Overlord!

Chapter 358 The Autumn Code of Gongqi

In the eleventh year of Kaiyuan, along the Qinhuai River southeast of Jiankang City, dignitaries from the Song Dynasty gathered together.

From the prime minister to the ministers, from the princes to the clan, they were all on the banks of the Huaihe River, looking at the threshing floor by the river in the crisp autumn air, waiting for the arrival of the emperor of the Song Dynasty.

Although the weather is getting colder now, in the gentle land south of the Yangtze River, the sun is still warm and the autumn days are bright.

This scenery of the south of the Yangtze River, coupled with the red banners and brilliant brocades of the Song Dynasty, can be said to be fragrant and dazzling.

The gathering of so many princes and ministers under the banner is obviously the gathering of imperial decrees.

And it was the emperor Sun Ce who summoned the ministers of the court.

Now that the imperial court has grown, the Manchu ministers and Sun Ce have a more cooperative relationship, running the entire world together.

Later generations of scholar-officials were able to say that "we share the world with the scholar-officials, not with the common people."

There was no way. In this era, with the expansion of territory, even Sun Ce could not push the imperial power to every township and village. To maintain the Song Dynasty's rule over local pavilions, gatherings, townships and villages, local government officials also needed to cooperate with Local clans, three elders, and patriarchs cooperate.

The clan's family system of hierarchy and blood connections are also an important supplement to maintaining local security and an important force in promoting production.

There is no way, many of these people are shufu who rose up due to the situation. Before the troubled times, they may have been just ordinary people at the bottom and could not read a single character. For example, Liu Xiong among the princes in Guanzhong, he really relied on chopping firewood in the mountains. He made a living by selling fuel charcoal, and gathered a group of refugees during the troubled times. He surrendered to the Song Dynasty early, so he was made a pavilion prince, enjoying glory, wealth, and fine food and clothing.

When Youzhou Mu Wei Teng saw his friend Yu Fan who was talking to Shiyang Hou Xian Yufu, he immediately leaned forward and asked: "Zhongxiang, I haven't seen you for several years, but your style is still the same. You are often in Beijing, do you know that this time?" Why did the Emperor summon me to wait on the Qinhuai River?"

The Marquis of Shiyang, Xianyu Fu, laughed and said, "I heard that there are many rouges and gouache on the Qinhuai River, and brothels and boats. Could it be that the emperor wants to take us to listen to music and watch a feast?"

Although these princes hold high positions, many of them are vulgar. There are a few who hold grudges because of trivial matters, or the slightest disrespect or lack of etiquette. They care about everything and will retaliate.

However, Yu Fan's upright temper was also well-known within Song Ting.

The Song Dynasty inherited the Han system and used the Shangshutai to govern the country. It only slightly modified the authority of the Shangshutai and established the system of Shangshutai (cabinet), three departments, five ministries and nine ministers.

However, Yu Fan, the minister of the Ministry of Industry, had no interests involved, so he spoke more straightforwardly, saying: "As a prince, you should have a longer-term vision. Is it true that there are only brothels and boats on the Qinhuai River? Can't there be military and national weapons?"

Being scolded so bluntly by Yu Fan, Xian Yufu looked a little embarrassed.

The year with the most was the ninth year of Kaiyuan, when the court seized the title of fourteen princes in one go.

Yu Fan, the minister of the Ministry of Industry, now holds great power. In terms of power and status, he may not be weaker than the two prime ministers and the three envoys, so he is a real important minister of the court.

Fortunately, Xian Yufu was relatively tolerant and easy-going, so he was able to operate the fief safely for more than ten years, and was highly praised by the local people and the court.

This resulted in princes with unworthy virtues violating the law every year and being deprived of their titles and demoted to common people.

While waiting for the emperor, the censors and censors did not have strict etiquette requirements, so these officials were relatively relaxed. Many princes and ministers had not seen each other for several years, and they gathered here this year. Some of them couldn't help but start chatting.

Because if Sun Ce really wants to take action, he is afraid that at least dozens or even hundreds of princes will be deprived of their titles at one time.

The five Shangshu in the Shangshutai were transformed from the five Cao Shangshu in the Eastern Han Dynasty. The Cao in charge of Shangshulang was the minister of later generations. In fact, the two-level system of ministries and departments (divisions) had been basically realized during the period of Emperor Ling of the Han Dynasty, and it had taken its prototype.

But his thoughts are still at the level of a villager. After a few moments of communication with a few villagers, he can start an argument.

But Sun Ce personally ended the troubled times and pushed the Song Dynasty to an unprecedented peak. His imperial power is still respected by the world.

The hometown of his clan is in Youzhou, so he has a harmonious relationship with Youzhou Mu Wei Teng. Both parties need to take care of each other, so they often have contact with each other.

If it were a prince with a narrow-minded and violent nature, this conversation would have ended unhappily, and even lead to resentment.

This number shows that Sun Ce really did not intend to reduce the princes.

The reason why these people were deprived of titles was truly because they violated the law. Each person's crime was clear, and the penalty of depriving them of titles was finally imposed by Tingwei and Honglu Temple in consultation.

