"The canonization of concubines is my private matter, so you don't have to worry about it." Since he couldn't delay it, Liu Ziqiu decided to talk to everyone openly and honestly.
Wei Zheng said seriously: "The emperor's family has no selfish things!"
Liu Ziqiu coughed twice and said: "Which woman I like and what title I give her have nothing to do with Sheji."
Wei Zheng cupped his hands and said, "Your Majesty, what you said is wrong! Since ancient times, beauties have been as bad as Daji and praise Si, but they are as close as Zhang Lihua. How can you be careless? How can it be His Majesty's private matter when you confer a concubine?"
Liu Ziqiu burst out laughing: "The so-called beauties are a disaster, but losers find their excuses on women. Don't worry, dear friends, how can I be seduced by women? Besides, I don't do lewd things, and there's no need for them.
There are so many women, so there is no need for you to say more."
Zhao Ling said with a smile: "Your Majesty is mistaken. In fact, I don't want your Majesty to confer so many concubines. I just want to establish a rule and distinguish the superiors and inferiors."
This statement is actually half true and half false. When Zhao Ling designed this set of regulations, it was not just to sort the concubines in Liu Ziqiu's harem into different grades, but it also had another hidden purpose.
After Liu Ziqiu conquered the world, he issued an edict identifying the Jiangnan Xie family as the head of the world. There is no doubt that the Jiangnan Xie family helped Liu Ziqiu. It can even be said that without the Jiangnan Xie family, Liu Ziqiu would not be what he is today, so Liu Ziqiu elevated the Xie family
However, in this way, the Xie family is above the seven traditional aristocratic families. Except for the Li family in Longxi and the Wang family in Taiyuan, the other five aristocratic families are dissatisfied, and their children are even dissatisfied because of this.
He was absent from the first imperial examination of the Han Dynasty.
In the eyes of Zhao Ling and others, the reason why the Xie family was favored was not only the help they provided to Liu Ziqiu, but also the presence of two daughters in the palace. Of course, they did not know that Gao Xiuer was also the granddaughter of the Xie family, otherwise it would have been easier to understand.
However, Gao Xiuer's life experience involved a history of humiliation. Liu Ziqiu did not want to evoke her pain and hid this life experience. However, Zhao Ling and others have been working hard to ease the conflicts between the imperial court and the five major families.
relation.
After all, the five major aristocratic families have been operating for many years and control a large amount of land, which also controls a large amount of food sources. For a farming society, food is strength. Controlling food can control the operation of the court. In fact, the five major aristocratic families do the same. They
A large amount of grain was accumulated, causing the price of grain to rise sharply on the market, which put a lot of pressure on the court. The reason why there was no major turmoil in the past two years was that the Li family in Longxi and the Wang family in Taiyuan contributed all their grain reserves, and the Yang family
Several major granaries built during the Guangdong Period fell into the hands of Liu Ziqiu. With the help of these two aspects, the difficulty was overcome.
For the ministers, these are not long-term solutions. The five major aristocratic families still need to reconcile with the court to ensure basic food supply. To ease the relationship with the five major aristocratic families, the best way is to marry Liu Ziqiu to the five major aristocratic families.
Although Liu Ziqiu also had several children, they were all too young, so they had no choice but to focus on Liu Ziqiu himself. This was actually the same as the marriage policy adopted by the Central Plains dynasty in order to ease relations with nomadic tribes. Moreover, Zhao Ling
There is a deeper thought. With more women in the harem, fights are inevitable. This kind of fight is no less than that of the court. It will also affect the major families behind those women, and then use this to break the five major families.
An alliance between noble families.
However, the situation is stronger than the people. In just two years, the situation of the Han Dynasty has undergone subtle changes. The wars on all sides have gradually subsided. The people have increasingly supported Liu Ziqiu. And most importantly, the Han Dynasty can no longer rely on it for its food supply.
Those top aristocratic families. The solution to the food problem mainly relies on three aspects. On the one hand, many small and medium-sized aristocratic families gradually turned to the imperial court. They also owned a large amount of land in their hands, and the grain they produced was sold to the country at a fair price, which alleviated the food crisis. On the other hand, many small and medium-sized aristocratic families gradually turned to the imperial court.
On the other hand, wheat has been widely promoted in the north, and various pastas have gradually become people's staple food. The yield of wheat is also higher than that of traditional cereals, which has also alleviated the food crisis to a certain extent. The most important aspect is that
, a large area of land in the south of the Yangtze River was reclaimed, and some landless refugees were resettled in the south of the Yangtze River. The yield of rice was much higher than that of wheat. The smooth flow of the canal ensured that rice from the south of the Yangtze River could be continuously transported to Luoyang, Chang'an and even the north.
The resolution of the food crisis has caused the five major families to lose the capital to challenge the imperial court, and the cabinet no longer needs to fight with them. On the contrary, as long as there is a slight discrepancy between the five major aristocratic families, the imperial court can take action on them, and there is no need to worry about causing the entire
The country is in turmoil. Under such circumstances, Wei Zheng, Zhao Ling and others will naturally not force Liu Ziqiu to marry so many women and use their relationships with the five major families to alleviate conflicts.
