warring states careerist

Chapter 742

The tragedy of the Song Dynasty lies not only in its geographical location, but also in the national conditions of the powerful domestic aristocracy.

If the State of Song had been a little smaller and had never been richer, it would have chosen a big country as a vassal state in this troubled world, just like the State of Wei, at least it could survive.

However, Song State is not a vassal, and because of its special geographical location in the world, Song State is not only an important place that cannot be given up to all countries, but also a hot potato that no one dares to touch.

In history, Song State was subjugated, which was the result of the cooperation of Qi, Chu, Wei, and Qin. The country was small but not inferior. When it was strong, it attacked Chu, captured Qi and invaded Wei, and was finally divided up.

The Song Kingdom is full of fertile land, and to the Sishang Mohists, it is like Qi Southwest: they don't want it for the time being, but they can't allow it to be controlled by Chu and Wei.

Now the fate of the Song State cannot be decided by the nobles of the Song State.

The current situation of Song State is the most chaotic in the world.

In the civil strife 20 years ago, the people and the Mohists took advantage of the contradictions between the nobles to turn Song into a nominal country and a loose alliance of nobles.

Sichenghuang, Le family, Dai family, Xiao family, Shi family, Hua family... Many nobles do not want any expansion of royal power, they have their own power, and there has always been a tradition of noble coups.

20 years ago, when the Mo family defended Shangqiu and caused turmoil in the Song Dynasty, it was because the royal family of Sicheng could not monopolize the power and was hated by the rest of the nobles.

Earlier, there was the foundation of the aristocratic republic of the three surnames co-government. After the imperial father's family became dominant, he had the opportunity to learn from the three families and divide the Jintian clan into the Qi Dynasty, so as to obtain the state of Song State in one fell swoop. However, the coup d'etat 20 years ago was suitable. The meddling made Song completely lose the possibility of centralizing power.

The differences between the Court of Gentlemen and the Court of Commoners, and the nobles being forced by the Mohists to swear not to attack each other, these are all explosives planted at the beginning, in order to make it impossible for the Song Dynasty to unify and centralize power.

The emperor's father Zang is old, and his son, the emperor's father Yueling, is now the Inquiry Yuan Ling Yin of the Song Dynasty. Song Gong has no power at all, but it is extremely difficult for the emperor's father Yueling to centralize power.

After the coup 20 years ago, all parts of the Song Dynasty went their separate ways. The nobles quarreled all day long in the so-called Gentlemen’s Court, putting some conspiracies on the surface, and the force of the Mohist School maintained the original covenant of non-harm. It is impossible for the emperor Yueling to centralize power.

The side close to Sishang was the most influenced by Sishang, and it was also the place where many changes occurred first.

Sishang’s demand for food and raw materials has made it very profitable for the local minor nobles to manage the land. They gave up personal control over the farmers, and in exchange for huge wealth, they also lost their power base within the nobles. ——The peasants who are bound to the fiefdom are their force base, and the nobles without force base have no right to speak.

Taoqiu and other places where industry and commerce are more developed are fundamentally self-governed by industrial and commercial people, and they belong to the fiefdom of the imperial father's family in name. In fact, it is enough to pay enough taxes every year, and the hand of the imperial father's family cannot be reached at all.

In other places, nobles such as the Le family, the Xiao family, and the Dai family continued to maintain their rule in the fief with difficulty to ensure their military strength, and did not dare to let the peasants flee to other places.

Some nobles made some appropriate changes, such as granting land to the people in exchange for their loyalty, but in reality... it was difficult.

Grain prices are falling day by day, a large amount of precious metals are flowing into Sishang, handicraft products from Sishang are being dumped, and planting technology has been improved by leaps and bounds, all of which have made those nobles who have made appropriate changes miserable.

According to the rules to collect tithes, according to the amount 20 years ago, the nobles would be starved to death, and it would be difficult to maintain their current lives.

Raise the tax rate, and the kindness of granting land to the people is immediately forgotten, and the farmers are dissatisfied next to Sishang for comparison.

Looking at those small nobles near Sishang who gave up their personal control over the farmers, hoarding land and making a lot of money, these ambitious nobles can only be greedy: having money means no one, no one means no one. This means that there is no status and power within the nobles.

Everything costs money.

Arms, silk, cotton, iron, luxury goods...

Food prices are too low.

The tithes are all taxes in kind. If you pay them, they will be reaped by the Mo family immediately. Every year when you collect three or five buckets more, the price of food will plummet. All kinds of arms and handicrafts need money to buy, and the money is only To sell grain to the Mohists for exchange, the pricing power is all on the side, and the old orthodox nobles are all poor and miserable.

Holding their own fiefdoms and fiefs, but there is no basis for management at all, they can only choose to sell the franchise rights to some rent-seeking businessmen, use power to protect the monopoly of these merchants, and obtain enough rent from the merchants, but in the end they suffer or the local people.

Some merchants in Sishang and the Song Kingdom saw that their goods could not be sold throughout the Song Kingdom, and many feudal cities formed their own systems. Their goods could not be sold and were monopolized by local merchants who were dependent on the nobles. They felt resentful.

Businessmen hate, farmers resent, handicraftsmen themselves are closely related to the Mohists, small townspeople are enthusiastic and fanatical, and have a special identity for the idea that everyone is equal and meritorious rather than offensive. These fiefdoms are chaotic enough inside, but there are still people outside. Eyeing.

