Memoirs of the Heavenly Khan

Chapter 549 Yefu Wuzhu Coin

Luoyang.

After Li Shuang ascended the throne, he immediately abolished the Tian Ce Mansion and divided its power among the twelve mansions, giving them command of the local troops and the capital's guards.

The twelve prefectures were the Left and Right Guards Prefecture, the Left and Right Martial Guards Prefecture, the Left and Right Martial Marquis Guards Prefecture, the Left and Right Commanders Prefecture, the Left and Right Gatekeepers Prefecture, and the Left and Right Commanders Prefecture.

Many of these military prefecture names are continuations of those from the Han Dynasty.

For example, the Left and Right Guards were first established during the Han Dynasty and were in charge of guarding the palace.

For example, the Left and Right Martial Guards can be traced back to the Martial Guard Camp set up by Cao Cao at the end of the Han Dynasty.

……

Of these twelve military prefectures, the Left and Right Guards Prefectures are the core.

Most of the military forces in the country were concentrated in Guanzhong, Hedong, and Heluo. Because of years of fighting, the soldiers were brave and fierce.

Li Shuang designated the military prefectures of these three regions as the Central Military Prefecture, and the military prefectures of the other circuits as the Outer Military Prefectures, all under the command of the Left and Right Guards.

The other military prefectures also had their own responsibilities.

The Left and Right Martial Guards were in charge of guarding the outer army and some of the shift duties. The Left and Right Martial Marquis Guards were in charge of guarding the emperor's carriages and vehicles, patrolling day and night, arresting criminals, and managing beacon fires, roads, and water and grass affairs. The Left and Right Commanders' Offices managed the Thousand-Bull Guards and were in charge of the emperor's defense. The Left and Right Gatekeepers' Offices controlled the guarding of the various city gates of the capital. The Left and Right Commanders' Offices were in charge of military registers, soldiers' lawsuits, and other duties.

Since the Qin and Han dynasties, the management approach for the capital and the imperial guards has been continuously developed and can be described as a consistent tradition.

Throughout history, there have been variations in the design to adapt to the changing circumstances.

When Li Shuang finally took control of the Forbidden City, he found that he still needed to learn from the previous system when he was in charge of managing the Imperial Guards.

One of the most prominent systems was the Northern and Southern Army system during the Han Dynasty.

These twelve military prefectures have just been established and will certainly undergo some changes to adapt to future development, but the general framework has been set and they belong to the "Southern Army" among the Northern and Southern armies!
Unlike the Twelve Military Offices, whose offices were all located south of the Imperial Palace, the various military camps north of the Imperial Palace belonged to the "Northern Army" among the Northern and Southern Armies!
These garrison troops were all recruited soldiers, including Han soldiers who had followed Li Shuang in his early years, Qihu soldiers of the Erzhu clan, and the Khan's personal guards from various northern tribes. Unlike the Southern Army, these troops were essentially the emperor's personal guards, not under the jurisdiction of the Left and Right Guards, but directly under the emperor's command.

Regardless of whether they were Han or non-Han soldiers in the various military camps, they all originated from the north and had a strong sense of subordination. They were not loyal to Li Shuang because he was the emperor, but because the emperor was Li Shuang.

Li Shuang used the various military camps as the framework for the Northern Army, and collectively referred to the soldiers as "Flying Cavalry".

With the division of the Northern and Southern armies established, the structure of the Imperial Guard was essentially complete.

Historically, the imperial court's prestige has been closely related to the combat strength of the imperial guards.

If the Imperial Guard's fighting strength collapses for any reason, it will inevitably fall into crisis.

For example, the Northern Wei imperial guards were completely wiped out in the Battle of Zhongli against the Southern Liang, leading to a series of crises later on. Another example is the case of a certain fortress that directly sent away three large camps, almost causing the Ming Dynasty to become the Song Dynasty.

However, even if the Imperial Guards weren't destroyed in external wars, their combat effectiveness could still crumble due to internal factors. For example, if the equal-field system collapsed, the militia system would naturally perish, leaving the army, primarily composed of militia, as a mere shell. Another example is the Song Dynasty's strategy of establishing its capital in Kaifeng, employing a strategy of feigning weakness on the outside while maintaining strength in the center. This drained the nation's wealth on its army, and because Kaifeng lacked natural defenses, the Imperial Guards grew in number but weakened in combat effectiveness. Despite possessing a million-strong army, they were ultimately defeated by tens of thousands of Jin troops who reached the gates of Kaifeng, leading to the Jingkang Incident.

