Standalone Northern and Southern Dynasties

Chapter 375: A great scholar has compiled the scriptures for me
Comfortable!

Su Ze finally understood what it meant to "have a great scholar debate the scriptures for me"!
Su Tong helped Su Ze to identify his ancestors by citing classics, and he even helped Su Ze to think about the replacement of the five elements. The important officials of the Government Affairs Hall could not find any words to refute.

In this way, the Su Ze group soon agreed with this statement that Su Ze, the Duke of Gaoping, was a descendant of Zhuanxu Gaoyang clan, and the first temple to worship this one of the Five Emperors of China.

After the temple was first established, some technical problems arose.

Su Ze's father was a Yulin Lang, so naturally he had a name and surname, but Su Ze's father died early, and Su Ze and Su Yuyao didn't know their grandfather's name.

But it didn't matter. Su Tong found Li Tong again and asked him the name of Su Ze's grandfather.

But even Li Tong didn't know anything further back. The Su family was originally a small family, and no one knew whether Su Ze's great-grandfather or great-great-grandfather had a name.

However, this matter was not difficult for Su Tong. Didn't Zhu Yuanzhang encounter the same problem in the past? Su Tong helped Su Ze to make up a few names for his ancestors, and finally the five temples of the princes were complete.

After the family temple was established, the next step was naturally to build the ancestral temple and worship the ancestors. This would naturally be handled by special people. With Su Tong in charge, even the most knowledgeable Confucian scholar in etiquette would not be able to find any problems.

After determining the ancestral temple, Su Tong proposed:

"The Duke of Gaoping should build a palace."

After this was said, the important officials looked at each other again.

But most people remained silent.

The princes and ministers of the Northern Wei Dynasty had no actual fiefdoms. Even important regents like the Prince of Qinghe and the Prince of Jiangyang only built palaces in Luoyang.

A royal palace is completely different from a palace.

A palace, no matter how big it is, is just a mansion. No matter how magnificently it is built, it is just a place to live.

As a county duke, Su Ze could certainly build a mansion. For example, Xiao Baoyin, the Duke of Danyang, had a magnificent mansion in Luoyang, which was given by Emperor Xuanwu.

If Su Ze entered Luoyang now, the Northern Wei court would definitely grant him a magnificent mansion.

However, the palace is not just a house, but something like the shogun's shogunate. The palace is a complete bureaucratic system that cooperates with Su Ze in managing the principality of Gaoping County. The most important thing among them is not the palace itself, but the series of civil and military officials serving in the palace.

For example, in the principalities of the Western Han Dynasty, a prime minister would be set up in the country, which was equivalent to the prime minister of the dynasty, assisting the ruler of the principality in handling government affairs.

In addition to the prime minister, the duchy is equivalent to a small court, which is much more comprehensive than the shogun's shogunate that is specifically responsible for military affairs.

The important officials were all silent. If they built a palace now, wouldn't that mean openly splitting from the court?
Seeing everyone's reaction, Su Ze realized that he might have taken a big step. He waved his hand and said:

"The current system of the shogunate and the political affairs hall is already functioning well, so there is no need to build a palace."

Su Tong immediately said:
"only."

Su Tong did not mention the palace matter again, but this matter still planted the seeds in the hearts of the ministers.

There were not many important officials of the State Council who participated in the discussion this time. There were only Su Chao who was in charge of the State Council, Su Liang, the Vice-Chancellor, Feng Shu, and Gao Hui, the Vice-Chancellor. However, in addition to these civil officials, there were also military generals such as Yang Zongjia and Li Cunzhen who attended the discussion as observers.

In this meeting, the military generals who participated in the confidential matters as observers were all Su Ze's old subordinates. They were not qualified to speak or express their opinions at the meeting, but they leaked the content after the meeting.

They are expressing dissatisfaction.

For these military generals, they could not understand the caution of these literati. The Northern Wei Dynasty had not done them any favors. Everything they had now was earned by Su Ze and them on the battlefield.

In their opinion, the Great Wei has only given General Su the title of a county duke now, but it would be enough to give him the title of a king based on his merits!
In addition, the contradiction between civil and military officials was also reflected in official positions.

For senior civil servants, the position in the principality is not much different from their current position.

Su Ze now has the power to appoint and dismiss officials in the prefectures and counties of Guanzhong. The system of the Government Affairs Hall is equivalent to a small imperial court. Even the original bureaucratic system of the principality seems backward.

However, for military generals, if Su Ze wanted to give them a general title, he had to report to the court. The positions that the general shogunate could give them were lieutenant general, military officer, military commander, and other low-ranking positions.

If Su Ze could really divide the land and establish a kingdom, he could then appoint military officers himself.

Therefore, in the eyes of the military generals, these civil servants were still loyal to the Northern Wei Dynasty and were not loyal enough to the general!

As a result, the discussion of the meeting was leaked, which also aroused the dissatisfaction of some more radical lower-level civil servants.

For example, after the court was dismissed today, when Wang Sizheng returned home from Chongwen Pavilion, he heard a lot of discussions.

"Xiao Kuan?"

Wei Xiaokuan was standing in front of Wang Sizheng's house with wine in his hand, and he quickly opened the door to welcome him in. Wei Xiaokuan had just returned to Yongle City. He had just been sent to Jingzhou as a censor to supervise the transportation of grain and grass. He had just reported to the Government Affairs Hall and came to Wang Sizheng to reminisce about the past.