The imperial father's family always wanted to gather the power of the various fiefdoms, but when the coup d'état happened in the Song Dynasty, they didn't think about the good of the Song Dynasty.

The gentleman's courtyard created, a group of nobles restrict each other and want to centralize power?Vote guaranteed against.

Want to centralize power by force?The non-harmful alliance that the Mo family participated in 20 years ago forced the emperor's family to dare not do anything.

The richer businessmen, the petty aristocrats who became farmers, the handicraftsmen, and the self-cultivated farmers in Shangqiu, were bewitched by the equal morality of the Mohists, and their hearts were even more dissatisfied.

The common people's court created back then only had the right to petition, which is a right that the people of the country already have. The original little Situ was in charge of this. Anyone who moved the capital, established a monarch, and formed an alliance needed to be approved by the people of the country. This is the tradition of the Spring and Autumn Period. The Court just continued this power.

But... these representatives of the House of Commons, who thought they could finally be "equal" with the nobles, found that they were useless, because 20 years ago when they dealt with the coup of the Song Dynasty, they left a deep hole: the Court of Gentlemen had a veto right.

The situation of who is suing the official in the hall is staged in the Consulting Yuan of Song State all day long.

On the one hand, Sishang is thriving, and the rights of industrial and commercial people are protected by the Law of Manmin.

On the other side, those people in Shangqiu have money and power but have no power, and the resentment and dissatisfaction in their hearts have already accumulated.

20 years of development and leapfrog development have made the speed of land mergers unprecedentedly improved.

Some aristocrats and minor aristocrats used their power and previous hundreds of years of accumulation to frantically merge land in some places where land was allowed to be sold, driving away the redundant people due to the development of agricultural tools.

Those close to Sishang poured into Sishang, and those close to Shangqiu poured into Shangqiu.

This group of landless peasants had no land, so they could only work with others in the city or work as servants, or as migrant servants. They belonged to the most miserable class in the city. They longed for land and were full of hatred for the nobles.

The theories of "true equality", "sages working with the people", "emphasizing agriculture and suppressing businessmen", and "businessmen's cunning" are widely spread in the circle of landless farmers in Shangqiu.

The theory of the peasant family is to divide the land equally and contain the merchants. This is a kind of utopian egalitarianism, but it is full of temptations for the lowest class in Shangqiu City.

The well-developed merchants who depended on the nobles monopolized all kinds of trade, the nobles gave usury, and the speculators bought low and sold high. All these made the internal contradictions of the Song Dynasty accumulate to a critical point that was about to explode.

The State of Song had a chance, and the imperial father Yueling also had the opportunity to complete the centralization of power, and even had the opportunity to replace the current Duke of Song as the elected "Dong Song", but... the State of Song was too close to Sishang.

Ever since Qin Huali became a tycoon, Sishang's policies towards the Song State have always been based on convenience, with only one purpose: not to give the Song State any opportunity to plan for a rainy day and slow change, and to extinguish every opportunity for change. To suppress contradictions by hostilities between them, until the moment the external pressure is withdrawn, it will explode immediately.

The emperor's father Yueling showed a little intention of reforming the centralization of power, and the Mohists incited those businessmen and farmers in Shangqiu to demand more radical changes, scaring the emperor's father Yueling back: "If you want to change, you can give up all the nobles." Power, so that the real selection of virtuous people as the emperor.

The emperor's father, Yueling, wanted to centralize power, but he didn't want to be a standard-bearer to guide the people freely. He was far less influential than street politics and the common people's market in confronting the Mohists.

As soon as he backed down, those aristocrats with their own balance jumped out immediately, saying that reform and centralization were impossible, and all members of our House of Gentlemen opposed it.

The original small conflicts, every time they wanted to solve them, Sishang's black hands would reach out to obstruct them, and the small conflicts turned into big ones, which could not be resolved until now.

The emperor's father Yueling wants power, he wants to become the Duke of Song, he wants to replace him, and he wants to have a complete Song Kingdom.

The rest of the nobles want power, a republic of nobles, separate feudalism and rule, and conduct their own affairs, and resolutely oppose a complete centralized Song Dynasty.

Landless peasants want land, want a piece of land that they can cultivate themselves, oppose the possession of land by nobles, and even want to return to the original feudal system of granting land. They are full of panic about the new era.

The big merchants want to own and sell land, and they want to get the land with their own money so as to continue to make profits. They are extremely dissatisfied with the nobles occupying the land and population.

Handicraftsmen and small businessmen want low taxes, at least they need to have the right to propose taxes, and they are extremely dissatisfied with the large amount of taxes placed on them.

The transformed minor nobles wanted power, and they gave up their fiefdom control over farmers in exchange for income from land management, but they also lost their power as aristocrats. Without military support, they could easily become the least powerful businessmen.

The merchants who sell goods hope that the fiefdoms of the nobles will open up the market, and don't let those merchants who are dependent on the nobles monopolize it. If they sell it by themselves, they will either be made things difficult or have to impose high taxes and fees.

The fief farmers who continue to be subject to a more stringent anti-escape policy long for freedom, long for land, and long for the ability to leave the fief.

The self-cultivating farmers and handicraftsmen who lived in the city devoutly believed in the Mohism's morality that everyone is equal. Out of their desire for equality, sympathy and love, they were angry at the existence of nobles and the common people's house like a joke.

Each has its own demands, and the entire Song Kingdom is in chaos.

(End of this chapter)