A Good Landlord in the Tang Dynasty: Starting from the Village Chief

Chapter 456 The Twin Pillars of the Empire: Feudalism and State Building
Changan.

Li Yuan could not sleep at night.

He threw off the thin blanket, put on his robe, and went outside to enjoy the night breeze.

The osmanthus tree is already budding.
Li Yuan scratched his head with a jade ruyi, his sorrow only deepening.

Unable to sleep so late, burdened with worries and no one to confide in, for the matter concerned the emperor's most unspoken and unacceptable secrets.

First, Shimin (Li Shimin) made another great contribution in Hebei, pacifying the province and capturing Dou Jiande alive. The Battle of Mingshui was a brilliant victory.

The Tang Dynasty pacified Hebei in just over a hundred days, with casualties totaling only ten thousand. Compared to such a great victory, these casualties were insignificant.

But while the emperor was pleased, he was also troubled about how to reward his second son.

After pacifying Wang Shichong in Luoyang, he was promoted to General of the Twelve Guards, and also Grand Commandant and Minister of Works, Minister of the Imperial Secretariat and Chancellor. What more titles do you want him to receive?
We can't not seal it off.

Having received the title, he also had to consider the consequences. In the past few years, the King of Qin had defeated Xue Ju, Liu Wuzhou, Wang Shichong, and Dou Jiande, single-handedly pacifying four forces.

His military achievements were unparalleled. Moreover, at the very beginning of the uprising, he commanded the Right Three Armies, and made great contributions in the attacks on Huoyi and Chang'an.

Li Yuan was forced to confront a problem.
Will the King of Qin's triumphant return to the capital pose a threat to the Crown Prince?
Even whether it would threaten him.

Of course, besides Erlang Shimin, whose merits were too great to be rewarded, there was another person who also put Li Yuan in a difficult position, whose merits were also too great to be rewarded, and that was Duke of Jin, Li Yi.

Defending Hedong, sweeping across Shannan, pacifying Henan, and then conquering Hebei, Li Yi's military achievements are all very impressive.

It was not just ordinary merit from participating in the campaign, but a genuine achievement in a specific area.

Li Yuan's bestowal of honors upon Li Yi in recent years was also quite exceptional.
He currently holds the positions of Minister of Works and Attendant-in-Ordinary, General of the Right Guard, General of the Banner, and Left Vice Minister of the Shandong Circuit.
The combination of the Three Dukes and the Prime Minister represents the pinnacle of a minister's position.

If Li Yi were older, we could simply send him back to court to serve as prime minister and assist in governing. But he's only nineteen. Although Prince Qi, Yuan Ji, is also only nineteen and has already become Minister of Works and Attendant-in-Ordinary, there's still a difference in their relationship.

Li Yi could only be granted the title of king.

However, Li Yi had previously refused the title of Prince of Fenyang, and Li Yuan did not actually want to bestow the title of Prince upon Li Yi again. It was not that he was reluctant to part with Li Yi, but rather that he quite liked him.

But once someone is made a king, the situation changes.

Although the emperor readily bestowed titles of kingship upon Luo Yigao, Li Da'en, Du Fuwei, and others, he would not truly trust them and would likely settle scores with them sooner or later.

Another thing that keeps Li Yuan awake at night is that he has now discovered that Li Yi and Erlang have a very good relationship and are very close. As an official in the Eastern Palace, Li Yi has a rather distant relationship with the Crown Prince.

From the battle against Xue Ju in Jingzhou, to the battle against Liu Wuzhou in Hedong, then the attack on Wang Shichong in Luoyang, and now the battle against Dou Jiande in Hebei, Li Yi and Erlang's cooperation has been nothing short of perfect.
These two have achieved amazing results one after another, one leading the main force and the other sweeping the perimeter; there is no enemy they cannot defeat.

The Empire's Two Pillars!

The fact that these two were getting too close to each other was giving Li Yuan a headache.

The emperor sat on the veranda.

He racked his brains all night but couldn't come up with a solution.

early morning,

Lu Kuan, the palace attendant, came to attend to the emperor and was surprised to see the emperor sitting in his sleeping robe under the eaves outside the palace.

"His Majesty?"

Li Yuan looked up, his eyes bloodshot. "I drank an extra cup of deer blood wine last night, and I was a little upset, so I stayed outside a bit longer," he explained.

Lu Kuan escorted the emperor back to bathe and change clothes before he attended the morning court session.

The emperor, now wearing the dragon robe, regained his majesty.

On the throne in the golden hall, Li Yuan's gaze swept over the officials who were serving as his attendants.

The morning court session ended.

When the emperor spoke, Pei Ji and other prime ministers from the three provinces, as well as the ministers and officials from the six ministries and nine courts, participated in the court discussion.

"Today's court meeting will begin with one matter: how to bestow titles and rewards upon the King of Qin and the Duke of Jin."