But people are very strange animals. When everything returned to calm, strange thoughts came into Zhao Ling and others' minds. In their eyes, Liu Ziqiu's women were mostly from humble backgrounds, but they were all named concubines by Liu Ziqiu.
, there was some imbalance in my heart. In fact, including Wei Zheng, a large number of civil and military personnel under Liu Ziqiu were also from civilian backgrounds. However, they were now high above the temples, and their mentality gradually changed, and they began to divide people into three groups.
Wait for sixty-nine. This is also human nature. Everyone follows Liu Ziqiu to conquer the world and govern the world. They are just trying to find a wife and a shadow. Naturally, they will no longer regard themselves as civilians. However, their eyes are fixed on
someone else’s past.
Liu Ziqiu didn't think so. He shook his head vigorously and said: "My women, except the queen, are all equal, so there is no need to distinguish between superiority and inferiority!"
Wei Zheng cupped his hands and said, "The titles of ladies are nothing more than external possessions. Why should Your Majesty stick to this?"
Liu Ziqiu suddenly realized that if he did not make concessions, these cabinet ministers would be pestering him endlessly, but there was nothing extremely important for them to do now. Moreover, as long as he treated these women equally in his heart, why should he care about being banned? He thought
Here, Liu Ziqiu relaxed and said: "In that case, I will hold the canonization ceremony according to your wishes. However, I declare in advance that I do not want to add more women to my harem, otherwise, my internal treasury will not be able to support them.
.”
Unlike Yang Guang, Liu Ziqiu divided the annual tax revenue into two parts, with 90% going to the imperial court and only 10% going to the inner treasury and controlled by the royal family. In the past two years, as the world gradually returned to peace, tax revenue has also increased greatly.
But after all, it was still maintained at a relatively low level. The palace's expenses had always been large, so Liu Ziqiu was not wealthy.
In fact, as long as Liu Ziqiu agrees to reset the titles of the concubines in the harem according to the regulations they have drawn up, the hierarchy has been determined and their goal has been achieved. Because even if they are the fourth wife and the ninth concubine, their status is not equal.
Even so, there was still some disputes when arranging everyone's titles. The focus of the dispute was mainly on Mu Duoli and Lin Qiao'er. Both of them were remarried women. According to the cabinet, they could only be listed in the eighty.
One of the imperial concubines. Finally, Liu Ziqiu got angry, and the cabinet reluctantly agreed to give them the title of ninth concubine.
This important event that had been delayed for more than a year finally came to an end. Wei Zheng suddenly stood up and said: "I would like to ask your Majesty to establish a prince as soon as possible!"
The rest of the ministers also raised their hands and said: "I would like to ask your Majesty to establish a prince as soon as possible!"
This time, even Li Jing, who had always remained silent on the issue of the canonization ceremony, was no exception.
Liu Ziqiu suddenly understood that these ministers were entangled in the matter of canonization, and in the end they seemed to have made concessions, but in fact the purpose was this. After many emperors came to the throne, they would appoint a prince, which was to give the empire a clear heir. This was originally a matter of
A good thing, but sometimes good things can turn into bad things. For example, when the emperor was old, some ministers would take the initiative to seek refuge with the prince, thus greatly weakening the emperor's authority. Of course, Liu Ziqiu was still very young, and such embarrassing scenes would not occur.
It is easy to say that it is easy to establish a prince, but it is difficult to say that it is difficult, and the most orthodox rule since ancient times is to establish the first son and the eldest son. Therefore, when the legitimate son and the eldest son are not the same person, it often causes turmoil. Later, in order to eliminate this influence, some people
He came up with a way that no matter which concubine gave birth to a child, the queen must be recognized as the legitimate mother. Of course, for Liu Ziqiu, this problem does not exist now, because Liu Sigen is both the eldest son and the legitimate son.
However, Liu Ziqiu did not want to appoint Liu Sigen as the prince so early. With a thousand years of experience compared to people of his generation, he naturally knew that the eldest son was not necessarily the most suitable person to inherit the throne. Many great empires were established here.
The inheritance of the eldest son from generation to generation will be extinct. The successor must be the most suitable person among the princes. Who is the most suitable needs to withstand the test of time, so it cannot be done hastily.
Liu Ziqiu looked at all the civil and military officials with eager faces, waved his hands, and said: "I am young and full of blood. It is too early to declare a crown prince at this time!"
Wei Zheng said seriously: "The crown prince is the foundation of the country, so it should be established as soon as possible!"
Although Liu Ziqiu is now wise and powerful, no one can guarantee that as he grows older, he will behave foolishly and absurdly. Wei Zheng and others also took precautions and decided to establish the crown prince. Once the crown prince is established, if he cannot
It can be easily abolished, but must be discussed by the court. As long as these ministers are still loyal, there will be no turmoil in the court. As for the candidate for the prince, Liu Sigen is undoubtedly the current one, and no one can shake his position. And Wei Zheng,
Li Jing and even Hua Yun had watched Liu Sigen grow up, and because of this relationship, Liu Sigen's succession to the throne in the future would ensure that their family would be safe.
Liu Ziqiu remembered Master Daoxin's comments about Liu Sigen. Although he didn't quite understand the meaning, Liu Sigen was obviously not the best candidate for the crown prince.