The Song Dynasty established its capital in Jiankang, so its focus was on developing the south of the Yangtze River. Therefore, as many feudal lords as possible were granted to the south of the Yangtze River.

Generals like Lu Meng were also sealed in Jiangling in the northeast and south counties of Wuling County.

The Marquis of Shiyang that Xian Yufu was granted was also a county marquis. It was located in Luling County, which was the south of Yuzhang County. It was the new county planned by Sun Yat-sen.

Shiyang County is on the Gan River, one county away from Luling County.

Xian Yufu made great contributions to the Song Dynasty. He was granted the title of 6,000 households. At first, these 6,000 households would exceed the population of Shiyang County.

Later, with his full development, his fiefdom Shiyang was able to develop to its fullest.

Xian Yufu is also a prince, and he has guests, scholars, and even more than 20 veterans who followed him south from Youzhou as bodyguards. There are more than 60 wives, concubines, maids, guards, and servants in his palace. Including the party and guests, there may be two to three hundred people.

Therefore, he personally led these people to develop fiefdoms in Shiyang. In addition to not interfering in government affairs, he funded the construction of weirs and ponds for water conservancy, and stimulated the use of Gan and Lu waters to soak thousands of hectares of farmland. This benefited both public and private interests, and the common people relied on them. , nicknamed 'Xian Yu Father'.

The imperial court even rewarded him for this, adding a hundred households to his town, and he was regarded as a model for the world.

After all, the most important purpose of the imperial court was to use these princes to develop the barbaric lands south of the Yangtze River.

And the purpose of calling them here today is exactly this.

Xian Yufu didn't notice it for a moment and asked directly: "What does Yu Shangshu mean by this?"

Yu Fan said: "If you are in Shiyang, you should also learn from Poyang and make good use of water conservancy. Jingde porcelain has been developed in Poyang. There are more than 100,000 porcelain workers in Jingde County and thousands of porcelain cellars. Every day. Day after day, year after year, porcelain cellars continue to produce millions of pieces of porcelain. Therefore, local wealthy merchants have a fortune of hundreds of thousands, and local households of 100,000 people have more than 100,000 households. Can't you Shiyang just take advantage of this? Improve tool production?”

While he was talking, the loud and clear voice of the ceremonial officer rang out: "The emperor has arrived, welcome the holy emperor." After the loud voice, the censor and the censor immediately began to inspect the order of officials and supervise the etiquette before the emperor.

A quarter of an hour later, the emperor's support finally slowly moved from the north to the south and appeared in everyone's sight.

After another quarter of an hour, the emperor's figure stepped off the carriage. The person riding in the same carriage was Sun Shao, the current prince of the East Palace.

As of the eleventh year of Kaiyuan (213), the emperor is already thirty-eight years old, approaching the age of forty, and even the prince is nineteen years old and is about to lose his crown.

The prince has now begun to supervise the country, gradually take over government affairs, and learn to handle government affairs.

After the emperor and the prince appeared, the two prime ministers immediately led the ministers and princes to salute respectfully: "I pay homage to your majesty and send my greetings."

Sun Ce waved his hand and said, "No courtesy. This is not an official court meeting today. I am just here to talk with you."

Sun Ce then took the prince and officials to the threshing floor beside the Qinhuai River. He pointed to the spacious threshing floor on the outskirts and said, "I often think about it in the palace. There is the vernal equinox in spring, which is a great festival for farming, but there are not many grand ceremonies in autumn." , so I and you might as well set up a grand celebration unique to our dynasty during this autumn festival."

Right Prime Minister Zhang Zhao is now in his prime. Although his hair is slightly gray, he is in good spirits. Hearing the words, he immediately echoed: "Your Majesty has established the Yuan Dynasty for the eleventh year. He has worked hard to govern, cut down on extravagance, save money on expenses, light on corvee and pay little in taxes. He chose to use Honest officials then let the cattle and horses run wild, and the remaining food is settled in the acres. They travel in thatched huts, and the outside areas are not closed, and the people who meet each other are like relatives. Those who are in need get money from the roads. The sea is peaceful, and the houses are not closed at night. It can be said that it is a prosperous age. It is appropriate to create me The grand ceremony of the dynasty will be imitated by future generations.”

Do not close your doors at night and do not pick up lost things on the road. This is the style of prosperity respected by successive dynasties in the Central Plains.

In fact, this state seems very far away, but it is the easiest for the common people to understand the day after tomorrow.

Later generations basically belonged to the prosperous dynasty. In rural areas, it was normal to keep households open at night, and in cities, people did not pick up items on the streets. Even if valuable items were left in merchants, shops, or cars, no one would take them away. There is also Tianchao's unique "anti-theft" technology. Clothes, shoes, keys, and bags are placed on the beach at the seaside and drawn in a circle so that no one will touch them.

This is to guard against gentlemen in an absolute sense, not against villains.

But generally speaking, nothing within this circle is lost.