Silence fell over the hall.

The ministers, especially the King of Qin, were at a loss as to how to bestow rewards.

"Brother, you speak first." Li Yuan called out Dou Kang's name, the former prime minister, who is now the Left General of the Martial Guard, the Left and Right Thousand Bull Guard General, and the Crown Prince's Tutor.

Dou Kang stood up.

"I believe that the King of Qin should be granted the titles of Minister of Works and Attendant-in-Ordinary."

This brother-in-law of the emperor was quite direct, immediately proposing that Li Shimin should hold the positions of the Three Dukes and the heads of the Three Provinces.

Li Yuan did not respond.

“Pei Ji, you should also say something.”

“If we follow what Lord Dou says, then it would be better to directly appoint the King of Qin as Grand Chancellor, in charge of all affairs,” Pei Ji said frankly.

That's obviously the opposite of what you're saying.

Grand Chancellor?
Is this a rebellion?

Before Li Yuan became emperor, he appointed himself Grand Chancellor. Yang Jian also served as Grand Chancellor before he became emperor.

Should we also bestow upon him the Nine Bestowments and the Yellow Axe?
"Prime Minister Xiao?"

Li Yuan then asked Xiao Yu, whose wife was Li Yuan's cousin, Lady Dugu, and he had always trusted Xiao Yu implicitly.

"I believe that the King of Qin's achievements are sufficient to grant him land and establish vassal states. He should set aside a fiefdom in Longyou and establish the Qin Kingdom."

Holding his jade tablet, Xiao Yu spoke frankly: This Prime Minister Xiao was born into the royal family of Western Liang, and he had always favored feudal princes and promoted the system of enfeoffment within the royal family.
The idea was to enfeoff adult princes and establish their own states, believing that this would both protect the court and prevent the princes from fighting amongst themselves in the capital.

Li Yuan seemed somewhat tempted by this, although enfeoffment also had its downsides, such as the Rebellion of the Seven States in the Western Han Dynasty and the Rebellion of the Eight Princes in the Western Jin Dynasty, but it also had many advantages.

The Sui Dynasty did not have a true enfeoffment system. Although Yang Jian's five sons were all brothers from the same mother, they all served as governors of a region, which was an official position rather than an enfeoffment to establish a state.

"Xiao Xiang, please explain in detail where the Prince of Qin should be enfeoffed and how the enfeoffment should be conducted," Li Yuan urged him to continue.

"I believe that when princes are granted fiefdoms, they should be appointed to govern important border towns."

Before he could finish speaking, Pei Ji, the Right Minister, stood up to object, "Isn't Xiao Zhongshu Ling's method going to imitate the enfeoffment system of the Jin Dynasty? Enfeoffing princes with important local towns and giving them military and civil power is bound to cause chaos."

Xiao Yu thought for a moment, "Then we won't grant fiefdoms in important towns, but only in frontier regions, to guard the borders for the court. For example, if the Prince of Qin were to be enfeoffed in Longyou, he could not be granted fiefdoms in Qinzhou, Liangzhou, or Lanzhou, but in Shanzhou in the Hehuang Valley, which borders Qinghai to the west and the Yellow River to the south."
This is an important frontier gateway between Longyou, the region of our Great Tang Dynasty, and the Tuyuhun and Dangxiang Qiang tribes. The Prince of Qin established his kingdom here, which would serve to defend the borders of the nation.

Li Yuan was quite familiar with Shanzhou. The Sui Dynasty established Xiping Prefecture there, with Chiling Mountain to the west, Daxue Mountain, a branch of the Qilian Mountains, to the north, and the Yellow River to the south.

To its west lies Tuyuhun in Qinghai, to its north Liangzhou, to its east Lanzhou, and to its south Kuozhou.

The place is not small.

But it is indeed a frontier region with considerable potential for development, because it has the Hehuang Valley, a 600-mile-long valley rich in resources, with a pleasant climate, suitable for both animal husbandry and farming.

It has always been a place repeatedly contested by agricultural and nomadic tribes in Longyou.

Today, the area around Qinghai Lake is home to the Tuyuhun Khanate. The Tuyuhun were originally a branch of the Xianbei Murong tribe. They migrated from the northeast to the shores of Qinghai Lake, conquered the local Qiang and Di tribes, and formed a khanate with the Xianbei Murong as the ruling class, uniting the Qiang and Di tribes.

It has existed for several hundred years and its strength is not weak. Although it cannot compare with the Turks, it is still a powerful force on the frontier. The Sui Dynasty once destroyed it, but it quickly rose again. In recent years, the Tang Dynasty has mainly tried to win it over, but it still frequently harasses them.

Li Yuan was genuinely tempted.

Enfeoffing Erlang in the Hehuang Valley to establish a vassal state was both a reward for his merits and a way to protect the country and prevent him from competing with the crown prince for the throne in the future.

