact, he held the imperial power on his behalf, became the controller of the imperial power, and guided the progress of the Luoyang court alone.

And through the slavery restrictions in the second year of Jian'an and the third year of Jian'an, Liu Bei successfully proved his ability to govern and the strength of his governance methods. Under his control, two-thirds of the Han Empire has completed slavery restrictions. action.

Although there are many imperfections in the slavery operation, its success is recognized by the world.

Liu Bei mobilized a lot of manpower, material resources and troops, and used both soft and hard methods to successfully clean up a group of guys who made the world's governors and county guards feel troubled. He didn't dare to confront the Luoyang court at all.

The fierce resistance in Yizhou basically came to an end by the end of the third year of Jian'an. Many families who dared to resist were physically wiped out and wiped out. The remaining families were basically willing to cooperate, and the families who were unwilling to cooperate were completely destroyed.

This action initiated by Liu Bei, since the second year of Jian'an, successfully liberated 1901 million people in two-thirds of the Han Empire and returned to the official household registration, adding a large number of household registration population to Liangzhou, Bingzhou, and Youzhou. The prospects for development in these areas are no longer bleak.

This political achievement is bloody, but the results are obvious and cannot be ignored. Even the rulers have to applaud this political achievement, and they are also worried that Liu Bei has such a strong executive power. Come on, can you carry it by yourself?

(End of this chapter)