You know, in a foreign country, if you do this, you will undoubtedly leave it to the jackals and tigers and leopards. Even if you carry it with you, it may be snatched away. So much so that outsiders have to teach their experience and carry twenty cash with them to ensure their own safety when being robbed.

In comparison, the Central Plains was undoubtedly the prosperous age of the Celestial Dynasty.

But the prosperous age of Kaiyuan was not just about not closing the door at night and not picking up lost things. After the development of agriculture in the imperial court, culture and education became more popular. The common people were allowed to set up private schools, and those who wanted to send them to the prefectures and counties to be educated also listened. In the sixth year of Kaiyuan, the imperial court ordered that every state and county in the world should set up a school to teach students. So Ni, who was a young man at that time, also knew how to be courteous.

The largest collection of books could not be greater than that of the Kaiyuan Dynasty. The number of books written by it was 53,915 volumes, while the number of books written by scholars in the Song Dynasty was 28,469 volumes.

The seven sons of Kaiyuan, Kong Rong, Chen Lin, Wang Can, Xu Qian, Ruan Yu, Ying Jue, Liu Zhen, etc., pushed their poems, poems and articles to the pinnacle of romanticism.

Because of this, the Song Dynasty made great progress in terms of territorial expansion, economic development, cultural etiquette, and academic writings. The Kaiyuan rule gradually became known as the prosperous age.

And Sun Ce summoned the ministers and officials here today, of course, not just to listen to the officials' flattery.

The grand autumn festival he wants to build is not because of great achievements, but really for the sake of cultural governance for generations to come.

So after Zhang Zhao spoke, Sun Ce pointed to the huge machine on the Qinhuai River and said: "The Qinhuai River not only has the beauty of the prosperous times decorated with brothels and boats, but also has this kind of military equipment that benefits the country and the people. I heard from ancient times. The wise man said that if a worker wants to do his job well, he must first sharpen his tools!"

"Nowadays, people make water wheels with shafts that can be several feet long and run through the crossbars, intersecting like spears. When the water stimulates the wheel, the crossbars between the shafts hit the tops of the rows of hammers, and they fall together to pound them, that is, the machine is connected. . Due to this opportunity, the price of rice in Jiankang has been falling year after year. This year, one stone of rice is only 20 yuan."

Twenty coins is still the result of the court's intervention and is the court's red line.

Any merchant must collect grain from the people for no less than 20 qian. If the people cannot sell it, they can sell it to Yicang or Changpingcang, and the court guarantees that the price will be recovered at 21 qian.

This machine-connected hammer is the most important rice-pounding prop since the current improvements, and it is also a must-have machine around the threshing floor near Jiangnan.

After talking about pounding rice, Sun Ce continued: "And the use of water conservancy should not be limited to agriculture. Today, water conservancy can save manpower and be used to pound rice and improve sharp tools, so why can't it be used for forging and smelting!"

"I am here with you today to take a look at our newly improved weapon on the Qinhuai River!"

"In the future, this Autumn Ceremony of Artifacts and Instruments will be held every year to display the tools and instruments improved by various states and departments. If they can benefit people's livelihood and producers, they will be given a bonus in the annual assessment!"

"All the ministers have seen this year are sharp tools for the Ministry of Industry and great benefit to the people's livelihood. Therefore, the Minister of the Ministry of Industry has been promoted to the position of prime minister, and he will be responsible for recording the autumn affairs in the future."

No one, including Yu Fan, expected that the emperor would take this matter so seriously and directly promote the minister of the Ministry of Industry to become the prime minister.

This is the third prime minister in Shangshutai since Kaiyuan!

In the past eleven years, no one has been promoted to the prime minister. It was never thought that the third prime minister would be promoted in this way.

When the officials saw this, they were all shocked. They walked to the Qinhuai River in twos and threes to observe these military and national weapons on the riverside.

After this canon, in the Central Plains and at least in the Song Dynasty, there was no longer any talk of strange and cunning tactics.

Industry and commerce will prosper as a result.

In order to prepare for this celebration, in the eleven years since the founding of the Yuan Dynasty, the Ordnance Supervisor and the Workshop Department of the Ministry of Industry have been constantly improving their skills and inventing water-conservancy forging hammers and water-conservation textile looms.

Among them, the large water-spun spinning wheel was particularly popular in the south of the Yangtze River, which enabled the Song Dynasty's textile industry technology to greatly develop.

From Sun Ce's perspective, the current textile productivity of the Song Dynasty is no less than that of the hydraulic textile machines improved by Gu Kaizhi of the Eastern Jin Dynasty.

Sun Ce felt that this was also a reasonable process. Both sides established their capitals in Jiangnan and rebuilt Kangnongsang. The Song Dynasty had a unified national power and saved a lot of war costs. As an emperor, he also paid special attention to the improvement of equipment and gathered people from all over the world. Skilled craftsmen, including Ma Jun and other national scholars.

The imperial court allocated funds every year to improve technology, and the direction was clear, which was to use water conservancy to make various technologies advance by leaps and bounds. This was reasonable and should never be weaker than Gu Kaizhi's one-man effort.

(End of this chapter)