This kind of interaction between officials of the same level is actually a form of mutual exchange.

Wang Sizheng and Wei Xiaokuan had similar backgrounds and personalities, and they held similar positions, so they naturally developed a personal friendship.

After entering the house, Wang Sizheng's wife asked the servants to buy some food to go with the wine from the alley entrance. The two of them talked about the current situation while drinking.

Wei Xiaokuan first said:
"General Murong is a steady person, and Hu Chen is also cooperative. Jingzhou is generally stable."

Wang Sizheng nodded. The people of Jingzhou rebelled because they were persecuted by the government and had no food to eat.

However, these people who rebelled also had no food to eat and were tired of the years of unrest.

The situation has been very stable during these years under Su Ze's rule, and the food and fodder prepared for this war was relatively sufficient. After taking over Jingzhou, Murong Shaozong used military rations to relieve the people in accordance with Su Ze's orders, and naturally won the hearts of the people in Jingzhou.

Wei Xiaokuan did not encounter any unexpected problems during this inspection. Murong Shaozong was best at fighting stupid battles.

When following him into battle, every step had to be cautious. Murong Shaozong would personally take charge of the arrangement of grain routes along the way, and he would personally supervise the construction of each camp. Since he had to personally take care of such matters, naturally there would be no grain supervisor to interfere.

Wei Xiaokuan made a round inspection and did not find any problems. This mission was the easiest one for him since he took office as the Inspector General.

Wei Xiaokuan asked:
"I heard that those people in the government hall are not too concerned about the county duke's palace?"

Wang Sizheng nodded and said:
"From what I heard, although several of the vice-ministers did not oppose it, they did not support it either, so the county lord did not mention the matter again."

Wang Sizheng added: "This incident has caused dissatisfaction among the people towards several of the ministers."

Wei Xiaokuan nodded and said:
"Several of you are blocking the path to progress."

For these senior civil servants, there was not much difference between being an official of the Northern Wei Dynasty and being an official of Su Ze. If Su Ze wanted to divide the land and establish a kingdom, they would have to bear the moral burden.

But for lower-level civil servants, everything is different.

If Su Ze could really build a palace, many official positions would naturally appear.

For example, Wang Sizheng's job as the editor of Chongwen Pavilion could become a position with a high rank if Su Ze established it in the palace.

For low-level civil servants, being an official in a county or state is obviously more attractive than being an official in the shogun's office.

Human nature is like this; vested interest groups will tend to become increasingly conservative, and those who join later can only make progress by putting forward more radical ideas.

This is also because Su Chao and his gang are still relatively young and have relatively high prestige, otherwise they would be scolded by their subordinates as "thieves if they are old and still alive."

However, for officials like Wang Sizheng and Wei Xiaokuan who have already made a name for themselves in Su Ze's heart and have taken up important positions such as Jianxiulang, whether or not to build a palace does not have much influence on them. Only by keeping a low profile in such a turmoil can they maintain good relationships between superiors and subordinates.

Wei Xiaokuan asked again: "Is Dugu Lang's wedding date approaching?"

Wang Sizheng nodded and said:

"The astronomers at the Duke's Mansion have calculated the date, which will be next month. Her Royal Highness the Princess has already sent craftsmen to help Dugu Lang decorate the mansion."

Wei Xiaokuan and Wang Sizheng had no connection with Dugu Xin originally. The last time Dugu Xin passed the assessment, he refused the position of Jianxiulang and insisted on joining the army, which attracted the attention of Wei Xiaokuan and Wang Sizheng.

They were all young people, and all of them were outstanding figures who had left their names in history. After several interactions, the relationship between the three of them became much closer.

This time Dugu Xin failed to go on the expedition with Hou Jing, but by accident became Su Ze's brother-in-law. Wang Sizheng and Wei Xiaokuan certainly would not be jealous of their friend. They also knew that with Dugu Xin's talent and ability, he would definitely be successful after becoming Su Ze's brother-in-law.

Where there are people, there are rivers and lakes. For those in a higher position, it is a good thing that their subordinates are not a monolithic group.
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Ge Rong took Yuwen Luosheng as the vanguard and led his troops to attack Xindu.

After Ge Rong established the system, he indeed transferred Gao Huan from Jizhou and ordered him to garrison Jingxing.

Gao Huan's efforts to win over the hearts of the people in Jizhou in the past few days were completely in vain, but he had no ability to resist Ge Rong's army and could only leave Jizhou in disgrace with his two thousand troops.

Ge Rong's betrayal made Gao Huan finally determined. After arriving in Jingxing, he actively contacted Erzhu Rong, hoping to lead his troops to join Erzhu Rong.

However, Gao Huan sent messengers several times, but all of them fell on deaf ears. It was obvious that Erzhu Rong did not have much good feelings towards Gao Huan, a guy who had betrayed his master many times.

However, this time, the government army stronghold in Jingxing launched an unusual movement. Gao Huan climbed up to a high place and looked, and then he felt a little happy. He actually saw that the leader of the government army had changed and became Heba Sheng, whom he knew!

Although the people of Wuchuan and Huaishuo had some unpleasant pasts, the Heba brothers were loyal and heroic people. Now that they were both people who had fallen into the Six Garrisons, Gao Huan once again sent his envoys to ask for surrender to Heba Sheng who was stationed in Jingxing.

(End of this chapter)