However, these were not things Li Shuang needed to worry about at the moment, because even now, the Imperial Guard system was still in its infancy. In addition to the Imperial Guard, local armies also needed to be dealt with.

Today, the empire's territory extends west to Dunhuang, east to Liaodong, north to southern Mongolia, and south to the Yangtze River.

It is impossible to manage such a vast area using a unified model.

In the north, there were military garrisons, cities, tributary states, subordinate tribes, and vassal states. The troops that could be mobilized included not only the garrison troops of each town, but also the garrison troops of the cities, the cavalry under the tributary states, the tribal troops of the tribes, the troops of the various states enfeoffed in Liaodong, and the auxiliary troops of states such as Tuyuhun and Fuyu.

The situation in the southern regions of Bashu and Jianghuai was also different. The military forces in these two regions were not strong, and the armies were quite diverse, including the old army of the Southern Liang, the Guanzhong militia that had migrated to Bashu, the refugee army of Jianghuai, the Liao and Man soldiers, and the Qiang and Di soldiers.

These troops are not under the jurisdiction of the Twelve Garrisons and require different approaches.

The northern armies, previously under the Heavenly Khan's system, can now be further streamlined and strengthened, with different treatment for different regions. For example, the border prefectures acquired from Tuyuhun and belonging to the Shannan and Longyou circuits can be established as tributary prefectures to govern the local Qiang people. As for the tributary prefectures previously established around Guanzhong, they can be abolished and replaced with directly administered prefectures.

As for the south, it was even simpler: increase the strength of the local militia and cut unnecessary troops.

In order to cooperate with the military reform, Li Shuang also reformed the local system.

The original Guannei Circuit was split into Guannei Circuit and Jingji Circuit. The Guanzhong region was assigned to Jingji Circuit, while the three prefectures of Ling, Xia, and Shuo were assigned to Guannei Circuit. Sizhou was changed to Duji Circuit, thus formally establishing the dual-capital system.

When Li Shuang was King of Qin, he divided the various provinces of the empire into nine circuits: Guannei, Longyou, Shannan, Jiannan, Hedong, Henan, Hebei, Northeast, and Huainan. Each of these nine circuits had its own Secretariat, with the Secretariat of Guannei Circuit at the head, which controlled the military and political affairs of the respective provinces and prefectures.

Li Shuang has now added two more circuits, but then abolished the Secretariat of each circuit, retaining only the supervisory responsibility of each circuit.

After the establishment of the dual-capital system, the Three Departments and Six Ministries system was adopted, with government offices set up in both the eastern and western capitals, serving as backups for each other. Li Shuang recruited scholars and officials from the original Qin Prince's Mansion, such as Su Chuo, Yang Yin, Lu Rou, Changsun Yu, Lu Bian, Liu Qiu, and Li Mu, into the Three Departments and gave them the title of Attendant-in-Ordinary.

After the abdication ceremony, the entire winter was a flurry of activity.

The order under the jurisdiction of the Tian Ce Mansion and the Qin Prince's Mansion was abolished, and all power was transferred to the imperial court.

The previously distorted order was corrected, and commands from top to bottom became smooth.

However, this is only the beginning.

In the second year of Shaoxia (542), Li Shuang ordered the abolition of the prefecture-level administrative units and changed the three-level system of prefecture, county, and state to a two-level system of state and county, streamlining the organization and eliminating redundant personnel.

At the same time, the circulation of all old coins was prohibited, and Wuzhu coins were reminted.

Just as a vigorous reform was underway in the north, a report from Xiangyang in the south broke the tranquility of Luoyang.

Yongzhou, formerly part of the Southern Liang Dynasty, is now Xiangzhou of the Tang Dynasty. Xiao Cha, the governor of Xiangzhou and Duke of Yueyang, who is stationed in Xiangyang, submitted a memorial to the throne, proposing to raise troops to march south and avenge his brother Xiao Yu!
The Warring States period in the south has taken another step forward.

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(End of this chapter)