"Prime Minister Xiao, write a detailed memorial and submit it later," Li Yuan stroked his beard and smiled. "Now let's talk about how to bestow the title of Duke of Jin."

Pei Ji said, "The Duke of Jin's merits are worthy of being enfeoffed as a king."

Surprisingly, no one objected to the proposal to bestow a title upon him.

It seems that all the ministers in the hall admired Li Yi's achievements. After all, from Hedong to Shannan, then to Henan, and now to Hebei, this young Duke of Jin has indeed performed no less than the King of Qin.

Anyway, he's much better than King Qi.

Apart from the King of Qin, it seems that there are no other generals who have achieved such great merit as Li Yi.

Li Yuan saw that his ministers all agreed to granting the title of king.
He stroked his beard, pondered for a moment, and then nodded.

Compared to Erlang, Li Yi is ultimately easier to manage.

The emperor asked his ministers to discuss a title.

Some suggested retaining the title "Prince of Fenyang," while others proposed using the title of Hebei to commemorate Li Yi's achievements in Hebei.

Finally, several titles, such as the Prince of Wei and the Prince of Wu'an, were listed, and the emperor was asked to choose one.

"Li Yi was granted the title of Prince of Wu'an, with an additional 200 households of actual fief, bringing the total to 1,200 households." The emperor ultimately chose the Prince of Wu'an, not the Prince of Wei.

The emperor and his ministers discussed for a long time how to reward the main generals who had fought in the Hebei campaign, and also discussed how to settle the surrendered officials and generals from Hebei.

The court meeting concluded.

Li Yuan then summoned Xiao Yu to his bedchamber to dine together, where they discussed how to enfeoff the princes.

Xiao Yu had already considered this matter and had his own method of enfeoffment in mind. Li Yuan listened as he ate.

"Your Majesty, the three dynasties were feudal and lasted for a long time, while Qin was isolated and perished quickly. Both Han and Jin established feudalism, and their dynasties lasted for hundreds of years."

The previous dynasty, which unified the north and south, also perished after only two generations due to its failure to implement a feudal system; this serves as a cautionary tale.

Like the Qin Dynasty, the Sui Dynasty was a unified empire and implemented the prefecture-county system, a centralized system of government.

The Han and Jin dynasties were also unified, but they both implemented a system of parallel prefectures and kingdoms, with vassal states and prefectures and counties directly under the central government.

Xiao Yu said that the pre-Qin period was characterized by a feudal system, the Qin Dynasty introduced the prefecture-county system, the Han and Jin Dynasties saw a coexistence of prefectures and kingdoms, and the Sui Dynasty reverted to the prefecture-county system.

But from the Qin to the Sui dynasties
In the nearly nine hundred years of history, only the Han and Jin dynasties lasted for more than a hundred years, and even those were divided into two periods. None of the others lasted more than a hundred years.

This includes the Qin and Sui dynasties.

Xiao Yu used this as a basis to say that the enfeoffment system was a good system that was conducive to the longevity of the state, citing the Zhou dynasty as an example, which lasted for eight hundred years.

For example, the Han and Jin dynasties each lasted for one or two hundred years.

The country is very large, and it is difficult to manage whether it is a county or a prefecture. However, the three levels of prefecture, county and state are too numerous.

Especially in the border regions, the reach of the authorities is limited.

The Western Regions, Lingnan, Jiaozhi, Liaodong, as well as Jiannan and Qianzhong are really difficult to manage. They are not easy to manage when the court is strong, but they can not be controlled when the court is slightly weak.

Xiao Yu suggested that it would be better to use these places to enfeoff princes, allowing them to establish kingdoms in these border regions and serve as a bulwark for the court.

Li Yuan frowned.

“To grant those wild and uncivilized lands as fiefdoms would be tantamount to exile,” Li Yuan said, and he believed that his princes would not be willing either.

Li Yuan preferred to enfeoff his sons in important towns on the four sides, such as Liangzhou, Youzhou, Guangzhou, and Yizhou. However, considering that these places were too important, if they were enfeoffed to princes, it would be fine for the current generation, as the emperor and the prince would be father and son. But the next generation would become brothers, and the generation after that would be cousins.

With this in mind, they sealed off places near these important towns, such as Shanzhou south of Liangzhou, Tanzhou next to Youzhou, Huizhou next to Guangzhou, and Yunzhou north of Bingzhou, etc.

Xiao Yu even boldly proposed granting fiefs to meritorious officials.

If there are no more titles to bestow upon a meritorious official like Li Yi in the future, then Li Yi, as a prince, can also be granted a fiefdom. Of course, the size and location of the fiefdom will certainly not be as good as those of the princes.

Li Yuan listened to these methods of enfeoffment and fell into deep thought.

(End of this chapter)